Winter Wonders Handmade Market 2012

Thanks so much Saskatoon for making the Winter Wonders Handmade Market such a success! We had such a wonderful time meeting all of the customers, vendors, and volunteers that made the day and a half so extra special. It was a joy to meet all of you and spend time with such a talented group of people. See you in 2013 and Happy Holidays!

Christmas Markets Start this Weekend!

Ready to start your holiday shopping?

If you are out and about this weekend in Saskatoon don't miss Artisan at TCU Place....

http://www.artisansask.ca/

and Wilson's Greenhouse Craft and Trade Show this weekend!



Flock & Gather in Fine Lifestyles Magazine!

Rebecca King of Fine Lifestyles Magazine provided a lovely shout out to the Flock and Gather's Winter Wonders Handmade Market in the Winter 2012 edition of the magazine.

It is an excellent article that showcases some other fantastic local handmade markets (Mix & Match and Artisans). There are also a couple of lovely photos of Erin Weiss (Boolah Baguette) dolls! Thanks so much Rebecca!

http://www.finemags.com/

www.etsy.com/shop/boolahbaguette

Flock and Gather Craft Night

We had a wonderful time last night at the Mendel Art Gallery! As we stretched and flexed our creative  muscles we ended up with these great gift tags for the holiday season. We also had a chance to visit and to work on some ideas for packaging for the Walden Sweet gear.

Thanks to everyone who came out and braved the cold.

Revving Up the Holiday Cheer

With the holiday season just around the corner the Flock and Gather Craft Collective is excited to be organizing and participating in two ways to help you enjoy the holiday season!


Save the Date! - Flock & Gather Craft Night!
Make some wonderful holiday themed garlands and gift tags.
November 8th at 6pm at the Mendel Art Gallery in the studio space just off the main gallery.

http://flockandgather.blogspot.ca/2012/10/flock-gather-craft-night-november-8th.html


Also, the count down begins! The Flock and Gather Winter Wonders Handmade Market!
A highlight of the holiday season. Buy unique locally made gifts this Christmas season.
Friday December 7th @ 6pm - 9pm
Saturday December 8th at 10am - 5pm
St. Joseph's Parish Hall
535 8th Street East (corner of Broadway and 8th Street)
Saskatoon, Sask

In addition to some of the best art, craft, and design Saskatoon has to offer, there will be artisans from Edmonton, Regina, Montreal, and more. Definately a must see!

For more information and vendor profiles:
http://flockandgather.blogspot.ca/

Adventures in Drying Racks

Over the last year or two we have managed to pick up or build most of the equipment we need for the studio. With one exception; a drying rack. Surprisingly these are harder to come by than you might think.

They are ridiculously expensive if you buy them new, so that was definitely not an option.

The home made solutions we have been using are really starting to slow us down and cause a lot of problems and headaches. Try finding room for 300 sheets of 11"x17" paper laying flat in a small space.

So over the last year we've been scouring the province for one. A couple weeks ago, finally success! One came up for sale on Kijiji. The only hitch was that it was in Edmonton and we are in Saskatoon.

The plan was to make an epic day trip to Edmonton and back.

Trailer rented and car borrowed I was off early Friday morning.

The rack turned out to be far larger than we need. Approximately, 4' x 5' x 6' high with 50 racks and it weighs over 300lbs!

Luckily the guy selling the drying rack owns a sign shop in Edmonton and had a forklift to load the rack onto the trailer. We strapped it down the best we could and I prayed it wasn't going to fly off the trailer between here and Saskatoon!

The drive went far better than expected, and I only had one minor incident.

The funny part is that right now we don't even have a space large enough for the rack! So for the moment it is being stored outside in the backyard! Wrapped up like an ugly Christmas present. I can't wait to unwrap it and start putting it to some good use.

Sunday Sweets: Summer Vacation

We are so excited to be going on summer vacation and be spending some time in the great outdoors!

Sunday Sweets : Inspiration: Summer is Here!

Summer has finally arrived on the Prairies! We are surrounded by green grass, blue open sky, as well as  blossoming shrubs and pots planted full of petunias. I really have a great appreciation for this time of year and being able to enjoy the colours and the natural beauty of the great outdoors. It is Truly Inspiring! Here are a few of the images that I have taken over the last few weeks. Enjoy!

Custom T Shirts

Recently a friend asked us if we could print t-shirts for a family event. Of course we said YES!

The only hitch was that we had never really printed t-shirts before. How hard could it be, really? It is just a simple one colour shirt. The process went pretty well, but we certainly did learn a lot! Man is registration different with fabrics than it is with paper...

Our friend supplied us with the finalized artwork and t-shirts. All we had to do was print off the films, mix a custom ink colour, and print.

Dana mixed a fantastic cream colour that looked awesome on the light blue t-shirts. We did discover that printing light colours on darker shirts is a little tricky. The inks are so transparent that the colour of the shirt really affects the ink colour. Having said that she was hoping to get a real weathered kind of look, so I think that actually ended up working in our favour.

Here is how the final product turned out. Thanks Jen!

Erin Weiss Custom Dolls

This year was my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary and I decided to ask Erin of Boolah Baguette to make custom dolls. The process was pretty easy, all I had to do on my end was find a photo of my parents when they were first dating and Erin took care of the rest.
When Erin emailed us to say that the dolls were ready for pick up we were truly excited!

What is so incredible about Erin's work is the attention to the details.

With just a couple of photos emailed off and a bit of time Erin came up with the likeness of my parents when they were first dating to a tee. The details that we love are the scalloped collar, the sparkling button on the dress and the cat glasses that my mom wore. As well as the other details that we just can't say enough about which is the red tie and the sideburns that my dad fashionably sported. Her work is truly amazing and it is one of the reasons why we buy local and handmade. Thanks Erin!!!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/boolahbaguette#

http://www.facebook.com/boolahbaguette

Sunday Sweets

Aesthetic Apparatus is one of our favorite design/screen printing shops around. This dynamic duo from Minneapolis do a lot of amazing design work, but they are most known for their gigposters.

And they are sweet!

Screen printing is a unique medium. There are a number of restrictions that make designing for screen printing a unique challenge. The guys from Aesthetic Apparatus understand this very well and their designs utilize the strengths of the medium to amazing effect.

They get a lot out of only a couple colours by the way they layer parts of the images and use the natural transparency of the inks to their advantage.

You can see more of their work here:
http://aestheticapparatus.com/

And if you are want to see a fun video of them printing a sweet poster for the movie "The Shining" check this out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyQemBVZJYw

Flock and Gather Winter Market

We are members of a craft group in Saskatoon called the Flock and Gather Craft Collective. The six of us got together about a year and a half ago. Among other things we organize semi annual handmade markets in Saskatoon.

You can find out more about who we are and what we do here:
http://flockandgather.blogspot.ca/search/label/about%20flock%20and%20gather

We are currently seeking applications for the Winter Handmade Market. You can check out photos from the previous shows, vendor profiles, and more on the blog. If you've never attended one of the shows or participated they really are a lot of fun.

We encourage anyone interested to apply.

For information on the application process:
http://flockandgather.blogspot.ca/2012/05/calling-all-vendors.html

For more information on Flock and Gather:
http://flockandgather.blogspot.ca/
http://www.facebook.com/flockandgather

True Knit

True Knit Art Show has two shows coming up in Regina. And they are looking for crafty folks to participate!
The dates are: Saturday September 22 and Saturday December 15.
Find more information about the shows and how to apply here:
http://www.facebook.com/trueknitartshow

Bazaart Regina

Every year the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina hosts a huge outdoor art and craft festival. If you've never been it is definitely worth checking out this Saturday June 16 from 10AM - 5PM.

There is an amazing variety of items to buy and what a great atmosphere. Find out more about Bazaart including a list of artisans here:
http://www.mackenzieartgallery-bazaart.ca/

Here are some of our favorites:

Paula Cooley

http://www.paulacooley.com/

Shauna Buck

http://shaunabuck.com/

Kristina Johnson

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Quirks-Twists-Jewelry/171350362915973

Sunday Sweets...

Sunday Sweets. What better way to end the week than to take a look at something inspiring. And what better way to start off this weekly post than with a video about making chocolate.

Who doesn't love chocolate?

But this isn't your corner store bought mass produced candy bar. This is chocolate as art, hand crafted art. The artisans are Mast Brothers Chocolate in Brooklyn.

http://mastbrothers.com/shop

These two videos, the first one in particular, are truly inspiring. The brothers commitment to their craft and attention to detail is amazing.

And check out their "factory". Don't I wish I had that space! If only they shipped to Canada!

http://gliving.com/handcrafted-chocolate-bars-by-brooklyns-mast-brothers/

Cathedral Recap

Thank you to everyone who stopped by the Cathedral Arts Festival on Saturday. No rain and lots of great people made for a wonderful day. Here are a couple photos of the booth before the show. 

We shared a spot with the other members of the Flock and Gather Craft Collective.
http://flockandgather.blogspot.ca/

We even had some new screen printed pillow cases hot off the press.

If you get a chance to check out the festival next year it is a fantastic event.

Make It!

Last weekend we drove to Edmonton to check out one of the larger Indie Craft shows in Western Canada. Make It!
We had heard a lot of good things about the show, so we were very excited to see what the show was all about and too see what we would find there.

http://makeitproductions.com/

More than 5,000 people attend the show over the 3 days. There was already a line up when we arrived Saturday morning and just in case you were hungry before coming into the show they had some yummy food vendors parked at the entrance of the building!
Unfortunately, when we entered into the venue we were too overwhelmed with all the amazing work and people to take any photos inside the show. Suffice it to say there was a lot of wonderful work and lots of people.

Here are photos of some of our sweet finds that we gladly took home with us!

Keri Chrystian (Illustrator)
http://kerichrystian.com/

This illustrator had some really cool buttons and magnets to add to our collection.
Her work is super cute!

After making a few rounds around the venue we came across...

A Cagey Bee (Kris G. Brownlee)
http://www.acageybee.com/

We love the name of her business and love her work. Her illustrations are so dreamy and adorable. The cat in the painting is named Theo. Love the traditional portrait nature of this illustration! Cats ended up dominating the purchases we made. This really wasn't intentional, but was a nice surprise.

Next a stop at Roxypop.

Roxypop
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Roxypop
http://gotcraft.com/

If you aren't familiar with this dynamic duo from Vancouver do yourself a favour and check out their website. Not only do they make the cutest stuff you could imagine they are the masterminds behind one of the best craft shows around. Period! Got Craft in Vancouver!
While we were at the show we stopped by their booth and purchased a few goodies and were greeted with the warmest welcome around.

The cat cameo is wonderful, but my personal favorite was the fortune cookie catnip cat toy. They had catnip toys that looked like perogies too! They are awesome. And we couldn't pass up on the Got Craft tote.


Some of our other favorites from the show.

Flight Path Designs
http://www.flightpathdesigns.com/

Black Drop Designs
http://www.blackdrop.ca/

Sabrina Butterfly Designs
http://www.sabrinabutterflydesigns.ca/

Cloud & Lolly
http://www.cloudandlolly.com/

Amy Victoria Wakefield
http://avwakefield.com/