A few last little tidbits for tomorrow

Door Prizes from the Stitch Lab - Leslie has selected six fabulous prints from the Two Young Street, Prints Charming collection and put together two sets of fat quarters to give away. YUM!

Door Prizes from Naughty Secretary Club - oodles and oodles of goodies! It's going to be hard to part with these darlins!

Door Prizes from Chronicle Books! We'll be giving away a copy of Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts: Fuzzy Felted Friends and Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts! Amigurumi! and Eco Dog: Healthy Living for Your Pet.



Examples of our Make and Take Projects! These button bracelets are based on the Red Sparkles Vintage Button Bracelet from Susan Beal's new book Bead Simple (you can read my review over here. In a word: magnificent!) The current issue of CRAFT magazine has another button bracelet project from Susan called Cute As A Button. We'll have copies of that project to show at the event as well.


My name tag! Leslie had the brilliant idea to print our name tags on fabric and stitch them up nicely. My stitching isn't generally this wonky, but the felt is the stiff kind, and it was kind of tricky to stitch on.

Whew! I still have last-minute errands to run, so it's time to get off the computer and on the road.
See you tomorrow!
CRAFT Magazine Release Party
at the Work*Shop from 1-4 PM with special guest
Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching

And a list of very sincere thank-yous to all the folks who have blogged or posted about the event! THANK YOU! If I've somehow missed you, please let me know!
Anne Marie Beard

Apartment Therapy

Austin Craft Mafia - Thanks, Jen!

Adrienne Breaux of IF+D

Cookie Madness - who will also be at the event with some of her delicious cookies!

CraftyPod

LiveMom.com

My Goodness Confectionery - who will be providing some yummy mini cupcakes!

Naughty Secretary Club - who has also donated some FABULOUS door prizes!

Shannon Lowry of Round Robin Press

Pink Argyle

Ramonsterwear - thanks, Kathie! :)

The Stitch Lab

Sublime Stitching - who has also donated awesome door prizes, and - of course - don't forget that Jenny Hart will be a guest at the event!

The Work*Shop

Countdown to CRAFT Release Party

Yeah, yeah, so I promised a post a day this week. Whew-boy. Two kids, two jobs, two dogs (one of which we discovered needs an $800 heatworm treatment this week - oy!) and doing the actual planning for this event has left me a tad breathless ... and blogless! But things are coming together so well, and it's going to be so.much.fun.

So just come on and join us! I'm posting reminder details below. This will likely be my last post before the event, but once I get the wrap-up post up on Monday (Sunday night if I'm not completely toast) I'll be back to normal bloggy goodness. Including a 100th post giveaway! Because somewhere in this week, I hit 100 posts, and totally missed it. So I may have a random 108th post giveaway or something. But there will be something! Non-Austinites, thanks for stickin' 'round and not being too terribly jealous this week. :)

When: Sunday, June 1, 2008 from 1PM to 4PM
Where: The Work*Shop Austin - 2438 West Anderson Lane, Suite C5* Austin, Texas 78757 (next to Terra Toys and Zinger Hardware)
Who: Hosted by me (Average Jane Crafter a.k.a. Rachel Hobson) and Leslie Bonnell of the Stitch Lab sewing studio. Special guests include Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching, and special yummy goodies from Anna Ginsberg of Cookie Madness, and maybe a few other surprises ....
RSVP to averagejanecrafter at gmail dot com or on Facebook (friend me while you're at it!)

Oh wait! I still need to post a list of links to all the awesome people who've been blogging about the event! I'll do that. thanks, y'all!

CRAFT Magazine - the reason we are celebrating this weekend

All this fun stuff I've been talking about this week is fine and good, but the core of why we are having this awesome party is the fabulous CRAFT Magazine! I've actually been working on a week-long series about several different craft magazines, and CRAFT is at the top of that list. The CRAFT folks have established themselves as the authority on the DIY movement, and have done a spectacular job at building and supporting the crafting community.

All of my friends who have CRAFT subscriptions talk about receiving their quarterly mag in the same way. They get that kind of glassy eye look, and describe - in detail - their reading ritual. I'm no better. The minute I see the magazine in my mailbox, I get all giddy. As soon as I get back to the house, I tear it open and scan through every single page, making mental notes of things I want to go back and check out. After the initial scan, the magazine usually luxuriates on my nightstand, offering up fun reading material for weeks. Once I've fully read it cover-to-cover (and if I'm not immediately doing a project from the issue) it hits my bookshelf, along with all my other issues (I have all but the first one!)

I'm going to go ahead and reveal my complete and utter geeky-ness here by admitting that I look at them all in a line on my shelf much the same way I've admired bookshelves lined with the yellow spines of National Geographic. Sure, there are only 7 issues, but still - I hold them in that regard.

And why not? They are filled with inspiration, fun, and - most importantly - things that I just love and that make me happy. You can't get much better than that.

I also love being able to see articles written by people I know and admire. One of my most hilarious magazine moments was when I opened the Play issue and recognized Diane's thumbs in her Otedama tutorial before I even read her byline. Clearly, I've read waaaaay to many of her wonderful tutorials. :)

I finally treated myself to a subscription to CRAFT last fall at Maker Faire. They were having specials on subscriptions and I jumped on it. I was so glad I did. Not only did I get a great deal on the subscription, but I got to take a free issue home with me that day - so it was like a double bonus. Five issues for the price of discounted four! Score!

And guess what? If you come to the CRAFT Release Party this weekend, you'll get to partake of that same deal. Five issues for the price of a discounted four. (buying 4 issues on the newsstand would be $59.96 while the subscriptions are only $34.95) You'll get to subscribe *and* take a copy of CRAFT home with you that day. How fabulous is that? What are you waiting for?

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More updates on the event tomorrow - including more about the yummy food we'll have. In the meantime, I'll whet your appetite with a look at one of the many door prizes we'll have on Sunday. They are adorable, practical, fun mini wallets from Austin handbag designer, Anne Marie Beard. (cash not included ;)


From Anne Marie: These things are so cute and are perfect for the essentials so you can slip them right in your back pocket or a tiny cute purse. The versatile and super useful pouch are a staple of shoppers all over Austin. They're one of the best selling items at Parts & Labour, and are made so well, that people use them until the fabric wears into shreds...but the seams are still sewn! Thanks, Anne Marie!

A little more about our CRAFT Release Party venue - The Work*Shop

Just over three years ago, I started hearing about The Work*Shop - a walk-in craft shop here in Austin. At the time, I had a newborn baby, and was kind of new to Austin, so it took me a while to get over there. But when I did ... ooooohhh lordy. I fell deeply in love. Not just with the place - with wall-to-wall crafty opportunities - but with the owners, Cindy and Lisa. I attended classes, did some paint-your-own-pottery, and even got to see Leah Kramer of Craftster.org there once. It's also the place where I first met Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching and took an embroidery class from her.

So when I first got word that I'd be hosting the first-ever Austin CRAFT Magazine Release Party, I knew there was no where else in town we could hold the event. Late last year, The Work*Shop moved locations from 6th Street to Anderson Lane, just next to one of Austin's most awesome toy stores, Terra Toys. The space is amazing. It's huge, open and inviting. There are loads of tables, great separation of craft areas, a great party area, and a fantastic consignment boutique of Austin handmade goods.

It's dreamy.

The Work*Shop is a great place to get your craft on - especially if you are with a group of friends who each want to do something different. You can paint your own pottery, do mosaics, make jewelry, decoupage, make bath products and more. They offer fun classes and workshops, and several craft groups meet there on a regular basis. The folks who work there are loads of fun, too.


On Sunday, we'll be using the party area for our main craft project set up. We'll have a special table full of Sublime Stitching goodies (including Jenny Hart!) up in the boutique area, and we'll have some snacks at the back of the shop. We'll even have one table set up with some random crafty bits that the kiddos can play with. And even with all that, there will still be plenty of tables and space for folks to partake in any of the crafts The Work*Shop has to offer.

In fact, Lisa has generously offered a 15% discount on any of the crafts in the Work*Shop for folks who are coming to the Release Party. So you can do our project from the magazine, mingle with some crafty celebs, munch on some treats, entertain the kids, and make some additional awesome crafts at a discount.

Seriously, all this goodness is making me a bit giddy.

And if you can't make it to the Work*Shop on Sunday, be sure to check out their web site for projects you can do any time, and to read about their summer camps for kids.


In other news, super-fun-most-fabulous jewlery designer, Jennifer Perkins, of Naughty Secretary Club gave the Release Party a shout out on her blog today. Thanks, Jen! We're sorry that she won't be able to come to the party ('cause she'll be out in L.A. pimping her soon-to-be-released-and-sure-to-be-awesome book: The Working Girl's Guide to Handmade Jewelry), but she's been kind enough to donate some of her goodies for door prizes. Woot!

Reminder on the details!
When: Sunday, June 1, 2008 from 1PM to 4PM
Where: The Work*Shop Austin - 2438 West Anderson Lane, Suite C5* Austin, Texas 78757 (next to Terra Toys and Zinger Hardware)
Who: Hosted by me (Average Jane Crafter a.k.a. Rachel Hobson) and Leslie Bonnell of the Stitch Lab sewing studio. Special guests include Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching, and special yummy goodies from Anna Ginsberg of Cookie Madness, and maybe a few other surprises ....
RSVP to averagejanecrafter at gmail dot com or on Facebook (friend me while you're at it!)

A little stitchy gift

Today, my daughter and I headed down to Wimberly with my parents for my cousin's daughter's birthday (how many family members did I just pack into that sentence?). I didn't have time to go out and buy a gift, and my cousin and her family live very simply and are about to move overseas, so I knew they wouldn't want any bulky toys or heavy books. I also didn't have time to sew or stitch anything for her.

So what was I to do?


I ended up putting together a little stitch bag for her. She's turning seven, so I thought it could be just right for her. I grabbed some felt and stamped several pieces with Sublime Stitching designs. I pulled out several colors of floss and tied them together, and added a small wooden hoop and little scissors (or - as I like to call them - Snippy McSnipersons). I also cut a small rectangle of felt an stuck three embroidery needles in there. I tucked everything in the drawstring bag I made in my Beginning I Sewing class, and - poof - the gift was ready.

She loved it. She immediately hooped up a design and chose a color of floss. I helped her thread the needle and showed her the backstitch. Before I knew it, she'd stitched half the design. It was fantastic! So much fun! A new stitcher is born ....

More on the CRAFT Release Party tomorrow!

Did somebody say, "door prizes?"

Here's today's teaser for the CRAFT Magazine Release party, and it falls into the Door Prize category. The fabulous folks over at Sublime Stitching (and don't forget, Sublime Stitching's own Jenny Hart will be a special guest at the release party!) have donated some of their brand-spankin' new, insanely adorable Sublime Stitching Postcard Sets. The 5X7 postcards come in sets with three designs and envelopes, and we've got three sets to give away. They are so darn cute! It's gonna be hard to hand them off!

If you aren't in Austin or can't make the party, you can buy your own set of these darlins over at the Sublime Stitching Website.

I'll be giving teasers of our other door prizes from the likes of Naughty Secretary Club, Chronicle Books, the Stitch Lab and more throughout the week. Don't forget to tell your friends, post your RSVP on Facebook and blog about it!

Reminder on the details!
When: Sunday, June 1, 2008 from 1PM to 4PM
Where: The Work*Shop Austin - 2438 West Anderson Lane, Suite C5* Austin, Texas 78757 (next to Terra Toys and Zinger Hardware)
Who: Hosted by me (Average Jane Crafter a.k.a. Rachel Hobson) and Leslie Bonnell of the Stitch Lab sewing studio. Special guests include Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching, and special yummy goodies from Anna Ginsberg of Cookie Madness, and maybe a few other surprises ....
RSVP to averagejanecrafter at gmail dot com or on Facebook (friend me while you're at it!)

A little more about the CRAFT release party

Things are really coming together - even in such a short time period - for the CRAFT release party. I'll be revealing a tidbit or two each day on what we'll have going on. Yesterday, Leslie made the first sample of the craft we'll be making (adorable! and wearable!) and last night I met with Lisa from the Work*Shop to make more plans for the event (loads of fun!). Our conversation didn't last as long as I would have liked, though, because I was slammed with a raging ear infection. What am I? Three years old? I mean, that's how old I was the last time I had one of these suckers. With some antibiotics, pain medicine and a marathon nap today, I'm feeling a little better.

In the meantime, I've started a special sidebar blogroll specifically for Austin craft and design bloggers (if you're reading in a feed reader, click on over to check it out!). If you are here in Austin and are a craft or design blogger, and you're not listed there, let me know and I'll add you! And, if you'd like to blog about the CRAFT release party, that would rock! In fact, I've got this handy little graphic you can add to your blog if you want. Just grab it and go! Let me know if you use it.

OK, ear pain's not completely gone so I'm gonna go snuggle up with our new dog, Emilie. She's curled up at my feet and just gave me a look that said, "let's move this to the couch, lady" She's such a love!

Oh! And here are some fun little contests going on at friend's blogs right now - check 'em out!
Stacy at Stacy Sews has a great review of Sew U Home Stretch on her blog. After you've read it, you'll probably want a copy ... which is good, 'cause she's giving one away. Just post a comment.

And Joan at Nini Makes is celebrating her blog anniversary with an embroidery pattern PDF giveaway, along with a chance to win some of her incredible craft stash. Everyone who comments will receive a copy of the beautiful embroidery pattern, and one lucky winner will get some amazing crafty goods.