Here’s another one for the locals, but with possible fringe benefits for everyone else…

You may recall this workshop on Social Marketing I taught last year for I Heart Art: Portland. (Follow that link to see the video.)

Well, coming up on July 30th, I’ll be back to teach another one!

Locals, you can register for Social Marketing 102: How to Be Interesting Without Getting Overwhelmed. It’s only ten bucks, thanks to generous support from I Heart Art, and I’d love to see you there. I have a lot of interesting tools to share on how to tell your stories more effectively online, and how to manage the time you spend on online marketing. The whole thing takes place in The Lab at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. Seats are limited. Ahem.

I hope they’ll record another video for those of you outside PDX!

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

Hey, Locals – if you’re free any Saturday in July, you should stop in at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. They’re hosting a monthlong community weaving project in conjunction with the (really lovely) Laurie Herrick weaving exhibition.

SCRAP has donated a whole bunch of nifty stuff to weave with – yarns and zippers and strips of craft foam and ribbons and so on. These simple cardboard looms work great, and you can take home instructions for making one of your own.

Then, on July 30, volunteers will take all the weaving people have created all month and stitch it into a larger piece that will become part of the Museum’s permanent collection.

Cool, right? This freshly-warped loom awaits your creativity. Bring your kids – it’s a great activity for them, too!

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

Dang, I always said I’d never be one of those bloggers who start every post with “Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while, but….” Clearly, it’s going to take me some time to be able to juggle CRAFT and CraftyPod. I really appreciate your patience.

So… I won the SCRAP Rebel Craft Rumble last week, and had a phonemonal good time! Let’s talk about that! Up above there are the four crafty gladiators who competed in the event: Chelsea, Aurora, Shawn and Bridget. (Good lord, take a close look at Bridget’s shoes!)

Image by Mike Harper

Competition was fierce this year, with much harder challenges. In the first battle of the evening, Bridget and Shawn had 15 minutes to customize a wooden chair with random bits of interesting stuff from SCRAP. Then, Chelsea and Aurora faced off, with 15 minutes to make three hand-puppets. (Man, I’m glad I wasn’t in that competition!)

Image by Mike Harper

Our projects were judged on creativity and utility by this illustrious panel of judges: Jen Neitzel and Richard Fox, Lindsay Newkirk, and Julie Sabatier. They gave us scores from 1-10, with the biggest point total getting the win.

These judges were bribed frequently throughout the competition. Not least by me. It’s the best way to win a Rumble, is all I’m saying.

Image by Mike Harper

With the first round of competition done, Aurora and Bridget (winners of Round One) faced off to make a custom skirt – also in just 15 minutes. By this point in the competition, I was pretty sure Aurora had a lock on the whole night. She’s crafty and hilarious and let me tell you, knows something about making use of cleavage. (That’s her above, with our ringmaster, Alyssa Kail.)

But ultimately, Bridget took Round Two, partly on the strength of her finished skirt and partly because she knows something about working the large hind end of a bee costume. There are good reasons this is a 21-and-over event.

Finally, it was time for me to make my big “Craft Master” entrance and face off against Bridget. First, I bribed the judges with handmade gifts, and I bribed the audience with a shower of these pins. Only I had written on them the 21-and-over versions of the phrases “Dang Crafty” and “Crafty as Heck”

A kind soul in the audience also showed up and presented the judges with cups of booze that had Vote for Sister Diane and Give Sister Diane a 10 written on them. Everything happened so fast, I don’t even know who that good samaritan was! Thank you, Crafty Booze Fairy!

Image by Mike Harper

Bridget and I were then given non-working chandeliers and strings of Christmas lights, along with lots of random crafty bits. We had 15 minutes to make a lighted masterpiece.

I actually recall very little of the competition, as evidenced by my fierce concentration above. Poor Bridget – at one point her glue gun conked out and she had to use mine. And then, her light string didn’t work.

I would like to go on record as saying I did not bribe any of the stagehands or prep crew. Perhaps it was the work of the Crafty Booze Fairy, again. But I will say this: I had it easy. I got to hang out and show up for the last competition. By this point, Bridget had been through two other battles. Maybe they should make me run laps while the others are competing, or something.

Image by Mike Harper

So here I am presenting my finished chandy to the judges. (I promise, I did smile at many points during the evening.)

When the points were tallied, I had won! So now I’ll defend my title against all comers at next year’s Rumble. And I can’t wait!

Image by Mike Harper

…But I can’t write a post about Rebel Craft Rumble without giving special hugs to Isaac, who made the whole evening fun. He made signs for each of the competitors (and this is probably the only one I can safely show you). He also got arrested four times for boisterous conduct.

(I should mention, the Rumble has a Craft Cop, who punishes those who get out of line by putting them in this jail here. Then they have to get bailed out.)

In the final competition, Isaac also slipped me some self-adhesive googly eyes (which somehow ended up on everyone’s, um, chestal areas, but that’s another story).

Want to see more? Pop over to the SCRAP Facebook page. You’ll also enjoy Jen’s post about the evening. Part of me wishes we could do a battle like this every week!

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

Here’s another one for the locals – and don’t hate me because Portland has all the good crafty events. It only seems that way.

Save some time this Friday, because there’s epic crafting going on all day and evening at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. If you swing by during the day, you can help sew quilts for Japan relief with Quilts for Quake Survivors. And/Or, you can take part in three other open crafting stations:

• 11:00 am–1:00 pm — Japanese-style Papercuts
• 1:30 pm–3:30 pm — Freestyle Embroidery
• 4:00 pm–6:00 pm — Mighty Ugly Project

Then, the Museum re-opens Friday evening for the big Etsy Worldwide Craft Party. At that shindig, not only can you get food and beverages, you can partake of needle-felting, origami, hand-weaving, and making crafty artist trading cards. There will be prize drawings, too!

The party is also a fundraiser for Japan earthquake relief, so you can get tickets over here for a range of donation amounts, starting at just $5.00. It looks to be a great time!

For all the details, head over to the I Heart Art website. (I heart I Heart Art, by the way. They’re such a great organizer for meaningful community events like this one.)

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

This one’s for the locals – although believe me, I wish you could ALL come see this.

Wednesday, June 15th is a big day – the Rebel Craft Rumble. It’s SCRAP’s annual fundraiser, and it’s a knock-down, drag-out crafty free-for-all where only one crafter can emerge victorious.

Hopefully, that crafter will be me. (No! I mean, “Actually, that crafter will be me.” Gotta work on my trash talk.)

I competed (and won, thank you very much) in last year’s Rumble. Sadly, I have no photos of the grand event to prove this, so you’ll have to take my word for it. But I did compete dressed in a homemade nun’s habit, with a pair of silver scissors hanging around my neck. I had 10 minutes to turn a big T-shirt into something fashionable.

This year, we have four great crafty gladiators, who will systematically eliminate each other in timed bouts of crafting, until there is only one left to face the biggest challenge yet – ME!!!!!!!!

Said gladiators are: Shawn Bowman (of Criminal Crafts fame), Cari Carter (of Motokitty fame), Bridget Benton (of Eyes Aflame fame), and Chelsea Badding, who has the perfect name for this kind of thing.

So locals, I hope you’ll go get yourself some tickets to this madness, and come cheer me on. It’s a 21-and-over event, and your ticket includes a beer ticket. It’s that kind of show.

‘Scuse me now. I need to go work on my bribes for the judges.

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

Turns out, roasting your own coffee beans isn’t all that difficult! Last weekend, I had an awesome time learning how at Mr. Green Beans here in PDX.

If you’re local, do visit the store on NE Mississippi. It’s lovely, and well-stocked with raw coffee beans from various parts of the world. There are several coffee-roasting classes each week, held in their comfortable upstairs classroom. (They also sell raw coffee beans in their online store.)

The class was super well laid-out, with sample beans at different stages of roasting, and a sample of the “chaff” that peels off the beans during the roasting process.

Fun Fact: Coffee beans grow in size and get lighter in weight as they roast.

Co-owner Trevin Miller does a very thorough job explaining three methods of home coffee roasting: with a commercial roasting machine like this one; with an air popcorn popper; and with a simple skillet or wok. Each one has pros and cons, but surprisingly, each one takes only a few minutes.

Fun Fact: Raw coffee beans are shelf-stable, and will keep for a very long time at the right temperature and humidity. Once it’s roasted, though, coffee loses its freshness quickly, despite all the little tricks we do to keep it fresh longer.

K. even got to participate, and roast a batch of beans in an air popcorn popper. (I always knew that getting rid of the one I had in college would someday come back to haunt me!)

This nice guide on the Mr. Green Beans website talks about what happens during the roasting process.

Fun Fact: You might think it spells amazing while you’re roasting the beans. Actually, what you smell is smoke, as that “chaff” flakes off and burns. (Ventilation is super important.) And freshly-roasted beans smell nothing like coffee! They’re busy outgassing carbon dioxide for the first few hours. The lovely coffee aroma emerges later.

We tried the skillet method at home, and found it really educational. (Yup, I know that’s not a skillet.)

It’s important to keep the beans moving at all times, so they have equal heat exposure on all sides. This can be somewhat challenging to do in a flat skillet, which is why the air-popper method is so nice – as that hot air blows through the beans, it keeps them in motion.

See what I mean? Our skillet-roasted beans came out rather uneven. They still developed a lovely aroma, but ultimately the brewed coffee lacked some complexity.

Even so, you cannot believe the difference in flavor when your beans have been roasted within the last 12 hours or so. Unbelievably delicious coffee! We’re now stalking air poppers on eBay.

Incidentally, Locals – Mr. Green Beans also has classes and equipment for at-home cheese making and soap-making!

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

The Recycled Arts Festival has been happening across the river in Vancouver, WA for several years, but thanks to Terra, this year I finally attended. And I’m so glad I did!

It was fun to see an array of really talented artists, all of whom make beautiful things from old stuff. And many of them were totally new to me.

Above there is one of my favorites: Steve Dietel’s bottlecap-encrusted chair. Check out his website: Howling Heights.

I also enjoyed meeting Janet and Vonda of Tiffany on a Stick. This was their first weekend in business! Their garden stakes, made from a gorgeous array of glassware, are incredible. I’m sure they’ll be a great success. (Follow that link to their Facebook fan page and you can keep up on them.)

Here are some truly cute felted hats by Leslie McCray of Sweater Heads. (Visit that link to her Etsy shop – she’s a master with the shapes.)

I really love Chris Tymoshuk’s coffee can lamps, which are wired up with a bulb inside. Check out the Etsy shop for some even more intricate ones.

Imagine a group of these hanging in a corner of your sun porch. And now I’m jealous of your sun porch.

It was also nice to see a few local friends there. Anitra Cameron makes these awesome giant garden blooms from old china. (You can see an interview I did with her a while back over here.)

Christine Claringbold has added these freaking awesome garden pinwheels, made from old vinyl records, to her line. They look so cool, spinning in the breeze. (Come to think of it, I interviewed Christine a while back, too.)

…And Megan Klepp makes these amazing garden gazing balls from bowling balls and marbles. I love them! (There’s a past interview with Megan as well.)

In addition to all the crafty goodness, there was a pretty interesting social experiment: Tossed and Found. Here you see just a fraction of the perfectly-good things Waste Connections, Inc. and Columbia Resource Company found at transfer stations over a three-month period. Everything was on display in this big tent – and it really is amazing what people will throw away.

Anyway, everything was later raffled off to the public, for free. Pretty cool, huh?

There’s more to see in my Flickr set, if you’re interested.

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

So . . . Summit of Awesome.

First, Kelly, Sara, Christine and Kim of Hello Craft did an absolutely wonderful job organizing it. Portland owes them a big debt of gratitude for choosing our city this year. (More in the whole gratitude thing in a moment.)

Actually, quite a few people have done posts detailing the specific events of the Summit. (See Susan’s series on CRAFT, Hello Craft’s recap post series, and the Summit of Awesome Flickr Pool for a sampling.)

I’ve decided to do something a little different, and share what it felt like to be part of this conference. (And, why I think it’s amazing that the craft community is beginning to organize educational conferences like this.)

(Quick note: all the image in this post are by Hello Craft. My pictures sucked.)

In the online craft community, we’re abundant in many things – connection, conversation, inspiration. Our only real scarcity is face-time. Many of my favorite people in the world live thousands of miles away, and I hang out with them only in the form of words on screens.

Heck, I don’t even get to see my local crafty friends that much – we’re all in our separate studios, working long hours in order to make our living. It’s hard to make time to get together. And even in a city with insanely abundant resources like Portland, so many events seem to be centered more around selling crafts than making them – or discussing them, or learning from each other, or hanging out.

So first and foremost, the Summit was like a technicolor explosion of real, live contact.

Anytime you have an opportunity to spend three days in a big, jubilant crowd of like-minded souls, take it. I got to deepen my friendships with so many people, and meet so many interesting new ones. All of which has added new life to my daily online interactions, and sprouted all kinds of interesting collaborative projects.

I also loved being in a learning environment with other creative people, and I loved that we could learn both business stuff and crafty stuff. The two brain-modes have such a nice synergy – if I got a little tired out learning about pricing, then I could head over to the jewelry-making table and get refreshed. And no matter where I went, there were nice people and great conversation.

Not only that, there’s something very powerful about the immersion of a three-day event. Honestly, much of the information we shared could be had online somewhere or other, if you’re willing to dig around for it. But when you’re in a real room, among friends, with a real teacher who’s been through the same struggles you’re going through, you learn much more effectively.

And then, there’s something powerful in seeing all these fellow crafty entrepreneurs around you and realizing that everyone has the same ups and downs. Everyone is experimenting and growing and trying to make their thing happen, despite weird economy, despite personal fears. And for every aspect of my business I’m clueless about, there’s someone else who knows a ton about it. We have so much to offer each other, but online there are often layers of information hidden, and we’re too prone to feel isolated.

I came away from the Summit with a much clearer mindset about my business, and pages of new ideas scribbled in great excitement.

So, I’d like to leave you with three ideas…

First, if you attended the Summit of Awesome, or you’d just like to help support the cause, pop over to the Hello Craft website and become a member. Hello Craft is a nonprofit that seeks to support and advance individual crafters and the handmade movement. They do good work. And membership is a nice form of creative tithing.

Second, if you’re within range of Seattle this August, you have another chance to get in on this whole powerful face-to-face learning/making experience. Check out the Conference of Creative Entrepreneurs. They have an amazing lineup of workshops, and I highly recommend it. (And remember, it’s a business write-off.)

Lastly, here’s a photo from a post-Summit breakfast with new friends: Ryan, Soma, Michelle, Aly, and Taryn. We made this happen because we loved the Summit experience, and wanted to keep it going.

And that’s perhaps one of the nicest things a craft conference can do for you.

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

I wasn’t around here much last week because I was participating in the Summit of Awesome. I’ll have a post on that later this week, as soon as I can wrap my head properly around all the awesome I experienced there. (For now, you can take in the Flickr pool everyone’s contributing to.)

Anyway. I did want to share some highlights from the day after the Summit, when I tooled around PDX with Lee, Kim, Teresa, Kari, and Susan. Because it was also awesome.

First, we met up at Flavour Spot for waffle sandwiches. PDX is blessed with so many great food carts, and this is my new favorite. That, my friends, is a ham and smoked Gouda-stuffed waffle. And lordy, was it tasty.

Locals, if you haven’t been there yet, drop everything and go. (Also, aren’t Kim and Kari cute?)

Then we paid a visit to the Show of Awesome. (That’s Amanda in the foreground. Soon I’ll show you the perfect mug I bought from her.) P-Town really came out in support of the show, which was wonderful.

We popped in to Twisted for a few minutes, and I had to share these freaking amazing menu items from their tea bar.

From there, we went to the Twilight Rummage Sale, which is a monthly event at the Eagle’s Lodge. People have been telling me to attend this thing for years, and I’m now kicking myself for taking so long. So many vintage treasures, so affordable, and such nice people. We all made epic scores, and then hung out in the bar…

…comparing hauls. This image shows just a few choice bits: a string of vintage buttons, an 1800′s composition book, filled with letters and writing, an enameled muffin tin, swizzle sticks, and wonderful costume jewelry bits to remake.

(You can see lots more haul pictures over here.)

We also pooled our leftover dollars to buy some grab bags – $1.00, $2.00, and $3.00 varieties. Then we headed to Zach’s Shack for hot dogs and grab-bag-opening. You can see some of what we found in them over here.

…And with that, I’m off to continue my awesome-recovery program. See you tomorrow.

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

Just a quick post for any locals who might have missed it – there are still a few passes left for Summit of Awesome, which kicks off on Wednesday!

If you’ve started a crafty business, this is a great place to get help from the likes of Kari Chapin, Christy Petterson, Danielle Maveal, Heidi Kenney, Kim Werker, and Mark Montano.

(You’ll also find workshops from local superstars, including Ryan McAbery, Lee Meredith, Christine Claringbold, Bridget Benton, Rebecca Pearcy, Namita Wiggers, Amanda Siska, and Susan Beal.)

Actually, there are way more people than I’ve just listed – you should check out the schedule.

I’ll be doing two workshops: Online Marketing Mistakes on Wednesday, and a small-group version of Craft Blog Tune-Up on Thursday. I’d love to see you there!

You can get a variety of passes for this awesome crafting and learning conference – whether you want to attend the whole shebang or just a day.

If you’re outside Portland, by the way, keep an eye on Etsy Virtual Labs – they’ll be live-streaming some of the workshops.

It’s going to be… well, you know.

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

In all seriousness, yesterday was the Best. Day. Ever.

First, I had a new tutorial on CRAFT – and one I was really happy with. As part or their sewing theme this month, I took a bunch of paper grocery sacks, cut them up, and sewed the pieces together in a patchwork. Then I fused some vinyl to the top, so they’d be spillproof, and some felt to the bottom to give them body.

Resulting in… nice placemats! (And, coasters!) The complete how-to is right over here.

Then, I had an article about social media marketing appear on Etsy’s blog, The Storque. This was based on the workshop I taught for I Heart Art last weekend. I’ve been blown away by the great response! (By the way, the image there is by catastone.)

If you want to read this bad-boy, click right here.

And then lastly, it turns out that I freaking won the SCRAP Rebel Craft Rumble! There’s a whole story to tell there, so I’ll give a full account once I can share some pictures.

…Talk about major planetary alignment, though!

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

It’s a bizzy week around here, but I wanted to pop in and share this work-in-progress. I’m tricking out my Crafty Chica Cruise apron to wear in Thursday’s SCRAP Rebel Craft Rumble.

(For deets, read this post. I’m going to be the Craft Master!)

Anyway. It’s awesome to have an application for the giant sequins! And I’m considering adding more buttons and maybe a little Sharpie tie-dye.

All those big star sequins are sewn at the top only, so they kind of sway in the breeze. Heh heh heh.

What else should I add to this thing?

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

Hey, Portland! Mark your calendars and order your tickets for SCRAP’s Rebel Craft Rumble – it’s coming up next week.

It works a lot like Craft Corner Deathmatch – citizen crafters will compete in a series of head-to-head rounds, with the fruits of their labors judged by Julie Sabatier.

The winner advances to the next round, and the loser, well, orders a beer.

Ultimately, there will be one winner, who must face the ultimate challenge – a head-to-head matchup with the Craft Master.

And that’s ME!

(I’m told I need to bring a secret weapon to the competition. I’ll give you five seconds to guess which craft supply I’m thinking of bringing.)

Get more details at the SCRAP website. All proceeds go to benefit SCRAP, which is the worthiest of causes.

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

We’re wrapping up our local Knittn’ Kitten project this week! The lovely and talented Bridget Benton contributed this cool scarf, made from recycled tees and doilies. Here’s what she said about it:

“This project sheet was inspired by a scarf pattern I saw in Generation T: Beyond Fashion by Megan Nicolay and by all the awesome crochet-adorned garments in, yes, Crochet Adorned by Linda Permann. I can’t crochet, but I can sure as heck buy crocheted doilies from the Knittn’ Kitten, and experiment with 100 ways to get them off the couch and onto my clothes . . . I heartily encourage you to do the same!”

…And as a bonus, check out this doily-stencil tee Bridget made! What a cool idea!

Locals, head into The Kitten this week for Bridget’s free project instruction sheet. And non-locals, that free ebook of all these projects is coming!

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!

First, if you don’t mind a little daughterly pride, my Mom is celebrating her first Blogiversary! I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since she started her blog. In that time, she’s shared a metric ton of crafty and kitchen value. It’s been such a thrill to watch her dive into blogging.

You can enter her holiday fabric giveaway to help celebrate. And, she just posted a roundup of her first year’s holiday tutorial posts.

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Sew, Mama, Sew has just launched Handmade Holidays III, a month-long collection of tutorials to help you with your gift-making. Be sure to check it out – they always offer up wonderful stuff.

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Locals, be sure to check out An Evening of DIY, presented by Destination DIY producer Julie Sabatier, along with PDX Salon. There will be live demos and interviews about how to make radio, how to make a terrarium, and how to make bacon. Also live music and stop-motion animation. Cool!

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Also, just a quick thank you – the reception for Crafty Tree Trimmings has been very warm so far! To everyone who has ordered a copy, thank you. We greatly appreciate your support of Project Linus.

Remember, this ebook is only available until the end of December!

CraftyPod is a blog about making crafts and making media. If you're seeing this post on another website, I'd love to know. Thank you!