Mama's Magic Friday Feature

Alright, folks, we're pulling out all the glitz and glam this week! 

We've got a new article - "ask Even", exciting new content from our regular columns, our 500th SFEtsy blog post, and now....It's the interview we've ALL been anticipating! (I know I have!)

This woman has been the Mama behind all the SFetsy Magic for over 2 years. And today we get to take a look into her bag of tricks! Jen of Mama’s Magic Studio has been a member of Etsy since 2006. In 2010, she took over the role of SFEtsy Team Captain. Since then, she exponentially grew this team to an impressive amount of members, and created an entire team of leaders.  She's continuously a wealth of Etsy knowledge and a strong pillar of support. Recently, Jen has stepped down as Team Captain, but remains a Team Leader - still very active in helping us expand the quality of our SFEtsy community. I've worked with Jen these past 2 years and have been consistently wowed by her motivation and excitement for this team. She is a true inspiration to me, and to so many others.  Thank you for this honor, Jen! When I think back 2 years, I can't even IMAGINE this is where we'd be...


Enjoy the interview!

"To which Etsy Teams do you belong?"

SF Etsy is where I’m most active. I’m also a member of:

Etsymom

Etsybloggers

JenEtsy

CCCOE

Etsy South Bay

Captain’s Quarters

"Please tell us about the items in your Etsy shop. What do you make? How did you learn your craft? What is involved in your creative process?"

I make “Handmade Magic” – a deliberately broad label that can encompass all of my crafting interests. Because who knows what I might end up making next in Mama’s Magic Studio? My creative process is closely linked to my passion for learning new skills and exploring new designs. These days, in addition to making jewelry, I quilt, sew, knit, and dabble in whatever new craft catches my attention. At heart, I am a serial crafter who loves to learn new ways of making, new ways to keep my hands busy. I tinker and play and dream, and then I deliberately design. All this is part of my creative process, along with my joy in making one-of-a-kind and custom items. No two works of my Handmade Magic are ever exactly the same!

I’ve taken a few classes (millinery, basket weaving, machine quilting) and I’ve learned some skills from my mom and from friends who knew how to make things. But I’m mostly self-taught, especially with my jewelry skills. I discovered beading as a teenager and taught myself how to string seed beads on tigertail wire when I was in high school. I was 18 when I sold my first jewelry creations in a small boutique in my hometown, and I’ve been making one kind of jewelry or another ever since. Right now, my shop focuses primarily on handcrafted wire work and beaded jewelry: family jewelry like my bird’s nest pendants and sweet pea pods, necklaces and earrings for knitters and yarn lovers, and other baubles. 

I’m also starting to list some of my upcycled creations: flower accessories made from repurposed fabric and zipper bags made from fabrics recycled by FabMo

blue flower upcycled accessory

"Tell us two (or more) other interesting things about you."

I was the first woman on either side of my family to go to college. I graduated at the top of my undergraduate class, with a double major in English and Women's Studies. I also have a master's degree in English.

Before staying home with my two amazing kids, I held various teaching jobs. I’ve taught: college composition, high school English, creative writing, and (with my husband as a partner) East Coast swing dance.

I was born in Delaware and moved to California in 2000.

"How long have you been a team leader for SFEtsy? And what has holding this position meant to you?" 

I joined what would become SF Etsy shortly after joining Etsy in 2006 – back then, it was all one big general Street Team, led by Matt (one of the original founders of Etsy). This Etsy Street Team eventually localized into the different area-specific teams. I was pretty quiet at first and then became more active over time. I became team captain in January 2010 and served as captain until January 2012. When I passed the captain role to our two new (fabulous!) co-captains, I stayed on as a team leader. I now help support the captains, run the team blog with Ash, and act as a local leader for the South Bay.  I strongly believe that with volunteer work like this “you give what you get” – I’ve given a lot, but I’ve gotten even more from my involvement in SF Etsy.

As a stay-at-home mom who was desperate for a creative outlet (not to mention adult contact!) I am so grateful for how SF Etsy has connected me to this vibrant community of fellow crafters. I’ve made great friends, discovered amazing artists and artisans, and participated in many team events and activities that have brought me both personal fulfillment and professional success. I’m deeply honored to be part of this team, and being trusted with a leadership role in SF Etsy has meant more to me than I can say. Being part of SF Etsy has given me the courage to finally identify myself as an artist.

knitting needles and yarn earrings 

"What struggles and challenges arise when holding a team leader position?" 

Being a team leader can take a lot of time. This was particularly true when I was the only team captain and had not yet recruited other leaders and supporting volunteers to help share the load. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes to keep SF Etsy growing and thriving. For quite a while, I was doing too much of this all by myself. In addition to participating actively as much as I could, I was doing all of the administrative work of reviewing and welcoming new members, managing the Google group, updating the roster, getting the team blog up and running, managing our various team accounts and pages, and more…. Some days it felt like being the SF Etsy captain was a job all by itself, especially as the team has grown so much – it was hovering at about 100 more-or-less active members when I became captain in 2010, and now we are rapidly approaching 700 member shops! I’m so happy to have on board so many great team leaders and volunteers. (By the way, dear readers, we’re always looking for folks to help out because we have big dreams for this team and are already achieving many of them! But to reach our full potential, we need as many people as possible to participate. If you’d like to be more involved, we’d love to hear from you!)

In general, I think it’s really important for team leaders to feel supported and not overwhelmed by their positions and responsibilities in SF Etsy. But it can sometimes be a challenge to find that balance between being a passionate and involved volunteer and a successful entrepreneur. I find that the sort of people who step up to help out with organizations like SF Etsy are also the kinds of people who like to give everything their all. Great as that is, we each of us have only so much to give, only so much time and energy. It’s important not to burn yourself out!

"What was your favorite sfetsy event since being a team leader? Why?"

SF Etsy has had many really great events since I became a team leader, but my favorite is still the first one that I helped put together: the SF Etsy Sampler, which was the first SF Etsy team trunk show. I think this show really sped up the momentum of the team and gave us an idea of what we might be able to do with in-person team shows and events. It was also a big learning opportunity for me, since it was the first time I’d helped to organize an event like that. It was quite a success, and it even made it into the Etsy blog!http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2010/ten-tips-for-a-terrific-trunk-show-sf-etsy-style/

peas in a pod pendant

"What inspires your creations?"

I believe that something truly magical happens when an artist's hands create. Most fundamentally, it is this magic that inspires my creations. When the hands finish the work, something new and beautiful exists in the world. To me, that's magic -- even though I know and experience the effort and skill required by every step of the process. Handmade Magic is not the result of a wave of a wand! It's a labor of love, and (aside from being a Mama) the most satisfying thing I know. I opened my Etsy shop to share that magic and love with the world.

I am also inspired by my children, by the natural world, by poetry, by literature, by other artists and crafters, by the joy of learning new skills, by my love of textiles, by the zen of the creative process, by the way that colors play off one another…. truly, this list could go on forever! Lately I’ve been very inspired by the challenge of repurposing materials that still have beauty left in them, creating items that give new life to something that would otherwise be discarded.

"How did you get involved with Etsy? "

I joined Etsy back in 2006, when the site was still in Beta and being run by the four founding guys out of their apartment in New York. I stumbled across a discussion of Etsy online somewhere – it’s been so long I don’t really remember where, but it might have been craigslist. I remember reading about Etsy, clicking through to the site, and immediately falling in love with the idea of opening my own shop.

wristlet purse

"What is your biggest challenge related to your Etsy shop?"

Like so many other Etsians, I struggle to be found on Etsy. As the site has grown, this has become more and more challenging. I am learning all I can about SEO and relevancy and the like, and I’m improving, but I still have a ways to go.

 It’s definitely been a challenge to see Etsy changing in so many ways since I first became a member. When I joined, it felt very much like a sort of Handmade Field of Dreams: “If you open it, they will come.” (It being an Etsy shop; they being customers.) Exhibit A: the fact of my first sale in my first shop (http://www.etsy.com/transaction/27847) Back then, I did no promotion of my shop, no SEO – I just made the item, took the (embarassingly bad) pics, put up a listing, got a sale. No way would that have happened today!

Back then, Etsy felt very much like a small village of like-minded creative folk. Now, Etsy is truly worldwide, with a population to match. This has its benefits and its drawbacks, and Etsy’s growth has not always happened smoothly. But in spite of some of the growing pains that I’ve witnessed over the years, I still have hope that there’s a place for small shops like mine in “the world’s handmade marketplace.” It’s sometimes difficult to figure out what that place is, and how to make the most of it, but I’m still up for the challenge.

"What is your favorite item in your shop (currently for sale or previously sold)? Why is it your favorite?"

I love making custom designs of my family bird’s nest pendants. It is such fun to make a nest especially for a customer, representing a particular family. I can do up to six pearl eggs in each nest, and the pearls can be large or small (to represent parents/children or children/grandchildren). I also customize the pearl color – white, blue, or pink. Each one is unique, just like each family is unique.

mother's day bird nest pendant

(Shameless plug: by the way, today Friday 5/4 is the last day to put in Mother’s Day orders!)



"What crafting skill(s) do you wish you had or hope to learn someday?"

Don’t get me started! Weaving, woodworking, welding, throwing pots, silversmithing, painting, book making, paper making, tatting, drawing, spinning, felting… I want to learn how to crochet and how to make chain maille, how to make furniture and how to work with art glass. I’d love to learn costume design. I dream of making huge, elaborate art quilts and enormous metal sculpture. (Then I wake up and look at my 2 feet by 7 feet corner of the bedroom that is my “Studio.” And I think, “Someday. But not today.”) I am hopeful that in the coming year I’ll be able to join TechShop San Jose and cross some of these items off my big bucket list for craft skills.

"Where else can we find out more about you and/or your creations? "

Blog: http://mamasmagic.blogspot.com/

website (work in progress): http://www.mamasmagicstudio.com

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mamasmagicstudio

twitter: https://twitter.com/mamasmagic

---

If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!

Big News! New Captains and Leaders for the SF Etsy Team!

Did you know that it's been more than two years since I (Jen of Mama's Magic Studio) stepped up as captain for the SF Etsy team?

What an amazing time it's been! When I took over the job, there was only one team leader (yours truly), and we had primarily an online existence. As such, it didn't matter all that much that I was not living in San Francisco. But thanks to the energy and involvement of our ever-growing creative community, in addition to our thriving online team presence we are now doing lots of amazing stuff in the real world. Most of it in San Francisco. I'm so proud of how active our team has become! But the time has come to have a captain who is more centrally located. And though I truly adore SF Etsy and San Francisco, I love it here in the South Bay and have no plans to move up to the city. So the time has come for me to step down as your team captain.

I am absolutely delighted to announce that we will have not one but two new co-captains stepping up to fill the role. These two longtime team members are full of ideas and enthusiasm, and I am confident that they will help SF Etsy continue to grow and thrive. It's my pleasure to introduce Katy Atchison and Steph Cortes, your new co-captains!

I'm also excited to share that you'll have a chance to meet your co-captains and many of your team leaders at the Etsy Meet Ups on Saturday! You'll have two opportunities to get together with local Etsians -- first at 3 pm at the Apple Store, where Steph will be one of the featured Etsy sellers at the "Etsy, Local Artists, and Technology" presentation; second from 5-7 p.m. at the Meet-N-Greet with Etsy and SF Etsy at TechShop SF, where Steph and Katy as well as other team leaders will be present to talk shop, network, answer questions, and share ideas. Please note that an RSVP is required for the TechShop event -- more info about both events can be found here.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it on Saturday to either event. (My son's school play is at the same time!) So I'll have to settle for telling y'all online how much I will miss being your captain. It has been such a privilege to lead up this team! I've had a great time working with you all, and being part of this creative community has enriched my life in ways both large and small. It's kept me sane, kept me going, and definitely kept me busy! I'm so very grateful to have had this opportunity. Thank you for entrusting me with the leadership. The past two years have been an amazing ride while the team has grown and grown and grown -- we are now more than 550 active shops! We've held team shows, had lots of meet ups, revitalized our online community, helped throw a fantastic Craft Party to celebrate Etsy's anniversary, and we've been awarded several Etsy team grants. Wow!

While I will no longer be captain, I will be staying on as a team leader for the foreseeable future, and I will be very actively involved with transitioning the leadership roles. I also hope to help our team become more active and present in the South Bay, so we can have more in-person events like our TechShop San Jose meeting last week.

Though many of you already know Katy and Steph, we thought it would be helpful to share a little bit more about each of them.

Katy Atchison, new co-captain of SF Etsy
photo by Astra Brinkmann

Katy says: "Born to a potter and a textile artist, I've been keepin' the outside of my hands dirty with paint, marker and pastel for as long as I can remember. While other kids were attending summer camp, I was raised going to craft shows every weekend and spending summers up in Montana in a small 1920s family cabin. Later, in middle school, I declared that I was going to be a Graphic Designer. And so I became one about a decade later...and took on Web Design while I was at it. Still, although I did a great job nurturing my left brain self, I interned with an amazing Sculptor named Fern Cunningham in Boston who reminded me that being an artist is a passion we are born with, and I finally started to find a balance between making money and art. You can't hide being artistic or creative... it comes out in your smile and your eyes.

Katy Atchison, new co-captain of SF Etsy
photo by Astra Brinkmann

Now, I'm an Online Marketing Designer for Pottery Barn. I taking out my creativity out on canvas, paper goods and stationery. I've shown at many different venues in The Bay Area and been a featured artist at some great events as well. I hope as a co-captain I can help our endlessly creative team find that balance between the business side of ourselves and the creative beast we have pushing us to continue to create. I want to support our team in using networking through our group to find support and also ideas, while creating bonds between shops and building our community to be even stronger than it already is.

Some of the events and venues I've been featured in:
• Space Gallery
• 111 Minna – A Sketch Tuesday artist 5/11/2010
• 540 Club
• San Rafael Italian Street Painting Festival artist for more than 12 years
• Three Twin's Ice Cream
• Cherish (Inner Richmond)
• Studio Gallery SF
• Shoe Biz
• Underground SF"

Katy is an experienced team leader, with an enthusiasm that is thoroughly contagious. She has lots of ideas for the team. She has also been writing regularly for the team blog and hosting meet ups at her apartment. We are so lucky that she has agreed to volunteer her time and talents as co-captain!

And we are equally fortunate to have Steph Cortes, of nerd JERK fame, joining Katy in the captain role. Many of you know Steph through the irresistible geeky goodness that she creates in her shop. Many of you also know of her work with the I Heart Art: SF program. Steph created nerd JERK in 2009 to inspire the geek in all of us. With a nostalgic love for all that is retro, she specializes in crafting the old-school imagery of video games into geeky crochet plush sculptures. Steph has been designing her products since 2005 & joined the SF Etsy Leadership Team in 2010 to educate local Etsy Sellers through leading workshops & supporting the artists in the Bay Area’s craft community.

Steph has been a devoted member of SF Etsy for several years, and as part of the leadership team she has helped organize team shows, meet ups, and craft events -- since almost the beginning of my tenure as captain, it seemed that when SF Etsy was there, Steph was usually there too, full of smiles and ready to help out. In fact, she had probably played an essential role in helping to plan the event!

Steph Cortes, new co-captain of SF Etsy
photo by Stefanie Renee

Steph is passionate about educating fellow Etsy sellers about the challenges and rewards of running a handcrafted business, and she has given presentations at venues such as the Conference of Creative Entrepreneurs. We're very excited for Steph at the moment, not just because she's taking on the co-captain role, but also because she has been chosen to represent local Etsy artists at the Etsy event on Saturday at the Apple Store! As I mentioned, Steph will be speaking at "Etsy, Local Artists, and Technology" from 3-4 (right before the TechShop SF meet up). This event is open to the public, and Steph would love to see some familiar SF Etsy faces at the talk. So come out and show your support for your new co-captain!

Along with new co-captains for the team, we have been working to better organize our leadership positions. We've decided that going forward, each team leader will take on a specific role. We're very happy that Rochelle of Haute Mélange will be our leader in charge of the Meet Up Committee. Géraldine of Géraldine Adams Illustration will continue her greatly appreciated work helping new and prospective members by being our leader in charge of the Welcome Committee. Ash of Kelly Drive will be our leader in charge of the Blog Team Committee, transitioning fully into this position in a few months.

Last, but absolutely not least, I am very happy to welcome two new team leaders: Genevieve of Lightbox SF and Lisa of Tickle and Smash. They are new to the leadership team, but not new to SF Etsy!

Genevieve of Lightbox SF is joining us as the leader in charge of professional development and education. Blog readers are already familiar with Genevieve -- she's our Savvy Entrepreneur, posting her insights and information every Thursday. With her extensive experience and areas of expertise, Genevieve is a perfect fit to help the SF Etsy leadership team grow and help the team with professional development.

Lisa of Tickle and Smash is coming on board as our leader in charge of social media. Those of you who follow our team twitter account have already "met" Lisa -- because for some time now she's been doing a fantastic job tweeting for the team! Thanks to the great job she's doing, we've gained many followers and our team's online presence has continued to grow.

We are so grateful that Genevieve and Lisa have stepped up to help out as team leaders, and we're excited about all the changes that are happening within the leadership team. The new team has already been meeting to make plans for SF Etsy -- just last night, we were all together on Google video chat! (Katy grabbed a screen shot, including me with my vintage headphone mic; yes I am that old-school. And yes, that is a print of "She Loved Her Shakespeare" from SF Etsy's own Studio MME hanging on my living room wall!)

Your new leadership team in action!
From left to right: Ash, Genevieve, Jen, Katy, Lisa, and Rochelle

We are sad that Kendra of Kendra Renee Jewelry is stepping down as a team leader -- Kendra co-led our first team trunk show and was a wonderfully supportive leader, providing advice and assistance and helping out with tasks behind the scenes like our annual roster reconciliation. Thank you, Kendra, for giving your time and talents to the team!

So much to look forward to with all these changes going on! Want to be part of the moving and shaking that is SF Etsy? Have ideas for what you'd like to see the team do in the coming year? Want to help us do it? Our team is entirely run by volunteers, and we always welcome more volunteers, either as team leaders or as members of our committees. We will be sending out a more formal survey soon to recruit folks, but if you'd like to get involved right away, you can always feel free to contact Katy or Steph, your new co-captains. Even better -- come to the Meet Up on Saturday and talk to them in person!

Thanks again to all of the folks who are part of the SF Etsy team leadership, and to the team as a whole. While I will miss being your captain, this step is a good one both for the team and for myself. I will be working closely with Katy and Steph to transition the captain roles, and I look forward to continuing to work with them and with the rest of the leadership team -- after all, while I'm stepping down as captain, I'm staying on as a team leader, and I know I'll remain involved in SF Etsy! But between feeling badly that I can't be more involved in the city and taking on more volunteer responsibilities at my son's school, it's reached the point that this Mama needs to spend less time mothering the team, and more time mothering her two great kids.

Jen Johnson, retiring captain of SF Etsy, with her daughter and son
photo by Scott LaBarge

Thanks again to all of SF Etsy for letting me share Mama's Magic with you during the last few years!

---

If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Katy or Steph about joining SFEtsy!

San Francisco Hearts ART - Etsy & Crafting Community Connect at MOCFA

Etsy Meet-Up for I Heart Art: San Francisco at the MOCFA
Photo courtesy of Vanessa Bertozzi - Etsy Admin

One of the best things about running an Etsy business is experiencing a great sense of community with other creative entrepreneurs. What's even better is when those same individuals can connect with other local businesses, museums and schools to strengthen and build up that very same community to whole new levels!

We had a GREAT turnout for our I Heart Art: San Francisco Meet-up at the MOCFA this past Saturday, April 2nd. Not only were SF Etsy members coming from as far as Mt. Shasta, CA, but various Etsy Admin joined us for an open discussion about what this new program could mean for our local artisans, artists, and crafters.

Etsy's I Heart Art programs vary from city to city, but the common goal for each and every project has been to enrich the creative communities in which they take place. This can often be done by connecting the different demographics within these communities while working closely with various organizations to be able to make art and craft more accessible and meaningful to the general public.

Local SF Etsy Team members brainstorming ideas for I Heart Art: San Francisco
[Left to Right: Katy Atchison, Jen Johnson, Genevieve & Shelly from Lightbox SF]
Photo by Steph Cortés

This past Saturday, before the larger meet-up, a bunch of savvy small business owners from the SF Etsy Street Team came together to meet with Vanessa Bertozzi, the Director of Community & Education at Etsy, to brainstorm about what we envisioned I Heart Art to look like in San Francisco. "The idea is to dream BIG," Vanessa beamed, "And once we've got the ideas out, we can focus on what we really want." This opened up a whole series of lists: from local businesses or collectives that were already on board with the vision of a more artful SF to incredibly helpful resources & activities to assist local sellers honing their craft. A few of these included:

• Open studio tours of various local artists in neighbourhoods all around the City
• Workshops or panel discussions guided by SF Celebrity Sellers to help Etsy business owners with everything from effective social media marketing to fab product photography tips & tricks
• Special showcases and events held at museums like the California Academy of Sciences and Museum of Craft & Folk Art that invite the public to participate in hands-on workshops
• And in Portland, they've done a successful Mixer Match! - which is kind of like Speed Dating for Etsy Sellers, but more like "Speed Networking—a whirlwind night of rapid-fire elevator pitches and electrified business connections!" [Read more about I Heart Art: PDX's Mixer Match here]

Those are just a few of the many ideas so far. At the core of every I Heart Art program is collaboration with and within the local community. SF Etsy folks, and likeminded local creative types, this means you!

Tons of SF Etsy members and local business owns alike, mingling at the MOCFA
Photo courtesy of Vanessa Bertozzi - Etsy Admin

It was fantastic to see so many people come out to the meet up, and there seems to be a lot of interest in what I Heart Art: San Francisco might look like. We are very excited by all the possibilities and still in the planning and preparing stages for this project. We welcome your input, and if you have relevant resources or info to share, we'd love to hear about it! 

If you have feedback or suggestions -- for programs, workshops, events, etc -- we'd love to hear that too. Please leave us a comment or you can convo SF Team Leader Steph of nerdJERK or Team Captain Jen of Mama's Magic Studio.

Stay tuned for more details about I Heart Art: San Francisco in the coming weeks!

---

If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!

Making Paper Heart Garlands with Mama's Magic

I've been getting ready for Valentine's Day, making sewn paper heart garlands, and it's been so much fun that I decided to write up my first tutorial -- in the spirit of sharing some handmade love, straight from Mama's Magic Studio!

I got the idea for these garlands after seeing a beautiful example at our recent team Meet & Make at A Work of Heart. (Those were made from vintage book papers, very classy and unique.) I immediately wanted to make one for our main room, where we have a raised ceiling edge that simply begs to be adorned with garland decorations.

After a little experimenting, I figured out two different techniques to make two different kinds of garlands. One method (A) sews across the heart, from edge to edge of the curve.
The other method (B) sews down the middle of the heart, between the top and bottom points. You can use either method for horizontal or vertical garlands, but in the pic below, the horizontal garland uses method A and the hanging trio uses method B.
Both have many possibilities! In this post I'll teach you how to make both kinds.

It's the first time I tried something like this, and it was much easier than I thought it would be. All you need is paper, scissors or a heart punch, and basic skills on a sewing machine.

Start by reading through these directions to the end so that you can consider which type of garland will work best for your decorating. Part of the decision may depend on what kind of paper you want to use, since some paper may look better on the vertical and some may look better on the horizontal. Part of the decision may depend on where you want to hang it. Or both factors may come into play!

A Note on Choosing Paper for your Garland:

When choosing paper, you could upcycle paper that would otherwise be discarded (newsprint, magazines, or even old books) or you could use any kind of decorative paper -- I couldn't resist the Valentine's Day sale at Michaels and bought some scrapbooking paper in reds, pinks, and heart patterns. I used cardstock for mine, but any kind of clean, unwrinkled paper should work.

If you're not sure if the paper you want to use will be suitable, cut out a sample heart or two and do a test run with the sewing machine (see below) before going all-out with the planning.

Method A: Across the Heart (Horizontal)

1. Cut the Heart Shapes

Decide what size(s) of heart you want to use -- either all the same size or a variety of sizes. Then, cut multiple hearts. You can use a heart-shaped punch, if you like.

Or you can stay old school, make a heart shaped template, and use scissors.

How many hearts you need will depend on how long you want your garland to be and how big you make the hearts. Think about whether you want to create a pattern of colors and/or sizes and plan accordingly as you cut out your hearts. You can get a sense of how many you need by laying out the hearts ahead of time, with a small space between each heart. It's better to cut out a few too many than to get stuck at the sewing machine and realize you need more.

I found it useful to lay out a line of the hearts in the order that I'd want them to be attached, so that I could switch things around as needed before sewing everything together. Once you have all your hearts cut out and an idea of how they should be assembled, head to the sewing machine.

2. Sew the Hearts Together

Use a large straight stitch on your machine.
Since sewing through paper will dull your needle, this is a good project for using up needles that are already near the end of their useful life. (You do know you should switch your needles often, right? My mom taught me you should put in a new needle after every hour spent sewing, and I'm not that diligent, but I do try to switch often! Mama says, "Dull needles plus fabric equals mistakes!")

Use all purpose thread in a color that pleases you. I like the way white looks.

Give yourself at least 6" of "tail" thread at the beginning. This will let you hang the garland easily. Then insert the side of the first paper heart and stitch a straight line from curve to curve. Keep track of how many stitches it takes to get from side to side.

At the edge of the heart, you will want to "sew" a number of blank stitches to create the twisted thread section between the hearts. This section of thread allows the garland to drape nicely. Different lengths of blank stitching will create different effects. Whatever length you decide, I recommend using the same number of empty stitches between each heart. I also recommend making that number of stitches in the blank stitches no larger than the number of stitches it took to cross the heart.

After you've stitched the right number of spacer stitches, feed in the next heart.
Stitch across the next heart the same way you did the first. Here's a pic of what it will look like with the blank spacer stitching between the hearts.

Keep going like this, alternating the stitching across the heart and the blank stitching between the hearts, until you've reached the end of your garland. Then give yourself another thread "tail" of at least 6" before clipping the thread.

Then drape your garland where you'd like it to go!
You can also drape a single garland back and forth, for a different effect. These two garlands use all small hearts from a heart punch and blank stitching between that is the same number of stitches as across the heart.

Method B: Between The Points (Vertical or Horizontal)

For a horizontal garland, I personally prefer the look you get with method A above. But when I'd hung the garland at the ceiling, I decided it needed a little "something" at the corners, so I made vertical trios of hearts to hang where it turned the corners.

You could make a horizontal garland with vertical hearts, attaching single hearts, by using the same method as above and simply stitching the hearts in the different direction:

Personally, I like the way these point-to-point attached hearts look when hung vertically.

But I wasn't entirely happy with the way it looked to just have the single hearts hanging down, so I decided to double them and then fold each heart for more dimensionality. When the hearts spin in the breeze, it looks neat!



Here's how to make a dimensional vertical garland with folded heart pairs:

1. Cut the Heart Pairs

Choose your paper (consider color and pattern) and decide if you want the hearts to be all the same size or a pattern of sizes. For my hanging triads, I wanted to go from smallest heart shape at the top to largest at the bottom, in an alternating pattern of papers. So I cut out two of each heart that I'd need:

If your paper has a lined pattern, you may want to keep that in mind when you cut. If the pattern lines up the same on both heart shapes, it will probably look better.

2. Sew the Heart Pairs Together

Place two hearts of the same size on top of each other. If they are patterned, keep in mind you will get a different effect if the same pattern sides face each other than if they do not. I prefer the way it looks if the same pattern sides face each other so it looks like you have a whole matching heart from the two folded halves.

Sew the hearts together vertically, from top to bottom point. Give yourself at least 6 inches of thread "tail" at the beginning so you can hang your garland.

Do the blank stitching between the hearts, using the same method as described above, then feed in the second heart. Be sure the pair of hearts are lined up perfectly on top of each other when you feed them in.
Here's what it looks like, two heart pairs stitched together with the blank stitching between. I used a fairly small blank stitching section for this method (5 stitches) because I didn't want them to hang too low.

Feed in the next pair of hearts, again making sure they are lined up on top of each other.

If your paper has a lined pattern, it will give a nicely matched effect if you do your stitching with the lined pattern facing up, so that when it is folded you won't have to worry about any mismatched lines.

Like this:

When your garland is the desired length, give yourself a thread tail long enough for hanging if you will hang it horizontally-- or, if desired, cut off to hang vertically.

Or, you can string a bead or two on the thread. I found a bead on the bottom helped give it a little weight so it would hang nicely, plus making it look good. Thread on the bead(s) then knot it off or glue so the bead stays attached. (I put a bead on the top too, to finish off the design.) Trim the end thread as needed.


3. Fold the Heart Pairs

To finish, fold the hearts along the stitch line to get the 3D effect.

Lastly, hang your garland! Here's my Method A garland (using alternating large and small hearts) with the Method B triads at the corners:
I hope you have fun making your garland! I'd love to see links and/or pics if you do, and I welcome any feedback. Happy Valentine's Day Decorating!

---

If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!

We Met! We Made! When Can We Do It Again?

This past weekend, we had our first South Bay Meet & Make, and eight of us had a nice afternoon of crafting, chatting, and enjoying A Work of Heart Studio. A big thank you to Andrea, the owner of the studio, for letting us meet in her lovely, creative space!

From left to right: Pamela of Something Kicky, Eko of Eko Jewelry Design, Liz of ther.a.py, Sarit of Shakuf Design, Lori of Salt & Light, Rachel of Mixsome, Cyndee of Earthborn Gourds, and Jen of Mama's Magic Studio.

Most of us were jewelry makers of one kind or another, and it was fun to talk about suppliers, techniques, and other tips. One of the best things about getting together with other handcraft artists is sharing ways to make work easier -- I loved Liz's portable workspace! Her mom had made it for her, including a measuring scale right on the work cloth. Brilliant!

Rachel's shop features her polymer clay creations, but on Sunday she brought her knitting. I'd almost brought mine, too! For me, there's something about having knitting needles in play that makes it easy for conversation to flow.

I was working on some yarn ball pendants, twisting them out of colored wire. Hopefully for a new consignment account -- I meet with the owner tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Cyndee brought a bunch of her gourds to work on some birdhouses. I'd be jealous of any bird who had such great digs! Here Pamela watches while Cyndee does her thing.

For more pics of the afternoon, check out our Facebook page!

Our hands were busy for most of the afternoon, and at the end of our session we were scheming ways to make another South Bay Meet & Make happen soon. Look for details at the Google group in the coming weeks!

And of course we'd love to continue the Meet & Make tradition with gatherings in San Francisco, Berkeley, or anywhere in the Bay Area. If you have an idea for a Meet & Make, let me know about it in the comments or shoot me a convo at my Etsy shop!

---

If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining FEtsy!