We have a busy weekend in store starting tomorrow with our own GO WEST! Craft Fest. I'm thinking positive thoughts about the weather and am quite exited and a little bit nerve wracked about what tomorrow will bring. We have a truly wonderful line up of vendors, many from previous years and lots of new faces too. Click this link for the whole vendor list. Sunday is the opening of Clover Market in Chestnut Hill. Janet Long puts on an amazingly curated event with a terrific mix of vintage and handmade from the across the tri state area. While GO WEST Craft Fest is a fun and funky mix of the diverse talent of Philly and especially West Philly. Clover Market is like walking into the pages of Living Magazine. I thing I like to do often! We're hoping for 2 days of markets this weekend but if it does happen to rain Mike and I will conquer and divide. He will go to Clover Market and I will stay in West Philly for the GO WEST! rain date. Whatever happens it's sure to be an adventure and we plan on having fun along the way!

Summer arrived right on schedule, how's that for some normal weather! We're still soaking it up before it gets too hot and we pack up and go up north. We're more than half way through our spring Craft Fair season and have been having an amazing time with our own GO WEST! Craft Fest, then Art Star Craft Bazaar and the Clover Markets.  It felt like summer hit with the Trenton Ave Arts Fest & Kinetic Sculpture Derby and we so much fun watching all those bike powered sculptures and drinking too much iced coffee. We're in the midst of 2 weekends (make that 3 due to a weather related cancellation) off and had a leisurely memorial day weekend canoeing on the Schuylkill by Manayunk and barbequing with friends in West Philly. I have no pictures to prove it though! Which almost feels nice... I do have a homeschool volcano experiment from these weeks, creation to destruction, just like the volcano itself.

This coming weekend is packed full of wonderful antique markets. First is the debut of McConkey's Market in Washington's Crossing. We can't wait to be out in Bucks County in the beautiful Washington's Crossing Park surrounded by historic buildings. Being steeped in all that history feels just right. We'll be sure to have some colonial inspired necklaces too! 

Sunday is the final Clover Market of the season. I have some of my favorites from the last Chestnut Hill Market below and I'm excited to see what's new this Sunday. I'll be on my own for most of the day (stocked with water, coffee and snacks!) as Mike and E will be at Bartram's Gardens participating in the Tidal River Boat Parade at the Bartram's Community River Fest. For all of you non venders that's a pretty good Sunday plan! Clover Market for the finds then boating and kids crafts at Bartram's. Hope to see you all some time this weekend!

Spring has arrived and we couldn't be happier. Every morning in the city nature walk that we share with our daughter we notice new and exciting signs that spring is indeed here. The wonder of it from a child's perspective is quite magical and a bit contagious. L and I have been cleaning our back yard and prepping our garden beds, glad to be out in the sunshine. Afternoons find Mike and I deep in the realm of soldering and sewing and prepping our stand for all of the spring vending that we have on our, ahem, plates. Not to mention our own Fest!  Our work on that is in full swing, don't forget to save the date for the GO WEST! Craft Fest, Sat, May 3rd at The Woodlands. We've been interviewed for GRID Magazine and our insert for GO WEST! in that will hit the streets April 17th!

First though, there's all of April vending ahead and we can't wait. A week from today is my favorite antique & craft market in the Philly area, Clover Market. We're thrilled to be back for our 3rd year there, where the debut for spring is in Chestnut Hill.  I'm looking forward to an exciting day of vending and most likely picking up a thing of two... who can resist! If you haven't tried Weckerly's Ice Cream (a GO WEST! favorite) they'll be there too.  It's some of the best around from the sweetest folks!

I'll be debuting my Mama Skirts (although you don't have to have a kid to buy one). They "match" the kid skirts and have been asked about often, so I have high hopes that they will be scooped right up!

Hope to see you there!
Clover Market, Sunday, April 13, 10-5pm
25 w. Highland Ave, Chestnut Hill

Here we are in the thick of holiday vending, it's a fun and exhausting time for us.  Making and making, shipping and vending all the while trying to balance the magic and simplicity of what Winter's  Solstice and Christmas means to our family. Two weekends ago (was it really that long!) we took a bit of a breath, and ventured to New Hope to a Christmas Tree Farm that my old friend from high-school runs and has been in his family for 3 generations. Tuckamony Farm is a simple and wonderful place to get a tree. While wandering around in all sizes of trees we saw wild geese flying over head, hawks and some cardinals. It was a huge event for L, my budding birdwatcher. For the past 3 years they have had an Arts & Crafts Pop-Up shop that has a wonderful variety of local makers. This year they invited us, and we were so pleased. The shop is open on all the weekends leading up to Christmas.

Last weekend we had a great time at the first annual Superfantastic Craft Bazaar at the Philly Free School in South Philly. Elissa from Nice Things Handmade (another high-school friend) partnered with The Free School for the event. It was a festive event, with face painting, great vendors, kid made crafts and face painting.

On Sunday we were at Winterfest, put on by Art Star at the skating rink at Penns Landing. We had quite a fun time there too despite the lack of customers due to the snow. We arrived just before the snow started and what a snow it was! It was a beautiful spot to be, a real winter wonderland with decorated trees, ice skating and a lodge with pine cone painting crafts, winter games, smoked turkey legs and (my new favorite drink) milky chai with Snap. We went ice skating, and hung out in the lodge painting pine cones with elves (seriously!) We shared shipping container space with Chez sucre chez and Black Heart Letterpress, both wonderful artists fine folks. We're planning to go back again, just to ice skate and shop right after the holidays. We just can't get enough of the turkey legs (and Snap chai).

Now to this weekend! We'll be having another snowy vending experience (slightly more inside) at The Punk Rock Flea Market tomorrow in Northern Liberties. We're excited to take turns vending and perusing the finds while L is off with her GrandDad at the Nutcracker. In the past it's been a busy day with wall to wall crowds and we hope tomorrow won't be an exception.

Sunday is the GO WEST!  Craft Fest at the Rotunda. We're so excited for this event! We have brand new jewelry, and cozy dresses just for the event. We've been working tirelessly to bring you a fantastic handmade fest full of the quality and affordability you've come to expect from GO WEST. We've gotten a lot of press and have put out a ton of fliers around Philadelphia. We love that the Daily News called us "one of the friendliest festivals around"! Check out a post I wrote "checklist for GO WEST!" Hope to see you there. Don't worry though, even if you can't make it to anything this weekend we still have one more weekend left for holiday shopping check out our events page and our etsy shop will be open till the 18th for mailing out before Christmas.

Emily, my GO WEST! Craft Fest partner and proprietress of VIX Emporium has teamed up with the Penn Museum to put on this Craft Market, the old meets the new. We're excited to be vending for 2 days starting tomorrow and hope to check out some of the Galleries while we're there. I'm most intrigued with the Vaults of Heaven exhibition and the Tlingit (Native peoples of the Pacific Northeast) collections.
Now back to the Craft Market. In anticipation of this weekend I made a sneak peek of some of the vendors from etsy. VIX Emporium has been doing terrific vendor profiles as well! 

Hope to see you in the Galleries!

After an overwhelming success at the first Clover Market in Chestnut Hill, we're back in Ardmore for the final Clover of the season. These markets are always a treat to vend. I snapped some pictures last weekend of some things I would love for our home. The majority of these vendors will be in Ardmore this Sunday, so come check them out!

Love this simple frame around the chalkboard.

Many vintage children's books!

Fancy and colorful mason jar cozys from the awesome folks at Rogue Theory.

Upcycled planters from old toolboxes.

Soy candles in reclaimed glasses and cups from Melo Studios. I should have just bought these last Sunday, the folklore teacups would look so perfect on our holiday table. Luckily they will be at the Market this Sunday!

These plush toys are so sweet, and the wands! The perfect gift for some wonderful imaginative play. All from Hello Bluebird in Reading, Pa. I love this shop! It's a great mix of handmade gifts (our jewelry is there) and a toys from eeBoo. The owner Alex has a wonderful eye and the shop is a dream to be in. If you're in Reading you have to stop in, it's impossible to leave without something fabulous.

Here are some sneak peeks for Clover Market on Sunday. We'll be in booth #72 with these and a whole lot more. Hope to see you there!

Clover Market is Sunday, Nov 3rd from 10-5pm at 12 E Lancaster Ave, Ardmore, Pa

This weekend promises to be very full and very fun. Halloween weekend is always a great time here in West Philly. Before kids we got dressed up and went to lots of parties, and now with kid we still do that, but get to go trick or treating too! This weekend promises no less and a lot more with two fairs and a wedding in between. On Saturday is the East Passyunk Fall Fest.

Considering I saw it advertized on the top of the PECO Building downtown, I think we're in for a treat. Elissa Kara of Nice Things Handmade, organized the vendors and did and terrific job. We'll be next to VIX Emporium and Krista Peel Jewelry. We're excited to hang out in South Philly tomorrow and luckily L decided to be a flower girl for Halloween because we'll be packing up quickly at 4 and heading to our friends wedding reception.
Sounds like a full weekend...? We'll be up early on Sunday for the debut of Clover Market in Chestnut Hill. We're very excited to participate in this new Clover with such a great selection of vendors. One of my favorite local coffee company's ReAnimator will be there, so I'll be sure to be caffeinated! We'll be chatting it up at #35.

Did I mention we have brand new things..?

Sterling Silver Post Earrings!

Belt Buckles!

Pinafore Dresses with Flannel Reversibles.

Upcycled Baby Sweaters!

Hope to see you all at one or both of these fantastic Halloween weekend events!

Hello Fall, I'm glad you're here. It's our favorite season, soup, apple picking, crisp walks through the city , sweaters and the best knitting weather. Exciting change and settling into comfortable routines always seems just right in the Fall.  I'm hopeful the weather will actually turn into that wonderful season soon! If you've missed us here please check out our instagram for what we did this summer. Here's a little bit, it seems so long ago now!

We're back now (although going to a family reunion on the Florida gulf this weekend), uh oh Hurricane Karen.... and are excited for many weekends of vending. We had a great time at GO WEST! Craft Fest our first show in September and wearing my organizer hat I couldn't have asked for a better day or a nicer crowd. Check out our events page for all of our upcoming shows later on this month!

Now, we have some exciting new jewelry that is up on Etsy and will be available at all of our forthcoming fairs.  First off Belt Buckles! For a while now we've wanted to expand our market into something a little "butcher". With Mike's new found love of his tile saw and grinder, belt buckles seems like the perfect way to go.

Once we started shopping for findings and epoxy it seemed like sterling silver post earrings would be another wonderful addition to our line. Simple and lovely they really take small bits of the plate to a heightened beauty.

We have some plans for rings and hair accessories that we'll be debuting soon. In the meantime stay tuned for new kids dresses, warm for the fall and winter beyond. I promise I'll be back soon!

Yesterday was the 30th Street Craft Market. It was a beautiful sunny day, with lots of the shoppers who had come out just for the fair and others who were just passing through 30th Street Station. It was fun to see where everyone was from and where they were going to. After some help loading in, once again L and her Grand dad went on an adventure, this time to the circus!

I was left to have fun just vending with Mike and was able to check out all of the wonderful goods. We where next to some lovely west Philly friends Jane Broadbent and Squidge & Bean. Jane makes beautiful and sturdy functional ceramics. Gemma makes extremely affordable luxury knitwear for home, baby and you! Knitting for summertime is a bit hard to wrap your head around she succeeded in doing it beautifully.

Every vendor at the market was incredibly talented and creative. I was excited to buy this large print of an Atlantic puffin from Laura Murdoch. She makes finely detailed drawings of fish and has expanded her repertoire to birds as well. I have always been fascinated with the Arctic Circle and historically the inhabitants of the northern Atlantic Coast and Iceland. The puffin is one of those and is such a beautiful and captivating bird. Here's more info on Puffins.

I, sadly have a quite a strong metal allergy. I love jewelry but don't often wear it because of the itchiness that ensues. Even sometimes the sterling chains make me think it will be itchy! I love to wear Mike's jewelry and use a silk cord for a tie. A gratuitous and true plug: the silver solder that Mike uses around the ceramic does not make me itch, ever! I have worn his necklaces for multiple days without taking them off, because that's the way I am, without any problem.
All that being said, I am always on the lookout for fabric and bead jewelry that suites my taste. I really admired these simple and bright wrap bracelets from carleymarley.

I love the undersea mobiles by Elissa Kara of nice things handmade on Pasyunk Ave. She makes terrific cold weather hats and as she said the mobiles are just some hats upside down, in the most wonderful way! In that way of small town of Philadelphia, Elissa and I went to the same small high school. It's pretty great that we get to be the same craft scene doing just what we love.

So many thanks to the lovely Emily from VIX Emporium for doing such a fabulous job with the Market. Looking forward to many more in the future!