Tuesday, August 30, 2011

September is National Sewing Month!


The Sewing & Craft Alliance in partnership with the American Sewing Guild are announcing a contest for September as National Sewing Month!

2011 National Sewing Month Sew for the Love of It! Contest Details

"Show us what YOU love to sew! You choose the project, whether it’s an article of clothing, a toy, something for your home, an accessory, a quilt, or even an item for your car or boat. Whatever you decide to create, show your love with a [HEART] within the project.

It can be heart fabric, a pillow shaped like a heart, heart embroidery, heart-shaped pockets – it’s completely up to you. The item you enter must be hand-crafted and utilize fabric, thread and sewing machine and there MUST be a visible heart somewhere on the project itself.

Whatever you choose to sew, just make sure we see the expression of your love of sewing!"

Visit NationalSewingMonth.org to enter!  You could win one of three sewing-themed gift baskets chock full of notions, patterns, books and more!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

We Need Crafty Quotes!

Flint Handmade is looking for crafty quotes!


If you know of a quote about crafts, art, creativity, imagination or another other inspiring topic, please leave it in a comment below or email it to us at flinthandmade@hotmail.com.

Please be sure to attribute the quote if possible.  Anonymous quotes are acceptable.

Quotes will be used on our Facebook on Thursdays and for other fun Flint Handmade projects!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Second Saturday Giveaway: August Winner!


We want to thank everyone who commented on our August Second Saturday Giveaway featuring Crystal Pepperdine of Pepperdine & Bedford!

The awesome commenters for August were Mary, Nayyirah, Dana Woolcock, Emily Freeman, DesiAnima, Jen, April and KC. 

Just for commenting, all of you will receive a FREE Flint Handmade button in your choice of red, blue or yellow! Ask at the Flint Handmade table at any of our events and we'll make sure you get your button.

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for! The randomly selected winner of the Stained Glass Pendant is...


...Nayyirah!!! Congratulations!

Nayyirah, send us an email at flinthandmade@hotmail.com and we will make arrangements for you to receive your Stained Glass Pendant! You have 30 days to claim your prize. :)

We want to encourage everyone to participate in the next Second Saturday Giveaway to be posted on September 10, 2011!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

August 2011 3rd Annual Summer Craft Supply Swap Recap!

Posted by Crystal Pepperdine, Founder and Executive Director of Flint Handmade

We had an outstanding turnout on Sunday, August 7 for our 3rd Annual Summer Craft Supply Swap! 

Approximately 70 people showed up to donate their unused craft supplies and to help themselves to the donated supplies from others...ALL FOR FREE!

The first 25 swappers received a FREE Flint Handmade Knuckles grocery tote in their choice of blue or red!

This was the first time our Swap was on the sidewalk in addition to the regular location inside The Lunch Studio!

Jessica gives the thumbs up to the Craft Supply Swap!

Anna (l) and Beth smile at their special find: a pattern for making Sesame Street hand puppets! 

Nayyirah filled two totes with FREE craft supplies! 

Claire (l) and Mary check out the great fabric. 

Special thanks to our AMAZING volunteers! From left to right: Amy, Emily, Michelle S., Kyla, Ali and Michelle G.  We really could not have done it without you!

For more photos, check out our August 2011 Craft Supply Swap album on Facebook.

We also encourage you to check out the blog posts about this very Swap from Michelle of Aisle 3 and Anne of The Handmade Gift Guide!  Thanks for such awesome recaps, ladies.  :)

Join us for our 3rd Annual Winter Craft Supply Swap on Sunday, February 5, 2012 at The Lunch Studio from noon-3pm.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Second Saturday Giveaway: Win a Stained Glass Pendant from Crystal of Pepperdine & Bedford!

Posted by Crystal Pepperdine, Founder and Executive Director of Flint Handmade

Many of you know that I sell my upcycled crafts under the name beautiful JUNK

Well, beautiful JUNK is going on hiatus for a while so that I can focus on my newest creative endeavor...


I am excited to announce that my beau and I working together to create a line of fine glass, wood and leather goods to sell on Etsy and at craft shows under the name Pepperdine & Bedford.


Moreover, my beau is now my fiancĂ©!  Russ and I have purchased 10 acres of land in Genesee County and are in the process building a modern, eco-friendly house, where we plan to get married next year.

So, suffice it to say, life has been busy and wonderful these past few months.  :)

And, now, I'm so happy to share all of this wonderful news AND my craftroom with you because I am the featured crafter for our August Second Saturday Giveway!

Special thanks to my future husband for taking the photos of me below.


Tell us about your workspace.

Like many crafters, I have two main workspaces…plus my kitchen table! My craftroom is a small room with two desks.  My computer is on one desk and my sewing machine and sewing supplies on another desk (pictured above).

My sewing machine is a heavy vintage metal beauty and I love the turquoise on the top!  I keep my sewing supplies in a vintage orange Samonsite luggage makeup case.


I also have a 5 x 5 Expedit cubbie from IKEA.  Those of you following our Second Saturday Giveaways probably remember that several of our other featured crafters have the same cubbie!


I have a vintage dressform on one side of my Expedit cubbie.  She has a tag on her decollatage with words Sally Stitch, so I call her Sally. 

Behind Sally is an ironing board with a cute pink paisley cover that my sister gave me for Christmas a couple years ago.


In my basement, I have my stained glass studio. My favorite part about my basement studio is the glass storage crate that my fiancé built for me.

I had an old wooden crate that I used to use to hold record albums. The albums are now on the bottom shelf of a console table in my living room and the record player is on the top shelf.


The crate was just sitting around in my basement, so I asked Russ to add divider slats across the top. He used scrap pieces from a wood pallet and created this awesome glass storage crate which allows me to see all of my glass colors at once!

How did you get into crafting?

I don’t think I have told anyone this, but I remember creating designs with those meltable plastic tubes called Perler Beads when I was in middle school.

I thought my designs were so great that I took them to the office manager of my subdivision clubhouse and asked if she might be willing to sell them from the office since they were far too classy for the yearly neighborhood garage sale! I’m sure she thought I was too precocious by far!


I set my creativity aside throughout high school, college and graduate school to focus on obtaining my degrees, a house, my career...and, of course, my doggie Yasha!

After I earned my Master’s Degree, I realized that I had accomplished all of my major life goals…and I was only 23. I had what you might call a quarterlife crisis and it became apparent quite quickly that I needed to find a new passion to give me meaning, purpose and direction in my life.

My friends at the time were musicians and artists and my creativity blossomed again in this environment. I began giving gifts I made to friends and family. I founded Flint Handmade in 2007 and began selling my crafts under the name beautiful JUNK in 2008.

Now, in 2011, I am so excited to have formed an artisan partnership with my future husband. I am turning 30 in 2012 and I am so excited to be starting this next decade of my life on such a positive foundation.

What is your favorite craft tool/material?

Honestly, I LOVE organization, so I think my favorite “tools” are all of my labeled boxes! I have boxes for everything: buttons, stamps, adhesives, ribbon, bottle caps, etc.


With such a small craftroom, I have to keep everything VERY organized or else it gets messy very quickly.


Another one of my favorite organizing tools is is my wall-mounted coat rack that I use to hold my many tote bags!  Featured above (from l-r) are bags from Handmade Detroit, d'Vine Wines and JoAnn's.

How did you come up with your company name?

My best friend from childhood (AND Flint Handmade volunteer AND local musician AND arts activist), Tunde Olaniran, came up with the name beautiful JUNK for me before I even had any crafts to sell!

He just knew that I liked making thing out of reclaimed materials and thought that would be a good name.


Tunde is pictured above at a music show he did in New York this summer (Photo Credit: Dylan Hess/MTV Iggy)!  Tunde commissioned me to make stained glass necklaces for himself and his backup dancers. 

The MTV Iggy review of Tunde's show specifically metioned my jewelry as "geometric stained-glass bib necklaces....completely to die for." 

How awesome is that!  So, once again, Tunde helped me launch a line of crafts.  :)


Anyway, Pepperdine & Bedford is my last name and my fiance’s last name. We wanted a name that was not specific to any particular type of craft. We are a very creatively generative couple and wanted the ability to sell a variety of goods under one name.

Moreover, we think that Pepperdine & Bedford just sounds classy! We also joke about combining our names into Pepperford or Bedfordine. :)

Our plan is to start with stained glass, which we each learned how to do independently last year before we met. Then, we would like to add wood and leather products to our line of fine handcrafted goods from Michigan.


Pictured above on the black carousel display are some of the stained glass pendants that I have made.  Also shown are my Stabilo marker pens, purple scissors motif notecards and my dry erase markers in a Faygo bottle cut into a pen cup by my good friend, Gwen. 

I'm encouraging her to sell cut glass pen cups and drinking glasses at Flint Handmade events!

What do you listen to/think about/watch while you craft?

I used to watch movies while I crafted, but I have basically given up television shows and movies except while exercising.

Now, I often talk (or sing!) with my fiancé while we work on creative projects together.


One of my favorite activities is to listen to NPR’s American Routes on Michigan Radio on Saturday nights from 8pm-10pm while crafting either by myself or with Russ.  We both love listening to and singing along with old country, Motown and classic rock-and-roll.

(I realize that the above picture has nothing to do with the radio, but I'm proud of the Editor's Choice Blue Ribbon I received for my Upcycling Wrist Pincushion Demo at Maker Faire.  It's pinned to the cork board in my craftroom and I wanted to share a photo with you!)

What projects would you like to work on in the future?

My ideal project for Russ and I to make in the future is a wooden jewelry box with dovetail joints and a stained glass inlay on the lid. I would want to put leather-covered trays inside. I love the idea of combining our creative interests into one handcrafted piece.


I would also like to finish the family quilt that Russ' grandfather entrusted to me.  His grandfather's mother handstitched 12 squares with pink and green flowers. 

I found coordinating pink and green fabric to create the connecting blocks and I plan to complete the quilt in time for the 2011 Flint Festival of Quilts.

Well, I have enjoyed telling you about my workspace and now I'm excited to tell you about the giveaway item this month!


For the August Second Saturday Giveaway, I have donated a stained glass pendant.

It is approximately 2” x 2” at its widest points and is made of two pieces of glass, one green and one white. The solder has been covered with a black patina and finishing compound.

The pendant will also include a black chain (not pictured).

For YOUR chance to win the Stained Glass Pendant (valued at $16), just complete steps A and B:

A) Follow Flint Handmade via the blog, Twitter, Google Reader or whatever newfangled "following application" tickles your fancy. Or, if you don't do the whole following thing, email us at flinthandmade@hotmail.com and we will add you to our email list.

B) Leave us a comment in response to this blog post by 5pm on Saturday, August 20, 2011 answering the following 2 questions:

1) How do you follow Flint Handmade?

2) What types of goods would YOU like to see made out of glass, leather and/or wood?

Please be sure to answer BOTH questions to qualify for the drawing.

The winner will be selected at random and posted on the blog within one week after the deadline. The winner will have 30 days to claim the prize.

We hope to hear from YOU and we hope you enjoyed our August Second Saturday Giveaway!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Cross-County Letterpress Truck Coming to Flint!

Posted by Crystal Pepperdine, Founder and Executive Director of Flint Handmade

Flint Handmade and the Flint Farmers' Market are partnering to bring a very special creative opportunity to Flint!

A young woman from Oregon named Kyle Durrie has outfitted the back of a truck with letterpress equipment.

The Truck! (Photo: Derek Fagerstrom)

Kyle is driving across the country and parking her truck at local fairs and farmers' markets to introduce people to the art/craft of letterpress printing for a project called Moveable Type.

Kyle in San Diego! (Photo: Kyle Durrie)

Kyle will be in Michigan in September and is coming to the Flint Farmers' Market on Tuesday, September 13 from noon-5pm!!!


Please feel free to copy and share our flyer!

This event is FREE and open to the public thanks to the generosity of Flint Handmade, the Flint Farmers' Market and our additional sponsors:



NOTE: We are still seeking sponsorships from local organizations, crafters and businesses! 

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor for just $50, we will add your logo to our flyer and include your brochures/business cards on our sponsorship table at the event. 

Please email us at flinthandmade@hotmail.com for more information!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Bots by Deets in the Flint Handmade Shop!

We have added Vacuum Tube Bots ($15) and Bot Magnets ($10) by Deets to the Flint Handmade Shop inside The Lunch Studio!


Pick up YOUR one-of-a-kind handcrafted bot during The Lunch Studio's regular business hours: Monday-Thursday 8-4; Friday 8-7; Saturday 11-3.

Makes a great gift for robot-loving kids...and grown-ups!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Maker Faire 2011 Recap!

Posted by Crystal Pepperdine, Founder and Executive Director of Flint Handmade

Wow!  Maker Faire Detroit 2011 was awesome!  I barely left the Handmade Detroit Craft Faire area, but I still had a fantastic time.  :)

Check out the pics!

I did a demo for Craft on upcycled wrist pincushions.

When I wasn't demo-ing, I was helping fellow Flint crafter Michelle at her Aisle 3 table.

Our table neighbor was Tracie Lampe of Radical Recycks, who wrote an AWESOME book called Upcycled Accessories

This is the FIRST book in the new Flint Handmade Library!  We would love to get more craft books signed by the author.

Michelle sold a necktie wallet to the inventor of the Lifesize Mousetrap and his lovely wife/mouse assistant.


Can't wait for Maker Faire 2012!

P.S. Here's the post from Maker Faire 2010. :)

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Flint Handmade Supports Red Ink Flint and Buckham Alley Fest!


Flint Handmade recently donated all of the vendor fees we collected at Craft City to Red Ink Flint in support of Buckham Alley Fest!

Representatives from Flint Handmade presented a $1,000 jumbo-sized check in front of the Rutherford Parking Structure, where Craft City was located.

From left to right: Joel Rash (Red Ink Flint), Chris Everson (Buckham Alley Fest), Crystal Pepperdine (Flint Handmade), Graham Wasberg (Flint Handmade) and Nicole Stevens (Flint Handmade).

Flint Handmade is committed to the revitalization of Downtown Flint through creative expression and commerce and we can't wait to participate in Buckham Alley Fest again next year!

Special thanks to Sarah Reed Photography for taking such an awesome photo!