These two photos have something in common. Something so crazy good in common that it makes them prom king and queen of the entire universe.  Please stay tuned to this blog for a super special announcement coming soon!

Cool your jets. The Craftland 2009 application will be available online between August 1st - 31st. Here’s a fun thing to do: Subscribe to our mailing list at the very bottom of this page! Then we will send you an entertaining email when the application has gone live! Yes - we’ll remind you! Life is so easy! Yeah! Go sign up.

The Summit of Awesome is 3-days filled with business seminars for artists and crafters, hands-on workshops, the D.C. premiere of the Indie Craft Documentary, Handmade Nation, and a Saturday night party.
Deb Dormody and Margaret Carleton will be representing Craftland for two workshops at the Summit of Awesome. Join us for sessions on Event Sponsorship and Selling at Brick & Mortar Stores. To register for your space (quick!) and check out the schedule for this spectacular event, go here.

Check out Craftland artists Shauna Alterio and Stephen Loidolt’s amazing home as featured on Etsy’s There’s No Place Like Here series.

Craftland organizers love it when the boxes of artwork start arriving. It reminds us that all the incredibly exhausting and hard work that we do has a really cool purpose. Opening up each box is like complicated yet joyous Christmas morning in which we examine beautiful presents but then set them out for other people to purchase and give away. We’re enablers. Glittery crafty enablers.

But THEN, some artists take things a step further and enclose presents in their boxes just for us! One was marked for “the Craftland volunteer who hangs my work” while other artists presented their treats to Craftland as an entity. Bribes Prizes included: handmade art, candy, art supplies and a gift card to a coffee shop! Craftland artists are the best!

It goes without saying that we are so very grateful to the artists who participated in Craftland 2008. They spend extraordinary amounts of time creating meticulous and amazing goods by hand, and then trust us to provide a quality venue to represent their work. Thank YOU Craftland artists!

Gift ideas for next year include: gift cards to liquor stores.

Craftland would also like to thank our dedicated customers who seek us out every year. We admire your appreciation of the handmade and are much obliged that you would consider us for your gift-buying needs. We know that your dollars were spent more thoughtfully in this economy. You can feel extra satisfied that your shopping patronized the work of independent artists - and that recipients noted your heartfelt gifts.

On December 18th, Craftland hosted our annual evening in which customers can meet artists, and artists can meet free beer and a cheese log.

Artist Jen Corace eating cheese log (the day before homemade cheese logs entered her life). DJ Strawberry Jam feelin’ it.

Not all artists preferred to mingle (Susan Hickman, some dude, Shawn Gilheeney). Laura Fisk and Coral Woodbury operated the register while your narrator instead chose the perfect cracker to go with cheese log.

On Saturday, December 6th, Faythe Levine joined Craftland for a book signing — she’s the co-author of Handmade Nation! Published by Princeton Architectural Press, Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design features twenty-four artists from Olympia, WA to Providence, RI, and everywhere in between with photographs of the makers, their work environment, and discussions of how they got their start. We were so distracted by her awesomeness that we forgot to take photos of the event. Jen Corace did however manage to capture Faythe’s greeting by your humble narrator:

And thankfully, Faythe herself took the time to document Craftland with a series of stellar photos. Check them out on her flickr page:

Craftland is officially open now and looking extra sparkly! Here’s a few pics of our final set up moments:

L-R: Ian touching up our Open sign while Heather and Peter assemble goodie bags; Alec hanging the print wall (note the detailed chart he made for aligning the price signs!); and press conference for the BUY ART campaign which included Santa and the Mayor.

And here are some pics from our opening night party taken by heatherjeany!

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