AltCraft call for Admissions

Listen up my fellow crafters and DIY alternative artists, a little birdie just whispered in my ear that The American Craft Council show in San Francisco is now accepting applications for the AltCraft section, (formerly New Wave). This is a bustling, vibrant opportunity for indie crafters and I just knew y'all wouldn't want to miss it!

This will be American Craft Council's 33rd show in the Bay Area, taking place at Fort Mason Center, on August 15-17. The Council is committed to strengthening ties with emerging artists, and is offering a unique shared loft space to ten artists who will be juried in and will pay a discounted space fee. The deadline is May 23. The show also features wine tastings, live demonstrations and an established crowd of craft devotees.

Ten makers will be juried into this bustling section, which celebrates the populist, experimental and youthful vitality of the renewed handmade movement. Artists who have never exhibited at an American Craft show may apply.

Located on the San Francisco waterfront between Fisherman’s Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge, this juried show serves a well-established audience of Bay Area craft enthusiasts, including a growing demographic of younger craft admirers. The average booth is valued at $1,000 but as part of the Council’s commitment to indie crafters, the cost of participation is just $300, which includes a 10-ft table in a shared loft space. Plus, there’s no application fee!

The deadline is May 23. Please submit:
• (3) low-resolution images of your work
• A brief description of your work (materials, dimensions, techniques)
• Your contact information (mailing and email addresses)

Send submissions and inquiries to Erika at ebrown@craftcouncil.org.
The subject line should be: San Fran AltCraft Application

Finalists will be announced in June.

Cheers!

Mrs. Grossman's Fabulous Warehouse Sale!

Listen up my fellow crafters, collage artists, scrap bookers and sticker aficionados: our own home-grown Mrs. Grossman's is having a craftastic warehouse sale on Friday, June 27th, from 9:00 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. Now, I've been inside the trenches of that warehouse and there are some mighty cool goodies in there! Some of my favs (besides the signature heart sticker include, fabric stickers, artsy paper stickers that just never hit it with the scrap book crowd, and are totally gorgeous!

I scored some cool fabric stickers not long ago poking around in the amazing finds of the warehouse, that looked like ric-rac and am having so much fun with it,and some fabric stickers in ticking stripes and dots that I printed on top of! Very funky and gave a new dimension to my original illustrations.

I urge you to head over first thing with your latte and a big tote to carry all your fabulous finds and bargains galore home in. Your boss will just have to understand that you have priorities before heading into the office on a certain Friday in June. And hey, maybe invite them to come along too! Share the good news and score some points at the same time!

If you sign up here for Mrs. Grossman's newsletter, you'll get to find out first-hand about all future such events and special sales.

So mark your calendars now, 'cause if your like me, those dates get filled fast, and you won't want to miss what our Mrs. Grossman's is bringing to the warehouse sale.

See you there!

Mrs. Grossman’s
3810 Cypress Drive
Petaluma, CA 94954
mrsgrossmans.com

Tag, you're it! ...

Frankly, I love a good game of tag. Sure do. Do you ever notice you tend to get tagged when you least expect it, or your brain is so engaged elsewhere, that what's left over to return the tagging favor with is mushy grey tissue for brain? I swore I was much more interesting than this, ...but on paper I guess not.

So my crafty friend Elaine over here, done tagged me, (the rascally varmint). See what I mean? I'm starting to sound like Yosemite Sam ... but I've been tagged and I'm a good sport, except when it comes to spelling-bees. (see below for details).

Okay, heads-up y'all because you never know who is gonna get tagged. It's a wild-card. You've been warned.

xo,
Cheryl

this is how it goes:

1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.

2. Post THE RULES on your blog.

3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.

4. Tag 7 people and link to them.

5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.


Here are 7 random facts about me:

1. As a child I decided when I grew-up my vocation in life was to be a mermaid or a bus driver. Neither happened. :)

2. I have a Whoopie Pie named after me. http://www.westcoastwhoopies.com

3. I have a photographic memory due to my synesthesia, and will beat you in a card-game of Concentration every time.

4. I collect vintage and kitschy salt& pepper shakers, and funky head vases.

5. I cannot attempt to speak Spanish without craving Mexican food.

6. I won the spelling bee many times in grade school. Once, in the second-grade because I refused to sit-down after misspelling one word, and nobody noticed. (Still feel guilty about that one).

7. I broke my ribs, twice my first year of college in a nasty car accident. Weeks later after some fast healing, a cute guy asked me to dance at a Halloween party. Apparently he had a jealous GF lurking abouts, who walked up and punched me hard ...in my broken ribs.

Seven bloggers I've tagged...

1. Anna

2. Allison

3. Amy

4. Carrie

5. Colleen

6. Jen

7. Marilyn,

Posted by Cheryl Aronson

Baz Biz/Maker Faire 2008!

Long time no blog, I know. I won't offer up any excuses. Just bizzy around here at Moxieville getting our Craftaluma on and wearing a gazillion hats!

But I pause for a quicky blog because I just had to remind you all to hold on to your felted beanie caps because Baz Biz/Maker Faire San Francisco is just three weeks away!
I know you've been waiting, wondering and anticipating.
Crafty crafters, mad scientists galore this year at Biz/Baz. You won't want to miss this annual extravaganza and discounted tickets are available here until April 25th.
Check out what this year's Faire has to offer right here. We love the folks over at Craftzine who help make this awesome event happen.

This year's event introduces an evening program on Saturday,May 3rd from6-1- featuring Fire Arts, Power Tool Drag Racing, Flaming Lotus Girls, Steampuk Spectacular, Boiler bar, Abney Park, and many, many more treats in store...

The Faire has grown to over 400 makes this year, which is just incredible! The Crucible, Swap-O-Rama Rama (yes!) Bazaar Bizaare, Cyclecide, MakerKids, TechShop, Neverwas Haul, Homegrown Village, Exploratorium, Live Music, Life-sized Mousetrap...are you feeling the excitement yet?
And I haven't even mentioned the make events ...such as cars,sustainable food, photography, DIY Camping (now I though all camping was DIY, but I gotta check THAT out), Pinball, Robots, Rockets. Too many to list here, whew, but enough events for everyone to get all tingly and inspired by.

Here's the specs:

Maker Faire
May 3rd&4th
San Mateo Fairgrounds

If you can imagine it, you can MAKE it!

Hope to meet you there.

CRAFTALUMA

CRAFTALUMA is just around the corner. I panicked last night as we had just returned from a mini working-vacation (is there any other kind?) and realized we have less than 3 months to do everything. It sent me straight into a design binge fueled by coffee and red vines and I got the application, poster and postcards designed last night. Still need to get our web page up and running. Whew! I was certain my bad clown dream would re-surface due to our carnival theme (and all those clowns) we have going on for CRAFTALUMA, but thankfully it did not. Digg the macabre clownish colors. This is my beta version so this may all change.

Vendors, I will have the vendor application up shortly. In the meantime CRAFTALUMA is Sunday, June 29th from 12-5 at the Phoenix theater in Petaluma. We're panicking a bit as we are getting so much interest that I'm afraid we might not have room for all the vendors. Maybe next year we'll host CRAFTALUMA at the Mystic as we get rolling!

Cheers!