making, learning, teaching and sharing a crafty life
Can you believe it’s time for another fun trunk show? Our Valentine’s shows are always such a bright, warm spot in the dreary winter. Check out the City of Craft blog to see detailed vendor profiles for some of the show’s talent. I hope to see you this Sunday!
I just might be close to catching up on all my posts from the last few weeks. Last week was our first ever trunk show that was rummage only. We weren’t too sure what would happen, but it was such a fun event!
It was a gorgeous, sunny fall day and so many people dropped by to check out all the rummage and snap up great deals. I had one piece of rummage that day, a pair of vintage boots that didn’t fit me properly. Sweet Anabela kindly hosted my boots in her trunk and they sold!
Claire gifted me a super cool vintage tin as a birthday present (Thanks Claire!) and I picked out several black & white photos from Grant’s suitcase. A crazy bargain at $.10 each!
Thanks so much to everyone who brought out their awesome rummage and all the shoppers who came and took it away!
Hi, it’s June! Summer is just racing towards us faster than I can believe.
To celebrate the very first day of summer, City of Craft and the workroom are presenting the Garden Party Trunk Show on Sunday June 21, Noon – 5pm. As usual we have an enticing crew of vendors who will dazzle you with their wares (both handmade & vintage). I hope you will mark your calendars!
Also, two of the workroom’s friends – Sarah & Shiralee were featured in an article in the Globe and Mail on the weekend about handmade weddings. I was really excited to see photos from both of their magical-looking weddings that they added special handmade touches to. (including fabrics from the workroom!)
The article also shares some great resources and ideas, but mostly i just LOVE looking at photos of weddings. This and this are a couple of my favs. Do you have favourite wedding photos? Perhaps your own? Comment here with a link, so that I can spy on more people’s weddings!
Jen Anisef helped change my life.
When the workroom was just a hare-brained scheme in my head, I nervously attended a Craft Chat held by Toronto Craft Alert. I had never interacted with Toronto’s craft scene in person, only lurked on local blogs and cruised a few craft fairs. I didn’t realize at the time, but this was a pivotal moment for me.
Attendance to the Craft Chat was much smaller than expected, but the quality of people was stellar. This is where I first met Becky (Sweetie Pie Press), Leah (Cold Snap Bindery), Angelune (Toronto Craft Alert), Marnie (girl number twenty), Johanna (the workroom’s esteemed quilting teacher!) and Jen. The chat ranged on topics from the American vs. Canadian craft scene, rallying local resources, creating more dialog (online & in person), and etsy. Although I wasn’t ready at the time to share my business idea, I left feeling that this small group represented everything I hoped to bring together in the workroom. I think this is just one of thousands of examples of the positive impact TCA & Jen have made for so many people in our community.
Toronto Craft Alert is just one of the major, local, craft-supporting projects that Jen is involved with. She is one third of the City of Craft team and one half of the Good Egg Industries team. This crafty lady is truly remarkable and she makes a mean patchwork, to boot! Thank you, Jen for everything you do.
Jen will be at the Love & Rummage Trunk Show selling her irresistable log cabin heart medallions, plus City of Craft tees and totes.
When did your life become all about craft? or has it always been that way?
JEN : I have always made stuff & bossed people around with regards to making stuff. I organized a group of my ten year old friends in a crafty collective of sorts – hawking our fimo hairclips and brooches to shops! I didn’t begin to identify as artistic or crafty until about 1999 when I spent a year living in rural Japan where everyone and their grandmother is engaged in the act of making at most times, or at least in appreciating the natural creative beauty that surrounds them. I was fortunate enough to hook up with an English-speaking farmer buddy who drove me around the prefecture, translating interviews with craft artists of all different sorts including master weavers, washi makers and traditional indigo dyers. It was heaven and I realized then that I was in love with craft.
All of your many projects are focused on the local craft scene – TCA, Good Egg, City of Craft… Why is this issue so important to you?
JEN : I think in the early years of craft engagement I spent A LOT of time on craft message boards, communicating with people halfway across the world about crafty crushes, trading tips & techniques, and generally being excited that there were other people out there (often far out there) that shared my interests. Eventually, as the craft movement/subculture grew I was able to connect with people closer to home, and I felt that this more traditional form of community was something I needed to engage with to be fully satisfied – I loved being able to physically share & touch & smell & see & hear what people are doing. Don’t get me wrong, I think the online, cross-border connection is extremely valuable and inspiring, but I think there is an increasing desire among crafters & humans to move back towards the local and my projects are a reflection of that.
You are a busy lady, what is next on the horizon for you?
JEN : The most immediate thing is getting the re-designed Toronto Craft Alert site launched (so soon!) and a very juicy giveaway contest I am hatching to celebrate. Also, Toronto area peeps may be excited to know that we are bringing Handmade Nation to town on February 26th as part of the DIwhy? show at the Ontario Crafts Council. Stay glued to the City of Craft site for details. Finally (well, is there ever a finally?!) the other day while doing dishes a really exciting & possibly huge idea occurred to me but I need to sit on it for awhile longer before busting it out. I’ll just say it has to do with offering targeted support to entrepreneurs in Toronto’s booming craft world.
I know how much you love colour and colour matching. Do you have a current favourite colour combo?
JEN : Oh, that’s a tough one! If I were fifteen years old, I would say purple & orange without hesitating. Things have gotten a little more complicated since then…I love the combination of superbright, saturated & neutral colours. I’m starting to explore neons & pastels.
If you had a day where you were not allowed to do any ‘work’ for all your ventures, how would you spend the day?
JEN : When left to my own devices I am a pretty lazy gal…I would say sipping loose tea in sweatpants & reading my fantasy novel on the couch (got hooked on a recent trip to Cuba). Maybe followed by a potluck/clothing swap with friends which my husband would cook for!
Are you planning on selling some rummage at the show? if yes, what might that be?
JEN : I am planning to tackle my unruly fabric stash and emerge some scrap bags & larger pieces. I will also have some vintage clothing on offer and old craft hobby magazines.
What Valentines gift would melt your heart?
JEN : I am a sucker for a carefully orchestrated (re: colour palette) bouquet. Handmade (by him) jewellery would also weaken the knees.
Once again, we’re approaching another trunk show here at the workroom, in collaboration with the City of Craft ladies. The Love & Rummage Trunk Show will be a little bit different than our previous shows, as we’ve asked our vendors to also go through their crafty closets and package up some vintage supplies and goodies, as well as making their special wares. I have a strong suspicion that many of them have a treasure-load of stuff and I can’t wait to browse through it.
I’ll be profiling vendors every day up until the show, so I hope you drop by to take a peek at what’s in store. Today I’m super excited to introduce you to Margie Oomen of Resurrection Fern. I first discovered Margie on flickr when I saw a picture of one of her crochet covered sea stones. The first thing I did was check to see if she had an etsy store, so that I could buy one. Alas, at the time she didn’t – but her etsy store opened recently and seems to be doing really well. If you want one of her stones, you have to be mighty quick, as they sell out shortly after being posted. I have a feeling the same will be true at the trunk show.
Nature plays a big part in your work. How did the play between craft and nature develop for you?
MARGIE : I have always been a nature girl and also a maker of things from a very young age but it seems only in the last year or so that the two have really become covalently bonded. I have been doing a great deal of reading and thinking about how we can do our part to help increase awareness of the effects of global warming and unregulated consumption on our little planet and what I came up with was the concept of helping people see and experience what it is that is worth saving. To put this more simply, I really want to do my part to motivate people to go out there in the woods, meadows, seashores or even there own backyards where they can then slow down, and see what nature is trying so desperately to show them in the hopes that it will motivate them and inspire them to be creative.
Tell me the story behind your delightful crochet-covered rocks.
MARGIE : The story started with me crocheting the “rock babies” which were two little smooth stones I half covered with crochet one day and then my daughter said they looked like little babies wrapped in blankets. I smiled and then decided to add very simple facial features with a permanent marker and thus they were christened the “rock babies”.
I loved the look of an eyelet fabric covered stone I saw on flickr made by Stephanie ( little bird ) and decided to crochet some lace like covers for some sea stones I collected on my summer vacation in Cape Breton. The rest is history.
What/Who is inspiring you these days?
MARGIE : Nature is and always will by my greatest source of inspiration. I have made some great friendships through flickr and my blog and this creative community feeds and nourishes me everyday and also keeps me grounded.
What was your worst crafting disaster?
MARGIE : There is no such thing as a crafting disaster, they are only lessons to learn.
Are you planning on selling some rummage at the show?
MARGIE : I have been cleaning out my storage craft area and will have some vintage buttons, ribbons and trim and some vintage fabric bundles for sale and again a few surprises. I am not sure how all of this will fit in my vintage suitcase but maybe it will be a magic suitcase like Mary Poppins carpet bag.
What Valentines gift would melt your heart?
MARGIE : The best Valentine’s gift would be to spend the day snowshoeing or cross country skiing in the forest with my husband and having a winter picnic with a small fire. Our hands, feet and noses might get cold but our hearts would be toasty warm.
All photos by Margie Oomen
This past Saturday was the big City of Craft show. This was the second year for this wonderfully ambitious, independent show. I was lucky to be able to take part in a small way by doing a one hour free workshop on making a set of fabric-covered magnets. I had planned to arrive early so that I could browse around and chat with everyone and buy myself a couple treats. Of course, Saturday arrived and I wasn’t completely prepared and ended up showing up at the venue as a crowd of people eagerly awaited my workshop to begin. From my second floor vantage point I could see how lively the show was down below. Above you’ll see Becky & I racing to photograph one another. The entire day felt like a race to me. My one hour workshop went by in what felt like fifteen minutes!
When my hour was up, I allowed myself five minutes to rush around the main floor to see everyone’s displays. It certainly wasn’t enough time to fully appreciate all the lovely things, nor to properly shop. If you saw me at the show and I rushed by you like a crazy woman, I’m sorry! I had to hop back in a cab and hurry back to the workroom for a class I was teaching there.
Congratulations City of Craft! You gals did an incredible job and deserve lots of good rest!
The holiday rush of classes is just about done, so I’ve finally been able to start up on my own last minute holiday gift production. Nine days to go! Am I the only one that is WAY behind?
I’ve been meaning to talk about how cool the patterns are inside of security envelopes for a while now. I’ve been collecting them aimlessly for a few months now. Finally, I’ve been nudged into action with the opportunity to also talk about how cool Becky is too.
Becky has a never-ending list of cool crafty-ness on her resume. Her company, Sweetie Pie Press has been supplying the universe (literally) with sweet one inch buttons since the beginning of time. (or at least for many many years) She is also a part of and affiliated with City of Craft, Toronto Craft Alert and Church of Craft. Her craft influence is not just based here in Toronto. She’s currently wrapping up a North American tour of the craft fair circuit. It’s impressive and you can (and you should) read all about her adventures on her super entertaining blog.
Back to the envelopes. Becky has hatched a plan for a massive art project that involves the collection of security envelopes from around the world. In exchange for any envelopes you might be willing to send to her, she will send you a set of security envelope buttons. What a deal! Read all about it here.
Also – Jill told me about Kristiina Lahde who makes cool art from security envelopes. There is treasure in to be found in that pile of pesky bills!
security envelope button sets – photo by Becky
