The Best of the No Coast Craft-o-Rama, Part One

So unfortunately I was not able to take pictures of the fair itself, but I hoarded business cards like crazy at all my favorite booths so I could faithfully report back to you all. The card for my digital camera has disappeared to the Land of Missing Left Socks, so I need to find a new one. Considering that my fiance and I never remove the card, I must admit I'm rather perplexed as to how it magically went poof, but I suppose that's how the Land of Missing Left Socks works.

Anyway, on to the recap. Overall, the fair was a lot of fun, but I wasn't as blown away as I hoped to be. There was a lot of overlap between booths, and though bottle cap magnets are cool, four stands with them that are also sitting next to each other? Slightly redundant. The map around the Midtown Global Market wasn't as efficiently designed as it could have been - my shopping group eventually gave up trying to read it and just wandered aimlessly, possibly missing some cool stuff. On the positive side, the turnout was great despite the rather unfortunately snowy weather. The quality of the craft in the work was great overall (there will always be a few exceptions), every vendor was very kind, professional and helpful, and I was exposed to a lot of businesses locally that I'd never heard of before (as well as my local favorites). We went through the fair in about two hours, which was perfect since we got there early and left just as the snow storm was starting to get really bad.

Here's the beginning of my "Best of" list. There's a lot, but there were also over a hundred vendors, so I'll be breaking this up in pieces. They're in no particular order other than the order in which I pulled their business card out of my bag.

ADAM TURMAN | Adam has a lot of great silkscreened gig posters. Devon and I love poster design, and we actually collect gig posters. We couldn't agree on a poster at Adam's stand since I loved the one above as well as his cityscapes, and Devon liked a poster of a girl with flowers, so we didn't end up with any. Since they're incredibly afforable (all of the posters I saw there were $25), I'm planning on picking up a couple once the holidays are over and done with.

ARMATO DESIGN | I don't think I've featured them on this blog yet, but I've known about Armato for a while and have really liked their stuff. I purchased the set of six pine tree cards (top) on white rather than blue stock for $14, and it's my official holiday card this year. It's even more attractive in person, and I'm in love with them and selfishly wish I could address them all to myself. I also picked up a gift card enclosure which is not available on their website to add a little more unique flair to one of the many Target gift cards on my list this year. The bridal shower invite (below also caught my eye at the fair, but alas! As I know nobody who is getting married besides myself, I couldn't dream up an excuse to purchase it.

LEMONADE BAGS | While I hadn't been to their site before, the name sounded familiar so I took a more thorough look at their stock. Probably the best part of the bags is the great selection of patterend fabrics that are used throughout the collection. Generally I'll find a format bag I like but can never find the right color or pattern to fit, but they were all cute. It was a good thing I was very strict and bought only for others, or I would have "accidentally" purchased a bag for myself.

PAPERED TOGETHER | My longstanding local favorite was there at the show, and I was delighted to see their full range in person. (And, by the way, their business card is flat out the cutest thing ever. I'll have to remind myself to scan it.) I was planning to originally make their holiday card pack my official holiday card, but Armato won because it had one edge on Papered Together: with the exception of one person, my entire holiday list is composed of Jews. What can I say, I grew up on Long Island. "Merry and Bright" doesn't work so well as a basic, pretty pine tree.

PINK SPARROW | My boss has been wearing a version of Pink Sparrow's adorable little felt owl (left) for a while now, and it's so cute that it always puts a smile on my face when I see it. Their booth was another case where it was good I had limited myself to only buying for others, or I probably would have gone crazy buying several variations of their skull and cross bones (right) and flower bouquets.

RECTANGLE DESIGNS | At the show, there was a variety of pillows I was really drawn to that I unhappily found were not available online. The online shop did, however, have the shirts that I found there - all incredibly desirable from the color selection to the design, but a bit too far out of my price range for a tee shirt. (Doesn't mean it's still pretty to look at though!) This design is from the Super Natural collection and sells for $48.