Archive for Events

Pretty Things

July 26, 2009 at 8:20 pm · Filed under Cards, Events, Paper, Photos, Stamps, Swaps

As I wrote last time, I’ve been slowly working my way back into crafting through some simple projects, namely postcards. I’ve tried to keep some of that up as much as I’ve had time for it, and I have a few more little projects to share.

To push myself into making things, I signed up for a Paper Source class with a co-worker, at a newer location they opened up in Palo Alto, which isn’t far from here. They have these “girls night out” events, and this one was themed “Indian Summer,” to coincide with their new India collection of papers and rubber stamps.

The workshop itself was nice, though they tried to cram in quite a lot of activities, including making envelopes, heat embossing, and making lanterns. We ran out of time for some of this — though I was ok with skipping on things I already knew how to do — but I walked away with a neat lantern and a few cards, among other things.

Paper Source "Indian Summer" Night Cards (by Valerie.)

I’ve also been joining in on a few swaps on Swap-bot, including one that was color-themed. You could include a handmade item, plus store-bought items, so I made one of my standard square collage postcards. The color was orange, which is a bit outside of my usual colors, but it was fun to play with a bit.

Orange Squares Postcard

Orange for July Swap - Swap-bot - Sent (by Valerie.)

And last, but not least, I’ve been dabbling a bit with making envelopes and other things this weekend, partly to test out a new envelope template I found at a local Japanese shop. I got a little bored with the envelopes, but I finished it all off with a simple postcard, made from scrapbook paper and some stickers I had.

Pretty Things Postcard (by Valerie.)

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Rubber Stamp Show in San Jose

February 13, 2009 at 7:46 am · Filed under Events, Paper, Shopping, Stamps

For anyone near San Jose, the Original Rubber Stamp Convention is going on next Saturday (Feb 21st) at Napredak Hall on Montague Expressway. More info on their site, including this handy postcard.

My favorite paper store Hanko Designs will be there — as always — and there’s usually plenty to browse and shop for otherwise.

Update (02/16/2009): It looks like there was a last minute venue change, so here’s the new postcard with that info. Fortunately, Rosewater Hall isn’t far from Napredak Hall.

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Renegade!

July 12, 2008 at 9:07 pm · Filed under Events, Shopping, Web

Amytha and I spent the day up in San Francisco, mainly to attend the Renegade Craft Fair at Fort Mason this weekend. I’ve been looking forward to it ever since I heard about it coming to San Francisco, after reading about it going on in Chicago and Brooklyn in the past.

We got up there shortly after it had started, and parking wasn’t too bad. They had the entire Festival Pavilion reserved, and for a building that size, it was great to see it 3/4 full of craft tables. It was probably the biggest craft fair I’ve ever been to, and the best part was that there was no admission fee (other than parking, which ended up being $1 for 1-1.5 hours).

We made our way up and down the aisles, picking up a few business cards, inspecting items here or there, and continuing along. The first actual items we got were free promotional items from SF Weekly and Yelp, both sponsors of the event; the Yelp tote bag was especially nice.

As for the craft booths, I saw a few things that caught my eye, but I didn’t really feel compelled to buy anything right then and there. After awhile, it felt like everything started blurring together, with very similar items (so much vintage clothing!) and designs (enough birds already!) at one table after the other. That’s not to say that there weren’t any unique things there, but it just wasn’t earth-shattering or anything.

Now I recognize that part of it may be that I know a lot of what goes into making some of these things, and I see a lot on the craft blogs and online shops that I visit regularly. But even so, it seemed like there were an awful lot of similarities (and somewhat high prices) going on. Maybe part of it is that once you get to a certain level, you need to appeal to certain audiences to sell items. And maybe that audience just isn’t me. I don’t know.

That said, I will reiterate that I did see some things that I liked, even if I didn’t buy anything right away. I’ve bookmarked a few sites and plan on visiting them to reconsider a purchase. You might like to visit them too:

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Summertime Crafts

June 1, 2008 at 9:18 pm · Filed under Cards, Events, Groups, Paper, Photos

I stopped by the rubber stamp convention this weekend, though I didn’t stay too long. I usually just go to stop at the Hanko Designs booth, and to walk around and look for a bit. There were a few new vendors, including The Paper Palette, but the show is gradually getting smaller each time I go.

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.

Purple + Teal Japanese Summer Fan "Quilted" Card

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.

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Craft vs Make

May 4, 2008 at 7:52 am · Filed under Events

The annual Maker Faire is going on this weekend in San Mateo, but I’ve decided not to attend this year. I did think about it at first, and even tried to organize some friends to go, but the interest wasn’t really there.

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!

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