I had such a great time in Los Angeles the week before Thanksgiving — and of course one of the biggest highlights was teaching, shopping, and hanging out at the magnificent Felt Club Holiday XL event! The night before, I helped tireless organizer Jenny stuff goodie bags for the first 250 shoppers (everyone got a copy of Adorn, and there were also lovely giveaways from Chronicle Books, Sublime Stitching, and Bossa Nova Baby, among many others).

Alexis and I got there bright and early to help with goodie bag detail, and I got a chance to walk around early, before the crowds poured in at 11. I snapped pictures for my upcoming indie fashion article for BurdaStyle, and got to see lots of friends and some of my favorite crafty vendors from near and far.

I got to meet Monica of White Peacock Designs and see one of her lovely tiaras in person — hi Monica!

And here are a few dozen of Cathy of California‘s beautiful mushroom pincushions — some of my all-time favorite crafts. I love mine (it’s hot pink like the beauty in the front row!).

My Bead Simple demo started at 1:00, and it turned out to be amazing. It had filled up well in advance and then another 20 or so people showed up as well! I wrote up a recap over at Bead Simple with more photos in case you’re interested… here are my little handmade necklace and earrings kits and some photos of me with my fabulous students, modeling their new earrings (bottom left) and necklaces (bottom right). Thank you so much to everyone who came to the class!

Once the class was over and I was a free woman again, I got to walk around to check out Maker Square and shop. I won’t post photos of the gifts I found, but here are some of the non-surprises I can show off:

I love Cathy of California‘s work — it is so amazing. I found two bundles of vintage fabric (from her mother’s collection) and this fantastic ribbon straw flower kit with loom. I also got one of her handmade ribbon straw brooches and wore it all day (as you can see on me above).

I also found some super fun Christmas ornaments — the gingerbread boy is from My Paper Crane and the tree is from Cathy.

I picked up two adorable whale notebooks from Rock Scissor Paper and a set of awesome cards from biggerKrissy…

…and this sweet sock monkey card case from Textile Fetish, and the vintage scissor-print sunglasses case from Jekbot. I also got several packages of her lavender shortbread but those vanished long before I had a chance to photograph them!

I also picked out this stunning carnelian necklace from Hannahmade. I absolutely love carnelians and I thought this piece was gorgeous!

I was about to pass out by the time we left, but it was an amazing day! Thank you again to Jenny for inviting me to teach and I can’t wait until my next visit to Los Angeles.