April showers bring local, handmade flowers

Courtesy: The Cleveland Flea

Seriously you guys, I know I always talk about the weather but it has been SUCH a nice week here in Northeast Ohio! And with the Indians season underway, two major motion pictures filmed here premiering, patio season around the corner, it's a good time to be in the CLE!

In case that's not enough excitement for you, there are some great local events going on this weekend, if shopping local is your thing (which it probably is since you're reading this blog). Check out the details and support your local artists and vendors!

Tremont ArtWalk
Friday April 11, 6-10pm
Tremont Neighborhood
www.tremontartwalk.com
Did you know this monthly event has been around since the early 90s? On the second Friday of every month over 20 Tremont galleries and businesses come together to showcase art and offer specials and discounts. Whether you're a Tremont lifer or have always wanted to check out the area, it's always a great time. Plus, this is the first really nice weather day they've had for the ArtWalk so you know it won't be one to miss! Check out their website for more details on what to do and where to go!

The Cleveland Flea: April Flea
Saturday April 12, 9am-4pm
Sterle's Slovenian Country House
(1401 E. 55th, Cleveland)
www.theclevelandflea.com
The Flea has really become the end-all be-all of Cleveland arts and craft shows. And to call it an arts and crafts show is an understatement! Over 100 vendors will be in attendance, selling just about everything from jewelry to vintage, photography to food. Located in the historic Sterle's Country House, the event basically has it's own campus complete with multiple bars, live music stages, and of course shopping areas! Be sure to check out the workshops being offered throughout the day including terrarium making and all-day open crafting. (The Flea also does a great job on social media --- be sure to like them on Facebook for more info and updates!)

2014 Summit County Spring Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show
Saturday April 12, 10am-5pm
Sunday April 13, 11am-5pm
St. George's Fellowship Centre
(3204 Ridgewood Rd., Fairlawn)
We love the Avant-Garde shows and are so glad they pop up so often and in so many locations around Northeast Ohio! Get unique gifts for Mom or pick up something to give your Easter brunch host from the nearly 100 artists and crafters who will be there. Also, check out their Facebook page because in the weeks leading up to one of their shows they will post photos and info about their vendors. It's $3 to get in and part of the proceeds to this event will benefit Drink Local. Drink Tap., a local non-profit focusing on bringing safe water to those in need.

Shopping local for the holidays --- the final stretch!

It seems like we've been on the "shop local for the holidays" train for so long, we're still two weeks away from Christmas! Which, depending on how much shopping and/or preparing you have done so far is either a good thing or a not so great thing. Either way, we have two new holiday shopping events for you going on in the CLE this weekend to finish off that list or get you started, better late than never.

Coventry Village Holiday Festival
Saturday, Dec. 14
11am-midnight
Coventry Road, Cleveland Heights
If you've never enjoyed a nice afternoon or evening in Coventry Village, now's your chance to go all out! Attendees receive a special discount card for all the great local businesses in the area PLUS free parking at any public meter located in the garage, lots and street meters! But that's not all...get ready to get your holiday cheer on with music, community caroling, crafting, photos with Coventry Claus and Mr. Jingeling, an Elf movie marathon, AND an Ugly Sweater Bar Crawl! For more info on all the events visit CoventryVillage.org.

Cleveland Bazaar West Show
Saturday, Dec. 14, 10am-9pm
Sunday, Dec. 15, 10am-6pm
78th Street Studios
(1301 West 78th St, Cleveland)
Cleveland Bazaar sponsored last week's event in Ohio City, and this weekend they're getting serious. Browse the 100 vendors on two floors of the 78th Street Studios near Gordon Square - there will surely be some fun stuff to finish off that strictly local Christmas list. Plus if you've ever been to the 78th Street Studios you know it'll be the perfect location for this awesome, artsy craftsy event!

2013 East Side Winter Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show
Sunday, Dec. 15, 12pm-5:30pm
Terry Macklin Entertainment & Event Centre
(6200 Enterprise Parkway, Solon)
www.avantgardeshows.com
We had a blast at the West Side Avant-Garde show last month, and now you have another chance to get in on the crafty goodness! $3 gets you in the door to browse the over 100 local handmade vendors plus part of the proceeds will benefit the North East Ohio Make A Wish Foundation. On top of all that, you can treat yo self at the on-site concession stand AND full bar!

West Side Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show Review

We warned you! Even though we're still a week away from Thanksgiving, Christmas is creeping its way into our psyche. Thankfully, we eased our way into it the best way we know how - with a good ol' fashioned craft show! The West Side Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show last weekend had vendors and shoppers from all over Northeast Ohio flocking to Rocky River Memorial Hall buying and selling goodies of all sorts. We had a blast on Saturday and are here to show you what we found!

Even though there were two entire huge rooms of vendors, we made purchases at the first three booths we hit! #1 was the hand-sewn originals of Aunt Jeannie's Attic. Brightly colored patterned purses caught our eye, but it was this black wristlet, made from vintage men's suits, that had us sold!

I recognized the nautical pillowcases from Avant-Garde's blog when we came by IndoDesign's booth. Our second stop had even more fun patterned fabric goods but we couldn't help but fall in love with these wooden Christmas trees! So unique, this will definitely be a conversation piece hanging at the house around the holidays. Gives off a beachy vibe even amidst the cold Cleveland November/December temps, thanks especially to the starfish tree topper!

Nestled by a window was the soothing smells of Peripeti Home. Also sold at one of our favorite spots, Salty Not Sweet, these handmade soy candles and wax melts have the most unique yet satisfying scents we've ever come across! Orchard Picnic will be great to have wafting around the house on Thanksgiving and Sherwood Forest was too calming to pass up. These layered fragrances are also available in large tins and crackling wooden wicks.

I'm a sucker for fun and unique jewelry - anything that has a story and makes people ask, "where did you get those?" I could have bought every ring, necklace, pendant, and pair of earrings displayed at Diella Jewelry's booth! Her handmade, handpainted, mixed media pieces are not only to die for, they're very reasonably priced! I picked these sparkly earrings for myself along with a few other Christmas presents that I'll have to keep hidden for now...two words: rhinestones and chevrons.

Last but not least, we have to give it up to Colleen Smith and her amazing mixed media, Cleveland pride art! I would totally be down to furnishing my home with Colleen's large scale collage prints but let's start with what we bought from her at the show... we went with the coolest Cleveland Christmas cards EVER and a Browns inspired ornament! Hard to say if we'll be gifting these or maybe even framing them for decorations at the house!

Needless to say by our fabulous finds, the West Side Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show was a success! If you missed out on the fun, fear not, there's an East Side show coming up in December! More details on that to come...

Calling all vendors!

One of our favorite local boutiques, Ohio City's Salty Not Sweet, is looking for new vendors! If you or anyone you know has artsy, fun handmades or other items to sell, send an email over to saltycleveland@gmail.com to be considered.

The holiday shopping season is right around the corner, now is the time to get your name and goodies out there!


To learn more about Salty, check out our blog post from their grand opening in 2011.

Ingenuing on the Lake

Another Ingenuity Fest done come and gone! A few weeks ago artists artists of all kinds gathered at Docks 30 & 32 on the shores of Lake Erie to share their innovation, ideas, and more to the people of our fair city.

Always a highlight of the year and fall must-go, this year's Ingenuity did not disappoint. An arguably different, however no less creative vibe was felt at this location versus those of the past, which include the underbelly of the Detroit-Superior bridge.

There were acrobats, light installations, vaudeville acts, lake views, and more! However my favorite part of the Ingenuity fest were all the handmade and other goods to oogle at, be inspired by, and spend a few bucks on.

Flip through the photos below from this year's festival and be sure to keep up with Ingenuity Cleveland's web site and social media pages for year-round creative Cleveland awesomeness!

Links:
23 Skidoo
Ape Made
The Vaudevillian
Ingenuity Cleveland

Ingenuity Cleveland 2013

Just like fall fashion September issues and Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Crooked River Couture is back! And if you're a diehard Clevelander there's something else that always comes around this time of year. Okay other than football...it's the Ingenuity Festival!

You may remember my post from the 2011 Festival, the last one located under the Detroit-Superior Bridge. I must say, I am going to miss hanging out down there this year, but hopefully it will soon be open year round, thanks to the Bridge Project!

This year, the ingenuity gets cooking down on the lakefront combining the indoor space of two warehouses with the ample outdoor space just north of the Factory of Sadness. Arguably the most underused gem of our city, Ingenuity promises to "offer a glimpse of the long-range lakefront development plan." Let's hope the luck the Festival brought to the Detroit-Superior Bridge comes to the Erie coast as well!

If you've never been to an Ingenuity Fest, check out my blog from two years ago for a little taste. But trust me, no pictures, videos, or beautifully vivid description can do it justice - you just have to go and experience it for yourself!

Ingenuity Festival 2013

September 20-22

Fri: 5pm – 1am

Sat: Noon – 1am

Sun: Noon – 5pm

Docks 32 and 30, North of First Energy (Browns) Stadium

Dredging down East 4th

Last week I posted event info for the Made in the 216 and Dredgers Union grand opening event that took place on Friday night (and all weekend!) If you didn't have a chance to hit it up, you missed a great event for Cleveland fashion. It was so great to see so many people downtown, and even though I know some of the crowd was from the Tribe game, I know a lot of people were there for this event! Even Channel 3 was live from E. 4th during their 7 p.m. news!

Unfortunately we didn't get there until later, but I'm so glad we got to stop by. The Dredgers Union store is located on the east side of the street right across from the Greenhouse Tavern. The set up of the store is really cool. There was a very Anthropologie vibe. I was expecting more of a boutique, which is more common for locally owned shops. But I can definitely see the Dredgers Union becoming a national chain! Not that it ever would or would ever want to but it had that type of vibe, like you could plop it in any mall in America.


Of course me being me, the first thing that caught my eye when I walked in was this navy blue tote bag with a vintage map of Cleveland on it. It was just $20 and I just might have to go back and snag one!

A lot of the apparel was on the higher price end (again, like Anthropologie) but they were really chic and unique.  There was everything from shorts to tops, dresses and more. On the upper level stage area were all home wares. Each little area was like a separate room in someone's house. There were some really great shower curtains that my friends and I wanted in our future apartment! I also loved some of the cups, bowls and plates around. As I've always said I'm a sucker for interesting set ups inside stores and the housewares area had a really cool set up. I wish I could live there!

Now the real party was hopping down stairs in the basement level. That's where the Made in the 216 event was going on. It was like a mini craft fair with racks and racks of Cleveland T-shirts (including some from my favorite CLE Clothing Co. and their new summer tanks), tables of accessories and Cleveland-themed art on the walls.












We were really feeling the jewelry pinned up on this bulletin board. A lot of them were made from old watches and clocks from Aviaire and were so unique.

I, personally was totally into the Cleveland art up everywhere. My favorite would have to be the black and white text prints by Arterx with street names from various neighborhoods. I loved the Lakewood one featuring "Warren," "Bunts," "Detroit," and "Riverside" as well as the Ohio City and Tremont ones. Another adorable print I loved was by Rachael Novak reading "Lake Erie Love."




Even though I didn't buy anything I'm really glad I went. Like I said in my preview post it's so good to see some retail coming to downtown! Even though a lot of the Dredgers Union stuff was a little expensive for my kind of income, I can't wait to do a little East 4th shopping once I get a little dough (whenever that might be!) I would definitely suggest checking it out, and maybe to give Made in the 216 a follow on Twitter to keep up with their pop up events. And of course, one of the best things about both Made in the 216 and the Dredgers Union they are dedicated to locally produced items - spreading the CLE love one shopping spree at a time!



***Check out the links on this page to see the web sites for some of the items I saw at the event!