crafty wonderland pop-up shop

The City of Portland has been working on a Pop-Up Shop program to fill vacant, downtown storefronts with local talent over the holiday season. So, of course they called up our friends from Crafty Wonderland and asked for them to host a pop-up shop on the corner of SW Yamhill + 10th Avenue in Portland, 802 SW 10th Avenue. Hello! I can not tell you how jealous and how happy I am for them. Seriously. Why doesn't Vancouver have something like this?

I've been following their progress via Facebook where they have spent the last month turning a vacant store front into what you see in the images above and below. Amazing, right? The Crafty Wonderland Pop-Up shop will feature handmade work from almost 90 Portland area crafters including a wide range of items such as accessories, jewelry, clothing, housewares and art, to name a few.

If you are lucky enough to be in Portland this holiday season, their soft opening and kick off event will take place on Tuesday, November 9th starting at 1:00pm followed by their grand opening on Saturday, November 13th, 2010.

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Here are the full details:

Crafty Wonderland Pop-Up Shop
802 SW 10th Ave. at SW Yamhill
(on the corner next to Finnegan's Toys and across from the Central Library)
Open November 9th through December 30th

Hours Before Thanksgiving:
Mon-Sat 10am - 6pm
Sun 12pm - 5pm

Hours After Thanksgiving (November 25th, 2010):
Mon-Sat 10am - 7pm
Sun 12pm - 6pm

*Grand Opening Party*
Saturday, Nov 13th
12pm - 5pm

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Lots of special events are planned at the Pop-Up Shop, so make you check out the website for full details. Congratulations!! Are you listening City of Vancouver!? Hope you are taking notes!

buy handmade :: focal length designs

photo credit: focal length designs

As part of the Summit of Awesome, the gals of Crafty Wonderland held a Show of Awesome featuring 40 handmade vendors.


I met Isaac during the session 'Craft Fair Applications' and somehow started yakking on about Vancouver, handmade titles, craft fairs, etc. I didn't realize that I had actually seen his work at past Crafty Wonderland shows and had pinned his name on my blog board for later posts. Isaac runs Focal Length Designs which uses old, broken camera lenses and makes one-of-a-kind bracelets out of them. Being in the wedding industry, we know tons of photographers and we knew one especially that always goes above and beyond for us. I had thought of getting one for her at the Christmas show when I first saw Isaac's work, but never ended up making it back through the crowds to his booth. After meeting him in person, I realized that it was the world telling me that I need to buy a bracelet which I indeed did!

Crafty Wonderland

(I have been looking for bottle brush vintage Christmas trees everywhere and was lucky enough to pick some up for a really good price from Magpie Ethel at the fair.)

If there was a race between two of my favourite US cities, it would have to be San Francisco, CA and Portland, OR. It would probably be a tie. I just can't get enough of either one of them! A few days after Got Craft wrapped up, we took a road trip to Portland to help out with Crafty Wonderland and drop off some handmade goodies at TinyMeat. We have attended their holiday show for the past three years and have braved cold weather and snow blizzards for one of their 200 swag bags!


(line to get in)


In fact, this is where Got Craft's swag bag idea came from! 2100 people came through in the first hour and by the end of the day (11 to 7pm), 7500 people had stopped in. With 220 amazing vendors including Buy Olympia, Little Otsu, My Imaginary Boyfriend, Jill Bliss, Obsessive Consumption, Crafty Wonderland is the place to be. Mark your calendars for their Spring show on May 1st & 2nd, 2010!



We returned to Vancouver Sunday evening. Back at home for two days and then off to San Francisco for Renegade tomorrow morning! Will post photos soon.

day three pt.1

Snow! We woke up to lots of snow on Sunday! So much snow that people couldn't drive up small hills and the radio announced that you needed chains before entering downtown.



Driving to the Oregon Convention Center



Taking a peek inside during the final stages of set up. Due to the snow, a handful of vendors were late and some booths were even completely empty.



Here's Gnorman hanging out with Torie (left) and Cathy (right) in the background.



We arrived an hour before opening and shortly after this was the line up to get in despite the storm outside.

day two

Day two was all about Portland. We started the day with breakfast at Grand Central Bakery and then traveled around town thrifting and picking up items for M's kidlets. It was an action packed day as we had to check in to the Convention Center at 5pm to assist with vendor check in and set up.



Could you imagine if the holiday Got Craft had this much space!? The Oregon Convention Center is quite unique in the fact that it costs $6 to park there all day plus free transit that stops right in front.



Checking in over 125 vendors at Crafty Wonderland.



Before



2.5 hours later

Got Craft is heading South

Got Craft is heading south the next few days with stops in Seattle and Portland. We are off to schmooze and learn new things at Crafty Wonderland while spreading the word!

See you next week.

My lovely new gnome is by the wonderful Jason and Jocelan from Cutesypoo Toys and the kawaii mushroom charms will be available by me at the Blim Holiday Market on December 20th!

Plush You!

This may be the perfect time for a road trip!

Friday, October 10th is the kick off to the PLUSH YOU! show in Seattle, WA.

Where: Schmancy, Nancy and Fancy at 1932, 1930, 1914 2nd Avenue in Seattle
Time: 5:00pm to 9:00pm is the opening reception (the exhibit runs for a few weeks)

For more information, please visit their website here.

One of our Got Craft vendors, Jocelan at Cutseypoo Toys, has 3 plush toys submitted at this years' show. Go visit her blog for details.

AND....

If you happen to keep driving South, don't forget that Crafty Wonderland will be taking place this Sunday from 11am to 4pm in Portland, OR. For more details, please visit their website here.

a fine example

Here is a fine example of a lovely swag bag that I received from the gals at Crafty Wonderland in Portland. Stuck on ideas? Take a lookly loo. Still can't decide what to include? Contact us!