Brooklyn Craft Camp

On October 5th I went to the 2nd annual Brooklyn Craft Camp!  The first time I went it was a fun day of crafting, relaxing, and networking so I came back for more!  I participated in some pretty sweet crafty classes like tassel making, machine knitted necklace, needle felting, and stamp making.  It's always a party when you're getting crafty.  Check out some stuff I made!

Welcome!

I < 3 Nametags!

Class #1: Multi-color suede tassel keychain: hot glue is your friend!

Class #2: Machine knitted necklace: mesmerizing and confusing but definitely my new fave project!!

In action!

Class #3: I learned to needle felt!  Needle felting is a technique that doesn't seem like it would work.  You're basically just poking a ball of wool repeatedly with a needle, that's it.  Seems a little suspicious, right?  But it totally works!  Check out the bear face and weird Smurf Madonna person/thing I made (I don't know, it just happened)  Look at those eyebrows!

My hand for size comparison

Class #4: Hand carved stamp/custom stationary!  This was my last class of the day, hand carving your own stamp is the best because you can make it so ridiculous.  Most people made their initials or letter of their first name which looked pretty cool but if I'm sending a letter to you, you already know who it's from by looking at my snazzy return addy label so instead I want to remind you how amazing nonsense can be with my womp stamped WOMP-tionary!  Success! womp.

 Other stations included a Pom station with Pom expert Sarah Goldschadt, I made this adorable little pin.  She is a crafty expert!  Check out her stuffs here!

You can make one for yourself!  There are how-to instructions in her new book Pom Poms! which I bought at the crafting event.  I also picked up Stitched Gifts, an awesome embroidery projects book by my friend, Jessica Marquez.  Check out her stuffs here!

And this rad boy band-esque photo we took at the end at the photo booth station! Good times!  Jessica is on the left and on the right the amazing Lindsay of maker community site, Kollabora!  Check it out!

Pet Frames Bedford Bag on Modcloth

Mokuyobi Threads did a Modcloth exclusive Bedford bag in out Pet Frames fabric!  It was super exciting to work with them!  Check out the bag and awesome write-up on their website!

 Photos I took of the bags before they were shipped off to Modcloth HQ below!

Photo courtesy of Modcloth

Mini 5 Panel Cat Hat

I made a miniature 5 panel hat a while ago as a part of a plush for a show at Gallery 1988.  See the post here.  One day I was feeling very excited about a new fabric print I ordered and decided to make another mini hat and I found out that Teeny cat is a fantastic hat model!!  Once I posted a photo on instagram it was clear that everyone wants a tiny 5 panel for their cat!  I made a listing on Etsy so now everyone can adorn their pet with a tiny hat or ladies, rock this mini hat by attaching it with some bobby pins!

Photoshoot!

Go grab yourself one!

Fall Hats Photo Shoot

Here's a selection of photos from a mini photoshoot with some of Mokuyobi Threads' new Fall Hat collection.  Two lovely ladies Delaney and Lauren modeled for the shoot.  We did the shoot around my neighborhood where strangely there are many colorful walls.  It was clearly meant to be.

The photo above was used in a page of the November issue of Los Angeles Magazine, LA Canvas

Looking good!!

New Fall 5 Panel Hats

Check out Mokuyobi Thread's 3 new styles of 5 panel hats for fall with snazzy new front tags!  All available for pre-order on the Mokuyobi Threads site.  Two designs have some awesome shapes and shades with a fun illustrated print thrown in for good measure.  See more photos below!

Neon Acrylic + Watercolor Paintings

Sometimes I forget how awesome watercolors are.  After doing the topographic watercolor map series paintings I was amped to do some more painting but wanted to branch out into more abstract and nonsense as per usual.  I was also looking for a project to use some neon acrylic paint I forgot I had.  So far I have finished 3 but only two count since the 3rd was just sort of a warm up mess.  Here's the three framed:

Close-ups of the two on the left:

I was going for abstract figurative and I like this style, I hope to paint more like this in the future.  Here's an in progress photo of the second painting:

I also recently participated in the Sketchbook Project's Pen Pal Painting Exchange where you get a 4" x 4" canvas to paint.  When you're done you mail it back to them along with a little postcard about yourself filled out and they match your painting with another participant's submission, swap the paintings, and send each other's paintings back to your newly matched pen pal.  Here is the painting I submitted:

Here is the wall of all of the mini painting submissions at the Brooklyn Art Library Gallery exhibition.  You can see more photos on the Sketchbook Project's flickr.

In-progress photo of my mini painting:

Close-up of my warm up painting:

And a photo of all 3 in their new happy home above my cutting table!

Hooray!!