hope you had wonderful Thanksgivings lovelies! it’s my favorite holiday, and often, as it was this year, my birthday!
back in 2013 (if i’m not mistaken) my pal Beverly of PoMo Glolightly started a tradition i fully embrace, which she dubbed Craft Friday. as a rebellion against the extreme Black Friday tactics (stores open ON Thanksgiving, or in the wee hours of Friday, with drastic sales) Big Box stores have been resorting to in recent years, to attract shoppers to shop their pants off, we makers, artists, designers and craftspeople will stay home (or join together) and MAKE gifts in silent protest.
any act of rebellion that involves staying home in my PJs and eating leftover pumpkin pie can count me in as a participant! today i’ll be working on assorted projects in front of the woodstove: making progress on some of the WIPs i’m trying to turn into FOs by the end of the year, finishing a few more handmade goodies for my last 2 holiday markets of the season, and finally starting to plan some of my own gifting projects for family and friends.
of course, if there is a local marketplace where you can support independent artisans, farmers and makers today or this weekend, i fully advocate doing that! if you don’t know of one, check your community news sources or the event listings at Etsy Local. even if you can’t get to your nearest craft fair, check the vendor page on their website to find a list of creators in your area, and get on their newsletter lists to stay in the loop. i did my first (and biggest) market of this year last weekend — the Hudson Valley Hullabaloo — and was so busy preparing, i forgot to mention it here! and while there i was mostly too busy to shop all the amazing stuff, so i’m glad i can circle back to the vendor page to reconnect.
over the next few weeks i’ll be posting a completely biased assortment of gift suggestions, both BY and FOR makers (the only kind of people i truly understand). my first, and probably most important offering is the Creativebug Black Friday SALE: 3 months of unbelievable all-you-can-make craft instruction for ONE DOLLAR!!!! i feel pretty confident in urging you to get this for virtually every adult and child — the creative ones AND the wannabe-creative ones — you know. i mean, what have you got to lose? i’ll tell you: $1!!! bonus perk: by subscribing (or gifting a sub) to Creativebug, you’re supporting every single one of the 100+ awesome instructors.
