When: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 @ 7pm

Where:
Richard Hugo House
1634 11th Ave
Seattle, WA 98122

(This is a free event, but donations to pay for the space are greatly appreciated.)

A fresh, comprehensive guide to contemporary craft shows. With “Why vend?” as our starting point, we will take you through all aspects of the process, including finding and assessing potential shows, best practice for applying, display techniques, show time survival and more.

Moxie is an artist with years of experience selling her work in large and small venues along the west coast. With obsessive attention to organizing and a rare talent for interpersonal communication, Moxie is also the President and Director of Vendor Relations for Urban Craft Uprising, Seattle’s largest indie craft show, now in its 5th year.
http://www.madebymoxie.com

Kristen Rask sold her first piece of craft at 5th grade summer camp and she hasn’t stopped since. With her vast experience as both a craft show seller and an organizer, Kristen’s passion for all aspects of the craft world only gets bigger. She is the owner of Schmancy, Director of Public Relations and Marketing of Urban Craft Uprising, and is co-creator of Grassroots Business Association.
http://www.schmancytoys.com

(Paul took this photo of me at a friends wedding when no one was looking.)

Anyway, I realized that I’ve never blogged about the amazing gift I got for birthday #34. My friends and family pitched in and paid Jad Fair to write a song for me. No, really. JAD FAIR!

Things I love that are referenced: octopi, sushi, popcorn, sweets, “less crap more art,” paul loving me, other people’s children, saying “woo,” and bunnies. (FYI: this was when I ran an afterschool program for kids, and right before I started felting.)

Listen to it: Clicky.

One city, two great events and I’ll be at both. Please you come too, ok?

First up, we have the You Bazaar, featuring 30+ select craft vendors selling quality handmade wares and a series of rotating workshops throughout the day with some of your favorite plush designers, including me!

You Bazaar
November 2nd 2008, 10am to 5pm
San Francisco County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park
Free admission!

This will be a fun family friendly event to kick off the Plush You SF Show:

Plush You! SF
Opening Reception: Friday, November 7
6pm – Midnight
Double Punch Gallery
1821 Powell Street
San Francisco, CA 94133

The show runs through November so if you can’t make the opening, you can still check it out.

Come play with us as Urban Craft Uprising hosts our very first CRAFT magazine release party! Join us Sunday, September 7th, 12 – 3pm ahem, 1 – 4pm, to celebrate.

CRAFT 08 has a focus on weaving, so we’ll be right at home at Stitches – the ‘not just your typical fabric store’ in Capitol Hill. We’ll have free hands-on craft projects including paper looms from the mag and Kristen Rask from Schmancy will be there to teach us how to make button rings. (I’ll be doing demos of my Felted Flower Flair Kit, also featured in the magazine.)

When you add in the snacks, door prizes and the irresistible fashion fabrics, notions, and yarn at Stitches, you have a must-attend event on your hands! We hope you’ll stop in, have some nibbles, and CRAFT with us.

can’t stop making them, either. they are the crafty equivalent of snacking on potato chips!

for sandwich particulars and one more sandwich i couldn’t fit in, get thee to flickr.

this is literally the only photo of me that is light enough, mostly in focus, and in which i don’t look like somebody just egg-farted:

here’s one of me and stacey that arwen took. and here’s one that somebody took of me and brookelynn. (looking at these, i’m starting to think that the egg fart face is disturbingly my fault/problem.)

you can see brookelynn’s photos of the needle felting playground here, thank goodness.

one of the coolest things was meeting people that made their own monsters from my tutorial. for instance, i met this great kid whose name i forget. she helped me during my monster demo for craft. the second day of maker, she came back and brought me this:

she made it herself and i’m completely honored to have it. i’m blushing even writing about it.

oh! also, i ate my very first “funnel cake” ever. that stuff is really good.

you shoulda been there, man.

i don’t care if you don’t live in the bay area, maker faire is worth the trip. here’s a link to the CRAFT schedule. don’t miss brookelynn morris giving a demo of her amazing felted fruit from craft:02.

brookelynn and i will be rocking the needle felting playground again this year, now with more seating! i’ll also be doing demos at the craft stage and maker shed for mini monsters and needle felting. paul and i will be driving down in a few days. sometimes we post photos of our drive… not sure if we will this time but here’s the bunch from last year. i also happen to know that a ton of other crafty hot shots are making the journey too.

one of my favorite seattle superstars, kristen rask, will be there to chat and talk about all things plushyou! (and, she’ll be signing my copy of her book ’cause i’m gonna ask her to!)

i’m also unbelievably excited to meet my long-time craft-crush stacey rebecca. (i’ve raved about her before because i loves her so!) she’ll be traveling all the way from arizona to play with the people and spread some of her puppet love.

another highlight for me is what seems like my bi-annual chance to marvel/gawk at and then hug the stylish and savy natalie zee drieu. (she’s also hilarious and often makes me snort laugh.)

here’s a video that natalie and craft put together, giving an overview of fun times to come. (when i saw this the first time and heard my name, i swear i looked around the room like, “wait, was that on everyone’s computer?”)

finally, there’s a blog post at craft with lots of event info. go there now and then come hang out with me at maker faire, ok?