swap-o-rama-rama round up

Swap-O-Rama-Rama (Yes, the second 'rama' is very important!) took place last month at the Museum of Vancouver. Basically, the event is a giant clothing and craft supply swap where each attendee brings a bag of clothing or supplies which are then sorted, categorized and then brought out to the corresponding table in the communal room. Once you drop off your bag at the front desk, it is a free for all, so don't be afraid to go digging for treasure! You can check out Lisa's finds from the event over on her blog.



Sewing stations provided by the girls from Plush on Main were available for people to alter their finds and turn them into new creations. One girl turned her found pants into a new pair of shorts and another girl whipped up a ruffled slip dress.


Blim was outside on the patio screen printing a slew of different designs on people's pants, t-shirts, you name it! If you missed the event this year, not to worry. Swap-O-Rama-Rama is an annual event, just drop us a comment or send us an email at info(at)gotcraft(dot)com to be added to our mailing list. See you next year!

things to do :: Swap-O-Rama-Rama TODAY!

illustration credit: contrarymary

A friendly reminder that today is Swap-O-Rama-Rama Vancouver!

What?
Swap-O-Rama-Rama is a clothing and craft supply swap in which a community explores reuse and creativity through the recycling of used clothing. A series of DIY stations will be on-hand to unleash your creativity including screen printing by Blim and sewing stations by Plush On Main. Take as little or as much as you like! All remainders will be donated to Big Brothers of Vancouver.

When & Where:
Saturday, June 26th, 2010
11:00am to 4:00pm
Museum of Vancouver – 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver

Admission:
$6.00 at the door plus a bag of clean clothes and / or a bag of craft supplies to swap.
(leave with all the clothes and supplies that you can carry!)

Tips:

1. Wear easy to change clothing in case you need to try things on
2. Bring a reusable bag to carry your goods
3. Bring a friend!

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For more information and details on what to bring, visit http://www.gotcraft.com/swap

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Licensed under Creative Commons: visit www.swaporamarama.org

swap-o-rama-rama!

Swap-O-Rama-Rama Vancouver is back!

Date: Saturday, June 26th, 2010
Time: 11:00 am to 4:00 pm
Location: Museum of Vancouver, 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver

Admission: $6.00 at the door or $5.00 in advance via Paypal on the website plus a bag of clean clothes and / or a bag of craft supplies to swap.

Leave with all the clothes and supplies that you can carry!

All remainders will be donated to a local charity.

What is Swap-O-Rama-Rama?
Swap-O-Rama-Rama is a clothing and craft supply swap in which a community explores reuse and creativity through the recycling of used clothing.



What do we do at Swap-O-Rama-Rama?
The core of the swap is the gigantic pile of free clothing and craft supplies sorted into categories such as pants, skirts, shirts, fabric, notions, etc. These piles are the collective total of each guest’s contribution of any size bag of unwanted clothes, so start cleaning your closets!

A series of DIY stations will be on-hand to unleash your creativity through the recycling of used clothing including screen printing by Blim and sewing stations by Plush On Main.

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Check out the Swap-O-Rama-Rama website for full details, ticket information and what to / what not to bring. You can also check out our facebook group or facebook event page.

Interested in volunteering? Contact us at info (at) gotcraft (dot) com and we will connect you with our Volunteer Coordinator.

Licensed under Creative Commons: visit www.swaporamarama.org

DIY @ MOV round two

Congratulations to the Museum of Vancouver for another successful DIY night! Got Craft was invited to hold a mini craft fair at all three events - DIY @ MOV, Handmade Nation, DIY @ MOV 2 - and we are so thankful for being a part of the team! It seemed like the first event had a bigger turnout, but you had to keep in mind that DIY@MOV 2 was held on a sunny and dry Friday night instead of a Thursday night in the middle of January. That being said, there was still a fantastic turn out and the quality of the interaction between attendees and solicitors was top notch. Not only did they have amazing workshops hosted by Collage Collage, Urban Source and Fibre Manipulator; Birkleland Wool was on-site with laps looms, wet needle felting and some amazing displays. Started in 1939, Birkeland Wool is a crafty institution here in Vancouver, so next time you are on Main and E. 20th Avenue, you should definitely go check them out. Thank you to everybody at the Museum of Vancouver for organizing, to all of our Got Craft vendors that came out and set up displays and to all the crafty attendees for supporting this fantastic event! You can read and check out the images from the first DIY @ MOV here.

DIY @ MOV 2

Back by popular demand, the Museum of Vancouver is hosting round two of DIY @ MOV, a night of social crafting. Mark your calendars! Here are the details:

date: Friday, April 9th, 2010
time: 7:00pm
where: Museum of Vancouver - 1100 Chestnut Street
cost: $15.00, members free (<- highly suggest being a member, very reasonably priced and well worth it!)

Join us for round two with workshops by Birkeland Bros (spinning, needle felting), Collage Collage (painting), Urban Source (paper collage) and Fibre Manipulator (jewelry making). Once again, the event will feature a mini Got Craft market including Sassy Contessa, Sam Made, Divesin Design and Roxypop.

An event for craft newbies and seasoned creators. There will also be music, a bar and goodie bags! Stay tuned for the treats we are whipping!

handmade nation vancouver round 2

The Museum of Vancouver hosted a screening of Handmade Nation last Friday to a diverse crowd consisting of DIY crafters and members of the Museum. The event had a fantastic turn out and many people left the evening feeling inspired and with a new appreciation for handmade. Following the screening, the MOV held a guest panel to speak about the DIY movement in Vancouver and answer questions raised by the audience. The panel consisted of Robert from Got Craft?, Kim Werker from CrochetMe.com and Erin Bonniferro from Collage Collage and facilitated by Amanda Gibbs from the MOV. Topics covered included the growth of DIY and craft fairs in Vancouver through the last couple of years and how they have changed, the difference (if any) between the DIY movement in the US vs. Canada, the difference in crafting for a hobby and crafting for a living, DIY vs. fine art, gender in the craft movement, to name a few.


I’ve known Kim and Erin for quite a while and to hear them speak, along with Robert, up on that panel was both amazing and inspiring. They are all well spoken and the MOV could not have picked a better group to speak. I hope that everybody that attended had as much as fun as I did.


We also held a mini Got Craft during the evening reception including Locomotive Clothing, telly designs, Sassy Contessa and roxypop.

Were you not able to attend? The MOV is hosting another DIY event – A night of Social Crafting on Friday, April 9th. Check out their website for ticket and event information!

handmade nation screening at MOV

If you missed the Handmade Nation screening last July in Vancouver with Faythe Levine, start marking your calendars! On Friday, March 19th, Handmade Nation will be playing at the Museum of Vancouver - 1100 Chestnut Street. Event starts at 7:00pm and the film begins at 8:00pm.

Handmade Nation documents the new wave of art, craft and design that is capturing the attention of the nation. It is the feature film debut of director, author, artist and curator Faythe Levine. Levine traveled to 15 cities and covered more than 19,000 miles to interview artists, crafters, makers, curators and community members.

Today's craft world has emerged as a synthesis of historical technique, punk culture, and the DIY ethos, also influenced by traditional handiwork, modern aesthetics, politics, feminism and art.

Tagged as the ‘Ambassador of Handmade’, Directory Faythe Levine has traveled 19,000 miles to document what has emerged as a marriage between historical technique, punk culture, and the D.I.Y. (do-it-yourself) ethos.

A companion book, Handmade Nation – The Rise of D.I.Y., Art, Craft, and Design, features 24 artists, their work environment, their process, their work, and discussions of how they got their start and what motivates them.

Got Craft will also be hosting a mini craft fair before and after the screeening. Our mini craft fair will feature lovely goods from Sassy Contessa, Roxypop, telly designs and Locomotive Clothing.

Ticket and more information can be found on the MOV website here.

local handmade events during the Olympics

Visit Granville Online and read my article on what craft markets are happening in Vancouver during the Olympics!

a night of social crafting

Last Thursday, the Museum of Vancouver hosted a DIY night and invited Got Craft to be a part of it. Let me tell you... if you didn't make it down there, you missed out! It was so much fun!


The ladies from Yarn Bombing were on-site with yarn demostrations throughout the evening. There was a mountain of yarn that you can choose and make stuff with.


Jackie from Divesin oversaw paper collage workshops which were insanely popular. Opus donated all of the materials that you could possibly need to make the perfect take home wooden panels.


Got Craft had a super mini craft fair set up with SamMade, Divesin, Olive and myself (Roxypop).

Thank you to the MOV for all of their hard work in putting this event together. Hope to see many more DIY events! In the meantime, stay tuned for more information on 'Fine Craft' vs. DIY on Thursday, March 4th.

Mini Got Craft

As part of the DIY @ MOV event on Thursday, January 21, 2010 at the Museum of Vancouver 1100 Chestnut Street, we will be holding a super mini Got Craft fair! The event starts from 7:00pm and ends at 11:00pm. There will be workshops throughout the evening such as button making with Blim, paper collage with Divesin and so much more!

Tickets are $15.00 and can be purchased at the door or you can purchase a membership to the Museum for $35 which includes a whole list of bonuses!

The super mini Got Craft fair will include....

Bliss in a teacup


Olive


SamMade


Roxypop


Divesin

Art of Craft

Art of Craft - Exuberant and refined craft room from Canada and the Republic of Korea starts tomorrow (January 14) and runs to April 11, 2010 at the Museum of Vancouver.

Art of Craft showcases 173 spectacular fine craft works in three parts:

Unity & Diversity: Selected Works - 75 pieces from across Canada recently on display at the 2009 Cheongju International Craft Biennale in the Republic of Korea.

By Hand/BC and Yukon - 51 pieces from Canada’s West Coast with a focus on the artists’ creative processes and studio environments.

Craft from the Republic of Korea - 47 pieces demonstrating the excellence of traditional and contemporary crafts.

In conjunction with this exhibition, the MOV will be hosting a DIY @ MOV event on Thursday, January 21st. More details posted here.

DIY @ MOV

After a pleasant holiday break, the crafting community is back and this event looks like a good one! DIY @ MOV is a night dedicated to celebrating the creativity and community of the growing DIY (do-it-yourself) craft, art and design movement in Vancouver. Materials and workshops for a range of craft activites from paper and paint to yarn will be on-hand and everybody from the craft newbie to seasons creators is encouraged to participate. Love the item that you made? MOV is providing exhibit space for those that believe are worthy for your items to be viewed for several weeks after the event.

Not the crafty type!? The event will also have a party vibe with a DJ and music by Vancouver-based indie artist, local food and a bar featuring local brews.

Museum of Vancouver - 1100 Chestnut Street, Vanier Park
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
7:00pm
$15.00, members free

For more information, please visit the Museum of Vancouver.

Did I mention we have swag bags ?

Oh yes! Oh yes! The first 30 people through the door at Got Craft will receive a lovely Craft Stylish re-usable tote filled with goodies from all of our vendors including the Museum of Vancouver, Sublime Stitching, Portobello West, Funky Finds and Button Button.



(these 3 swag bag pictures show an assortment of what could be in your bag)

To say that these go quickly is an understatement. We had girls line up at 7:30am for an 11:00am opening last May and I hear that there's some competition this year. So get there bright and early!!


Umm... and yeah... We also had our first fight last year for one of these bags. So for the holiday show, we will be initiating a new system where the first 30 will receive a ticket which they would need to turn in to claim a bag. Please note that you must stay in line until opening (bathroom breaks / coffee runs are ok).

Ravishing Beasts Giveaway

Ravishing Beasts: The strangely alluring world of taxidermy

Oh yes! We have another giveaway for you lovely readers!

Displaying the Museum of Vancouver’s extensive collection of taxidermy for the first time in decades, Ravishing Beasts investigates the provocative and strangely alluring world of taxidermy.

Whether a hoarding of exotic curiosities, a scientific archive, a hunting trophy, or a stuffed pet, taxidermy always exposes longings to capture animals and tell stories about their significance within human lives.

Over a hundred animals will be on display from the Museum’s own collection and was acquired primarily between 1894 and 1950 from Vancouver residents.

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For you Vancouverites, the Museum of Vancouver is looking for YOUR ravishing beasts! Do you have a deer trophy or an animal gathering dust in the basement? MOV wants to see how much taxidermy really exists in Vancouver. Please contact Wendy at wnichols(at)museumofvancouver(dot)ca for more information on how to submit your beauties.

Where?
Museum of Vancouver
1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver

When?
October 22, 2009 to February 28, 2010

** Enter to Win **
Send an email to info(at)gotcraft(dot)com for your chance to win one pair of tickets to the Ravishing Beasts exhibit at the Museum of Vancouver. Please include your name, phone number and a subject line of "MOV". Contest closes at Noon (PST) on Sunday, November 8th, 2009.

Good luck!