Crazy Crafters

Update: Crazy Schedules

2009-07-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry it seems as though the summer season has consumed our daily activities. Which is good! As much as I love to stay home and do some crafts it's nice to be able to enjoy the outdoors.

Stay tuned. I personally will be making Christmas gifts pretty soon. Next week I'll share my version of a wedding garter. Fun Times!

Have a great weekend.

Last Day to Vote!

2009-07-21T14:29:00.001-07:00

Please pick me:

"Pattern1"

Vote here

Here's the post it was featured on: click here. Thanks for your support.

Crafting Events: Renegade SF

2009-07-13T23:37:00.000-07:00

Click here for more info and source of image

I am not missing out this time. I missed the big Maker's faire, then the last Indie Mart... I need to get to this event. See you there?

Creative Crafting: Laundry Bag

2009-07-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

Creative Crafting is to show the world you don't have to be Martha Stewart to craft. It's almost the lazy/simple way of putting together decent crafts. Enjoy our first piece to this feature.

What you need:

1.5 yard of fabrics
Pinking Shears
Sewing Machine
Ikea Jall laundry basket Stand

Instructions:

Deconstruct the original bag by ripping the seams.
Each pieces serves as your pattern.
-Cut fabric out accordingly.

Then start to sew.
* I started with the body of bag
- Fold in half the long way wrong side out
- Sew the edges together (long side only) with a 1/4 to 1/2 inseam whichever you prefer stitch you want. I suggest picking one that will be strong. I have a Kenmore and used a stretch stitch: double overlock.
-open up the side and iron

* Sew on the bottom

-The trick I used was leaving the wrong side of the fabric out and pin the bottom
-Sew around with a strong stitch again

-Turn the bag inside out to continue

* Sew the trims by making bias tape. The top of the rim of bag longer and skinner than the handles.

-Sew the handle bias tape first
-Sew the top of the bag last

* Sew on the flaps that will go around the top of the stands
-There should be two flaps to sew on

Finally (a step I haven't done) sew on Velcro to the under the flap and it's pair to the outside of the bag. This should allow you to attach and detach the bag.

As simple as that.

**Shown here no velcro staps was applied. No time... because I had to write this piece :)

Creative Crafting: Laundry Basket (Preview)

2009-07-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

Source of image here

Above is the laundry basket my husband and I have purchased at Ikea for $3.99. Can’t beat that price. Then… I broke it stuffing two loads in this one basket. Mr. Mad said we can just get a new one but I thought what a waste. The stand is still in good condition. So… I deconstructed it snd used each of the part as a pattern. Here’s a bad iphone photo. Instructions coming up Thursday.

Crazy Moments: Going through memory lane

2009-06-23T08:45:00.000-07:00

Image taken by Mrs. J of Mrs. JRose

Written by Mrs J

From Mrs Mad’s previous post- we sold graduation leis at our old stopping ground- Independence High School. Profitability wasn’t the greatest, but just hanging out with my bffs was insanely memorable. Looking at the stream of blue graduation gowns as they walked into the stadium brought back so many memories for me. This was the place where I met some of my bffs- they are my little girl’s Godmothers, the girls that were part of my wedding, the girls that came to the hospital when I gave birth to my first born, the girls that I meet for happy hour after a long hard day at work, my extended family that are always there for support or just to laugh with!! I am soo blessed to have met my bffs over 15 years ago. We’ve all grown up so much but we’re still the same crazy group!! As we start our new blog you’ll learn more about our lives, interests and of course our craziness!!

Happy reading!!

Image taken by Mrs. J's relative of (left to right): Mrs. JRose, Mrs. Mad, & Mrs. J

Got Leis?

2009-06-18T09:21:00.001-07:00

Image of Ti-Leaf Leis taken by me.
Written by Maritess

You don't know how many times I wanted to say that to get people's attention when we were selling leis last week. I thought it was quite catchy. However we were selling at high school graduations. It probably wouldn’t be appropriate.

June 10th was Independence (San Jose, CA) HS' graduation. We picked our high school Alma mater’s graduation to sell our very first batch of leis. This is what we've learned:

1) Get there ridiculously early to claim the front of the parking lot area.
You get the best visibility there. The ladies out there were probably there around 3pm for a 6pm ceremony!

2) Offer variety of inventory.

Source of Kukui image here
I suggested getting Kukui and Ti Leaves leis on top of our orchid leis. And our orchid leis were white so it wasn't your average fuchsia lei. This caught much interest especially our candy leis and Ti Leaves.

3) White orchids appear to welt faster.
After consulting with a daughter of a florist she said that's the con of white orchids. She suggested lightly dyeing the edges to disguise the welts. I might have to try that out.

4) Carry most of your fresh leis in a box.
We wore ours for convenience. Maybe out of the three of us I had the most trouble wearing them. I was stepping on them, dropping them, etc.

5) Get creative with leis.
I saw several versions of our candy leis. Watch out competitors, I have ideas that I hope will revolutionize the candy-lei world. LOL. People were impressed with our Ti-leaves. I am going to put some money origami and ribbon flowers in a couple of them next year.

6) Check with the school months before graduation.
We made the best sale near the entrance but got booted because the school was selling their versions of candy leis.

7) Think about your inventory
We overbought. Thank goodness it's not too much overage. We will break up the orders of supplies for our fresh leis next year.

8) Take pre-orders
I think this will help to get our fresh leis out sooner!

9) Sell with your CRAZY friends.
This experience couldn't be fun without energetic and bold friends.

Leis are really simple to make. But it’s not really worth it unless you can get your supplies at wholesale. Buy it from someone who makes it. They have the tools, supplies, and time to make it personal for you. We are still selling some if you want them for special occasion. I recommend money leis/ribbon leis for wedding, cotillions, quinceaneras, and welcome home. Inquire your ideas and we can try to draft a personal leis. I’ll post more photos soon.

Source of my wedding photo here
Disclaimer: Our wedding leis were not of Crazy Crafter but a friend of ours. I was just using an example of leis being used for special occasion. Please inquire if you're interested in her work.

Crafting Events: Indie Mart.

2009-06-16T08:15:00.000-07:00

Source of the image here
Written by: Maritess

There is this craft fair that features local independent arts and crafts for sale. I have discovered it through the blogging world. One of the vendor announced in her post that she was hosting a booth at this fair. At the very whim my friends and I saw the flyer stating there was beer and cupcakes. We were sold at that point.

When we arrived at the Independent on Divisadero (it's original location) we were floored. The amount of vendors with their apparels, accessories, and display arts were amazing. It's not your typical craft fair. It's far more rocked out than that.

They have their first fair of the summer season this Sunday. It's OUTDOOR this time converting into a street fair. Check out the details in the flyer above or click here.

Crafting Events: Lightbox SF presents "The Crafty Hour"

2009-06-11T12:58:00.000-07:00

Written by: Maritess

Lightbox of San Francisco, CA is holding an event tonight called "The Crafy Hour" from 5-9pm. There will be a few SF's well-known craft bloggers scheduled to attend.

Check out the details here.

So bummed I can't make this event. I won't be there because unfortunately/fortunately I have my own projects to complete. Hopefully we have photos soon to reflect the fruits of our labor. But the Lightbox seems something I need to look into and anyone else for the matter who's interested in boosting their crafting products. Reading in their website under the about section captured my attention (read below).

Source here.

Evenings spent indulging our creative passions while sipping wine and talking about the future planted an idea. We talked of being able to create all the time and helping others to do the same. We began to imagine a space for ourselves and other artists that functioned as a community. That idea led to the creation of Lightbox...

Lightbox is first a support system for emerging artists seeking help in marketing themselves to clients. Additionally we are working toward creating a workspace and gallery that will house a select group of artists in an ideal creative space. Lightbox will provide the support, services, and resources our artists need as they work to build a solid client base and create their brand.

Keep an eye out on their calendar. Sounds like if you're serious about your crafts and arts this is the number one place to start.

http://www.lightboxsf.com

Welcome!

2009-06-08T22:22:00.000-07:00

Written byMaritess

Welcome to our blog. We are 3 best friends that met 15 years ago in high school. Since meeting each other we've plan events, creating things by hands, and tried to learn how to DIY everything we have our eyes set on. This blog will journalize the things we make plus feature some that we would like to do or wish we thought of. It's an amazing crafting world out there.

I'd like to explain our background more but this is graduation week. Right now we are busting our bottoms to get our grad products together to sell. You may see us out there at high school graduations in San Jose. We'll be taking photos and sharing soon. Sorry we came late into the scene but if you have grads that are celebrating later in the year it's not too late. Contact us!