We might just have set a new record today! My sister and I visited 4 craft fairs in 4 hours and made it home before 4. Today we went to the Delbrook Craft Fair, Deck the Hall Xmas Craft Fair, Got Craft and the Klahanie Holiday Market -- impressed? -- I sure am! All the events were so different from each other so I'll try to capture their "essence" here . . .

Delbrook Craft Fair
This annual craft fair is well advertised, parking is free and admission is only $1. The fair takes place in the Delbrook Community Centre and fills both gyms. Attendance was pretty good but not as busy as some of the other shows this weekend. I liked the fact that there was live music and that the lighting wasn't as harsh as in some gymnasiums. They also had a child care area which was much appreciated. All in all, there was a wide range of crafts ranging from baked goods to outdoor sculptures.

I really liked Jennifer Conway's display and loved her pendants.

Visit her on her blog at : http://jenniferconway.blogspot.com/

I also was intrigued with Orange Wire Art. Annet Holierhoek has made some beautiful sculptures using a substance called Paverpol which is "an environmentally safe textile hardener that freezes fabric drapes and shapes in rock hard form and can be used both indoors and out." She is giving some upcoming workshops soon and I may just have to go to one!  Take a look at some of her work:

"From T-shirt to garden statue"

I am hooked!

Here a couple of pics of the 2 Delbrook Gyms:

Deck the Hall Xmas Craft Fair

This fair is held in the beautiful Heritage Hall. There were not really any street signs except for the sign right over the door itself. Fortunately I had good directions. The first thing we noticed was that they had a doggy day care just as you came in. There were some pretty adorable pups in there! We really liked the Christmas chicken hand stamp we got when we paid our $2 admission.

I found this to be a more artisan type fair with high quality items produced by "professional" crafters. It was pretty busy and the atmosphere was very festive. I was able to put some faces to names and had the pleasure of meeting Anabella whose pendants I have featured on the BC Craft Fairs Website and are also available in her Etsy store.

I also loved the handmade ceramic buttons that Melissa Hume and Niki Holmes had for sale at their Pottery and Paint table. Unfortunately  they don't have any pics on their website of the buttons but I bet they'd send me some if I e-mailed them!

Jazziewear had the cutest baby hats and crocheted baby mary janes -- I especially liked the sock monkey hat!

I had a great chat with Froma who makes the most incredible jewelry. She doesn't have a website or e-mail address but click here for a scan of her business card. Her jewelry looks so substantial but is amazingly lightweight. It is truly beautiful.

The added bonus to this craft fair was that Urban Source is just a couple of stores down. Ever since I found them online I have been dying to go and see for myself and I wasn't disappointed. I will have to go back and explore further but I was very impressed with the short visit we had time for. For those of you not familiar with Urban Source I will endeavor to blog about them later in the week.

Got Craft
There were no street signs for this and only a small sign on the door indicating that we had found the right spot so we were very surprised to see how busy it was when we got through the door. It was hopping -- and I do not exaggerate when I say that people were pressed around the tables making it necessary to wait several minutes before I was able to get a look at some of the displays. The DJ was a nice touch and really added to the energy of the event. The vendors here are all extremely professional but I would say this was definitely a craft fair and not as high-end artsy as the Heritage Hall.

I am very happy to announce that I am the proud new owner of an elephant made by Kate of Tiny Warbler. My elephant looks just like this one but her ears are green instead of orange. She is adorable
It was a hard choice between her bunny and the elephant but the elephant won out :) I have been coveting her items since discovering her on Etsy and have featured a couple of her items on the BC Craft Fairs website.




I saw Alison from District Thirty but she was so busy I couldn't get close to say hi -- glad to see you were making lots of moola Alison!

I was also very impressed with Plantscapes. Thyrza Segal has created so many intriguing and unique terrariums and has added whimsical little figurines in them. I have added some pics from the website here but in my opinion they just don't do the terrariums justice -- they have to be seen in person!

Klahanie Holiday Market
Finally we stopped at the Klahanie Holiday Market which is close to home for me. This was a nice relaxed fair with about 10 vendors.

I had a great chat with several vendors and

purchased a very cute puppet  from Terri Boschman of City Creations .

Teri also volunteers at JustPotters Studio through JustWork Economic Initiative  which "provide[s] studio space, instruction, support, and employment opportunities for people in the neighbourhood who, due to economic or social barriers, have no access to a creative space." The pottery items were beautiful and would make a great present while supporting a struggling artist.

Pottery can be purchased at several locations listed on their website or online at their etsy store.

I was also able to stop by and put a face to Nat from AdoreByNat and admire her lovley cards. If I was having a baby I would so want to send out her cards as birth announcments. She also has a great selection of holiday and birthday card!

That's it for this weekend of crafty adventures!

I was able to make it to 2 shows today Buckingham Elementary and Poirier Community Center.

Buckingham Elementary
This was a cute community craft fair held in the school gym. Street signs were great, parking and admission was free. Worth stopping by if you are in the area. I had a very nice conversation with a lady who makes sock monkies (my newest obsession) and stained glass -- unfortunately I didn't catch her name but her sock monkies are the best dressed monkies around!

Poirier Community Center
This is a must-go-to for anyone who enjoys craft fairs! The street signs were not the best but parking is plentiful and free and admission is just $2. This fair goes on for ages and just when you think you've seen it all you'll discover another room full of more treats. I enjoyed meeting and speaking to so many artists -- here are some of them:

Ingrid Davitt
Ingrid does first nations glass etchings on glass pieces. Although she doesn't have a website, her items can been see on display at the Blackberry Gallery in Port Moody or you can e-mail her at: davitt@telus.net. Her work is absolutely  beautiful!

Shuswap Bags

This was a very busy booth and unfortunately  I did not get a chance to speak to Nadia who was busy making sales. Her etsy site has some adorable bags and wristlet straps for sale or swing by one of the craft fairs she is at to pick one up. Here are a few pics of her work:

Corene's Critters

I had so much fun talking to Corene and she let me snap a couple pictures of her adorable button creations. Several customers said that they buy a broach from her every year and you can surely see why.

To contact Corene please click here for an image of her business card.

Invoke by Kristi Molnar

Kristi is a photographer and has taken her work a step farther by creating jewelry from her images. Her breathtaking photos are adhered to glass and created into a pendant. Visit her website to see her work -- I don't know how anyone could choose just one!

Vintage Love by Adrianne Kulling

Fun "funky objects with a nostalgic flair" Adrianne makes lightswitch plates and magnets with nostalgic images on them. I was very impressed with the quality of these plates (made from stainless steel and many layers of varnish) and they were packaged very professionally. I am trying to decide who I should give one to! Oh and there is a whole line of pride items as well! http://www.vintagelove.ca/

The last artist I will mention is

Roxanne Gagnon

I had so much fun talking to her and I absolutely love her work. She is a mixed media artist with printed and painted items on ceramic. I loved her pendants and was captivated by her ceramic buttons. You can contact her through her log at http://roxannegagnon-wearableart.blogspot.com/

Well thats it until tomorrow -- happy crafting!

So I decided to change to a facebook fan page from the existing group. The fan page is so much more user friendly and allows for the easy upload of pics. It will also automatically put my blogger posts into the notes section so I don't have to type the same thing over and over. So come on over to the new page and say hi -- and I'd love to see a pic of your recent creations!

This past Sunday we visited the Second Annual West Coast Christmas Show and Abbotsford Arts Council's Christmas Craft Fair.

Second Annual West Coast Christmas Show
This is like a home show and really the only crafts in sight were some jewelry vendors. It was $10 to get in which I easily got back with the samples that were given out. Both my sister and I were fascinated by the foot bath which starts out a clear liquid and by the end of half an hour is filled with a rust coloured sludge/ goop. Apparently it sucks all the toxins out of you and the guy administering it can even identify your allergies. It was morbidly fascinating!

Abbotsford Arts Council's Christmas Craft Fair

This was a medium sized craft fair with some really nice booths. Admission was by donation and parking was free. They had a raffle that had tons of prizes (wish I had entered it!) The signage was pretty good and led me right to the Ag building.

My first stop was to my friend Shannon who there was selling her Little Fella Felts . I had a nice visit with her while my son built a snow man from one of her interactive displays. Shannon says the show started out slow but really picked up on the Sunday (much to her surprise).

These are some of Little Fellas' Interactive felt boards -- classic children's interactive toys that help children learn and are fun to boot!!  -- check out Shannon's Little Fellas blog at http://littlefellafelts.blogspot.com/

I had the pleasure of meeting Alison of District Thirty as I admired her display of necklaces (the pins are not stuck directly in the mirror ;) -- Her stunning pendants are all hand carved and I am coveting them big time. Look for her in upcoming craft fairs and take a look at her business cards -- they are pretty cool too!

Oh and I was also really impressed with Lonnie's Lamp Re Vamp Designs -- what a fabulous way to bring new life to old lamps!

Finally here's a couple of overall shots that I snapped while at the Abbotsford Arts Council's Christmas Craft Fair:

Till next weekend -- T.

What a great weekend of craft fairs! Ashton (my 9 year old) and I decided to make a weekend of visiting craft fairs and even talked my sister into accompanying us on Sunday.

On Saturday we started out at the Riverside Secondary School fair, and then hit the The Happening Arts & Crafts Show (Thomas Haney Secondary School). Sunday we headed out to Abbotsford and swung by the Second Annual West Coast Christmas Show (for the free samples of course ;) ) and then we went to the Abbotsford Arts Council's Christmas Craft Fair. Lets see if I can give you a brief synopsis of each.

 Riverside Secondary School
This fair was kinda hard to find because I approached it using mapquest directions which apparently didn't follow the beaten path and weren't market by any kind of signs advertising the event. The event itself was inside the highschool and was split between the two gyms. One gym had the crafts in it while the other seemed to be more of a consession area. Although the parking lot seemed to be full, there wasn't a huge amount of traffic inside. We were there at about 1:00 pm and the weather was horrible, there was good attendance but it wasn't spectacular. There were a couple of unique vebdors worth mentioning though -- unfortunatley neither of threm have websites yet so I hope they e-mail me as they said they would so I can put their contact details up here.

The first unique vendor that was there was a lady who calls her business "T-Cup". She has taken a teacup and attached it to its matching saucer. She has then attached this to a copper stake/pipe which can then be put in your garden or planter for the birds to enjoy. They are meant to have the cup part filled up with water and the saucer with bird seed. She had one stuck in a large planter of pansies and it was really whimsical!
I look forward to seeing her at future events where I might be able to snap a pic to show you just how cute they are.

The next vendor captivated my son's interest. John Cloutier (mailto:j.cloutier81@gmail.com) makes little mosters out of Sculpy. Each one comes with an adoption certificate and a brief introduction including a name, likes and dislikes and future aspirations. The animal and the certificate are packaged in a cute little carry box that has cotton balls in it to ensure the new adoptee a comfortable transition to its new home. Below is a picture of "Oly" which my son adopted. John has more pictures of his work in his Picasa Album. Worth checking out -- they are really cute!

I was also amused to chat with a vendor who was completly sold out of his cat scratch posts. He was sitting at his table with one post left that had a sold sign on it. He was amazed that he had sold all 20 of the posts he had brought. He said he has had some sucess on Craigslist but didn't expect this kind of sucess! He is retired and makes these as a hobby -- who knew they would be so popular?

The Happening Arts & Crafts Show (Thomas Haney Secondary School)

This was one of the best craft shows I have been to this year. It was really well advertised and signs were clear and indicated the way clearly. I initially thought that the show consisted only of the vendors under the rotunda but was pleasantly suprised when I saw signs leading into another and bigger room. The fair had a great atmosphere and was really busy.

I particularily liked the work of Marcel and Wendy Merks -- Driftwood Bay . They have some really cute birdhouses made out of driftwood and clay. I lifted an image from their website so you can see what I mean:

I was really impressed with a couple of the vendors and wished that I had left myself more time as we arrived only 45 minutes before they were closing. ( I took some pics of the fair -- you'll notice that some of the vendors have already closed for the night as it was after 4 when I snapped the pics)

I'll end this post here and continue with the Abbotsford shows in the next post . . . .