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

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 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!

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