This cocktail is great in the sun or shade with a your favorite knitting project.  I really want to make a couple of knitted screens for my windows in my sewing studio.  Lots of ideas buzzing around as far as what materials to use.  I have a lead on a welding supply that might be the right gauge for knitting.  Now all I need to do is find the time.  If you already have a knit, crochet or other portable project to work on then you can make this recipe and get to making that project.  If you don’t have a project started like me let’s just make a drink and make some lists, while contemplating the gauge, needle size and so forth.

Mango, Strawberry, Grapefruit Margarita + Knitting or other portable crafts

In either a blender or a Magic Bullet blend add:

• 10-12 pieces of frozen mango (this is sold at Trader Joes)
• 6 washed strawberries with the tops removed
• 5 oz of tequila
• 1.5oz of triple sec
• 1.5oz lime juice
• 1/2c grapefruit juice (if you like it weaker add more grapefruit, stronger add less)
• add 2c ice

Blend in blender until smooth.

Optional: garnish with grapefruit wedge.

Now pick up that knitting project, have a drink and don’t deny your DIY!

DIY Lounge is absolutely thrilled to have some exciting new kid’s camps available for your youngsters!

Our innovative instructors provide youth with the most intriguing curriculum yet!

While the kids are out of school, Art School is IN SESSION. Jennifer Wells Design, DIY Lounge and a wide variety of local artist/teachers are teaming up to offer an amazingly comprehensive art program for kids age 6-12! This camp operates as three art workshops in one dynamic day. Children participate in unique art and music projects, art history education, and cultural diversity, while gaining insight into themselves and the world around them.

June 21- June 24

Oceans of Art

What are the boundaries of creativity when exploring what lives in the sea?  It seems the possibilities are endless! Sure, we will explore the wonderful world of real live sea creatures but why not also engage the fantastical? ocean monsters, shell people, and whatever other salt water creatures students can dream up will be represented en masse! We will make wee animals and surfers out of beach debris, redefine the limits of google eyes and take general charge of all other decorative materials.  Our students will learn how to make nautical sculptures from recycled materials. They will paint oceanic scenes with ease.  Fish soap?  Yup, that too. How can you say no?

$210.00

August 23-26

Green Art For your Garden

Did you know that gardening is one the most popular hobbies for children as well as adults?  At this camp we’re taking a hobby one step further and making it art as well. Students will start by learning to build plant stakes made out of terra cotta.  How about a Toad Home?  Every garden needs a toad and every toad needs a home. Next, students will joyfully engage in the making of pinwheels.  These pinwheels are constructed from laminated paper and can be used on your bike, in the yard, or where ever else your heart desires.  Finally,  we’ll make sun prints and a fun frame to keep the art flowing . Stained glass stepping stones will pave the way to a greener garden, and students can use their green thumbs to make unique clocks with bottle caps filled with unique art and fabulous wood scraps from a cabinet maker. We’ll paint, glue, collage and construct our clocks as reminders that its always time to reduce, reuse and recycle.
$210.00

We are very excited that Morgan at Etsy offered me the opportunity to create a blog post describing our project, DIY Lounge.

It went live the other day and we’ve been receiving many compliments and well wishes.  We are hoping that this will invigorate our Kickstarter fundraising campaign.

If you haven’t read it yet please click on the link below.

We are working on our booth for Crafty Wonderland, which is happening May 1st and 2nd.  Our booth will have a full 360 degree experience!  What does that mean?  Well, we are seriously tricking out our booth so that we can interview people in the DIY Lounge at Crafty Wonderland!  Should be lots of fun, but it comes at price, which is a lot of work.

Here you can see us working on our sign.  It is made from velveteen, Turkish felt, and yarn.  Richard and I had this concept that we knew would look great, but all the cutting, sewing, ironing, and then attaching it to a piece of foam core took 8 hours.

Here’s a picture of Richard pinning down felt pieces to prep the sign so that I can stitch it down.  To make the letters pop I used a quilting technique called couching.  I zigzag stitched over yarn to create the black edge you see in the final shot.  Then once I was done creating the front of the sign I attached black velvet on the back and put a piece of foam core in between the front and back, to give it some structure.  I hand sewed the end together and plan do to a few more tweaks so that the sign is a little more taut, but this is how it’s looking now.

I am really happy with how it turned out so far. This is just one small piece of our 360 experience.  Today Richard and I will be working on our booth, erecting walls, figuring out how to hang pictures and so much more.

. . . . and just as a reminder Mark Montano (the author of the Big Ass Book of Crafts and other “Big Ass Book” and generally a crafter extraordinaire) is coming to kick it with us at Crafty Wonderland too, so stay tuned!

By Jen

We are beyond pleased to announce that, Mark Montano, author of “The Big-Ass Book of Crafts”, Dollar Store Decor: 100 Projects for Lush Living That Won’t Break the Bank, and many more, will be appearing at the Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Spring Sale. Mark is also the star of many TV projects including: WeTV’s She’s Moving In, and TLC’s While You Were Out and many of you will recognize him as the face of the Yudu.  He will be on hand to sign his brand new book, The Big-Ass Book of Home Decor: More than 100 Inventive Projects for Cool Homes Like Yours.  Mark will also be doing a Make and Take and generally spreading his crafty goodness around Portland.

DIY Lounge will be interviewing him for the upcoming Pilot Episode in our booth so come by and say hi.  It will be so nice to introduce him to the amazingly creative denizens that call Portland home.

See You All There!

Dear Faithful Friends and Fans,

As you know we are going to be appearing at the Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Spring Sale.  We will be doing some filming, interviewing, etc. One of the many things we’re really excited about is the DIY Lounge Raffle, a chance for us to raise some money for the project and a chance for you to obtain some awesome swag for the price of a raffle ticket.

We are so honored and excited by the generous contributions.  One of our favorite companies is, Namaste, a company specializing in bags and accessories specifically designed to carry all of your knitting, crochet and miscellaneous craft products.

These vegan bags and accessories meld form and function seamlessly. Here are a few examples:

So, don’t forget to stop by and say hi.  We are really excited to be part of the Crafty Wonderland Family.

Cheers,

You already learned from the last post all the dates and times of the upcoming Crafty Wonderland, so I won’t bore you with the same details.  If you want em, check out the last post before this one.  Otherwise, it’s mixer time . . . So Monday night we went to the Crafty Wonderland Mixer, which was an opportunity for Crafty Wonderland vendors to meet up and talk, snack and drink with other vendors.  It is also an chance for vendors to pick up postcards and posters for the event.  I showed up with my camera in hand and shot some pictures of all the cool kids there.  Here is a picture of Cathy Pitters, one of the creators of Crafty Wonderland.  The other gal who created Crafty Wonderland is Torie Nguyen, but she is not pictured here.  Cathy has another business called Bossa Nova Baby.   Torie also has another business.  She has a jewelry business called Totinette, but she has a day job and a baby so she doesn’t have time to keep up with her etsy store.  Here is a link to her blog.

I showed up early before the crowd arrived.  It was nice to catch up with a few people and have some quality one on one time. I talked with Jen Lees of Mimi Muse and Jackie Imdahl of  Scrumptious Suds.  They are like best friends or something because they are always together.  Both women make amazing handmade items worth checking out.

Everyone was in such a good mood, chatting and sharing with each other.  Oh yeah, the delicious cocktails made at the Bakery Bar didn’t hurt either.  Here is a crowd shot of the night. The folks smiling in the foreground are Jocelyn Barda, one of the owners of Bakery Bar and my co-host for the DIY Lounge TV show, Richard Fox. Richard and I will be at Crafty Wonderland with our partner Patrick Cummings filming all the haps on May 1st and 2nd.  Come by our booth and introduce yourself!  We always love to make new friends!

Isaac Watson, of Focal Length Designs and part of the I Heart Art Portland Etsy Team, showed up and promptly stole my seat, but I didn’t mind.  I was in mingle mode.  I love to see boys in the craft scene.  We need more of them.  Come out come out where every you are, all you crafty boys!  I finally got to meet Amy Wing of Amy Wing Designs.  I know her work and her business, but some how I haven’t actually met her face to face, but as you can see for yourself she is yet another super cute artist.  We have a lot of them here in Portland Oregon.  Amy makes one of a kind hand-crafted Jewelry that  I would call, gorgeous and nature inspired.  Her work is as sexy as the pose she is striking at the right.  One of the unfortunate things about having a busy craft business is that you can’t always meet all the folks that you are working with at craft sales and such, because there just isn’t time.  This is why mixers like the one that Cathy and Torie hosted are so important.  It allows all of us busy self employed folks the opportunity to have “co-workers” and “water cooler” conversations that we wouldn’t have otherwise.

Below is Cathy’s son Levi.  Levi is an artist and business person too, even though he is only in middle school.  His business is call Aliens and Afros.  I haven’t checked out his work in a while, but in the past he was very interested in campy and kitschy pop culture, such as Mr T and Peewee Herman.  Here he is at the mixer doing his homework. I did a cool photo effect on his pic because he is such a cool kid.

All and all, I would say this was another fun night for Port-Craft-Land.  Oh that’s good, I’m gonna use that again in the future!!

Thanks for the good time Crafty Wonderland and Bakery Bar!

By Jen

D.I.Y. Lounge will be a sponsor and presence at the upcoming, Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Spring Sale.  We will be on-site taping the event, showcasing artists and their wares and promoting our upcoming TV show.

We are very excited about having a presence at our favorite Handmade Bazaar.  Cathy Pitters and Torie Nguyen have been wonderfully supportive of our fledgling show and we hope to return the favor by showcasing this great event.

This time Crafty is going to be a two day event, Saturday May 1st and Sunday May 2nd from 11AM to 5PM.  Remember the admission is free and the First 200 Shoppers receive some goodie bags filled with some handmade goodness.

So stop by our booth and say hi.  We will be selling raffle tickets for some amazing prizes with all proceeds going to produce the TV Show.

See you there!!!

Today Jen, Patrick and I shot footage for the new Kickstarter and YouTube Teaser.  Talk about super easy and fun.

The day started with us taking advantage of the coolest craft store in the U.S., Collage on Woodstock.  We then made our way over to the one and only Bakery Bar where we shot some footage of us molesting some fondant.  Our favorite vintage furniture store, Lounge Lizard was next, where we took complete advantage of the abundance of mid-century furniture and accessories. We them scampered over to the fabulous Scrap to show our viewers what recycling really means.  The day of shooting ended up with us at the Alibi Tiki Bar punch drunk from too much fun and a bit of Mai-Tai.  Even though it was only noon we worked hard for that cocktail, so don’t judge us, plus it was really more of a prop than anything….*hiccup*

DIY Lounge, the Multimedia Experience (Extreme Working Title) is turning out to be sensationally easy and rewarding.  We can’t wait to share our experiences, education and knowledge with you, our faithful fans.

Stay tuned for the new Teaser and remember:

“DON’T DENY YOUR DIY”

For those of you that don’t know, Jen, Patrick and I have been accepted to Kickstarter to raise some much needed capital to film our Pilot Episode.  Kickstarter is an amazing site and if you don’t know anything about it, then please check out our project to get more acquainted. This is an all or nothing funding project which means  If we don’t hit our goal you pay nothing.  No amount is too small and everything is appreciated but we do have some amazing incentives for those donating substantial amounts. Once again, thanks so much for your contribution, support or well wishes.  All are welcome.

Visit our Funding Site by clicking above on the image

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http://twitter.com/DIY_LOUNGE

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