With great excitement, I took my daughter to the Renegade Craft Fair held in Brooklyn this past Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately I couldn't make it Saturday because I had to do my mother's hair for a party...only my mother, 58 years old and can't curl her hair with a curling iron but I digress. We were supposed to catch a ride with my aunt into Brooklyn Saturday night after the above mentioned party but my mother and aunt went to an after party at a hotel. (Again, only my family, lol)
So Sunday morning arrives and my daughter and I get up to make the long trek from New Jersey into NYC. Luckily transportation runs smoothly...bus into Newark, PATH into Manhattan, and L to Bedford Ave...everything connects back to back. I'm so thankful because anyone who has a four year old knows their lack of patience. I try to make long trips into adventures by telling her to count the stops and look out the windows and tell me what she sees. She was excited about riding two trains so that keeps her entertained.
We get to the park in great time. Just in time to get a goodie bag. **!!BONUS!!** I figure we'll walk around and get an idea what's what before we really shop. As I walk around I recognize many of the vendor names:
India RomeoCrafty ChicaSeamripperTwigs and HeatherSupermaggieMissHawkletTo name a few...
I especially ones I have requested wholesale materials from like
If'N Books and
Biggs and Featherbelle. My daughter quickly reaches her first of many expiration dates of the day and demands a hot dog. I calculate its been a few hours since her morning bowl of Fruit Loops and stop a vendor to get "dos perros calientes" with ketchup and mustard. I snap a few pictures of the booths of
TwoSpace and
GirliePants
Little did I know these would be the only pictures I would get.
After stuffing ourselves with suspicious pink meat we continue walking around. I recognize Jess of
Miss Chief Productions and spend a few minutes introducing myself and chatting with her about the fair. I score some awesome paper magnets for my mom who is a magnet freak and some cool bottle caps magnets for myself. My daughter gets a cool retro sticker.
We didn't get far before I fell in love with the glass at
Kiku. I could kick myself for not bringing more cash. I resigned myself to just purchasing a pair of hair pins rather than the necklace I really wanted. I grabbed their business card. I will definitely buy online.
We kept circling the whole park...stopping to admire different "pretties" I admit I was alittle burned about one thing...are there no diyers making plus size clothes...I would if I could sew! But all in all great stuff to be found. Fell in love with more glass at
Anna Built but had to walk away because I had just bought a beautiful hand blown pendant from the ladies at
Shevon Gant's booth. I guess you can tell I love glass and ceramics. Maybe because I was so clumsy as a child and had to admire them from afar. Shevon's ceramics are gorgeous. I gave her my business card hoping she'd consider placing some product in my store.
By this time, my daughter was entering melt down #3. She wasn't satisfied with the chocolate ice cream cup I'd spent $2 on. Four year olds you gotta love them. Stopped in
Kate Black of Bad Buttons' booth to introduce myself...I carry some of her buttons in my shop but we've only "met" through emails. She was great...even offered my daughter an ice pop.
Next up, stopped to introduce myself to Sarah of
The Small Object. I can not express how much I love her stuff. The quality is outstanding! I'm glad to carry her products. She recognized who I was as soon as she heard my name. That was great! I love that the indie community is so close and personable.
After looking around, I took my daughter to
My Paper Crane to pick out a creature. I personally love the cupcakes and milk cartons so I was happy when my daughter chose a pink cupcake as her new little friend. It has a place of honor in her bedroom.
After that it was pretty hot and we were both getting tired. My mom and aunt were coming to pick us up so we went for a walk to a local bodega to get some water. While there we ran into
Vickie Howell and
Jennifer Perkins. Again I introduced myself and chatted a bit about the hot weather. They encouraged me to be a vendor for next year's show. Ha! I haven't designed stationery in awhile and I have a few craft projects waiting to be finished but I'm considering it. We'll see.
After returning the park, I picked up some cool hair clips from
Rainbow Sugar and we soon were picked up by mom and auntie.
Overall a good day...as I said I wish I had budgeted more cash. I used my credit card once but didn't want to get carried away. Was definitely worth the trip and solidified and energized my passion for indie products. I wish I could have visited Art Star last month in Philly but I'll definitely try to visit some of the local markets in NYC.
