The Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair has become a fall institution in Adams Morgan. Mr. Crafty took time out of his busy day to discuss the fair happening tomorrow…

You have a highly successful craft fair named after you. How did that happen and can you tell us about the origin of the fair?
Leonard Roberge, former Arts Editor for the Washington City Paper, and a close personal friend of mine came up with the idea to use my name. Since its inception in 1981, City Paper has been devoted to covering local DC politics and news as well as music, art and theatre. They had been mulling over the idea of a citywide indie rock garage sale. That idea grew out of the Classifieds section where people could connect with one another via free For Sale ads (remember this was pre-Craigslist). The first indie craft shows were just cropping up and the idea flowed into City Paper organizing their own craft fair. The very first year in 2004 started out at the Columbia Heights Community Marketplace formerly a gravel lot and now the Columbia Heights Metro station. The next year, the fair moved to the Marie Reed Learning Center in Adams Morgan where it’s been ever since. In 2009, City Paper made a strategic decision to contract with Hello Craft to put on the fair which made perfect sense since Hello Craft was a devoted craft organization and involved two Hello Craft directors who were two of the original Crafty Bastards organizers, Kim Dorn (former Events Manager at City Paper) and Sara Dick (current City Paper Online Sales Director). The fair has only gotten bigger and better every year.

So what will we find at Crafty Bastards?
Indie craft vendors, tasty food, generous sponsors, and fabulous prizes. The event has grown to attract over 30,000 attendees. The craft vendors have been chosen through a rigorous jury process and represent a wide variety of different types of crafters from the DC area and all over the country. We require all of the artists to be in attendance at the fair and they are only selling their own wares. You’ll see some pretty amazing work here.

Sounds amazing. Will there be any hands on opportunities?
Yes! Hello Craft will have their Make Something Awesome area where everyone is welcome to, ur, make something awesome. This year’s projects include: embroidery projects, duct tape wallets, knitting, make your own buttons, felt fruit plushies, and envelope making.

What’s new this year?
This year, Hello Craft came up with two exciting ideas. They added a Young & Crafty section that will feature young makers between the ages of 9-18 years old. These kids do amazing stuff and the fair gives them a chance to connect with other artists as well as give them entrepreneurial experience.
They’ve also introduced a Food Craft section complete with a competition and awards. They’ll have a a D.I.Y. Salon where you can learn craft food techniques, a market to purchase food—and the highlight, the Crafty Food Awards, to crown the city’s best food crafters.There are three categories of competition and they just happen to be three of my favorite things – preserves, pickles and beer!

Will there be other entertainment?
Of course, the popular b-boy battle will take place again as well as demos at the City Paper booth, live music, and more.

Sounds like an all-day adventure.
It really is. Bring the whole family including pets as long as their well-behaved and can deal with large crowds! There’ll be lots of food to keep your energy level up including Amsterdam Falafel, Black Squirrel, Carmen’s Italian Ice, Dangerously Delicious Pies, Hill Country Barbecue, Shawarma Spot, Smoothie King, vegan cupcakes more.

When are you going to enter the bboy battle?
[crickets chirping]

You can see what the fair is all about on
Saturday, October 1, 2011 from 10am-5pm. The fair is outdoors on the grounds of the Marie Reed Learning Center at 18th & Wyoming in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC. The first people at the fair who sign up for Washington City Paper emails and get a free Crafty Bastards tote bag (while supplies last).
For more information contact craftybastards@washingtoncitypaper.com or go to Crafty Bastards

While this is a non-paid position, there are many benefits associated with being on our Board of Directors. This includes:
* The ability to help drive our membership program in ways that enhance our individual members’ experiences with Hello Craft
* Being part of an successful arts nonprofit organization that has national ties
* Free access to Hello Craft events throughout 2011, such as the Summit of Awesome
* A leadership position on the Board, which is a great stepping stone for those looking for nonprofit leadership experience

Email us at membership [at] hellocraft.com no later than December 15 with your nomination request, and we’ll send you information on how to move forward with your nomination and how to submit your bio and image for our website.

You can learn more about how to become member of Hello Craft at our membership page, as this position is only open to current members.

Step 1

I created a simple triangle design in Illustrator with the Hello Craft logo and repeated the design to fit as many flags on a single sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper.

Step 2

I exported the file from Illustrator and saved it as a .jpg. I then opened the file in the Silhouette software and scaled the file to fit on the page within the cutting guides.

Step 3

I then traced a simple triangle with the line tool in the Silhouette software and duplicated the shape to fit over each flag.

Step 4

I opened the cut style window to make sure that the cut lines were where they needed to be on the paper.

Step 5

I then sent the saved file to my inkjet printer directly from the Silhouette software.

Excuse the color, as my printer is running out of color ink, but: Printed!

Step 6

I then lined up the printed sheet on the adhesive cutting mat and loaded it into the machine.

Step 7

I lined up the mat with the guides found in the machine. Make sure you really pay attention to these lines to get the cut as close to where is should be as possible. I hit cut in the software, which sends the file to the Silhouette.

Step 8

After the machine was done cutting, I unloaded the cutting mat and pealed the little cut flags off of the adhesive cutting mat. Then using white glue, I attached two pieces together and glued them to a match that had it’s flammable head removed.

Ta Dah! Mini-Pennant Flag

Contest!

Don’t forget, we’re giving away one of these bad boys. For a chance to win, all’s you have to do is:

• Leave us a comment here.
• Follow us on Twitter and mention this contest in a mention with @hellocraft
• Friend us on Facebook and leave a comment about the contest for us there
• Stop by the Hello Craft booth (#57!) at Crafty Bastards and join our email list there for a chance to win.

That’s right! You have four chances to win! So hop to and good luck. The winner will be announced right here next week!

Only U.S. residents and only one winner per household

Here’s what your playing for:

• A Silhouette machine (a $299.99 value)
• Software for Windows XP/Vista, Mac
• Power cable, USB cable
• Two Cutting mats (one for thick media, one for thin media)
• One cutting blade
• $10 gift card to the Silhouette Online Store

If you decide to purchase a machine before October 4, use the discount code: WORLD to receive:

• $50 off (receive for $249.99)
• Two rolls of Heat transfer ($29.89 value)
• $10 Gift Card to the Silhouette Download Store(Comes in the Box)
• Cutting Blade (Comes in the Box)
• Two Cutting Mats(Comes in the Box)

All for $249.99 (A savings of $79.98)

This Saturday come take a crafty break, during Crafty Bastards, and sit down with us at the Hello Craft booth (#76!) and Make Something Awesome.

This fun make and take area is where you can try your hand a making some of the instructed craft projects, or go crazy and use the supplies and come up with something of your own. We’ll have our awesome button maker, as well as embroidery projects with Sublime Stitching supplies, make a mini-bunting from Etsy and a scrappy-bracelet from SCRAP-DC, plus much more.

Hello Craft will also have memberships for sale as well as craft kits where you can make your own: terrarium, sidewalk chalk, hair pins, hair ties and Hello Craft plushies available with donation! And as a special treat we’ll have super awesome, limited edition, Hello Craft button packs designed by Crafty Bastards vendors El Jefe Design, goshdarnknit and Kelly Towles, also available by donation.

Be sure to stop by and also enter our raffle where you have the chance to win a copy of Mess by Keri Smith, a Sublime Stitching tote bag with embroidery goodies, a
Hello Craft membership, a copy of Craft-In, a box-set of 12 project booklets or a Silhouette cutting machine!

To plan your day, pick up a copy of the Washington City Paper for map and event guide or check out the Cut the Craft blog for vendor profiles and updates.

So much handmade and DIY goodness! We can’t wait for Saturday. See you there!

Are you getting just as excited as we are for the upcoming craft fair Crafty Bastards on October 2?! This large fair is attended by over 30,000 people and is one that many on the east coast (and beyond!) look forward too all year.

Hello Craft will be there with our own little slice of crafty goodness. You can expect to find a Hello Craft information booth (with button making!) and our very own Make Something Awesome area (which we’ll have more on soon!) But we need your help.

We already have some super awesome volunteers ready to help us rock and roll at the Hello Craft booth, but now we need some crafty people to help us out at the Make Something Awesome Area. Specifically we have two shifts: morning from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and afternoon from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Basically we’d need you to help keep the MSA rolling along during the festival, making sure projects are organized and people have what they need to sit and make awesome things from Sublime Stitching and Etsy to name a few.

If you are interested please email us at membership [at] hellocraft.com. We’ll have surprises for anyone that wants to come and help and craft for a shift as a way to say thank you.

Dudes of Craft is a weekly series from Keli Anaya exploring the mysterious world of men who craft.

I failed to mention something in the past couple of posts. Now, there is something that you might not know about me; I LOVE being environmentally friendly. I loathe throwing things away. Recycling is second nature to me and I will recycle anything that I think might be recyclable. I know the names of the plastics that fall into the numbered triangles on the bottom of plastic products.  At work, I will go so far as to pick things out of the trash to put them in the recycling bin (not usually in the kitchen, so not as gross — I did say usually).

Plastics biodegrade depending on the hardness of the plastic and we don’t know how long it will take for them to breakdown because they haven’t been around for very long.  Some estimates range from 500 to 1000 years for a plastic bag to decompose.

Something has been pushing my ‘this is not environmentally friendly’ button for the past couple of weeks. This is the culprit:

Wah! Poly-Cotton Blend

The yarn I used for the past couple of videos is part cotton part synthetic. Oooops! Polyester/Cotton, Wool/Acrylic, and 100% acrylic yarns are common in craft stores. The natural elements of those blends will biodegrade, but the plastic fibers will not for at least 500 years. Whoa! I’m pretty sure that the inhabitants of Earth 2510 will not want that acrylic granny square blanket you might be making.

The good news is that several choices of natural fibers exist that will biodegrade. Two types come to mind: plant based fibers and animal based fibers.

Cotton, an old favorite, is readily available at craft stores. I’ve also seen an increase in bamboo yarn. Linen comes from flax.  You might make a outdoor rug with hemp from the cannabis plant or with jute.

Animal hair makes great yarn.  Angora wool comes from Angora rabbits, Cashmere comes from goats including the Cashmere goat, Mohair comes from the Angora goat, and good old wool comes from sheep.  From South America comes Alpaca fleece from the alpaca, Guanaco wool from the guanaco, Llama wool from the llama, and Vicuña wool from the vicuña. Don’t forget silk from the silk worm.

Or, instead of buying new yarn, you can also reuse old sweaters by harvesting the material it’s made from. Here is post 1 and 2 from Re-Nest on how to deconstruct old sweaters for their beautiful bounty.

Next time you want to chaos stitch a sweet new scarf, pick out a natural yarn. It will feel so much better on your skin and will help out the planet.

P.S.  Ooops #2: my crochet hook is plastic. They do come in metal and wood, promise. You could also pick up a used one. The same goes for knitting needles!

Happy Friday everyone!

Today’s post is the second installment on the basics of crocheting. Just like last time, you will need a crochet hook and some yarn, string, or twine.

Here are a few links:

1. This is a great site that gives you a run down of the basic stitches. Note, the ‘one and a half stitch’ that I reference in the video is actually called a half double crochet. The abbreviations for the stitches are listed, too which are used in patterns. (By the way, Quintuple stitch!)

2. This next site is near and dear to my heart and not just because of that sweet roses gif. I reference this site far more than I care to admit, but it is a comprehensive list of intricate stitches.

3. Here are a couple of my favorite stitches.
Afghan or Tunisian Stitch (This one requires a specialized hook, but look how pretty it is!)
Popcorn Stitch
Granny Square

4. Here is a video from a man who makes some incredible work. Check out all of his videos for an inspirational romp with crocheting.

But fear not! Here is a run down of what happened on day three.

The third and final day of the Summit of Awesome was another amazing and wonderful day. The morning sessions started off with Time management for Crafty Folk with Elizabeth Newell.

Christy Petterson of a bardis and Kim Dorn taught Event Sponsorship in Parsons.

Owning your Awesomeness with Kelly Rand took place in the Library

Jena Coray told the Story of Modish in the Theater

Needle Felting, a newly loved craft was taught by Jaime Chan of CCE in the Gym

And Lee Meredith taught how to photograph your work in the Gym.

The second morning sessions continued with Craft fair applications with Kelly Rand and Sara Dick in the Library, Taking the Pressure Off: When Ugly is Mighty with Kim Werker in Jordan.

Jaime Chan of Bazaar bizarre and Cathy Pitters and Torie Nguyen of Crafty Wonderland talked about Craft fair organizing in Parsons.

Danielle Maveal talked about the Best of Etsy Success in the Theater

And two amazing workshop were taught in the Gym: Mandalas on vinyl records with Christine Claringbold of EyePop Art

And Becky Striepe of Glue and Glitter taught how to make a cup glove

At lunch the amazing Mark Montano gave a wonderful and inspiring talk that tied a lot of the themes of the Summit all together.

For the last and final sessions of the day, Emily Martin shared her story of the Black Apple in the Theater

Lee Meredith talked about how to Publish your own patterns

Mobile credit card options with Willo O’Brien of WilloToons and Caitlin Phillips of Rebound Design took place in the Gym

And the Creative Community with Cathy Pitters, Torie Nguyen, Christine Claringbold and Rebecca Kerr rounded out the afternoon in Jordan

Early Bird Discount to Summit Ends Next Tuesday !!

2010 Summit of Awesome
June 16-18
McMenamins Kennedy School
Portland, Oregon

Don’t forget! The last day to purchase 3-Day Early Bird passes to the Summit for only $150 ends next Tuesday, April 20. The all-inclusive pass grants access to all Summit classes, workshops and night owl networking sessions.

Our full speaker line-up and class schedule will be posted shortly. In the meantime, take a peek here at just a few of our awesome speakers that will be at this year’s Summit!

For more information, check out our Summit page.

Early Bird Summit Registration is Open!!

2010 Summit of Awesome
June 16-18
McMenamins Kennedy School
Portland, Oregon

Calling all Crafters! Registration for our 2nd annual Summit of Awesome is now open! Now through April 20th you can purchase a 3-Day Early Bird pass to the Summit for only $150 (after April 20th, the 3-Day pass will go up to its regular price of $180). This 3-Day, all-inclusive pass will get you into all the Summit classes, workshops and night owl networking sessions. Day passes and workshop-only passes may become available in June.

Totally Cool
And just when you think it couldn’t get any more awesome, our event partner’s will be providing some amazing perks, including DIY Lounge how-to’s and the Show of Awesome on Saturday hosted by Crafty Wonderland. But wait! There’s more… As part of our effort to support the local crafting community, Ex-Libris Anonymous will be providing our upcycled, book journal programs, which are just as functional as they are cool.

Our super awesome speaker line-up and class schedule will be online soon.  Seminar topics include preparing your taxes, forming LLC’s, sponsorship for craft fairs and developing successful product lines…. just to name a few.

So get a jump on the Summit and sign up now for an Early Bird pass!

For more information, check out our Summit page.