Ballston Arts and Crafts Market kicks off this Saturday from 10am-4pm. Buy handmade lovelies for mom while the kiddies rock out during a special Rock-n-romp featuring Exit Clov, Carol Bui and Gist from noon-4pm.

Disclosure: There are several Crafty Bastards bloggers participating in the Ballston Arts and Crafts Market. Kristina Bilonick organizes the monthly event. Tina Seamonster will be there tomorrow with the Craft Mutiny and Susan Hsu is playing with her band Exit Clov. It’s gonna be awesome.

SquidFire’s Spring Art Mart, also this Saturday, will take place at Mount Vernon Park in Baltimore from 11am-6pm.

If you’re in Charm City, swing by and check out the handmade goodness from artists like the Broken Plate Co., Sweet Pepita, Rebound Designs, Woolarina, DeNada Designs and more.

Vendor list and directions available on SquidFire’s website.

And of course, the mammoth Artomatic opens today. 1,000 artists. 10 floors, and 28 days of mad crazy artiness. Visit Artomatic.org for details. You can view photos we posted from Artomatic 2007 here.

See something exceptional at Artomatic? Send your images to craftybastards@washingtoncitypaper and tell us about it.

Lots to do and see this weekend. Get out and enjoy the spring market season!

Vendor status notifications for the spring Crafty Bastards festival were sent via email this afternoon. If you completed an application, but don’t see the notification email from Crafty Bastards, please do the following:

1. Check your junk mail/spam folder. The email was sent from: Crafty Bastards
2. Still not there? Email craftybastards@washingtoncitypaper.com and let us know.

The Crafty Bastards jury judged a field of over 200 applications from crafters of all types and was limited to accepting approximately 60 vendors for the Silver Spring festival. Don’t be discouraged if you didn’t get in! Keep making things and applying for craft shows. Set up a shop on Etsy and tell people about it. The indie craft community continues to grow by leaps and bounds and we encourage everyone to keep on crafting!

Applications for Crafty Bastards DC will go up in May. Stay tuned.

Today is the last day to submit vendor applications for Crafty Bastards Silver Spring!

Not sure where to start? Check out previous blog entries for basic registration instructions and get application advice and hints from former Crafty Bastards jury members and vendors.

But hurry! All applications must be completed by midnight!

Join us at Quarry House Tavern on Monday, April 14th, 7pm-9pm, for a chance to ask questions and get advice on everything from vendor statements to application photos and other general tips to help make your vendor applications stand out.

We would love to see all you veteran Crafty Bastards who are interested in helping people with their applications and encourage anyone looking for an excuse to hang out with like-minded crafters to attend. Come out and enjoy the awesome beer selection and yummy food at Quarry House while we fill the place crafty chatter. No need to RSVP, just stop on by.

Where: Quarry House Tavern (8401 Georgia Ave. Silver Spring, MD)
When:Monday, April 14th from 7pm-9pm
Cost: Free!
Who should attend: Crafters in the DC area

Don’t forget! Application Deadline is next Wednesday 4/16!
Vendor applications are due next Wednesday, April 16 for Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair being held Saturday, June 28 at Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center in Silver Spring, MD. Apply today.

We are now accepting applications for Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair being held June 28 in Silver Spring, MD. Hurry! Deadline to apply for this show is April 16!

Please read the instructions carefully and have everything ready before you start. Pay particular attention to the payment and booth share instructions.

Payment:Once payment has been made at Paypal, all applicants must click back to the Washington City Paper/Crafty Bastards site to complete the registration process.

Boothsharing: If you want to share your booth, once you have paid your fee you will have the opportunity to send an email to your chosen crafters inviting them to join your table. They will enter their own information and upload their own pictures, so there’s nothing you need beyond their email addresses.

I know, I know, it all sounds so confusing! Perhaps this hypothetical will help:

I am applying and want to share a booth with Tina Seamonster.

1. Get Started: I read the instructions, make sure I have everything ready and click Get Started.

2. Contact Info: I enter my contact info, artist statement, choose my craftegories and hit submit.

3. Images: I upload my three lovely images and continue.

4. Terms & Conditions: I read the terms & conditions carefully, check the box and click submit.

5. Payment: I click the link to make my payment at Paypal, I pay the $10 application fee and look for the orange button on the confirmation page that says “Return to Washington City Paper”:

I see this button. I CLICK THIS BUTTON.

6. Booth Sharing: I enter Tina’s email address, tell her she is rad in the message field and send her the invite.

7. Finished: I’m done! I’ll get an email when Tina completes steps 1-4 of the process.

See, easy! Now get started.

Crafters:Applications for Bust’s Spring Fling Craftacular are due tomorrow!

Tina posted application and vendor info here. The show is Sunday April 27th in Brooklyn and will feature talented crafters, an all day dance party with an open bar and an entire room set aside for dancing and mingling. Visit the Craftacular site for more info and to apply.

Fiber addicts: Get your fix tomorrow afternoon from 2pm-6pm in Takoma Park at the Homespun Yarn Party.

Visit the Yarn Party blog for more pictures and interviews with the spinners, dyers and other vendors.

The Charm City Craft Mafia is accepting applications for the 2nd annual Pile of Craft. The show will be held in Baltimore, MD on Saturday, June 21st from 10am-5pm.

Non-refundable application fee is $10. If accepted, vendor fee is an additional $55. Vendor spaces are 8 ft. in. length. Chairs and an 8 ft table will be provided. The deadline to apply is May 1st, 2008.

Applications and more details can be found on the Charm City Craft Mafia web site.

You can read the review and see the pictures we took at last year’s Pile of Craft. Plus, watch Kim Dorn’s video interview with Pile of Craft organizer Rachel Bone to learn more about Charm City Craft Mafia and get the walk through experience:

That’s right, folks! To celebrate the 5th year of Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair, the City Paper is bringing TWO Crafty Bastards fairs to the DC Metro area!

Get your craft on twice with Crafty Bastards at the Marie Reed Learning Center in Adams Morgan on September 28th, AND now Crafty Bastards at Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Spring on June 28th!

We are excited to bring the Crafty Bastards festivities to Silver Spring and equally enthusiastic to be working with Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center, a non-profit contemporary gallery and interactive arts center on Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring, MD. This show will have a focus on learning, an emphasis on craft workshops, and highlight up-and-coming artists, and those newer to the indie craft scene.

We will be accepting vendor applications soon. Join the email list (go here, scroll down and look left) and we’ll let you know when it’s time to apply. For now, save the dates!

June 28: Crafty Bastards in Silver Spring, MD
Sept. 28: Crafty Bastards in Adams Morgan, DC

Seriously, Crafty Bastard veteran Rania of goshdarnknit is everywhere this week!

There’s a thoughtful review of the American Craft Council show in Balimore she posted here earlier this week. Her Moleskine notebooks were Tuesday’s Daily Candy. Plus, check out all the photos of Rania’s knit paintings featured in the current issue of Venus Zine:

Congratulations, Rania!

Don’t like the New Wave label? Here’s your chance to help define and shape the future of the handmade movement. You may recall my excitement last April after attending the first ever Craft Congress in Pittsburgh, PA. Craft Congress is back and will take place in craft-friendly San Francisco! From CraftCon.org:

We’d like to invite you to attend Craft Con 2008, a business development conference for the craft community. This remarkable gathering of leaders and organizers in the evolving craft and design movement will be held in San Francisco April 4-6. Last year’s Craft Congress was the first event of its kind, bringing together an amazing group of craft promoters from all over the country and as far away as England to network, share ideas, and discuss the future of the resurging movement.

Craft Con 2008 heralds huge growth for the project, bringing together event promoters, internet entrepreneurs, authors, store owners, craft teachers, and businesspeople to network, talk about the future of craft, and strengthen the community’s voice. With the explosive popularity of countless craft-related business ventures, the crafting world is poised to keep getting bigger and better - the question is, where do we want to go from here? This is our chance to help shape the future of the handmade movement and its place in society - we hope you’ll join us!

The cost of attending the event is $150/person, which includes a tour of San Francisco April 4th, meals and sessions April 5th and 6th, and a gala event the evening of April 5th where conference attendees will get to experience the unique culture of the San Francisco arts scene.

Hurry up and fill out an application to attend before the 250 seats available for Craft Con 2008 are filled!