Crafty Bastards - The Vendor Edition #2

Let's go over a few of the peoples I had time to meet during Crafty Wonderland.

Artist, Robert Ullman from Atombombbikini.net was there. Finally, something at a craft show I can buy for my husband thet he'll really actually totally like. In fact, whenever I ask The Mister if there is anything he wants -- he says, "Bring me back something with boobs on it and I'll be happy." Finally, I was able to make his boob dreams come true.

I also met Diane Koss from Cutesy but Not Cutesy.

I was walking by her booth and did a double-take because she had a bunch of plush monsters with horns that looks sort of similar to this artier monster with horns that I recently purchased at Schmancy (the worlds best vinyl toy and plush store right between my job and my house).

Mine has the Boston skyline on its tummy and has a tiny red bird on its horns.

I fell in love with it. Anyway, when I saw the similar monsters at the show, I was like, "hhhheeeeeeyyyyyyyy, are you....?" And she was.

It was great to meet her and I was pleased that I could recognize her other work based only on her style. 








 

I was doing my 50 mile an hour walk through everything (Well, I would have been if it had been possible to go that fast. Really it was more of a shoulder to shoulder jello wiggle-on with the rest of the crowd) and saw the girls can tell booth out of the corner of my eye. 

Sara Selepouchin's diagrams on tea towels and notebooks make my heart flutter. And the fact that they are hand screenprinted makes them even better. Do you need to know the anatomy of a banjo while you're doing dishes? I submit: yes, yes you do.

I even got to meet some Etsy folks while I was there - which is always like meeting someone famous... or - just someone who is way cooler than you.

Morgan and Julie were nice to me even when I made repeated trips to their booth to demand more raffle tickets for my customers.

Thanks ladies!

My last purchase was a pair of earrings from The Broken Plate Pendant Co.  I love posts and can never find them because everyone else seems to love dangles.

Juliet even helped me pick out the best ones when I couldn't decide between two pairs.




 

It's such a cool concept too. She breaks plates - and turns them into wearable art - earrings and pendants. It's a great way to honor those vintage dishes you've been collecting for no reason whatsoever.

They're gonna break someday, right?

When they do, scoop up the pieces and give Juliet a call.


 

And that ends our travels through the wonderland that is Crafty Bastards. Again, I highly recommend that you go.

For reals. You'll love it.

Crafty Bastards - The Vendor Edition #1

So by now we're all familiar with the wonder that is Crafty Bastards in Washington D.C. but let's get to know the handful of vendors that I was able to talk to while I was there.

#1 Let's talk about Caitlin at Rebound Designs. I put out a call on Twitter to see if anyone had an extra table I could borrow and she was kind enough to answer my plea.

Thanks Caitlin! You have to be a special kind of nice to drag an extra table to a craft show.

Caitlin invented the Book Purse - which is - exactly what it sounds like: a purse made out of a book. I can't think of a better way to create a memorial to your favorite book that might be fallin' apart.

#2 McBitterson's - Tasteless Wares. They were our awesome booth-mates (who also have a really awesome website). Sadly, it was so busy that we didn't really get much of a chance to talk - but it was obvious to me - even without much convo - that we share a similar sense of humor.

McBitterson's makes fantastically sarcastic things with paper and plush.

The giant plush cigarettes with little frowny faces were a big hit. "He's sad cause he's a carcinogen!"Bah-ha-ha!

Figured out while we were there that I had actually seen them at another craft show -- in Madison, WI at the Sixth Annual Summer Craftacular. Neither of us live there. How weird is that?

Jennifer Cooke and I must have shared some sort of florescent pink day-dream obsession. I saw her booth out of the corner of my eye while I was trapped in mine taking everyone's money (mmmwwwahahahahahahah!)

The show was almost over when I HAD to bolt over there and check out her stuff. She prints in multiple colors (one of them florescent pink) which makes for an effect that I personally love. I ended up with a shirt and a bag (I almost had to fight another woman for the bag).

Check out r a e b u r n  i n k if you have also been dreaming in florescent pink.

Also, if you're into making stuff yourself, check out her book Design Your Own Tees and try out some of the printing methods.

I love my purse. So do others. People comment on it where ever I go. So go get your own and quit eyeing mine.

And thus concludes the first edition of the Crafty Bastards vendor highlights. Look forward to edition #2 coming 'round the bend.

Crafty Bastards. Lived it. Loved it. Can't Wait to Go Back.

Dear 10 people who read my blog: If you do nothing else in your little lives, please make a point to go to Crafty Bastards in Washington D.C. at some point.
It's amazing.

It's live changing.

You'll love it.

You'll weep.

From happiness.

Normally I review shows and talk about the things they did right and give some pointers for what they could do better next time. With Crafty Bastards I am hard pressed to find anything they could improve. It is honestly a HUGE, huge, huge and really well run show.

Let me give you an example: we were in a shared booth. You get a booth-mate, a tent, two tables and four chairs with the booth fee. When we arrived at the crack of dawn to set up, we didn't have any of those things in our booth space. Doug asked one of the volunteers and in 15 minutes we had all of the above along with a visit from the festival organizer who apologized said she hates it when anything goes wrong. Super smooth.

So we set up, 30,000 people arrived and handed us money and then we tore down. It went by so quickly that it was just a big blur. I guess my only wish is that I had been able to meet some more of the vendors. It was just too busy to talk to anyone for more than 30 seconds. Crafty Bastards does have some vendor events, but they are earlier in the process and don't work for traveling folk like me. If there was an event for vendors either the day before or the day after the festival then traveling folks could attend. That's it. That's all I can think of that would improve this event.

Crafty Bastards is pretty much perfect. There is also still time to vote for Ugly Baby (me) in the Craftiest Bastard contest. Today is the very last day. Do it.

Location:Valley Ave E,Sumner,United States

Washington DC - day one ( the non-Crafty Bastards day)

Stumbled upon this cute antique-ey slash vintage-ey slash design-ey shop called Skynear Designs. It's a personal rule that I must enter any building that has a large cartoon thing climbing up the side. So we went in. Within 20 minutes I had fallen in love with 3 or 4 things that cost over $900 on sale so it was time to leave.

We headed to the Textile Museum based on the recommendation of pretty much everyone in the crafty world. It was just okay in my book. This was probably because we walked over a mile in the hot sun to get there and then discovered that all but one room is closed due to some construction. Booooooo. What we saw was fantastically beautiful and I would absolutely go back for more if I'm in DC again in the future. I can also say, without a doubt, that the woman manning the front desk was perhaps the genuinely nicest person I have ever met. It's probably worth going just to see how nice someone can actually be.

Then we headed to the obligatory Abe thing. He's big. Real big. And you can't climb on his lap (in defiance of what my co-workers told me).

And here's the reflecting pool-ey thing next to the Abe thing.

And one more reflect-ey pool thingie.

We were milling about at one point and Doug said, "You pick where we go next." Moments later, we walked past this yarn store. And when I say we walked past it...I mean we went right in. Looped Yarn Works is on the second floor. And it's filled with yarn. Delicious, delicious yarn. It just so happened that they were going to Crafty Bastards as well. I couldn't buy anything because I have a huge ottoman full of yarn that I have to get through first, but the folks there were totally nice and talking with them made me even more excited for Crafty Bastards.

We ate at Teaism twice. In two different locations. Delicious. Try the salty oat cookie. It's delicious. DELICIOUS. D. E. L. I. C. I. O. U. S.

And finally, Albert Einstein. He's big. And kids like to climb on him so it's difficult as hell to take a picture of him without some little kid you don't know ruining the whole deal. He's big. And bronze. But his texture kind of looks like poo. A little. No disrespect. Just a little honesty.

   And that, my friends, is the end of Day One. Washington, D.C.