Odd Duck 2012

Yesterday was Odd Duck Bazaar. This year they changed locations from the previous years and it was held at the Hollywood Central Preforming Arts Center.

There were over 80 vendors this year. Some were located inside and there were more located outside. It was a really great mix of vendors at the show there was a little bit of everything.

We were on the inside. Here's my booth. I had aprons for the whole family this year and had lots of aprons that were good for little boys or girls and for the big boys and girls too.

 

You know I had to do a retro look for the show, and Mom and I went for a "Rosie the Riveter" look this time. I have no idea why everyone thought we were trying to look like Lucy. Maybe the red hair threw them off.

 
I debuted my new reversible fabric headbands at the show. (This is the mysterious item you may have seen in this weeks WIP.) I think they looked pretty cute. The other side of the headbands were a solid color fabric, so you have more options wearing them. I came back home with a lot less of these. I hope to have them on the store soon.

It was really great seeing all my crafty friends and scooping up some of their goodies (I came home with a vintage purse from Fab Finds and Designs and some delicious Strawberry Margarita Jam from Our Lady of Perpetual Pickles).

A huge thanks to everyone that came out today and shopped with me and the other great vendors. I hope to hear back from a few of you for your custom orders!

Tomorrow is Odd Duck Day!

Come see me tomorrow at Odd Duck!

I'll be there with my aprons, pouches and wallets... plus my new fabric headbands!

Come see me at booth #22!

What: Odd Duck Handmade Bazaar - 80+ vendors of handmade crafts, art & vintage products

Where: Hollywood Central Performing Arts Center
     1770 Monroe Street
     Hollywood, FL  33020
just blocks south of the circle on the corner of Monroe St. & Federal Highway (US1)

• the first 100 shoppers receive a free screen-printed reuseable tote with a handmade gift valued at $5 or more from one of our vendors + treats, coupons & a water bottle
• free parking
• live acoustic music, sosos at 1pm, Bela Kawalec at 3pm
• gormet food trucks
• free DIY crafting station

Many vendors accept credit cards, but just in case... BRING CASH

Craft Carnival, my own craft show

I knocked another one off of my list! This past Saturday (Nov. 5th) was the Craft Carnival. A craft show that I not only participated in, but also organized from the ground up.

My awesome craft sisters (cause they are more than friends now) from Handmade Miami and I really worked our butts off to get this show to happen. It was our baby and we can't wait to see it grow year after year.

Me, Frances, Julie & Vanessa... the ladies that made it happen!

I had Mom and Grandma helping me at my booth. I even finished my items a week before the show! That's a real record for me, but I had a rack full of aprons, and I don't think I would have had any more room if I would have made more.

Abuela watching my booth

Mom had an area in my booth too. She made the scarves and cowls that she usually makes, but this time she also made these awesome stuffies! Aren't they cute? The little owls all had their own personalities and the pillow pals were so snuggly

Mom's area! her stuffies were all so cute!

Look at all those vendors in the room! We had about 40 vendors in the show. They sold everything from vintage suitcases to handmade soap and awesome unique jewelry. We were happy to have some first time vendors too, and they had really great items!

the show about to open

A big thanks to all of my customers new and old that shopped with me. I just love helping aprons make a comeback. And Melanie (a return customer) has another designed by Diana apron to add to her collection now.

a satisfied customer, Melanie

The last few weeks were crazy, but I'm glad to say the show was a hit. It ran smoothly and everyone had a great time. If you wanna see even more pics, check out the Craft Carnival Facebook page.

We're already getting our gears moving for the Craft Carnival 2012, so stay tuned and I'll let you know what we have in store.

Are there any great craft fairs in your area? Do you like buying handmade?

The Craft Carnival

It's always been a dream of mine to put on my own craft show. It'd have an indie crafts vibe and be right here in Miami.

When I started Handmade Miami with Frances, Julie and Vanessa, we often talked about this and putting a show together ourselves. Well I am happy to say that finally our dream is becoming a reality.

Along with Handmade Miami, I'm proud to present the Craft Carnival!! This is gonna keep me pretty busy til November, but it's definitely a labor of love.

I hope you can come out and join us. And if you want any information about vending, sponsoring or buying an ad at the Craft Carnival, check out our website theCraftCarnival.com.

Art Rock 2011

This year I attended Art Rock, which is another great show put on by Amanda of Stitch Rock. Now this show is more geared towards artists, so designed by Diana really didn't fit the bill. But I convinced (okay maybe strong-armed is a better word) my friend and awesome artist, Eddie Beis, to apply.

setting up the table

This was Eddie's first show, but I told him there was no need to worry, I'd help him every step of the way. So after weeks of back and forth emails, he was finally ready-ish. He had some prints and stickers and some original pieces too. Plus he was doing custom stickers and drawings while you waited.

 working on a custom piece at the show

After I got there with the tablecloths, we set up the table and got ready for the doors to open. I walked around to say hi to some of my crafty friends, then came back to help Ed at his table. Lots of people came by and talked to Ed about his art. He even talked to some aspiring artists and gave them some tips. So many people had such great things to say about his art. It was awesome to see all of the people interested. He got one person who wanted a commission and another that wanted a drawing on the spot. It was awesome.

I'm so glad Eddie got to do this show. I know next year he'll do even better. This was my first time at Art Rock and it was so great to see all the awesome art that comes from local people. 

Odd Duck Bazaar 2011

Now that my internet is back, I can finally tell you about the great show I did last weekend. It was the second annual Odd Duck Bazaar hosted by the Hollywood Craft Mafia. This was a great show that I attended last year, and am so happy to have been a vendor this year.

Odd Duck was held in the Old Davie School. It's a historic building in Davie, Florida (near Ft. Lauderale) and it was a great location. There were three shopping areas, the upstairs area, a downstairs area, and outside under the tent. And then the tiki hut was where the food and DIY area was. All of the spaces had great vendors. I was in the upstairs area and had some great neighbors, Sherry from Annie's Cupboards and Tiffany from Pumpkin Pye Boutique. The upstairs room was nice and bright with all of its large windows, but best of all was air-conditioned. I really appreciated it in the South Florida springtime.

With my trusty assistant, Mom, we set up the booth. I got some new stuff for my booth set up, to go along with my new banner with the new logo on it. We hung up all the aprons and before you knew it the customers started pouring in. The line was pretty long full of customers waiting to get in. And they didn't stop coming in all afternoon!

I got a chance to walk around the show a bit to go around and see all of my crafty friends. It was so nice to see so many of them in person instead of on Facebook. As I walked around I got compliments on my hair. I did it up in some big victory rolls to get that 40s look. And even with all that humidity, my hair held up pretty well.

I do have to say that one of my favorite customers of the day was my friend Vanessa's little girl, Sophia. Sophie loved her apron and spent lots of time checking herself out in the mirror, twirling around. She was so cute! And she looked adorable in her apron, that even matched the headband she was wearing.

It was a great show and I have to give a huge thank you once again to the Hollywood Craft Mafia for putting on such a great show. I had a great time, hung out with some great people and met some great new ones too. I can't wait til next year's Odd Duck! If you are in the South Florida area, sign up to the Odd Duck newsletter to find out when next year's show will be!

Crafty Overload

I know I haven't posted on here in a few days, but I've been crafting and planning to craft like crazy!

I don't know if I mentioned this, but back in June, along with a few crafty friends, we founded Handmade Miami. We started out at the Miami Etsy Party last June, which Vanessa and I planned. Frances and Julie (of Mindy and Lola) were there and we decided that it would be great to get the Miami handmade community together. So with that, we started Handmade Miami. We have monthly Crafter-noons and are planning an Etsy Business Workshop in a few weeks and will also be doing some volunteer work at Miami Children's Hospital soon too. A few weeks ago we even did our first crafty party. The group is growing and growing and it's so exciting to see it all happen so fast! (This cute pic was taken at our Crafty Picnic Crafter-noon this past Saturday (L to R: Frances, Vanessa, me and Julie)

I'm also getting ready for the Odd Duck Indie Craft Fair on April 9th. This show is in its second year and looks like it'll be even better than the first. So the sweatshop has been in full effect getting ready for that too. I'm working on lots more aprons and lunchboxes. I'm also trying to get together a new display to go along with my cute new logo. I just hope I have time to do it all!

What's making this all a little harder than usual, besides the lack of time, was the fact that I moved my craft room recently. I've been slowly trying to put it all back together and get it organized, but it's still pretty crazy in there. And later this week we will be starting a remodel in the kitchen, so my KitchenAid and a bunch of other kitchen stuff has been creeping in. But I have great ideas for my new craft room, and I'll post pics as soon as I can get it all done.

Well looks like it's about time to get back into the sweatshop.

Stitch Rock 2010

Hey everyone! Sorry I've been away so long but it's been really busy lately. I was lucky enough to be accepted into Stitch Rock 2010. I found out about it a couple of weeks before the show, so I had to re-arrange a few things (like the Lady Grey Sew-Along) in order to get ready for it. So I sewed my heart out and last weekend (October 2nd) my mom and I headed up to Delray Beach for Stitch Rock.

This year my booth was in the outside vendor tent. The tent had about 15 vendors in it and made the inside room way roomier to get around in. It was a bit hot outside, but luckily not as bad as it had been in the previous weeks. And those first 100 show attendees that waited in the sun got the much anticipated goodie bags. And I have to tell you there was some great stuff in there this year.

So I set up my booth under the tent. My new clothes rack was almost completely full of aprons. There were half aprons and full aprons, ones for girls and women and even a few for the men. And as always, I had wallets and pouches. They are always such a hit. Plus, I had my new insulated lunchboxes with me too this year. They are so cute and perfect for taking your lunch to work or school while keeping it cool (I had no intention of that rhyming). I've gotta get working on a new lunchbox for me now.

There were lots of shoppers at Stitch Rock and I got to see lots of my crafty friends that I've met through shows like this. It's always so great to be around the crafty peeps. One of my best friends even came down from Orlando to come see the show.

While I was going around checking out the other crafters at the show, seems like mom was the hit of the afternoon. We both appear in a pic on pbpulse.com and she appeared in the New Times slideshow of Stitch Rock. Check out her cute pic taken by Monica McGivern. Seems Mom was a popular girl!

I was also super proud this year to be representing Handmade Miami! Our little group is only a few months old, but we had lots of interest in our crafter-noons and business workshops. Hopefully we'll be putting on our own show before you know it.

A huge, huge thanks has to go out to the #1 Stitch Rocker, the lady who puts on this show year after year, Amanda Linton. Thanks again for putting on a great show that really lets the indie crafter shine.

I hope to see plenty more of you at Stitch Rock next year. I hope to be there again with cool new items and more stuff for you to enjoy!

Day at the Pinkghost Mini Market

The first pinkghost Mini Market was this past Saturday and was a great little event. Held right inside the pinkghost store, there were about 8 vendors and it was a nice group and a great way to spend the afternooon, chatting and selling our goodies!

I decided to go with the retro feel of my aprons and take it to the 1960s. So I bumped up my hair (without a bump-it, which was no easy feat!) and put on a matching apron. Everyone loved the prints and fun feel of the aprons and I'm happy to say a few of them found new homes. Check out the rack full of aprons behind me. I went on an apron-making spree.

The other vendors were awesome too. Pumpkin Pye Boutique had her too cute peanut butter and jelly pendants. The pendants are perfect for back to school time, you can share them with your BFF! Ragamufyn had her cool t-shirts and awesome geeky cuffs. And her ceramic pendants are so pretty. Sarah of Felt and Paper had the coolest wrist pincushions made of felt shaped like buttons. She also had awesome buttons with vintage appliances on them. So cool!

Now this is something I really hadn't seen before, handmade stickers! Valentina of Kawaii Universe designs, prints, hand-laminates and hand-cuts all the stickers herself. And the stickers are so kawaii (cute in Japanese)!
There were some great artists there too. Marcos A. Rivera, who was working on a painting during the show, also paints custom sneakers. Wallove had a bunch of work from the different artists on their site, who like Luis Diaz, are members of the Bakehouse Art Complex.



Needless to say there was a little bit of something for everyone at the Mini Market. Be sure to check out pinkghost on Saturdays to see the next batch of vendors in the Mini Markets. It's going on at pinkghost every Saturday from 1pm to 5pm. Pinkghost is located at 1888 Polk Street, Hollywood, Florida. So stop by and check out your local artists and handmakers. You'll definitely be shopping for something truly original!

Pinkghost Mini Market

designed by Diana will be at the first pinkghost Mini Market this Saturday, August 21st from 1pm-5pm. Come on over and shop from us and other local artists and crafters. Best of all, admission is FREE!

Check out all the vendors for August 21st:

• Ragamufyn (ragamufyn.com): T-shirts, hand stitched goodness & original art
• Kawaii Universe (kawaiiuniverse.com): Cute hand made vinyl stickers and cute products/apparel.
• designed By Diana (designedbyDiana.com): Retro-inspired aprons and accessories, lunch bags, and pouches.
• Felt & Paper (feltandpaper.etsy.com): Felt ornaments and keychains, hand sewn wristlet purses, hand printed block prints and hand bound books.
• Ph7labs (ph7labs.com): Prints, canvases, shirts, pins & stickers.
• Pumpkin Pye Boutique (pumpkinpyeboutique.com): Polymer clay jewelry, hair accessories, felt items, and vintage inspired jewelry.
• Wallove (wallove.com): Art Prints & Reproductions.
• Marcos Rivera (marcosarivera.com): Art prints, Custom Toys, & Custom Sneakers

Hope to see you there!

Indie Craft Bazzar: Love, Peace and Craftyness

So last weekend, I took a couple of my friends to the Indie Craft Bazaar: Love, Peace & Craftyness in Ft. Lauderdale. It was held at Cinema Paradiso, a cute independent movie house. It's so great that South Florida's indie craft scene is growing, It's all about spreading the word about great handmade items and supporting indie businesses to everyone.

After waiting in the line, we had just missed getting the last of the goodie bags. I wanted to get one so bad, looks like next time I have to get there earlier. It was only a $3 entry fee (what a great deal!) and then we got into the vendor area.

There were about 30 vendors selling all kinds of stuff. There were cupcakes in the lobby and then BBQ as you walked out to the courtyard. Too bad my friends and I had just made our own brunch before going to the show. There was also a craft area off to the side where you could make your own tie dye shirt. You could bring your own t-shirt or purchase one there and then get to tie-dyeing. You could buy handmade and also make your own to take home with you. So cool.

The vendors were great. The had awesome jewelry, baby stuff, custom party invitations, recycled and repurposed items, clothing, dolls, sock monkeys, and of course, who wouldn't want a mustache?! It was super hot, it being mid-July in South Florida and all, but all the vendors were bearing with the heat, and super nice.

I stopped to talk with Tiffany of Pumpkin Pye Boutique, who had the cutest food inspired charms and jewelry. I fell in love with a bracelet she had made of green buttons. I made a note to come back and scoop it up. I also chatted with Venessa of Busy Vee. Venessa makes the coolest finger mustaches.

I also loved the paper goods at Paper Squid. Not only are they fashionable and fun, but they are also eco-friendly. I especially loved their "I Love You Though You Piss Me Off" card. So freaking funny!

Like always Miami had to represent at the show. I saw a new friend I made at the Miami Etsy Craft Party at there at her own booth. Jade of Jadefrolics was there. Her art is so freaking cute! Plus she makes it into prints, magnets and even mirrors. She was having a great time vending at the show.

I eventually made it back to the Pumpkin Pye Boutique to get the bracelet I had been eyeing, but someone scooped it up before I was able to. But I did get another great piece of jewelry from her. A great gunmetal necklace with two birds on a branch. I love it! The necklace was a little too long, but Tiffany shortened it for me as I waited. Now that's what I call service. This is definitely one of the perks of buying handmade, you know the maker and a little adjustment like that is usually not a problem at all. The handmade vendors dare always so willing to help with anything you may need. When I was leaving the show and walking back to the parking garage, someone told me they loved my necklace. As I told them thanks, I pointed them right over to the Pumpkin Pye Boutique booth. I loved being able to give them more business after they were so great to me.

Indie Craft Bazaar was super hot, but a super great show. It's definitely one not to miss if you're in the South Florida area. They hold shows every few months at Cinema Paradiso, so get on the Indie Craft Bazaar mailing list to find out about upcoming shows. And as always, support handmade and your local community by shopping with handmade businesses!

Odd Duck Handmade Bazaar

This past Saturday, March 27th, was the first Odd Duck Handmade Bazaar in Davie, Florida. It was hosted by the Hollywood Craft Mafia and sponsored by Whole Foods, JoAnn, WeMerge and ReadyMade.

Mom and I drove up from Miami to Davie for the show, but not as vendors, just as regular show attendees. We got there in about 45 minutes, but totally passed the entrance for the parking the first time. So we made a quick u-turn and went right in. The show was at the Old Davie Schoolhouse, a historic building. We got in line, paid our $5 entrance fee and got our cute Odd Duck goodie bags (a perk for being one of the first hundred people there). The goodie bags were fabric totes (which I love cause I can use it later as a shopping bag) filled with promos and goodies from the vendors we were about to see.

First we went into the Cafeteria room downstairs. The aisles were a bit narrow to get around in there, but there were some great vendors. There were cool vinyl wallets and pouches from Slaughterhead and awesome glass jewelry from Andrea C Glass Art. I'm a little too in love with their apple necklace. Cementery Prints had gorgeous photography prints of cementeries (which were gorgeous and not as morbid as it sounds). And cool, bright modern jewelry that was so my style was from craft=therapy. There were also plenty of eats, lots of goodies and coffee from Undergrounds CoffeeHaus. Plus, up on the stage they had DIY craft tables. For a small fee you could "Make Your Own Terrarium" or "Make Your Own Odd Duck." Pretty cool.

Then we moved to the next building, the Auditorium room upstairs. This room was bright and the aisles were larger. Some of my faves sellers were up there. Frances and Julie from Mindy & Lola had some cute new bibs at their table. And Sherry from Annie's Cupboards had adorable new silhouette fascinators, which she told me were inspired by Lady Gaga... doesn't she look cute in hers?! And, as always, HumbleBumbleB had their awesome vintage-inspired hats. They even had new cloche hats too.

We discovered some great new vendors up there too. Treasured Tape had some of the best duct tape wallets I have ever seen. Unless they told me I would have never thought it was just duct tape and paper. The vendor that made a huge impression was Reclaim2Fame. Their booth was awesome. They took old items and made them into robots! Coffee cans, lunchboxes, cameras, even viewfinders turned into the cutest little robots. They so reminded me of Wall-E. Another great booth was The Beer Soap Company. Their soaps, which were all made from beer, were great. Some of them did smell like beer, but some, like Mom's favorite "How Stella Got Her Brew Back," just had a nice clean scent to them. As we were looking at the soaps someone asked how they were made, but they said it was a family secret!

They were announcing the door prizes about every hour, though Mom and I didn't win any. They also had a raffle being held at the Whole Foods table for lots of different items. Later in the afternoon there was a DIY demo on how to turn an old t-shirt into a tote.

This was a great new show here in my neck of the woods. It's nice to see more indie craft fairs popping up in the area. And it was great to see so many cool crafters from South Florida doing what they do best. A big thanks and keep it up to the Hollywood Craft Mafia!