What I Wore: Friday 8/3/12 - Crazy Cat Lady

I scooped up this amazing vintage bracelet covered in kitties in a vintage shop in Brooklyn and I absolutely love it! It is a nice brassy gold that has the perfect sheen to it. I also like that the kitties are strung across two chains giving it great movement. I like bracelets that have some good movement to them so the bracelet has some personality as you are wearing it. Plus, the little smiling cat faces put a smile on my face no matter what the day may hold for me :)

Friday brings another full weekend of fun at CRAFTED at the Port of Los Angeles and this weekend. We have reconfigured our shop and brought in some really great new products! This Sunday we are having Craft Beer Tasting from 2-6PM with the delicious craft brews from the San Pedro Brewing Co. with a DJ set by DJ Ernie G just outside our booth in the market. Stop by and enjoy some craft brews while perusing craft artists :)

But mostly, the folks at Make. Shop. Live. hope you enjoy your first weekend in August!!!

XOXO, KC

Patchwork Find: J. Holden Designs

One of the nice finds at Patchwork Sunday was these handmade wooden beer holders at J. Holden Designs.

And the creator himself below...

Kevin has always needed an excuse to make and drink beer, so be on the lookout in the coming weeks for his tutorials and blog journals of his first batch!  Now, is it necessary to grow a sweet mustache as well?

Let us know what you think!  Thanks to J. Holden Designs for the great Handmade product!

XOXO, KC

Reinbeers- Holiday 2011

The first batch of Reinbeers for Holiday 2011 are ready to roll out!

Currently we have multiples available in these varieties:

Beer-

Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR), Modelo Especial, & Heineken.

Soda-

Regular Dr. Pepper, Retro Dr. Pepper, Coke, Coke- Holiday Can, & Diet Coke

Coming Up This Week: Last Day of February & More for March

This past week and weekend has been so jammed packed I feel like I have let the fun spiral me out of control. We finally finished up our 2011 Business Tax Renewal which is a huge relief! Now I still have to itemize and categorize the expenses :( which isn't by any means fun, but totally a part of the business.

(these are of the amazing view from the roof-top)

My wonderful friend Alisa has been in town since Wednesday and I have been trying to squeeze in every moment possible with her! We went as a group this past weekend to the Wurstküche an exotic sausage grill downtown that has the most amazing food!!! One of the places I miss the most in NYC is Pommes Frites and the amazing Belgian fries from Wurstküche are pretty damn close.  The beers and sausage selections are amazing- there are even several vegetarian sausages that are hella tasty.

(Kevin enjoying a Chimay at Wurstküche)

Last week there was a gap in posting when we went out and searched out supplies and squeezed in some awesome vintage shopping.  I got some amazing '70s dresses and I totally scored in finding some knee-high black boots in practically brand new condition.  Alisa got some amazing dresses too, and I am going to rush to hem one really quick to get it to her before she leaves to go back to New York.

Alisa and I are going to try and fill today up with as much as possible and I am going to get her to help with tomorrows tutorial.  It is a surprise so far ;) hope y'all enjoy what we come up with.

XOXO,

KC

RE Made Hacks- Rubber band ball

RE Made Hacks- Beer widget rubber band ball

We are going to start posting a section RE Made Hacks.  This section will feature creative ways to "Upcycle" random and unusual objects.  I really enjoy thinking of every way possible to rethink and rework every material.  Sometimes it's more helpful as a second time product than what it was suposed to be used for even! Sometimes its cheesey. Normaly, it's just a fun quirky was of assembling things together.  It won't replace our Tuesday Tutorials, which my apologies for loss of steam- but hey... it happens.  These segments will be quick and I'll post them as I am testing out an idea.

The Reinbeers Are Coming!!!

The Reinbeers Are Coming!!!

Yesterday, my mother-in-law, Jane started pulling out the supplies to kick the Christmas Crafting Extravaganza into 1st Gear. She spent a large chunk of the day glueing down the patterns on the aluminum we have stored and sorted from all different types of cans.

Last year we tested out a couple of different ideas for ornaments and I will "pull back the curtain" and admit defeat with all the other styles we tested out.  After putting in a lot of time into products that didn't sell... A creative risk if you will- Kev and I have decided to see how this Christmas goes with putting more focus into them rather than some less profitable items.

I am okay with these cute little guys being the only Holiday "staple" we will be carrying this Christmas season.  All of our great products are good for gifts and make awesome Holiday purchases already- worst case scenario next year when I am feeling better we can make a wider range of Holiday items available.

I am really excited to have had this year to plan and gather cans for their bodies.  We ended up getting a ton of different beers and sodas after seeing what people radiated to.  PBR is always going to be a hot item- but I am scared that we have had fun collecting so many different types that are unique and may not be everyone's "beer of choice".  We will be selling Assorted 6-Packs that will have all kinds of varieties for the Beer Lover in your life :)

When we got the questions for certain types and flavors we don't personally don't drink we made sure to collect those items whenever possible.  We got requests for Coke (Which some how we both completely overlooked the fact that their are people who do full out Coke themed decorations!) Then the Miller, Coors, Budweiser questions...  We have been collecting them when our friends have them- (Memorial Day BBQ's are where its at!!!) BUT, neither I nor Kevin are changing our tastes for this endeavor.  I have lucked out and gotten a steady supply of Budweiser from a neighbor, but I however am a big supporter of craft and independent brewers and go for other choices.  Watch Beer Wars and you'll see why-

      The hopes is we will still have a great selection of all kinds of beer and soda varieties for Holiday 2010's batch without losing a sale to a "Big Beer Enthusiast"

I think an added point of interest come this Holiday season is to see the number of cans our household uses across the year.  We won't have a fully accurate count due to collecting a small amount from others, as well as recycling some types we had a ton of.  We sold more than expected of Diet Ginger Ale last Christmas- but I thought recycling down the large quantities of diet soda would keep production time focused where need be.

If there is a flavor or type you'd like to suggest for our "Must Have" list feel free to leave a comment.  

*Check them out for purchase here in our Etsy Shop*