FaveCrafts

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Craft & Hobby Show 2014 Wrap Up & Giveaway

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We hope you’ve enjoyed our coverage of the Craft and Hobby Trade Show 2014. All the sneak peeks at new products that will be hitting your stores in 2014 are so fun. We even have a fun little giveaway at the bottom and you can win a ton of new products.

In case you missed any of our CHA Winter 2014 posts:

New Yarn Trends 

A look at the Mixed Media Trend & Paper Flowers

Our CHA Blogger Event

New Nautical Trend for 2014

And we have so many blogger friends who have also covered the show and their experiences. If you have blogged about the CHA Winter Show, please add your link below. And be sure to visit all these blogs and tell them FaveCrafts sent you.

FaveCrafts Blog Giveaway

GIVEAWAY

To celebrate all the new products that will be available this year, we thought it would be fun to give away a CHA swag bag to one lucky reader! If you would love to win all the new products that we gave to the bloggers at our CHA Blogger Event, read on and find out how to enter!

CHA Swag Bag Giveaway

 

To enter, all you need to do is comment below and let us know:

What craft product do you wish was available?
What is your dream product?

 

OFFICIAL RULES FOR CONTEST

  • There is a maximum of one entry per person. The entry will be based upon a comment left on this blog post. Duplicate comments will be deleted and are not tallied.
  • Winner will be selected at random from the comments on this blog post.
  • Winner will be contacted by the email address provided.
  • You have until January 31st 2014 at 11:59p EST to leave your comment below. Comments posted after that will not be counted.
  • Contest open to anyone 18+ in US and/or Canada.

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Send Your Teen To Camp … Maker Camp, That Is!

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Summer can be long and boring when you’re not intellectually engaged. However, that doesn’t mean you have to sit in a classroom or stare at a textbook. If your teen is sick of the summer blahs, send them to Maker Camp. And don’t worry, they won’t have to miss a day of their summer job.

Maker Camp is a free virtual camp for crafty teenagers. No need to bring a sleeping bag or pack bug spray – all you need is a computer and an urge to create. This is the forth week of Maker Camp, but it’s far from over. From now until August 16th, teens can participate in crafty field trips, create innovative projects and join a daily Google+ hangout with fellow campers.

 

Here’s what’s happening this week:

Today- Learn to make and use a silkscreen for personalized designs

Wednesday – Build a device for colossal spin art fun and make a digital flipbook

Thursday- Animate anything with a handmade phenakistoscope

Friday – Hack with Hallmark field trip

Saturday and Sunday – LED throwies for beautiful lighting or party decoration

Don’t forget! Google+ hangouts take place every single day at 1 p.m. Central. All you have to do is head to the Maker Camp site to join.

 

Take advantage of the last few days of summer and get your teens crafting. There’s still plenty of time to get involved and get to work!

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The Martha Stewart Show – Come With Us!

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Have you always wondered what it is like to sit front row for a taping of the Martha Stewart Show? Then join us while we bring you every little detail, behind the scene photos, and a peek inside a real show taping as it happens, next Monday, October 3rd EST. It will feel like you are sitting right beside me in the front row! This show will air LIVE on the Hallmark Channel, check your local listings for time and channel.

Here’s how you can join us…

  • Tune in for the Live Blog on Monday, October 3rd starting at 9:45a on our FaveCrafts website or on Facebook. I will be posting exactly what is happening in the studio as the show gets underway. Then as the show airs, I will be giving you all the details play by play, the sights, the sounds, the smells from inside the studio.
  •  Join in the experience by logging in and using the chat room feature on our Live Blog. We would love to hear your questions and comments while we are attending the show.
  • Can’t follow along as the show airs? That’s OK, you can read the entire transcript anytime! (And be sure to set your DVR.)
  • There will also be a Martha Stewart Craft Giveaway along with our live event right here on the FaveCrafts Blog, so tune in next Monday to enter.

Will you join us? If you met Martha Stewart, what would you ask her? What have you always wanted to know about The Martha Stewart Show?

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Marisa Pawelko – The Modern Surrealist

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Marisa Pawelko Modern Surrealist Artist and Diva
Marisa Pawelko – The Modern Surrealist

Marisa Pawelko is by far one of the most inspirational artist I have ever met. I’ve met some great people but her artwork would be something I would collect due to the incredible nature of her work. It’s loud, unusual, collectible, and truly creative peices I have ever witnessed.

I met Marisa at Crafting and Hobby Association. I had never heard of her. I seen a table display she had set up. Her face was put onto soup cans. I thought to myself, that’s the craziest coolest thing I had ever seen. In fact, the picture you see here was the same picture. I thought to myself, Who is this woman?
You can check out her website at The Modern Surrealist.
I found Marisa to be so approachable and friendly. She’s got a great head on her shoulders and she is doing exactly what she is passionate about. SHe’s been working with Wescott in promoting Duck Tape. You can see her in this video, she’s creating The Duck Brand Beads.
Her creativity and artwork is something I would love to collect! Her high heel earrings in this photograph was something she was wearing in person when I met her. I was so captivated by them.
Marisa also has a Facebook Page that is worth taking a look at. She has lots of photographs of her work.
 Don’t forget to check out lots of free crochet patterns at http://www.allfreecrochet.com.

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Creativ Festival Courses

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Creativ Festival In Toronto Ontario. One of Ontario’s Largest Creativ Events

Creativ Festival is held on October 21, 22, & 23, 2011. It is one of Ontario’s largest creative venues.

Check out the latest info of what is new coming this fall. New floor and seminars never before featured at Creativ Festival are scheduled. Click Here

What is it?

  • Celebration of everything crafty.
  • Hands on activities, lessons, and extremely interactive.
  • Courses & seminars to be more detailed and grab onto ideas and concepts firmly.
  • Knowledgeable and leading teachers instructing.
  • Crafting Product Sales.

Mikey will be announcing on The Crochet Crowd’s Facebook Fan Page. When the courses are available on the website to be able to enlist. Last year, 3 of 5 of Mikey’s courses sold out within a week.

Mikey is hosting 3 long seminars this year instead of 5. It was noticed last year that 45 minutes in a classroom with 3 of the classes weren’t long enough. Mikey will be teaching loom knitting in all three courses. We would like to thank Bernat & D.A. Looms for their sponsorship in providing yarn and equipment for the students to use. Brand new to this year’s line up will by the Infinity II Loom Course by D.A. Looms.com.

Stay tuned to Facebook when the courses will open up. First come first serve!

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Working With Craft Festival Organizations

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Having only done a few shows, I’ve been spoiled with the level of organization of some events and the disorganization of others.

I’ve worked with the Creativ Festival in Toronto Ontario. It would be the first show I ever worked with back in October 2010. I couldn’t believe the level of organization it takes to get that show from seed to full blown 1000’s of guests per hour walking through the show. An estimated 30,000 – 40,000 guests tromping on through. Remarkably, they have an 80 page brochure on what courses are available. All this strategical planning is simply mind boggling but they do it and do it extremely well.

Starting off with a show that is super organized, I figured all shows are like this. I’ve already seen dishonesty from show organizers from over stating their attendance and even the value of being with their show.

One show in the USA, I have emailed them 3 times requesting what their expected attendance is and have waiting 6 weeks to get some responses. I have seen where show organizers are contacting me within a week of finally acknowledging my email and still and still expecting me to be available.

How to pick a good one:

  • Google it?
  • What are people saying about this event?
  • Is the location where the event is making sense for the organizer’s claim?
  • Is the dollar value of the booth worth the traffic or what you hope to achieve?
  • When you request info, do they get back to you or leave you hanging?
  • Are they more concerned to sell than educate you about the show?
  • Consumer’s expected at the show, remember that a show of 40,000 guests may be just as good as a 5,000 guests. The 5,000 may be more dedicated to the crafting where the larger show may be a great rainy day event. Your sales could be better with smaller events!
  • I have yet to make money at doing an event as I am doing it to gain exposure. Eventually though, it is the hope that my own popularity and consumer interest will drive my booth costs down and increase my value to be part of the organization.
  • Sometimes you want to take a chance as you could meet consumers that may make a difference in your future.

Essentially, do your homework! Make sure you read critiques from a non bias point of view. Someone selling knitting machines may have sucked really bad but the sew machine vendor totally kicked some serious cash in the same show. Understand the consumer draw for the show.

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Being Honest To Your Customers / Audience – Tips

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A personal failure I had was experienced at a show in the Spring of 2011. I was caught not being authentic, or honest about a product. There were reasons for this that the public didn’t know. I was given a product to showcase at a festival. The product was brand new to the market, not even available yet. I was asked to showcase this product and introduce it to the public for the very first time ever. It all came down to timing.

The products arrived at the Festival directly from the manufacturer during the day of settting up. As I was putting it up for display, it would be the first time I have ever seen the product. I didn’t know what it was made of. I didn’t really know how to hold the product. I didn’t know what yarn could be used on it. I didn’t know the equivalent guages. There were so many unknowns about this product that questions being asked of me were vague answers on my behalf because I really didn’t know.

Finally… a lady set me straight. She said… “How do you know it’s that great of a product if you have never seen a project created on it?” Great question. She’s right. I don’t know for sure and I levelled with her.

Usually at shows, I have finished and unfinished products. What’s the point of the unfinished products? Because people can still see what the project looks like and how it’s forming on the equipment. That tells a really big story without having to say much. It lures curiousity but it also answers questions. For many, it’s a deciding factor on “WANT” or “PASS”.

At shows, be honest… if you don’t know… don’t guess… It will only come back to haunt you, especially with a viewers / consumer that likes to challenge people.

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