Category: Crafted Things

Craftaculiciousness!

Posted on by Anna

Two craft fairs in two weekends on two coasts! An exhausting but fabulous way to wrap up the year.

The BUST Craftacular in NYC on Sunday was insane and a little intimidating (nearly 300 vendors were there, and I only had half a table), but totally worth it. It was so great to see some familiar faces, to meet some of of you blog readers for the first time, and to hang out with the awesome Toasty Time crew with whom I shared a table. Sadly I didn’t take any pictures there—I was just too busy!

But as promised, I have more pics from Urban Craft Uprising in Seattle from the previous weekend. Here I am on the first day, feeling awkward about having my picture taken right before my first-ever craft show.

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My sister-in-law Jenna took the following shots. She’s a professional photographer (check out her amazing work on her website), so really I should be trying to trick her into helping out with all the events I’m involved with.

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(Yes, that is a naked brown Santa that you see there on the tree.)

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I was definitely more relaxed by the second day of UCU, and just had fun knitting a little and hanging out with Jenna and my mother-in-law and all other other cool crafters and Seattlites.

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So my first two experiences with craft fairs were very good! I think they will be great to do as special events once or twice a year going forward.

“Luv-able + Hug-able” Plush Pre-sale!

Posted on by Anna

Oh my gosh! Luv-able + Hug-able opens this Thursday! There are soo many delightful plushes in this year’s show, and the setup is well underway at gallery hanahou. Gabriel let me take a couple pics of him hard at work with my cell phone:

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(Can you spot my little wearable guys on the table?)

And guess what? A special pre-sale just started for VIPs like you, my blog readers! That means you get to see all the plushes before anyone else and even buy them before the general public. Download the PDF catalog to see it all. (The ordering info is on the last page of the PDF.)

There are many to choose from, but are a few of my favorites in this year’s show…

“Funnel Cake Wearing his Tattoo” by ChrisCreatures:

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“Little Audrey” by Evangelione:

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And “Octowreath” by Hine Mizushima:

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If you’re in NYC, please join us this Thursday evening 7-9 pm at gallery hanahou for the opening!

Schmancy Exclusives

Posted on by Anna

Schmancy, the plush and vinyl toy store in Seattle, has been doing an ongoing series of “Schmancy Exclusives,” limited-edition plush toys made by some very awesome plush artists that are available only at Schmancy. The exclusives have been rolling out for over a year now, and each one is great!

The two most recent exclusives are adorable plushes from Cotton Monster and Softlife.

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You can find them all in the Schmancy online shop. (And a few of my Baldees are still available there too!)

Geometric Bamboo

Posted on by Anna

I just had my first real weekend in what seems like months! It included dinner with friends, a day-long scavenger hunt on Governor’s Island (organized by Metro Metro), a movie (part 1 of Angels in America),
and a visit to the Renegade Craft Fair yesterday. That’s where I got this cool necklace made by The Harbinger Co.

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The combination of geometric shapes and natural materials is a trend that I’m totally on board with, and I loved the laser-cut bamboo designs by Yvonne Hung.

I also saw Felix & Jayne from Tulsa (I still use a bag made by them for my knitting) and Diane of Cutesy but not Cutesy at Renegade.

My light sunburn that you can see in the photo is from the day running around Governor’s Island. I had never been there before, but I’m eager to go back. It’s pretty fascinating and a great place for biking and picnicking. Our team did pretty well in the hunt, by the way, though we didn’t place.

Model Magic

Posted on by Anna

Have you used Crayola Model Magic? It was new to me, but I got to try it out last week at an event with the Girl Scouts that my friends were helping to organize in Tulsa. (I have great memories from being a Girl Scout when I was younger, and it was fun to see the scouts of today!)

I was a bit skeptical at first, but the stuff was pretty easy to work with. I liked how it stuck to itself very securely, and how you could draw directly onto it with markers. (It also has this weird lightness, as if it’s made of foam.) It’s supposed to dry in 24 hours, but I didn’t stick around long enough to make sure.

Here’s a blurry photo of a little squirrel that I made with it.

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And I thought this snake that my friend Brianna made was pretty cool.

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Of course, things like Play-Doh and other “toy” clays always have their limitations, but sometimes it’s refreshing just to see what you can do with something simple.