I just got back to Berkeley after a super fun afternoon at Maker Day. Jenny and I were on a panel with Carla of CRAFT and Jeffrey and Jillian of Because We Can, all chatting about modern crafting. I was a bit nervous but it was very cool! Then we headed outside to hang out in the sunshine with Nancy, Natalie and Cathy…

…and then an exceptionally clever Maker set up his reverse-engineered handmade margarita machine* right next to our table, and offered us the first ones to taste-test, so that was a nice bonus.

We all had paella for dinner… there were three huge vats of this amazing stuff, enough to feed a couple of hundred people. It was delicious!

Tomorrow I’ll be out and about in San Francisco, and definitely stopping at Doe and Beyond Beads before Lotta Jansdotter’s book party. And now that I’m here, I’m really getting excited about my jewelry-making workshops this weekend. I made plenty of sample pieces in different colors and styles on the BART ride down to San Mateo today. Natalie kindly posted about them this afternoon, and she also snapped this picture of me wearing a necklace and earrings set just like the ones you can make yourself if you come by this weekend! I brought lots of vintage beads along so you can pick and choose your favorites for your pieces. This olive green-and-red mix reminds me of a martini… and even though I don’t really like martinis I love the color combination.

So, please swing by Demo Area 1 on Saturday at 3 or Sunday at 11:15, or say hi if you’re just wandering around the fair. I’ll be the girl in the sparkly jewelry and black v-neck t-shirt (I brought four with me to keep things simple!) taking pictures of everything.

One more thing: starting next week, I’ll be contributing to whip-up every now and then, which I’m thrilled about. For my first post, I’ll be writing about all the goings-on at Maker Faire, with plenty of photos.

*cooler + garbage disposal + ingenuity = perfect slushy margaritas!