Vendor Spotlight: Lilleputt Studio

Another picture show, featuring Annika Schmidt of Lilleputt Studio.  Click on the images to see the link!

Swedish Horse Pillow by Lilleputt Studio

Pincushions on the Lilleputt Blog

New fabric at Lilleputt Studio!

Breakfast Pillow with Birch Trees from Lilleputt Studio

Yellow and Gray Bib from Lilleputt Studio

Wow, wow!  Top caliber stuff, Annika.  Can’t wait to see you at The Big Thaw arts, crafts + vintage sale this SATURDAY May 12, from 10am to 4pm, at the Mayo Street Arts Center at 10 Mayo St.  Yahoo!

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Vendor Spotlight: Lulubeans

Party Lights by Lulubeans

Today’s Vendor Spotlight is brought to us by Shanna Tice of The Makings of Shanna Tice.  We thank her very much for her time spent putting all this great information together!  You can find Lulubeans set up on the lower level of Mayo St. among the artist studios.  Without further ado…. Lulubeans!

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Basket of Locks by Lulubeans

Soft, dreamy, and luxurious are all things that come to mind when laying your eyes on April Newman of Lulubean’s hand crafted, hand painted fiber and hand spun yarns. April strives for the highest quality fiber when creating an artistic blend for hand spinners. It is also obvious by looking at her work, that she has a sophisticated and elegant color pallet with her hand dyed batches. There is also so much fun in her variety of juicy colors, and she pushes toward a very trendy and modern color combination with her craft as well. I can’t help but think of each batt of blended fibers as a unique one of a kind painting. Not only does April explore color, but she blends fiber in the most creative way using bamboo, faux cashmere, domestic wool, merino lamb, SW merino, sari silk fabric strips, mohair, Tussah silk, baby alpaca, Wensleydale locks, soy silk and kid mohair, and more!

Fiber and Spindles by Lulubeans

When I asked April what inspired her to begin her work as a fiber artist and what gave way to the start of ‘Lulubeans’ she replied, “I taught myself to knit when my first daughter was a toddler. Yarn kept my hands busy and soothed my busy mind. Once I had mastered knitting and purling, making my own yarn was the natural next step!” I then asked her what her favorite part about her work was and the answer didn’t surprise me! ” I love the functionality of what I do. It makes me so happy to know that fiber I have dyed will make a novice spinners first hand-spun yarn, or that a yarn I have spun will be lovingly knit into someone’s favorite hat. Making things that other people use to make things is a great and fantastic thing; the creative chain (and the joy of making!) just keep going, and going. Awesome.” One of her more popular items does just what she loves it to do:  teach others to spin. April sells a complete ‘Learn to Spin Drop Spindle Kit’ which includes one top whirl drop spindle, 4 ounces of handpainted domestic wool top (also called roving), clear, easy to follow drop spindle instructions AND hours and hours of fun! You want to give it a go, don’t you!?!

Walrus by Lulubeans

There is so much about the fiber arts community that excites April. ” I have so much admiration for so many artists and crafters. The fiber arts community is hustlin’ and bustlin’ and growing by leaps and bounds online *and* here in Maine. I’ve been so lucky to virtually meet so many talented people, and connect with so many fantastic artists right here in my home state.” Lulubeans has a wide variety of fiber available including beautifully finished hand spun yarn. April plans to show up at ‘The Big Thaw’ not only sharing her fiber wears to the public, but to meet and enjoy a day with fellow artists. ” I can’t wait for The BIG THAW! There’s going to be so much talent and positive energy in one place and it’s going to be so good to be a part of that!” I think we can all agree that we love ‘The Big Thaw’, but what we can also agree on we love the most is what ‘The Big Thaw’ will do to bring us together! YAY!

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Hear, hear, ladies!  The BIG THAW Arts, Crafts and Vintage Fair will be held THIS WEEKEND on Saturday, April 16th from 10am to 4pm at the Mayo Street Arts Center at 10 Mayo St.  We can’t wait!

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Deadline to Post: Friday, February 26th

Friendly reminder, kittens!  Have your applications in the mail by Friday so they are here in time!  Click here for application page.

In other news:  our poster is ALMOST done!  You may have noticed we revamped the colors on the site.  The blues, greens and punchy orange all come from the poster design and we can’t wait to show it to everyone when it’s finished!

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Two More Weeks! Be Sure to Send Applications by February 25th!

Good morning from Audrey at Little Eye Designs —

Phew!  My mail carrier must be mightily confused where up until a few weeks ago all s/he brought to my front door was bills and catalogs.  With all these handwritten envelopes coming to me from amazing Maine artists, crafters and vintage resellers my new favorite thing to do is come home from work and get the mail!  OK, truth be told, it’s always been one of my favorite things to come home from work but this is the icing on the cake.

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Today:  a reminder. It’s a good idea if you haven’t sent in  your application yet to make sure it’s in the mail by Friday, February 26th to make the February 28th deadline.

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Another reminder: no application is considered ‘accepted’ until you’ve received and email from The BIG THAW confirming your application and your vendor fee check has been deposited.  We’ve had an overwhelming demand for upstairs spaces, so those of you who end up in the artist studios downstairs will receive a $10 refund from your original check.  The artist studios downstairs will be open, as well, and we will be feeding customers down the stairs the only way we know how:  with candy.  Also, thoughts on a purchase-based raffle have been kicking around and I’ll have more details later but I do know it will be incentivizing visiting downstairs vendors.  The spaces downstairs are perfect for:  vintage sellers and people who need wall space to hang flat or framed prints.

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Grace Potter and the Nocturnals by Meagan Anderson and Emblem Studio

In other news, I hope to be meeting this weekend with Kris Johnsen of Emblem Studios and Meagan Anderson who are the fantastically talented artists who are going to be making The BIG THAW poster.  We’ll have a run of 100 limited edition silk-screened prints available for sale at The BIG THAW.  The poster you see in front of you is an earlier collaboration from the two talented artists that piqued TBT’s interest and made us say “Yes, yes.  These are the people who must make our high-flying flag.” Er, poster.  Still!  Keep your eyes peeled for visual excellence.

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Sharing Means Caring: Apply With a Friend!

Hi, everyone!  Thanks for visiting The BIG THAW website.  You’re probably looking for more information about how to apply, so you can click on the tab at the top of this page that says “Apply!” to download the .pdf (please email littleeyedesigns at gmail dot com for a .doc file)

Sharing Means Caring. And nothing says caring like a heart-shaped outhouse window. By Little Eye Designs.

I was reflecting today on how huge the response has been already to what was just a seed of an idea at the beginning of January.  Phew!  I wanted to talk a little about how we encourage sharing tables for artists, crafters or vintage sellers who may be doing their first craft fair, who like spending the day with their friends selling awesome things, or maybe don’t have as much start up cash as they’d like.

Let me be the first to say:  applying to The BIG THAW with your buddy to split a space is highly encouraged. Why?  Well, truth be told is that no matter what Carl Sagan says, space is limited.  We calculate to have room for about 30 vendors, if only individuals were to sign up.  But wouldn’t it be great if we had 10 shared tables and were able to expose our visitors to 40 sellers instead of 30?

Here is a little bit of info why it’s great to share + care with your artist-y, vintage-y friends:

1.  Cost. Wow!  The vendor fee just got cut in half like that.  Need I say more?

2.  Company. Sometimes 6 hours can seem like a long time to be on your feet, peddling your wares.  It’s nice to have a familiar face to keep you company throughout the day.

3.  Friends are your best salespeople. Sometimes when sales are lagging at fairs my friends and I have done we’ll trade places and sell each others’ stuff.  It really works – lots easier to be a salesperson for someone else than for yourself (although it’s good to learn that skill, too!)

4.  Someone to watch the table while you go get snacks. And who doesn’t love snacks?!  Mayo Street’s refreshment bar will be open throughout the day so you’ll leave your cash box at the table during snack time knowing someone’s sitting on top of it for you.

5.  Load in/Load out. Lugging five trips from the main floor to your car, no matter how long or short that trip is, is always exhausting.  Better to have four arms than two to make it happen!

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Lastly, I’d like to reiterate that applications will be open through February 28th, 2011.  No applications are considered accepted until vendor fees are deposited and a notice is sent to the seller or main contact on the application.

We really, really, really wish we could fit everyone but just know your organizers are thinking about every aspect of every application and making the tough decisions with due diligence.  And lots of chocolate cake.  Lots and lots.

xo,

Audrey at Little Eye

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