BUST Craftacular!

So.. ummmm.. I think all I can say is wow, what a whirlwind weekend! 4 Days 3 cities. I'm not sure I could do much more... Let's just start with the BUST Craftacular.
What an amazing show! We were so busy the entire time I hardly got to walk around and talk to anyone! Our table was next to Lollibomb and Lemon Cadet and straight across the way from Brookadelphia. I don't think we could have asked for a better spot ourselves! Fort was been a long time silent fan of Brookadelphia, so she was totally psyched, and ended up getting one of her awesome "Crafty" pendants! She also got a "Bourbon" necklace from t8designs, and a couple of xmas presents from other seller (I'd tell you tell you but that might ruin the surprise for a couple people!).We had a few new toddler zip up sweater shirts with us, that haven't even made it into the shop yet since we don't have a model, that flew off our table! Along with new scarf designs and and a couple of paintings that Fort just recently did.
Seriously guys, if you weren't at this event you better make sure you're there next year! There was a line to get in until 3pm! 3pm! Those are some super dedicated shoppers! Oh and I think I forgot to mention(!), Amy Sedaris was there signing her new book and selling some of her super crafty wears! We went and got her autograph for Danger Cloudy, he's a HUGE fan.Lollibomb, Fort, and I didn't go out and cause too much trouble after the show since we had to be up at the butt crack of dawn to fly down to Florida for the Atomic Holiday Bazaar, but more on that later! Right now I need to grab something to eat!

Visiting Austin

This past weekend we headed down to Austin, Texas for the Stitch Fashion Show and Craft Bazaar, a show put on by the ass-kicking Austin Craft Mafia down at the Convention Center. They CM girls had a party packed weekend planned, and we were more than happy to participate!
We got into Austin Friday late afternoon and headed almost directly to the pre-show party at First Samples for a Smart Water sponsored event complete with a keg and Q&A with Project Runway's 3rd Season contestant, Bradley Baumkirchner. We got to meet a bunch of awesome vendors (several of whom are from Seattle) and a few of the show organizers, including Jennifer Perkins of Naughty Secretary Club.
Saturday was a bit of a whirlwind. We joined forces with Luca of Lollibomb Beauty and headed to the Convention Center to survey the lands and set up our booths. We ran into a few of our favorite Etsy friends like Aorta, Muttsywonder, RuffeoHeartsLilSnotty, and Matt from Etsy, who were also taking care of set-up.The show was fantastic! Those girls really did the best job ever at organizing the event, we send mad props to them! Along with awesome sales we also we met so many great people! Jessica from FunkyFinds stopped by to say hi, she featured Fort Cloudy fairly recently so it was extra nice to meet her! We also got to chit chat with Dismantled, TheRocketWorkshop, SweetWolf, and StephanieK. Craig from CubistLiterature also came to check out the show! It was really nice to see him again!
The Runway show was fantastic! It was kicked off by Bradley Baumkirchner presenting the Stitch Grant Award (a $1000 prize) to House of Dang. All of the designers that participated in the fashion show were phenomenal! If think my favorite was Rebecca Yaker and her collection of sock monkey clothing. The sock monkey bikini modeled by Jenny Hart was one of the best things I've seen in a while!After the show we headed over to the Mohawk to party it up with everyone and unwind. We danced the night away with all the other vendors and craft show patrons. It was a great end to one of the most fun shows we've participated in!

Etsy Halloween Party

What's a fetus to do the Saturday before Halloween? Why fly to New York for the Etsy Halloween party, of course! So, Fort and I hopped on an airplane and headed to the Big Apple to hang out with all our super cool crafty friends.
In true Etsy fashion there was a ghost pinata handmade by the girls at the Labs! It was pretty awesome, and a lot of fun to take a swing at!
And a ton of gift bags to be handed out. I took a peek and saw that they even contained samples from Lollibomb Beauty! She definitely has some of the best lotion ever.There were a lot of really great costumes too! Anda from stopsandstarts was a pregnant skeleton, Jen from sweetestpea came as a Hug Robot, Sarah the Lawyer donned an awesomely snarky Hello Kitty costume, and Lollibomb and Fort were Etsy cheerleaders! I also spotted a unicorn, a Mexican wrestler, Laura Bush, Tammy Faye, and a couple of bunnies.
Since the Portland Street Team was in town for the trunk show they had the previous night, Urbana decided to set up shop again, offering Jager shots with the purchase of her cute small bowls. I wish Jager treated me a little better, because I would have loved to join in on the fun. Ruffeo Hearts Lil Snotty also had a couple racks out. They have some really awesome stuff! Going on the wish list for sure.
The Majestica Collective has been hanging out at the Etsy Labs for the past week offering workshops and performance art. The piece in the above photo involved a wooden frame, a large plastic bag, a shop vac, and a women. I would describe it past that, but I just don't know what to say. It was amazing, and I'm sure a bit windy :)Overall, it was an awesome party as all Etsy parties are. Definitely worth the hellish airport conditions it took to get there! Tomorrow is our last day in New York so we'll definitely have to squeeze out another awesome adventure before heading back out west for I Heart Rummage in Seattle.

Stitch Rock!

This past week we headed down to South Florida to participate in Stitch Rock in Delray Beach and hang out with Luca of Lollibomb. Saturday morning we headed up to the show.There were a LOT of great vendors there. Some we had met before, like, Lollibomb, Owl Movement, Ragamufyn, Tuff Betty Bags, Erica Burns Designs, 75 Rabbit, and others
And we met some awesome new vendors, too: Snitches Get Stitches, Ciara Loves You, With Sugar on Top, Humble Bumble B, Backbone Music, and tons of other great crafters!There were also some local shops and boutiques at the show. We got to meet the cool folks from Bear and Bird Gallery and Pink Ghost! If you're ever down in the Delray/Fort Lauderdale area try and check them out!

The folks from ThreadBanger were also about checkin out the craft show for one of their episodes! Have you checked out their site before? I'm really excited to see this episode! They interviewed a lot of really great crafters including Lollibomb and Snitches Get Stitches.Stitchrock put on a really awesome fashion show, organized by Adrianne Ruffin. And one of my favorite things at shows... CUPCAKES! Which I bought a bunch of... so I'm gonna go eat one now.

Checkin' out the EGCG Trunk Show

This past weekend I made a little trip back up to the Etsy Labs for the Etsy Green and Clean Guild's (EGCG) Trunk Show. Man, can I just tell you, those ladies rock! Such great sellers on hand selling their environmentally friendly bath and body products. Representing the group there was:

Coffin Color
Lollibomb
Magickal Realism
Martinsville Emporium
Soap
and Xiane

As always it was an awesome party!

Xiane did an awesome job DJing all night, and she even let me help out for a bit! I was so excited! We rocked out to an awesome mix containing a great amount of 80s tunes!Like at the majority of the trunk shows the workshop was heavily occupied. I had a blast talking to all those great crafters. At one point Haim hopped on to talk to the ladies whom he was quite popular with. I think the running tally ended up with about 5 marriage proposals. I wish I was that popular with the lady folk!
It was a really, really great night! If you ever get the chance to make it to an Etsy Trunk Show I highly recommend that you make it out!

Pimpin' it ain't easy

Nuff said...

Ninja Fetus and the Death Breakfast

Immediately upon returning home from Seattle, Fort and I grabbed the first bus to New York in search of the ever-so-amazing Luca of Lollibomb Beauty. We went directly to the EtsyLabs in search of her, but to no avail. A friendly group of engineers told us about Death Breakfast and that we would be sure to find Luca there. So we waited for them to take us. I had no idea what to expect from this Death Breakfast, even though Fort had assured me that she had participated before and it was nothing to worry about.

What little fears I had were replaced with utter joy when we arrived at the Brownstone diner. The menu was incredible. Pages and pages of pancakes and breakfast foods of all varieties, and even more pages of deliciously fried goodness. My mouth watered. I grabbed a seat next to Luca and plunged head first into the menu. It took me forever to decide, so I was happy to be with such a large group.(Photo from Luca's Flickr)

We started with mozzarella sticks and brownstone fries and I got French Toast for dinner. It was amazing and incredibly hard not to eat too much. There were mountains and mountains of food covering the table. I could hardly see the person sitting across from me, though that may have more to do with my size than anything else.I'd say that the whole experience was absolutely amazing and I definitely want to go again! I rolled out of there that night. Rolled and rolled and rolled and rolled.

(Photo from Luca's Flickr)