Guest Post on Eclectic Heap.

Hello Internet! I'm guest posting this week at An Eclectic Heap, a crafty / stylish lifestyle blog by my buddy Rae Hatfield (who is completely darling).  It's a DIY post about how to upgrade your framed photographs, with the help of the picture border artists at Imaginarium.  This may be the easiest DIY activity you ever encounter in your entire life, and is a great way to use old photographs or postcards lying around your house that don't have a home yet.  

Check it out here!

Tonight, let's get crafty!

Hello, reader!  Wanna get yer craft on?

Well then I have excellent news for you.  Tonight, my friends Cory Ryan, Candace Carlisle and I are co-hosting the ...

++ Austinite Craft Night ++

At Aviary Lounge & Décor!
 2110 S. Lamar
6-9pm

Aviary and its neighbor, Legendary Beads, are teaming up tonight for a little crafty happy hour with drink specials.  That's right, crafts AND drinking.  I agree with you.  That's genius.

Admission is $10 per person, and each will receive a drink along with beads/supplies from Legendary.  Which is good, because, that means you don't have to watch me make a macaroni portrait of my mom.  OR a Thanksgiving turkey traced from my hand ... although that prospect is still tempting.  (Not to mention seasonal!)

hope to see you tonight!

New House TLC: How to make a capiz shell chandelier.

My office!

Between people questioning their humanity in Fredericksburg and homes being incinerated in Bastrop, things have been feeling rather ... heavy?  Here on Austin Eavesdropper.  

Now we need to think about humanity and homes - don't get me wrong.  But!  Today I'm in the mood to show you something ever so lighter, and it is purely happy.  It has to do with the little house Ross and I bought ourselves here in Austin last April, and how I am decorating it.

Our home reminds me of a tiny beach bungalow: It has stained concrete floors, open, airy windows, and a growing population of houseplants that I am trying not to kill.  I wanted my home office to also have that warm, beachy feel, and at the same time, I was searching desperately for a girly chandelier to go inside of it.  (And I do mean desperate.  I even wrote a SheKnows article about it.)

My sights were set on a capiz shell chandelier, but at $400+, that wasn't exactly happening ... until I found a DIY capiz shell chandelier project on Design*Sponge!

The original instructions are fairly straightforward, but I made a few adjustments and discoveries.  Below, I recreate it for you.

* How to Make a Capiz Shell Chandelier *

You need:

-Scissors

-Hanging planter basket (I found mine at Lowe's)

-White spray paint

-1 roll parchment paper

-1 roll wax paper

-Iron

-Towel or ironing board

-Circle cutter (I found mine at Michael's, and got the 2" diameter kind)

-Hot glue + glue gun

-Very thin white ribbon

Step One

Spray paint your basket white, and let it dry.  I had to do several coats, and after spraying the majority of it on newspaper, I hung it up in a tree and sprayed the rest - the parts that had been touching the newspaper.

Step Two

While it's drying, cut out your strips of ribbon.  I cut mine to be 4" long, and I snipped 50 pieces of them.  This will vary depending on how many strings of "shells" you want hanging.

Step Three

Make your shells!  I don't have an ironing board, so I laid out a towel on the floor to act as one.  You're going to create a "sandwich" of paper, with a long strip of parchment paper on bottom (mine was about 3 ft. long), four strips of wax paper on top (same length), and another long strip of parchment paper on the very top (same length).  Set your iron to medium high, and iron your sandwich.

This melts the wax paper together into one hard strip.  The parchment paper, magically, does not stick.

To get the number of shells I wanted, I had to make about three paper "sandwiches."  

Step Four

Cut out your shells using your circle cutter.  You can get adjustable circumference circle cutters, but mine was not: It was a 2" one.  At any rate, a 2" - 2 and 1/2" circumference will give you good size shells.

I cut about out 200 shells.  Again, this depends on the number of shell strings you want on your chandelier, so you can adjust that number based on the amount of ribbon strips you cut. 

Step Five

Glue your ribbons to the basket, placing one dot of glue on the very end to attach it to the wire.  You can glue ribbon pieces closer together or further apart, based on how "thick" you want your rows of shells to look.  (The one on Design*Sponge is very thick, mine is slightly less so.)  Start at the very bottom tier on your basket (I had four tiers), and once you're finished gluing a tier, move up to the next.

Step Six

Last step!  Glue on your shells to each string, placing a tiny dot of glue near the top of the shell.  Overlap each one one just a bit, 1/4" or less.  Start at the bottom tier, and move up to the next one when you're finished.  For most of the strings, I glued on four shells per string, but at the very bottom and very top tiers, I alternated four and five-shell strings to make it look more interesting.  

        Et voilà!

As soon as it gets wired electrically, this little creation is going in my office.

Thanks Design*Sponge!

I love Threadworthy.

 My dear friend Amber runs Threadworthy, an adorable little shop of her handmade, appliqued clothes and accessories. About a month ago, I took some pictures of her wares at Lantern Fest, and thought I'd share them with you all.

I think I fancy those cloth-covered journals best!  Not to be outdone by the vintage button rings, however.

Amber just might be the craftiest person I know, so I'm pretty thrilled the rest of the world can spy her talent now. She has these wonderful "crafternoons" at her house sometimes, where I made some of my Christmas presents last year. Also, she teaches at a school here in town where I used to work a few years ago, and where Ross still works as a music teacher. It is in fact the place where we met, and eventually got married! (Ross and I, not Amber and I). I'll have to tell you that story sometime.

Amber is restocking shop for Threadworthy right now, so when you visit, be sure to bookmark the page and come back later. When she does, I'm going to buy some presents for people.

Etsy Austin: No regretsies

A story I wrote for Austinist last week on Etsy Austin got bumped, so I decided to post it here!

EAST 2009 is now finito, but you can visit these crafty women next weekend after your Thanksgiving coma has worn off. R. is baking corn bread and desserts as we speak for Thanksgiving, and preparation for the latter items was described as such:

"I'M GONNA DESTROY SOME PIES TODAY WHILE YOU'RE AT WORK."

In girl language, this can be roughly translated as:

"I am going to bake a pumpkin pie and a pecan pie while you're at the office. I hope you like them!"

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving all, and enjoy CraftRiot upon your return. Without further ado....Etsy Austin! (Pardon all dated references to EAST):

There are many skills your average crafter possesses. Decoupage. Knitting. Some light carpentry. But if there's one thing every crafter knows how to do, it's hustle, y'all. Case in point? Etsy.com, a ginormous online catalog of handmade creations. Open since 2005, Etsy allows entrepreneurial crafters from all over to set up shop on the interwebs. And in October of 2008, our fair city got its very own street team: Etsy Austin.

This week, a chorus of crafters from Etsy Austin dished with Austinist on their year-old organization: They are Samantha Hlavaty (of Nepenthe's Bathtime), Beth Hempton (of The Snuggle Herd), April Wright (of April Wright Design), Lori Hooks (of Adorn Modern), Renee Rice (of Robo Ruku), and Julia Chambers (of Aberrant Crochet). You can check out these ladies, and their stationary-making/metal-fabricating/hat-stitching compatriots this weekend during the East Austin Studio Tour, at Smith Studios on 1406 Smith Road (stop 60 on the tour map).

Tell us about Etsy Austin. How many artists are involved, and how did this group get started?

When Beth Hempton of The Snuggle Herd moved back to Austin in 2008 after living in Seattle for 11 years, she had only been operating her Etsy shop for a couple of months. But she was looking for ways to learn more about Etsy, and share the experience with others. Because Austin is so artsy and there are so many creative entrepreneurs here, Beth was surprised that it didn't have an Etsy street team already, so she started one with the intent of connecting it to the local craft scene and getting members involved in their Austin community. The response was great! The team "started" last October, so Etsy Austin is just over a year old, already having reached its cap of 150 members.

It appears that Etsy Austin has grown incredibly fast in just a year.

Well, not only have we begun to make a name for ourselves here in Austin (which is really cool and exciting) -- we are more organized, too. These days, we have an executive board and committees to handle various tasks, which has led to us participating in many things as a group like SXSW, KGSR's Blues on the Green, the (now-defunct) Austin Handmade Market, and of course E.A.S.T. We also have an upcoming holiday bazaar, Craft Riot!, on Dec. 5th and 6th at Wines.com headquarters. It's all been wonderful because, we have so much fun doing events together, inspiring each other and sharing small business advice.

What types of artists do you have in your midst?

Any and every type imaginable! We come from just about every corner of the artistic world: we've got jewelry makers, fashion designers, soap makers, embroiderers, potters, polymer clay creations, drawings, paintings, screen printing, and so on.

In the past few years, Etsy has opened up this whole new world for crafters looking to market their wares. How else is your group using social media to gain exposure for your members?

We have our Etsy Austin website (which is currently being reconstructed), the Etsy Austin blog, Facebook page, Twitter, MySpace, internet forums, etc. Anytime a buyer wants to shop for an Etsy Austin member's creations, they can type in "teametsyaustin" into Etsy.com's search and voila! In addition, most of us Etsy Austinites have independent business sites and blogs.

Besides being cool-looking, handmade clothes / toys / paper / etc. impart their own version of social justice. (I'm thinking of the Handmade Toy Alliance for example, who gets a shout-out on your blog). Why is handmade better for people?

Besides supporting Austin small businesses, artists, and artisans, and that handmade is a much more environmentally-friendly production process, there is just something very organic about the handmade process that is much less sterile and ties us closer to the human community.

Also, the person who is behind that handmade item actually possesses the focus and wish for their items to be enjoyed. That's what handmade is all about! A real person, a real story, a real process from beginning to end, and a real intent of positive impact behind each handmade piece.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This post couldn't end without some visuals, so here are some handmade creations from one of my favorite Etsy Austin sellers, Lucy Blue Studio. Discovered her belt buckles about this time last year, kind of want to buy all these for Christmas presents.

TICKET GIVEAWAY: Mixx & Make

Austin Eavesdropper still isn't positive what she'll be yet for Halloween, but she's betting Mixx & Make will give her some inspiration. She originally wanted R. to be Carmen Miranda (the lady with fruit on her head), and for herself to be a banana, but - shockingly? - R. isn't going for it. Back to the drawing board.

Anyway, at Mixx & Make this Saturday, party powerhouses Electric Promotions and Two Groove are teaming up to bring this city lots of naughty fun. First and foremost - THIS will be screening.


Army of Darkness! (And, if you've never had the sophisticated pleasure of watching Army of Darkness, then I just feel sorry for you).

In addition, several bands will be playing for your musical pleasure, Blue Note Bakery (yummay) will be providing sweet treats, and Treaty Oak will be pouring red rum. The talented ladies over at The Wonder Craft - whose rad craft trailer Austin Eavesdropper got to take pictures of recently - will be teaching us to make DIY Halloween masks too, so perhaps AE will make a Carmen Miranda mask for R. and then he shall have no choice in the matter.

Tickets are $6 if you RSVP and $8 at the door, but guess who has a pair of passes in her hot little hands? (Hands that may or may not be sticking out of a banana suit soon?)

Just leave a comment below telling us what you want to be for Halloween, and you shall be entered to win BOTH. Go!

Child idol and THIS WEEKEND: Art Outside

I don't know if I've ever talked about it on Austin Eavesdropper, but R. works at this totally amazing school here in town where kids play in rock bands and do acting workshops and all kinds of neat stuff. It is, in fact, a school where I used to teach. Yoga. (Aka, PE).

Being part of this little school community has sort of attuned me to kids who do freakishly cool things more typical of their adult counterparts. A few years ago at work, I publicized a 17 year-old sci fi author. More recently, I came across Style Rookie, a famous junior high fashion blogger. And just now while I was perusing the website for Art Outside, happening this weekend, I discovered this 16 year-old photographer: Austin White.






I know, rad right. What's even MORE interesting, though, is the back story behind Austin's family:

"Working for Dell, my Dad would have to go to Austin sometimes for work. We love being together as a family and always doing things as one...

My dad was off wondering to himself: If I had all the money in the world, what would I do? He answered to himself: Put family in an RV and travel."

So they sold everything. Bought an RV. Educated their kids on the road. They gained an internet following through their website, BareNakedFamily.com. As you can see, one of the kids became a badass photographer. Seven years later, they are still traveling, and have even been featured on ABC Nightline. Austin and his work (perhaps the whole family??) will be at Art Outside this weekend.

Isn't that inspiring!

Speaking of Art Outside. Have you guys ever been before? Like in years past, when it was at Enchanted Forest? Well this year, AO is being held at Apache Pass, Oct. 9-11. It is going to be kind of.....ginormous.

The deets are as follows: 100 visual artists. 62 bands - including Santogold's producer/collaborator, Freq Nasty. Austin Underground Film Society. The Wonder Craft. Acrobatic training (!). Fashion - including my fave gal Rene Geneva. A zillion other things.

Oh, and you can camp too.

I kind of hope I get to meet Austin.

tickets here.

Handmade Nation WEEKEND

True confession y'all.

My very first foray into the world of social media was pre-blog. Sometime around 2002, I stumbled onto the message boards at Get Crafty. Message boards were still kind of a novelty back then, and I was totally fascinated by them. This one didn't even have avatars yet - just words. And, like many not-quite-20-year-olds, I hadn't quite figured out my own game yet and was an early adopter of that irritating liberal-arts-college-kid-I-know-everything stance. "Sorry guys, I can't watch The Bachelor tonight, I no longer subscribe to oppressive and socially-constructed heteronormative gender roles, but have fun!" Isn't it amazing I had any friends?

But message boards....ah, message boards were anonymous. I could be as opinionated as I want, on subjects ranging from feminism to decoupage. I even got my first freelance writing assignment through Get Crafty, from my then-editor Jean Railla - author of Get Crafty: Hip Home Ec. (And PS, it is both entertaining and EXTREMELY humbling to go back and read your first actual piece of feature writing.)

So when Austin's crafty ladies mentioned Handmade Nation going on this weekend, I was immediately excited to tell you guys about it.




This is a documentary by director Faythe Levine about DIY and craft culture, which has enjoyed a resurgence indeed in the early 21st century. Several Austinites appear in it too, like Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching. While the film will premiere Sunday at the Alamo Drafthouse (South Lamar), there are a TON of events happening around it so I'm going to paste this fantastic poster and list, courtesy of Jennifer Perkins at Naughty Secretary Club:

(Sorry the image is so tiny.)

SATURDAY SEPT 4, 2009
Swap and Sew + Sweets 12-6pm Space 12
Bring your old fabric and craft supplies plus a sewing machine if you have one and let the Austin Craft Mafia help you whip up something new and fresh. Don’t forget to snag a sweet or bring a canned good for free sweets!

Handmade Nation book signing party (yep, it's a book too!) 7-9pm, Domy Books
Faythe Levine will be signing books alongside artists featured in the book (Whitney Lee, Jennifer Perkins, Magda Sayeg, and Kathie Sever) Sounds by DJ Bullet, free beer from Live Oak brewing, and an awesome raffle, packed with prizes from artists and local businesses. Free.

SUNDAY SEPT 5, 2009
Handmade Nation Screenings 1:30pm and 4:10pm, Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar
The film's Austin premiere! Q & A to follow with director, Faythe Levine, and several of the films' subjects.

Craft Bazaar noon-6pm, Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar
Craft fair featuring some of Austin's most talented up and coming artists, craft demos and giveaways, and stuff for the kiddos. Take a look at a list of vendors right here. Free.

Austin Handmade Post Screening Shabang 6:30pm-9pm Austin Handmade
Austin Handmade is hosting an after party at their new location - more crafty goods, free drinks by Treaty Oak Rum, snacks by Nada Moo and a DJ. Free.

So there you have it: craftivities galore this Labor Day weekend!

Speaking of DIY, I am excited because R. and I are going to take our first cooking class together tonight. I haven't even told him yet. It's going to be at Central Market, and the name of the class is Food & Music of Africa: Guinea. The instructors prepare African food in front of you AND play music from their homeland (although I don't think simultaneously. But how cool would that be.)

Craft Appreciation Friday

Do you know what I want to be? A member of Austin Etsy.

Whenever summer rolls around, I start itching to get my craft on. Know what I'm sayin'? This city is chock full of really talented, nationally-known DIY fiends, from Austin Craft Mafia to Naughty Secretary Club. Austin Etsy is a relatively new little camp of local crafters, and I pop over to their blog from time to time to see what pretty wares they're hawking.

From A Little Bit of Somethin:






From Paired Hearts:





From PolishedTwo:





Nom nom nom! I want it all!!!

So ever since my awesome sister-in-law Jen gave me The Big-Ass Book of Crafts for Christmas, I've been doing the craft thing a little more regularly. I made these plates for one of my friends who got married last month, and because I'm kind of a horrible person they are still waiting to be shipped:






You actually can eat off of these plates, but they have yet to be tested in a dishwashing machine...so probably safer just to hang on the wall I'm thinking.

Anyway, I don't have an Etsy store yet for these guys, but I'm thinking about it so I have an excuse to make more of these plates. Have any of you started up your very own Etsy store? If so, was it hard?