emiko-o reware

HO HO HO, it’s my only holiday sale event that I’m doing this month, so if you’re looking to get your hands on emiko-o reware LEGO® jewelry, you’d better come by Urban Interstice on Friday, Dec 9, 4-8pm. Lucky for me, it’s also the same night as the Mission Holiday Block Party, so an even better reason to make it out to the Mission! See updates on Urban Interstice on facebook; Shana Astrachan and Kelly Nedderman are running this holiday pop-up store, and have many events lined up for the month as well as super cool merch.

I’ve been busy making my NEW stillego pinwheel hoop earrings, which are so very rockstar and I can’t stop wearing them myself, they are so lightweight, fun, and has been getting lots of attention around town. And special for the holidays, I’ve whipped up some cutie LEGO® minifigure ornaments for the oh-so-affordable price of $15 ($20 for Star Wars); how could you possibly resist now? What’s that, you say; you can’t make it on Dec 9? No worries, the gallery has some of my work in the store for the whole month (ornaments are only available at the gallery), and of course you can buy gifts online on my etsy and my rewarestyle.com website 24/7.

have a hoop custom made like this "Smoke"

minifig ornaments!

On Saturday, Dec 10, from 12-4pm our Accessorize with Toys Workshop will be doing a drop-in Ornament Making afternoon for $15. Some of our primo reclaimed toy parts will be on hand to get crafty with! Extra fun with glue guns!

make your own ornament like this person did last year @ Workshop

Here are the details:
Friday, Dec 9, 4-8pm:
emiko oye Holiday Trunk show

Saturday, Dec 10 12-4pm:
Drop-in Ornament Making Workshop

Urban Interstice Gallery
3443 26th St @ Mission St  SF 94110 

You won’t want to miss my last holiday event of the year, happening today, Dec 3, from 4-7pm at Interstice Gallery in the Mission! If you haven’t been by the space yet for one of Shana’s previous events, make sure to come out this weekend and get in the holiday spirit with us. Today I’ll have TONS of LEGO jewelry for everyone on your gift list: NEW kids pendants and bracelets; long, swingy pendants on sterling chains; cufflinks, plus sophisticated new color combinations like Aura, Aegean, and Cashmere. I’ll have my full catalog handy to take Pre-Orders with FREE SHIPPING for items I don’t have on hand. My event is featured this week in THE LATEST AND GREATEST on BoldItalic.com.

Also, NEW LEGO Greeting Cards! So much fun to style and photograph, this is definitely going to be an annual, recurring product. Inspired by our Accessorize with Toys workshops and all those board game boards, I’ve made Upcycled Ornaments and Table Tops Trees, all which will be at the gallery this weekend. Not to mention the Hugging Dinosaurs ornament series (hard to resist the Golden Dinos, or anything spray painted gold, for that matter). If you’re on facebook, you can see the event posted there and also on Shana’s blog.

Speaking of ornaments, come by the gallery on Sat, Dec 4, from 1-4pm for our Ornament Making Party. Make your own ornaments from recycled game/toy parts and I’ll spray paint it gold to give it extra pizzazz. $20 gets you all the ornaments you can glue gun together, plus treats and mulled wine. It’s addictive, and you’re guaranteed to go home with successful projects, perhaps even gifts.  The SF Chronicle listed our Ornament Making Party as one of the Eight Great DIY Holiday Gift Workshops!

Interstice Gallery
3443 26th St, between Mission and Valencia, SF

Accessorize with Toys is rockin’ the holidays with Ornament making workshops this Thurs, Dec 2, from 6-10pm at The Workshop in SF. Robotix, Lincoln logs, LEGO, army men, and all sorts of toy parts, perfect for decking out the tree. Come ready to wield a glue gun and you’ll be hooked on the ornament-making train! The Workshop is making a party of it as well, providing brewskies and tunes by local djs. It will be a festive time; we’d love to see you there!

Our event is featured in SFStation’s Holiday Shopping Events: http://www.sfstation.com/holiday-shopping-a33531

WHERE: The Workshop
1798 McAllister @ Baker, SF
WHEN: Thurs, Dec 2, 6-10pm; 6-8pm kids welcome
HOW MUCH: $15 adults, $10 kids; It’s Open House, so you can wander in off the street and check it out before plunkin’ down cash

Celebrate the Fall Equinox with us this Thursday (Sept 23), 11:30am-1:30pm as we bring Accessorize with Toys to Green Zebra for their Power Hour lunchtime event! Green Zebra Environmental Action Center is a great community resource for many of your eco needs. You may know them best by the great coupon book they publish, highlighting eco companies in the Bay Area. Recycle your batteries, bulbs, and come get valuable info on how you can lessen your carbon footprint.

projects made at SCRAP workshop

Why spend your lunch hour in the office? Come down to the Crocker Galleria, lower level (enter on Sutter Street side) and make jewelry with us: charm bracelets, expressive badges, necklaces, keychains! Super easy to get to: take Muni/Bart to the Montgomery St station, and the Galleria is on 50 Post @  Montgomery. Class fee is $10.

brooch made at SCRAP workshop

Then on Friday, Sept 24, 4-7pm join us for our Artist Reception Happy Hour at Green Zebra, celebrating our recycled jewelry art show, “From Geekery to Regality: Beauty in Reuse”. My Metal Arts Critique Collective (M.A.C.) has been showing a selection of our recycled jewelry work in the window of Green Zebra for their Eco Fashion Month. Open your minds to the creative possibilities in circuit boards and recycled & familiar plastics.

Meet the artists, have a bite and drink, and peruse the selection of smaller, ready-to-wear jewelry for sale (bling yourself out for your dinner date!). Party ends at 7 (gates close then), so come early!

See more from M.A.C. on the web: http://critiquecollective.rewarestyle.com/

Accessorize with Toys Workshop @ Green Zebra
Thurs, Sept 23, 11:30-1:30pm
$10 class fee

From Geekery to Regality: Beauty in Reuse
Recycled jewelry by the Metal Arts Critique Collective
Sept 1-30 with Artist Reception Friday, Sept 24, 4-7pm

BOTH EVENTS HELD AT: Green Zebra in the Crocker Galleria
50 Post Street @ Montgomery, SF

I can hardly believe it’s been 2 months since I last posted, but here we are again, gearing up for another Accessorize with Toys crafting marathon! This weekend we’ll be at Renegade Craft Fair at the SF Fort Mason Festival Pavilion (the large building way out back by the water), 11am -7pm. This year the organizers have really upped the ante by making this much more than a crafting bazaar selling of wares. Upstairs in the Mezzanine will be a Craft Hub, which is where we’ll be, along with other hands-on workshops by SCRAP and Etsy! Food, drink, and even live music! Best of all, it’s FREE entry (’cause they know you’ll for sure spend some greenbacks once you’re in).

We’ll be doing decorative badges, keychains, and bracelets the entire weekend, so stop by and make something with us. As always, we encourage people to bring favorite parts and bits from home to make their creations extra personal. Like last year, we are asking for a $5 donation per project to cover our material and booth costs. However, if you bring us a DONATION of small Toy or Game PARTS, you get to make a FREE PROJECT.

Take a minute to check out the Renegade Craft Fair site (we’re the first on the list of artists/vendors!) to plan your course of crafting action for the weekend.
Stay posted on our latest news and upcoming events and photos on our Facebook page. The map to the fair is linked there. Become a fan right now!

workshop at Renegade. photo by Jeanne LeDoux.

Just a last-minute reminder that Shana & I will be bringing Accessorize with Toys recycling workshop to our beloved S.C.R.A.P. (Scroungers Center for Reusable Art Parts) tomorrow, Saturday, August 8, from 1-4pm. We’re super excited to be there and see what people create from the mecca of craftiness that is S.C.R.A.P.! It’s a Drop-in Family event, so stop by for a little bit or stay all afternoon and create some jewelry with us. We’ll have our usual stockpile of repurposed game/toy parts and findings, plus we just got a ton of new flat nose jewelry pliers for everyone to have an easier time of opening those pesky jump rings. Best of all, you get to pick stuff from the SCRAP warehouse-what a treat!

There is a fee to participate, the proceeds go to keep SCRAP running. For more info, please contact SCRAP directly by calling 415-647-1746.

Accessorize with Toys was again a superstar hit of the party, this time at the Renegade Craft Fair this past weekend at Fort Mason in San Francisco. The fair was both Saturday and Sunday, from 11am-7pm and our booth was rockin’ pretty much nonstop! This time Shana and I zoned in on helping people create specific projects: charm bracelets and keychains, which worked out perfectly for our limited 10×10 space (we actually prefer the more intimate setting). Over 50 people per day participated, and about 70 bracelets and over 30 keychains were made. Families, young kids, teenagers, adults, seniors, and fellow crafters alike sat with us in our crafty toy zone. Thanks to organizers Danny and Sue for promoting our workshop, both on the website and on other online bulletins! We can’t wait to come back next year.

Photos of our lovely participants and their creations are up on Flickr. It was great fun seeing everyone get revved up about making; we had SuperMoms (like this mom here to the right, who helped her 2 girls all the while with an infant strapped to her front), Super Dads, entire clans (thanks Pam for bringing your family and a donations bag!), best friends, other artists, you name it!

Our next stop on the Accessorize with Toys train is at SCRAP on Saturday, August 8. You get to use materials you find at SCRAP as well as what we bring. It’s going to be epic. Call or email SCRAP to register: 415-647-1746 or workshop@scrap-sf.org
Hope to see you soon!

happy camper at Accessorize with Toys

The second day of Maker Faire was definitely less crazy than Saturday; much more laid back, giving us a chance to talk more with people. Our supplies were pretty wiped out by the end of the day, but amazingly our energy wasn’t. Hopefully next year we’ll be easier to find (apologies to those of you who couldn’t find us!).

We’re looking forward to bringing Accessorize with Toys to the Renegade Craft Fair, July 18-19 at SF’s Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion. If you join us at Renegade, make sure to bring $5; as much as we want to offer it for free, we’ve got to cover our expenses so we can keep it going!

If you can’t make it in July, mark your calendar for August 8 at S.C.R.A.P. SCRAP is launching their Family Day workshops and we’re glad to be a part of it. RSVP by emailing worshop@scrap-sf.org or call 415-647-1746 for this drop-in event.
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Accessorize with Toys at Maker Faire

The first day of Maker Faire 2009 San Mateo is done and whhew! are my dogs a’barkin’! This year our Accessorize with Toys workshop is in the Show Barn, our first year out of the Swaporamarama and on our own. If you’re looking for us, we’re in the same area as the awesome Tech Shop, and situated between the Metal Arts Guild and the Metals Arts Association of Silicon Valley.
What seemed like the highest attendance of all Maker Faires, we could barely keep up with the photo taking of participants and their projects. But the photos are up on Flickr, with much more to come after tomorrow. Here are some of our favorites.

Maker Faire, here we come again, this time you will find Accessorize with Toys outside of the Swaporamamrama. I had 3 lovely years with the Swap, but thought it was time we had our own billing. Hopefully we can fit all our recycled toy bits into the space allotted (we were spoiled with tons of space and chairs in the Swap room).

So, if you’re a fan of our workshop, stay tuned for more info on where we’ll be and what we’ve got in store….

Frances, our biggest fan!