About Us

Bex completely believes you can do anything yourself, whether you make your own Holiday Cards, Knit your own Sweater, Bake a Cake, etc. Quite a bit of it has to do with the tools in your library of goods and the "how to". Baking changed for Bex when she had her own Kitchen Aid Mixer, and used all the best ingredients available to her within affordability. It was at culinary school she solidified her realization "the combination of goods and know how" is what makes any art and craft person complete. Unfortunately, both loves can be expensive and it is silly to have all the professional tools available to you in your home because who has the space or the wallet for this? Not many.

Sugarbutterbex is born. Her friend Sokoni designs her logo and they make a shirt together. See examples of the Original Sugarbutterbex T-Shirts. Bex bakes with people at their homes, coordinates a couple of weddings for her friends, volunteers at an elementary school (craft projects), and looks for the perfect space. Meanwhile Matt is still in NYC understanding Bex is not moving back to Brooklyn, so he takes the leaps-proposes, moves and marries Bex. Bex is militant about her beliefs about doing it yourself and it being cheap, so they made their own wedding invites, welcome gifts for their guests and decorated their own wedding table. Bex will admit, she did cheat a bit because they did get married in a very beautiful place in November, so they did not need to buy any decorations.

Us in Yelapa

Christmas 2005 came and went quickly. Bex and Matt were itching for a space to do their work. One day after eating pupusas at Las Cazuelas, or cupcakes at Auntie Em’s, Bex came across 5110 York St. and saw all the possibilities in this space.

Matt
Matt grew up in the cornfields of Cleveland, Ohio eating casseroles. There was a lot of football watching and playing in that state. Matt opted out for art. He avoided the football college and after graduation, he moved to Chicago. Even though he loved Chicago, NYC was calling him for graduate school, so off to Brooklyn he went. He met some red headed guy from Los Angeles, who invited him to a party and he thought, "why not?"
Matt finished school and went on to teaching art in the Bronx. After his long school days he painted in his studio in Brooklyn. There would be a show here and there through the years. He would eat Mexican food at Castro’s on a street nicknamed "murder avenue" in the 1980’s. He was not a weather wimp. He longed to suffer in the cold, until he moved to Los Angeles to get a tan. Before moving he went along with the idea of making his own wedding invitations, just to please the girl, until he realized it was cool and lots of fun, so he suggested including a wedding CD in the welcome packs with original artwork. Wedding happened. Holidays passed and Matt was ready to start a new painting. He was also hoping Bex would do more creative stuff with him, so ever so often he was kicking her in the pants. I think that’s why she found a space so quickly.

Jessica
Jessica loves to sew and she digs the color purple. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she is a "Chicana Angelino", but a "gringa" at heart (no habla). Jessica has been into fashion, since she ran around her house wearing all sorts of clothing in her mom’s make-up smeared all over her face. Apparently, she had her own box to sort through. They figured, this girl has gotta learn how to sew or else we are in big trouble because as she gets bigger, we are going to have to get a bigger box. She firmly believes that anyone can make anything, once they have the right tools and the skills. Her whole thing is "you like it", well then "lets knock it off". So for now were good-when we have more silly, absurd, embarrassing things to tell about Jessica, we will find some sort of time to put it up in her bio.

She is the "Bag Lady", you know, like the one in the Erika Badhu song. Buys herself dresses at the thrift store and redoes them by adding beads, taking off the sleeves, etc. She is our "Bead Whore", no relation to the "Craft Whore", even though if we played that 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon game, we might realize they actually are twins. Monica came across this space via Jessica, even though she grew up almost around the corner.

Andrea Andrea travels from North to South on a regular basis. She is what we call a crafty jet setter, except for the fact- her jet is her bike. Her craft comes from her love of science, biology to be more specific. We do not know anyone who loves those little organisims more than she does. She is always in the mud looking for neat bugs to see, play with and collect. Her collecting of bugs is not in jars but on paper. Recently,she was talking about jewelry, so we shall see because with Andrea the sky is not the limit.

Amy Amy has been around Andrea forever, or Andrea has been around Amy forever. It depends on who you talk to when you get the story. Amy has a natural talent for telling a great story and capturing the feelings of it on paper. My understanding is it dates back to when she was in the third grade. Her drawings are so tender and sweet at a quick glance, however on a closer look....Beware! Christina While pedaling around, her thoughts are focused on future projects. She has been known to demystify the functions of the body. Veins, brains and ovaries—she can be found constructing pins in the shape of cells and hearts. Both a student of science and peddler of quaint curiousities… She’s crossed the great wide world to settle on two true loves: her sewing machine and her anatomy textbook. Blah blah blah… She’s been known to bind a book and sew a zipper quicker than you can say flipper.

She won't tell you all her nicknames...but one of them her dad called her forever, or at least it seemed to be, was "fingers". Her hands are not her favorite part of her body visually, however they are so strong, often swollen from hours of glue-gunning, dyeing, crocheting, crafting, and gardening. Stephanie is always moving about, busy creating, doing something, going somewhere and talking to someone.
Santa Monica is where she grew up-though she has plenty of "growing up" still to do. 2 minutes younger than her twin brother (truly right vs. left brain here) and is SO grateful she inherited a modicum of her 90 year old still Creating-Gorgeous-Handworks-Mom.

Having also lived in cool spots like the Carribean and Hawaii where the sun shines HOT, she's surprised South Pasadena has been her home (with her high school beau reunited) for 12+ years. As a member of S.A.G., her "day job" of actor/extra can lead her from playing regular morgue doctor to carnival clown. During down time the glue gun comes out on site and she is busy making her accessories.

Stephanie met Bex while shaking it up at some sort of dance movement class and a friendship of understanding and common glueing ensued. The understanding was there are no tapes of Bex dancing anywhere.
"Handmade by Stephanie" has been around for at least 11years. In her line you can find hand-crocheted hats, cloches, and bonnets which are often accessorized by pins that can be removed and worn separately. Individualize your own style is what she believes and do use what grand treasures you have at home to spark up your outfit. Or use that coupon you have to go purchase those materials to unleash your natural creativity.

Born and raised in the fabulous part of town called Highland Park. Came across Becca at some meeting. Gosh, there are so many meetings, however they hit it off at once. Hitting it off had something to do with tamales, but that is a whole other story. Violet has been in the business of flowers for a long time, and No, it is not her stage name in the biz. Her dad felt she should have this name for one reason or another. And then there was destiny, she wandered into a flower shop looking to buy a bouquet, met a boy behind the counter, bought the bouquet and eventually married the boy. Along the way he taught her things and I am sure they are still teaching each other lots.

See Samples of Violets' Work

She has been sewing her own clothes since high school and grew up on nothing but homemade clothes from infancy. She didn't wear store bought underwear until jr. high when she became embarassed wearing the cute panties her mom made. On the farm in the Ozarks she would go to the feed store, pick out feed bags and her mom would make her dresses from them, as well as pajamas. Her ozark grannie made quilts out of all the scraps from their clothes. She makes quilts too, but not like her grannie did, and really that is Okay. The ones she makes are definately to be used.You know, for her pregnant friends (baby size) and her family (bed size). She still sews some of her clothes but mostly it is crafty things she likes to do.