This is such a busy time of year for me, in the very best kind of way. I just love it when my schedule starts filling up with creative events, craft shows, and outside activities (even though the sun hasn’t made many appearances yet this year in Portland). Here are a couple of those upcoming events that you might want to know about…<\/p>\n
I Heart Art Portland and the PDX Etsy team are hosting a craft party at the Museum of Contemporary Craft this Friday – admission is sliding scale and benefits Japan earthquake relief efforts. There will be food and drinks, a DJ, great crafty prizes, and even hands-on crafting stations. I’ll be teaching needle felting, so be sure to drop by my table if you’d like to give it a try (preferably before you have much of the beer or wine – felting needles are sharp!) You can buy tickets on eventbrite<\/a>.<\/p>\n Next Wednesday, June 15, brings the second annual Rebel Craft Rumble<\/a> benefit for SCRAP<\/a>. For $8 ($10 at the door) you get to watch local high-powered crafters put their skills to the test in speed-crafting rounds with reclaimed materials (plus a beer ticket just to make sure things stay rowdy.) Sister Diane<\/a> won last year’s face off, and the winner will have to challenge her for the title – no small feat! I’ll be participating as well – not as a competitor in the main event, but in a mini-competition during the intermission. It should be a hoot!<\/p>\n I’ve already mentioned the upcoming mini-maker faire in Vancouver<\/a>, but for those of you not quite that far north, I’ll be at Urban Craft Uprising<\/a> once again this summer. It’s an early one this year – July 9-10, at the Seattle Center exhibition hall. As always, it promises to be chock-full of awesome, so I highly recommend dropping by if you’re in Seattle.<\/p>\n One more thing I wanted to mention – the awesome podcast\/OPB radio show Destination DIY<\/a> is currently raising funding for a new season on Kickstarter. Last time I checked they were at less than $500 left to their goal, with the rest of the week to complete it. If you haven’t listened yet, check out the show<\/a> – and if you like what you hear, donate<\/a>! Better yet, if you’re interested in building your sewing skills you can get a 4-class beginner or intermediate series from PDX Seamsters with your $100 donation. The class normally costs $130, and I can personally vouch for the Seamsters as I took some classes with them this spring, so it’s a killer deal that also supports local creative enterprise – what’s not to like?<\/p>\n