I think I need a quick photo ode to my crafty room-

The last two are a bit chaotic- these are before the cleanup. I’m not going to show you the really ugly stuff- no way! But just look at that fabric, waiting to be made into cuteness . . . so sad, isn’t it?

t’s been a while since I’ve sewn for myself. I’ve mostly been making halloween things (remind me to tell you about my halloween party) and then Christmas things, and experimenting with unfamiliar crafts. That mostly involves wool. But at long last I have something cute and sweet and new to share. I’ve decided to make kits! This one is pretty straight forward, and a must for the creative crafter- a Craft Corsage! Here is a preview-

Since we’ve opened, the best part has been when crafty people come in to use the studio (it’s only $15 to get access to all our equipment and books for the whole day). Like the crafty boys who came in on Friday- Hi crafty boys! They didn’t know how to sew, but they knew what they wanted to do- some badass alterations to their clothes. So they bought a little fabric, asked for pointers, and badass-ified their pants. Meanwhile wonderful, wonderful Sasha sat in her booth and got crazy with some red glitter and paint and a whole table of creative chaos- it was so yummy to look at. Plus I got to work on some displays. Very, very, very cool day. Here are some photos.

Note the copious amounts of HOT fabric. But that’s not all friends, check this out-

MmmmMmmm. Long tables, good lighting, access to every crafty machine imaginable, and yes, that is a craft library in the back. Did I mention that the dangling electrical outlets actually pull out to 25 feet if you need? Sooooo much crafting happens here friends. Everything from soap-making to spinning yarn to resin jewelry- it’s kind of ridiculous that I get to work here.

Your good friend Polly Danger has learned to spin yarn, knit with it, needlefelt cute creatures, make books, make soap, scrapbook, and cut with a rotary cutter! Actually, I’ve learned way, way more that just that. Now that I have a replacement for sad little Elph Camera One (RIP Elph) I can once again document my goodies! And speaking of goodies . . . Here’s a sneak peek at Polly Danger aprons 2009

Keep your peepers open for aprons!

For my design I chose to represent all five of my ridiculously wonderful doggies in silhouette. Here’s a shout-out to Osa, Yellow, Monty, Jojo, and Petina- I love you all! Anyhow, I combined my love of formality, cuteness, quirkiness, and punk to make this design. All of the frames are specific to one dog. So how did I accomplish this incredible feat? I will show you.

STEP 1.
The first step was to locate and purchase blank wallpaper. HA! Good luck finding any in a physical place! For the next round of wallpaper I think we are going to have to order from heaven. BUT good news! An even more punk rock, diy, recycle-friendly, eco-friendly, method is to find wallpaper with no glue on the back-side and use that blank space as your canvas. We got ours at Big Lots on clearance for $2 a roll! Be prepared with some spray fixative because the back of the wallpaper picks up dust and finger smudges like nobody’s business! Also, the image on the wallpaper did tend to show through to the backside only the slightest bit, so keep that in mind when you design.

STEP 2.
Design. I had my design ready from the moment I decided to do this project, but that didn’t make it any easier to get onto the screens. I drew a tiny sketch of my idea for the panel, and then rolled out the wallpaper to see how it would look blown up.

STEP 3.
Build your screen(s) according to wallpaper size and design. Had this design involved polka dots or flowers I could have used just one screen and used an interlocking, seamless pattern. My design was a long panel with stripes, so I ended up using two 25 inch screens. My original idea was to build one long screen and print the whole design in one go, but my loving screen-printer hubby explained that the squeegee goes from side to side and not from top to bottom, so that would mean getting a six-foot long squeegee and using three people to pull it. Kind of a funny idea now that I think of it.

Make sure you use the proper tape. That’s all I’m gonna say about that. Duct tape was the cheapest and easiest to come across- we had a full roll in the tool cupboard. According to screen printers out there you can buy a specific tape for this, which I would recommend because you DO NOT want to get to the printing stage and discover that your tape is lifting off the screen and there’s ink all over your table and now the wallpaper too.

STEP 4.
Get your design onto your screen. You can, if you choose, take your screen to some magical place where they burn your image into your screen, for a fee, or you can get buck wild like I did and hand draw the design onto your screen with drawing fluid. Personally I like to do things by hand. I like the look of hand-drawn things. I also did not want to spend money for something that I’d enjoy doing on my own (especially after getting that squeegee cut to size- they charge by the inch! $1.80/inch times 26 inches- you do the math). We printed out a guide for the design, taped off the stripes, and traced the doggies onto the screen, all in pencil. Next we used drawing fluid to fill in the positive parts of the image- the parts that we wanted to print. After that dried we did one nice swoop of block-out fluid with the squeegee and let it dry before washing out the drawing fluid. Depending on the complexity of your design, this part is definitely time consuming. If you like painting it should prove to be relaxing and fun. If not, I would definitely recommend taking your design to get burned into the screen because it could get tedious and frustrating. During this portion of the project I discovered that sewing has given me ZOOM VISION! I have a super hero power!!!!!!!!! I learned that I can see down to the intersections of the screening and paint in great detail! I feel kind of cool about that. Anyhow . . .

* Note: I would HIGHLY recommend using Speedball drawing fluid and screen filler for these steps. The first time around we used some commercial brand, which turned out to be a funky consistency that left lots of holes in the screen and turned out to be water-soluble- a BAD combination when you are using water-based ink.

STEP 5.
Once the whole thing is dry you can wash out the screen and only the drawing fluid (positive) sections will rinse out. In this case, all the blue. As you can see there are a couple of red spots where they don’t belong. When rinsing those spots in the shower we used a toothbrush to scrub them out. It wasn’t too difficult. Don’t use too much water pressure when rinsing because you don’t want to accidentally rinse the negative spaces- although the Speedball screen filler was pretty hard core.

STEP 6.
Line up your design and your paper. I marked out, very specifically where the screen would land on the paper, where the design ended, and where the squeegee would go. This might not be as necessary depending on your design. Definitely create paper guides and a screen stop though. Oh, and this part definitely requires space for the printed wallpaper to rest and dry. Lucky for me, I have a huge family which requires multiple folding and dining tables to accommodate us all, so we had plenty of surfaces to set up for wallpaper drying.

STEP 7.
Print. Finally! I have no photos of this because I was too busy printing. Plus I had ink all over my hands. And arms. And legs and blouse and toes. This part was messier than I had anticipated. What you basically want to do, if you’ve never screen printed, is spoon out some ink on the far end of the image (which ever side you are pulling the squeegee from), make sure the ink is consistent, get your squeegee in position all the way at the edge of the screen, and pull towards your body at a 45 degree angle, using consistent pressure. I printed only the first panel, skipping the sections where the second panel was going to go, and let it dry. I put a fan on to help the ink dry faster, but I’m not sure if that actually helped. Once that was all dry I was able to roll the wallpaper back up and start printing the second panel, from the beginning of the roll, in the empty sections. This is why, in my case, it was so important to line the paper and design spaces up perfectly (step 6). Lining up stripes is no easy task, let me tell you. Once it’s all dry use your spray fixative to seal the paper off from smudges.

STEP 8.
Clean up! I added that exclamation mark to try and cheer up a task that is actually not terribly cheerful at all. It was messy as all get out- our shower is still kinda black- and a little exhausting. But that’s the price you pay for creating something beautiful and unique! Even with the messy cleanup it was a wonderful experience that I can’t wait to repeat!

STEP 9.
Hang your wallpaper - unless it’s a gift, in which case you’d just give it to someone else to hang *=*. I just used a paint roller and a jug of wallpaper glue. The original front side of our wallpaper was vinyl, so we made sure to buy glue that would work on vinyl. Voila! gorgeous, personalized wallpaper!

Here are the before, and during photos by the way.


Oh, and here is one of the originals!

Jojo’s silhouette is right there above his head- a striking likeness, don’t you think?

Happy wallpapering!

This post is dedicated not only to things I’d really miss about the Valley, but also to all the awesome secret stuff that’s here- not just at the edge of the Valley, not just at the Southern edge, but deeep in the heart of the Valley.

Let’s start with a little list of things that make me all sentimental-

*The fact that you can sit in your car at almost any red light in the whole Valley and be staring at rugged, looming hills (especially after it has rained and they are a luxurious green velvet).
*The house on Rinaldi with the lawn that gets decorated for every holiday (President’s Day, Arbor Day, you name it).
*The I-don’t-know-what factory off of the 5 in Sunland (Sun Valley? I dunno what the heck you call that part of town). I like when I’m driving at night in winter time and the steam pours out of its spout and all the little factory lights are on. It’s hypnotizing.
*The train tracks on San Fernando Road. They are dusty and dry and seem to go nowhere at all, but that train runs about forty times a day I think.
*The Oviatt Library at Cal State Northridge. A bit of family history and a whole lot of ‘holy crap’- I just love that building. It’s so massive and futuristic and somehow classic.
Awww, mushy and snuggly warm and fuzzies . . .

Okay, I know you’re not here to get all mushy with me so I’m going to just go ahead and do my links now.

The San Fernando Mission and Memorial Garden
Older than the city of Los Angeles, Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana is really quite adorable and small. The church itself is dark and kind of spooky, but the grounds are really cute- especially the random peacocks that stroll around. What makes this mission special are the arches along the road- I keep meaning to count them. I think there are 26 arches. Unfortunately the mission charges admission- and it ain’t cheap. The happy way around this is to attend mass on a Sunday- totally free! The garden across the street is known as Memory Garden, and used to belong to the mission but was given as a gift to the city of San Fernando in the 20s. The garden is gated and formal, with several working fountains- I took prom pictures there *==*- and there is a short avenue of old olive trees that are really wonderful. One of my favorite things about Memory Garden is the long, long line of stretch Hummers (Saturdays are Wedding picture/ quinceanera picture days) mixed with hot rods, taco trucks, and ice cream vendors parked on the street. Classic.

Buffalo Bruce’s Mercantile- the awesomest purple coffee house ever!
Smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood I usually avoid if I can help it (not in an un-safe way, just a not so pretty way)- unless I’m getting my dogs groomed, Buffalo Bruce’s is just about the coolest coffee place I’ve ever been to. And not to brag, but I’ve been to quite a few in my day. Forget Silverlake and heart-shaped mocha foam, forget secret alleys in Fairfax with tea-lighted patios, Buffalo Bruce’s is probably the cutest coffee place I’ve been to in L.A. yet. They also sell neat jewelry and have an adorable garden space.

The San Fernando Swap Meet
Not just 20 socks for six dollars- the San Fernando Swap Meet has FABRIC. Uh huh. Cheap fabric. Yep. And they are open four days a week!

Valley Thrift
Again, I can’t believe I’m sharing this incredible secret. This is one of my all time favorite thrift stores in the Valley- oh, and there are many, many thrift stores all along San Fernando Road (just drive allll the way down it). They are really organized and still one of the cheapest thrift shops around. The store is on a kind of funky V intersection and it can be hard to miss. Parking often sucks, but this is totally worth it. Plus there’s usually a hot dog vendor out front selling those heart-attack hot dogs wrapped in bacon, which can be yummy early in the morning- if you’re into that kind of thing.

Magnolia Blvd. (East of Lankershim all the way to San Fernando Rd.)
There are so many neat shops and quirky restaurants on this street that I could probably write a Part 3 to Out N About. There’s the shop where you can buy soap opera wardrobe cast offs, ridiculously delicious Porto’s Bakery (I HIGHLY recommend the papas rellenas), swanky Pinocchio’s, tons of vintage boutiques, more thrift shops, the list goes on. Actually, I think I will make that a part 3.

Phew- time to take a breath. I think I’ll save the rest of the Valley for another time. Until then, go to Porto’s and get some of them hot, delicious papas rellenas. Get at least 4, cause you’re gonna want more than one. Try and get there by 8:30 am because everyone loves Portos. If you’re going anytime after 9:30 am be prepared to wait in Disneyland-length line (it does move quickly though).

The Urban Craft Center
Sadly, not open for a couple more months, but their blog is fantastic and makes me wish I had known about it sooner! Everything in that blog is incredibly inspiring. I wanna make everything! They support just about every kind of craft ever invented, and I cannot wait to get in on some of that delicious making-stuff action! It’s also in a really fantastic part of town- the cute older part of Santa Monica- in a really cool building. Make sure to get a pedicure at the salon down the block- the one with the giant bobbles in the window!

The Getty Villa
The absolute perfect place to go pretend you’re a Roman senator’s wife (isn’t there a more feminist way to say that?) or a goddess or something. Lunch under the arbor and stroll amongst statues, reflecting pools, and boatloads of marble.

All the way on the other side of town . . .

Cliftons
I can’t actually believe I’m giving away my secret. But it’s all for the love of wonderfulness. Sharing is caring. Anyway, Cliftons is the most cracked out, beautiful homage to the woods- and has a delicious breakfast. Cliftons is this magical, Disney-esque cafeteria in downtown, where the outdoors went in. Words can do it no justice really. I recommend their breakfast, but I’ve never eaten there for lunch or dinner, so I can’t give my word on those. Cliftons is the absolute perfect place to go before hitting the flower mart or the fabric district. Be aware that it’s deep in the city, so leave your wimp-nacity at home.

Flower District/ Fashion District/ Fabric District
Can you say enormous? Yes. I can. Many, many times. I love, love, love this part of town. It’s energetic, cheap, and never ending. NEVER ending. Wear sunscreen, comfy shoes, and bring plenty of water.

The Rose Bowl Flea Market
Happening every 2nd Sunday of the month- that means this coming Sunday! Another tremendous experience. More sunscreen, change of comfy shoes, a pull cart, and way more water. Oh, and come early. If you’ve never gone but you live in L.A. my suggestion is to plot out areas to try one Sunday at a time. Otherwise it’s too overwhelming to process. For a one day experience walk to the extreme left when you enter- that’s where the antiques are. Beyond the antiques are vintage clothes- about a mile of them.

Lula Mae
The cutest handmade goodies, gifts, books, and soaps ever! I love this shop! It’s in a great neighborhood, on the shady side of the street, and their website is just as cool as the shop.

Vromans Bookstore
A very cool bookstore, with an awesome little cafe inside. They have a great selection of design and crafty books, and it’s just a really neat place to go.

Phew, I’m exhausted! I feel like I just did a three day shopping trip. Next time I’ll get down and dirty and take us into . . . THE VALLEY! yes, there are cool things there.

HECK YES!!!

Behold the original, in soft and sexy leather:

And here is the new version, in sweet and softy cotton:

AWWW, isn’t she cute! I think I’ll name her Candy Shop. Yum!

And here is another original:

My favoritest purse ever. Thank you to Rhea for encouraging me to make another!!!! Here’s the remake:

I think i want to make both purses in every color combination! This gives me the perfect excuse to go back to Cliftons for breakfast next Saturday . . .