Hi everyone,

The Trunk Show last Saturday went great!  Seven crafters showed up to sell their handmade goods.  We were moved inside Waterside because of the morning rain, but we still got decent foot traffic.  We’re going to look into doing more Trunk Shows with Festevents in the future, so I’ll keep you posted on that.

Our Craft Supply Swap will be Saturday, August 29th from 10am-12pm.  Hopefully we’ll be outdoors under tents for this one!  Please join us for this great opportunity to de-stash and get some new, free supplies!

Craft Supply Swap Rules

This is a freecycle—you may not leave with the exact same dollar value of items that you came in with, but it’s a great way to get rid of supplies you aren’t going to use and get some new supplies for free!

Acceptable supplies include: fabric, notions, buttons, beads, yarn, paint, paper, pens & pencils, art/craft books, and anything else directly related to making art or crafts. ONLY unopened/unused/full containers, no scraps or leftover bits please! Also, this is a swap of new items, no reclaimed or found items please.

You will receive a large or small bag to collect “new” items based on whether you contribute a large or small amount of supplies to the swap. All unclaimed supplies will be donated to charity. You must bring supplies in order to participate.

I hope to see you all there!

-Kristin G.

Hi everyone,

Please email me ASAP if you would like to sell your stuff at the 7 Cities Crafters Trunk Show at Town Point Park on Saturday, August 15th. The hours will most likely be 12-3pm, and they will be setting up the tables, chairs, and tent for us. All we have to do is show up, set up our displays, and sell away! Totally free for us!

Email me at kristin@craftandsewstudio.com if you would like to participate.

Thanks!
-Kristin G.

Hi everyone,

Our first event in coordination with FestEvents went great last Saturday–they publicized it well and plenty of people showed up to needle-felt and paint flowerpots. Kristen R. and I ran the workshop.

We have two other events coming up, a Trunk Show on 8/15 and the Craft Supply Swap on 8/29, and I need people to volunteer to help run both of them. They are both great opportunities for us as a group and as individuals. How often do you get to sell your handmade items on a Saturday afternoon in the brand-new, beautiful Town Point Park with NO BOOTH FEE whatsoever, and the tables, chairs, and tent are provided? Totally free for us! How awesome is that?

And the Craft Supply Swap will be short, as simple as we can make it, and incredibly fun. We’ll meet (and recruit) other Hampton Roads crafters, get rid of supplies that are junking up our craft rooms, and get new supplies for FREE while we’re at it! And both events would be perfect for promoting Handmade Parade–to draw both applications and attendees.

These are amazing opportunities for us and I cannot run them all by myself. I will be there both days to help, but I really need some people to step up and coordinate these with me. I promise you it’ll be fun (and profitable) and the small amount of work involved will totally pay off.

If you can help, please comment and/or shoot me an email at kristin@craftandsewstudio.com.

Thanks in advance for your help! I think it’ll be great if we can get out there and do something more than just meeting up once a month to craft (as fun as that is :)).

-Kristin

The 7 Cities Crafters have been invited to have a group booth at any of the Festevents Festivals this summer. Fees vary for the events. The application is here.

According to Jessica, it is the same application used for food vendors so some of the stuff won’t apply to us. They understand that we don’t do this on a full time/professional level so they are happy to work some of the issues out. Please let her know if you have any questions - grayj@festevents.org is her email.

I think the Wine Festival, Acoustic Music Festival, Children’s Festival and Beer Festival will be our best bets. Please visit the forum and chime in if you’d like to organize a shared booth.

Here is the list of events: 

Saturday, April 25, 2009 
8th Annual Virginia Beer Festival 
Venue - Nauticus Celebration Pavilion Theme – beer sampling 
Ticketed & Everyone is Welcome Est. attendance 8,000 

Saturday, May 9, 2009 
3rd Annual AT&T Spring Town Point Virginia Wine Festival 
Venue - Nauticus Celebration Pavilion Theme – upscale, gourmet, wine sampling 
Ticketed & Everyone is Welcome Est. attendance 5,000 

Friday, July 3 – Sunday, July 5, 2009 
33rd Annual Norfolk Harborfest & 27th Annual AT&T 4th of July Fireworks 
Venue – Town Point Park Theme – signature event, fireworks 
Free & Everyone is Welcome Est. attendance 250,000 

Friday, July 24 – Sunday, July 26, 2009 
The 27th Annual Norfolk Jazz Festival Presented by AT&T 
Venue – Town Point Park Theme – smooth Jazz 
Ticketed & Everyone is Welcome Est. attendance 5,000

Friday, July 31 – Sunday, August 2, 2009 
The 20th Annual AT&T Bayou Boogaloo & Cajun Food Festival 
Venue – Town Point Park Theme – Cajun and Zydeco 
Ticketed & Everyone is Welcome Est. attendance 20,000 

Saturday, August 29, 2009 
9th Annual AT&T Norfolk Latino Music Festival 
Venue – Town Point Park Theme – Latin cultural celebration 
Free & Everyone is Welcome Est. attendance 5,000 

Sunday, September 27, 2009 
4th Annual AT&T Acoustic Music Festival & 2nd Annual Books in the Park 
Venue – Town Point Park Theme – acoustic music 
Free & Everyone is Welcome Est. attendance 7,500 

Saturday, October 10, 2009 
21st Annual AT&T Virginia Children’s Festival 
Venue – Town Point Park Theme – family 
Ticketed & Everyone is Welcome Est. attendance 15,000 

Saturday, Oct. 17 – Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009 
22nd Annual AT&T Town Point Virginia Wine Festival 
Venue – Town Point Park Theme – upscale, gourmet, wine sampling 
Ticketed & Everyone is Welcome Est. attendance 15,000