Hey there's a crafty deal out there -- If you are planning on going to Christmas at Hycroft then this one's for you!

It's 2 for 1 admission but only available for the next 4 days -- I'm in -- anyone else?

Check it out $10 for 2 Tickets to Christmas at Hycroft – Winter Wonderland ($20 Value)

First of all I want to say thanks for all your support. For those of you who don't know me, I have been going through a very stressful time in my personal life and everyone has been very supportive (and patient) with me.

Now on to fun stuff -- Check out the website calendar -- I've been busy updating it with all the upcoming shows and there are a lot of them! This is going to be one busy fall and holiday season! Yay! I will be updating the call for artist section in the next few days so check back if you are still looking for opportunities to sell.

I am going to endeavour to blog about the shows that I attend and would love to add your reviews, comments  and pics to both shows that I have written about and the ones that I don't make it to. Believe it or not people read this blog and even listen to what is posted! :)

As always -- please send me any info on events I have missed -- especially if you live in Northern BC or on the Island -- I just don't get as much info from those areas and the shows are not as widely advertised.

Oh and if you have an item that you would like featured in the local artists slide show section send me your photos and a link to your website and I would be more than happy to add them to the gallery!

So who has been to a farmers market recently? Were there any crafts there? Any worth selling at?

I've had several e-mails asking me if I know of any good places to market crafts right now.  I have passed a few Farmers Markets in the last few weeks but never seem to have the time to stop and browse.

Would love to hear which ones you guys have been visiting and what you think of them. I am thinking of planning a Farmer's market marathon in a couple of weekends where I'll visit a whole bunch in one day.

Are there any I should make a point of visiting? I look forward to hearing what you guys think!

So last time I posted I was on my way to 2 craft shows in one day. Make it Vancouver and Got Craft (I'll let you know how they were in a separate post).  I made it to those shows and then that eve I got really sick.

I have been fighting health issues for a ling time now and am really frustrated with the mainstream health system. I get sick, doc gives me a medicine to make it better but can't tell me why I keep getting sick in the first place. I've had 3 courses of antibiotics in 4 months. So I decided to take things into my own hands and went to a natural path. I am so glad I did! Apparently all the issues I have stem from food allergies! Who knew? So I await the tests to see exactly which foods I am allergic to. The natural path has told me I have to cut out all caffeine. Those of you who know me, know I don't like chocolate of coffee (gasp -- its true) but I have a serious Coke Zero addiction. It has been a long several weeks!

I have started taking the supplements that were given to me and cut out all drinks but water and I am slowly starting to feel better. So I decided to update the website as it was long overdue . . . . fast-forward to next disaster!

In our new house I have set up a wireless network. Everything has been going smoothly since we moved in until I sat down to update the website and I couldn't get an Internet connection. I am pretty tech-savy but I couldn't figure it out. So I called our friend Gord (who has a mobile computer company) to come and help. He fixed it. I came home checked my e-mails and lost the connection -- couldn't get it back. Gord came again (poor Gord). He fixed it. It went down again. He came back -- he worked some new magic on it and here I am -- keeping my finger crossed! Unfortunately during the reconfiguration I lost the settings to access the website. I really should have written them down somewhere! Oh well -- I finally figured it out and the website is now updated and has a bunch of new calls for entry and craft fairs listed. The summer is looking very good for us crafty people! Thank you for all the great e-mails letting me know what's coming up -- I promise I wasn't ignoring you -- I was just having serious problems!

So stay tuned -- I will post about my visits to Got Craft and Make it Vancouver as well as the progress on my new crafting room. 

Oh and I am looking for some new pics of local crafts to feature on the website so if you have a good pic of your work send it on over so I can showcase it!

Till next time,

Tamsin

Pretty psyched about going to Make it! Vancouver this weekend.

Its been a long time since those Christmas craft fairs and I am in withdrawl! Hope to see some of you out there -- and as always will blog about the event after I visit.

Looking forward to being inspired and hoping it will kick start me into getting my craft room in the new house set up. I've been googling images of other craft rooms for ideas and trying to decide if I want to revamp furniture on Craigslist to my needs or if I want to go to Ikea and have a "new" room custom made -- oh the choices! What do you all have as a crafting space? Any must haves that I might have not considered?

Thanks you to reader Melanie O'Donnell  of Forget Me Not Arts  for pointing out that the Jury date for the St Thomas Aquinas Christmas Market is APRIL 10th -- not the 17th as I had on the calendar -- so if you are planning on submitting for the Jury please make note of the correct date!

I just found pictures of a guest book I made as a gift for my friend who got married last year so I uploaded them to the BC Craft Fairs Facebook page.

 I made the book from double-sided scrapbooking paper and used a Bind-it-All to bind it. I then took pictures at the reception and printed them with a portable printer (which only cost $50). I had prepared white cards and brought some gel pens so I had each couple/ guest write a short note to the wedding couple and attached it next to the picture of that person.

The bride was so touched by the gift it made her cry -- and made me feel pretty darn good!

The holidays are gone and so its time for a fresh look for the Blog!

The last 3 weeks have been a long haul in my personal life as I worked my but off to make our house beautiful for sale. We put in a new kitchen (with slate tiles laid/ installed by yours truly), had the inside totally painted, new slate in the entry, updated the main bathroom, new lino in the ensuite, new towel bars, toilet paper holders, mirrors and a POD full of clutter. It all paid off though as this last Tues we had 9 parties with their realtors through and we accepted an offer for asking +100 on Wed night. Now to find a house to move into!

Now that I can breathe again, I just spent a couple of hours (OK 5 h+ hours) updating the calls for entry page and the calendar page on the website. There are a ton of calls for entries and some of the winter craft fairs have jury dates fast approaching -- it never stops!

So I am back to contemplating my entries and deciding which crafts I will sell this year, would love to hear what all your plans are for the upcoming craft season!

Happy crafting,

T

I am very sorry to have missed the opening of the Art of Craft at the Vancouver Museum last night but was able to live vicariously through Poppytalk who gave a great overview of the event. Mosey on over to
Poppytalk's Blog and take a look - truly inspiring!

We've decided to sell our house and move into something a bit bigger (with a dedicated crafting space !!!) So I have taken the week off work, rented a POD, hired painters to paint the inside of the house and ordered a new kitchen -- all to be done by the end of January.
The POD will temporarily house all the stuff that is currently in the garage. In going through and pacing all of it I have come to the realization that I could hold my own craft fair with all the supplies that I have stashed. I apparently really like to shop at the dollar store and have found so many treasures it’s going to be a long time before I set foot in a dollar store again.
I'll be back to report on packing progress -- please let me know if you see any ads for craft shows around about as I will not be sourcing them out quite as diligently and can use all the help I can get.
Till later

T