check out :: the toy horse

Cassia Beck has one of the loveliest blogs that I have seen. I'm a little late blogging about this one (story of my life it seems!), but you should check out Cassia's second year-long project called Horse.

The subject is a toy horse she used to play with as a child.
The goal is to photograph this horse every day for a year by creating a different scene every day.
The end result is to make the collection into a book next year.

You can check out her flickr images here or you can check out her blog entitled Horse.

contest :: win a YUDU

Enter the Got Craft Spring 2010 Contest!

The next Got Craft is coming up on Sunday, May 2nd, 2010. Mark your calendars! Posters are starting to pop up all over the City, so we thought we would celebrate by holding a contest.

To enter, take a picture of a Got Craft Spring 2010 poster that you find at local shops, coffee houses or poster drums in Vancouver. Once you have your images, upload them to the Got Craft Spring 2010 contest flickr group and win yourself a brand new YUDU screen printer by Provocraft worth over $300.00. The more you upload, the more chances you have to win!

Flickr Group: Got Craft Spring 2010 Contest

please make sure to read all the rules before entering ...

one
Contest open to Got Craft Spring 2010 posters only and to residents of the Lower Mainland. (Must be available to pick up the prize at the Spring Got Craft show on May 2nd, 2010)

two
Pictures must include the entire poster and if possible, the poster drum pole / board / wall that the poster is attached to and some background that shows where it was located. No close ups on just the poster. See example.

three
When uploading, include where the poster was found - i.e. store name, intersection, etc. Entries not properly named will not count. See example.

four
Each qualified image uploaded to the flickr group = one entry to win

five
Contest closes April 30th, 2010. A winner will be announced on May 1st, 2010. The winner of the contest must be available to pick up their prize at Got Craft on May 2nd, 2010.

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If you have any questions, please contact us by email at info (at) gotcraft (dot) com or leave a comment below. Good luck!

Maked - feature #25

Name: Maked - a collaborative group of 3 (sometimes 4) girls
Website links: Maked



What do you make?
A bit of everything!   We've done adorable little zipper pouches, cheeky notebooks from repurposed old novels, melt and pour soap with a sassy side, jewelry from vintage buttons, silkscreening.... I could go on - there are so many crafts to dabble in!



What or who inspires you?
The whole craft community (online and in person).  Seeing all the fantastic stuff that all these creative people come up with inspires us to put our heads together to see what happens. The internet (craftster.org) brought us together originally and gets us all excited to try new crafts; the internet is a powerful thing.
 


How did you get started?
Our group formed because we each wanted to learn the crafts that the others knew.    That desire to learn and willingness to teach turned into Maked!   Also, our passion for making stuff far outstripped our ability to find uses for the stuff we made, so we started selling our products and discovered the fabulous Vancouver craft scene in the process.



What are your favourite materials to work with?
We love repurposing stuff that would otherwise go to waste.  Our novel notebooks, for example, take old cheesy novels and give them a new life.   We also love beautiful yarns, cute fabrics, and vintage buttons.   One of us is nuts for tiny delica beads.



What is the hardest and most favourite part of crafting?
The hardest part is probably finding the time to do all the crafty things we want to do (both Maked stuff and personal crafting), or finding space for all the craft supplies.  ;)   Favourite part is the inexplicable satisfaction/pleasure that comes from using your hands to make a thing - something that at one point was just an idea in your head and turns into something that makes someone else smile or laugh.



List 5 of your favourite links and why you like them

Colour Lovers: So fun to play around with colour schemes and get inspiration for the ones other people make.
 
Burda Style: Another great one for inspiration, but also a wonderful source for modern, fun patterns.

Flickr: I'm very visual. As much as I like reading blogs I feel like Flickr gets down to the good stuff. The groups and tags make it such a great place to go for specific inspiration. Speaking of which, if you want some ideas for what to do with your charm packs and jelly rolls, I manage a group on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/charmandjelly/

Wists: I'm trying to get all my friends to start a wist. It's basically an online wishlist. The great thing about it is you can pull items from any place on the internet which makes it so easy to collect all your etsy wants. I also like to search through other peoples items because it tends to be a much craftier, eclectic group than just googling.
 
Craftster: The crafty gathering site that brought us together - the forums are filled with inspiration and amazingly crafty people!



Do you have any advice for those in the biz?
Produce a quality product and do whatever it takes to make your customers happy.  And have fun!



Do you consider yourself an artist or a crafter?
We've never had this debate among ourselves.   We view ourselves as crafters/makers.    I think there is a difference between art and craft - not that one is better, they just aspire to different purposes.   And there comes a point where the two get blurred and people start to debate it.   We'd rather use our energy to make things than debate.  ;)

(photo images courtesy of Maked)

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

Check out our past features...

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