4th Annual Renegade Craft Fair LA - Recap and Haul

The Renegade Craft Fair returned to the Los Angeles State Historic Park last weekend (7/28-7/29) and I took a break from my market stall at CRAFTED to head to Chinatown to check out this years festival. As always it is free to attend with no parking or other fees proving to make this an event to put on your list of cool free things to do on the weekend.

I jokingly tell everyone that SHOP. is in our name for a reason! I LOVE, love, love supporting handmade artists and crafters. Lots of times I buy things for gifts but sometimes I can't help to buy stuff to indulge in myself.  I scooped up my fair share of great stuff this year, here are my highlights:

Major Haul! Everything from a new dress pattern to sew myself something awesome to rubber stamps that are hand-carved for me to stamp TERRIBLE! (humorously) on things. Items from Christine Haynes, Lets Be Friends, Yes & Yes Designs, Clean Getaway Soap Co., We Love Citrus, i wish i had a penguin friend, Enchanted Leaves, Cheltenham Road, and Paper Pastries.

Looks like I wasn't the only one to break away from CRAFTED...

SalvageShop

Kelso Doesn't Dance

I first met Jennifer of Merrily Yours last Summer at the 3rd Annual Renegade show.  I couldn't resist her Narwhal Herd and purchased it from her on the spot! Every night and every morning I get to look on it and smile when I look across my bedroom from my bed.  I got blessed with the pleasure of showing next to her at this past Patchwork Culver City show and I am just obsessed with her work. SERIOUSLY, I am obsessed! Check her work out!!! Merrily Yours here.

If you sew and haven't come across anything by Christine Haynes then you are missing out on something awesome! I met Christine at the Craftcation Conference in Ventura this past spring and we made jam together ;) Gush! Anyway, back to why she is a seamstresses dream is she is one of a handful of independent pattern makers. Along with her patterns and online classes for Craftsy she has a fabulous book with patterns for 20 projects that make sewing tangible and easy for even the beginning sewer.  

Christine Haynes

Also one of my new pals from the Craftcation Conference who traveled all the way from Tucson, AZ for both the conference and Renegade is Lindsey from Clean Getaway Soap Co. I really like their product line.  There is humor, the names are awesome, and the scents are delicious!

Clean Getaway Soap Co.

Enchanted Leaves

Here are some of my new favorite Artists who showed this year:

Yes & Yes Designs

Lets Be Friends

I will be going through my pictures so if I snapped some pictures with you and you don't see them here, I will hopefully be rounding them up soon.  Some of my pictures came out weird because it was so bright and then dark inside the tents in the shade - My amateur photography skills are still a work-in-progress ;)  I had a wonderful time at the Renegade Craft Fair and can't wait until the Holidays when the show returns to Los Angeles

XOXO, KC

MAKE the most of your Craft Fair & Events

Renegade is next weekend in San Francisco and just two short weekends away for here in Los Angeles. Alas, we won't be vending at Renegade, but we will definitely be checking out the one in LA to support all of  the talented artists and our friends who will be there!

We know how hard it is as a handmade artist to pull together all the pieces for a big show.  Not only do you need your handmade inventory, but you need displays, banners, business cards, promotional materials/ freebies, as well as packaging for all your wares.  We created a round up of items you can customize and make your own to take your brand to the next level.

Put you own logo or image in some Bottle Cap Magnets and make customized magnets. This is a great place to highlighting your products, your logo/ info, or other themes that can reinforce your brand on the cheap.

Use Enclosure Envelopes to hold your business cards or if you give a discount on future purchases make it feel even more special in a fancy envelope. 

Upcycled Decorative Bows can be included in gift wrapping or as that special touch for your handmade goods.

These Tissue Roll Pillow Boxes are a great way to package small items.

Do you have old post cards from your business or previous events? Crop them and use them for these Magnetic Mini Note Pads that make a great freebie.

Have extra, larger paper scraps? You can make these Scrap Paper Books super easy and maybe even make a few bucks off them.  A fun idea is to make one for every event and you can jot notes as the weekend goes to record and keep your memories of all the fun.

Make your own Small Shopping Bags from upcycled air bubbles included as shipping packaging.

Sew some quick T-shirt Totes as a gift with purchase for your higher priced items.

Fill your visual space with some fun with Outdoor Party Lanterns and DIY Garland (using yarn and fabric scraps) and your booth will draw in the crowd.

We are all so happy for all the artists involved and participating at Renegade and we look forward to seeing what everyone is up to. Good luck with these last few days of hard work to come!

XOXO, KC

Things I would Buy at Renegade this Weekend

Here are all the things that would fill my suitcase if I was going to Renegade this weekend in Chicago:

 
XOXO,
KC

Check out Renegade Craft Fair this Weekend

Wanna hear something awesome to do this Weekend??? If you are in the Chicago area you're in luck! The Renegade Craft Fair is returning to Division st. btwn. Wood and Hermitage.  

Some of my favorite people and vendors are there- make sure to check them out while you are there! Share the love and say hello, sadly we will not get to check it out :(

Featured: Etsy Treasury- Renegade Austin,TX

Thanks so much Snake and Roxy for including us on this Treasury!!!

2nd Annual Renegade Craft Fair Austin, TX

We are bouncing back from an AMAZING trip to Austin last week!!! We had such an amazing time visiting our friends and family. That plus hanging out in one of my favorite cities, AND meeting such awesome people at Renegade= best trip ever :) Here are some photos of our Make Shop Live Booth that was shared with My Zoetrope by Michelle Cavigliano.

My Zoetrope is based out of Brooklyn and it was super fun that both of us could travel down and show together.  Michelle is awesome, and I am so glad we were able to share our booth together!!!

This Weekend 2nd Annual Renegade Craft Fair Austin, TX

We super excited about the Renegade Craft Fair in Austin, TX this weekend. For us, it is big and exciting because it is our first trip out.  We are really excited to see a good portion of our friends and family on this trip since a lot of them are rooted in Dallas.  It is super exciting to get to see everyone. Please if you live in the area come out and say hi!

On the back of this spring's new cards really emphasize our Etsy Teams including the SCAD+Etsy=Love Team, Team EcoEtsy and many more. We have geared more marketing towards Etsy and our shop in hopes that it brings customers into our Etsy shop & hopefully Everyone else too ;)

We have a couple of days to soak up Austin and enjoy the show.  I am burning the midnight oil right now trying to get all the details hammered out for the weekend. We are testing out new campaigns and designs in or merchandising to asses what small changes make wonders of difference. We have been beefing up some things after Unique LA and Renegade should be amazing!!!! Please come out and see all the hard work, but for those of you who can't make it-there will be details to come :)

Here are more details for people in Austin who want to attend the Renegade Craft Fair

If you come buy and say hi, we will share a 10% discount to fans and friends! Booth #162

Austin Texas Here We Come!!!

We found out this week we are Austin bound for the 

2nd Annual Renegade Craft Fair in Austin, TX!

We'll be at the Palmer Events Center 

May 21 + 22 from 11AM-7PM.  More details to come :)

Check out  their website for more details- Renegade Craft Fair

Renegade Craft in Los Angeles

We had such an amazing time this past weekend at
Renegade Craft Fair in Los Angeles!!!  

Jill from Dust and Co. and I went to the Etsy MeetUp at the Figueroa Hotel downtown Friday night and met some really amazing artists.  I got a great set of Moo business cards to promote our Etsy shop as a vendor that are AWESOME! They had an Eco option which I didn't know about... I had resisted even thinking of purchasing cards because I am still trying to figure out what my material standards would be for things I make/ use. BUT, they are amazing, and I could have more time to blog and make actual things if we aren't literally prepping and making everything.

Anyway, while we were at the party there were a ton of Etsy Admins and they were all super cool and I asked questions about the new features to come.  I found out that the one I dream about the most is around the corner- A batch list tool!  That way it will be way easier to list items multiple times and not have to re-fill out everything!!! Also, Etsy is about to be the first fully global shopping interface where everything is set up the same but in different currencies and language for that country.  For instance, if you go to Amazon in a different country the interface and layout would be totally different- It is really awesome to be a part of the Etsy community when this happens!!!! They screen printed little flags for vendors with Etsy shops to hang in their booths and even held a raffle if you made a purchase from us :)

Renegade Was AMAZING!  And, I am so envious of all my friends gearing up for San Francisco next weekend!  It is all I can do to re-vamp, rest up and post.   Soon to come- more pictures and some of our great finds!

 

Busy Bee

This weekend Kevin is off to Vegas and I am super excited for some time to work this weekend for fun.  Sometimes a to-do list is a good thing when the items are things you enjoy doing-

Since Kevin has spread out a work area in the living room for all his projects he's been doing too, I thought I would get some progress shots before we clean it up for entertaining guests.

These flower earrings were a big hit at Unique LA and we are making all kinds of new combos for Renegade Los Angeles.  Next Up:  stamp the product stamps on the packaging and their done- 

 

Materials: Bottle Caps, Paper Flower Petals and Buttons with stitch detail.

 I had the bowl above sitting with the earrings and he asked me if I had made it too?  I made this bowl in High School from a sherbet container and sea shells from a discarded shell necklace.  I guess I should have known then that was my inner self showing what I wanted to do in life- ha! It dawned on me while I don't think its prolific as a new product, it's held up quite nicely and is a fun accent piece.

Close Up- Wish I had kept record of how many hot glue sticks I used to fossilize this thing!