More DIY Kits

I just dropped off more DIY Brooch Kits at Oil & Cotton last week. Ireally enjoy the opportunity to play with the colors and textures and choose the buttons. I think they will be really fun for someone to assemble into their own creation. There are so many possibilities! On sale now exclusively at Oil & Cotton in Dallas.

Introducing Modest Ambition Vintage and Supplies

After the Supplies Me! Art + Craft Supply Sale I was inspired to open a second Etsy shop just for supplies and vintage. I've toyed with the idea of opening a vintage shop for awhile, but just hadn't gotten around to it. Now, I've finally done it. Modest Ambition Vintage & Supplies or modestambitionvands will focus on supplies, both handmade and commercially available that I use already, and vintage, mostly paper goods. I'll be adding to the shop regularly as I build the inventory - I have plenty here, I just have to find the time to put it up.

I opened my original shop in 2007 and let me just say, Etsy has really changed since then! It is so much easier to open and run a shop now. I'm glad they are putting the work in to make it better.

By a Thread

My friend Stephanie gave me a box of thread for crochet and tatting.  I made this piece from some of the thread for her birthday. The fabric looks like needlepoint canvas but it is actually an upholstery fabric sample. I crocheted all of the components for the collage except for a small string of tatting that is folded up inside of the red pod. My grandmother made that. I had fun playing with the fibers, choosing different weights and hooks for different effects. I actually enjoyed using my tiniest steel hook to create the crenelated shape at the bottom corner, working two stitches into every stitch on every round to create a hyperbolic pseudosphere. I hope to try my hand at this sort of project again soon.

DIY Brooch Kit

I've started making brooch kits for sale at Oil & Cotton in Oak Cliff, Dallas. Here are two examples. There are 9 different crocheted parts plus one fabric yo-yo. I've made sure that there are numerous ways to put kit together so the design is really up to you. Each kit comes with two pin backs and two pony-tail holders. Why two ponytail holders on a brooch kit? Because I don't like waste! I've included enough parts for four items, but since you're only making 2 brooches, what to do with the rest of it?

The kit also comes with matching thread and two felt squares for backing the brooches. Finally, four buttons are included. Again, this is to give you lots of choices so you can make the best most awesome custom item just for you. The buttons are from my vintage stash and picked out just for the color combination included in the kit.

The packaging is completely recycled from other purchases of mine -- clean and new when I got it, lovingly repurposed for you. Baby stuff comes in lots and lots of plastic so I have a sea of it. The kit also includes step-by-step instructions for making your brooches. 

Altogether you have a kit with endless possibilities, handcrafted and selected for you. What do you want to make with it? The kit retails for $20 and is currently only available at Oil & Cotton. It makes a great gift for a crafty friend or buy it and make one for you and one to give away.

Supplies Me! Art + Craft Sale 2011

Shop art and craft supplies from Dallas’ craftiest! Etsy Dallas announces Supplies Me! Art + Craft Supply Sale on Saturday, June 25, 11 am–2 pm in the Blue Room at South Side on Lamar in Dallas. This is an exclusive opportunity to buy art and craft supplies directly from the members of Etsy Dallas (http://www.etsydallas.com).

Crafty members of Etsy Dallas will be offering their coveted supplies for sale to the public, including: fabric, beads, buttons, scrapbooking supplies, and loads of other crafty odds and ends. This is your chance to stock up on unique finds to help you express your artistic side. While there will be plenty of inspiration available, there will be no finished goods at this event. Participating members include: ChildsPLAYdesign, DCimaginations, Haute Hardware, La Alicia, Loop and Lil, maggie may I, Modest Ambition, silla soup, and tefi.

Proceeds from sales at the Etsy Dallas team table and extra supplies will be donated to Captain Hope’s Kids, a nonprofit organization that provides clothing, diapers, and other childcare supplies for homeless children all across North Texas. Through their programs, events, and partnerships, they help meet the needs of our community’s homeless children (http://www.captainhope.org).

Free to attend, free parking.

What: Supplies Me! Art + Craft Supply Sale

Who: Etsy Dallas

Where: Blue Room, South Side on Lamar, 1409 South Lamar, Dallas, TX 75215

When: Saturday, June 25, 11 a.m.–2 p.m.

More blogs about this event here: The Goods, The Charity

Lena's Green Dress

I made my first (completed) attempt at a dress for Lena. It is a real dress complete with a lined bodice and proper hem, but it doesn't exactly work. The fabric is too stiff and coarse to drape right, but it was fun to make and I love the color and pattern on the fabric. Next time I'll choose a thinner fabric. Meanwhile, this dress is great for absorbing drool and does actually fit.

2011 Etsy Craft Party

Etsy Dallas and Oil & Cotton present

2011 Etsy Craft Party

Celebrate the Craftiness in Your Community

Etsy Dallas and Oil & Cotton present “2011 Etsy Craft Party,” 7-9 p.m., Fri., June 10, 2011 at Oil & Cotton, 837 W. 7th Street, Dallas, Texas 75208. Come celebrate the craftiness in your community as we mark the sixth birthday of Etsy, Inc., a Brooklyn-based global online marketplace and community for the handmade, with the second annual local craft party. This event is free, for all ages; open to the public.

The “2011 Etsy Craft Party” will include “craftivities” from Oil & Cotton including landscape necklaces, leather cuffs, and paper teepees, a community collage, spinning demonstrations by local artists, a community weaving project, an Etsy Dallas photo booth, handmade deserts from Etsy Dallas members, drinks, raffle prizes, and a screening of the documentary “Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft and Design.” We’ll also be raising money for scholarships for kids in the Oak Cliff neighborhood to attend art classes or camps at Oil & Cotton.

Come meet local artists and experience the handmade scene in Dallas.

Etsy Dallas and Oil & Cotton present

2011 Etsy Craft Party

7-9 pm, Fri., June 10, 2011

Oil & Cotton, 837 W. 7th Street, Dallas, Texas 75208

Free, all ages, open to the public

Etsydallas.com

Etsy, Inc., based in Brooklyn, NY, is an online marketplace for handmade goods, supplies, and vintage wares. This is the second year that Etsy has called for a global craft party to be organized independently in each city to celebrate their birthday. “Last year, over 5,000 people participated in over 500 meetups from Dallas to Romania, and this year our goal is for over 15,000 people to share in the spirit of Craft Party,” said Julie Schneider, a member of the Community Team at Etsy Labs, Brooklyn. “We envision Craft Party to be a celebration of the wide array of making and an expression of the diversity in your local community.” To find out more about the global impact of the “2011 Etsy Craft Party” visit http://www.etsy.com/storque/events/throw-an-etsy-craft-party-in-your-town-12650/.

Etsy Dallas, the original Dallas team and the first city team in Texas, is a cooperative, all-volunteer group of artists, crafters and designers living and working in Dallas who sell their work on Etsy.com. The team boasts talent from a range of mediums and crafts, and is independently run by its members. “Etsy Dallas" and the "Handmade Bash" are independently located in Dallas TX and are not affiliated with Etsy, Inc. For more information visit etsydallas.com.

Oil & Cotton opened in September 2010. Blending an appreciation of the past with current multidisciplinary art practices, our students are invited to engage in the expressive languages of both music and visual art. Our hands-on classes are taught by professionals with knowledge of traditional and contemporary practice. We provide creative space for education, exhibition, performance and exchange between the public and the art community. For more information visit oilandcotton.com.