This weekend I attended Crafty Wonderland’s “Colossal Holiday Sale.” Held at the Oregon Convention Center, the show brings together over 200 local artists and craftspeople from the Pacific Northwest. It promotes itself as an opportunity to “BUY LOCAL! BUY HANDMADE!” and support local artists.
My attendance was as a shopper, not a seller. I wanted to check it out and it did not disappoint. Some old favorites of mine were there, like Fortress Letterpress, and many local artists who I have never seen before!
However shallow it may make me seem, I did arrive early to get one of the “goodie bags” for the first 150 people. The bag included some letterpress cards and postcards, which I was excited about. It also had a couple of pairs of earrings, and some magnets, all of which are going to make great Christmas presents!
The Framework Design Lab had a surprisingly fresh booth that stood out to me. The Framework Design Lab is actually a graphic design student group of Oregon State University that was luck enough to be accepted into the show. It was great to see students getting their work and creativity out there! You can learn more about the group here: http://frameworkdesignlab.tumblr.com/
The only thing I purchased was a felt bacon Christmas ornament from PickleThings. It is truly adorable! I bought it as a present, and I have already wrapped it up, or I would have taken a picture of it.
All in all, it was a great craft show and I would definitely go again. Hopefully next year I will have the ability to enter as a seller, instead.
For more on Crafty Wonderland, check out their website here: http://craftywonderland.com/
And to see a list of other vendors who attended the show: http://craftywonderland.com/vendors/