Etsy Craft Party: June 18

If you read my blog, I'm sure you're familiar with Etsy by now.  It's my primary selling venue - for the time being - and they had their 5th birthday on June 18, 2010.  In order to celebrate, they encouraged groups around the world to get together and host craft parties.  Parties were held in Italy, Romania, Canada, Australia, UK, Chile, Germany, Israel, and other places across the United States and the world.  Click on the map below to be taken to the meetup page to see all the places that have already had or are going to have a party.

The lovely Cynthia who owns Ornamentea (my favorite craft store in Raleigh, located about 4-5 blocks from my job) offered her classrooms to us for our Etsy Craft Party.   The party was free, including delicious snacks, wine, and other drinks and lots of staff joined in on the fun.  I did spend about $25 on beading supplies before I left, but I'm sure I would have done that anyway!

The top 50 largest parties were to receive super special secret boxes from Etsy to help them with the party.  Our box didn't arrive in the mail in time, but we still had a blast with a couple of fun projects.  (To see what the cool kids in Germany got, check out this blog post.)

While at the party, I made both a (very feminine) Samurai hat and a pincushion which I used ribbon to adapt into a necklace.  I'm always misplacing my pincushion and sewing needles when I'm doing a project so this design was intended to alleviate that problem.  There was also a lavender eye mask project that some ladies did, but due to the limited availability of fabric and the fact that I'd already been there for 2 hours, I decided to take my pattern and supplies home.

The sewing projects were provided by Spoonflower, a business that empowers people to print and sell their own fabric designs.  Find out more about them here and be on the lookout as the staff said they would be posting the eye mask pattern online.

Our box from Etsy was supposed to include lots of paints for us to decorate glass but did not arrive.  So, I took home a couple of very neat mason jars sans lids to bring to the next craft party.  That's right - since Etsy didn't get our box to us soon enough, Cynthia decided we would just have 2 craft parties instead of one!  The next one will be scheduled for some time in July.  Here's hoping I'll be able to make that one too!

Here's a picture of me making my pincushion.  For more pictures, go to the Ornamentea facebook page.

All in all, I was very pleased I went (even after a very long week at work).  I met some great people who share my love of all things crafty and got to spend a relaxing Friday night that didn't include travelling, writing, or listing new items in my shop.

Did you get to attend an Etsy Craft Party?  Share your experience in the comments!

Until next time,

Elle