American Craft Council Show: Fiber Focus: Part 4

The final post in our series will focus on two of our friends who had booths on the main floor of the show. They both make bags, although the materials they use are very different. Today we'll again exercise some stretching of the "fiber" rule- starting with Caitlin of Rebound Designs. Caitlin removes the pages of old books (books-made of paper, paper- made of trees, trees=fibrous, yes?), then turns the remaining spine and cover into a purse- and for this show, she came up with what I think was a genius idea- she used some of the pages from those book centers to cover the metal armature of her booth display! Check it out!

All that punching took a long time, but the results were so cool! She sewed the pieces together, then used little magnets to hold it all up. I think I might be more excited about this than Caitlin was, but I am strange that way. She looks pretty happy, though, don't you think?

Next, we have our superhero and fellow mafioso, Ali Dryer of pistol stitched. She became my personal superhero when she agreed to hold onto our stuff, so we didn't have to lug it all over the place with us. She should be your personal superhero because she makes the most exquisite bags known to us. I mean, really. Check her out:

I love this picture, for so many reasons. Another of Ali's superpowers is making her bag handles herself. I'm still pretty sure that she can fight crime with her work, I'm just not exactly sure how yet. I'll keep you posted.

And with Ali, our tour has reached its end. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have!

American Craft Council Show: Fiber Focus: Part 3

Today, in fiber focus, let's look at some fabric artists. Whee!


Loring Davena Boglioli works in felt and found objects, with fun buttons and other notions thrown into the mix...




...to make lovely little splashes of color for the home. I can imagine one of these works could really spice up my boring white walls...



I adored the colors in Loring's booth.

Here's some eye candy for all the quilters out there, from the Gallery G booth, and Jagodzinski Design:



So beautiful. Click through to see Janis' other quilts- I especially love her profiles of humans, but the animal designs are great, too.

Here's Janis in her booth (she's on the right hand side in this shot):



We've got one more post before we close out the series on ACC!

American Craft Council Show: Fiber Focus: Part 2

Continuing on our fiber fest journey, let's check out Columbia, Md, artist Susan Levi-Goerlich. Susan creates amazingly intricate landscapes with felt techniques and needlepoint. Her work is so much fun to walk up close to and step away to watch the picture come alive. I had a hard time tearing myself away from Susan's Stitched Impressions booth. (images from Susan's website, with permission)

And now, for something completely different! I realize this is stretching the definition of our theme of local (the Bronx) and fiber (wire), but the work of Reina Mia Brill is knitted, and it is beyond inspiring, so I had to share it. Let's bend those rules, shall we?

Two more ACC installments to come!

American Craft Council Show: Local Stars of Alt Craft

Today marks the end of the American Craft Council's annual extravagannnnza here in Charm City. Rachel and I made the trek together on Friday to ferret out all the coolness we could find. Now, before I begin, let me say as a disclaimer that this show is BIG. I mean, it's so. Freakin. Big. So, in our end-of-sickness (Rachel) and hunger (me) delirium, there might have been a couple booths of supreme awesomeness that we missed. We did our very best to sort out the amazing from the equally amazing, but perhaps less interesting to our sensibilities, just for you, dear reader. I'm going to be writing a few posts this week to cover all that we found, but if there were things you saw that we missed, please jump in and let us know in the comments.

And, here we go.

The first section we beelined for was AltCraft. We knew a number of close friends and buddies were to be found there, including Annie, of Imogene (Annie's on the right, Rachel on the left).

Here's Annie's new display, which I found very effective, and I know Annie found much easier to transport than her former setup. Rachel and I were noticing a lot of amazing displays that really presented such a strong statement- they were very different, but some were so effective in presenting a cohesive idea, I found myself drawn to the booth despite having no interest in the product. It really made me think about my display and what I'm trying to convey with it.

I digress... Hey, look at this pretty lady! It's our own Shannon, of Sweet Pepita!

See those dresses behind her? Someone I know needs to have a baby of the girl variety so I can justify buying one of those.

Shannon was right inside the AltCraft section, which we found much more open and spread out than last year. Each booth in AltCraft had an individual lighting rig, which was really nice. It was easy to navigate, and spacious, as you can see in this shot:

That snazzy sign wasn't too shabby, either. There's Shannon's booth on the right hand side. Moving along the line, we came to Rania Hassan of goshdarnknit's knitted painting display:

So cool, so cool. And if you missed it, go check out Rania and Shannon (as well as Caitlin, who we'll talk about in a later post in this series) on the latest Hello Craft! podcast.

Moving around the perimeter, we came to our good friend and BEST member, Allison Fomich of Tigerlillyshop, who can now add "Television Personality" to her list of credits... go check out her blog for more info on that.

Allison was showing her electroformed line of jewelry, which is sort of like plating, but instead of silver or gold, she uses copper. The process is really cool, and as you can see, the results are beautiful.

Hooray for our local AltCraft heroes! Well done, ladies! Stay tuned for the next peek into the ACC's 2009 Baltimore show later this week...

Baltimore on a Budget.

I know the green stuff has been a majorly dark cloud on every one's mind lately but through my contribution to the CCCM blog I hope to offer some ideas for stretching your dollar while enjoying all the charm that Baltimore has to offer. Last week I made some suggestions for valentines that support local crafters while keeping to a budget. Today I would like to share some tips for eating out (think date night?) without breaking the bank. There are still lots of great deals in the Charm City where you can go for a tasty meal, after all, we're not New York yet!
Did you know that Clementine, the super cute and tasty new addition to Harford Road serves a killer brunch? Dates don't always have to be at night right? Next weekend make a trip to Hamilton and enjoy an egg casserole with a side of famous cheese grits or a plate of really yummy french toast with apple infused maple syrup, both are just 5 bucks! They also boast a homemade muffin for $2.25 or bagel and homemade cream cheese for just $2.50. Top off your meal with a cup of Zeeke's coffee, organic, fair trade and free refils for just $1.50.
Looking for a lite bite? The Parkside, also located on Harford Rd, makes a delicious flatbread pizza for $8 on Tuesday nights and a very gourmet house salad,$6, with sauteed shallots, figs and goat cheese crumbles. The salad was so delicious my mom and I ordered another one to eat for "dessert"! Order both and split them for a yummy meal for 2 for under $20. If you go on Saturday night you can take advantage of the $1 Boh special and Thursday they offer vegetarian specials as well as drink specials:) Another plus? They are open late most nights and feature a section in the back dedicated to local crafts and baked goods.
Sweet tooth? Check out the Desert Cafe in Mt. Washington for their irresistible case of homemade desserts. They change weekly but you can look here to find out what they are currently serving. Bonus? Go on Saturday night to check out the belly dancer who circulates the dining area twirling swords and shimming around the tables.
So here are just a few of my suggestions for a cheap date out. If you have more (I'm sure you do!) add them below in the comments.
The comic in the photo is from marriedtothesea.com check them out for more comics you might like.