Chicago Craft Social

The other day I was blog hopping and stumbled on a blog promoting a craft social in the area, and in Evanston, to boot. Close enough to go without driving a million miles away! I roped a couple of friends into going with me (thanks Jen and Silvia) and we headed out on a Friday night to party craft style!!

Now, please understand that I try being crafty, I enjoy the process, sort of, but I never like my results, which is why I pretty much give it all away. I never notice the flaws in things other people give me (if there are any) but I notice all of my own flaws. Sort of like looking at a picture of myself. But, I thought this would be a fun get together, a bunch of bloggers and crafters together in one space.

It was so awesome! The organizers did a fantabulous job! To sign up you simply had to comment on the blog saying you were attending. It was $5 at the door to cover expenses. People brought food (mostly sweets, thank you Rice Krispies Treat Lady) and there were about a dozen tables with different crafts set up. Some of the tables had a host, some were do it yourself, just follow the directions. Back on the blog they listed the crafts that required you to bring supplies, but the supplies were things like scrapbook paper and exacto knife. Easey Peasey.

We had the best time! We started out together at the table making butterfly collages to go in a frame. Mine is not in a frame yet, it is stuck to the refrigerator with magnets.
Ask me in a year where this is.

I loved using the foam dots to make certain butterflies stand out more. So cool. Most of the butterflies were cut with a punch, but a template was made on the copy machine of bigger butterflies we could trace and cut by hand. So cute.

Next, I went off on my own to try a Polaroid emulsion transfer. This was way, way cool, but a dying art since Polaroid is no longer making the instant film. This instant film was the kind where you time it then rip off the cover to see the picture. The leader of this project brought along her very cool machine that takes a slide (I brought one) and exposes it onto the film. Then the rest of the process uses a hot water bath to lift the emulsion (the gel part that is the actual photo image) off the photo, then slide it into a cooler bath and slip it onto a piece of water color paper while still in the water. You scoot it around with a brush to unroll it and just lift it out of the water and let it dry. It was very artistic and so cool!! Here is my picture, it is from a slide my dad took of my brother and I on Mt. Rainier. I would guess from the picture it was the summer before my 3rd birthday.

While I was waiting for my image to dry I made a sweet little magnetic bookmark using recycled sheet magnet, the kind you get from an insurance dealer with a calendar. We cut it into 1x4 stips, cut it in half and hinged it with tape, used double stick tape to tape on pretty paper, trimmed it, rounded the corners with a corner rounding doohicky (gotta get me one of those) and done. Yep. 5 minutes. So sweet. I will be making those again for sure! I found a tutorial that is very similar, if you are interested.

My final craft was decoupaged clothespins. Again, so simple and so sweet. Cut, stick, trim, slather. That's it.
Jen and I stuck our clothes pins on here to take a picture and to let them dry. How cute?!!
A fun, fun evening.