got craft - 50 best craft art blogs

Got Craft? has been featured on the Guide to Art School's list of the 50 Best Craft Art blogs along with Angry Chicken, Craft Corps, Dollar Store Crafts, Dude Craft, Etsy, Purl Bee, SFGirlByBay, Spoonflower, twelve22 and so many more! Yippee!

The Guide to Art School hand-picked a list of their favourite craft art blogs and noted their favourite posts from each blog. What was their favourite post on Got Craft? Courtney from Telly Designs' feature!

Thanks Pierce! Looking forward to spreading the crafty love!

inspire :: dispatchwork

(image from Bocchignano, Italy)

Could this be the next yarn bombing? Check out Dispatchwork to find out how to participate and spread a little lego joy in your neighbourhood!


(image from Amsterdam)


(image from Tel Aviv, Israel)

photo credit: Dispatchwork found via Present&Correct

listen :: the navigators

found via present and correct


image found on drawn.ca

178 illustrations on matchbox covers by Czech illustrator and designer Pavel Fuksa was used for this video. Amazing.

Divesin - feature #36

Name: Divesin by Jackie Dives
Website links: Etsy, Blog, Myspace

contest alert at the end of the blog post!

What do you make?
I mostly make collages and take photographs. I have been collaging and taking photographs since I was in elementary school. Right now my collages are taking a couple different personalities.



There is an ongoing series that I work on for craft fairs and for sale on my Etsy site. These are made on wood panels that are hollow in the back so they can be hung easily. I use images from books that would otherwise be sent to the dump. I rescue them and make something new from them.

I am also working on a series of 20 collages that each have a Chinese proverb in them. These are fun and made from all kinds of different papers.

Lastly, I have a show at Libby's Kitchen in September, and for that I am making a series of collages that involve animals.

I take photographs every day of the things I see around town. My favourite thing to photograph is people.

I also make love. I make nutritious meals from scratch, my blog, and a garden.

What or who inspires you?
Like most creative people I get inspiration from things I see when I am out and about. People, places, nature, conversations overheard on the bus. I get very inspired to create when I am grocery shopping at a market, thrifting, and drinking tea with friends. I am currently greatly inspired by these specific artists: Andy Dixon, Ronan Boyle, Jesse Reno, Chanda Stallman, Randy Laybourne.

How did you get started?
Slowly. A few years ago I pulled my hardly ever used sewing machine out of the closet in my bedroom and began making bags. My grandfather died around the same time and I was given a box of family photographs, which I used to make a series of greeting cards. I made magnets, notebooks, brooches, and other cute things. I held a craft show in my little apartment, which turned into a full time store on Main Street. Now, I'm happy to be working from home, taking my time to explore the different forms of creativity that interest me.



What are your favourite materials to work with?
I keep a glue stick and my camera with me wherever I go. I also love very old things from wood to ceramics to books to fabrics, to jars and more.

List 5 of your favourite links and why you like them
Art house Coop: This is a wonderful website that invites people to take part in their art project ideas. The keep new ideas posted on their website all the time and people can participate in any that they choose.

Society 6: I have a studio on this website where I sell prints (http://www.society6.com/studio/divesin). Anyone can join for free and sign up to sell their prints. There is no cost to the artist, all the printing is done by Society 6, and they give you your desired commission. It is also a great place to discover artists.

Craigs List: An incredible resource for finding things for cheap or free.

West Coast Seeds: Where I get lots of my gardening info.

Amazon: I read a lot. I like that I can keep a wish list on Amazon so that I don't lose track of all the books I want.



Do you have any advice for those in the biz?
Don't give up. Being an artist is hard. Keep at it.

Do you consider yourself an artist or a crafter?
This is a hard question for me to answer. At a different point in time it might have been easier to define and separate the two words, but presently, I think they overlap and are merging into one meaning. At times I might be an artist, other times a crafter. But ultimately I am a creator. I passionately and consistently create things.

WIN an original collage (pictured above) by Jackie Dives by leaving a comment below and telling us where you would display this wooden panel.

Each collage is coated with a non toxic sealer and is light weight and durable, making it perfect for hanging anywhere! Contest closes Friday, May 14th, 2010, so get your comments in!

(photo images courtesy of Jackie Dives)

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

Check out our past features...
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 :: push pin art

You know the box of pushpins you have in your office drawer? The ones that comes in a variety of colours including blue, red, white, yellow and black? Well, artist Eric Daigh creates masterpiece out of ordinary pushpins in poster board. Each portrait requires about 11,000 pushpins which is placed one pin at a time. Check out more images on the If It's Hip, It's Here website.

photo credit: Eric Daigh found via If It's Hip, It's Here and Jerk with a Camera

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

crafty kisses to all

photo credit: Studio Jeanie

Thank you to everybody that came to Got Craft yesterday! We had a fantastic turn out and as always, so much fun! A big thank you to all of our vendors including Spool of Thread Sewing Lounge who hosted the DIY table and taught everybody how to many those snazzy pinwheel pins and Jeanie for being our A+ / 5 diamond / #1 photographer!

Did your receive a swag bag? The line up this year started at a record breaking 6:30am! That's 3.5 hours before the show started! By 7:30am, all 30 bags were spoken for. Read one woman's pursuit for a coveted swag bag over on her blog - Travelling the Amaranth Road - love it!

Oohhh... and the kittens! Thank you to Marilyn from Vancouver Fashion eZine who was on-site selling printed issues with half of her profits supporting the Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association. Got Craft attendees broke her record by purchasing a whopping 50 issues and raising $268 with a few additional donations! Yay kittens!

Mark your calendars! Our holiday show is on Sunday, December 5th, 2010 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm at the Royal Canadian Legion. Interested in participating? Applications are available online.

artists pictured from left to right starting at the top: telly, Jennifer Conway, Sassy Contessa, Thistle Town Studio, A Farmers Daughter, Uncle Phil, kove, unknown, Laura Bucci Handmade, Queen Bee Luxuries

fundraiser :: Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue

photo credit: charlie & lucy from VOKRA

Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association is a no-kill, non-profit registered charity, formed in 2001 with the mandate of caring for very young, mainly bottle-feeding, kittens. They soon found that older kittens, under the age they could safely be vaccinated, also would do much better in a foster home. Feral mothers and kittens soon joined the list, as we began to form a trap-neuter-release (TNR) program to prevent more kittens from being born into starvation, disease, and misery on the streets. They have gone from an average of 150 or so per year to over 1300 kittens and cats rescued in 2009 from homelessness or euthanasia.

VOKRA is not a shelter. Instead, they provide over 100 individual foster homes throughout the lower mainland. VOKRA covers all of the costs for its fostering families: food, litter, other supplies and equipment, nutritional supplements ... everything. VOKRA is 100% volunteer run with no paid staff or government funding, relying on private donations and grants.


photo credit: Vancouver Fashion eZine Nov 2008 cover

In support of VOKRA, Vancouver Fashion eZine will be at Got Craft this Sunday, May 2nd selling printed issues for the affordable cost of $10.00 each. Half of this cost will go directly to VOKRA.

Vancouver Fashion eZine is a local fashion magazine run by people who love fashion and art. It promotes Vancouver talent by featuring some of the most creative people (designers, photographers, make-up artists, stylists, models etc.) in a printed magazine. Celebrating the Vancouver fashion community and the unique artists that contribute their work to the local fashion scene.

.. and the winner is ...

Congratulations to beach650! You are the prize winner of our win a YUDU contest! A BIG thank you to everybody that entered!

Beach650, make sure you come see us at Got Craft to pick up your prize!

(Thanks to Maria from Hold Handmade for the lovely felted bowl!)

tutorial :: Amanda's DIY Flash Cards

Amanda from Owl + Pussycat, posted this fantastic tutorial for making your own kid friendly flash cards. Check out all the details over at Granville Online.