Have you been Naughty or Nice?

Just thirty-six (3-6) more days until Mafia Made Holiday Craftacular!! (le Gasp)!!

I feel like a multi-tasking Elf amped on caffeine, stress and red vines, busy putting the Holiday Craftacular site together, swag, vendors, sponsors, canoodling around town with the crafty famiglia handing out posters, postcards and charming and okay some extortion of our local and very supportive sponsors. :) Kidding, really, no "protection fees" have yet been mentioned.

Crikey! I haven't even pressed one single Moxieville card yet! Why does this seem familiar? Ack! It's just my job to stress a bit, I suppose, whilst hatching and making the crafty plans come to fruition. Yes, some pretty busy elves we be.

We have a great show planned! We've assembled some of the hippest and awe inspiring professional crafty DIY'ers you ever saw, (they are SO together!)- I'll betcha a hot butterered rum that your shopping list items will miraculously get checked off one -by-one before you know it. Don't go for the bland, go for the grand, unique handmade this holiday season. Our crafty vendors can dish it out. This ain't your dear granny's craft show, but y'all know that by now! But certainly bring your dear granny to the show, I'll bet she'll be inspired by how much craft has progressed.

And the question is, have you been naughty or nice? A little of both? Regardless, you owe it to yourself this busy holiday season to join Petaluma's Crafty First Famiglia for some holiday crafty merrymaking and mischief. Meet the Petaluma Craft Mafia under the mistletoe with your favorite beverage and get down to some serious, awe-inspiring shopping with local talent and some inspiring gorgeous crafts from some of the most prolific DIY'ers south of the north pole. Dang!
We have a super talented photographer who will be a vendor this year, and rumor has it she'll be taking holiday pictures, so you'll want to be sure to get some holiday memories all the while grooving to some Sonoma County's finest homegrown bands.

We're counting the days here at the Petaluma Craft Mafia until Mafia Made Holiday Craftacular, and we can't wait to see you December 13th at the Petaluma Veteran's Hall!! Don't forget we have some mighty fine raffles,so save your ticket receipt at the door for a chance to win some way cool swag and prizes.

Don't forget to bring a toy for tots and get an extra raffle ticket!

P.S. Happy Birthday to all you November peeps in the house! Scorpios , just rock! xoxo!


Cheers,

Ms. Moxie and the PCM

Mafia Made "HOLIDAY CRAFTACULAR!!"

Dreams of holiday tinsel and Sugar Plum fairies waltzing through your head? Have you ever wanted to meet Bumble the abominable snowman from "Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer?" Stir that together with a sprinkle of Nightmare before Christmas and you have Mafia Made HOLIDAY CRAFTACULAR! You can bet your candy-cane striped toe socks, we've got another crazy show planned! The Petaluma Craft Mafia is pleased to announce our first annual holiday show, "Mafia Made HOLIDAY CRAFTACULAR" to debut on Saturday, December 13th from eleven to five at the Petaluma Veteran's Hall. Our first show CRAFTALUMA was such a success, we keep getting requests for when we would have another show, so we decided to put together a holiday show with some of the most talented DIY'ers, crafty crafters and kick-ass artisans we could assemble - that includes you! We will have plenty of crafty how-to demos from many of our inspiring and talented vendors. Mojo talented and local live entertainment from the ever-fresh and pretty dang crafty themselves, Bluebellies and adorable Gabby LaLa. You'll be thrilled to know that the Petaluma Craft Mafia plans to have another crafty raffle. **Vendors, (please send us your swag and any goodies you would love some lucky person to have to promote your wares and your crafty company). Swag bags to the first 50 folks through the door. Our theme is a Retro Winter Wonderland with a hint of kitsch and a bit of underground fantasical Holiday flavor going on -remember, this ain't your dear granny's craft show. Bumble the Abominable snow man may drop by and take pictures with the young folk...and you never know who else.... Get your Holiday Shopping done in one fell swoop, and come away inspired by our crafty cast of characters this year at Mafia Made HOLIDAY CRAFTACULAR. Belly up to our decorate your own christmas cookie and cupcake table... I might have to find an excuse to work that table...hmmmm... ** VENDORS: Vendors, applications are now available, Send me an e-mail (here or at cheryl@petalumacraftmafia.com) and I can forward you an application. FYI: This show is for Crafty, DIY, craft and art, items only, no re-sale or multi-level marketing items, thank you! I'm working on the downloadable application and website as we did for CRAFTALUMA in my spare time, so please be patient. :) ** SPONSORS: Please contact cheryl@petalumacraftmafia.com if you are interested in sponsorship and/demo table. Show attendees and adoring public: We heart you! Thanks for coming out to support your crafty famiglia and their friends at CRAFTALUMA, and making our first show such a success. We couldn't have done it without you! HOLIDAY CRAFTACULAR starts at noon and admission is 2 dollars. You will get a raffle ticket for a chance to win one of our awesome crafty prizes, and if you bring a toy for our "Toys for Tots" you will automatically get another chance at the raffle. Children under 16 are free. Crafto'licious swag bags for the first 100 folks through the door! Come on down and meet Petaluma's Crafty famiglia, we'll have a jolly 'ol tinse'licious time! Cheers, Cheryl and the PCM "Mafia Made" HOLIDAY CRAFTACULAR Saturday, 11-5 December 13th, 2008 Petaluma Veteran's Memorial Hall 1094 Petaluma Boulevard South Petaluma, CA 94952

PCM does Des Arts in San Francisco

As I was saying in a much earlier blog, the line between fine art and craft gets very blurry ..especially after a few mai tai's.

Love Art? Wanna support emerging, talented artists, oggle some mighty fine art AND juggle your cocktail in one hand? Well, tomorrow night is your chance to do JUST that.

Elaine Barr of Rock n' Roll Crafts and Stencil1, an esteemed member of the PCM is heading on down to the sweet little city by the bay tomorrow night for her very first art show...go Elaine!


Here's the particulars:


NEW ART 08
September 17

HOTEL DES ARTS
447 BUSH (at Grant)
5:30 PM - 9:30 PM

featuring DJs:
SAMALA + ZAI + TOM THUMP

Free Drinks... yep, free drinks ...need we say more

• over 500 original works of art from emerging artists

• 100% of sales go to the artists..
• bring a checkbook + support emerging artists DIRECTLY

Petaluma's Crafty First Famiglia

Its always kind of a trip to get recognized around town by complete strangers. I guess it's mostly due to my wacky writing and blogging (that I've been waay guilty of not doing much lately). My husband teases me that he feels like he's with a celebrity because, often times than not, we get comped free goodies and food around town, and thus in part why I've stopped blogging so much. Not that I don't appreciate kind folks in town and their generosity, that's really pretty freakin' cool! but it makes me feel kind of weird, and in spite of my rabble-rousing, I'm a pretty private gal. I loathe having my picture taken - just ask my friends, family or Elaine, who is often witness to me diving under tables and pulling disappearing acts when she gets her camera out. I was an Aborigine in another life. But blogging is my way to connect with my community in relative anonymity, and allows me to exercise another form of creativity.

Not that all my blogs have been hearts and flowers mind you, hey "truthiness" in journalism is important, and at least one or three reviews have not escaped my truthy if poisonous pen. :) But right now, things are uber busy around Moxieville, but I see more blogs on the horizon soon....shudder, some of you! ;) Be very afraid! :)

Some folks in Petaluma may know and heart my awesome crafty famiglia as well. I heart them too, and the unique talents and personality they bring to our famiglia. We're planning on doing a series of crafty film shorts, and a photo shoot soon for some promos. We are working with a talented local Indie Film maker, Don Lewis, "Hey Don!" And, we are cooking up some great ideas sure to set me off laughing so hard, that I won't be able to craft and keep a straight face during the shoot. but I don't believe you can ever be too rich or laugh too much ...or eat too many apple fritters. And though none of us may be rich, we are wealthy with laughter and have a great time. Now if I can manage not to bale under a tree or table during the shoot, it's gonna be a hoot! And we've not shortage of ideas and materials to work with! You might see us around Petaluma with Don, and if so, stop by and say "howdy!"

Speaking of my uber crafty sistahs, here is a shot of our crafty famiglia, (the core) goofing it up at a local Mexican joint. (they had to shut the joint down after we got through with it)!

From left to right is, Felt Baron, Moxieville (moi), Rock n' Roll Crafts and Pincurls and Peacoats. Motley crew we are, and dangerously crafty!

I'll be posting our film short here and on my various other blogs around cyberspace, so look for PCM , "Girls on Film" soon!

xoxo.
C.

Rejoice, working girls who heart handmade jewelry!

Okay, ya'll know I heart Jen Perkins of Naughty Secretary Club (very important to add "club" when googling Naughty Secretary) to death ...and I haven't even met her yet, she along with my mum are probably the sole reason I got back into crafting.

As an illustrator, I'm always trying to find new media in which to work my own original art into, and being a huge fan of resin, it was Jen's jewels that got me hooked on resin. She has a funky and unique spin on her jewelry which just speaks to me; Kitsch, soul and fun.
So, I've been anxiously tapping my foot waiting for her new book to come out, and at last it has! Woo hoo! My local bookstore, Copperfields, called me last week and delivered the good news!

I can't wait to get my hands on a brand spankin' new copy of, The Naughty Secretary, "The Working Girl's Guide to Handmade Jewelry".... I love that Jen adds all kinds of fun tips, recipes - that's my kind of book!

Check it out now, hot off the presses!

Pom Thangs!

So, you may think Petaluma's Craft First Family had been drinking one too many craftini's (oh yes, a special PCM martini recipe) while dipping into the pom poms one crafty afternoon.

Nope, just coffee and birthday cake at this crafty meeting one lovely, sunny morning.
We decided we needed to leave business on the back burner and do some craft for some promos I'd concocted. My vague goal was to make "chicks" as P-Town is famous for our chickens, butter and eggs, film galore and of course wrist wrasslin' - yup, we got it all! However, I'd never worked with poms before, so my plan, per usual was off the cuff.

As these things go, sometimes you just can't premeditate, and as we talked we sort of got in a "craft zen" (you crafters know what I'm talking about) and our Pom Pom chicks, came out looking like bugs, chicks and punk rockers - -even a few KISS look-alikes in the bunch.

So, I'm not sure If we are gonna use these as promos or not (LOL) but they were hella fun to make, and I was amazed to see what my crafty famiglia came up with out of felt scrap, glue and pom poms. They did me proud with their ingenuity! Check 'em out. High art or low art, who cares? Making Pom Thangs works up an appetite, and so we celebrated Elaine's birthday with a great 'ol cake Allison baked, yummmers!

A great project to do with kiddies on a rainy day or at a make n' take table at our next craft fair ...hmmmm.

Happy birthday to all my Leo lions and lionesses,

PCM wins Arte y Pico Award!

Aww. I was just informed that our little blog over here at PCM, was chosen by a very talented blogger herself, Elaine Barr, and awarded the mucho coveted Arte y Pico Award! Whooo hooo!

So, when I find some time I mean to pay the Pico Award forward and choose five blogs I heart to pieces too. You know, so many blogs so little time! Thanks and mucho appreciato!

Cheers!


About Arte Y Pico Award...
The Arte y Pico Award is meant to be paid forward to five bloggers who you want to recognize for their creative talents, interesting material, and overall contribution to the blogger community...helping to make the world a better place, one blog pots at a time!Now it's your turn...If you have been selected for the award, please pay it forward, following the steps below:1) Choose 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award based on creativity, design, interesting material, and overall contribution to the blogger community, regardless of the language.2) Post the name of the author and a link to his or her blog so everyone can view it.3) Each award-winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award.4) The award-winner and the presenter should post the link of the "Arte y pico" blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.5) Please post these rules! - Be my guest to copy and paste from here..The Arte y Pico blog is in Spanish.To read it in English, click here. The translation is not perfect.