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Featured Sponsor: Etsy

Craft NewsElizabeth Ramos

Etsy supports many local events across the nation, and we are so excited to have their support. Each year they not only contribute funds to help us put on the event, but they also help us spread the word about Indie Craft Parade. In addition, many of our artists have Etsy shops, and we use some of the Etsy tools (like treasuries) to promote our show and get people excited about what kind of goods they'll see at Indie Craft Parade.

From the About Etsy page:

Etsy is the world's handmade marketplace.

Our mission is to empower people to change the way the global economy works. We see a world in which very-very small businesses have much-much more sway in shaping the economy, local living economies are thriving everywhere, and people value authorship and provenance as much as price and convenience. We are bringing heart to commerce and making the world more fair, more sustainable, and more fun.

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The Etsy Booth at Indie Craft Parade

This year we had the privilege of having official Etsy representation at our event. If you stopped at the Etsy booth, you talked to a member of the South Carolina Etsy Street Team. Volunteers from this team handed out information about their team members and explained how the site works to those who weren't familiar with Etsy. This is a great support group if you're an Etsy seller or would like to be. You can join this team if you're an artisan "living in South Carolina who maintains an etsy shop containing a minimum of 5 items" Visit their page for more details.

Etsy is a great tool, especially for artists who are just getting started and want to quickly and easily set up an online shop. They also have many great resources for finding handmade goods.

We've often explained Indie Craft Parade as Etsy in person. So if you missed the show, or want to know where else to buy handmade goods, Etsy is a great place to start. Use their Shop Local tool to help you find artists near you!

Ad Space for Grabs

Craft NewsElizabeth Ramos

Hey Indie Craft Parade Vendors! We just wanted to tell you about a cool way to get a little more attention for all the goodies you sold our festival. There's a new website being launched called Indie Show List, a source for all things crafty. Although the website isn't fully operational just yet, they do have a social media presence. Besides being a great resource for craft news, Indie Show List wants to give you some press. They're currently hosting a competition on their Facebook page for the best booth display. Simply upload a picture of your booth to their wall with your information. If they decide your's is the best, they'll give you 2 months ad space on the new www.indieshowlist.com. With all of the amazing booth designs we saw at Indie Craft Parade, I'm sure you'll make their decision very hard. Check them out. All the details to the competition are here.

Children's Art Auction for the Pendleton Place Children's Shelter

Craft NewsElizabeth Ramos

Hey everyone. We want to tell you about an awesome opportunity that the people of Greenville have to give back to their community through the arts. Next week at Spill the Beans downtown, children's paintings will be auctioned off to benefit the Pendleton Place Children's Shelter. Pendleton Place provides for kids who have been either abused or abandoned. As part of their program, they teach the kids to paint and expose them to the arts. In turn these kids have created paintings to help bring in funding for the organization that has helped them so much.

The event is Thursday, August 25 from 6-10 PM. We've included some pictures of the kids' work. They're really great, and this would be an awesome organization to contribute to. Please consider attending.

Here are some more details from the Pendleton Place website:

A group of volunteers from Origins Church are working with local Greenville artists to help teach our children the joy of expression through painting! They will be helping children create canvas paintings to be auctioned at a community event to benefit the shelter. We are so grateful to be a part of this project and to be able to expose the children at Pendleton Place to the therapeutic advantages of art. The Art Auction will take place on Thursday, August 25 from 6-10PM (bidding ends at 9PM) at Spill the Beans on Main Street. Please consider supporting our volunteers by 'friend-ing'Pendleton Place Art Auction on Facebook to learn more information about this event! If you cant' attend the event, but would like to make a tax-deductible contribution to support our young artists, please click here.

Garden & Gun Made in the South Awards

Craft NewsElizabeth Ramos

We always want to let people know about new opportunities to get involved in the art and craft scene, and today we have a good one! You must check out the Garden and Gun Annual "Made in the South Awards."  This is an awesome chance to show off your handmade goods.

Check out the official information from their website:

Artists and designers, don't miss this great opportunity to share your work! If you live in the South and make amazing things that fall into one of these categories — food, sporting, fashion, home — then you need to enter this contest! Garden & Gun hosts the Made in the South Awards each year to celebrate "the rich cultural traditions of Southern craft, design and ingenuity." The deadline to enter is August 1st, so make sure you get your work in fast. Winners receive a cash prize as well as being featured in the Dec/Jan issue of Garden & Gun.

August 1st is coming up quick, so if you want to enter, be sure to do it quick. Check out the application here.

Also, take a look at some of the featured winners from last year. Some seriously gorgeous stuff here!

Leather bags from Emil Erwin

Handcrafted Furniture from Holler Designs

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Lace designs from Gabrielle Jewelry

CoCraft This Upcoming Weekend

Craft NewsElizabeth Ramos

Just wanted to let everyone in the Greenville area know about a super-fun crafting opportunity coming up this week. This Saturday, July 23, is a CoCraft night hosted by Mandy Blankenship. You can either learn how to make cloth napkins or bring your own crafting supplies to work on personal projects. The party will be held at 514 Glenwood Ave. in Anderson, SC. Please RSVP here if you can make it! For further details, check out the CoCraft page.

Exciting Book Release

Craft NewsElizabeth Ramos

Here's some fun news from the world of design and crafting. Design*Sponge is releasing a book! For the past few years this enormously popular blog has inspired its followers with its posts on home decor, fashion, food, graphic design, and of course crafting and DIY projects. The new book features an entire section of Do It Yourself projects, providing tutorials on a variety of subjects. So, check out the book trailer below. It's beautifully produced. If you're already a D*S fan, you can imagine all the goodness that will come from this publication. If you're just now hearing about this blog, you'll want to check it out. You'll be amazed at the inspiration that's in store. http://vimeo.com/22861096