Tag: crafternoon

Meetup Report: Valentine Crafternoon

Meetup Report: Valentine Crafternoon

by alice ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

A few weeks before Valentine’s Day I attended card-making crafternoon~ A friend hosted it in her lovely and bright condo, and I got to help with treats and supplies. I really love Valentine’s Day and the associated cards, so I was super excited about this meetup! ♥ I had a wonderful time, and I hope that everyone else did, too!

I don’t regularly make Valentine’s Day cards, but I really like to do so. There are so many easy ways to turn just about anything into a cute or beautiful card to give to someone you care about. You can use paper, cardstock, cut outs, glitter, stickers, glue, ribbons, lace, doilies, sequins, and so many other materials! I got so wrapped up in the idea that I raided the local craft store and bought a little bit of absolutely everything. I left with construction paper, glitter glue, and even pom poms~ I also realized that I own a ridiculous number of scissors–but that really came in handy for the actual process!

Valentine's Day Card Crafternoon
The card-making table before everyone arrived, covered in craft supplies.
Before the guests arrived the hostess and I made peanut butter chip cookies and strawberry cupcakes. The strawberry cupcakes didn’t turn out very pretty, but they were still tasty~ (I really wanted cupcakes with real strawberries in them rather than strawberry flavoring, and I added too many! It made them–predictably–too moist. I have a hard time practicing restraint when it comes to incorporating fruit into desserts.)

The peanut butter chip cookies came out very well~ The peanut butter chips were so tasty! I basically didn’t eat anything else during the entire meetup. A paragon of healthy eating I am not.

Valentine's Day Card Crafternoon
Some of the many tasty desserts baked and brought with to the party~
Guests added a balance of more savory items and a few more dessert items to the spread. Most girls brought their own craft projects with them in the true spirit of the crafternoon~ ♥ Someone decided to put on a thriller/suspense/horror movie on in the background–2LDK–and from that point on the party was punctuated by occasional shrieks of surprise or gasps of disbelief. It definitely provided quite a contrast to the making of Valentine’s Day cards, haha~

Valentine's Day Card Crafternoon
The card-making table in action!
I really loved to see all of the interesting and creative ideas that everyone came up with for their cards~ There was much use of ribbons, pom poms, glitter glue, coloured pencils, and markers. Everyone put a lot of thought into their designs. Usually the loveliest of card was accompanied with a statement like, “Oh, well, I didn’t do very well at this, but I wanted it to look a certain way,” even though the card was utterly gorgeous~ I know some really talented people. (Although I do believe that even the ugliest card can be wonderful if it was created with the best of intentions and care!)

I had so much fun that I forgot to take any pictures of anyone’s outfits! Not even my own! I’ve been absolutely miserable at remembering to do that, lately. Whoops!

Meetup Report: Casual and Fun

Meetup Report: Casual and Fun

by alice ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

sweets for me
Originally uploaded by mylaar

Traditionally, the Chicago-area crafternoon is held on the first Sunday of the month. When we started holding these free, casual meetups on a regular basis, that was the day that most people said they had an easier time setting aside. Now that my work schedule has changed, I find that I’m the one who doesn’t have Sundays free! ;_; I really love attending meetups, and crafternoons are my favourites, so this was really disheartening. I was hoping to use some of my mixed-up vacation time for this weekend, but it didn’t work out that way.

So I wore my outfit to work and bolted for the L as soon as I clocked out. This time the hostess was the lovely and amazing and awesome Jordanananana. ♥ She’s one of the coolest people I’ve ever known. Her house is small, but full of all kinds of interesting things. She was joking yesterday that every time we come over it’s like it becomes some kind of show-and-tell; I think that’s part of why it’s so fun!

Everything is very vibrant at her house. There’s a lot of colorful fabric and other supplies, organized on large white shelves, for the craft-related endeavor she runs with a friend: Qylaar. There were all kinds of interesting prototypes or ideas tucked amidst the materials–including a very cute tulip-print hippo and ice-cream cone-shaped pencil cases! She also has several Blythes and other dolls–I find it fascinating. She’s also tried her hand at sweets jewelry; everyone was trying it on and admiring some of her designs. They’re very tasteful (AND they look delicious)!

I’m not sure what kinds of crafts were done, but when I arrived I spent a while organizing her stationery with my little sister. (And pilfering a few sheets along the way–but she said we could~) There was apple cider, grapefruit soda, and birch beer, along with delicious guacamole and mango salsa for tortilla chips. We sat around and talked while looking through many sewing books for making stuffed animals. Some of the attendees volunteered to be interviewed for someone’s film project.

It had that relaxed atmosphere that I really love about crafternoons. No rushing from one place to the next, worrying about someone being late and impacting everyone’s schedule. There isn’t pressure to take lots of pictures to post online; thus no fears of outfit criticism from community members. The snacks help avoid the general “we’re hungry but how much do we want to pay to eat out and what does everyone like” sort of problem. It’s just a nice time to sit around with friends, get to know new people, and talk about lolita fashion or anything else that comes up.

I really hope that I can attend the next crafternoon in full–especially if we do something fun for Valentine’s Day! (I think we should make valentines and/or candy… of course~ ♥) But even if we just laze around at someone’s house, I know I’ll have a great time!