Wow, you're here! Welcome to the brand spankin' new Norfolk Craft Mafia site! We're really stoked that you came to check us out.
Please make liberal use of your left-click button and investigate the entire site! We are just getting started so if you have any suggestions or questions about the site, please email us and let us know!
We're just tickled to announce that the Norfolk Craft Mafia was featured in PortFolio Weekly's Fall Arts Preview! Check out profiles on the mafia, as well as members Elizabeth Henry and Amanda Page Stephens – you can read the text of the article online, or view the entire article with pictures (pdf file).
Also, don't forget, this Sunday, September 9th is our Monthly Crafter's Roundup at Drawn to Art in Ghent. It's free and open to the public! Bring a craft and a snack to share and come mingle with the most creative people in the area! Check our events page for more details.
Wow! We are so thrilled over the huge response from our call for vendors for The Norfolk Craft Mafia's first show, Handmade Parade! As we inch closer to the deadline, we have decided to move back the cut off date to make sure that everyone interested in participating has one more week to get their applications in! Due to the high volume and quality of the applicants, we are considering leasing an adjacent area of the venue to make room for more crafty goodness! Even so, there probably will not be room for everyone, so please get your application to the Craft Mafia no later that October 3rd. You can find information about the show and how to apply by clicking here. The Mafia will review all applications and everyone will be notified by October 5th. Thank you so much for supporting this event, we are very excited! Spread the word!
(parade photo by Oli Bryant, thank you!)
What a morning! I'm still recovering from our little adventure. But I'll stop talking in vague terms and just tell you what's up! We (we being myself and Amanda) filmed a little segment this morning with Vanessa Coria from WVEC Channel 13 about handmade gifts and the Norfolk Craft Mafia!
I got an email last week from Vanessa saying that she was doing a story about holiday gift giving on a budget, she had stumbled across our website and wanted to do a segment about handmade! With a trembling voice I called Amanda and blurted out, "Do ya wanna be on TV?!?!" We decided to do it and I called all the mafia troops together to get some great handmade items to show off.
We filmed it all at Amanda's house this morning. Here she is getting mic'd up like a pro.
Vanessa and her cameraman (I'm so embarrassed I don't remember his name) were consummate professionals and made us feel totally at ease.
I was surprised how much time and filming goes into what will ultimately be a two-minute segment. We were there nearly two hours! I did the "talking head" part of the interview and blabbered on about the craft mafia, handmade gifts and the craft community in general. I talk so fast, but maybe that's finally a good thing if we have to squeeze it all into under two minutes. I didn't get nervous until after, and then my face blushed bright red. Ha.
Then Amanda walked her through all the awesome handmade fantasticness that the Norfolk Craft Mafia has to offer. She was so great! Amanda's a natural. As Twiggy says, "The camera loves you!"
Then we both demo'd how to make marble magnets/bookmarks/hair accessories. I guess I just sort of stood there dumbly while Amanda did it because then the camera man wanted me to "do something". The horrible knitter that I am, I didn't have any knitting with me. So Amanda tried to teach me to crochet on camera. We were brilliant. Hah.
Vanessa recorded her lead-in and then we wrapped things up!
It was a great experience and I'm so glad we had the opportunity. Thank you Vanessa!
And an extra-special thank you to all the mafia members who rallied so quickly to get me their lovely handmade items! We had mixed media collage by Jeannine, handmade plush and a quilted pillow by Cassie, more plush and accessories by Charmaine, pottery by Ashley, knitwear by Tasha, everything from tissue cozies to hair clips to plush by Amanda and also a few of my doggie items.
Be sure to tune in to watch our TV debut! It will air next Friday, October 19th on WVEC Channel 13 as part of their Daybreak show. Vanessa's segment is at 5:23 and 6:24 a.m. It will also re-air on LNC 5 from 7 a.m. to noon, so please check us out!
The Norfolk Craft Mafia is super-pleased to announce our amazing lineup of vendors for Handmade Parade! We have over fifty talented artists and crafters from Canada to North Carolina that will be showcasing their wares on Saturday, November 10th! Come get your holiday shopping done in one place! Forget the malls and their crazy parking lots and the same old mass-produced items. Buy handmade, support an independent artist!
Good morning and welcome to any new visitors who are clicking over from WVEC.com! We're so glad you're interested in the mafia! Please check out our events page to see what's coming up crafty in Hampton Roads or sign up for our forum and introduce yourself! Interested in making the marble magnets that were briefly featured on the TV segment? Here's a step-by-step tutorial guide to making your own!
The Norfolk Craft Mafia made our television debut this morning! Check us out in a story by WVEC Channel 13’s Vanessa Coria.
Click here for the full story online and to watch the video segment.
We plan to have a high-resolution clip of the segment on our website as soon as possible. Thanks to all the mafiosas who submitted items for the shoot, your stuff looked gorgeous on the table. I wish the clip could have been a bit longer so we could have seen more details!
We’d love some feedback on the video, what do you guys think?
The Norfolk Craft Mafia is the cover story on today's Link (a free local daily paper)! Click here to view a pdf of the full article.
There are profiles on several mafia members and some great photos from our swap meet a few months ago. Man, this is some great exposure for our show this weekend! Let us know what you think!
Saturday the Norfolk Craft Mafia was featured on the cover of the Daily Break section of The Virginian Pilot! Thanks so much to Roberta and Genevieve for coming out to our monthly crafter's roundup last week and interviewing us and taking pictures. The story was great press for Handmade Parade and we got a wonderful response from the crowd on Saturday! Click here to read the article online. Click here for a pdf file of the article with photographs.
I wanted to send out a hearty WELCOME to our new members who have joined since Handmade Parade! I'm getting lots of emails of people interested in joining and the meet the mob page is growing and growing! Welcome to three new ladies who have joined us!
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Be sure you stop by their websites and check them out! Since we only have monthly get togethers and not all members can usually make it, we're going to start doing "member spotlights" on the blog soon, where we can "meet" each other and learn more about what sort of art we love to create. If you have any ideas for interview questions or would like to help conduct interviews, leave a comment and we'll get back to you!
Stay tuned for dates on our December crafter's roundup and a special holiday craft workshop coming up soon!
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
A big congratulations goes out to Norfolk Craft Mafia member Sloane Solanto (who, if you didn't know, does a great job managing our Myspace page) for winning first place in the "Shirt Off Your Back" challenge at Red Thread Studio this past weekend! She refashioned clothing to create this awesome Cowl Girl piece.
There were also some wonderful entries from mafia members Annie Moon and Jeannine Peregrine. Jeannine's outfit will be featured in this issue of Altered Couture! Congrats, Jeannine!
There are a few events coming up that everyone should attend! The first is also at Red Thread Studio (which, by the way is owned by mafia member Angelia Armstrong).
February 23, 2008, 10-12:30 p.m.
Collage & Mixed Media Workshop with Instructor Jeannine Peregrine
At the Red Thread Studio - 153 W. Washington Street, Suffolk, VA, 23434
angeliaarmstrong@verizon.net or 757.923.9832 for more information.
The other big event is an art opening featuring work by mafia members Elizabeth Henry, Sloane Solanto and Jeff Guinn. Everyone come check out the reception!
February 29th-April 6, 2008, Opening reception Feb. 29th at 6-8 pm
Take A Flying Leap: Emerging Artists Group Exhibit
@ Smithfield Cultural Arts Center - 346 Main Street, Smithfield, Va.
call 757-357-7707 for more information.
Congrats to all the mafia members getting their work out there! Hope to see you at these events!
This page contains an archive of all entries posted to Norfolk Craft Mafia in the Craft Mafia News category. They are listed from oldest to newest.
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