RENEGADE CRAFT FAIR:)

My two friends and I explored the Renegade Craft Fair a few weeks ago and had a great time!! I was very happy to find out they were coming to our neck of the woods and requested that weekend off almost two months earlier. Renegade grew up along with first cousin Etsy and have fed each other since their inception. As excerpted (cut and pasted) from their website:


The Renegade Craft Fair is a large-scale DIY event featuring hundreds of independent artists and their unique handmade items. RCF is held in cities across the US every year - including Brooklyn, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles & Austin. The fair is known for being one of the first events of its kind, and for having the top-notch indie-craft artists and designers who travel from all over the map to participate.
Renegade got its start in Chicago’s Wicker Park in the fall of 2003, and has spread like wildfire ever since. In 2005, the fair traveled out east to Brooklyn, NY where vendors set-up shop in McCarren Park and the infamous McCarren Park Pool. By 2009, the fair had expanded out west to San Francisco and Los Angeles, CA. And to kick-off the 2010 season, Renegade is moseying down south to Austin, TX for its very first event there.
The Renegade Craft Fair is coordinated by Sue Daly & Danny Orendorff. Sue is the co-founder and proprietor of Renegade, and makes jewelry + housewares under the name Timber! Her husband, Mat Daly, designs all of the beautiful silkscreened owl posters for each of the fairs. Madelon Juliano is our administrative assistant and trusty sidekick at the fairs.
The inspiration for RCF came when two friends wanted to take their hobbies to the next level, and start participating in arts + crafts shows. After looking into some local events, it quickly became apparent that there were no shows representing the DIY community, which already had a huge presence online. Everything was either geared towards fine arts + crafts – or country crafts. So, the idea to host an indie craft fair was sparked – and the rest is history!


Darling Daughter agonized over which messenger bag she wanted from Rainbow Swirlz. The norwhal won her heart. She paid for it with birthday money so she had to choose carefully.

The lovely ladies of Austin Craft Mafia were well represented. Jennifer Perkins of Naughty Secretary Club had a delicious booth of jewelry and and all things sublime. Her book Naughty Secretary Club The Working Girls Guide To Handmade Jewelry has been the mother of a teenager daughter's best friend every summer. Darling Daughter pours over the book and our craft supplies and makes her own jewelry. She spends countless hours creating during long summer months and really enjoys it. When trying to find ways to keep teenagers busy stalls out, plop this book and some new kitschy doo dads in front of her and I might see her a few days later pop her head out of the craft room. I purchased this lovely jar


of kitschy goodness at Jennifer's booth and true to form, it gets poured out and drooled over frequently. She has made a ring so far, I will keep you posted as the summer snails along.

Jenny Hart from Sublime Stitching was present as well. I love her unique, modern, easy designs that can get anyone stitching in minutes. I suffer from CADD, Crafting Attention Deficit Disorder. I explore many crafts, am master of none and Jenny feeds my disorder with her truly one-of-a-kind patterns, she's an ENABLER!

My summer months are filled with endless embroidery while waiting for various teen activities to end. Will anybody stop her?! I hope not:)




Here's the latest Sublime pattern I finished. I STILL can't figure out how to turn vertical pics into horizontal pics. Anyone? Don't be shy! I will make a tote bag out of this or small purse. As usual, I already have all the supplies to make that happen. As part of having CADD, I also suffer from CSAD, Crafting Supplies Acquisition Disorder. Pardon the acronyms, I'm ex-military, everything comes with an acronym. "Dash-10", "METL", "DPR" have special meaning to the select few.

And my latest acquistion, Vital Organs! I love it:) I picture tote bags, shirts and aprons. Any ideas?



Craft on my friends, craft on.....