Fingered in a Lineup: This Little Piggy

Mafiosa member Jessica of This Little Piggy was featured at The Indie Tot!


The Indie Tot’s Shop Showcases feature online stores who excel at creating great products for children – whether they’re handmade or simply top-notch in quality.

Way to go, Jess; we'll celebrate with gin gimlets and sidecars at the joint tonight.

Besitos,
Vanessa

And Ballston Arts & Crafts Market Begins May 8

With the warm weather comes outdoor events, like farmers markets, concerts and of corse, arts & crafts markets. And we at the Craft Mafia can't wait! One show we're especially excited about is the Ballston Arts & Crafts Market.

Kicking off May 8th, and running the second Saturday of the month until October, this market features a bunch of Craft Mafia members. Here's 5 reasons to go:

1). bLuGrn design brings with her some super-cool silver jewelry designs (and Guapo!) on May 8th.

2). AprilMist and her beautiful paper beads will be sharing a booth with Artsy Fartsy on August 14, September 11 & October 9.

3). Ninnycat Crochet will showcase some new crochet designs on June 12 & October 9.

4). EHL Creations will grace the market with her Polaroid transfers on May 8th.

5). And since This Little Piggy's mama pig runs the Market, see if you can spot some little piggies making appearances throughout the summer on random tables and benches.

Come visit the Ballston A&C Market this season and say hi to your favorite Craft Mafia mobster!

Fenton Street Market Begins 17 April!

Silver Spring's Homegrown Fenton Street Market Opens The Season on April 17th!


(Silver Spring, MD) Fenton Street Market, the exciting new outdoor market that made its Silver Spring debut last fall with two highly successful test runs, kicks off its inaugural weekly season on Saturday, April 17th from 9 am to 3 pm. Created by resident Hannah McCann as a way to bring together and celebrate the eclectic and vibrant Silver Spring community, Fenton Street Market promises fun and excitement from week to week! There will be 60+ vendors selling antiques, imported goods, crafts, art, and food, including delicious hot donuts and crepes from Crepes At The Market! The Market Stage will keep shoppers entertained with live music and a DJ spinning excellent oldies.

A new addition to Fenton Street Market this season will be the exciting Village Square. Sponsored by Downtown Silver Spring, the Village Square will feature fresh and inventive cultural programs that share one key idea: interaction. By showcasing the diverse and mulit-faceted talents, knowledge, and skills of area residents, businesses, and institutions, the Village Square will provide a space where the community can come together to learn and explore. The wonderful Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center will be there opening day from 11 am to 2 pm to demonstrate and instruct shoppers how to screen print and letterpress their own items! All shoppers are encouraged to bring their own blank printable items such as tee shirts and tote bags to print with a special image created for the occasion.

Fenton Street Market is held at the corner of Fenton Street and Silver Spring Avenue in Downtown Silver Spring. The Silver Spring Metro is a short walk away, and there is free parking in the public lots across Fenton Street. A number of wonderful independent stores and restaurants are in the immediate area for shoppers to visit and support while they're in the neighborhood, and Fresh Farm market runs a weekly Saturday farm market 4 blocks away.

Interested in becoming a vendor? Visit the Fenton Street Market website to find out how!

Besitos,
Vanessa

Crafty Spring Semester

Starting in April, join me at First Class, Inc. for some crochet goodness.


Friday 23 April from 12-2pm I will be teaching Crochet 101, where you'll learn all the basics you need to get your first project started.

Come back the following week for Crochet 102 on Friday 30 April to wrap up the basics, learn basic motifs like granny squares and troubleshoot your current crochet project!


Still need another crochet fix? Learn quick and fun crochet patterns that can be done over a weekend at Crochet 103 on Saturday 8 May from 10am-12pm. Hope to see you there!

Besitos,
Vanessa

Cool things we saw at the American Craft Coucil

So, last month some Mafia members made their way up to Charm City for the American Craft Council show. We did some demos and had a lot of fun.

Here is Ninnycat leading a crochet demonstration....

April and those awesome paper beads...

Ninnycat and Emily at the make your own greeting card demo...

After the super awesome demos, we had a chance to mosey around the show. There were some really amazing designers and artisans there, wow! We were really interested in the (too small) indy craft section. There, we found a bunch of crafters who really fit our style. We will post a few here now and some more next week.

Don Becker's odd puppets and marionettes were really awesome. Check out his one-of-a-kind creations at http://www.dbpuppet.com/



Juleann Benkoski's Wearable Jules line really clicked with me! She makes jewelry out of metal and felt! These birdies were so adorable, I had to bring home a clip for my hair. Visit her at http://wearablejules.com/