Shop Local: Patterson Park Flea Market & Craft Fair in Baltimore, MD on May 14, 2011
If you live in the Baltimore-Washington area and have ever been interested in viewing my items in person, there is an excellent opportunity this weekend. I’ll be peddling my wares at the Patterson Park Flea Market & Craft Fair. I’ll bring all of the vintage and refashioned goodies from my Etsy shop and sell them at my booth, just look for the large SerendipiT sign. I’ll even have goodies that I haven’t had the opportunity to list in my store, like recycled tshirt tote bags, hats and more. This event will kick off Saturday morning at 9am and last until 3pm and you can find us near Lombard Street and Patterson Park Avenue, by the White House and Fountain.
The Spring 2011 Patterson Park Flea Market and Craft Fair will be presented by the Butchers Hill Association on Saturday, May 14, 2011 from 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM.� The event is located in the northwest part of Baltimore�s Patterson Park near familiar landmarks � the Pagoda, the Marble Fountain, and the White House.� Vendors and buyers will enjoy a great outdoor setting, live band music, and picnic food and beverages offered by Butchers Hill.
We hope that you’ll join us in this 20-year-plus flea-market tradition, either as a vendor selling �fleas,� both old and new, or crafts, creations, and other valuables, or by kicking back for a day of fun and bargain-hunting.
So come out and enjoy Baltimore in Spring, shop for some local handmade crafts and unique vintage finds and be sure to stop by and say, Hi!”.
Filed under Events, Local to Baltimore | Tags: Baltimore City, Butchers Hill, Craft Fair, crafts, eco-friendly, Etsy, Flea Market, gifts, Patterson Park, refashion, SerendipiT, spring, sustainable, thrifty, vintage, Washington | Comment (0)2011 Is Here; Now What?
Well, it’s officially 2011. If you are into Mayans or Judgement Day there may not be much point in planning out your next project, but as for me; I’ve got a lot of work to do. I am extremely happy to have survived the holidays. Everyone seemed to enjoy the gifts that I made for them with a few confused looks but mostly happy faces. Lots of exclamations of “It’s my favorite color!” which is really what I was hoping for. Lots of promises to pair the shawls coats (apparently purple coats were very popular in recent years) and new soap savers being filled with beer soap. I hope everyone really loves their gifts as much as I loved making them, but now it’s time to work for myself. Well, for myself and my Etsy shop. I’m off to a productive start though. I’ve already made a brimmed beanie and a pair of sweater boots from the same sweater. I’m hoping to get well practiced at making these matching sets so that I can have a few for myself, a few to give as gifts and a few to sell in my shop. They combine all of my favorite things in a few fun projects: thrifting, recycling and crafting! I’m also planning to use my newly acquired knitting and crocheting skills to get to work on a few fun projects too. I’m hoping to make a few rag rugs, some stylish accessories and maybe a sweater or two. Of course, I’m already receiving family requests for a new knit scarf, patches and hemming and even a fun baby shower gift. I’ve also come up with some fun ideas for the shop and I’m going to try to start using patterns in my refashions, so wish me luck! I’m also studying up on photography so that I can improve my photos. Please be sure to comment on anything you see in my shop; I can always use feedback, pointers or advice. Finally, in just a few months it will be time to get started on those Christmas projects again. So who has time to worry about the apocalypse? I’ve got crafting to do! What are your plans for the coming year? Be sure to share photos of any projects that you get finished or links to any cool tutorials that you spot. Happy New Year to you gentle reader!
Filed under Uncategorized | Tags: 2011, apocalypse, crafts, crochet, DIY, eco-friendly, Etsy, fashion, Happy New Year!, Judgement Day, Mayan, prediction, Rapture, recycle, refashion, SerendipiT, sustainable, Threadbanger, thrifty, Tutorial | Comment (0)Look Nook covers Handmade Gift Wrap (and my fabric bow)
http://looknook.blogspot.com/ is a blog that focuses on “things to look at and things to read. art, books, love.” The blog highlights small shops that focus on handmade arts and crafts. Yesterday, the plaid fabric gift bow that I have offered in both my shop (SerendipiT.Etsy.com) and the team shop (FashionRemixTeam.Etsy.com). Below is an excerpt and a link to the original; go read it and comment. Thanks!
Here is the link to the original article EW: Wrap it up.
Filed under Blog Coverage | Tags: blog review, crafts, eco-friendly, Etsy, FashionRemixTeam, recycle, refashion, SerendipiT, sustainable, thrifty | Comment (0)They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover or a gift by its wrapping. I happen to disagree. The outside is an item’s first impression and should be decorated as such. That said, there is no need to go overboard. My trick is to use 1 part simple to 1 part extravagant. If I am using plain paper, I will gussy it up with some fancy bows, bells, and tags. If I am using amazing paper, I keep the ribbon tying simple and clean.
If you found the Target wrapping paper section as underwhelming as I did, these items will hopefully inspire you this gift-giving season.
No Trash Wrap Christmas
Now that halloween is behind us, I’m skipping Thanksgiving temporarily and moving right to Christmas. Yes, I agree that it’s annoying when retailers do this and we should all slow down and enjoy the holidays. Ordinarily I would agree whole-heartedly, but this year, as in previous year, I’m making Christmas presents for friends and family again. I’m stepping up my game this year though and putting my newly found skill for knitting and crochet to work and cranking out gifts for the whole family. Some of these gifts are rather ambitious (omg how long will it take me to crochet 4 balls of yarn for one gift?!?) and we’ve only a few crafting weeks left until the big day. So for this reason, I am already 3 balls of yarn down and in the background of every football game you can hear the needles clicking away I’ll try to post up photos of my achievements as I go.
Unfortunately, all this time spent on gifts means that I can’t spend as much time on my Etsy store. I will however be sure to list some festive christmas gift bags (from recycled fabrics of course) that can be reused and passed among the family members in addition to my recycled paper bows. I hope to have time to list some other goodies, but I think I’d better focus on one task at a time for now. In order to celebrate the concept of a cleaner, greener holiday I am promoting the no trash wrap holiday tradition, which means don’t use throwaway packaging if you can help it; and if you must be sure it’s at least made from recycled materials. Here’s the promotion that I’ll be running in my shop through the end of the year.
SerendipiT’s Shop Announcement
Did You Know? In the U.S., an additional 5 million tons of waste is generated during the holidays. Four million tons of this is wrapping paper and shopping bags. Through the end of January 31, 2011 I will include either one (1) free refashioned t-shirt shopping tote bag or three (3) recycled paper bows with every purchase. Please let me know your preference by sending me a convo at checkout.
The individual members of the Fashion:Remix Team are committed to help fight the trash by offering promotional items tagged “notrashwrap”. Search for each of our unique solutions for a greener holiday season.
SerendipiT sources fabrics from previously loved clothing and recycles these textiles into hand-crafted EcoChic fashion. This eco-friendly process reduces our consumption of raw materials and precious resources. Refashioned clothing and accessories are true sustainable fashion that helps you to reduce your environmental impact on the Earth. I will donate 10% of all proceeds to The Conservation Fund, America’s Partner in Conservation. For the past 25 years, The Conservation Fund has been America’s partner in conservation, protecting more than 6.5 million acres. www.conservationfund.org – $15 donated so far in 2010
*Proud Member of the Fashion: Remix Team (tag: fashionremixteam)
*Proud member of the Recyclers Team Guild (tag: wastenot)
Proud Member of the Etsy Recyclers Guild Team
Visit us at http://www.EtsyRecyclersGuild.blogspot.com
What I’ve been up to on Etsy
Hey, here’s a peek at both my personal shop (Serendipit) and my team’s shop (Fashion:Remix). Please keep us in mind for your personal wardrobe updates and gift giving. We all make and sell eco-friendly refashioned or recycled clothing and accessories.
Filed under Environmentally Focused, Products, Shopping, Uncategorized, Website | Tags: crafts, design, eco-friendly, Etsy, fashion, gifts, refashion, SerendipiT, sustainable, thrifty, vegan, vegetarian | Comment (0)Environmentally-Focused Christmas Shopping
Maybe you had planned to handmake your Christmas presents, but they didn’t turn out, or you just didn’t have the time to finish them (both of these have already happened to me). Even more likely, you just don’t have the time, energy or urge to make your own gifts, but you still want to buy something cool for your loved ones, but want to buy something recycled or refashioned to cut down on your enivronmental impact. With expedited shpping in most cases you can still purchase up to a few days before Christmas, but always check your estimated arrival dates and read the shipper’s policies before you purchase. If your items don’t arrive you can always print a photo and description of the item frome the website and give to your relatvies in a pretty card and let them know that they’ll receive it soon (again, I’ve had to do this more than once). I’ve scoured the innertubes (ie, the internet) and come up with a few really cool items and here they are in no particular order.
Warning: Shamless self promotion plug – buy something from me 
You can always request a custom item as well from my Etsy shop.
“SerendipiT sources fabrics from clothing purchased from thrift stores like Goodwill (and occasionally my own closet) and recycles the fabric into new, fun and practical items. Recycling these textiles ensures that they don’t end up in landfills and by purchasing repurposed, upcycled and refashioned goods you can reduce the harmful chemicals used in the production of new items. So reduce your carbon footprint, do something good for the Earth and your wallet by purcashing something fun or funky from SerendipiT.”
Here are some of my favorite Etsy items:
Upcycled Vinyl Record HEAVY Guitar Picks Free Shipping
Custom Vintage Silverware Garden Marker
Recycled DEF LEPPARD cassette wallet / iPod Nano case / business card holder
Antique Silver Spoon Ring, Avon Pattern.. Any Size… Free Shipping
UPCYCLED Blue Grey VINTAGE Train Case with RADIOHEAD Quote Black Star and Skeleton Keys
Try putting “recyled” in the search box and find thousands of goodies to suit your taste.
Amazon has lots of great recycled items too like:
terrasoles Women’s Tuckerman Clog,Charcoal,8 M
Nahui Ollin Itsy Bitsy Wristlet,Hearts,one size
terrasoles Men’s Snowmass Slip On,Charcoal,7 M
ROGUE Mingo Knee Boot,Honey,6 M
Nahui Ollin Large Cutie Pie Purse,Zig Zag,one size
There are so many online stores offering recycled and upcycled gifts that a simple search will reveal more websites than one can sift through in a day, but here are a few that caught my eye:
Eco-Artware.com
So hopefully, among your search for presents you’ll find something interesting, unique and sustainably crafted to give this year. Nothing says I love you like passing on a healthy planet to our future generations. Happy Shopping!
Filed under Environmentally Focused, Products, Shopping | Tags: eco-friendly, Etsy, gifts, recycle, refashion, SerendipiT | Comment (0)My Very Own Etsy Store
My Very First Etsy Item!
So about 6 months ago I got this crazy idea to start selling my recycled tshirt stuff at outdoor fairs, or even our own Lauraville Market Connection. Unfortunately, neither time nor bank account allowed me to get my little shop off the ground. Fortunately Etsy makes it easy and cheap to try it out. The site listing that I picked out previously is currently being sat on by someone and as my husband reminds me, he did tell me to buy it over half a year ago, doh. The Twitter name is gone too, but luckily it was still available on Etsy and I’ve even uploaded my very first item for sale. www.SerendipiT.etsy.com. It’s alive! So, come visit my little slice of homemade heaven and tell all of your friends about it too, who knows maybe someone else will share my love or passion for recycled tshirt stuff and mabye even buy it. While I can’t give up my full or part-time job status any time soon, maybe this will at least buy me a beer. So, I’ll be adding new items as I finish them in my spare (ha ha) time. Sadly, being married to a graphic designer doesn’t actually get your marketing materials completed first in line, so I’m hoping to have some of those available later this year and you know I’ll post more information up as soon as I’ve got picture. Cheers!
Filed under News, Website | Tags: Etsy, SerendipiT | Comment (0)