I ran into someone from the craft group while I was there. She explained that she’d missed the last several — as have I — but was going to try to go again. I mentioned that the meetings will be shifting to Saturdays, as per someone new getting involved in the planning, and she sounded somewhat disappointed. I have to admit that shifting from Wednesday evenings to Saturday mornings isn’t exactly a smooth change, and I don’t think I’ll be able to join in then for sure. It’s a shame, though I haven’t really been doing much crafting as of late.

I did sneak in one little card this afternoon, after poking around online a bit and looking at various Japanese things. I’m very interested in seasonal imagery from Japan, and one of those items are the flat fans (uchiwa) associated with summertime. I decided to try this shape with the “quilted” washi approach, and it turned out ok enough.

It looks quite simple, but it was probably the most involved of all the shapes I’ve done, due to the curves and tiny handle. It takes a lot to wrap around curved edges, so it turned out a bit more jagged than I would have liked it. I might try it again and see if I can do better with it next time, but I’m satisfied with my first attempt.

Her favorite color is purple, and she does like glitter, so the gift box was a simple thing. I ended up with plenty of glitter all over my desk and person, but I like how it turned out.

The card is done in the “quilted washi paper” style made popular by Hanko Designs, and is based on a pattern included in one of their kits.

Personally, I went to the 2006 and 2007 shows, and they were ok for what they were worth. I think the 2006 show was best, because it was the first and everything was new to my friends and I. However, when I went last year, it all seemed to be about the same, and it didn’t seem quite as good. They did make an effort to increase the crafty bits, but nothing that compelling. Also, the free goodies from 2006 totally disappeared.

I think the biggest problem with it is that they’ve jacked up the ticket price this year. Last year it was $15 per person for a single day, but this year it’s up to $25; apparently the weekend passes have nearly doubled as well. That would be ok if there was enough added to make up for the cost, but I don’t think that’s the case. And if you’re going there with the aim of buying things at the craft fair part of it, then it’s quite a hefty entrance fee, especially if you include the $8 parking. That’s like having to pay more than $30 to get to shop on Etsy or go to your local craft store, with no added bonus other than getting to see the same old displays of robots and LEDs and steampunk contraptions that were there the year before (assuming you’re even into that sort of thing).

I mean, I’ve been to craft events where you have to pay in order to get in, and then you end up shopping from the vendors for most of it, and maybe only learning a new technique from a vendor instead of taking a class. But the entry price for that is never more than $10, and there are usually coupons available. Plus the vendors are usually only selling in person at these events, and they pay to do so, thus lowering your own cost.

Ultimately, I guess it would be nice to have the “Craft” part of Maker Faire as a standalone event, but without the obnoxious entry fee. Maybe it’s a lot to ask for, especially seeing how much overlap there is between the Make and Craft magazines (which I wish there weren’t). But that’s all a lot of us want to go for in the first place, and it just isn’t worth it at more than $25 a person. More on the craft, less on the geek!

Great for little collages and other things, or try reusing the envelopes by turning them inside out, as shown in this Design*Sponge tutorial.

In November and December, I went against my previous decision to quit swaps for a bit, and signed up for a few of the final Coloriffic Swap-O-Rama swaps. I really liked the color combinations, and shopping for other people is fun. Here’s what I came up with for the two swaps:

One of the swap requirements is to include one handmade item, so I made a little card/envelope set for the November swap, and then for the December swap, I put together one of my square collage postcards.

Sadly, the packages I got through these swaps didn’t exactly knock my socks off, so to speak, but oh well. At least I enjoyed putting them together and making my swap partners happy.

Shortly after the second swap, I joined in on a bit of card- and envelope-making at this month’s South Bay Craft Group meeting. I don’t send out holiday cards, so I just made some general ones, based on a cute postcard I have. And some envelopes of course. The paper was just too lovely to pass up.

And the most recent craft project was a shared one for a work holiday party that I helped to organize. We decided to decorate gingerbread cookies as the main event, and of course we had to have a contest for it, complete with varied categories and matching trophies. Our little trophy team came up with these four trophies during two long nights after work hours. It was a lot of fun and I think everyone who attended the party liked them as well.

I’ve been pretty busy at work in the last few months, and the only crafting I did for awhile was participating in craft group meeting projects or making mini envelopes for my eBay auctions. That changed last month though, after a huge Halloween crafting project developed.

So, I haven’t dressed up for Halloween much in the last decade or so, and certainly not at work. However, when I found out that it’s a big deal at my new job, especially within my group, I thought I’d at least give it a try. My team talked about dressing up in a common theme, and eventually we (mostly) agreed upon one theme. One of my co-workers and I took this project on fully, and started coming up with rough sketches and even creating a prototype costume to see if it would actually work out.

After the first version worked well enough and the whole team seemed to like it, we went shopping and set up a few sewing sessions with the team. Ultimately, it was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun (with only occasional frustrations ), and in the end we made 6 whole costumes from scratch and helped put together a 7th costume from purchased items. Here are a few photos of the final result:

I hadn’t sewn for awhile, but I am definitely thinking about doing a bit more. But may after I recover from these, and hopefully not with any ironing board fabric or much felt!

Aren’t these gorgeous?

You can buy these and other handmade items from the creator at her Etsy store.

I’m ok with it, for the most part, though I’m aware that this blog is collecting quite a bit of dust in the process. I’ve had some occasional “pokes” for more posts, though in more indirect ways than that sounds. I get the occasional “tag” with some topic to post about, but it’s usually on personal stuff, like weird things about myself. I’ve never really wanted to post that sort of thing here, though I’m sorry to disappoint them.

I guess I’m more drawn to doing things in person now, whether it’s talking about myself (oh, the weirdness) or crafting (if I ever do that). Which is why I end up crafting only when I go to craft group meetings or am invited to a craft day at a friend’s apartment. I was actually talking to someone at work about arranging a crafting night for a few colleagues, though I still need to find out if anyone would mind us using a conference room for that.

Speaking of craft meetings, the September meeting of the South Bay Craft Group is coming up next Wednesday, and we’re going to make lip balm, as taught by one of our regular members. I remember wanting to try that at some point, but never did get around to it. That’s probably a good thing, just from the amount of supplies it involves, and I’ve spent plenty of money on other craft supplies as it is. Anyway, if you’re in or near the San Jose area, please stop by.