All local Portlanders know about Scrap, but in case you are not local or you live under a crafty rock let me tell ya.  Scrap is an organization and storefront that takes donations of unwanted and overstock supplies including paper, fabrics, tiles and resells these items at very affordable prices to the community.  Scrap’s focus is on environmental sustainability and community education.  Since they are a non-profit organization they must do annual fundraisers in order to maintain this fabulous business model.

This year their fundraiser is called “Incognito”,  a masquerade ball held at the Oregon Zoo Ballroom.  The night includes a silent auction, dinner, a Junk to Funk fashion show, live auction all with music provided by the Transcendental Brass Band.  This event is scheduled for Thursday, October 28th.

Best of all, Richard and I will be the emcees for the event!  We are really excited to use our crafty personalities for such a great cause.  We totally believe in Scrap and feel that their mission is the type of creative fundraiser that we can get behind.  To learn more about Scrap, their fundraiser, Incognito, or to get tickets, check out our links.  Hope to see you there!

We love a good margarita at DIY Lounge, but making them at home can be such a drag sometimes.  The neon yellow margarita mix you buy at most liquor stores tastes fake and making margaritas from scratch is an awful lot of effort (lime squeezing), which is both messy and time consuming.  This recipe is for those folks who love a margarita, but want it quick with no artificial flavors.

Have you heard of the Freshies line of mixers?  They are all natural cocktail mixers that taste great and are affordable too.  Most liquor stores carry them, but if yours doesn’t you can order their products online.  We’re adding a twist to our margaritas by mixing in some pomegranate juice.  Check out how fast and delicious this is.

Pomegranate Margarita:

1 cup of tequila
2 1/2 cup of Freshies Margarita Mix (add more or less mix depending on your personal taste)
1/2 cup of pomegranate juice

Ice
1 lime
Margarita salt for rim (optional)
Small glass pitcher

Pour first three ingredients into a small glass pitcher and mix.
Cut a lime wedge and rub on the rim of glasses.  Dip glasses in salt (if desired).  Garnish with lime wedge.  Pour yourself a delicious pomegranate margarita!

by: jen

Richard has been on vacation celebrating his Birthday, so there won’t be a vlog post this week.  Instead I’m going to show you what I’ve been up to.

Creativity isn’t tidy.  I am constantly surprised at the amount of mess that I can produce while crafting.  When I’m not working on the DIY Lounge TV show or on the DIY Lounge video tutorials, I’m making crocheted and reconstructed apparel and accessories under the name Knot Ugly Designs.   Right now I just have hats in my Etsy shop, but I make many other items, such as reconstructed sweaters, reconstructed shirts and I am working on a dress prototype right now.

I recently cleaned up my studio, which is a combination sewing studio and the DIY Lounge TV studio.  Something like a good old fashioned cleaning must be photographed because it might not happen again for a long time.  When you are creative you MUST live with a certain amount of mess, but here are some pictures of the momentary clean that is my studio.

The DIY Lounge sign is where the DIY Lounge TV studio is.  At the left is where my sweater collection lives.  I will cut the crap out of these sweaters in the very near future.

Here’s another perspective.  You can see the bathroom off to the right.

Here’s more sweaters that have been cut up, but still have a lot to offer, so I keep them for the next project.  I have them hung on a rolling rack with a lower rack set up so I can see all of my sweaters at a glance.  Off to the right you can see my sewing studio.  I’m not totally done decorating in there so I will leave that to photograph for another day.  Trust me, I don’t judge anyone else’s creative mess, but remember a little cleaning every once in awhile can really help keep you on task and can allow for more creativity.  Not to mention finding those items that you put in a that safe-place-so-you-would-remember-where-it-is-later and then promptly lost, or maybe that’s just me.

by: Jen

This summer has been an amazing and crazy time for the DIY Lounge crew.  We’ve had so much support and interest in this project and have been approached by many people offering support in whatever way they can.   Jen and I have been producing blog content and beefing up our networking and marketing efforts.  We’ve been attending many events such as “The Summit of Awesome“, which have have been hotbeds of like-minded people who want to further the idea of a more crafty world.

As you may know, our fundraising effort with Kickstarter.com was unsuccesful but this has been a blessing in disguise.  So we are embarking on a new effort with the fundraising site, Indie Go-Go, which we will launch this fall.  We are very excited about this new fundraising site which allows us to keep all the money raised even if we don’t meet our funding goal.

Last but not least, we have had an addition to the DIY Lounge family. Our director, Patrick Cummings who has been extremely busy filming the upcoming season of “Axe Men” for the History Channel welcomed a new baby boy, Declan Riot.

Keep your eyes peeled for our weekly cocktail/crafting recipes, tutorials and more video content.

Don’t Deny Your DIY!

Richard

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!

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.

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,

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

Please join and follow us online as well at:

http://twitter.com/DIY_LOUNGE

http://www.facebook.com/DIYLounge?ref=ts