ONLY 2 WEEKS TILL BIG ASS INDIE CRAFT!!!

Starting July 31st, Mad Art Gallery will be again hosting the annual Big Ass Indie Arts & Crafts Fair!

Performing at this year's event will be none other than the Queen of the Gem Sweaters herself, Leslie Hall!



Be there or forever rue the day!

Last Call for Artists!

St. Louis's biggest collection of alternative art and crafts.
The Big Ass Indie Art and Craft Show showcases St. Louis's finest artists and crafters in a department store style show.
With locally made goods, great food and big ass entertainment!

Call for art/crafts runs until May20th. See www.bigindiecraft. com for more info.

Looking out the window

After the morning-and-afternoon-long deluge, it looks to be a beautiful day outside! Just perfect for the Tower Grove Farmer's Market Season Opening tomorrow! Hope to see you all there, it should be a blast!

Spit-shine and Polish

I'm redoing my table displays for all the upcoming craft fairs I'll be vending in, and I thought I'd let you have a peek. The colour scheme I'm going to be unveiling will be a rust/peach/pea green/grass green range of hues, and the trays are sporting a fresh coat of ivory paint with peach tiger stripes and leopard spots. I think this'll be the best looking table I've ever had!



Imagine these trays on pale peach tablecloths, with copper coloured easels holding rust coloured bulletin boards full of necklaces.



I've recycled a cast-iron wine rack into a bracelet holder, a birdcage planter and some very strong magnets into a brooch holder, and I'm currently repainting an old lazy susan to hold my glass head (affectionately named Gracie) for a hairpin display.



I prefer to use upcycled thrift store finds to display my goods, because they're cheap, plentiful, and you have the opportunity to be utterly creative envisioning that old metal trashcan upended and painted with roses to make a perfect earring holder. Plus, the fact that you're saving something from being thrown away helps us all in the long run.

I still have a lot of work to do before the big shows start in May, but when it's all done I'll be sure to let you see it!

Strange Days are here again

(Borrowed from my friend Robin's blog SAHM I Am)

BY SCOTT WUERZ News-Democrat
O'FALLON --

--Started three years ago as a way to give hip, young artists a creative outlet, the Strange Folk Festival has grown into a two-day extravaganza that has seen participation increase five-fold since 2006.

Organizer Autumn Wiggins said 20 vendors signed up for the first festival. This year, 120 will be there selling artwork, eclectic clothing, purses and other crafts, many of which are made out of recycled materials.

"The response, it's been just great," Wiggins said. "We have vendors signed up from all over the U.S. and Canada. The selection was juried this year, we had a lot more applicants than the 120 we approved.

"The festival runs from Saturday through Sunday at O'Fallon Community Park.Wiggins said the festival, which drew small crowds on one rain-soaked day three years ago, could draw as many as 10,000 people this year. "When it was on Saturday only, some people had a tough time being here," Wiggins said. "Now that it has been expanded to Saturday and Sunday, it's only going to get bigger."

City Administrator Walter Denton is thrilled to hear those projections for several reasons. "There are community benefits to festivals like this," Denton said. "First, it is an opportunity for residents to come together and enjoy a local event. Second, it is important to quality of life to support cultural events like the Strange Folk Festival. Third, these events have some economic impact in that visitors who visit the festival may stay in our hotels and shop in our stores."

In addition to a broader slate of vendors, Wiggins said a slate of musical acts are planned and food options will be greatly increased as well. "This sort of event usually does pretty well in big cities, but I wasn't sure at first how it would go over in the suburbs," Wiggins said. "But it is one of the best-attended shows of its kind in the country. As far as local participation is concerned, it's one of the best shows there is."

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Needless to say, this is where I'll be parking my buns come this Saturday and Sunday. I'll be next to my impeccably dressed friend Robin, of Bag-A-Gogo fame, and surrounded by many STL Craft Mafiosas as well as the fabulous owner of Circa Boutique in Belleville, IL. See you there! I'll be the one running her mouth like my jaw is greased. ;)