Hi Crafty People! Just a few announcements!

• We have decided not to renew our license of the “Craft Mafia” name for this year. We pay $200 in dues per year to the Austin Craft Mafia in order to use the name “craft mafia”. We discussed it at the meeting last night and the general consensus was to keep the $200 and invest it into our group – whether for advertising for Handmade Parade this fall, or into a really cool workshop with expensive supplies, or into a field trip to a craft show, something like that. We will still collect $20 dues per member per year, to cover the cost of the website, workshop supplies, etc. We will keep doing our thing; we just won’t be called the Norfolk Craft Mafia anymore. One great thing about this is we can pick a new name that’s more inclusive to all our members. We were forced to pick a city to represent our whole area, even though we have artists from many cities including Hampton, Virginia Beach, Suffolk and more.
• On that note! We have a Renaming & Handmade Parade Planning Meeting coming up soon! We will be meeting on Sunday, July 27th at 6pm at the offices of Grow Interactive (where we usually have our monthly roundups). We would love for EVERY craft mafia member to be there. We need to talk about planning for the second year of Handmade Parade, our big craft show & sale which is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, December 6. It takes a lot of effort to put on a big show like this and we’d love input and help from all our members. We also need to get the new name nailed down ASAP because the new website will need to be relaunched before we start taking applications for Handmade Parade vendors.
• Yearly dues are coming due for many members. I’ll be sending out Paypal invoices or emails to those whose dues are due! I encourage you to attend the planning meeting and all our crafters roundups and workshops to get your $20 worth and make sure your voice is heard!
• Sunday, August 3rd will be our usual Monthly Crafter’s Roundup at Grow.
• September 7th Amanda is hosting a special Terrarium Workshop. This will be instead of our monthly roundup for September. It’s open to members only, and space is extremely limited! All supplies will be provided. Please reply to this entry to RSVP for the workshop! First-come, first-served!
• All these events will be held at the Grow offices - 350 W. 22nd Street Suite 106 Norfolk, Virginia 23517 - in the new Palace Station shopping center. Grow is toward the back left corner, across from NYFO.

Thanks and see you at the next event!