Vancouver Event: Buddha Woodha Jewellery Class

Hello Vancity Girlfriends,

It's Social Shopper Saturday!  I love coupons and I have to admit had a bit of a couponing addition.  I'd buy the Social Shopper, Living Social, or Groupons and would just collect them.  There was a fascination to buying and getting such a great deal!  Then after I had the coupon I would often forget to book ahead of time or to use it.  Yes, it's a bad habit of mine.  Luckily I have learned my lessons so I'm more careful.  I make the reservation right after purchasing.  And with the new Canadian laws, the price that I paid for the coupon never expires.  

I love beading and crafting but the bead stores are so far away in Vancouver or Granville Island.  When I saw the Buddha Woodha Jewellery Making class, it was a good deal and so close to home in Burnaby at the local community center.  I couldn't resist and made a reservation for their ring and pendant class in October.  It's pretty amazing how much you can do in a 90 minute class.  We made two rings and one stone wrapped pendant.  I learned some new skills and had fun!  

They are having another class on wirework now that is offered on Social Shopper with Buddha Woodha.  It is the same deal that I got which is $29 per class for one person or $49 for two people.  My advice is to book your class early.  

Buddha Woodha Jewellery Making Class - Rings and Pendants

Crafternoon: Baad Anna's Crochet Class

Hello Vancity Girlfriends,

I love learning new crafts and taking classes which is how I learn best.  My girlfriend found a place that had crochet lessons for beginners and intermediate all in one.  So that's a good sign since I'm a beginner, since I can never remember how to start a slip knot which I need to start my chain for crocheting.  

Beginner Crochet Class - Wool Cowl (just starting)

Baad Anna's is a local shop that offers knitting and crocheting classes on a sliding scale which is nice.  The wool is pretty, okay, I'm obviously not a wool and yarn expert, but I found it interesting that they do have a supply of Canadian wool.  

They have a table at the back of the shop for the classes and there were about 8 students in the class.  The classes run over four 2 hour sessions in October.  The students were friendly and from a variety of crochet levels.  There were some ladies working on their individual projects such as baby booties, or crochet lace sweaters and then the rest of us who were learning the beginning crochet stitches.  It is inspiring to see what else can be crochets other than scarves.  The best advice that they told me was to just experiment and trial and error.  

Don't think that you can't do it or that's it's too difficult, just pick up the supplies and follow step-by-step and do your best!  

Baad Annas's Website:  http://baaadannas.wordpress.com/classes/

Crafternoon: Border Buddy Cardmaking Class

Hello Vancity Girlfriends,

Now I love crafting as you know and learning about new crafts.  I was searching on the internet for a cardmaking class and stumbled upon a Stampin' Up demonstrator in Canada who had a studio nearby in New Westminister.  It is through my internet surfing that I discovered the Border Buddy Cardmaking class.  It peaked my interest because it was closeby, the cost was only $20 (and if you place an order of $40 or more, the class is free).  That was definitely a selling feature for me.

I wanted to take a card making class for a long time but there are not many around.  I don't have any friends who enjoy this craft.  So I decided to bribe my friend who lives in New Westminister to come to the class with me so we could both try something new.  

The studio was in the basement of a house and there was a long table with friendly guests when we arrived.  Taking classes are great because you don't have to do anything.  All of the materials are already prepared and she guides you step-by-step through the process.  Also the Big Shot paper cutter and framelits were there for us to use.  

I was really happy with how easy it is to do stamping and card making.  The group of women in the class were super friendly and supportive.  We were the beginners of the group but we were able to leave with four beautiful cards in a night.  There were five of us making cards all together so a nice small group.

Now I have my eyes set on more cards for the upcoming Winter Watercolour card making class in November.  Stay tuned as I'll share my new craft adventures with you and let you see what I've ordered when it arrives.  

Stamp Crazy With Alison Website
(Click on the top page 'Classes' to see what classes she will have each month).

Cooking: Well Fed Studio Meal Assembly Classes

Dear Vancity Girlfriends,

I love cooking and having homemade meals that are healthy and easy to make.  I've watched cooking shows such as Jamie Oliver's 15 minutes meals and Gordan Ramsey's Best Restaurants to see how to go from home made comfort food to gourmet restaurant meals.  

However even every foodie loving chef has to take a break once in a while so when my girlfriend suggested that we attend North Vancouver's Well Fed Studio and meal assembly class, it didn't take me long to say "Yes!".  So Vancity Girlfriends went to our first meal assembly class on October 15th.  

Well Fed Meal Assembly class is where we "assemble" or "put together" eight dinners that will feed 4-6 people each.  There is a menu that you pre-order from before you attend the class and you can double order the dishes that you like.  There are snacks and drinks (even white wine) served during the two hours of the class.  I had never heard of this idea before but the class sold out so we were lucky that we signed up early.

The cost of the meal assembly class for your eight meals is $238 per person.  The hardest part for me was making space in my apartment sized freezer for the meals.  

When I arrived at the class, they already had our first tray of ingredients all ready for us and our own individual recipe books with our names on them.  Everyone did the recipes that they each choose in the order of their recipe book.  All the ingredients were wrapped in different bags for the different meals that you chose.  Even though initially I thought that meal assembly would be easier than cooking, it was still a LOT of work.  We were busy assembling the meals during the entire two hours.  Everyone else seemed to know what to do and had been there before.  Since it was our first time we had some catching up to do but Carolyn was on a roll and got to work right away as I was sipping on my wine ;)  

The recipe book provided instructions on how to assemble the meal.  Put the ingredients in different ziploc bags, add the spices, pack it all together in ziploc bags or containers and then slap cooking instructions on it.  Most of the ingredients would be in the bags but the staple ingredients and fresh herbs were in the middle of the table for everyone to use and share. 

With the stuffed chicken breasts, we had to put the stuffing and tie the breasts before we put them in containers to freeze at home.  I really liked the fact that most of the recipes that I choose were intended to be put in large ziploc bags because that saved a lot of freezer space for me.  I also liked that since we were assembling the food, I could choose which meals I wanted to separate into smaller portion sizes.  It was work but the good news is that I didn't have to do any chopping, or dish washing.  All of the shopping and preparation was done for me and I didn't need to buy a bunch of different spices that I might only use once or twice.  A few of the recipes such as Chicken Tikka Masala and Beef Tangine had over 10 spices in the recipes.  

Overall we both liked the meal assembly class and it was a great idea to try it out.  Now we just need to actually thaw and cook the recipes at home to see what they taste like!  

Well Fed Meal Assembly Class Website