I'm teaching at Craftcation Business + Makers Conference!

First, Happy New Year! This is my first post of 2017 and I'm starting off with some great news...

I’m excited to share that this April I’ll be headed to Ventura, CA to teach at Craftcation: Business + Makers Conference. This is a four-day event featuring  lots of hands-on DIY workshops and creative business classes. I'll be teaching three classes: Sashiko Mending, iPhone Product Photography, and Stitched Shibori Indigo-dyed Scarf. There are so many other classes I want to check out, too. Take a look at all the class descriptions here.

Building community is something I'm trying to make a priority this year, so I can't wait to meet other makers and creative business owners. If you’re a maker, blogger or creative business owner then join me for four inspiring days that you’ll never forget. Craftcation has over 80 hands-on workshops and business classes so whether you’re coming to craft, grow your business or a little bit of both, there’s lots of making, meeting and learning in store for you.

Craftcation takes place April 27-30, 2017, in the beach town of Ventura, California, (about an hour north of Los Angeles). Craftcation is in the heart of Ventura’s historic downtown buildings and also uses the beach for special events like networking meet & greets, cocktail socials, a pop-up shop, opening celebration, yoga, as well as food and art tours. 

Please join me & other makers like Lisa Solomon, Mimi Kirchner, Anna Joyce, Amy Tan, Robert Mahar, Jenny Hart at Craftcation!

EXPERIMENTING WITH MACRAME

A few weeks ago I took a macramé class with Renata Abbade in a beautiful, sun filled studio. It was the first day in New York that really felt like spring to me, so it was wonderful to gather with people and learn something new. I loved learning the knots and a little bit about the history and meaning of them too. We finished half the piece in class and I worked on it a bit last night. I'm almost finished and excited to see it all done, and hanging with plants nestled inside.

I'm excited to make more macrame pieces. It feels nostalgic to me, since I remember my mom teaching me how to do it when I was little. We worked on a wall hanging piece together that I'm sure is in a box somewhere. Now that I've had learned a bit more I'm looking forward to making a lot more and giving them away as gifts.

This class was such a treat to myself. I'm on a learning kick and taking a guitar class too!

Have you ever done macramé? I'm curious if you use patterns or just make it up as you go? We learned three knots and I'd love to beef up my knot game and make some more varied pieces.  And are there any macrame mavens I should be following? 

The Evolution of a Pin

It feels damn good to see someone make one of your projects! Kim Grant pinned my DIY Letter Sachet project and made it.  Not just made it, but used the idea to make some next level creative invites. I love how the tea bag is actually in the tea cup and even the tea tag is personalized. See Kim's post about her cards here. I love pinning DIY projects, but I rarely have the time to dive into my archive and make a project.

Here's my original little tea sachet & you can find the original DIY post here...

I love seeing the evolution of this pin.

Thank you Kim for sharing your beautiful cards with me! Please share any projects you've made from my DIY projects or even my book, Stitched Gifts. It would really make my day...

Creative Experiments with Sun Printing

“I thought the most beautiful thing in the world must be shadow.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

Here are some magical experiments with sun printing on fabric I made a while ago when I had the luxury of space and bright, sunny days in California. Making sun prints is really easy and fun. Basically, you place objects on light sensitive material, expose it to the sun, and then dip it into photographic chemicals or, in this case, water. You get these crisp, graphic, silhouettes....

Sunography offers some very cool paper and fabric kits (with 6 different colored fabrics included) if you want to try this too! Let me know if you give this a try.

p.s that's Tatianna & Dexter, two of my mom's chihuahuas, helping me out. Stupid cute, right?

i'm the queen of creative distractions....

When it comes to honkering down to work, I need time.  Sometimes things are itching to get out of my brain and I can make without distraction. Usually the making process it kinda convoluted - an idea in the shower, sketches, head scratches, bike rides, midnight snacks, more sketches, and demanding my boyfriend help me pick out embroidery colors.  I find myself taking breaks, my creative distractions.  I clean the studio, organize, plan my next project. In the winter I bake, and lately I've been juicing....

The past few days I've felt stuck, and while this post may seem like a juicing recipe or something, it's really about getting unstuck.  For me, I think I need to stop fruitlessly working when it's not clicking.  It's really hard though to step outside of what you desperately want to fix.

So this is an exercise for me in creative play, and I just happen to also be taking care of myself at the same time too. Sweet!

Here are some of my recent concoctions:

coconut shreds + carrots + ginger + leafy greens + almond milk + beets (i can't believe I used beets. Not a fan, but with other stuff– not so bad)


pineapple + blue berries + ice + almond milk 


coconut milk + almond milk + cinnamon + pinch of celtic sea salt + ice = so good! kinda like horchata 

And today's breakfast.... cucumber + mint + pineapple + leafy greens + ginger + water




What do you do when you feel creatively stumped?