Hey Crafty People!

Instead of our normal monthly craft-together, we’ll be having a movie night featuring the documentary Handmade Nation, next Sunday, January 10th at 6:30pm. The movie night will be held at Amber’s mom’s house and snacks & drinks will be provided. All you need to bring is yourself!

You will need to RSVP for this event by emailing Amber at amber.karnes@gmail.com. She’ll give you the address and directions to her mom’s house.

Hope to see y’all there!

Instead of our normal monthly craft-together, we’ll be having a potluck Holiday Party on Sunday, December 20th at 6:00pm. Come join us for fun mini-workshops and a White Elephant handmade gift exchange (click here for a description).

Tasha will be teaching finger knitting, so bring some leftover yarn from your stash! Using only yarn and your fingers, you can create a strip of fabric that could become a skinny scarf or belt, a bracelet, a headband, or even a garland for holiday decorating.

Please bring some food to share, some spare yarn for the workshop, and one wrapped, handmade gift for the swap. Maybe your gift will be this year’s hedgehog pincushion!  As usual, we will meet at Grow Interactive: 350 W. 22nd Street Suite 106 Norfolk, Virginia 23517 - in the new Palace Station shopping center. Grow is toward the back left corner, across from NYFO.

Hope to see y’all there

-Kristin G.

ps.  Thanks to Kristen R. for the adorable Holiday Party white elephant graphic!

It’s holiday craft show season and boy there are a lot of them! Check out our Events Calendar for some of our favorites, or visit the Hampton Roads 2009 Fall Bazaar Guide for a huge list of festivals!

This weekend one of our favorite members, Sloane, will be presenting her wares at Santa’s Stocking Old Fashioned Craft Bazaar. Make sure you check it out!

Santa’s Stocking Old Fashioned Craft Bazaar

Saturday November 21, 9am - 5pm
Sunday, November 22, 11am - 5pm

Kempsville Recreation Center
800 Monmouth Lane
Virginia Beach, VA

Put on those comfy shoes and shop among 120 vendors selling budget-friendly holiday gifts, including knitted crafts, soaps and lotions, jewelry, decorative household items, and more. Each weekend features different vendors. Plus, bring your children for those classic holiday photos with Santa! Free admission & onsite parking.

Tomorrow, catch our member Michelle of Gymbohannah at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church Holiday Craft Show (Dunbarten & Providence Rd. in Chesapeake across from Indian River High School, who is also having their Christmas Craft show) Come out see us and grab up some unique handmade goods. You’ll be glad you did!

Next weekend, Sloane will also be representing the crafters at the…

8th Annual Fair Trade Festival at Waterside
Sat, Dec 5, 10:00am-10:00pm,
Sun, Dec 6 12:00-5:00pm

Waterside Marketplace, Waterside Dr.  Norfolk, Va.

The Eighth annual Fair Trade Festival promises to be the best ever. The newly revamped and spacious Waterside provides room for new and unusual products as well as favorites from around the world that have made this beloved festival a must-go for 7 years. “Clothing, jewelry, food, house wares, chocolate, wine, and beer… all products are produced under fair labor standards, so not only will people love their gifts, you know that those gifts keep on giving by allowing people around the world and in your own community to make a decent living and support their families” says festival organizer Susan Posey.

Customers come from as far away as Williamsburg to experience this warm, friendly atmosphere: local and fair trade wines and beers, local food, and an all-star cast of local musicians providing live music all day long. Belly dancing, poetry, and free chocolate and coffee tastings make this festival a genuinely unsurpassed experience. Grab dinner here, and whatever you do, don’t miss the incredible main concert event, the DC based and world-renowned band Scythian. Classically trained musicians, Scythian plays everything from Celtic rock to Gypsy to Klezmer.

Contact: Susan Posey- 581-5672, fairtradefun@gmail.com

Also, watch for an invite soon to our 7 Cities Crafters annual holiday party! We will have food, drinks, a white elephant gift swap and more! See you guys soon!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the trunk show & screening of Handmade Nation! You helped make it a success. The Naro seemed very pleased and I don’t know about you but I found the movie really inspirational!

Here are a few upcoming events plus a little 7 Cities Crafters “official” business.

7 Cities Crafters Monthly Craft-Together

We normally meet on the first Sunday of the month, however in November we are pushing it back a week due to some scheduling conflicts. We will be meeting on Sunday, November 8th at 6pm at Grow Interactive.

Our monthly craft-togethers are free and open to the public! Bring a snack to share potluck-style and a craft to work on if you wish! Come hang out with other creative people in the area, everyone is welcome!

6:00 p.m. @ Grow Interactive: 350 W. 22nd Street Suite 106 Norfolk, Virginia 23517 - in the new Palace Station shopping center. Grow is toward the back left corner, across from NYFO.

Who Arted? Halloween Art & Craft Show

Come join the fabulous artists of “Who Arted?” for Halloween at the Virginia Beach Farmers’ Market. Tons of fun for the whole family. Get your Christmas shopping done early — awesome art and handmade gifts! This Saturday, October 31 (Halloween!) from 10 to 4. Find out more on Facebook.

Barnes & Noble Trunk Shows

There was an opportunity for a trunk show at the Barnes & Noble at MacArthur Mall which you may have heard about from Ashley. However, it  has been canceled by the manager of the Barnes and Noble. She feels that it would be too busy and we’d be in the way of shoppers. Our new option is to take part of the fantasy shopping night at the mall. The 11th Annual Fantasy Shopping Night - Please join us on Sunday, November 15th from 7 pm to 10 pm for our 11th Annual Fantasy Shopping Night to benefit Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters. Tickets are $5/person in advance or $10/person at the door. If you want to join in on this night, please let Ashley know by sending her a Facebook message.

7 Cities Dues/Membership

After some discussion with other members and since the focus of the group has changed a bit, effective immediately membership dues for the 7 Cities Crafters are FREE! It costs nothing to be a member of our group.

If we have a workshop or a trunk show, there may be a small fee to cover the cost of supplies or booth rental, however being a part of our group is now completely free. If you have a few dollars you’d like to throw in the “pot” to cover web hosting or you would like to donate to cover the cost of supplies for a workshop (so we can make the workshop free) donations are always welcome. However we are opening the group to the public, and our monthly craft-togethers remain free of charge as always.

Introduce Yourself

I think it’s high time we made another intro post on our forum, since I accidentally zapped the other one when I upgraded. I’d love to hear who is still around, what sorts of crafty things you are up to, etc. Please go here and introduce yourself, if you’d like!

Holiday Shows?

Are you participating in a holiday art or craft show? Please email us details about the event so we can post about it on the blog, add it to our events page and send out an email reminder! If you have a flyer, even better. Send us a pdf or jpg image so we can post that too!

Facebook addict?

Are you a facebook addict? Would you be interested in running a 7 Cities Crafters facebook page? Duties would include posting photos, setting up event invites, updating the status whenever a blog post or email reminder goes out, approving friend requests, etc.  If you are interested in this job, please let me know.

Want to help us blog?

Are you interested in having posting access to this website? We’d love to see pictures from cool crafty events you attended, hear about neat craft tips or see a photo or video tutorial you put together on how to do something crafty. The opportunities are pretty much endless! If you are interested in making posts to this blog, please let me know and I’ll get you a login so you can get started!

I hope to see you at our next event!

image by MyPaperCrane

A great and inexpensive idea for a party decoration using crepe paper streamers and your sewing machine! I could see this in orange + black for Halloween, red + green for Christmas, pink + red for Valentine’s Day - use your imagination!

image by TinyBazaar

A nice article & product roundup on taking your packaging to the next level from Danielle Thompson of Tiny Bazaar.

image by kirin

Freshen up your home for the fall by making some new cushion covers. These have an invisible zip so they can be removed for easy washing (or replacing with something new for spring when that rolls around). Kirin put a great tutorial together here. And while you’re at it, why not buy some of her gorgeous handprinted fabrics to make your cushions?

image by Amanda

Amanda at Bake It Pretty is tempting me with her Favorite Ginger Tea Bread. Yummmmm.

So, what are you crafting, baking, cooking, reading this fall?