Growing up, sometimes we forget to exercise our creative activities. For some, our creative drive dies right along with the hand-me-down car from Grandma senior year in high school. Sometimes our creative energy is put on the backburner as stresses and responsibilities of being an adult such as finding a job, keeping a job, paying bills, the mortgage and providing for our families take over… or our creative energy fades away completely. Here in Sacramento, we love each other. We support each other. Seriously, we do. Just stop for a moment and think back on how many creative projects, ideas and businesses that have thrived in the last decade or so. Regardless if the doors of any of these i

  The Ultimate Crash: features Bushnell Gardens Nursery & Bushnell Landscape Creations along with talented Yard Crasher hosts, Ahmed Hassan, Josh Temple and Matt Muenster.  Watch as Bushnell Gardens Nursery and Bushnell Landscape Creations orchestrate the transformation of a neglected local Sacramento  yard into a relaxing Sierra mountain retreat. We've seen sneek peeks and it's definitely categorized as a 'don't miss' program.  Premiering Saturday, July 2 on HGTV at 10:30 pm PST and Sunday, July 3 at 5:00 p.m. PST. For more information go to: Bushnell Gardens Nursery Disclosure: Dave Bushnell is the owner of Bushnell Gardens

Woodworkers and DIY enthusiasts will be in heaven this weekend.  The 28th season of The Woodworking Shows will be at Cal Expo.  The show feaures several seminars, a book store, and nearly 60 vendor booths.  Many of the booths feature demonstrations and seminars of their own.  There are also boths for local woodworking clubs.   The seminars cover several topics. Two of the local woodworking clubs present are Nor-Cal Woodturners and Sacramento Area Woodworkers (SAW).  Both meet once a month at the Hart Senior Center 915 27th Street, Sacramento.  Woodturners the fourth Tuesday each month 7-9 Pm (except Nov. and Dec.)  Saw the first Tuesday each month 7-9 PM   Nor-Cal Woodturners Sa

Taylor Market butcher Danny Johnson confidently surveyed half of a 160-pound pig as it was laid out before him and some 30 participants at the market’s “Butchering - 101” class. “Here’s Wilbur,” Johnson said jokingly, as he realigned the edges on his 10-inch knife. Johnson clarified that when steeling a blade, you aren’t actually sharpening it, but rather bringing the tiny bent edges upright — little facts like this kept participants’ heads nodding and eyebrows raised. Each participant received a diagram displaying common retail cuts of pork with lines pointing to their origins on the pig in its undivided form. People perused the sheet, easily identifying most of the cuts. Meanwhile, J

Slicing off the side of a 28-pound halibut is just another day at the office for Danny Johnson, co-owner and butcher at Taylor's Market in Land Park. It’s a skill he was happy to share with a dozen Sacramentans on Saturday for one of several Butchering 101 workshops his store has held since January. The class members bombarded Johnson with their seafood, poultry and butchering questions. He didn't let them down. "Everything I tell you, it's how it works (at Taylor's)," Johnson told the class. They started with poultry. Johnson explained where dark spots on chickens and turkeys come from, the current controversies with organic labeling, and good handling and knifing technique. He showe

This Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m., Sacramento's Scottish Rite Center will open its doors for Indy Euphoria, "Sacramento's Vinyl Toy, D.I.Y. & Indy Comix Show." The event will feature live art, a charity auction, film screenings, hundreds of vendors, celebrated comic book guests, seminars and workshops. "Indy Comix" is an umbrella term for projects that fall outside the realm of mainstream superhero comics. According to Indy Euphoria founder, Anthony Leano, it encompasses comics that are "alternative, underground, independents or small press, self-published, new brow, and low brow." The art represented by Indy Euphoria steps away from the mass-produced and toward that of a singular, h

Midtown's Lucky Lefty’s recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. Despite the skepticism of nay-saying college career counselors, who called the venture a "stupid idea," and the uncertainty of Californian economic prospects, the clothing shop is thriving. Co-owner Brennan Williams says, growing up, he and his friends’ interest in clothing brands stemmed from a fascination with the subcultures they represented. Williams noticed that other young people who shared his interest tended to resort to travel or the Internet to explore emergent brands, instead of investing in Sacramento’s own scene.  Inspired by skate stores like FTC Sacramento and PLA Folsom, Williams and his friends -now pa

The DIY Network will feature one of Sacramento's very own on the Wednesday, December 3rd episode of House Crashers.  Eli Bob, a bartender and native Sacramentan is the owner of a loft at the 4th Avenue Lofts development in Oak Park which was recently the focus of a "crash".  Eli's loft was inundated with droves of contractors, production crew, friends and host Josh Temple back in October for three days during the remodel.  The upcoming episode entitled, "Rock N Roll Loft Lounge" the shows website describes the crash as follows: A single young bartender transforms his plain loft into a place to mix up drinks, fun and edgy style. With a stone covered wall, mounted stainless fireplace, diamo

The first annual Sacramento Zine Symposium delivered what it promised in the program: it breathed new life into the Sacto D.I.Y. & alternative press scene. A fluctuating 100 zinesters, collectors, authors, writers and people without titles gathered in the Brickhouse Gallery for a day of workshops, networking, and discussion. Tables lined the main room of the gallery and came alive with colorful displays of zines, literature, pamphlets and fliers. Event-goers perused the selection of alternative publications and, in most cases, were able to discuss their purchases with the authors. Outside, a D.J. spun live music all day. Adjacent was a food table that served free lunch and dinner. Event-

IndieSacramento’s biannual trunk show and craft bazaar happens once again this May 2, from 10am-3pm at Fremont Park in the Midtown/ Downtown Sacramento area. The IndieSacramento May Market hopes to spread a DIY ethic throughout the Sacramento area, encouraging patrons to live both cheaply and creatively during these trying financial times. The May Market boasts over 40 craft and fashion vendors, carrying a wide variety of affordable and fashionable handmade goods. Besides having the opportunity to support local small businesses and crafters, IndieSacramento is also giving patrons the opportunity to dabble in DIY themselves by offering IndieSacramento's first ever Craft University. The Cra