Get your Craft On!

Pssssst... just giving you a heads up that there is a D.I.Y night at Mars Cafe in the works. The time is over... your wait is up, we will once again be creating fun little things on a more regular basis. So I hope that you guys can get those creative caps back on your head, get the scissors out and the glue guns heated up because there are no excuses we are going to get our craft on!

It's very possible it will be Tuesday nights from 7-9 once a month. Stay tuned for further more information.

Learn to Crochet D.I.Y Night

This next D.I.Y night we are going to take the plunge into learning how to Crochet as well as maybe start creating an Apple Cozy for those who are ready for a little challenge.

I will confess I have not made the cozy ever before but have been aspiring to and I feel this would be a great time to try to figure it out. I purchased one to use as a pattern and have ended up loving taking my apple in my lunch to work with me. It's a perfect little case.

This pic is from Pigatopia Studios

For those of you who have not ever crocheted before, don't you worry. Crocheting seams to be simpler than knitting if you are intimidated by it. When I learned to crochet many years ago I thought I would never be a knitter because knitting was to confusing and took to long. But I was wrong, I did eventually pick up the knitting needles but I would have to save crocheting is a good place to begin in the needle craft department.

So here are the supplies you will need to bring:

1. Crochet Hook 2.5 mm (from my experience the Susan Bates brand is my favorite type of hook. The 3 pack I have linked here would be a good one to purchase because the sizes here will work for our project.)

2. Apple Cozy Pattern Printed out here from the web (ok, that link doesn't work and I can't figure out the pattern so I tried this one and with a few alterations have gotten it to work.)

3. 1 skein of Yarn (bring a simple 100% cotton in a light color. I say light because then you will be able to see what you are doing. If you get black or navy or something else dark like that it will be hard to see your stitches.)

4. Scissors

5. Button

If you are further interested in more fruit cozies patterns take a look here at The Indigo Phial blog.

I hope to see you this coming Tuesday May 19th, at Mars Cafe 7-9 pm!

p.s. if you don't feel like crocheting feel welcome to bring any other project you might want to work on and join us for some good banter.

D.I.Y. night #6

D.I.Y night number 6! Spent the evening block printing.

We discussed the basics of how to put the image on the block, the differences between all the blades that go with the carving tool, then onto the many ways you can create your image by making it a single color or multiple color print. After we had got a ways on carving our blocks we walked through how to apply the ink to the design and then the final procedure of printing onto paper.

Erin, our beginner block printer started her first carving project a inexpensive eraser and a very simple design. She did a fantastic job, I love the little birdie and lowercase e.


Many people stopped by with interest in what we were working on. and we even had a table of women next to us knitting and crocheting away.

You can see more pictures from our block printing on my Flickr account here.
I am working on our next D.I.Y night project line up for April 7th, please feel welcome to come join us!

Feathery Fun Fashions

This week at DIY night at Mars Cafe we spent the evening creating lovely hair accessories. Yes, I am sorry all you guys out there, this was a very girly project and I promise that our next DIY night on the 24th of March will not be so frilly. (p.s. it's block printing so go to the Art store and order supplies because they don't stock much.)

We were deep in feathers, fabric, and fun. HA! :)


Many great little creations were made that you very well could see selling for large amounts of $$'s on Etsy.More pictures of our great pieces on my flickr.

If you were not able to come out and join us for this last DIY night we will be having our next creative evening March 24th, 7-9pm. Block Printing is on the agenda and I advise that you get supplies soon because there is not a large stock of it in Des Moines. Either the Art Store or Hobby Lobby. Purchase the Speedball Block Printing Starter Kit or all the items separately.

Knitting Know How

FANTASTIC turn out last night at Mars Cafe for Knitting 101! Wow, I am totally impressed.


We spent the evening learning the basics of knitting. Casting on, knitting and the final... casting off. There was not a specific project that we worked on due to the large amount of beginners and lack of time. The basics were the most important to learn so hopefully everyone could then go on to making their own scarf, headband, washcloth and more.

We hope to do Knitting 102 very soon to refresh on what was learned last night as well as learn how to purl and make a pattern with the combination of purl and knit stitches.


Good luck to all the beginner knitters out there! Don't get discouraged over difficulties, just You Tube some instructions or give me a holler it you need any help or advice. Knitting takes time to learn and you just have to keep doing it.

Hope to see you at the next DIY!

Knitting 101= DIY night

Come join us this next Tuesday night February 24th at Mars Cafe, 7 - 9 pm.

We will be having an evening of knitting!

I will be teaching knitting how to for beginners who have never knitted in their life, or have just the basic knowledge and need some help to get them going again.

If you already know how to knit you are welcome to bring our own project you are working on or just join in on conversation.

Here are the supplies that will be needed for the evening:

1. Knitting Needles (I recommend purchasing a pair of needles that are size 14 because it is easier to learn to knit on larger needles. The link here is for Bamboo needles which allot of beginners prefer using because they are not as slippery as metal or plastic.)

2. Yarn (Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick, from Michaels or Hobby Lobby) p.s. grab current week's 40% off coupon to get it for less! Hobby Lobby has theirs online here.

For those who want to just get a little head start on casting on before our evening class check this out!