Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Now Accepting Vendor Applications for the 2012 Spring Craft Market!

We are now accepting vendor applications for the 5th Annual Spring Craft Market on Saturday, May 5, 2012 from 10am-4pm at The Masonic Temple in Downtown Flint.


Click HERE to apply!

The application will ONLY be available until 10pm on Wednesday, February 15, 2012.  

Our application and selection period has been shortened in an effort to let applicants know if they have been selected to vend TWO months in advance of the Spring Craft Market.  Previously, we were only able to give ONE month notice.

We encourage you to apply NOW!

P.S. The AMAZING flyer above was designed by Yasmin Ladha!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Knuckles Tape Measures in the Flint Handmade Shop!

We now have retractable fabric tape measures for only $2 each in the Flint Handmade Shop inside The Lunch Studio!


We will be adding lots more handmade goods from local crafters to the Flint Handmade Shop this weekend...just in time to shop handmade for Valentine's Day! 

Make sure you stop by The Lunch Studio soon to pick up a handcrafted gift for your sweetheart!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

FREE Residency at Maker Works in Ann Arbor!

Posted by Crystal Pepperdine, Founder and Executive Director of Flint Handmade

Our friends at Maker Works in Ann Arbor have an amazing opportunity for crafters/artists from Southeast Michigan to experience a FREE residency!
 

Check out this email from Thea, Membership Coordinator at Maker Works, for more information:

"I am writing to tell you about an artist residency we are starting at Maker Works, specifically for artists living in Southeast Michigan counties around Detroit. The artist residencies allow 3 selected artists full access to Maker Works' 4 studios (Metal, Circuits, Wood & Craft) + tools + classes for free! And also includes our computers + software, project storage space, free wifi and more.

There are 3 categories in which artists can apply: Craft, Contemporary and Emerging. This allows artists who work in more traditional ways in things like woodworking to not have to compete with artists who work in performance art, video or installation. The Emerging category is specifically for artists age 25 years and younger and not enrolled in an academic institution.

For more information, click HERE.  Please pass along to anyone who may be interested in applying!"

Consider the info passed on, Thea!  :)

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Want to Consign Your Handmade Goods into Our FH Shop inside The Lunch Studio?

Flint Handmade is accepting appointments with crafters to consign handmade goods into the FH Shop inside The Lunch Studio on Saturday, January 28th!


If you are interested in consigning your handmade goods with us, please email us at flinthandmade@hotmail.com for more information and to schedule an appointment.

We want to add lots of new merchandise to the shop before February to encourage everyone to give handmade gifts for Valentine's Day!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Entrepreurship and Innovation Workshops at UM-Flint

Posted by Crystal Pepperdine, Founder and Executive Director of Flint Handmade

Last year, Flint Handmade participated in the [IN]spire Conference hosted by University Outreach at the University of Michigan-Flint, which focused on creativity, innovation and social entrepreneurship.

Innovation Workshops

This year, University Outreach's Innovation Incubator is hosting FREE business entrepreneurship workshops that are open to community members!

The topics for the workshops are:
  • Financial Fundamentals for Entrepreneurs
  • Entrepreneurial Myths
  • Marketing
  • Goal Setting and Follow through
  • Small Business Accounting
  • Conflict Management
  • Strategic Visualization & Implementation
  • Design Thinking Bootcamp: From Insights to Innovation
  • Feasibility Analysis
Click HERE for more information or to register for the workshops.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Second Saturday Giveaway Returns in February!

As mentioned in our December 2011 Second Saturday Giveaway post, we take January (and July) off from Second Saturday Giveaway.


In the meantime, we encourage you to start cleaning out your craftroom to prepare for our 3rd Annual Winter Craft Supply Swap!

Second Saturday Giveaway will return on February 11, 2012!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

3rd Annual Winter Craft Supply Swap Schedule and Announcements!

Posted by Crystal Pepperdine, Founder and Executive Director of Flint Handmade

Are you READY TO SWAP?!?


Here's the schedule for our 3rd Annual Winter Craft Supply Swap on Sunday, February 5th:

Noon: Swappers sign in at the Flint Handmade Registration Table inside The Lunch Studio and receive a number in the order of arrival.  The first person to arrive gets #1, the second person gets #2 and so on.

If you brought supplies to swap, a Flint Handmade volunteer will take your donations and sort them onto the appropriate tables.

We're tight on space since it's too cold to use the sidewalk for tables like we did at the Swap last summer, so fabric, yarn and some other supplies will be in the small back room of The Lunch Studio.

12:15pm:  Swappers #1 through #5 get to take whatever they want from the back room while remaining Swappers get to help themselves to front room supplies (scrapbook paper, craft books, patterns, etc.)! 

Every 15 minutes (or when the back room clears out), the next 5 Swappers will be called by number to help themselves to the supplies in the back room.

As more Swappers arrive, volunteers will place their items on the appropriate tables.  Occasionally, we may need to ask all Swappers to have a seat for a few minutes while we restock and tidy up the tables.

2:30pm:  The volunteers will start packing up any remaining supplies.  We will store the more popular supplies to bring out again for our 4th Annual Summer Craft Supply Swap on August 5, 2012. 

Any leftover supplies will be donated to a local charity.  If you think you might want something, now is the time to grab it!

3:00pm:  The Swap ends and we have to clear out of The Lunch Studio!

Here are some helpful general announcements about the Swap:

1) Remember to bring your own tote bags or you may purchase Flint Handmade grocery totes for $3 each at the Swap.


2) You may take as much or as little as you like (within reason) whether your brought supplies to swap or not.  "Within reason" generally means no more than 4 grocery totes of supplies, but we are flexible.  If you are unsure, ask a volunteer.

3) The Swap is FREE!  Of course, we are a nonprofit organization, so donations are always welcome and a donation jar will be available at the Registration Table.  :)

4) Members get early access to the Swap!  If you are a member of Flint Handmade, you are welcome to join us at 11:30am for first dibs.  New members are welcome!  Download our membership brochure HERE.

5) If you are not a member, please be sure to arrive no earlier than 11:55am.  We promise there will still be LOTS of supplies for you to take!

6) The Flint Handmade Registration Table inside The Lunch Studio will be open during the entire Swap and you MUST sign in to participate.

7) The Lunch Studio will be open for business, so you can grab lunch at anytime and then do some more swapping!

8) If you would like to volunteer at the Swap, please email us at flinthandmade@hotmail.com.  We need volunteers for 2 shifts: 11am-1pm and 1pm-3pm.  Volunteers will receive a special thank you gift!

9) Please make sure that any supplies you bring are clean and in good condition.

10) Our Swaps are held on the first Sunday of very February and August from Noon-3pm at The Lunch Studio, so if you can't make this Swap, you can always join us later in the year!

If you have any questions, please email us at flinthandmade@hotmail.com!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

First Ever Membership Campaign Final Results!

Posted by Crystal Pepperdine, Founder and Executive Director of Flint Handmade

We are so excited to report that we raised $2,585 in our First Ever Membership Campaign!


It is not the $5,000 we had hoped for, but it is still an amazing amount that will make so many things possible for Flint Handmade!

THANK YOU to everyone who became a Founding Member in 2011.

We accept memberships all year long, so please download our membership brochure HERE if you are interested.  There are many great benefits for members, so we encourage you to check it out!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Spiral Notebooks: New Year's Day craftLAB Recap!

Posted by Crystal Pepperdine, Founder and Executive Director of Flint Handmade

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

The first Sunday of the month just happened to fall on January 1, 2012, so we rang in the new year with many of our friends and members at craftLAB!

Thanks to the generosity of our friend Kate Kehoe of Chicaloo Photography & More, who donated her old hole punch machine to Flint Handmade, we made spiral notebooks!


Nicole made a supercute notebook featuring an owl with button eyes!


All supplies were provided, but people were encouraged to bring their own scrapbook paper if they wanted and Nicole brought the most adorable coordinated paper.


Ali is a papercrafter, too, so she brought some lovely purple scrapbook paper.


Sarah rolled with the paper we had on hand...and used our circle punch to make polka dots for her cover.


Dana also used the circle punch to make labels for her "Sewing Ideas 2012" spiral notebook!  Her husband collated lined and blank paper for her so that she could have intermingled sheets for writing ideas and drawing pictures.  How sweet!


Hayley just stopped by to consign goods in the Flint Handmade Shop, but I convinced her and Steve to stay and make notebooks, too.  Steve was skeptical, but by the end, he was very pleased with his color selection for the front and back covers of his notebook!


Danielle brought her own paper, too...


...and made the cutest mini-notebooks using the leftover spirals from larger notebooks!  So resourceful!


Wondering what the covers were made out of?  Michelle is using her portable papercutter to cut paper to size to glue to an old SkillShare flyer! 


Our SkillShare Workshops in Fall 2011 filled up so fast that we had lots of leftover cardstock flyers, so I came up with the idea of covering them with scrapbook paper and making notebooks after Kate said she would donate her hole punch.  We crafters love to upcycle materials that would otherwise go to waste!

Toe thought the SkillShare flyer looked good as is, so she made a notebook featuring the flyer itself!

 

Gwen (l) and I decided to cover our notebooks with paper that had been donated to Flint Handmade.  Clever Gwen put the spiral at the top of her notebook to make a flip pad!


Amy arrived a little late and wasn't going to make a notebook, but I said that she had to!  She used some light blue checked paper to make a cute notebook that would be great for recipes.


Darice, Dieshawn and Shanterra (l-r) all made very colorful notebooks!


Finally, Theresa made a matching pair of memo pads.  Too cute!

The spiral notebooks were so popular, we may offer this craftLAB again.  Keep checking our blog for updates!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Craft Supply Swap in February!

Mark your calendar and start cleaning out your craftroom!


We'll be running the Craft Supply Swap a little differently this time...and including a special incentive just for members

More info coming soon!