One More Sleep!

Citizens,

We now present you one final nudge and reminder that City of Craft Spring is tomorrow.

I would also like to double remind everyone that we are in a new venue (to us) - Trinity Saint Paul's Church at Bloor and Walmer (just west of Spadina). Right near Spadina station!

If you are looking to get hyped about the vendors tonight, then I highly recommend the 2012 Spring Catalogue. Made by the brilliant Arounna of Bookhou it is a great tool to prep yourself for the big event.

City of Craft Spring 2012 Catalogue!

>> Open publication <<

Citizens, I have something very exciting to share! Arounna from Bookhou has created an absolutely stunning catalogue/look book for this Saturday's show! It features both vendor profiles and a couple of DIY projects (From Needle Book and Kid Icarus).

I hope this will not only get all you Torontonians excited for Saturday but will also serve as a way to show off our awesome vendors to folks from afar. Time to flip, friends!

Spring Youth Vendors: Lliam & Piper Booth.

Further on the Youth vendor tip, this Saturday's Spring show will also feature the brother and sister duo of Lliam and Piper Booth. The progeny of local super-maker duo, Bookhou, they certainly come by handmade practice honestly. In fact, both little ones have been kicking around the workshop and showroom since day one. Well, maybe not the wood workshop, but still...power tools may come in due time. For the time being, Piper is clocking in as our youngest vendor ever at three years old! Given that she is a toddler, it is anyone's guess as to what she might make, but Arounna reports that there have been lots of washi tape sculptures popping up around the studio. Five year old Lliam, on the other hand, is much more representational in his work and likes to draw quite a bit at the moment. Lucky for us, he also has access to Mom and Dad's supplies. Monster pins, anyone?

Again, with vendors this young, the collection of work on their table can't help but be a surprise. I, for one, I am really excited to see what they make!

City of Craft Spring
Saturday, April 21, 2012
11am-6pm
Trinity St. Paul's United Church
427 Bloor Street West (one block West of Spadina)
Toronto, ON
$1 (Kids 12 & Under FREE)

Spring Youth Vendor: Jeff Cane for Operation Sock Monkey.

Did you know that this Saturday's Spring show will see City of Craft's first Kids' Row - a mini vendor section exclusively for makers 14 and under. Everyone is so excited about this brand new initiative that I thought I would try to preview a couple of these upstart crafters over the course of today to share the love!

First up is twelve-year-old Jeff Cane. An Ottawa native, he became inspired in the fall to hop on board as a Youth Operative for Operation Sock Monkey. As such, he has taught DIY workshops in his school and contributed monkeys to OSM's donation drives. His story, in itself, is pretty inspiring, too.

Here is a little insight into what got Jeff going and why he chose OSM, in his own words:

I loved the idea of Operation Sock Monkey right away. I was already looking for something special that I could do to make a diffrence in the world. I want to help people. With OSM I can help people in far away places and I can help people right where I live at the same time.

I have always been lucky to be surrounded by love in my life. I have a bed to sleep in and I feel safe in my home. I wish that all children could feel safe and loved. I would like to raise money to help women and children in my home town to feel safe and have a safe place to get away from people who would hurt them. Abuse is wrong.

Jeff plans to donate all the money he raises to a womans shelter called The Naomi House in his home town.

For more information on Operation Sock Monkey and what they do, look here.

For information on their Youth Operatives, look here.

City of Craft Spring
Saturday, April 21, 2012
11am-6pm
Trinity St. Paul's United Church
427 Bloor Street West (one block West of Spadina)
Toronto, ON
$1 (Kids 12 & Under FREE)

Spring Profile: DJ Clean Teen.

Photo by Elaine Banks

For the Spring show, we are very lucky to welcome an old friend in a new capacity. Former vendor, designer, exhibition curator and installation coordinator, Tara Bursey, will be spinning wax (and digital files) for all seven hours of the show. Is there anything this gal can't do? Nope. Nope there is not.

here is some background info on Clean Teen's illustrious DJ life to get you braced for the tunes:

Tara has been DJ-ing around town for 7 years, and has done numerous guest sets on radio. Past monthly nights included Out of Vogue (2005-06) and Girls Go Crazy! (2010-11) and her new monthly night Strange Notes launched at the Embassy in Kensington Market in March of 2012, and will continue on the first Wednesday of every month. For City of Craft's spring show, Tara will be ringing in the sunshine with some sweet pop, rock, bubblegum and psychedelia from the 1960s. There will be three live sets over the course of the day on glorious vinyl! Think Beach Boys, Girl Groups, fun pop hits that you know and cool lost nuggets that you don't know! Rave on!

.

City of Craft Spring
Saturday, April 21, 2012
11am-6pm
Trinity St. Paul's United Church
427 Bloor Street West
(one block West of Spadina)
Toronto, ON

Spring Edition!

Hi guys!

Just popping in to make sure you are aware that the First Ever Spring Edition of City of Craft is taking place this coming Saturday at Trinity St. Paul's United Church. If that dead zone between the winter holiday season and summer fairs has got you down, City of Craft is here to help with what promises to be a show budding with fresh goods!

This is a blown up version of the craft and rummage trunk show that goes down periodically at the workroom, with 40+ vendors bringing you the best in local art, craft, design, supplies, rummage, vintage, housewares, children's goods, and more.

Other awesomeness you can expect:

• Interactive fun like the free photo booth by Have & Hold Design
  
• A few visitors from afar
  
• Kids' Row for youth vendors 14 and under
  
• Studio supply clear-outs from Toronto indie craft's top makers
  
• Dazling decor
  
• Hot tunes all day from DJ Clean Teen
  
• The Toronto Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef
  
• Surprises!
  

City of Craft Spring would be a great place to get something sweet for your mom, treat yourself to spring craft supplies, work on your art collection and maybe even score some deals.

See you there!

City of Craft Spring!
Saturday, April 21, 2012
11am-6pm
Trinity St. Paul's United Church
427 Bloor St. W.(West of Spadina)
Toronto, ON
$1 (Kids 12 & Under FREE)

Spring Show Needs Volunteers!

Happy spring crafty citizens! I must say I'm pretty excited to be making a call for volunteers so early in 2012, thanks to CoC's first big spring show.

As I'm sure you can guess, volunteers are a super important to City of Craft and helping out at a CoC event is a fun way to support Toronto's awesome craft community. The spring show is Saturday, April 21 from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm and we're looking for volunteers to help out in the following ways:

• setting up and tearing down tables/chairs
• helping put up some amazing decorations
• taking admission
• helping out vendors by watching over their tables when they need a washroom/food break
• being generally helpful, friendly and welcoming to the City of Craft
  

It's really that easy! In exchange, volunteers get the chance to be part of a fun creative event and meet great people in Toronto's craft community (and beyond). As always, City of Craft shows its appreciation to its volunteers by thanking them with great (and sometimes limited edition) swag. It's win-win!

So if you have 2 to 3 hours to spare on April 21, send a short e-mail to cityofcraft[AT]gmail[DOT]com and be sure to mark CoC down in your calendar. Here's the event page on Facebook so you can get all main the info right away.

Next week, we'll send out an e-mail to volunteers to ask about their scheduling preferences.

Thanks Citizens!

Stay crafty,
Michelle
Volunteer Coordinator