Sew Darn Cute

Greetings from Summer Camp

Hey folks! I'm up in gorgeous, misty Lake Arrowhead this weekend teaching a few craft classes at MaxFunCon. It's a weekend-long conglomeration of comedy nerds of the highest caliber and those who love them. I'm with my friend and crafty assistant Hannah, who will be helping me teach folks how to make summer camp-style crafts like God's Eyes (that's one of my recent creations above) and mason jar terrariums. Right now we're enjoying a roaring fire while prepping our class materials for tomorrow. Earlier tonight we enjoyed a nice dinner with some funny and sweet strangers (now pals) and saw a great comedy show. The weekend has hardly started and it's already a blast!

If you're visiting this blog for the first time cuz you saw the URL in the MaxFunCon gift bags: welcome! And FYI, I actually don't blog here very much. But you can catch me weekly on the CRAFT blog (my column is called How-To Tuesdays) and every so often at Apartment Therapy LA. Or you can visit me at my retail shop in Silver Lake, Home Ec. (located inside ReForm School). I update the blog there regularly too. Signing off for now...those popsicle sticks aren't gonna glue themselves together!

Goodness Gracious!

I seriously can't believe it's been so long since I updated here! Remember that Home Ec. kickoff party I mentioned? Well it went great, and we've spent the last couple of months hosting workshops and classes, developing craft kits and generally having a blast with our crafty neighborhood pals. I have been kept so dang busy by the new shop (and by my various other projects) that I haven't even had time to log into Typepad. Bad Jenny!! But here are some quick links and bits of info I have to share...

This Friday night at Home Ec. we're hosting a decoupage plate class taught by SF artist (and one of my faves!) Lisa Congdon. (I'm taking the class myself so I can make one of these babies for my newly-repainted kitchen!) This is a fantastic Mother's Day gift project too, so if you're in or near LA on Friday I totally recommend this class. You can read all the details on the brand new Home Ec. website (which I am insanely happy with and proud of...go peek!). I've also been spending a lot of time on the Home Ec. blog since the site launched. We're posting projects, crafter interviews, and links of interest. RSS us, baby!
 

In other news, I've joined the Apartment Therapy LA team and am now contributing craft projects there every two weeks! You can view an archive of the projects in my Flickr set, which will link you to each tutorial. Pictured above is the kitchen cupboard message center I created in our apartment. I'm so happy with how it turned out and use it constantly!
 
I've also been posting a new how-to project every single week at CRAFT. They've just renamed my column and even given me a hilarious little author drawing! Check out the projects here.

Also (and I'm sure this is way too short notice for it to matter, considering it starts in 3 hours, but...) I will be a guest on the Whole Living show with Terri Trespicio on Martha Stewart Living radio, Sirius 112 on Thursday, May 7. It airs at 10am EST, 7am PST. I think I may lay down for a cat nap now, just so I'm not speaking complete gibberish come 7am...!

Signing off for now, with hopes of checking in again soon! Many thanks to anyone still reading...

Home Ec. Party & Book Signing Tonight!

Well folks, the night is finally here! If you're local to LA, I hope you'll swing by ReForm School tonight for our Home Ec. department's kickoff party. It's also gonna be my very first book signing! That is, if UPS actually shows up with the books today, as the tracking number says they're supposed to...fingers crossed! (I'm actually freaking out about that last part.) Hope to see you there!

CRAFT Projects

Holy cats, you guys are so super sweet. Thanks for helping to celebrate the release of my book with me. I really need to get to a bookstore to see it on the shelves firsthand! I think it will be pretty surreal.

I wanted to let you in on a few things I've been up to over the last several months. Although I haven't been blogging here, I was blogging up to 7 times a day for CRAFT magazine. In case you don't have the CRAFT blog on your RSS feeds, or maybe just missed the posts, I thought I would share a few of the projects I came up with for their blog. Hope you enjoy!

Customized 3-Ring Binders. I use these constantly!

I used IKEA tea towels to create this quick tater-stamped kitchen curtain.

A secondhand baby sweater and some fabric scraps turned into a fun needle and thread themed hoodie.

Three Things

Long time, no see. OK, so that's an understatement.

It would take a pretty long time to wrap up the past several months that have passed since my last entry, so howzabout I don't try. Instead, let's just jump right back into updating regularly...yes?

That said, there are three big changes in my life I feel the need to share immediately. Here we go...

My new book is out TODAY! I haven't gone to the bookstore yet to see it on the shelves, but at least one of my friends (big ups to Rachel in Austin!) has run out to purchase it. It's a little unreal to me that it's finally out there in the world. Craziness! If you pick it up, please be sure to tell me what you think!

I've started a new venture with my friends Billie and Tootie from ReForm School here in Los Angeles. We've teamed up to add a new "Home Ec" department to their flippin' fantastic shop. Last night we kicked off with the first in a series of amazing craft and how-to classes taught by a slew of artists, crafters, and designers. Home Ec will eventually have it's own website (we're thinking within two weeks) but for now you can read up on the classes here. Our opening party happens later this month, February 20, were we'll also be hosting a book signing for yours truly. If you're local I hope you can stop by!

I think this one speaks for itself. Meet Dizzy, who came to me from the Pasadena Humane SOciety. She's six months old and the best thing that has happened to our household in a long time!