Special Saturday Post: Astoria Craft Party

Well Hello Everyone!

Sorry no feature on Friday, we were having a blast over at the Astoria Craft Party.

This event was created by Etsy as a way to bring crafters together to demonstrate what they do.  So our focus wasn't really selling stencils, but showing people how to stencil.  We brought three different size bags and two different size pallet signs.  I talked about the pallet signs a few weeks ago. 

Since there's never been an event like this in Astoria, we weren't really sure what to expect.  We didn't know how many people we'd have, if they'd like our product.  We thought at worst, we'd get to hang out in an awesome venue for a few hours with some great artists.  As it turns out, stencil fans started showing up 15 minutes before the event started and we never stopped!  It was a huge success!

 

The event was held in the taproom of the Fort George Brewery, which is a popular public house and brewery here in Astoria.  It's an amazing space.  Check out this angel who hung out in the corner and oversaw things.  Laura and I were obsessed with these barrels they have everywhere.  Covetous even.  We will have one, one day! 

 

We probably had about 75 people walk away with something they made with our stencils, which is awesome.  We only had one 12x18 stencil with us, so lots of people improvised and threw together 12x12 and 6x12s on our big signs.  We were continually impressed with how creative and inventive our budding artists were. 

How cute are these little bags?  The kids loved these.  We had little Dala Horses, little moose, and a small key to stencil on there.

It's a lot of fun teaching people to stencil because there's such a great "reveal" moment when you peel back the mylar and see what the end result is.  Here's one of our young artists painting the Maison stencil onto a 6x12.  Her brother later added to it.   It was a collaborative effort!

Our Astoria subway stencil got a workout.  It looked so great on bags and signs.  We're going to add this one to the store because we had quite a few people interested in purchasing it.

I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the other amazing artisans who were present.  We had a blacksmith who brought his mobile shop, a glass blower who made ornaments (gorgeous, no?), pinback buttons, papercraft, rag dolls, a silver stamper (we wanted one of these spoons badly and never had a chance, she was too popular), fabric dyeing, photo walks, picture frame crafting, and my most favorite shop in all of Astoria, Vintage Hardware did all kinds of repurposing crafts. 

It was a total blast.  Where else can you hang out, have some really great beer, meet crafty people, and talk about stencils?  Only in Astoria.  :)

Feature Friday: The Backporch Shoppe Signs

When Laura first started designing stencils, signs for home decor were her bread and butter.  To a large extent, they still are, but crafty folks have realized you can stencil on anything from burlap to plaster to ceramic.  We thought this week we'd highlight a wonderful customer who makes stunning signs with Laura's stencils.  They can really transform a space from dull to dramatic.  Take a look at the handiwork of Darline from The Backporch Shoppe.

They are so good, I couldn't pick just one.  (Isn't that a potato chip slogan?)

One of the things we like most about Darline's signs is they have great shapes.  They aren't just rectangles or squares.  The scrollwork shape here on this Paris Flower Market sign really emphasizes the vintage feel of her work.

Doesn't her paint look perfectly chippy and old?  We loved that weathered look she's able to create.  She does a lot of decor for weddings, (in fact, we featured her in last Wednesday's Etspiration) like the sign above, but she has art for other occasions as well.

As she wrote in her email to me, she uses Laura's flourishes extensively in her signs to add that little extra bit of interest.  If you have never looked, there's a whole category at the Maisondestencils store dedicated to Flourishes and Scrolls and the possibilities are endless as to where you can add them.  Signs, pillows, labels, homemade wrapping paper.  You name it!

Isn't this Air Postale sign just the coolest?  I love the postmark, it adds that special authentic feel to the sign. 

Many thanks to Darline for use of her images.  Please check out her Etsy shop here, it has the greatest stuff.  

Have you made a sign using a Maisondestencils stencil you'd like us to feature?  Drop us an email, we'd love to hear from you.

Take care, have a wonderful weekend.  I see blue sky here on the coast so I think I'll unplug from the computer for a little bit!