New Orleans Craft Mafia Celebrates Our 5th Birthday on Thursday, June 24!

Cinco de Craft Mafioso – New Orleans Craft Mafia’s 5th Birthday Party Fiesta!
Thursday, June 24, 6pm – 10pm
The Factory, 8314 Oak Street, New Orleans

The New Orleans Craft Mafia is celebrating its first 5 years of bringing crafty alternatives to the Crescent City with a birthday bash on Thursday, June 24. The event, dubbed “Cinco de Craft Mafioso”, will take place from 6pm – 10pm at The Factory, a new crafty workspace at 8314 Oak Street, which will begin teaching screen-printing classes on July 7.

Cinco de Craft Mafioso is a celebration of all things crafty. The event is free and open to all ages, and will feature free craft workshops, including t-shirt recycling and screen-printing. Bring your old t-shirts in and revamp them – we’ll show you how to breathe new life into your old tees!

The event will also feature a crafty marketplace with handmade goods by members of the New Orleans Craft Mafia, as well as music and snacks. Be sure to stop by for free beer (while it lasts!) and get there early because the first 20 guests will receive a free New Orleans Craft Mafia tote bag filled with handmade goodies!

Please RSVP on Facebook and share the link with your friends!

New Orleans Craft Mafia needs your swag!

The New Orleans Craft Mafia is proud to once again sponsor the Alternative Media Expo, presented by Antigravity Magazine. The Alternative Media Expo ‘10 is scheduled for Saturday, April 17th from noon-6pm at the warehouse in the Contemporary Arts Center (900 Camp Street, New Orleans, LA), and will feature tons of exhibitors with comics, ‘zines, fashion, crafts, music, film, design, community activism and much more!

Admission is $5, and the first 100 paid attendees through the doors will receive swag bags courtesy of the New Orleans Craft Mafia: a reusable shopping bag filled with freebies and product samples from various indie businesses. These bags present a great opportunity to get the word out about your business, band, or organization. Vendors exhibiting at the Expo are also highly encouraged to participate in the swag bags and leave a lasting impression on visitors.

Get the word out to this diverse group of customers who seek to support independent businesses by including your product samples in these swag bags. Product samples may include, but are not limited to: CD/DVD samplers, comics and magazines, small jewelry or accessory samples, t-shirts, blank notecards or stationery, sample size soaps or cosmetics, gift cards, or other small samples of your products. If you choose to send in samples, we ask that you send a minimum of 25 samples.

Some swag suggestions include, but are not limited to: coupons, stickers, buttons, magnets, pens, etc. We ask that you do send actual swag items and not just promotional materials such as business cards or flyers. You may attach business cards, etc., to any donated swag, of course. (If we receive ONLY business cards or fliers from you, they will NOT be included in the swag bags.) If you are interested in sending in swag material, we ask that you send in the full amount of 100 items.

The deadline for sending in swag & samples is Wednesday, April 7, 2009. Items may be sent to:

New Orleans Craft Mafia swag bags
c/o Kerry Fitts
P.O. Box 791922
New Orleans, Louisiana 70179-1922

Those interested in dropping off samples and swag locally in New Orleans may bring them by UP/ Unique Products at 2038 Magazine Street during regular business hours (Monday-Saturday 11am-6pm, Sunday noon-5pm). Please make sure your items are marked as being for the New Orleans Craft Mafia / Alternative Media expo swag bags.

For more information on contributing to the swag bags, please email mallory [!AT] neworleanscraftmafia.com

New Orleans Craft Mafia unleashes our new website!

The New Orleans Craft Mafia has just unleashed our fresh new website design -- check out our new look!



We've had the same design pretty much since we started our group back in 2005. Five years later, and we thought it was about time for a change! We've gone through a lot in these five years... forming just before Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent levee failures ravaged our city, and we've had members come and go since then. We've maintained a group e-commerce shop, which has since closed and we've sponsored many craft events around town. We've remained strong and we're poised for even bigger and better things. We're dedicated to keeping the spirit of indie craft alive in the Crescent City!

Craft Emergency Relief Fund

For those of us in the New Orleans Craft Mafia, the flooding in the mid-west is striking a familiar chord.

The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF), helps artists affected by disaster. It is an amazing resource for helping craftspeople recover from tragedy. Artists can either receive help directly through CERF, which accepts monetary donations, or through fellow artists via the discussion forums.

After Hurricane Katrina, I personally received some awesome assistance from fellow crafters/artists through the discussion forums. People as far away as Germany sent me fabric scraps to help me start rebuilding my business. One kind woman even sent me a replacement sewing machine!

You can view the forums and find a way to directly help someone in need by going to:

http://craftemergency.org/forums

If you prefer a less direct approach, you can donate to CERF by visiting :

http://craftemergency.org/support/contribute

New Orleans Craft Mafia wants your swag!

The New Orleans Craft Mafia is proud to sponsor the Alternative Media Expo, presented by Antigravity Magazine. This will be the sixth edition of the Expo, and this year's event will feature over 70 exhibitors with 'zines, comics, films, crafts, photography and handmade clothing, independent record labels and artists with CDs and records, indie and grassroots organizations, filmmakers and much more!

The Expo will take place on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 from noon-7pm at the Contemporary Arts Center (900 Camp St.) in New Orleans, LA. The admission fee for this all-ages event will be $5.

The first 150 paid attendees through the doors will receive limited edition cotton tote swag bags, courtesy of the New Orleans Craft Mafia, filled with freebies and product samples. These bags present a great opportunity to get the word out about your business, band, or organization. Vendors exhibiting at the Expo are also encouraged to participate in the swag bags.

Some swag suggestions include, but are not limited to: coupons, stickers, buttons, magnets, pens, etc. We ask that you do send actual swag items and not just promotional materials such as business cards or flyers. You may attach business cards, etc., to any donated swag, of course. If you are interested in sending in swag material, we ask that you send in the full amount of 150 items.

We will also be accepting product samples, which may include, but are not limited to: CD/DVD samplers, comics and zines, small jewelry or accessory samples, t-shirts, blank notecards or stationary, or other small samples of your products. If you choose to send in samples, we ask that you send a minimum of 25 samples.

The deadline for sending in swag & samples is Friday, February 15th, 2008.
Items may be sent to:

New Orleans Craft Mafia swag bags
c/o Claverie Crafts
P.O. Box 9399
Metairie LA 70055-9399

For more information on contributing to the swag bags, please email mallory [AT] neworleanscraftmafia.com

Uncommon Thread Wearable Art Show

This is something pretty cool that someone in nearby Baton Rouge contacted the New Orleans Craft Mafia about:

There's a call for artists out for the Uncommon Thread Wearable Art Show, which will attempt to merge fashion design and visual art. Put together by the people at Culturecandy.org and the Baton Rouge Gallery, this juried competetion will be judged Suzanne Perron, who has previously worked for Vera Wang. Artists will be judged on craftsmanship, innovative design, dramatic detail and use of alternative materials.

Artists from all over the country are encouraged to submit proposals. Entry forms and more info can be found at their website. The deadline for entries is September 17. Accepted entries will be presented in a staged dance performance, and there will also be a musical collaboration, combining a local DJ with a string quartet.

Pretty awesome, huh? I hope some Craft Mafia folks submit entries. Maybe if I can find the time I'll come up with something myself.