For Vancouver shoppers, last minute gifts can still be snapped up at my fabulous retail partners!

Bird on a Wire

2535 Main Street @ Broadway (beside Kafka’s coffee shop)

website: http://www.birdonawirecreations.com

contact: (604)874-7415

I popped into Bird on a Wire yesterday and made sure they were stocked up on lockets, brooches, bookmarks and prints.

Chic Winds

375 Water Street (same block as the steam clock)

website: http://www.chicwinds.com/

contact: (604)683-8292

At Chic Winds you’ll find lockets, a small selection of bookmarks, 5×7 matted prints (not for sale anywhere else), wood block panels & a few original paintings too.

Plush

4296 Main Street (just south of King Edward)

website: http://www.plushonmain.com

contact: (604)708-5199

Plush manages to cram so much local Vancouver fabulousness into such a small space, it’s kind of amazing. Here you’ll find a Cagey Bee mini wood block panels covered in shiny resin, lockets and a selection of brooches.

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Some of the things I’m excited to bring to this show are my bookmark clips:

Custom framed prints with rounded mats and UV-filtering acrylic instead of glass will also be for sale:

Most importantly, I can’t wait to do some of my own shopping! There are so many fantastic vendors that Got Craft is usually where I do the bulk of my Christmas shopping. See you tomorrow!

Got Craft Holiday Edition
Sunday, December 4th, 2011
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Admission: $3.00 (kids under 10 are free)

Royal Canadian Legion
2205 Commercial Drive (@ E.6th Ave)
Vancouver, BC

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Once I walked into the studio, however, there was no choosing. As soon as I laid eyes on this one, I knew she was coming home with me:

Some of my favorite works by Liane are pastel and charcoal drawings on old window panes. They serve as perfect frames & are terribly under priced, in my opinion. If you want to snag one for yourself, her studio is #350 in the Parker Street Studios.

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The fall favorite Vancouver Home + Design Show kicks off this Thursday & I’m pleased as punch to have a booth. You’ll find the Cagey Bee goodness nestled in a special section of vendors from Portobello West, running along the far wall (from the entrance), right beside the stage.

Since I’m usually trapped in my booth at these kind of shows, I’m excited to be near the stage so I can catch Jillian Harris, the design expert on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The Urban Barn Design Stage will also host presentations by Bryan Baeumler, host of Disaster DIY & House of Bryan. Hopefully I can sneak away to catch some of the cooking demos at the Cook Like a Pro area. I definitely want to see the Contained Living setup too. The designer has such perfect transformations for small spaces – like a “shed” package that functions as a home office in your backyard. Brilliant!

Check the website for a full schedule.

October 13 to 16, 2011

Vancouver Convention Centre ~ Google map link

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Portobello West Market

Sunday, September 25th ~ 11 -5pm

Creekside Community Recreation Centre
1 Athletes Way
Google map link

I’ve been working on new lockets & bookmark clips, plus making progress on a couple of new paintings (though I’m not sure if I’ll have them ready for sale at Portobello). My next market isn’t until mid-October, so it will be nice to take a bit of a break while preparing for the holiday shows.

The class I’ve been taking at Emily Carr University is the last one I need to complete my certificate in Fine Art Techniques. It’s a business class, related to the arts, of course, & though we’re only two classes in I’m already very happy that it’s a required course. My homework assignments are things I know I *should* do (like work on my artist statement), but usually put off (until I’m staring at a show application that requires that stuff).

This week I need to do a worksheet on how much money it actually costs to run my business. How long does it really take me to make the products that I sell? To shop for supplies? To do all those super time-consuming administrative tasks that artists (& most self-employed folks!) forget to factor into the cost of operating their business? Should be enlightening, to put it mildly!

Hope you’re enjoying the change in seasons. I love fall & watching the leaves begin to change in Vancouver is a thing of beauty. Stop & enjoy it!

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I had my first day of selling at the Vancouver Farmers Market on Wednesday, and despite grey skies, a bit of rain AND missing the first game of the Stanley Cup hockey finals, it was a wonderful afternoon.

The Vancouver markets take place in 4 different locations on various days of the week, so Wednesday afternoon means the Main Street Farmers Market is in full swing in front of the train station (right across from the Skytrain station).

I was showing my Canucks pride & listening to the game via the radio during the market, but managed to race home to catch the last period. And the only goal in the game! Yay!

Despite the ominous looking grey skies, the sun managed to hold strong for the beginning & end of the market day, with a short cloudburst in the middle. I stayed dry under my tent & was counting my blessings that I didn’t have to set up my brand new tent for the very first time in the rain. Shopping for locally grown strawberries, peppers & tomatoes, however, is just dandy in the rain. I very nearly spent all of my earnings on groceries!

One thing I didn’t buy, but plan to as soon as I get my balcony organized & set up for container gardening, is one of these lettuce bowls. You keep plucking off the outside leaves as they get bigger (leaving the hearts intact) & you’ll have fresh salad fixings grown right at home. How awesome is that?

Next up for me is the Kitsilano Farmers Market on Sunday, June 5th. I’ll be back at the Main Street Farmers Market on June 15th. (Times & locations of Vancouver Farmers Markets.) Hope to see you there!

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I’ve been helping the organizers of Got Craft with the upcoming spring market (mark your calendars for May 8th!) & one of my favorite tasks has been collecting all of the swag donated by our talented vendors. Every show people will line up bright & early in the morning, hours before even the first vendor arrives, in hopes of getting their hands on one of the famous Got Craft swag bags. Here’s a sneak peek at what the first lucky 45 people through the door will be taking home:

If you’re not the early morning sort, there is still hope! A few fabulous blogs are doing contest giveaways. Find out more on the official Got Craft blog here.

See you in a few weeks, Vancouver!

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I’m slowly recovering from a fabulous weekend at Make It! Vancouver & by “recovering” I mean coming down from one of those exhaustedly happy highs whilst playing with the new treasures I scored at the show. I had very little time to get out of my booth & actually shop & *still* managed to buy stuff from 6 different vendors! Yay!

I launched a couple of new products at this show including the bookmark clips I mentioned last week & a new line of greeting cards featuring my little critter paintings. I made a pile more brooches too, but still managed to sell out of Stanley the Robot (my personal favorite).

Keeping me company this weekend were the fabulous Brandi & Brent from Kukubee, who will also be joining me in 3 weeks at Got Craft:

I finally snagged one of the ridiculously cute notebooks made by the Tiny Fig:

The lovely Christi from Bueno Style (who may have been drinking wine, but certainly not “cougar juice”) scours antique shops all over the world to create her stunning re-imagined vintage pieces:

Bueno Style is also one of the vendors that will be at Got Craft on May 8th. Click here for a full vendor list.

Now for some yummy treats! Hands down the best macarons I’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting were made by French Made Baking, a new vendor on the Vancouver scene. David and Catherine hail from France, which might be why their baked treats are so amazing. At any rate, I’m sure I’ll be stalking their booth at the farmer’s markets all summer!

I also scored 2 big delicious jars of mustard beans & pickled veggies, just like my mister’s grandma used to make. He’s in heaven.

As a thank you to my mister, I picked up these dashing Lego cufflinks from Nostalgic Links:

There were so many other talented folks at this show that I’m missing here, but as much as I hate to leave anybody out, this post is getting way too long & my dog is getting way too barky to continue to ignore. So. Thanks for a wonderful weekend to everybody who came out! See you at the next show!

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I’m a busy bee getting ready for Make It! Vancouver which kicks off this Friday & runs through Sunday at the Croatian Cultural Centre on Commercial Drive. It also happens to be hockey play-offs, so I guess we’ll see how much overlap there is amongst the hockey fan & the crafty shopper!

One of the new things I’m working on for Make It is these super cute bookmark clips:

I’m also hoping to have some new cards on display, but we’ll have to wait & see what the postman brings me today. I ordered the prettiest blue envelopes ages ago & they still haven’t arrived. The clock is ticking!

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In other crafty news, the Got Craft blog is now sporting a shiny new post penned by <drum roll…> me! Click on over to check it out.

Got Craft spring edition is less than a month away!

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I had a fantastic time last weekend at the Portobello West season opener. The new location at Creekside Community Centre in Olympic Village isn’t quite as spacious & beautiful as the Rocky Mountaineer Station (gotta love those huge ceilings!), but it’s so much more accessible that I think it will turn out to be a good move. We had so many moms & strollers & folks who were just out walking along the sea wall & stumbled in to see what the market was all about. New customers are always a good thing!

I didn’t have quite as much time to shop as I would have liked, but I did get to do plenty of chatting with my fabulous neighbors. On Sunday they were kind enough to watch my table for me while I devoured the samples at Cocoa Nymph’s table (& brought some treats home, of course). I also scored a gorgeous pair of feather earrings from Sweet Harriet which I rocked at the dog park today accompanied by Princess Sparkle, the rescue pup that joined our family a little over a month ago. I’m smitten with both, clearly.

Check the earrings! ^^^

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