Craft Camp

Here are a few glimpses into this weekend’s Craft Camp!

Morning Sessions

The day started out at TechShop with coffee and pastries from GRAZ Kitchen Fresh and a keynote from Derek Neighbors of Gangplank.

The there were talks on selling your work via ecommerce and retail, product photography, and crafting for good (to benefit charity, etc.).

Kelli, Kitty, and I did our panel on blogging for crafters, and I’ll be posting links and resources from that ~~later this week~~ soon.

In between the morning and afternoon sessions, a bunch of us went over to ChopShop for lunch.

Afternoon Session

The afternoon was open crafting and networking time at Gangplank with a supply swap and wine and ~~cheese~~ hummus reception.

Eileen showed past CraftHack projects, Anne knitted, Lisa spun yarn on her portable spinning wheel (!), and Jennifer demonstrated how to use Japanese water brush for watercolor.

A video posted by stephanieliebold (@stephanieliebold) on Aug 8, 2015 at 3:08pm PDT

Everyone else just hung out and chatted, so it was a nice way to wrap up the day.

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August 3, 2015March 1, 2022

DIY Quilling Tool

Sometimes you have to get creative to get creative. Like with our monthly CraftHack meetups – they’re free, so that pushes us to be resourceful when it comes to providing materials and supplies.

Robin Corey volunteered to do last month’s demo on paper quilling, a technique that involves winding strips of paper around a tool to get spiral shapes.

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A post shared by Robin Corey (@rrcorey)

While you can buy a quilling tool for around 8 bucks, ordering 20 for a free class would get pretty pricey.

She found a super solution buried in her Pinterest boards: make your own from a cork and a tapestry needle. Basically, stick the needle in the center of the cork and glue it, cut off the top with wire cutters, file any sharp edges, and you have a super inexpensive tool that makes winding strips of paper for quilling easy.

She made about 20 of them for less than the cost of buying just one, and we all got to take one home for future projects.

PS If you live in Phoenix and like to make stuff, make sure you’re planning to come to Craft Camp this Saturday!
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July 20, 2015July 20, 2015

El Amor de Frida in a Phoenix Library

The main branch of the Phoenix Library is holding, “El Amor de Frida,” a free art exhibition (through 7/26) in honor of Frida Kahlo’s birthday.

We went and checked it out yesterday.

The works, created by members of the Phoenix Fridas collective and other local artists, are inspired by the life, beliefs, and words of Frida Kahlo. An oversized statue of the Mexican painter marks the front of the exhibit, which also features mixed media, sculptures of wire and glass, painted plates, jewelry, and a portrait made from seed beads.

It’s another great example of art in libraries!

A video posted by stephanieliebold (@stephanieliebold) on Jul 19, 2015 at 7:10pm PDT

(If you can’t see the short video I posted of the glass elevator ride, check it out on my Instagram.)

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July 13, 2015March 14, 2020

Fountain Square Signs

We made it back from Indiana. The humidity wasn’t as bad as I’d worried it would be. The mosquitoes were surprisingly persistent, despite our super-strength deet. But the fireflies winked at us in the evenings, and we saw almost everyone we went out there to see.

At one point, we had just a little extra time to kill in Indianapolis, so we went and checked out the historic Fountain Square. Not much was open yet, but we did see some interesting architecture and vintage-looking signs I wanted to share – in case you’re as geeky about this stuff as I am.

Diamonds, anyone?

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July 6, 2015June 30, 2015

Everything Else

We finally found a roadside store along the Southern Arizona highway, and it was huge.

Inside they had all kinds of stuff for sale – postcards, gum, travel toothbrushes, beef jerky, deodorant, wind chimes, ceramic cow skulls, dolls with fairy wings, silver and turquoise Native American jewelry, rolling suitcases, and Michael Jackson frog figurines.

Everything except tampons.

Which is actually all I had needed.

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