The Norfolk Craft Mafia cordially requests all mafia members presence at our first annual Holiday Celebration! This Sunday, December 9th at 6pm. The party will be at Drawn To Art (2200 Colonial Ave. #9, Norfolk, Virginia).

Come out for a little holiday party/craft workshop! All supplies and light snacks/drinks will be provided, just bring yourself! A few mafia members will be hosting a Colonial-ish holiday-themed crafts workshop, there will be several crafts for you to choose from so you can take something home! We will also have an (optional) handmade gift swap. Bring a handmade item (around $5 value is fine) and swap with someone else!

This event is open to Norfolk Craft Mafia members only. Non-members are welcome if they choose to join and pay the $20 yearly membership dues that evening. Please RSVP by leaving a comment on this post if you're coming!

We had such a wonderful time! Thanks so much to everyone who came and celebrated with us! There was delicious food, fun crafts to make, and a hilarious gift swap (sorry about stealing that apple jacket from you Amber, no hard feelings?)

Many thanks to Jeannine for sharing her master collage skills for the holiday ornament project. And, as always, a big thank you to Laura for the very generous use of her studio space for our meetings this year. We are so grateful! It's hard to believe that a whole years has past, and this little group has grown by such leaps and bounds. I am so very honored to be a part of the Mafia, and I can't wait to see what's in store for next year!

Happy Holidays!
~Amanda

On Saturday, Dec 8th a fire started near the water heater at AlterNatives (3320 West Cary St) which caused nearly $500,000 worth of damage to the store.

Fortunately, no one was hurt, but this fire destroyed more than just their inventory.

AlterNatives is a retail outlet for fairly-traded crafts that directly supports over 100 Guatemalan artisans and their families, many of whom have no other source of income. It is also part of the broader Highland Support Project, which does a variety of humanitarian work in the Guatemalan highlands (including empowering women to start their own craft businesses).

The busy Christmas shopping season accounts for the lion's share of their yearly sales, so this fire could not have come at a worse time. Efforts are currently underway to move to a temporary store front across the street, but for now store employees are set up on the sidewalk in front of the store selling jewelry and other items that were stored offsite & escaped the blaze.

How you can help:

Donations to help rebuild the store can be sent to:

AlterNatives
P.O. Box 7185
Richmond, Va. 23221

Please make checks out to "AlterNatives" and put "re-building" in the memo line.

Fellow Etsy sellers: BeesKnees Studio is donating 10% of December (and probably January) Etsy sales to the rebuilding fund--if anybody would like to join her, she would love to put together a post featuring everyone's shops. Email her at BeeMail@BeesKneesStudio.com

Also, there are many smoke-tarnished silver items from inside the store that they would like to try and salvage. Anyone with silver-cleaning expertise who would like to help with that or offer suggestions is welcome to contact Kim at alternativemarketrva@gmail.com