Tag Archives: crafternoon

May Crafternoon

  May 24, 2013 - 7:00 am | blog
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This month for crafternoon we worked on embroidery projects. I was able to pick up a bunch of supplies at the Fabric Sale earlier this month, so I had plenty of hoops, threads, and some vintage patterns. Molly was kind enough to bring her stash of Sublime Stitching patterns, and of course I had mine to share.
I decided that this time we would do a early crafternoon, and had everyone over at 9:30am for breakfast treats. It was lots of fun, but maybe a bit early since a few of the gals have over an hours drive to my house, so I’ll stick to later times for awhile.
I didn’t get a finished photo of my embroidery which was from a vintage cat pattern. I plan to turn it into a little pot holder.

April Crafternoon

  April 28, 2013 - 10:37 pm | blog
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This month’s crafternoon was a laid back project that did not involve sharp blades, or complicated materials…..just Perler Beads (also called hama beads) and the little plastic racks you arrange the beads on before ironing. I asked everyone to bring a pattern or idea (cross stitch patterns work great, but you can find tons of perler beads patterns for free online too) Though some of the patterns take some time, they really are super simple to make! And smart phones make it real easy to look up even more patterns on the fly!
This crafternoon was a potluck, so there was lots of goodies to eat, and a white elephant gift swap as usual. Unfortunately I didn’t take as many photos as I usually try to do, but I think you get a good idea of the fun things everyone made.

March Crafternoon

  March 11, 2013 - 11:45 am | blog
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Yesterday was my March Crafternoon, and since Easter is approaching I went the easy route, and we dyed eggs instead of making anything. I covered the tables in brown craft paper, so any drips or spills wouldn’t matter. Easter is one of my most favorite holidays because I love Spring, the colors, and the really vintage Easter decorations you can some times find.
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We always do a white elephant swap, but this month I thought it would be a lot of fun to have every one make an Easter basket for the swap instead. I kind of went overboard filling up a basket I found at a thrift shop, but it was so much fun! All the baskets looked so cute on the table together. This photo actually wasn’t even all the baskets, a few arrived a little later.
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Katie wore a really cute Easter dress & dainty vintage gloves, so cute. Jessee brought a bunch of beautiful macarons, including some marbleized ones that I wish I got a better photos of. I always have so much fun with these ladies, and it was a great way to kick off Spring (slightly early) in my mind. We had really lovely 60 degree weather yesterday and it’s supposed to get just as warm today. This week I’ve got lots going on again. My guy’s birthday is this week, and then his party is on Saturday, so lots to do. Of course I also got it in my head that I might like to switch around two of the rooms in our house, so we shall see what happens with that.

January Crafternoon

  January 21, 2013 - 7:00 am | blog
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Yesterday was my January crafternoon party. I’ve been sick with a cold/flu for the past few days and thank goodness I woke up this morning feeling better then I have in days. I might not of had a real voice for the party, but I also wasn’t achey and freezing cold either, so that was a trade off I was willing to make.
Since it is the flu season of course a few of our friends couldn’t make it….. Sean & Amanda couldn’t make it because they had the most beautiful lovely excuse of all. I cannot wait to be 100% well so I can hold her again! I’m pretty over the moon about my new niece and the fact that she lives so close by. I need a good dose of baby squeezing weekly for sure.
Ok…back to crafternoon…I have always wanted a good old fashion charm bracelet jam-packed with bits and bobs that hold some special meaning to me. So I thought it would make a fun project to make at our next crafternoon. Some of these lovely ladies I only get the chance to see once a month, so it makes me really happy that we can get together.
I found a good deal on a bunch of charm bracelet bases on Etsy and asked everyone to bring little things to use as charms. There were buttons, squished pennies, game pieces, tiny action figures, re-ment, and of course actual charms too. I had a dremel (and thanks to Jessee all the proper pieces to drill tiny holes) some jewelry glue, jump rings, eye hooks, and jewelry pliers. I went through all my supplies in the studio and came up with quite a few things that could be used. Its amazing the pieces & trinkets you can acquire over the years.
We did our normal white elephant gift swap (which I have so much fun wrapping things up for…I kind of have an usual love for wrapping gifts) This time it was the rowdiest game of all with lots of gift stealing, but it made it last a long time and was really fun.
The bracelets everyone made were so beautiful & personal. I wish I had been able to take clear photos of all nine of them. Sarah’s bracelet included buttons that belonged to her great grandfather. Dina spelled out her dog’s names, and Molly’s included tiny little mugs. Jessee’s at the bottom with the grey variant beads she made herself was a particularly stunning bracelet. I’ll take some photos of mine to share soon, I cannot wait to wear it.

December Crafternoon

  December 9, 2012 - 6:59 pm | blog
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December’s Crafternoon was a big one! All in all my crafternoon bunch is about 25 people who I’ve met at various times in my life. Lovely localish people who may not all like crafting, but don’t seem to mind gathering together for company & food. Because the crafternoons take place at different days each month not everyone can usually come and this is really good space wise. December’s crafternoon however was set for 17 people and that is quite the crowd for my older house where the rooms are on the smaller side, and I don’t have big open spaces. Seating was a challenge this time and I opted for a cafe type look with four smaller tables rather then one long one. It is still a challenge space wise, everyone is close together and getting up and walking around isn’t the easiest. But everyone is a really good sport about it. I just don’t know what I will do if one month magically everyone can come…I try not to think about it.
I have had a few people expressing interest in crafternoons and I just want to encourage everyone to start their own, it is so much fun, and I think you’ll find that you don’t have to have “crafty” friends for it to work. The focus is never on making something, or having something turn out amazing. Instead it’s about an excuse to gather, share some food, and not have that awkward stare at one another bit (especially for people meeting for the first time) because everyone is busy with their hands. This some how just helps break the ice and before you know it everyone is chatting and having a great time. If you do host one and worry about cost, you can always do potlucks, and ask every to contribute supplies.
December’s crafternoon is extra fun because of all the holiday decorating I get to do. Finally got to break out my egg nog set I found this Summer, and all my Christmas glass ware.
This was also a pie-party like last December where I asked everyone to bring a pie..sweet or savory their choice. I made a tomato corn pie, and Milk Bar’s cinnamon bun pie (although I did change the streusel I didn’t like the oats in it) We also do a white elephant gift swap, which meant a huge pile of presents!

Once everyone started arriving with the pies it was crazy, so I couldn’t get photos of all of them. However Molly was one of the first people there and she brought a cannoli pie, a spinach pie, and her husband made a chocolate marshmallow cheesecake for her to bring! Lets also talk about the fact that he got up extra early the morning of the party to create the little tiny marshmallow snowmen for the top!! It was pretty amazing.




This month we decorated wreaths in whatever style we wanted. I picked up as many wreaths as I could find at thrift shops really cheaply and many people brought their own too. Then I just asked that people bring supplies for decorating. It is always so great to see all the different styles of wreaths that everyone came up with.
I’d love to have a link if you already do a crafty-like gathering, and I am sure there are tons of other crafternoons going on out in the world, so please leave me a link if you do one too.