Paint a mandala at the Summit of Awesome!

I'm excited to announce that I'll be one of the guest speakers at the upcoming Hello Craft Summit of Awesome. It's the second annual summit and it's being held in Portland!

Please click this link for all the details including how to register and a full list of amazing speakers, including some of my heroes like Sister Diane, Susan Beal, and Rebecca Pearcy, fellow Trillium Artisans like Stephanie Weber, Lee Meredith, and Amanda Siska, and local genius friends from DIY Lounge, Crafty Wonderland, and Frock.

I'm also looking forward to meeting Danielle from Etsy, Kari Chapin (author of the new book The Handmade Marketplace), Jena from Modish, and, well, EVERYONE! It's really going to be an amazing event and I am so honored to be included. You can find the full schedule here.

I'll be speaking on two panels. "Green Craft: Sourcing Materials and Business Practices" with Becky Streipe and Stephanie Weber at 3:30 pm on Wednesday, June 16. I'll also be discussing "The Creative Community" with various local leaders including Cathy + Torie from Crafty Wonderland at 1:45 pm on Friday, June 18.

But the thing I'm most excited about (well, besides the fact that I get to attend the conference for free!) is the workshop I'll be leading - Mandalas on Vinyl Records! This will be happening on Friday, June 18 at 11 am.

I'm so pleased that they asked me to lead this workshop. It's going to be so much fun - and it will be so DIFFERENT from the majority of crafty make-and-take type workshops that you usually see. Most of these things don't usually involve painting. Painting seems to be a craft that kind of gets left out of the general crafty world - it's mostly glue, scissors, needle & thread, right? Well, if you take my workshop, you will actually get to do some painting with acrylics and it will be super fun. Maybe some crafters are a little apprehensive about trying this kind of craft because they've never picked up a paintbrush before...but just let me assure you that not only will it be easy, but you will be blown away by the beautiful design you will create.

Maybe it would be easier to explain this with examples. Here are a bunch of photos from mandala classes I've taught over the years with kids and adults alike. As you can see, they are all fabulous.



So if you are attending the summit, I hope you'll paint a mandala with me!

Makers Market

I have been accepted to sell my items on Makers Market, the new-ish curated marketplace from the creators of Make: Magazine and Boing Boing.

My store URL is: http://eyepopart.makersmarket.com.

So far I've just listed my vintage record cuffs.

It is pretty cool to list your stuff on a site where there are only five pages of listings for accessories (as opposed to Etsy where there are currently 17,162 pages of accessories). I also like that it has a built-in blogging platform and you are encouraged to post videos. (I kicked off my new blog with a link to my segment on "Look What I Did!")

Check out the site, it is really cool and filled with "wonderful science, tech, and artistic creations." Here are some of my faves!


Steampunk Ring - Green Glass Dragonfly by Earthfire Studios.
2 x 2 Building Block Ring by rubygirl (yay rubygirl!).

I.S.O Identifieted Stabil Object by 24 Carati.

Cell Division 1 by Artologica.
Chalkboard Journal by Moonlight Bindery.

"Minimod 2" Original Painting by Chris Reccardi.

Recycled Stewarts Grape Soda Drinking Glasses by Windy City Glass.
Twisted Nothing Data Wire Bracelets by Twisted Handmade.

Atari Punk Pedal by GetLoFi Experimental Sound.

Vintage Looking Computer by Old Time Computer.

To boldly go where no man has gone before by BeauJangles.

Grace Kelly's See Behind Rear Window Shades by Criminal Crafts (from Portland!).

Orange by Raw Art Letterpress.

Traffic Light...Light by Illuminated Bird.

Social and Sexual Science! Oddities Necklace by Rivkasmom (great steampunk shoppe!).

Crafty Booth and New Coasters!

So there I am at Crafty Wonderland this last weekend (May 1 & 2).

I have to admit I am really not thrilled with my display. I have been inspired by a lot of the other vendors at this huge, amazing show, and I now have lots of ideas for how to improve my booth for next time. For starters, I definitely am in need of some kind of backdrop. I've seen a bunch of creative ways to do this and have them simmering in my brain right now, among many other things that I have been putting on the list of "things to do after May 2" for the last month or so...ah, there is never really any rest, is there? But I love what I do and wouldn't have it any other way.I wasn't really up to my usual round of photo-taking of all my crafty friends - it was all just so big and overwhelming. I think I was a little intimidated. I did get the above photo of Megan, whose table was right next to mine, with Amy Stoner, who was next to her...

...and Stephanie of Pickle Things, who was right behind me.

Above you can see my exciting new product, Album Jacket Drink Coasters!

I made a ton of these for the show and really thought they would go like hotcakes...well, I sold a few sets but it wasn't what I expected.

(My old standby, Mandala Suncatchers, were a big hit, though.)

Each set of coasters contains nine 4" x 4" square coasters cut from a single album cover. You can put them together like a puzzle. I even wrote on the label which album/artist the package contains, and sorted them by musical genre (to the best of my ability - I'm afraid a lot of them ended up in the weird/random section!).

The coasters are fun but I think I am going to unpackage most of the ones I have left and re-work them a bit. I feel that it would be a good idea to coat them with something, perhaps a layer of clear contact paper, in order to improve their longevity and ask for a higher price point at the same time. So I'll probably be doing this before I list these on Etsy. Stay tuned!


Above you see Tangereen helping me out with these! I love my kids!

A few other highlights of the great crafty weekend:

• I got to meet Mark Montano.
• I spoke with the owner of Redux about the possibility of her carrying my cuffs at her store.
• I spoke with the owners of Oh Shiny! about possibly consigning my work with them.
• I scored a cute red Felted Flower Hair Clip from LeBrie (PenFelt), some rocking soap from Dennis Anderson, and a gorgeous feather headband made by the three cute little daughters of my friend Karina of Luna.
  
• I saw a lot of friends both new and old - vendors AND shoppers! Thanks to those of you who came by, it was great to see you!