EcoMonster

EcoMonster is a little shop that’s part of (or at least next to) the Black Cat Collective and which offers various handcrafted and earth-​friendly products. I was here as part of the Unilocal’s Art of Entertainment: Upcycled Snow Globe Workshop. This fun and family-​friendly event supported EcoMonster’s commitment to a green, creative lifestyle through craft workshops and art classes.
I actually made 2 snow globes that were maybe on the lower end of the Event’s creativity scale. After taking them home, Gayle wasn’t too impressed either! Yet, I had a great time picking out my jar, choosing my inner holiday scene, hot gluing it all together, adding water and glitter, and topping things off with various extra decorations from a variety of funky re-​purposed choices. All the while, there was Christmas music in the background, really helpful EcoMonster volunteers, tasty refreshments, and a good feeling of Holiday cheer. Many thanks to Abby S. of Unilocal and the good folks at the Black Cat Collective and EcoMonster for making this event such a joy to experience.

Great place, great people, and a great crafty community with DIY workshops and fun arts and crafts events.
Update: collaborate with Black Cat Collective and their team is super friendly and awesome as well!

Opening night! Came to the event that night. Very cute boutique. Recommend coming back and checking it out if you are in the area.

This place is too cute, tucked away, filled with trinkets and gems.

I went to an EcoMonster workshop today for creating Valentine’s Day coasters, just across the hall from the boutique. The adhesive cork-​board that was available to create the coasters were actually scraps used from one of Thoey’s (the owner) own projects, so it was neat how she was reusing material that would normally be thrown away or tossed.
There were some sweet young ladies that helped Thoey run the workshop too. They gave helpful tips and creative ideas on what to make and pointers on what tools to use to cut certain shapes out of certain materials.
Besides the fun workshop, the boutique is small and cozy itself, and actually hasn’t officially «opened» yet. But I did get to walk around it and managed to buy a Hmong-​inspired pillow. I love it! It’s well crafted and has a good weight to it. Most of the items in the store are hand-​crafted, up-​cycled, eco-​conscious products created by like-​minded people. It was really awesome walking around the store, seeing all of the creative ideas people came up with (eg: cassette tape pouches and ramen wrapper baby slippers!).
The owner was very helpful when I had questions. She has teacups with moss in them (super cute), and one was a lavender color, which stroke me as odd. I asked her about it and she said it’s dyed moss and she’s had it for a couple years. Every item in the store seems to have a story.
I’ll definitely come back to other workshops in the future. They are very fun, just the right amount of social, and they feel «homey». I’m not sure how I can describe it better than that. :)