Here’s what you’ll need for enough dough for 2 pizzas:

1 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey {I used sugar this time but I normally like to use honey}
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
3 cups bread flour

In a large mixing bowl, pour in all of the yeast and the honey or sugar. Pour in the warm water and give the yeast and sugar a good little stir and let it sit for about 5 minutes until it starts to foam.

yeast immediately after the water has been poured in

yeast a few minutes later

yeast 5 minutes later

The yeast foaming process is so fascinating to me that I made a video about it.

After yeast has foamed, pour in salt, oil and 1 cup of the flour. I like to start with a whisk and then switch to a stiff plastic spatula to scrape the bowl clean.

After 1 cup of the flour is added and mixed

after an additional 1 cup of flour is added and mixed

after another 1 cup of flour is added and mixed

Once the dough is dry enough to handle without completely sticking to my hands, I like to use my hands to knead/mix it while still incorporating more flour if it gets too sticky.

You can use the spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl, and kneading the dough in the bowl will pick up all those scraped off bits. Once the dough is nicely tacky knead it for about 5 more minutes.

Lightly oil your dough and put plastic wrap over it.

I let my dough rise for about an hour and then I punch it down and let it rise again.

Once you are ready to start making pizzas, lightly flour a cutting board and gently press the dough flat from the inside out. When your dough is room temperature, you won’t need a rolling pin to roll it out. I press the dough out, and then lift it up to stretch it in certain places. It takes some practice but more practice means more pizza!!

Good luck, and let me know how your pizza making goes!

I had this blank chalkboard that I had made for my Crafted booth (using this amazing DIY chalkboard idea), that was sitting in the bar area, staring blankly at me, wanting to be full of some sort of drawing, or drinking quote, or something like that. So I took it upon myself to fill it up. First I looked up some inspiration:

1. Geometric Triangles Art Print by ColourscapePrints // 2. Geometric Quilt Print by AlmostSundayInc // 3. On the Grid Abstract Art Print by twoems

I started with a simple word, “CHEERS” to keep it simple and then got going with my design.

I had a box of Crayola chalk on hand, so I just went to town using every single color. I’m not really picky about color.

After I was done with the design I used my fingers to blend in the chalk. And Voila! My very own, sign to make me happy as I sip cocktails.

What you’ll need:

• 1 nice camera. I have a Canon T2i which I purchased for my business. You’ll need a camera that has white balance settings at least. Optional camera accessories include a nice lens.
• 1 tripod, to avoid the shaky blurriness factor.
• 1 well lit, but not directly in the sun, outdoor area.
• 1 large white board, or sheet, or anything else for the backdrop.
• Props. We used our dog, Chester.
• 1 camera operator. I normally am a control freak about taking pictures, and I had actually considered purchasing a wireless remote for my camera, but time being of the essence I decided to go with the next best thing: my willing and able younger sister.

Directions:
Take a butt-load of pictures. When I normally do photo shoots of myself for my etsy shop I will sometimes end up with 400 pictures, and maybe 20 of each item I am shooting. Why so many you ask? Well if you’ve ever done a photoshoot of yourself you would know. Once you see the pictures on the computer it becomes blatantly clear that you might not like every picture of yourself, or some are blurry, or you blinked, etc.

Optional: If you have any photo editing software (i.e. photoshop) and you know how to use it, I would suggest using it. You can add some contrast, boost colors, remove bloodshot eyes and blemishes… it’s like magic.

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner! I’ve added some very sweet bracelets to my shop, along with some other great gifts for Valentine’s Day! Get them before its too late!

Every season Pantone comes out with a Fashion Color Report to reflect the ‘colors of the season’. I am always inspired by the new colors, so here are the bracelets for this season! You can now find all of these bracelets in my shop. Happy 2013!

On November 24th Crafted at the Port of Los Angeles will be celebrating Small Business Saturday! Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is Small Business Saturday, a day for eco- and socially-conscious holiday shopping in support of small, local businesses that are the engines of the nation’s economy. Crafted represents more than 100 local, independent artists and crafters under one roof, with the perfect gifts for absolutely anyone!

Be one of the first 200 visitors to Crafted on November 24th and receive an incredibly cool CRAFTED tote bag that is made from recycled military scrap material by disabled veterans at the West LA Veterans Administration. So cool!

More Crafted events for November 24th:

• Visit SANTA and Mrs. Claus from 12-3 p.m.
• Dancers from the The San Pedro City Ballet will be doing mini Nutcracker performances at noon and 1:30 pm.
• DJ Frank FoReal will be spinning from 3 – 6 p.m.
• Belly Bombz food truck from 11am-3pm
• A Bite Truck food truck from 1pm-5pm

Parking is now FREE FOR EVERYONE at Crafted! So come by this holiday season and get your holiday shopping finished off with some of the most amazing handmade creations you can find in person!

These bottle wraps are the perfect way to brighten up that bottle of wine you are gifting to all the hostesses with the mostesses! Now you can buy 2 cozy’s and save 15% by purchasing this listing!

Come by Crafted this weekend for Sip n Shop, Live Music, BBQ from the Fox Pizza Bus (see menu here), and as always, handmade goodness from the Crafted vendors! Get more info on about the Labor Day festivities on the Crafted Blog and RSVP on the Facebook Event Page! Can’t wait to see you there!

Craft Party is a time to get to know your neighbors and exercise your creative spirit. Craft Parties take place around the world when communities come together to participate in art, craft, design and DIY in every form. Anyone can organize a Craft Party and anyone can participate — the power is literally in your hands! – Etsy