The RCM family is on the road again and at the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn NY. Come check us out at the McCarren Park Pool, Booth #44! We have clothing for the whole family, home decor, accessories and more. And don’t forget to swing by and visit our familia Tasha and Maryellen (wo)manning their own Booth #162.
RCM rockin’ it out at both ends of the pool!!
Well maybe not my life, but certainly my small projects.
I’ve been drawn to making some crafts that are considerably smaller than what I usually make. Which brings about a whole different way to take a picture of them, so I DIY’ed a photo box. Using this tutorial and this photo box tutorial I got to work. I didn’t follow the tutorials exactly, but thats what DIY is all about. 
Materials used:
1 box [this one was approximately 8″wide x 11″deep x 11″tall]
3 sheets of plain white 8″x11″ paper [used on top, and sides where box was cut out]
1 plain white sheet of poster board, cut to fit the width of box and kept long to create a seamless staging area.
White glue [elmers]
Duct tape, white [just on some outside places to keep the box flaps out of the way and I’m a over-taper]
Regular ole desk lamp [for better results follow the tutorial and use a 100 watt bulb, I’m impatient and didn’t have one]
test picture
results:the beginning of destashing of the odd but fancy buttons I have by turning them into button rings!! FYI: I horde buttons in addition to the fabric. Like peanut butter and jelly, they go together. 
Summer In The Cities…
Its going to be a busy summer. The Richmond Craft Mafia has been lucky enough to get into a lot of shows with our group booth this year. The show line up for the summer so far is:
Strawberry Street Festival
Saturday, May 10th from 12 noon - 4:30 pm
Fox Model Elementary School
Richmond, VA
Art Star Craft Bazaar
Saturday, May 31st from 11 am - 7 pm
Sunday, June 1st from 11 am - 5 pm
Philadelphia, PA
Ice Atlanta
Saturday, June 7th from 11 am - 6 pm
Atlanta, Georgia
Renegade Craft Fair
Saturday - Sunday, June 14th - 15th
from 11 am - 7 pm
Brooklyn, NYC
Crafty Bastard
Saturday, June 28th from 10 am - 5 pm
Silver Spring, Maryland
The 3rd installment of Spring Bada-Bing was a great hit, despite the rain. (Whats with the rain and SBB? It always works out fine, but dang!) Anywho, people braved the weather and came out to support some of the awesomest (yes, thats a word) crafty peeps this side of the Mississippi. Planet Zero had terrific atmosphere for the show and our contact Carolyn was great. I wasn’t able to get my shop on like I would have liked, but I did manage to get what I had my eye on for awhile.
Owl by Boogie Babee, mini squid by Cleo Dee and pin by Molebaby Buttons.
Well, what happen?? No, I’m not growing alfalfa sprouts, they are suppose to be clovers of the four leaf variety!
This is about 10 days after the last picture. They have been looking really peaked for the past couple of days so I changed containers (out of the one it came in) and added more soil. Looks like the grow your own four-leaf clovers have gone the way of the sea monkeys.
Week one of growing lucky four leaf clovers. Not too shabby!
Today was a nice spring-ish day in the 60’s. I wish it would just be Spring already and start the warm up! I’ve been scrambling to make new clothing and stock up for the upcoming craft shows and markets. New top design!
(modeled by my friend, Beth of monkeyandme.etsy.com)
Lately, I also have been rediscovering my green thumb and adding plants to the puttering I do around the house.
I don’t pick anything fancy, I just go with what spot in the house I think needs a plant and I go find one that fits the space, mostly green leafy types.
I am also trying my hand at growing my own luck, DIY Four leaf clovers.
I’m a sucker for those little kits that are display at check out at the bookstores. Pocket ninja, mini Japanese rock garden, pocket voodoo doll etc. I’ll post pictures on how the clovers are growing. I hope they don’t go the way of the sea monkeys. Long story short, the bowl got knocked over and I remember crying as a 4 year old “save them!, save them! save the mo-unk-keys!” Oh the trauma!! … sea monkeys… at best it was a fish bowl of floating dust I watched for weeks! I did get my first pet (real pet! not dust) the very same day, a gold fish.
It’s that time a year again! Spring Bada-Bing “The BOSS of all craft shows” is gearing up for its 3rd annual craft show here in Richmond. Over 60 of the coolest, craftiest artists and designers from around the country will be at Planet Zero selling their original, high quality handmade goods. For total details about the show and application requirements for the crafty peeps out there, visit the Spring Bada-Bing website at: http://www.springbadabing.com
Planet Zero on April 20th is the place to be!!
If the rumors are true another one of my favorite magazines has decided to toss in the towel. First Blueprint (the final issue being January/February 2008) and now possibly Adorn. Sadness!
The saying goes for one door that closes another one opens, as there is a new online magazine launched February 14th, DIY City Magazine. Its geared directly towards the DIY/indie movement and the artists that are in the hustle and bustle of it. Each DIY City Mag focuses on a city; its local artists/designers, resources, and shops. The first issue is all about NYC. Which makes total sense, because the brains behind it, Deb and Wendy of (DIYThing.com) are based in New York. Artist/Designers: DIY City also has a community on NING, DIY City Community to network with others and share resources. Next issue highlights New Orleans! Excellent!
The Richmond Craft Mafia will be featured on Virginia Currents this week. Our segment had been postponed and had been rescheduled sense my last post about it. The show will air on WCVE Channel 23 February 7th at 8:00 pm. If you miss it you can also check it out on Saturday at 5:30 pm or Sunday at 12:30 pm. Excitement!!
