Urban Craft Uprising: promo from Behrens Films on Vimeo.

This past weekend I traveled up to Seattle, Washington for the Urban Craft Uprising holiday show.  Wow, what a show!

It was quite the marathon of a weekend.  My good friend Aimee came along and helped out.  First we stopped by the Laika Studio for a quick holiday show on Friday afternoon.  Literally it lasted 1 hour, it was the quickest craft show ever!  Then we drove up to Seattle and started setting up my booth display again (twice in one day - whew!).  A late night sushi dinner was all we could muster after this long day.  Saturday we woke up early and finished setting up for Urban Craft Uprising and then the doors opened at 11. Over the weekend 10,000 people came into this show.  It was awesome as usual.  So many appreciative customers.  So many mobiles will be shared throughout the Seattle surrounding area this holiday season.  I felt the love.   I am grateful.

Here's what my crafty display looked like

Pictures from Urban Craft Uprising 2010

Urban Craft Uprising Holiday 2010 - nearly 10,000 shoppers came thru the doors of the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. It was awesome. There was so much crafty goodness it was nearly overwhelming. The shopping frenzy was buzzing as usual. A lot of my artwork (as well as all the other vendors at this show!) will be given away as presents this holiday due to the success of this show.

I would like to say big Thank You to everyone involved, shoppers and organizers!

This is the line on Sunday morning of shoppers waiting for almost 2 hours to get free swag as they entered the show.

This is Moxie's booth - she is one of the wonderful women who throw this show. Her felted creations and new book I Felt Awesome are amazing! Monsters and octopuses and mushrooms and balls and bowling pins and felting kits that come in milk shake containers.... oh how I swoon...

These felted terrariums were just scrumptious! Amanda Fiebing creates these incredible little fiber creations - look at the felted mushroom terrariums! They are just too cute!!!

I loved this sock monkey booth - so bright and colorful...

meant to buy one of these kits from Monkey Sock Monkey... but I had trouble getting out of my booth (cuz it was so busy!! yeah!) and when I took these pictures there was no one around to take my money (it was in the morning before the show started)... the kit is great, comes with everything you need, and they have an orange kit. What more could I ask for!

Beautifully handcrafted dolls with handmade clothes and accessories, and more handmade mushrooms

Bird Mafia

Bread and Badger

and this little video shows my booth... this was in the morning on Saturday before we opened... you can hear Moxie announcing for the volunteers to gather and get ready to open the doors! What a fun and exhausting weekend.

Urban Craft Uprising

I will be there - come check me out if you live in Seattle - I have packed up my car with all sorts of beautiful mobiles and cute glass bits... much including an exquisite batch of terrariums... and if I remember to make up a sign - I have a free ornament with every purchase!!

Holiday Craft Show Prep

I am knee deep in holiday prep - working my way thru holiday craft shows. Prep involves many things, like stamping bags....I tried to take a few pictures today so I could share here...
I've been making more terrariums... these pictures are fun because people keep asking me how I make the tiny little arrangements - look see! - I use my old dissection kit!
The q-tips are for cleaning the glass if I get a bunch of dirt stuck to the inside of the terrariums...
I also made a bunch more "care cards" and stickers... more packaging details... the care cards are for the terrariums to tell people how to care for them...

I've been strategizing on how to fit a lot of stuff into a small vending space... this weekend I am working with 5ft by 10ft. Last weekend it was 6ft by 4ft. So I made up this piece of graph paper and cut little pieces of paper to represent my display stuff... put a little sticky glue on the back of the cutouts and this way I can play around with display ideas...

Last week I sorta set some stuff up in my living room to see what I had to work with...

and I bought this cake plate from Ikea to display my tiny terrariums underneath. I LOVE it.

Crafty Display Ideas

I've been thinking a lot about neat display ideas to spiff up my craft booth stylin' this holiday season... and I saw that Naomi at Splurge had put a bunch of my packaged mobiles in a large glass vase (see below)
and then I was at Stumptown indulging in some liquid coffee yumminess and I noticed they had put the coffee cup to-go lids in these big glass jars (see picture below) and little labels on brown craft paper were taped to the jars (these could be price tags right?!). I really like how this looks and even more, I like how it functions as a retail display. The price is clear but small, the container is glass and it holds a lot of product... and its a crafty use of something that is meant for something different!
So I have been prowling local GoodWill for big glass jars/containers (no luck so far)... I went to the craft store and stood in front of their large glass vase assortment for a while. There were a lot to choose from and I always get 40%off coupons in my email for these crafty stores, so this could be an option. I had thought I'd like the big tall cylinders, but honestly they are either too small or so tall that if I filled them up with packaged mobiles or little DIY kits, once some of the kits had sold it would be hard for customers to reach the rest at the bottom of the cylinders. This would not do! As these are supposed to entice retail purchases, not prevent them. So among the various jars/vases at the craft store I found myself captivated by the huge size round fish bowl type vase. I like em'.

My Booth at the Portland Saturday Market

I was in the mood to take pictures this Saturday, so I documented a bit of what it is like to set up at the Portland Saturday Market. I love the imagery of this place, and I've taken pictures in the morning down here many times, but not really of the actual process of setting up... I've done this every weekend for 8 years now... so here ya go...
here is Mr Tim pushing my cart. Lately he has been able to join me in the morning setting up my booth before he goes to work - Thanks Tim! The yellow cart he is dragging is one of a half dozen or so carts that the market supplies to help vendors haul their stuff around the site. They are great! Sometimes its a challenge to find one to use, but its worth it. I have a few carts of my own to supplement though... you can't depend entirely on the PSM carts, there are hundreds of other vendors who also want to use them.
see here my booth is strapped to a cart. I wheel it out and set it up while Tim is dragging the rest of my stuff out from storage. This storage space is literally under the sidewalk on the South West side of the Burnside Bridge. The walls are wet with water that seeps through the concrete sidewalk. Its old and really pretty gross. Mold, yes. Rats, sometimes. Floods, I've experienced 2 in my 8 years. There is more storage in this building in the Shanghai tunnel space that is directly underneath my storage. Its awesome. Old historic creepy spaces. This is the basement of the old building that was once a brothel in Old Town Portland. The PSM office spaces are on the bridge level floor and most of the rest of the building is storage. I think the building is haunted by one of the old prostitutes that used to work in the brothel. Story goes that she tried to blow the whistle on the people being Shanghaied (between 1850-1941 people in port cities were stolen and sold to sea captains as labor - on the west coast Portland surpassed even San Fransisco in numbers of men Shanghaied) and so the prostitute was Shanghaied! She was never seen again and I think she haunts the place now! Currently a handful of artists store their market stuff (retail display stuff and whatnot, we're not allowed to store product in this storage) in this Shanghai tunnel space. Its really fascinating to me!
here is the big cart getting loaded up with my stuff. Tim built me these wooden pedestals, I love them. I use them as storage as well as retail display furniture.
here is my stuff ready to be pushed from my car to the booth. This little folding cart is wonderful. Its from Costco, its very light and it folds up real small... best part is its sturdy and holds lots of weight.
the market in the morning is an interesting site of people setting up their booths...
this coffee booth has been at the market for decades, serving warm beverages to the masses with handmade syrups and fresh local roasted beans...
heres my booth all ready to go
and what it looks like from where I sit...

Question: Holiday Shows?

The question is this: Which holiday shows should I apply for?

What are the best Holiday Shows? Which shows do you go to?

Its that time of year and I thought it'd be handy to throw that question out there right now. A lot of people are asking me and I don't know what to tell ya. So far the UCU application is out and I just filled that out today. That is a great show, incredible opportunity. I also plan on applying to the Crafty Wonderland holiday show. That is where my list starts and ends. What else should I consider including?

New Display Concept

I've been working on a new display idea... I painted some simple embroidery hoops (inexpensive round wooden frames) with glossy red acrylic paint and hung them on metal hooks, the idea being that I can suspend a mobile inside the red circle and make a cluster of these circles...

I figure I'll make one circle that has a sign and this will make the cluster a retail display. For now it just looks like a neat installation.

Rave Review of the Salem Art Festival

I had heard this was a great show, the Salem Arts Festival (one of the top 10 art festivals in the country) - it was certainly a pleasure to experience for myself and my business.

• good neighbors (aka amazing artwork and interesting new artists I got to know)
• amazing site (Bush Park is full of old beautiful oak trees, sunshine and shade in a beautiful big green park) and great weather (it was a mild/warm 80degrees all weekend)

• good munchies (Kettle Chips sponsored the show and provided artists with endless little bags of chips - wha?! - there was also fresh fruit, iced tea (hot tea, lemonade and coffee as well), trail mix, pastries... oh my)

• they made us breakfast! picture this: in the morning at the artist hospitality booth there was a string quartet playing exclusively for our breakfast... there was a line of husbands making omlettes to order and a group of ladies making pancakes with fresh local berries. It was insanely nice. Both Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday the fresh berries had been made into a fruit compote for our pancakes. And picnic tables to have our breakfast on while greeting friends.
• good business (aka financially lucrative)
• lots of water (they gave us water bottles and had volunteers come by and refill them every day)

Every art show should treat the artists this well! It made things much less stressful and way more fun. I had a lot to smile about all weekend.

Vending at the Art Fair

I'll be vending all weekend. Today was the first of 3 days at the Salem Arts Festival. Its pretty incredible. Really beautiful annual show that seems to be entirely loved and treasured by the entire surrounding community. Its huge. And they are really nice to the vendors, I mean the artists get treated well. They have an endless supply of little bags of Kettle Chips at the artist hospitality booth, as well as iced tea and lemonade, water and coffee... fresh fruit and yogurt and cookies. Seriously. Tomorrow I hear there are made-to-order omelets in the morning for the artists *complimentary* Why don't all shows treat their artists this well and make their artists big money like this one? Hm... they are doing something right!

Picture above is an old shot of me at a summer fair. I am guessing it is the Ohio State Fair, circa 1982 maybe? The Pellegrini family went every year when I was a little girl. I loved it. And this is pretty much what I look like now when I'm vending my artwork - right :) Just older and less cute.

Summer Solstice Celebration in Seattle

I am back from Seattle - a LONG weekend of vending. A whole lotta rain. Seemed ironic to celebrate the summer solstice in a rain soaked outdoor festival.

The Fremont Fair was really amazing - absolutely huge - with everything creative you could possibly imagine.

I put a whole bunch of pictures on my flickr account. Check em out there.

Its been one hell of a week attending and speaking at the Summit of Awesome and then vending at the Fremont Fair. A bit overwhelming. I felt like the workshops I attended at the Summit inspired me in new ways. One talk in particular was a serious pep-talk for the sales person in me that is attempting to sell my own work. Whew - being the salesperson is one of the most difficult part of my life. Its a balanced experience though - its exercise (for real! setting up and taking down a booth full of artwork is a workout), its a constant challenge and its so rewarding getting to meet my customers and collectors in person.

While having a drink with friends Saturday night after the Fremont Fair - we all laughed at each other for "making it look easy" - because honestly, it is NOT easy. :)

Summit of Awesome Pictures

I have spent the last day or so celebrating crafty entrepreneurs like myself at the Kennedy School - its called the Summit of Awesome - and indeed it has been truly awesome. Above is a picture of my felt nametag. I made it Thursday night at the Welcome Party.

There was a table in the gym simply called "Make Something Awesome" that was all set up with stuff to make felty flowers and nametags (I combined the projects into one, sewing the felted flowers onto my nametag).

Here's a picture of me geeking out at the crafty table getting supplies for my nametag, and sewing the letters on (I had to take out all the stitches of the L and do it again when I realized I was using up way too much thread way to fast... and I was sewing on my name while the white elephant game was getting explained... so it was all done quite hectically - is that a word?)

Naomi came with me to the party and we had so much fun! She made some felted flowers for her nametag as well

The welcome party involved a "white elephant" game, basically all us crafty people showed up with a handcrafted gift and exchanged said gifts. I brought a little computer mobile and was happy to see my friend Rebbecca end up with it - she was very happy too! Naomi got this sweet little plushi owl (although she almost had this awesome notebook, but thats a whole nuther story!) Naomi brought some bike nutz and man oh man they were well received! At first I was nervous, the nutz exchanged hands a few times (oh no! people don't like them?!)... but in the end Jenna was the happy new owner of the platinum balls. People were talking about those shiney ballz the next day - I love that!! We gotta get some up in the Etsy store pronto!

http://BikeNutz.etsy.com/

Okay, so the welcome party was such fun! It was the end of a long day. I didn't get to attend classes at the conference yesterday because I was at the glass studio teaching class (which was also wonderful) so this party was a fun way to top things off. I stopped by the glass studio after the conference tonight and it was Pendant Night - good to see a studio full of people all enjoying making glass pendants! But I digress once again... back to the Summit of Awesome... the party ended with a screen printing session, we all got to print our own awesome t-shirt.

Today the crafting continued!!I went back at 8am for breakfast and socializing and then a day full of talks. Business discussions, crafty business histories, vending tips, legal matters, and oh yeah - I was a speaker as well! I participated in a talk with the Berkeley couple, Lucy and Ryan. It was great discussion on Collaborations and Commissioned Work. Really it was a big discussion about how we make things happen in our businesses.

I had a great discussion at the end of the day with Sara (of Hello Craft) where we broke it down and really got to the gist of things that it is all about collaboration. Basically collaboration makes our DIY style businesses happen, and in turn made this whole conference possible. Collaborations of one sort or another are what makes my little business possible and makes Portland Or such a funky cool crafty place to exist. The pivotal businesses in the scene are all working together in some way, when events like this happen it makes things so transparent that we all benefit from each other's strengths and weaknesses. Seriously. Perhaps I will do a separate blog sometime about collaborations, its a very interesting topic in terms of the DIY movement, and its something that I benefit from in my own business.

Okay. That's my thoughts on awesomeness for the evening. I've got to get off the computer. My brain is overwhelmed and I must start getting ready to prep everything for Seattle, tomorrow I pack the car and head North for 2 days of the Fremont Fair.