Each week we feature an advertiser from the Crafty Bastards Classifieds. This week the honor goes to:

Wasted Potential!

Wasted Potential was born after two art school graduates felt discontent with their so-called “creative” professions. They embarked on an experiment to see what happens when 2 professionally trained artists leave their studio settings. With one part graphic design and one part crafts, the only logical result was — T-shirts! Awesome ones!

Visit the Wasted Potential Website!
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Charm City Craft Mafia just announced that applications for their winter craft fair - Holiday Heap 2008 - are now available online.

Holiday Heap will be November 15th, 2008 from 10-5pm at St. John’s Church in Charles Village (Baltimore). 40+ of the country’s most crafty vendors will be carefully chosen by a panel of jurors to sell their wares and thousands of shoppers are expected, much fun is guaranteed! Click the words “apply now” below to do just that:

APPLY NOW!

Applications are due October 5th. Jurying and acceptance status will be emailed by October 15th. There is a non-refundable $10 application fee required to complete the application process. Accepted vendors will pay an additional $65 for a space. (includes an 6 foot table & 2 chairs).

Phasefest, the East Coast’s largest queer music and arts festival, is looking for a small handful of queer crafters/artists to sell and display their wares at Phasefest 2008. The booth fee is $50 for Friday (6pm - midnight-ish) and Saturday (2pm - 1 or 2am-ish). For that cost, you’ll have a designated space on the back patio at Phase 1 Lounge, the oldest lesbian bar in the country, the ability to hear and enjoy some of the nation’s best queer music, and the opportunity to sell your wares to a captive audience of awesome queers!

If you are interested please e-mail phasefest@gmail.com for more information or visit their website and click on the “artists” tab: www.phasefest.com. Fill out the application and send it their way!

Here’s a cool opportunity for local crafters to donate their work to a good cause.

The Alice Ferguson Foundation, a nonprofit in the Washington, DC area that hates on litter and does environmental education for inner-city kids, is having an Oktoberfest fundraiser with a silent auction and they are looking for awesome and crafty items to put up for bid.

Items they’d love to have donated - They heart anything eco-friendly. Photos, drawings, paintings, ceramics, and glass usually do pretty well, but they’re definitely open to anything handmade. Include your business cards and other promotional material so they can set it out alongside your work. October 3rd is the last day they will collect items. You can download the donation form, here.

How to donate - You can send an email to smacken@fergusonfoundation.org or call their DC office at 202-518-7415 and ask to speak to Penny or Shannon. They’ll arrange things from there!

Oktoberfest Time and Date - Saturday, October 11th, from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Place - Hard Bargain Farm in Acokeek, MD (Directions at www.fergusonfoundation.org at bottom of left-hand menu)

Admission - Kids under 7 are free; everyone else is $8 a head
With admission, you get the eating of bratwurst, sauerkraut, potato salad, and homemade apple strudel a la carte (sorry, but you gotta pay for the beer); visitation of barnyard animals; operation of old-fashioned apple cider press; watching of and waltzing with Bavarian dancers; riding of haywagons to the Farm’s Potomac shoreline; purchasing of arts, crafts, and delicacies in the gazebo and a separate silent auction

From now until the fair, we’ll be spotlighting awesome items that you will find at this year’s Crafty Bastards. Check out the complete vendor gallery to plan your shopping!

One of the cutest new items that I saw at Crafty Bastards Silver Spring was the tiny Tofu for Obama plush by Chris Creatures. Not only is this tiny tofu cute, he includes a removable t-shirt and an Obama sign for rallies. He’s ready for campaigning!

Chris was nice enough to chat with me about this little guy.

Question: Where did this silliness come from?

Answer: I’m a huge Obama supporter, so for a long time I kept trying to think of how I could show my love. I’m also a big fan of tofu (fried, steamed, grilled, you name it, I eat it!). In my world, tofu would be an Obama supporter. I’ve made the tofu plush before, but he always seemed like he was missing something. I thought it would be funny to give him a sign and a removeable Obama t-shirt.

Question: You sold these at Crafty Silver Spring, what was the reaction?

Answer: I sold the Tofu for Obamas at Crafty Bastards in Silver Spring. It was fun to see people’s reaction to it. They stopped to laugh and take pictures. I made 30 of them for the fair. They sold out and then I took advance orders. I spent a couple of days after the fair sewing those little guys.

Question: Have you sent one to Obama?

Answer: I have not sent one to Obama yet. What is the best way to send it to him? That is the question. I fear that the tofu would sit in a pile of unopened mail for months. He needs to breathe!

I promise to make more for Crafty Bastards in September. A portion of the purchase will go to the Obama 08 Campaign.

The question that Chris didn’t answer was: What food would be for McCain? Pork chops? Sardines?

Be sure to check out Chris Creatures on September 28th at the Marie Reed Learning Center, 2200 Champlain St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, DC.

Tina Seamonster blogs her life and craft at I Like Seamonsters.com. She is currently being vetted for the V.P. slot.

Applications for CRAFTLAND are due August 31st!

CRAFTLAND is a holiday craft show in a unique consignment store format in downtown Providence, RI. CRAFTLAND 2008 will be open seven days a week, from December 5-24th. Now in its 7th year, CRAFTLAND has grown to feature the work of over 150 artists from around the US and other faraway lands. Artists do not need to be present to sell their work at CRAFTLAND, but those that volunteer 12 or more hours are rewarded with a 70% retail cut (while artists who do not live in the area or who are not able to volunteer receive a generous 60%). CRAFTLAND also donates 5% of proceeds to area arts-related non-profits to help continue in its mission to provide and enable economic opportunities for emerging and professional artists and crafters.

Apply online today!

For frequently asked questions about applying to Craftland, please visit http://craftlandshow.com/faq.html.

To see a listing of last year’s artists, check out http://www.craftlandshow.com/artists.html.

Got old sweaters? Make some seahorses!

These lovely seahorses ($40 for the set) by Snaulkter are made from 99% recycled materials; old (washed) sweaters and plastic shopping bags in the fins to make them crinkle. Not only do I love these guys because they are upcycled, but they are totally kid friendly. I could see my kids spending hours making up stories about the Papa Seahorse and his babies. What an awesome use for an old sweater!

I can’t believe it is that time again, but it seems like the holiday indie craft shows are starting to accept applications! If you feel like traveling this December, you might want to apply to Bazaar Bizarre Boston. The show will be held at the Castle on Sunday, December 7, 2008, from 11am – 7pm.

Some history of the event from their website:

Bazaar Bizarre began in 2001 in the Boston-area as a hodge-podge of friends and acquaintances cobbling together their handcrafted DIY wares to sell and staging an offbeat entertainment extravaganza. In its seventh year, the Bazaar Bizarre has brought its hip, fun craft fairs to Boston, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and San Francisco. Last year, over 3,500 shoppers attended the 2007 Boston Bazaar Bizarre at the Cyclorama.

Bazaar Bizarre is a juried craft fair that receives 300+ applications for 150 vendor slots. The vendor fee of $165 will get you one 6″x3″ table and two chairs. According to their application, you are not allowed to bring any additional tables or displays that will not fit on your 6″x3″ table. Eek!

Applications are due online by August 29. You can apply here.

The 2008 Handmade Arcade will be held Saturday, November 8 (10am-7pm) and Sunday, November 9 (11am-5pm) at the Hunt Armory, 324 Emerson Street, in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Handmade Arcade is held indoors. Each vendor receives an 8-by-2.5 foot table and two chairs. Each vendor space is 8′ x 8′.

Applications for the 2008 Handmade Arcade are due August 17, 2008. Apply online.

You can check out photos of past events on the Handmade Arcade Flickr page.

If you have done this show in previous years, please post your experiences in the comments!

Each week we feature an advertiser from the Crafty Bastards Classifieds. This week the honor goes to:

Push Mah Buttons!

Push Mah Buttons is the legend of students who are “dropping out of school and starting new lives as neo-hippies that travel the country in a VW Bus, peddling their button wares.”

You must check these buttons out! Push Mah Buttons Etsy Shop.

Crafty Classifieds for goodies like this and more!

Make stuff? Place a Crafty Bastards ad, it’s FREE!