Weekend Guide: September 1 + 2

1st Saturday in the Dallas Arts District

Date: Sat, Sept 1stTime: 10am - 2pm

Location: 2121 Flora Street, Dallas, TX 

More Info: http://www.thedallasartsdistrict.org/

Participating Etsy Dallas Member: Dowdy Studio

Craftivities Sneak Peek

It's almost party time! 

Craft Party time that is. 

Here's a little sneaky peek at what we have planned.

This celebration is all about the craft, so let's get right to it. Oil and Cotton has planned two exciting craft activities for this party. The first is based on Operation Rainbow Brains (O>R>B>), a street art project that uses chalk pastels to create gradients of rainbow colors on trees throughout Oak Cliff. We will create miniature versions of this project on sticks and small branches with pastels and yarn.

A second activity will be a miniature fabric wall hanging using scraps of fabric. We will have small precut linen/cotton/canvas banners and fabric swatches with needles, thread (and glue for the sewing challenged). We will create abstract fabric collage wall hangings that can be hung from the rainbow branches (made in the first project) or cord.

It's not a party without food and beverages. We've got that covered! For this Craft Party, we'll have complimentary sodas and Shiner on tap, and two local favorite food trucks will join us for dinner. FOOD TRUCKS?? Oh yeah! Come hungry and bring some funds to help show your support for Gandolfo's and Trailercakes.  Gandolfo's NY Deli is proud to offer a variety of delicious homemade deli salads and fresh ingredients. The premium meats and freshly baked breads make up the best sandwiches. (They have great vegetarian options too). "One bite and you are there!" And at Trailercakes, their goal is to serve the best tasting cupcakes you’ve ever had, while evoking nostalgic emotions of happiness and bliss. "Happiness comes in many forms, and we hope to summon those emotions the moment the first bit of frosting hits the lips. That, to us, is the icing on the cake and why we like to say ‘happiness is in the frosting.' "

And of course, Etsy Dallas believes every celebration needs a photo booth, so we've got that too! Rosemary from Paper Beats Rock has created another amazing photo booth for us, so we can get all snap happy when we are done getting our craft on!

See you there!

Where: Oil and Cotton, 837 W. 7th Street, Dallas, Texas 75208

When: Friday, August 24th

Time: 7-9pm 

What: Two craft tables, raffle prizes, photo booth, food and drinks

Cost: Free, but you may want to bring some $$ for dinner

Craft Blast from the Past: Wrapped Feather Pens

Hello! it's Esther from estieMade, with the fourth installment of Craft Blast from the Past. This series is all about taking an old school craft and using it in a new and modern way. The focus today is embroidery thread. Many of us (especially girls!) grew up making friendship bracelets and anklets with this stuff. There were a million-and-one ways to tie the brightly colored strings to make various kinds of bracelets. Now that we've grown out of making friendship bracelets, why not use that to wrap some pens? I found this wrapped feather pen tutorial from idlewife, and was inspired to make my own. Don't know about you, but I still had some floss left over from middle school at my parents' house. The feathers were purchased from Joann Fabrics a long time back. And the pens were spare ones from our drawer. So this was essentially a $0 craft.
steps /1/ Start by taking the gel pen cartridge from the casing. Measure your embroidery thread, making sure you have a long tail (it's better to have more than less!)
/2/ Check to see how the end of your feather fits into the pen cartridge. The feathers I used had ends that were taped with masking tape, which allowed the feather to fit snugly into the cartridge. If your feather end is too thin (i.e. falls into the cartridge), wrap the ends with a small bit of masking tape.    /3/ Tie one end of the embroidery thread around the taped end. Then put fabric or tacky glue all over the taped area, and insert feather into pen cartridge.

/4/ Start wrapping the pen, using the basic friendship knot. You'll want to work towards the pen tip.

Idlewife has this great "how to" video for how to do the wrapping:
 
To change colors, use the existing color to tie a knot to the new colored thread. Hold the old color close to the pen and wrap the new color around both pen and old color.

/5/ When you've reached the tip of the pen, bind off the thread. You can add a little dab of glue to the ends and secure it to the pen.
And you're done! What can you use your feather pen for? I think it'd look neat for signing a guest book at a wedding. Or perhaps for party favors. Maybe they could be just to spruce up your cubicle at work. The sky's the limit on this one!

Hope you will join us at our Craft Party for more DIY fun!

Member Spotlight - Pamplemousse 1983

Get to know another fabulous new member of Etsy Dallas, Maryam of Pamplemousse 1983. She has a wonderful blog and Etsy shop filled with color and a love for photography. 

Hi Maryam! Tell us a little bit about yourself and your shop. 

Well, my name is Maryam and I live in East Dallas with my husband, daughter and two dogs. I moved to Texas in 2001 (!!!) to attend the University of Texas at Arlington and ended up meeting my husband here. In my shop I sell photographic prints and jewelry made with my photographs.

Fine Art Bobby Pins

How did you get started selling your creations?

I opened my Etsy shop a few years ago but never was really serious about it until last year. I loved the idea of Etsy but I didn't really have time to work on my own shop until I had my daughter. Since having her I've had a new burst of creative energy that's really pushed me to work on my shop and set new goals for success.

Floral Polaroid Rainbow Fine Art Photograph

You sell such beautiful photographs! Where did your love for photography come from?
I never was very good at math and I've always hated writing so I decided to major in fine arts. After I took my first photography class I was hooked. I ended up concentrating in Photography. I've always loved taking photos but never really thought of it as a form of art until college. After I graduated I ended up taking a job in insurance (gag me) and found myself in a creative hole. I eventually quit, got my teacher certification and became an elementary art teacher. It was during this time that I really started exploring photography as an art form again and renewed my passion for the medium.

Do you have any advice for other creatives who want to open their own handmade shop?
Do your research! I think a big mistake I made starting out was not looking at the competition. Know who your audience is, what they're looking for and find ways to reach them.

Doe Visits Grandmother Fine Art Photograph

What is your favorite part about Dallas? Favorite shop? Restaurant?
I really love my neighborhood in East Dallas. I love being so near White Rock Lake! My favorite shop is We Are 1976 on Henderson which sells really awesome knickknacks, art prints and accessories. As far as food, there are a ton of really really great places to eat but my newest favorite is Goodfriend in East Dallas (right by Dowdy Studio!). Their Loretta burger is AMAZEBALLS.

Sew Sew Sew Fine Art Photograph

Describe your creative personality in three words.
Colorful, Fun, ADD.


Thanks so much Maryam! You can find more Pamplemousse 1983 here:

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It's a Craft Party and You are Invited!

Two Dallas creative powerhouses, Etsy Dallas and Oil and Cotton, have joined together to bring you a celebration of meeting, making, creativity and community. Come meet your crafty community and share in a creative skill. We hope you will join us as we have fun and party down with scissors in hand! 

Where: Oil and Cotton, 837 W. 7th Street, Dallas, Texas 75208
When: Friday, August 24th
Time: 7-9pm 

What: Two craft tables, raffle prizes, photo booth, food and drinks

Cost: FREE!!!