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.

***************************

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

***************************

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!

summit of awesome round up

Ok. I'm probably the last person to post pictures from the Summit of Awesome last month in Portland. That just means that it was really that good though, because once we got home, we were still rolling around in inspiration and good ideas! I spent the drive home whipping out to do lists on the hotel memo pad with bullet points of things to make, new product lines, wholesaling, streamlining Got Craft and so much crafty goodness that I took a whole 2 days to recover from. I say two, because day one was spent feeling lost that I wasn't at the Summit anymore and day two was spent reeling everything, so that the crazy scribbles in the back of the car actually made some sense.


Miranda, Robert and I woke up inhumanly early a few weeks ago and drove down to Portland to make sure that we got there by noon to start the afternoon sessions. We arrived at McMenamins Kennedy School, which warrants a post of its own, where we started the conference by making your own name badge. I know right?! There was no "Hello, my name is", stickers anywhere in sight. In its place, was buckets of felt, embroidery floss, needles, buttons, glue and other crafty supplies galore to show everybody what crafty delights you could whip up!


The Summit was three days of business classes, workshops and mentoring sessions. Some sessions that Rob and I participated in included 'Getting Press for your Business', 'Craft Booth Set Up', 'Legalities of Starting Your Business', 'The Story of My Paper Crane', 'Brick and Morter': how to run a brick & mortar shop', 'Wholesaling' and 'Writing and Publishing with Susan Beal' (pictured above).


The evenings were filled with lots of networking opportunities including a party at the Land Gallery in North Mississippi. The Black Apple was currenty the resident artist and I was so happy to be able to see her work in person! Not to mention that she sat next to me during the session "The Story of Modish" * ahem * * squeal *


Then it was Robert's turn to nerd out when we had a tour of the Buy Olympia warehouse. Below is a picture of Pat mid-conversation during the backstage tour.


Had so much fun at this event! Need to stop gushing and tackle the 1001 things on the to do list. Would anybody be interested to attend something like this in Vancouver? A 1 or 2 day meet up with informational sessions, networking and workshops focused on handmade culture? Chime in!

pdx shop tour :: modern domestic

We were in Portland two weeks ago with Miranda for the Summit of Awesome (more on that later) and kept driving past this studio space. With some afternoon free time, we pulled over and went to discover what this place was all about! Modern Domestic is a new sewing / crafting studio and retail space in Portland by the lovely people from Bolt Boutique. They offer classes in sewing, felting, silk-screening and surface design classes for all skill levels including kids and teens.


Modern Domestic is a loft style, open studio equipped with sewing machines for teaching on both floors. If you have some unfinished projects, but don't have your own sewing machine, machines and tools are available for $8/hr US or pre-pay rate of $50/10 hours. They are also an authorized sales location for Bernina and Janome sewing machines and a service drop off point for all other major machine brands for when your machine needs a good clean or tune up.


Here are a few tips and tricks for maintaining a happy machine from Modern Domestic!

• Never sew over pins! They can damage your machine, causing costly repairs and hurt you too
• Change your needle every other sewing project or ever 8 hours of sewing. Do not use dull or damaged needles. This is the easiest and most inexpensive way to keep your machine running smoothly for years to come
• Do not blow into or use canned air to clean out your machine. Lint flies up and may damage the computer boards. Also, the air can cause condensation in the machine and create problems with rust.
• If you have a computerized machine, be sure to not set a magnetic pincushion ON your machine. Setting one next to your machine is safe.
• Oil your machine ever 12 hours of sewing. To oil, squeeze 2-3 drops of machine oil onto a Q-tip and gently rub the hook race. Run the machine first to prevent oil from soiling your work.

crafts + portland = summit of awesome

So what if we were just in Portland!? The Summit of Awesome is taking place June 16th to 18th at Kennedy School in Portland! When it comes down to Portland plus mind blowing crafters that are congregating in one place for 3 days of awesome, well... I really couldn't say no. Plus, we have road trip buddies this time! That's right. Road trip buddies that have never been to Portland before. I know right!? *gasp* Oh... the plans filled with thrifting and eating have already started!

Back to the Summit of Awesome though... I blogged about it earlier when I first read about it. I hummed and hawed about it for awhile then with some (very to non-existent) arm twisting by Kim and Robert, I said "Ok, I'm in!". So I went online and checked to see what this summit was all about.

So what is the Summit of Awesome?
Hello Craft is a non-profit trade association dedicated to the advancement of independent crafters and the handmade movement, as well as empowering small business owners and educating the public to the benefits of buying handmade. They actively pursue their mission through various events such as the annual 3-day conference, the Summit of Awesome.

They have some amazing speakers lined up such as Heidi Kenney from My Paper Crane, Susan Beal from Westcoast Crafty, Ryan and Lucy Berkley, Kari Chapin author of the Handmade Marketplace, Jena Coray from Modish and Emily Martin from The Black Apple to name a few...

... and what will they be talking about? ...

Well, sessions include "How to develop a press packet", "Brick and Morter: how to run a brick & mortar shop", "Monetizing your website and online advertising basics", "Wholesaling", "How to pitch a magazine or blog" and the all important "Copyright and Trademark". Passes for all 3 days can be purchased here. If this wasn't enough, meals are included on some days and there are plenty of crafty activities to keep you on the go for your entire stay.

Starts this Wednesday, so get your passes now! Hope to see you there!

summit of awesome (pdx)

Founded in 2008 by four crafters / craft fair organizers, Hello Craft is a non-profit trade association dedicated to the advancement of independent crafters and the handmade movement, as well as empowering small business owners and educating the public to the benefits of buying handmade. They actively pursue their mission through various events such as the annual 3-day conference, the Summit of Awesome.

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 to Friday, June 18th, 2010 and join Hello Craft at the 2010 Summit of Awesome in Portland, Oregon. This year's Summit will take place at the McMenamins’ Kennedy School in the Alberta Arts District of Portland.

I am a big fan of Portland and can't wait for three days of seminars, speakers, workshops and overall awesomeness!

Hello Craft is a membership-based trade organization that offers yearly memberships to crafters and makers of all levels. To sign up and for more information, click here.

Check out photos, press and a podcast from last year's Summit of Awesome, click here.

Official registration will be available soon. Today is the last day for early bird tickets, so check out their website for more information! Visit Hello Craft and sign up for their email list to be first in line and to receive all the latest news.

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.

Buy handmade in Portland

Hey! You can now find my handmade goods for sale at TinyMeat in Portland at 3808 N. Williams #132 behind Ristretto Roasters. If you live in Portland, stop by and cross some names off your holiday list!

For those in Vancouver, you can find me at Barefoot Contessa on Main Street, Kiddo, Collage Collage and Lucky Rooster on Commercial Drive.


(image courtesy of TinyMeat)

Craftgasm - Day Three

Flutter in Mississippi

I forgot to show you this link of us on the Museum of Contemporary Craft's flickr page. DIY accessories courtesy of Blim and Track and Field Designs.



Today's post includes a few snapshots of my favourite places in Portland.



Bolt on Alberta Street.



Porch Light in Mississippi. Just a hop, jump and a skip away from Flutter

That pretty much wraps up our whirlwind trip. Back to our normal scheduling ....

Craftgasm - Day One

First of all, craftgasm is what my friend Kim called this weekend in Portland and it pretty much sums up all the goodness we experienced!

I tried to blog during our trip, but it was such a whirlwind! We left Vancouver Thursday evening and stayed overnight in Olympia, two hours outside of Portland. We arrived in Portland about lunch time and headed over to the Museum of Contemporary Craft to drop off our swag bag donations. I figured that we would drop them off rather than ship them, as I didn't get on the band wagon until a week before we were leaving!




Don't the bags look good? We tried to get these for Vancouver, but these were left over from the book launch and Portland snapped up all the remaining bags! Rob and I did manage to grab two, so one of them will be given as a prize at the Handmade Nation Vancouver Premier.

Friday night was the Portland premier screening and although I knew the film was going to be good, it was incredible. 65 minutes of some of the most amazing and influential crafters in the United States - wow!! The staff at the Museum of Contemporary Craft put together a wonderful night and it was great to see and meet so many of the artists from the film that came down for the event.




I finally had the chance to meet Susan from West Coast Crafty. I have been reading her blog for the past year or so, so I was glad to see her in person. I also finally had a chance to meet Kim Werker from Vancouver. We were introduced by friends and seriously live maybe 20 minutes away from each other, but of course, we didn't meet until we were both standing (or maybe sitting?) in the screening room! I love her and can't wait to work on some awesome projects together!! Also, had the chance to meet Kate Bingaman-Burt, the founder of Obsessive Consumption and What did you buy today?. I had been talking to Kate leading up to the event about swag bags.



Of course, after talking over email since February, we were so happy to finally meet Faythe!! The screening ended with a 30 minute Q&A session and she was absolutely amazing.



If you don't have your tickets to Handmade Nation in Vancouver, then you should get them now! This is not to be missed! To purchase tickets, please visit the homepage of Got Craft or see the post below.

day three pt.2

Driving back home in a blizzard and making a lunch stop at Burgerville in Centralia!

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