I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely designer, Adrinna, behind Plum & Posey at Make It. Her booth was right across from us and I got to marvel at her creations for three and half days. I’m simply in love with her fingerprint jewelry! So much so, that it inspired this treasury:
Month: November 2011
Edmontonians rock handmade
Yes they do. Truly. And I am so very thankful for the 6300 people that came out to Make It over the course of three and half days to support local designers and their handmade creations! An astounding 2800 people came through on Saturday alone! Phew! You made the time creating, the road trip and long days so worth it! Definitely proud to have been part of the Make It Edmonton experience this year! Special thanks to my booth-mate and crafty bud Kalen of Minibytes who helped me survive the event. I think we make a pretty good team! They’re not the greatest, but here’s some pics of our booth to give you an idea… the return of the Table of Cute:
And of course the Make It experience would not be complete without meeting several fellow Etsy Alberta teamies. Besides those who were vending at the show, there were many who just popped down to shop. You guys are seriously the greatest team! Here’s a few pics:
I didn’t manage to get photos of all our team member booths, but here’s a shout out to the folks I missed:
Emma of 2K Design (from whom I purchased a very fun portable change pad)
Amanda of KabukiKreations (who had the littlest, little helper at the show, the adorable Hugo at just over a month old!)
Sally of Tweeling (whom I didn’t even get a chance to chat to… an indication of just how busy this sale was)
Man, it’s been a week since the show, and I still feel like I’m recovering from it. The pregnancy exhaustion is settled in pretty good now and I seriously can’t wait to slow it down a bit with the craft shows. This coming weekend is my first weekend off in over a month, with no craft shows to attend! Very excited about this! Hoping that we might do something like buy our Christmas tree or perhaps purchase the baby crib. One craft show left on December 10th and then the season is done for me! Leaving about a month to make warm things for baby.
Thanks again for the awesome time in Edmonton!
Treasury Love
Double treasury love happening today and both feature purple cowls by little ‘ol me. Thanks so much for the include ladies!
Still counting the ways…
… that this week is gonna rock!
6. Meeting some amazing artists & designers, including many fellow Etsy team members! AND learning a ton from all of them. Always learn something new at every show I go to.
7. Listening to live music by local artists!
8. Getting a chance to talk to all the awesome folks that will come through the show over the course of four days!
9. Doing a bit of shopping for myself and baby, cause there’s nothing better than buying handmade and local! Seriously.
10. Come Sunday at 5pm, I will be exhausted, but truly satisfied, no matter how much I sell. Eight months pregnant, running my own crafty business, what’s not to be proud of? (Just tooting my own horn a little here)
*If you plan to attend any or all the days of Make It, grab a $2 off admission coupon! And remember, you only pay once to shop for four days! Also, the lovely organizers of Make It are running all sorts of contests, with great prizes up for grabs. Check out their blog for more info.*
Let me count the ways…
… that this week is going to rock!
- Crocheting, sewing, & hot gluing as much product as I humanly can (nothing like a deadline to get me motivated)!
- Tagging, packaging, & packing
- Playing tetris with boxes & bags in order to fit a booth’s worth of product & display of two people into one vehicle
- Road tripping with a crafty friend to Edmonton! Tim Horton’s anyone?
- Four days of selling what I love to make, surrounded by over a hundred other awesome designers & artists from all over Canada, including my booth-mate Kalen of Minibytes at this year’s Make It Edmonton!
Stay tuned for more ways on how this week is gonna rock!
From forts to golf courses
This is gonna be a very busy weekend! Somehow back in July, I figured it would be okay to book into back-to-back craft sales. Of course, I didn’t heed the advice of one very wise older brother who suggested that once I hit my third trimester, I might want to think about slowing down. At the time, I thought, he’s crazy! Christmas is the busiest time of year for a craft business and I HAVE to do as many shows as possible. Well, now, I’m feeling a bit nervous at whether I can pull this all off or not. Third trimester exhaustion started to settle in and make itself at home this week. Not ideal timing at all! So taking many deep breaths and trying to keep good lists everywhere (so my baby brain won’t forget anything), I plunge forward.
First up, the 9th Annual Artisan’s Fair at Fort Calgary on Friday, November 11th. Starts at 11:30am and goes to 5pm. I have the great pleasure of sharing a booth space with my friend Christine of Purple Pony Art. We have enjoyed other crafty events together and I’m sure it will be fun! Admission is free, although they are collecting non-perishable food. Oh and Santa Claus will be popping by in the afternoon for the kiddies!
Next up, is the annual Elbow Valley Arts & Crafts Christmas Market at the Elbow Springs Golf Club. This is the sixth year for the show and sounds like it will be a good, festive time! It runs Saturday, November 12 and Sunday, November 13 from 10am – 4pm each day. Parking, admission, and hot drinks for sipping are all free! There will be a big prize wheel in the main lobby, with loads of great items up for grabs. One of those lovely prizes is 15% off your purchase at the Bubblegum Sass booth! Wink-wink, nudge-nudge…
Starting to get into the spirit of the season? Me, I might just sleep through Christmas, but will enjoy all the festivities at the various craft shows now. If you need to get your “shop local and handmade” fix on in the next three days, you know where I’ll be (along with so many other creative folks). Enjoy your weekend and wish me luck!
Shoe box fun
Last year, hubby and I put together a couple of shoe boxes to donate to Operation Christmas Child. We also had the immense pleasure of volunteering one evening down at the processing center in Calgary. So amazing to see the amount of donations that come in and to think about the number of children this programs reaches around the world! So when it came time to start thinking about filling shoe boxes again this year, we decided that we wanted to do several more. We’re blessed to be expecting our own child and I know that he/she will always have gifts to open at Christmas and birthdays. It was one of those moments where you realize that simple acts on our end can really bring joy to a child across the globe, so we set out to fill our boxes. I thought it would be nice to share some of the things we tend to put in the boxes, in case others are looking for ideas (it will also help me to remember for future years). Nothing too incredibly ingenious, but it’s amazing how much you can fit into a shoe box, so the more ideas the better:
Ages 2-4
- Washcloths
- Bars of soap
- Combs/hairbrushes
- Stuffed animal or doll
- Big chunky crayons
- Colouring book or notepad
- Stickers
- Board books/picture books
- Hard candies (which may or may not be the best, given the choking hazard)
Ages 5-9
- Wash cloths
- Bars of soap
- Combs/hairbrushes
- Crayons
- Pencil crayons
- Pencils
- Sharpener & erasers
- Stickers
- Notebooks
- Stuffed animal
- Small musical instruments (harmonica, whistle, etc.)
- Hair ties and accessories (for girls)
- Hard candies
Ages 10-14
- Wash cloths
- Bars of soap
- Combs/hairbrushes
- Pencil crayons
- Pencils
- Sharpener & erasers
- Notebooks
- Stickers
- Small musical instruments (harmonica, whistle, etc.)
- Hair ties & accessories (for girls)
- Hard candies
- Sewing Kits (A couple spools of thread, a hand sewing needle pack, small bag of colourful buttons, assortment of ribbon, grosgrain, webbing, small squares of fabric)
We’re hoping to volunteer again this year at the processing center and I will try to remember to jot down notes on good ideas for shoe box gifts. Sadly forgot to do that last year and there was so many good ideas that people had!
What types of things do you like to put into your shoe box donations?
Treasury Love
Been having fun making treasuries again on Etsy. I always forget how satisfying they are to curate and you come across some of the most lovely items. Couldn’t resist sharing a couple with you:
Next up
My second craft show of the season is coming up this weekend. The Cresmont Christmas Fair will be held this Friday from 4-9pm and Saturday from 10am-4pm at the Cresmont Residents’ Hall in southwest Calgary. Make sure you bring a charitable donation of cash or a non-perishable food item to cover your admission (all proceeds are going to the Salvation Army and the Calgary InterFaith Foodbank).