Last night I went to Ikea. As always, I came home with 30% needed stuff and 70% fluff (which is a pretty successful Ikea trip for me). I never really think about buying fabric from Ikea, as I’m usually there on a mission to redecorate my home with weird plastic items that I don’t really need and drink lingonberry juice. But this time, I found myself really liking the choice of fabrics they had for sale. While they don’t have a huge selection, Ikea fabric have bold prints with flowers, weird shapes, and lots of primary colors. I dug through the sale bin and got myself a few yards of nice fabric for crafting, for about $5 total.

The other item I wanted to mention, was the Ikea Fixa… it’s a bi-level dollie that sells for $20.

It can hold up to 60lbs., packs up flat and small and could be extremely helpful at fairs when bringing crafts to and from your car to your booth space. Now, I can’t vouch for the quality of this product, since Ikea has never been the place to find stuff that will last a lifetime… but it’s bright blue and cute, and I’m a sucker for both those things.

I wouldn’t recommend going to Ikea just for the fabric shopping, but next time your there it’s worth a look-see… there might also be some pre-cut fabric for cheap in the AS IS section. Happy Ikea’ing ya’ll.

This past Saturday night was the opening of Location in Baltimore, MD. Location is the travelling art gallery project behind Crafty Bastards Entertainment Alumn, AM Radio. Sponsored by Scion and composed of more than 40 members, AM Radio is a group of artists and DJ’s with impressive portfolios.

Location is the first stab at this type of project for Am Radio. Per their own blog, Am Radio descibes Location as, “A project in partnership with SCION where we’re transforming a chic 4 floor townhouse into a lifestyle gallery/residence by fusing original art and multi media elements.”

Am Radio presented just a sampling of their work at Location, in a tour du force opening night. I was invited by DJ Two Tone to get a sneak peak of Location while the paint was still wet on the walls.

AM Radio artist Buck delivered a short but sweet intro to the space:

Opening night hosted DJ’s and breakdancing on the first floor, as well as work from emergin artists. Two more floors showed off impressive murals, paintings and Munnys. The top floor boasted a room designed by industry notable Shop Gentei, and a shoe drive hosted by Grand High; shoes will be donated to The Carmelo Antony Youth Development Center.

Don’t take your sweet ol’ time to check out Location because this space is only open until April 18th. The art gallery is open 2-3 days a week, and AM Radio will host 2-4 different events. Location is located on 17 W. Chase St. in the Mt. Vernon area of Baltimore, MD.

Towson University is hosting its annual Tigerfest on Saturday, April 26th, and they’re giving artists and crafters an opportunity to have booth space to sell… and it’s cheap!

$50 will get you a 10×14 space where you can sell your wares to Towson University students and the local community.

This is Towson University’s biggest spring event, and with an estimated 10,000 people attending, it’s a great place to gain new clients and make some $$. Word on the campus street is that the Roots will be playing… but nothing is confirmed yet.

Tigerfest hosts a huge stage with live nationally known musical acts, food, games and giveaways.

Towson University’s Tigerfest 2008

Location: Burdick Field, Towson University

Date: Saturday, April 26th

Time: 3pm-10pm

To Apply: E-mail Jenna Irving at Jirvin2@towson.edu or call 410.704. 4429.

Sponsored by Towson University’s Campus Activities Board

Congrats to Crafty Bastard artist and Dirtfarm creator Ben Claassen III, and all of the artists who participated in the art toy show Vinylmore, this past Friday, at Atomic Pop in Baltimore, MD.

Vinylmore had more than 50 (mostly) Baltimore comic artists, designers, fine artists, tattooists, photographers, collectors and more, design their own creations from blank toys such as Qees, Munnies and a host of others. The result was a show packed with politics, humor, horror, and crazy good design. Painting and transferring images on these blank vinyl toys isn’t easy, but all the artists (with a few exceptions) showed off their art and graffiti skills with complex ideas, vivid imagery and intricate details in each piece.

And, I can say that I am now the proud owner of Oui Marcel, created by Jordan Jeffries.

I live about 3 blocks away from Atomic Pop, the toy store sister of Atomic Books. Both Atomic shops are located on “The Avenue” in Hamden in Baltimore; if you’ve only come up to Balimore to explore Fells Point and the Inner Habor, your shopping, eating and drinking senses will be blown away by the eclectic selection of stores, restaurants and bars in Hampden.

Atomic Pop hosts book signings and art openings that are all worth checking out. The free drinks at shows, good prices on their merchandise, and a nice selection of craft and art books makes this place a must-see when in B’more.

Vinylmore runs through March 31st at Atomic Pop (3620 Falls Rd., Baltimore, MD).

I <heart> Denver, Colorado. I just returned from a week-long snowboarding trip in the Colorado Mountains and was lucky enough to have at least one full day to explore the city of Denver. With its too cute boutiques to the old skool record stores and vintage shops with their familiar mildewey smell, Denver was overflowing with shopping awesomeness.

I explored a bunch of indie mom n’ pop shops that sold every from handmade aprons, to bags and accessories made by locals, and got to experience the cleanest and biggest Goodwill store I’ve ever seen. My day-long shopping journey took me from Colfax Ave. to the hip Highland area. Although I fell in love again and again with every place I went to, here are just a few of my favorites…

Starlet was the way-too-cute boutique that definitley brought out the girly-girl in me.

The fluffy decor and colorful yummy displays were really cool, and it had a nice selection of handmade items like bags, jewerly and wall decorations. The owner was a sweet lady who fit perfectly in her sweet store.

Even the store mascot Oliver was too-cute in his fleece coat.

This place is located in Highland on the main shopping/eating drag. With great prices on everything (I paid only 11 bucks(!) for an eco-friendly hand printed bag, and $3 for apple lip gloss in an apple-shaped container)… this place is great for present shopping.

The other two shops worth mentioning are owned by Matthew Brown and Jaime Jennings. The Fancy Tiger stores are a boutique and a craft store (located across the street from each other near Broadway and 1st). These two places are the epitome of good shopping for indie crafters and people who like unique finds.

I talked a bit with Matt at The Fancy Tiger Clothing store, and found out that about 40% of the items in the store were local, which totally rocks! This place has hip clothing, accessories, hand knits, and necklaces made from old typewritter letters… just to name a few items.

After eyeballing some of their thick knit scarves (above), which will be on my X-mas list (Scott, I hope you’re reading this), I made my way over to the Fancy Tiger Craft store. This place is a crafters’ dream…

tons of yarn, giant balls of wool, cutesy fabric, craft how-to kits, rubber and tree limbed-shapped buttons, stamps, books, and a classroom where you can learn to felt, sew, bookbind and more.

Fancy Tiger is an impressive indie feat, and I was blown away by the selection and thoughfulness that Matt and Jenny put into the stores. Both stores are welcoming and unpretentious, and the owners both know their stuff and support the Denver crafting community. They threw their first holiday craft market this past December, and are looking to do more this year. I might just have to go back to Denver within the year to check it out… Fancy Tiger Road Trip anyone?

If you’ve traveled the crafty road and can share you’re favorite spots to shop and hang in other cities, please let us know in the comment section!

Ben and I just got back from the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn, NY (6/16-6/17). It was super duper ridiculous hot, but despite all the sweaty bodies crowding into the booths, the fair was another awesome weekend craft adventure. One of the reasons that I love Renegade is all the crazy, fun, weird people that I get to meet and talk to.

The fair this year was in the McCarren Pool in Brooklyn, just across the way from the field it was in last year. I have to say that the pool was a much better venue for the fair than last year. The gals from Renegade had the vendors in rows, as opposed to one giant horseshoe like years past. This created more of a marketplace-type feel, and I think it encourages more shopping. They also added food vendors: Schnack sold vegan hotdogs and burgers, and meat stuff, and two ice cream trucks and a juice truck… having food and water was essential, and I hope they have even more food & drink vendors there next year.

Getting ready for Renegade is a huge process for both me and Ben that starts months before with us planning to start working on stuff - my shirts, envelopes, and pins, and his comics, shirts and paintings. Eventually we end up planning and thinking about planning up until the last week when we finally realize that it’s time to get down to business. Ideally, I’d love to be able to say that I have everything ready to go a week before the fair, but, as always, I’m pulling an all-nighter with glue, buttons, fabric, pins, stickers, t-shrits, and my beloved Gocco printer. But that is all part of the fun. I think Ben and I had been up for 30 hours+ at the start of the fair. I felt a bit cracked out, and the heat didn’t help, and I think I was walking around the fair like a zombie, but in a weird way, it was fun. It’s just pure fun to be around like-minded crazy crafters and people who also have a soft spot in their heart for giant stuffed creatures with rainbow tongues, monster finger puppets, and chainsaw earrings.

Being around all the crafters last weekend has me inspired and now I’m even more psyched for working on Crafty Bastards…

Hello Crafty folks! The City Paper is now accepting vendor applications for this year’s Crafty Bastards Arts and Crafts Fair. Crafty Bastards will take place on Sunday, Sept. 30th, 10am-5pm, at the Marie Reed Learning Center plaza in Adams Morgan– its home for the last two years. We’re bringing back BIG AWESOME FUN with handmade indie crafts, new exciting entertainment, and a bunch of surprises.

Craft Vendors: Crafty Batstards is a juried fair, and we do receive a whole lotta applications, so be sure to put your best foot, or um, craft forward in your application. You can apply here. Deadline to apply is July 1st.

Questions? We’ll be answering frequently asked questions on this blog, so feel free to post your comments or inquiries about the vendor application process, or you can email craftybastards@washingtoncitypaper.com and we’ll get back to you ASAP

I woke up this morning to a very sad news story…

The main building of Eastern Market, South Hall, caught fire early this morning and took about 2 hours to put out. Eastern Market has been such an important fixture in DC to crafters, local shoppers, and tourists alike. There’s no better place in DC to peruse antiques, clothes, pies, jewelry, fruit, and books all in the same place. I hope we’ll get more information soon. If there are any Eastern Market vendors out there who can provide insider updates, please feel free to post.

The Crafty Bastards gals are here to give you the buzz on the indie craft community inside the Beltway and beyond. As D.I.Y. enthusiasts, we’ll be blabbing about everything from Crafty Bastards festival updates to the insider scoop on what’s new and exciting in the world of indie crafts.

We’ll dish where to buy local, and where to shop online. You’ll also pick up new crafty habits and how-to’s from super crafty guest bloggers, and find out where you can roll up your sleeves and learn something new in our Crafty Workshops.

Get crafty and enjoy the blog!