Handmade Parade - Now a Major Motion Picture!

Here is a little video from the big day, for your viewing pleasure! With the shaky camera shots and grainy pictures, it has all the charm of a snuff film....but we did our best. Enjoy!

Norfolk Craft Mafia Handmade Parade report!

Whew! What an event! Handmade Parade was an amazing success. We had a wonderful turnout (our conservative estimate is about 1000 people), happy vendors and a super reaction from the crowd who came out. Amanda and I want to thank everyone who helped out or volunteered in any way, we could not have done it without you!



I saw lots of happy customers leaving with bags of handmade, one of a kind items and lots of happy vendors making sales. That's what it's all about, people!



Thank you to all the generous artists and crafters who donated items for our free raffle! It was a big hit! Also a HUGE thank you goes out to Ashley at Pickin Paint (and her awesome balloon man) for donating her time and efforts to create gorgeous face and body paintings and elaborate balloon hats all day long!



Twin bellies! This really added an awesome element to our show and I'm so glad she could take part! For more photos and a full report on the event, go visit the Norfolk Craft Mafia blog.

This Saturday! Invite your friends!

Brought to you by the Norfolk Craft Mafia!

We got Linked!

The Norfolk Craft Mafia is the cover story on today's Link (the free local daily paper)! Click here to view a pdf of the full article.

There are profiles on several mafia members and some great photos from our swap meet a few months ago. Man, this is some great exposure for our big show this weekend! Let us know what you think!

Learn To Knit Workshop Report!

Sunday, October 21 the Norfolk Craft Mafia had another one of our skill-sharing workshops and lots of mafiosas left with a new skill - Knitting! A big thanks goes out to Deva, Vero and Tasha for being willing to share their knowledge and love of knitting with the rest of the group. We had a great turnout - about 15 people - and ate some yummy snacks, hung out and knitted!



Thanks also to Amanda for the generous use of her home to host the workshop. It was perfect!



All the ladies who attended learned to cast on, knit knit knit and bind off. I heard some are making scarves now, who knows, this could be the start of some great holiday gifts!



Be sure to keep checking our events page for our next upcoming workshop. We're planning a Colonial Christmas-themed craft extravaganza for December so you won't wanna miss it!

We won't take out a hit on your wallet!

The Norfolk Craft Mafia made our television debut this morning! Check us out in a story by WVEC Channel 13’s Vanessa Coria.

Click here for the full story online and to watch the video segment.

We plan to have a high-resolution clip of the segment on our website as soon as possible. Thanks to all the mafiosas who submitted items for the shoot, your stuff looked gorgeous on the table. I wish the clip could have been a bit longer so we could have seen more details!

We’d love some feedback on the video, what do you guys think?

Good lookin' group you got there!

The Norfolk Craft Mafia is super-pleased to announce our amazing lineup of vendors for Handmade Parade! We have over fifty talented artists and crafters from Canada to North Carolina that will be showcasing their wares on Saturday, November 10th! Come get your holiday shopping done in one place! Forget the malls and their crazy parking lots and the same old mass-produced items. Buy handmade, support an independent artist!

DC Craft Mafia Polymer Clay Eclectic The Luna Cat Elemental Beads Lark Studio George Ryan Meryl Jones Snow Penguin Love Brenda Maust & Kristina Bourlotos Emotional Baggage MASHULU Autumnomatopoeia Designs Twist Style Virginia Design Company Pizzatron Craftology: A Cocktail of Mixed Media and Craft Disquieting Designs Noosed Kitty Sloane Solanto Interimaginational Institute for Fantastical Exploration & Cartography Wolfie and the Sneak Craftscharms & Collectibles Cherry Mama Amanda Page Stephens Jeff Crag Art Slipstream

ETCPLUS4 K.Parel Design Annie Moon Primitives Creative Treasures Twittering Bird & Beth White Pimento Designs Armstrong Industry Verotricot Kutchicoo Laura Geimer & Rebecca Chase Keen Designs LC Beads 2 Wear Aniela Gray Designs Martha Thrasher Jellybeans Bracelets Infintus Lilypad Creations Bee's Knees Studio Molebaby Buttons Missing Monsters The Monkey and Me Lizzelizzel & Stuntkid Tasha, Kristal & Melissa McKelvey Historically Inspired Designs A Well Mannered Young Lady Lokahi Spa

Norfolk Craft Mafia TV Debut!

The Norfolk Craft Mafia is making our TV debut! We (we being myself and Amanda) filmed a little segment this morning with Vanessa Coria from WVEC Channel 13 about handmade gifts and the Norfolk Craft Mafia!



I got an email last week from Vanessa saying that she was doing a story about holiday gift giving on a budget, she had stumbled across our website and wanted to do a segment about handmade! With a trembling voice I called Amanda and blurted out, "Do ya wanna be on TV?!?!" We decided to do it and I called all the mafia troops together to get some great handmade items to show off.



We filmed it all at Amanda's house this morning. Here she is getting mic'd up like a pro.



Vanessa and her cameraman (I'm so embarrassed I don't remember his name) were consummate professionals and made us feel totally at ease.



We had an awesome showing from our mafia members, who rallied so quickly to get me their lovely handmade items! We had mixed media collage by Jeannine, handmade plush and a quilted pillow by Cassie, more plush and accessories by Charmaine, pottery by Ashley, knitwear by Tasha, everything from tissue cozies to hair clips to plush by Amanda and also a few of my doggie items.

It was a great experience and I'm so glad we had the opportunity. The story will air next Friday, October 19th on WVEC Channel 13 as part of their Daybreak show. Vanessa's segment is at 5:23 and 6:24 a.m. We will post the video as soon as it's online!

See more pictures from the filming right here!

Handmade Parade update!

Wow! We are so thrilled over the huge response from our call for vendors for The Norfolk Craft Mafia's first show, Handmade Parade! As we inch closer to the deadline, we have decided to move back the cut off date to make sure that everyone interested in participating has one more week to get their applications in! Due to the high volume and quality of the applicants, we are considering leasing an adjacent area of the venue to make room for more crafty goodness!

Even so, there probably will not be room for everyone, so please get your application to the Craft Mafia no later that October 3rd. You can find information about the show and how to apply by clicking here. The Mafia will review all applications and everyone will be notified by October 5th. Thank you so much for supporting this event, we are very excited! Spread the word!

(parade photo by Oli Bryant, thank you!)

Norfolk Craft Mafia featured in PortFolio Weekly!

We're just tickled to announce that the Norfolk Craft Mafia was featured in PortFolio Weekly's Fall Arts Preview! Check out profiles on the mafia, as well as members Elizabeth Henry and Amanda Page Stephens – you can read the text of the article online, or view the entire article with pictures (pdf file).

Also, don't forget, this Sunday, September 9th is our Monthly Crafter's Roundup at Drawn to Art in Ghent. It's free and open to the public! Bring a craft and a snack to share and come mingle with the most creative people in the area! Check our events page for more details.

Handmade Parade!

The Norfolk Craft Mafia is extremely excited to announce our first annual holiday arts & crafts bazaar: Handmade Parade!

Handmade Parade will provide great holiday shopping for those who are looking for one-of-a-kind gifts while avoiding the mass-produced and supporting independent entrepreneurs instead! We will offer a wide variety of fine art, accessories, jewelry, pottery, house wares, baked goods, baby items, clothing and more!

When and where is it happening?

Masonic Temple
7001 Granby St.
Norfolk, Virginia 23505
Saturday, November 10, 2007
10am - 5pm

We are now accepting applications for vendors and sponsors; please check out our Handmade Parade page for more information on how to apply! Applications are rolling in already and we are very excited! Hope to see you there!

Norfolk Craft Mafia happenings!

The Norfolk Craft Mafia has been all kinds of busy this summer! We held it down at Pile of Craft, the awesome show put on by the Charm City Craft Mafia!



We held several crafters roundups where we hung out, worked on projects and networked with other creative folks, and hosted the first in a series of Skill Sharing Workshops entitled Get Yr Craft On(line): Photo hosting, blogs and Etsy. We will have a booth at Crafty Bastards in Washington, DC and we're also totally stoked on our upcoming Art & Craft swap meet! Check out our flyer:



Watch for more events and crafty goodness headed from our corner of Virginia, including our first annual juried holiday show, Handmade Parade! Keep checking the Norfolk Craft Mafia website for details, applications coming soon!