Who are we?

Right now we are in the middle of hyping our I Made It! Market event, so I thought that this would be a good opportunity to introduce ourselves instead of an in-depth craft tutorial. So, let's just start:

"My name is Nichole Moraila and I own a small jewelry company in Los Angeles called Mucha Muchacha. I make fused glass art jewelry.

I'm often asked why I prefer glass as a medium for jewelry. In the late 90's I was an antiques dealer and was introduced to many kinds of pottery and glass.

One of my favorite things was vintage fused glass by the Higgins Glass Company. I was taken by the rich, colorful, geometric fused glass panels called “Rondelays”. The colors reminded me of the glass bottles I had seen in Mexico as a little girl. That's when I fell in love with glass.

I already loved jewelry and had been making my own pieces for a while. Nearly ten years later I decided to marry my two loves. I think they work together beautifully for a clean, fun and modern aesthetic.

I create each piece by cutting up panels of colorful glass, designing a pattern, assembling the piece and then firing it in a kiln. The combination of time and temperature fuses the glass into something special.


Nichole Moraila
Mucha Muchacha
www.MuchaMuchacha.etsy.com"


"Hi, everyone, I'm Morgan and I run the webcomic "I wish I had a penguin friend." I moved to Los Angeles 3 years ago to work in the film industry and about 1 year ago I decided that maybe it wasn't my goal anymore. My day job is still in video production, but I love coming home and drawing.

My comics are mostly autobiographical and mostly embarrassing (for me at least). What I love about cartoons is that the art doesn't have to be realistic or "perfect." It can be loose and wild or clean and precise, but each one can make you feel something different.

I started the Los Angeles Craft Mafia with Nichole because we were serious about selling our crafts. Already I've found that some of my intentions have changed. I still want to put on our own craft shows and I really enjoy letting you all know about upcoming events, but it is also fun to meet new people! Los Angeles is such a big and scary place and it can be hard to meet people with similar interests. And so far, with just one meeting, we have met a bunch of great friends.

So, always feel free to say hi even if you don't have your own craft business or products. Send us an email, stop by for a meeting, show up late, show up early, it's all good ☺

Morgan
www.iwishihadapenguinfriend.com
http://www.momoma.etsy.com"

I Made it! Market news

Ok, the I Made it! Market is at capacity for vendors, but we have a website:  http://imadeitmarket.blogspot.com/

make sure that you stop by Feb 9th! It's going to be a lot of fun!!

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone that came out last night! It was bizarre that the power went out, but I'm so happy that you guys stopped by! It's not often that you get so many dynamic, friendly, creative people in one room at one time...

And for those that couldn't make it, we will have another meeting next month. Here are some pics from the evening courtesy of Nichole Moraila and Ms. Auxy Espinoza!

meeting tomorrow!

Craft Meet Up!

Tuesday, January 22nd is our craft
mafia meet up! If you’re interested in becoming a
member or just want to meet some new people, come on
out! Bring a friend, the more the merrier! The info:
Tuesday Jan 22nd 7pm
Saints and Sinners Bar
10899 Venice Boulevard
West Los Angeles, CA 90034
http://www.saintsandsinnerslounge.net/

Come out, grab a drink from the bar, chat, craft and laugh with us! We’ll be in the back room.

The Craft for this months meet-up will be:
Mafiosa Bath Bombs by Nichole Moraila/Mucha Muchacha

Thanks Ladies

I'd like to say thanks to all the cool chicks that came out to the new Southpark Market where I was selling yesterday. It was nice to meet and chat it up with you all! I had so much fun that I've made plans to sell there next Sunday, too. FYI, they are still looking for vendors so hit up www.southparkfleamarket.com if you are interested in selling there. Thanks for spreading the crafty love!

Vendors needed!

There is vendor availability for the indie craft show:

I Made It! Market

Feb 9th from 12-4pm at
Billy's Coffee Shop (formerly Inmo Gallery)
114 west 5th street (and main street)
los angeles ca 90013

It's $1 per square foot that you need, please provide your own set up (table, chairs, blankets, whatever you use)

If you're interested, please send an email to losangelescraftmafia (at) yahoo.com with a description or a link to what you sell.

Friday Night TV Party: Caramel Marshmallows

Friday Night TV Party: Caramel Marshmallows
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons butter
1 cup condensed milk
1 bag large marshmallows
powdered sugar
wax paper
chopped nuts (optional)


-Cook the ingredients on low heat in a big pot (it will bubble up), except the vanilla, to 246 degrees F. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, test it by dropping the caramel into cold water. If it becomes firm, then it is ready (also called the firm ball test). Don’t take it off the fire too early, but also be careful you don’t wait too long and burn the caramel. Keep an eye on it because I have burnt plenty of caramel.

-while you’re waiting for your caramel to cook, cut your wax paper into squares (about 5 inches wide). The caramel is going to stick to the paper, but you can try coating the paper with the powdered sugar.

-Remove from the fire, add the vanilla

-Now’s the fun part! Take a fork, stick a marshmallow, then dip it into the caramel. Add as much or as little caramel as you want. It’s also delicious to roll it into some chopped nuts (this will help to keep it from sticking to the wax paper)

-Drop your caramel marshmallow onto the center of one of your wax paper pieces. Let it cool for about an hour before you completely wrap it in the paper. The easiest way to close the paper is to roll it and then twist the sides closed (like the way a hard candy is packaged). This should hold all on it’s own.


I like to make these as gifts, they are really delicious. I also use the caramel recipe to make caramel apples, yum!

New Southpark Flea Market Opening This Sunday January 20th!

Southpark is a new weekly flea market that will be having it's grand opening this Sunday January 20th. It is being produced by Phillip Dane, the creator of Melrose Trading Post also known as the Fairfax High School flea market. If you've ever been to Melrose Trading Post, then you already know what creative, crafty treasures to expect to find at this new flea market. There will be indie crafts alongside vintage gems for you to score. Mucha Muchacha (Nichole) will be there selling her glass jewelry! There will be live music and yummy food so come out, shop and stop by to say hello. Southpark is at 8th and Grand. Hours are 9am-4pm. See you there!
www.www.southparkfleamarket.com

Bitches Brew

Throughout the year my husband and I brew beer together. These are always long, warm, leisurely afternoons...so relaxing. Sometimes we'll invite friends over on brew days and monkey around in the yard. Sometimes we'll drink previously brewed beer and grill pizzas on the barbecue. No matter what it's always a good time, especially in the summer! I just bumped across this simple, broken down tutorial to beer brewing at home and I wanted to share it with you: www.instructables.com/id/Make-Beer/
Admittedly, this is a process that initially requires patience and attention to detail but in the end it's always worth it. If you live in the Los Angeles area, there are beer brewing stores in Woodland Hills and Culver City www.brewsupply.com . I happen to favor the one in Culver City since they offer recipes, brew kits, classes and they participate in the California Homebrewers Festival every year. The homebrew fest www.calhomebrewers.org goes down every spring beneath a beautiful grove of oak trees here in Southern California, now THAT is a good time. Here's a pic of two L.A. Craft Mafia members (Nichole and Morgan) at last years festival!

Los Angeles Craft-Up!

Hello Craft Lovers!

Craft Meet Up!

Tuesday, January 22nd is our craft
mafia meet up! If you’re interested in becoming a
member or just want to meet some new people, come on
out! Bring a friend, the more the merrier! The info:
Tuesday Jan 22nd 7pm
Saints and Sinners Bar
10899 Venice Boulevard
West Los Angeles, CA 90034
http://www.saintsandsinnerslounge.net/

Come out, grab a drink from the bar, chat, craft and laugh with us! We’ll be in the back room.

The Craft for this months meet-up will be:

Mafiosa Bath Bombs by Nichole

If you don’t know already, we have our own website
www.losangelescraftmafia.com

Or you can find us here:
www.myspace.com/losangelescraftmafia

*Keep your eyes peeled for 2 possible selling
opportunities in February!

* If you have anything you would like announced
please email us so we can put it in our newsletter…
ESPECIALLY craft fair submission information***

See you there!

It's the bomb

The holidays are over and the family stress is finally over. It should be months before you have to hear your mom ask you why you still don't have a boyfriend or why it is that you're rocking that rad hair color. This calls for a celebration!

Mucha Muchacha’s Mafiosa Bath Bombs

Yields 4 medium bath bombs

In a bowl place:

1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup of fine citric acid
*Use an old bowl that you no longer use for food. Another option is to recycle a large yogurt container.

Mix

Add 2 tspn regular olive oil (preferably not extra virgin, too stinky)
Slowly add drops of essential oil to the mixture until it holds the faint smell of your oil.
*Lemongrass oil is a nice cure for your sore roller derby muscles.
*Ginger oil is great for circulation.

Mix again

It is very important that the combination clump together when you squeeze it in your fist. If it’s not clumping you may add a couple of drops of oil or very lightly spray with water. At this point the combination should both clump when squeezed and still break apart with little effort.

Now is a great time to add any dried lavender or rose petals from your garden. You can also get creative (I’ve used dried Mexican chocolate!) It’s best to add these at either the bottom of the mold or throw it right into your mix.
*Large decorative ice cube trays make excellent molds as do the bottoms of individual yogurt cups

Pack the mixture into the mold and then pack again twice more. Be sure that’s it’s in the mold good and tight.

Remove the bomb from the mold and find a warm spot for it to cure. This usually takes about 12-48 hours depending on the size of your bomb. When the bomb is hard like a rock, it’s done.

Make your favorite cocktail, draw a bath, drop your bomb into the tub and enjoy!

Newsletter Information

So we're starting a weekly newsletter with upcoming craft fair news, tutorials, common crafting-for-profit questions, or even highlights of fellow crafters! The features will be posted here as well (see the post below for our first feature), but for information about craft fairs, meetings, and various other events, send us an email with the subject letter "subscribe" to losangelescraftmafia (at) yahoo.com

also, look for an upcoming yahoo group!

I want to sell my crafts, what do I need to do

“I want to sell my crafts, what do I need to do!?!?” By Morgan

When I decided that I wanted to expand my little comic website into an actual craft business, I was faced with all sorts of scary, legal questions. After a whole bunch of research and aggravation, I managed to figure out what I needed. I am in no way a legal authority and I would recommend that you see an accountant. But if you are poor, like me, here are some helpful ways of getting started:

Another disclaimer: this is all information specific to Los Angeles County (even Culver City has different rules) so make sure that you know your local laws.

The first thing that I needed was a seller’s permit. It’s free and relatively easy. Click here for the forms: http://www.boe.ca.gov/info/reg.htm
I can’t stress enough that you should NOT mail in the form. Go to the office and have someone take a look at it. Even my application had some little mistakes that, had I mailed it in, would have taken WEEKS to fix. I added multiple locations to the list that I knew I would be selling at regularly so they gave me a Consolidated Seller’s Permit. Even with that, if I am going to sell at a temporary space, I need to print out the form 530-B and fill in the location information. Once a year when I send in my sales tax, I’ll also send in the form 530-B. When you are selling at your booth, you need to have the forms with you.

I also wanted to file a DBA (Doing Business As). The woman who filed my Seller’s Permit told me that I needed one because it would protect my business name (I wish I had a penguin friend). Also, if I want to get a business credit card, bank account, etc, I’ll need this. The process looked like it was going to be a pain (you fill in the form, publish a notice in a local circulation paper for 4 weeks, then send in the affidavit) so I used LegalZoom.com. It was about $120 to do that and it is currently still being processed.

Lastly, and the most overlooked, is the Los Angeles Business Tax License. You get it through the Office of Finance (http://www.lacity.org/finance/finD.htm) click on the “Business Tax Registration Certificate (BTRC) Application” You NEED to do this before you start any sort of business activity otherwise you’ll get hit with all sorts of penalties (like I did). My day job is as a contractor/1099 in video production which I started in March of 2005 and I didn’t know that I needed to get a Business License. When I filed for it in November of 07, it cost me $200 in penalties. At the same time, I filed one for my craft business and since it was filed before any business practices, it cost me $0. So I implore you to get this taken care of.

It’s all pretty dense, but if you follow those links it’ll get you a good start. You can email me (morgan(at)iwishihadapenguinfriend.com) with questions but I can only answer out of my own experience.

Happy New Year!

Can you believe another year has gone by? Last year was a super busy year for me...family, work, friends, passions and business. I finally got my own business, Mucha Muchacha going and now it is slowly beginning to hum along;) Hopefully, soon the L.A. Craft Mafia will host a get together and hopefully people will come out for it! If you're interested, let me know and I can add you to our email list. This year I plan to generally craft more...this includes knitting, glass fusing and more general jewelry making. You KNOW you've been lagging when people around you begin to snake your style;) Here are some pieces that show off what I was up to at the end of 2007. Enjoy!