got craft :: spring show deadline

photo credit: Studio Jeanie | artist credit: Thistle Town Studio

A friendly note to say that Got Craft applications are due midnight (PST) on March 1st, 2011. That's this Tuesday! February always messes with my head, so thought it would be a good thing to whip up a quick post.

Vendor applications and full details can be found here.

Thanks to everybody that have already applied! We will be in touch soon!

van city kitty :: meet cleo

In case you missed me showing off Cleo like a proud cat momma, I thought I would send her some extra love on the blog. Cleo is this week's Van City Kitty over at Vancouver is Awesome. Think she's a cutie? Leave a heart for her at the bottom of the post!

hear ye :: call for makers!

photo credit: maker faire

If you have been following our past posts here and here, then you already have your calendars marked for mini Maker Faire Vancouver on June 25th and 26th, 2011 at the Great Northern Way campus. Are you a maker? If so, they want you! Maker Faire Vancouver is looking for lots and lots of crafts and crafters! Deadline for applications is March 17th, so follow this link to read the full details.

The event takes place over two days, but there is no need to commit to the entire weekend. You can apply either to simply show off your stuff and chat with people about how you do it (science-fair style) or you can apply for a commercial booth where you can sell your wares (craft-fair style).

In the words of Kim Werker from the planning committee...

Maker Faire began a few years ago outside of San Francisco, put on by the folks behind Make and Craft magazines of O'Reilly Media. It's a MASSIVE event drawing 20,000 people. Makers demo their hacks, robots and other nifty creations, and there's always been a strong crafts component, too. We're doing a community-organized Faire.

Check out the website to purchase tickets, register as a maker and for more information!

YVR :: things to do :: blim market

** vancouver, bc edition **

Blim returns to the Main Street area with over 45 different vendors such as fashion, accessories, fine art, vintage, crafts, and food, as well as live music and entertainment. The monthly market takes place on the last Sunday of each month at the Heritage Hall from February to May and the Chinese Cultural Centre in the Fall / Winter.


event: Blim Community Market
date: Sunday, February 27th, 2011
time: noon to 5:00 p.m.
location: Heritage Hall - 3102 Main Street, Vancouver
cost: by donation

Plan ahead with our Around Town craft fair listings!

Locomotive Clothing - feature #46

photo credit: Ophelia Photography

Name: Locomotive Clothing Co. (Jay and Aaron Matte)

Website links: Locomotive Clothing | Etsy | Twitter

What do you make?

We make sweet and unique streetwear, adorned with screen print, applique and spray paint. Everything from historically inspired t shirts with a touch of whimsy, to edgy spray painted hoodies to super cute toddler train and tractor items.

What or who inspires you?

Right now we are pretty inspired by everything Canadiana, hearts, pop culture references, circus imagery, history, science and always, trains.

How did you get started?

Jay started spray painting vintage items in a seedy East Vancouver back alley years ago and sold it in local boutiques. When we met in 2007, we decided to partner up in life and in craft and began screen printing and started our Etsy shop.

What are your favourite materials to work with?

We love it all, canvas and felt appliqué, screen printing, the computer (we create some of our graphics digitally). Jay also loves to experiment using spray paint on clothing. It takes a lot of technique and time but the look is really sharp and it washes surprisingly well.

What is the hardest and your most favourite part of crafting?

We just love creating, but there are too many ideas and not enough time! We keep plugging away though. Our most amazing moments have been walking down the street in Vancouver and meeting people who are wearing our clothes. This one guy we met during Car Free Day on Commercial Drive was wearing our Traveler T-shirt. He bought it at the Spring Got Craft and his girlfriend said we "wears it, like, every day." That was great to hear. Selling items all over the world through our Etsy shop is amazing as well. Our hoodies and t shirts are in Japan, Norway, Italy, Australia. So cool.

List 5 of your favourite links and why you like them

We love www.booooooom.com: It is local and global at the same time. He has an incredible eye for style and for what is current. Poppytalk is another obsession of ours. She is another example of a spot-on eye for style. For informative (and super accessible) local arts and culture, we can't forget about Vancouver is Awesome.

Jay has been skateboarding his whole life and we have to include Color Magazine for style, great skate coverage and an all around excellent website.

Bikeexif.com is also Jay's pick, he is a huge motorcycle aficionado and it is a fantastic blog, mostly catering to the Cafe Racer and Bobber community.

Do you have any advice for those in the biz?

Yes!

1. Make what you love.
2. Never underestimate the power of the amazing community of crafters out there. We have met the most incredible, generous and helpful people in the crafty community in Vancouver. Don't be afraid to help or to share information. We have put ourselves out there and have been given so much incredible advice and support.
3. Customer service is KEY. It is so important to be timely, organized and courteous.

Do you consider yourself an artist or a crafter?

Both I think. We don't think about it too much. We are makers of things.

(photo images courtesy of Locomotive Clothing)

If you are interested in being featured, please send us an email at info(at)gotcraft(dot)com.

Check out our past features...

Hand & Shadow - feature #45

Kove Handmade - feature #44

Sam Bradd - feature #43

Katrinshine - feature #42

Penelope Brown - feature #41

Laura Bucci Handmade - feature #40

Track and Field Designs - feature #39

Irit Sorokin Designs - feature #38

Clockwork Fantastica - feature #37

Divesin - feature #36

Flight Path Designs - feature #35

Plantscapes - feature #34

Olive - feature #33

Uncle Phil / Flipside - feature #32

Kim Werker - feature #31

Haiiku - feature #30

Smidgebox Designs - feature #29

heyday design - feature #28

Smeeta - feature #27

ACageyBee - feature #26

Maked - feature #25

Firefly Notes - feature #24

Florence Ann - feature #23

Him Creations - feature #22

Jenny Hart - feature #21

district thirty - feature #20

tinywarbler designs - feature #19

telly designs - feature #18

Cabin + Cub - feature #17

Rachel Hobson - feature #16

Green Couch Designs - feature #15

Tanis Alexis - feature #14

Sweetie Pie Press - feature #13

Fibre Manipulator - feature #12

Sam Made - feature #11

All Things Paper - feature #10

Owl + Pussycat - feature #9

Bliss in a teacup - feature #8

It's Your Life - feature #7

Faythe Levine - feature #6

Coco Cake Cupcakes - feature #5

pomomama design - feature #4

GroovyGlassGirl - feature #3

Bueno Style - feature #2

The Beautiful Project - feature #1

inspire :: Hokey Stokes!

 

found via present correct

Amazing work by Julia Field, a scientist and artist from St. Louis. Using exacto knives, rotary cutters, tweezers, rulers, custom cut panes of glass and lots of glue, she carves illustrations into each book. You can check out more of her work here.

happy valentine's!

(cute sweet hearts from Holt Renfrew in Vancouver)

Happy Valentine's day! 

If you still need to find a little something for your special someone, check out poppytalk's valentine round up here for some DIY projects.

xo Got Craft - andrea + robert

diy at indie i do

photo credit: studio jeanie

Here's some of our do-it-yourself work that we did for the lotus events booth at Indie I Do last month. I am so proud of this booth display and how well it all came together! 

picture one: thrifted book pages + blender pen image

picture two: 'table 2' cut out from a thrifted book

picture three and four: screen printed place settings on butcher paper

Thanks so much to Studio Jeanie, Delovely Creative, Blue Olive Photography and Flower Factory for helping us pull it all together!

finders keepers

found via Poppytalk

Vancouver based artist, Jasna Sokolovic has scattered up to 200 ceramic hearts across Granville Island starting February 11th, 2011.

In her words: 

If you find it, take it, keep it for yourself or give it to someone who will cherish the love. Each tag has my web address, if they inspire you, please send me an email, comment or photo.

For more information or to check out more of Jasna's work, please visit her website here. Wishing I was in Vancouver for this!

things to do :: Maker Faire Info Session

via bogiebogie

Interested in the upcoming Vancouver Maker Faire? An information session has been scheduled for Saturday, February 12th, 2011 from 1:00pm to 6:00pm at the proposed event location on Great Northern Way. Click here for more information. RSVP is required.

What's this all about? Check out our past post here or scroll through their website for full details.

inspire :: Isaac Salazar

image found on Cafe Cartolina

Sometimes I come across things and say to myself, "how in the world do they do that?"

Doesn't Isaac Salazar make it look easy? He uses simple arithmetic and an exacto knife to fold book pages from simple letters to more complex and intricate fonts. Each piece can take anywhere from a day to two weeks depending on the design. See more of his work here.

day trip :: love-a-fayre

We ventured out to Bethnal Green station last Saturday for the Valentine's love-a-fayre craft fair. The Working Men's Club reminded me of the Royal Canadian Legion back in Vancouver, but I wish we had this...

Giant light up heart stage with gold fringe!? I wish we had this! Late crafters arriving.. crafters who didn't have their float ready... ah, I have found my people. Saw some fantastic, locally handmade goodies and some that seemed to be priced really low. Not knowing the community yet, I'm not sure what the market will hold, but there was some very well made goods for £5 or less which is low compared to what I have seen in Vancouver and some US craft fairs. By the way, they love their moustaches over here too. Bought this (below) super cute felt pin from Be♥Bop♥A♥Lula.

We never made it to the Ephemera event, but hope to catch the next one on April 7th. Instead, we met up with some friends and had our first Sunday roast lunch at the local pub which is super popular here. By the time we ordered at 2pm, the roast turkey was already sold out and on our last visit to Cambridge, all the roast was sold out by 3pm!

LHR :: things to do :: ephemera + love a fayre

** london, uk edition **

Looking for some DIY things to do in London this weekend? I'm hoping to pop down to Bethnal Green to check out Valentine's Love-A-Fayre (wish me luck, last visit left us lost and angry). With over 30 designers, makers and vintage dealers, it promises a room crammed full of twee treats, naughty nonsense and unique goodies that are all vintage, handmade or handpicked.

Date: Saturday, February 5th and Sunday, February 6th, 2011

Time: Noon to 6:00 p.m.

Location: 44 Pollard Street, Poplar, Greater London E2 6 (nearest tube: Bethnal Green)

Cost: £1

photo credit: uppercase

For you typography and design lovers, the Ephemera Society is hosting the first London bazaar of the year with 50 tables of paper goods. The Ephemera Society is for the conservation, study and presentation of printed and handwritten ephemera. What is ephemera? Ephemera includes a broad range of everyday documents intended for one-time or short-term use including bookmarks, matchbook covers, wrappers, theatre tickets, etc.

Date: Sunday, February 6th, 2011 (other dates - April 24, August 7, October 16)
Time: 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Location: Doubletree by Hilton - 92 Southampton Row London WC1B 4BH
Cost: £2

things to do :: Fill a Bag Sale!

photo credit: bad skirt - amy's

Our Social Fabric: Textile recycling in the Vancouver DTES is hosting a 'fill-a-bag' sale this weekend! The rules are simple:

1. You purchase one of 3 sizes of bags (ranges from $25 to $100)
2. You dig, search and swim through piles and piles of fabric notions and clothes
3. You stuff as much into the bag as humanly possible

Date: Saturday, February 5th and Sunday, February 6th, 2011
Time: 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Location: 33 Commercial Drive, Vancouver - the maple leaf storage facility at Powell Street

Our Social Fabric is a group of individuals that work to establish a viable, socially responsible non-profit organization in Vancouver's downtown east side community. Their focus is to specialize in textile collection, recycling and re-manufacturing, while providing employment and social reintegration opportunities for residents of the community. For more information, visit their website here.

landed - london day 1

We landed.
Cleo cleared all of her paperwork.
Our suitcases made it all under 23kg (barely).

We were picked up by our driver (highly recommended when you have 200lbs of luggage plus carry on!) at the airport and was dropped off at our temporary flat in Wimbledon. Tomorrow, we will be picked up by our relocation agent to see 22 different properties in Wimbledon, East Putney and Fulham Broadway. We also requested to view flats in Richmond and Clapham Junction. but given the fact that it will take 8 hours to view the first 22, we will see how it goes.

Excited to see M&S! Making a little dinner right now then maybe a stroll around the neighbourhood before bedtime.

Will try to blog as much as possible, but if you don't see anything here, make sure to jump over to lotus events for updates!