Upcoming Valentine's Day Arts and Crafts Show at the Westport Flea Market in Kansas City Missouri Features Handmade Creations for your Sweetheart!

I will be a vendor at this local upcoming event.  Join myself and several other handmade artisans at the Westport Flea Market on Saturday, February 13th, from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.  It is the ideal place to buy something for those that you love or just a little something special for yourself!  I will be selling my handmade needle felted heart jewelry there as well as my needle felting kits and new line of note cards and tags.  There will also be some of my nuno felted scarves and other fashion accessories available.  Click here for driving directions, a list of vendors, and complete event details.  I hope to see you there!

National and Local Arts and Crafts Shows: So how do you find them? And how do you participate?

This past Saturday, my husband and I woke up early (well, early enough for me anyway) and went to a local area art festival. It is called the Plaza Art Fair and is a long standing tradition here in Kansas City. It is considered one of the top five art fairs in the country with highly competitive jurying for artists to participate. And, it gathers over 200,000 visitors during its three days. The mood and quality of artists and their work is very upscale and professional in every respect. Of all the wonderful things that there are to do here in Kansas City, the Plaza Art Fair is one of my favorites that I look forward to every year. It is inspiring and intimidating because of all the extraordinary displays of art from ceramics, to textiles, to mixed media, and beyond. I don't know that I'll ever be that caliber of artist to compete for such a coveted spot in a show like the Plaza Art Fair, but I certainly love to go see who this year's artists are and what exquisite things they make.

Personally, participating in public venue shows can be a bit nerve racking to me. I consider myself an introvert in such settings so it is more difficult for me to comfortably chat with browsers and handle the crowds. Usually, I choose to only do a few arts and crafts fairs during the year, but I would like to step out of my comfort zone and start doing more. In Fall of 2007, I participated in my largest show yet, the Strange Folk Festival in the St. Louis area, and had a wonderful time! I also learned a lot about selling in a large public venue, but unfortunately, this year, my schedule did not permit me to do that show again. (If you are in the area, I do highly recommend that you go check it out!) I am however thrilled to have been accepted as a vendor in the No Coast Craft-o-Rama in Minneapolis on December 5th & 6th! You may have read my previous post about it. This is really the only large public venue show that I've planned to do this year, and I am in full force making things for it. I hope it turns out to be a fabulous event for everyone involved.

Whether or not you choose to be a vendor at local or national shows, I always encourage artists and crafters to attend as many of them as they can - just to browse and chat with the vendors. These events are food for the artist's soul and can be quite eye-opening to what is currently popular in the world of arts, crafts, and design. Below you'll find a list of resource information on where to look for local shows and other artsy events. You'll also helpful to links arts and crafts show preparation.

And, before I sign off for this post, for those fiber artists out there, I just wanted to share two fellow fiber artists that I found at the Plaza Art Fair this past weekend. Annaesthetic, a.k.a. Anna Shapiro, is a woven textile designer that produces the most lovely scarves, shawls, and other clothing accessories - just amazing! Also her booth display was terrific. It was like a little boutique. And, Miriam Carter is a traditional feltmaker who had a variety of scarves, hats, and other clothing. Her lattice style felted scarves in many different colors are a classic.

Now on to some resource info . . .

Where to find event listings:
www.indiecraftshows.com
www.eventlister.com
www.craftlister.com
www.lunacraft.com
www.zapplication.org
www.juriedartservices.com
www.hpifestivals.com
www.bazaarbizarre.org
www.sunshineartist.com
www.festivalnet.com
www.artandcraftshows.net
www.craftmasternews.com
www.artfaircalendar.com
www.midwestartfairs.com

How to prepare for an arts & crafts fair:
Attending a Craft Show - All Fiber
Preparing for an Art or Craft Festival - Squidoo
How To: Prepare for a craft fair - GetCrafty
A Craft Show Check List - The Crafts Report
Craft Show Booth Ideas - Craft Show Success
Do a Craft Show w/o Breaking the Bank - The Storque
Arts & Crafts Fair & Shows Flickr Group
Craft Fair Goodies & Ideas Flickr Group
Photos of my own craft show table displays

**The image is a screen shot of some handy dandy craft show aprons that I found doing an Etsy search for "craft show apron" - these would be very useful and are super cute!

Want to learn to wet felt or needle felt from the professionals? Have you ever tried the Midwest Felting Symposium in Madison, Wisconsin?

Okay, so the truth is that I have never attended this event and only heard about it fairly recently from a fellow Etsy seller and feltmaker. Debora, from lanadeflor, sent me a message about the upcoming felting extravaganza through an Etsy conversation. She highly recommended it for the learning experience as well as the array of traditional felting supplies. Now the only things standing in my way are the usual - time, money, and distance - or should I say the lack of two of those (LOL)! I'm not sure that I'll be able to attend this year, although I do want to pass along the great information to my blog readers. It seems to be a wonderful opportunity for all levels of feltmaker. There will be some very well-known professional felters there teaching their skills and techniques.

You can find all the information that you need to register at the Midwest Felting Symposium website as well as information about the host, Susan's Fiber Shop. If anyone's attended the event before or is planning to, I'd love to know your experience or expectations. Please leave a comment for this post, or you can email me directly via my website. Also, if you have a great felting event that you'd like to see me pass along to my blog readers, please submit it for review.

**the image is a screen shot of the the 2008 Midwest Felting Symposium website

Just a little reminder . . . The Strange Folk Festival!

I'm a vendor at the Strange Folk Festival in O'Fallon, Illinois, just outside of St. Louis, on Saturday, Sept. 22, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Community Park.
Please visit the event's website for more information and driving directions.

Upcoming Kansas City Event . . . Urban Bazaar

West Bottoms Urban Bazaar
I'm a vendor at this local event on Saturday, Sept. 15, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1221 Union Avenue, Kansas City, MO, in the West Bottoms. If you're local or up for a drive, please stop by, browse, and do a little shopping! The bazaar features several local artists and crafters, and admission is only a dollar for the Saturday event!

The KC Etsy Trunk Show . . .

Well, last night was the Kansas City Etsy Trunk Show! It was only my second public venue for selling my felted goodies. The atmosphere was really nice, and it was a great opportunity to meet several local Etsy sellers. Thanks to Janay of abstractpretty on Etsy for organizing the local event.

Overall, I count the event as a success because of the great local exposure, chance to learn, and opportunity to meet other Kansas City artists and crafters. Honestly, I didn't sell very much, but it is a hard sell for woolly items in 100 degree weather here so I'm not too disappointed. I hope to participate in more and more local and national events like this one in the future!

Here's some photos of my booth display which, admittedly, needs a little tweaking to look better. My husband built the wonderful hat display and scarf rack, but I'm still working on the layout and color scheme. There's also more photos of my table display and the event on my flickr account if you'd like to see.