Renegade Craft Fair Brooklyn Recap!

O goodness how the time has flown by me! I can't believe it has taken me a whole week to tell you all about my trip to the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn last Saturday! That was the big trip I was hinting to previously. I had never attended the craft fair before and decided that it was about time that I did. So I roped two friends into tagging along with me, bought seats on the Megabus from Philly to New York, and made sure my wallet was full of spending money.

Before heading into Brooklyn, we made a pit stop at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit. I had been dying to see it after reading so many wonderful reviews of it online. The Met was packed, and we had to wait for 50 minutes in line to see the exhibit. It was definitely worth it though. It was an exceptional exhibition, and all of the pieces no matter how creepy or girly were just beautiful to see in person. There are so many things about them that are not captured well in photos, so even though I have seen photos of most of the pieces on display, I felt like I was seeing them all again for the first time there in the Met. Even the exhibit catalog was gorgeous. For $45 it was not in my budget for that day, as I had many other purchases planned, but it is now on my to buy list. It would make a wonderful addition to my collection of art books.

After the Met, we quickly skidaddled to Brooklyn, despite the fact that it was starting to rain. By the time we got off of the subway the rain had turned from a mist into an outright downpour, and we had to quickly duck inside a store in order to keep from getting completely soaked. When we finally made it to the craft fair, everything was damp, and some vendors who had enough of the rain were starting to pack up and leave. We had our work cut out for us though, with almost 300 vendors in attendance, we got right down to shopping! At one of the booths, there was a lovely lady doing 60-second watercolor portraits. Unfortunately, I was so smitten with mine that I did not think to grab a business card, and I have had no luck finding a website or anything for her on the Renegade Craft Fair vendor list. All I know is that for $1 she did a cute portrait and that her name is Sally. I wish I could tell you more or direct you to more of her work, but unfortunately, the above scan of the portrait is all I've got.

I bought four blank peg dolls from Goose Grease. I have been wanting to get a few to paint various textile designs on. I think it would be sweet, having a little textile doll family. Of course, they have been put on the always growing list of projects to complete. They are so adorable though, that I will probably get around to using them sooner rather than later.

I had to restrain myself from buying one of every wooden blank that they had. They have all sorts of sizes of peg dolls, nesting dolls, yo-yos, etc. It is easy to be overwhelmed with all the possibilities you think of when looking at all the blank forms just waiting to be something wonderful.

I bought this ever so adorable monster stuffie from Let's Be Friends. I was walking by the booth and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw him and his brethren piled in a suitcase, begging to be taken to new homes. I have never bought a hand made stuffed animal before. Not because I have anything against them, I've certainly seen many an adorable hand made stuffie. I just never know where I would put them or have them hang out in my house. I don't have kids, and I wouldn't want my dogs to think it was a new toy for them, so I normally just pass by the stuffies without giving them much thought. This guy I had to take home with me though. He now lives on my bookshelf, but I am hoping that once I finish making over my work space that he can live amongst some floor pillows and keep me company while I make stuff. I think he would like that.

I had to grab a fat quarter of this fun yellow cross mark fabric from Workroom Social. I am still not sure what I am going to make with it, but I think whatever I make I will probably use this along with one of the fabrics I got from Sara Lee Parker Textiles at the Art Star Craft Bazaar. I think the color and feel of the fabrics would go well together.

I justify my obsession with buying fun, unique fabrics by telling myself that even if I am not sure what I am going to do with them when I buy them, that since they never go bad I can just keep them until inspiration strikes. It's not weird that I like to sort through my stash sometimes and just feel the fabrics and admire the patterns sometimes, right?

These sweet little houses are from The Oak Leaves, and are destined to have a new home in a terrarium at some point in the near future. I have been swooning over their miniature cities for awhile now, and I took my sweet time choosing which ones were going to come home with me. I chose a church for an Ireland themed terrarium, and I just thought the other barns and houses were precious. Once I get my act together and amass the rest of the terrarium supplies I need, they will have a new home and I will probably find myself just staring into their miniature world when I get antsy and wish I were traveling.

Last but not least I gave in and finally got a kit from Chez Sucre Chez. I have been wanting their Puppy Love kit, but unfortunately it seems they do not make it anymore. It isn't a big loss though, because their other kits are also adorable and I would be happy to make any of them. I settled on this heart and arrows kit for now, and will probably grab another one the next time I see them. It is so wonderfully packaged and the instructions seem to be fool proof, which is good news for me as I am quite the novice when it comes to cross stitch!

It was a long and full day, and I am sure you won't be surprised when I tell you that we all passed out on the bus ride home. It was worth it though. I am excited about my goodies and cannot wait to use them and show you all what I have made with them. There isn't another craft fair in my schedule for awhile, either as a vendor or a buyer, but I definitely think that this trip will tide me over for awhile!