A great new venue for lovers of craft opened in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood of Seattle in 2009. Assemble integrates a gallery space, a workshop studio, and a retail shop to host creativity of all kinds. Their mission is to showcase craft as modern art, while teaching both traditional and avant-garde crafting techniques in a workshop environment. [...]
Read more »1) You have one of the best craft podcasts (CraftSanity) on the planet (the other one is Diane’s of course). What made you get into podcasting? Thank you. I never planned to get into podcasting. It all started in the winter of 2005 when I asked my husband, Jeff, what he was listening to on [...]
Read more »Come meet Samantha Fisher and Cary Lane at the Elliot Bay book signing event who have just recently released The Sock Monkey & Friends Kit by Chronicle Books! With this book and kit you can transform stray socks into stuffed-animal friends with this utterly cute craft kit! It featuring step-by-step instructions for 9 unique sock [...]
Read more »Are you super excited about this years CCE conference but are wondering about ways to stay involved year round with groups that support small business owners in the art, craft and design community. First, Kristen Rask and Andrea Porter two of the organizers of this years CCE event are also the minds behind Seattle’s Grassroots [...]
Read more »Thanks to everyone who entered our recent CCE contest for a free one day pass. We have picked a winner! Dave Sheely of Dave Sheely Designs. We appreciate everyone giving it a shot and helping us spread the word! Be on the lookout for more contests in the future!
Read more »We thought we’d give you an insiders guide for places to eat while attending the conference. We will be providing breakfast and lunch but there is dinner to think about too! When I go out of town I always like to go out for a more “fancy” meal but nothing that is going to really [...]
Read more »My business has gotten a lot of great press over the years. My toys have been featured in places like The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Everyday with Rachel Ray. How did that happen? Simple, I put up a press kit on my web site. It’s easy to feel daunted by this [...]
Read more »Thinking of getting a one day pass? Be a backer on kickstarter and get lots of goodies in addition to a CHEAPER ticket price!
Read more »Looking for a way to finish up the weekend at the conference? How about heading just across the street for an amazing free concert in the park! Join the Monktail Creative Music Concern Sat. August 14th, 2010 for Sounds Outside: A Celebration of Adventurous Music & Community! The 5th annual free, outdoor, festival of jazz [...]
Read more »We are excited to announce a special fundraising project! Kickstarter is a new model for rasing funds towards a specific project. Each project has pledge contribution levels where individuals can get special bonuses for helping us reach our fund raising goals! Every project has a funding goal and a time limit. When the deadline is [...]
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CCE- We already heard from Lauren about how Raised Eyebrow came about. How were the first years of being in business for yourself? What are some highlights or harsh lessons learned?
EM- Wow, that was such a long time ago that it almost feels like someone else experienced all that, but it is fun to remember, so thanks for asking.
The early days were really incredible. I remember feeling like I had this huge burst of energy suddenly fall into my life. Somehow the process of deciding that I would spend my days working on my own project — our company — gave me all this extra energy to devote to… well at the time it felt like everything. I was just so fueled and fed by the idea of working for myself and (forgive the cliche) building my dreams and not someone else’s that I felt like I was on top of the world. I started sewing in earnest. Took on all kinds of personal projects, rode my bike more, everything I was unstoppable.
An important business lesson that we learned early on was that your personal credit has little to do with your business credit. We were really surprised to learn that our impeccable personal credit histories had little sway when we went to apply for a line of credit for the business. Of course, we left applying for credit until a time when we needed it, so that was a bit stressful. The lesson learned there? Apply for credit as your business as soon as you can, even if you don’t need it. I recommend a line of credit (lower interest rate) and a credit card (useful for online purchases etc) to everyone, even if they have small limits and you don’t think you need them yet. Once you’ve got a toehold, you can expand your credit as you need to overtime and it will be much easier than starting from scratch.
Read more »If you currently live in Seattle the Capitol Hill Art Walk is growing and growing so you should check it out! A particularily good month is June as it is Blitz’s 1 year anniversary on June 10th. If you are coming into town for the conference you will have an opportunity to check out the [...]
Read more »We thought we’d give you an insiders guide for places to eat while attending the conference. We will be providing breakfast and lunch but there is dinner to think about too! Just downstairs from the Century Ballroom, our main conference hub, is Oddfellows. A great place for sandwiches and salads during the days – I’ve [...]
Read more »We are planning some fun events at night after the finish of each day of the conference. On August 14th from 5:30 – 7:00 we will be hosting a book signings with various authors and illustrators from the crafty community at Elliot Bay Books. This is a great opportunity to find out how these folks [...]
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Read more »We are offering one lucky winner a free one day pass or half off the ticket price of a three day pass for getting word out about CCE! All you have to do is 2 of these 3 items things: Help spread the word about the giveaway on your blog, twitter, or facebook & leave [...]
Read more »If you mised our June 1st dealine for the 3 day early bird ticket discount no fear you are in luck! We have extended the deadline through July 15th! Buy now
Read more »There are literally thousands of different to-do list applications out there, but most of them don’t save me any time over using a pen and paper. There are, however, a few programs that really are time and sanity-savers, because they employ the use of tags. Whats so great about tags? It means you can sort [...]
Read more »So you just learned a lot of amazing new things to help grow your business on day one but you are still looking for something fun to do that night – well you are in luck! Directly across the street from our conference venue Three Dollar Bill Outdoor Cinema is presenting a FREE movie under [...]
Read more »All of our attendees will receieve a swag bags with goodies from artists, crafters as desigers as well as some special items from Seattle specality stores. We just got a huge box of journals in from www.bookjournals.com! It’s so exciting to see items rolling in! If you are interested in donating and getting your business [...]
Read more »Saturday, May 15th & Sunday, May 16th 11 am – 6 pm @ Penn’s Landing Great Plaza Over 100 Artists + Live Music Rain or Shine! Free to Attend! Please visit www.artstarcraftbazaar.com for more info
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If you have an Etsy shop, you know that you could practically make a full-time job out of maintaining and promoting it. For those of us without such copious free time, here are three quick ways you can optimize your shop in under five minutes:
Date: 05/19/2010 – 7 pm Location: Seattle Grassroots Business Assocation presents Branding 101 How important is a logo to your business? How does it represent you and your company? How can I find a good designer to create my logo and brand identity? What other things are involved in branding? Beth Bacon (Zoyo Branding), Corianton [...]
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CCE- I remember when we started our email conversation 5 years ago after you purchased something from my store and sent a lovely email with a photo of how you framed your piece. After that you started showing me your own work and before I knew it, you were booked for a show at Schmancy. Since then it has been a huge treat to see how far your career has gone from tons of shows, your work with Chronicle Books, magazine features, etc…I could go on and on. What have been some of your highlights over these past 5 years?
LC- Yes, it’s true that you gave me my first break! I am forever indebted to you for that amazing opportunity. I am at the point now where I turn shows down because I do not have time to do more than one or two solo shows a year, and sometimes I feel overwhelmed with the amount of work I have so it feels really amazing to remember back to how I felt that first time anyone wanted to show my work. I remember getting that email from you and being so excited that my heart was jumping out of my chest. I barely even thought of myself as an artist five years ago, so it is amazing to think about all that has happened since then. I think the main highlight for me is being able to wake up everyday and do what I love. I have the privilege of spending my days doing what I love and I am not shy about that fact that I love this life and it makes me happy. Lots of good things have come to me since I started, including lots of the things you already named above (shows, an amazing agent, press, etc). I feel so lucky.
Read more »Date: 05/10/2010 Location: Everywhere. Event held in Seattle Kristen Rash, co founder of CCE, curates an amazing plush art show in the country, Plush You! every year, and is now accepting applications for this fall’s show in Seattle. Deadline for application is May 10th. http://plushyou.blogspot.com/2010/04/plush-you-seattle.html
Read more »A favicon is the tiny square image that appears next to the address bar in your browser. Adding a favicon to your web site takes less than five minutes. You can do it while you wait for your tea kettle to whistle and it really tightens up your image. A favicon completes the branding of [...]
Read more »Date: 05/08/2010 – 11:00 Where: Seattle The EtsyRAIN Spring Art & Craft Show will be held in the lobby of Intiman Theatre (201 Mercer Street) from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 8, 2010. The first 50 people in line will receive a swag bag filled with awesome stuff from our EtsyRAIN members. [...]
Read more »Date: 05/08/2010 – 10:00 Where: Seattle Spend the weekend jumpstarting or refreshing your artist career! The I Am An Artist Workshop offers essential resources, funding opportunities, peer-to peer evaluation, networking and hands-on feedback. This two-day workshop includes: * The Basics: Learning the Artist Landscape * Finding Funding and Other Opportunities * Using the Internet as [...]
Read more »If you’re a sole proprietorship, you need an EIN. Well, legally you don’t need one, but in a world full of identity thieves, isn’t it nice to be able to keep you social security number to yourself? As a new business owner, you will find that an enormous number of people will ask for it. [...]
Read more »Date: 05/01/2010 – 10:00 Are you ready to sell your art through shops and galleries? Come learn the ins and outs of creating positive, prosperous relationships with local and national shops and galleries. Former shop and gallery buyer/exhibition manager Miriam Works will break this daunting process into achievable steps. This one-day workshop covers researching your [...]
Read more »Why Have A Conference?
The handmade and design movement is realizing a renaissance. The focus on sustainable, local and, more importantly, handcrafted product is a core value of the new generation of working professionals. Young entrepreneurs want to be able to build a community around this culture. They want to source out their material and service needs from independent businesses and advocate for policies that support small business owners and cottage industry. These communities are just starting to form across the USA. We have a strong contingent of creative professionals on the West Coast. CCE will be able to develop this community by providing meeting space, educational seminars, support and leadership in the form of an annual conference.
Crafty Wonderland is just around the corner folks! This is a great opportunity to support local art, craft and design businesses. I love going to these events as I always get to scope out how vendors have their booths set up, what type of packaging they are using, price points, and new hip items out [...]
Read more »We thought the news section would be a fun place to talk about all the fun places we like in Seattle then when you visit you’ll have a list of top spots you want to hit up! Archie McPhee’s! This place is kind of a Seattle institution – toys and lots of great weird stuff. [...]
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CCE- Please state your name and occupation:
CF- Cathie Filian TV Producer and Host, Handcraft Designer, Author & Craft Product Inventor
CCE- What is the day in the life of Cathie Filian like?
CF- Busy and Messy! I begin my workday at 6:00 am with a strong cup of coffee and my to-do list. I usually have either the morning news or talk radio on in the background. I start with emails/follow-ups and then move on to development by noon. I spend about an hour a day just developing new ideas.
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CCE- Please state your name and occupation DM- Yes ma’am. Danielle Maveal. Etsy’s Education Coordinator.
CCE- What are some of your favorite topics to discuss on Etsy’s blog, The Storque?
DM- I can always write about about ways to promote yourself, but right now I’m on a big copywriting kick. Just ask the regulars in my online workshops, I’m constantly on my soap box about item descriptions. I think it’s because I’m reading Made to Stick by the Heath brothers. One thing I’m on a mission to do is to get rid of descriptions that don’t contain pro-nouns. For instance, when a jewelry artist says “This necklace was made with sterling silver and semi-precious gemstones.” I strongly encourage the artist to rewrite that to say, “I made this necklace using a wire-wrapping technique in sterling silver and semi-precious gemstones.” Because that item didn’t fall from the sky! It was handmade by YOU!
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