Clare & Carrie's Weekend Craft Attack

Oh my! It's been a busy fortnight for the Made In The Shade gals. We're pretty beat. In between all the buzzing around adding finishing touches to the Made In The Shade Summertime Hop, our incessant list making and fretful struggles with intimidating spreadsheets (yawn), we have somehow managed to steal a few moments to get down to some crafty fun in Glasgow.

Last weekend, Clare and I treated ourselves to an afternoon down town. As it happened, our little jaunt coincided nicely with the Glasgow Craft Mafia's 'Handmade Haven' event at The Buff Club (Bath Lane). At one time or another all three Made In The Shade gals were members of the Glasgow Craft Mafia. I used to be the press lady, Suzanne was a member of the event organising team and Clare was the chairperson (and the inhouse designer and the social secretary). Billed as a market-come-crafty soiree, Clare and I thought we'd swing by and catch up with some GCM chums. We'd each brought our pocket money in case we found ourselves faced with a 'must buy beautiful thing' emergency and with promises of daytime dancing and party food, I couldn't wait to get my toes a-tappin' and my jaws a-munchin'. Clare couldn't wait to whip out her embroidery hoop and show off her latest Western themed design over a pear cider or two.

I'm angry I didn't buy this bookmark by Sherbet Head!

'Twas a little weird being in The Buff Club during the afternoon. I guess it was little bit weird being in The Buff Club full stop. I don't think I've danced there since 2003. There are windows in there. Did you know that? We admired the fabulous lampshades in the daylight and we ooh-ed and aah-ed at the decorative gramophone for a while. In some ways, the venue lent itself well to the event. The market areas took little dressing to make 'em pretty and the space was well assigned with plenty of room to dawdle around and mull over potential purchases. Sadly though, the nasty nightclub niffs were impossible to disguise and the smell of stale beer and cleaning fluid ruined the ambiance somewhat. I really, really wanted to munch a pretty cupcake, but I was afraid that I might accidentally swallow some dank.

Although we never did find the party food, the daytime dancing or the sociable crafting, we did peruse a selection of some handmade fabulousness. And I got a free badge. Highlights included Amanda Whitelaw's (Hungry Designs) beautiful mixture of vintage-style jewellery and off-beat edibles. I have earmarked a pair of wooden butterfly hair slides and a chocolate Selleck mustache. Yes. A chocolate Selleck mustache. Our eyes popped with glee as we browsed handmade accessories by Fantoosherie Fancies. Clare nabbed herself a cute baby blue rose ring from the glamorous ladies at We Are The Robots and I bought a vintage charm necklace by t-boo.

Oran Mor - Say No To Plastic

This weekend we were all set for a Sunday afternoon vintage/craft-attack, but sadly – for one reason and another (and another) - it just didn't really come together for us. First up, we pulled ourselves out of D-town and headed west to the Say No To Plastic vintage sale at Oran Mor (Byres Road)

I was looking forward to a rerr ole rummage around. I had every hope I would uncover the perfect vintage treasure. However, having hauled ourselves up the spiral staircase we were whacked around the face at the door with the boom boom boom of none other than 90s old skool dance classic 'Ride On Time' by Black Box. Then 'Things Can Only Get Better' by D-Ream. Then 'The Key The Secret' by Urban Cookie Collective. We couldn't hear each other and it was impossible to converse with the vendors. By the time we'd managed to mouth, 'hello' to folks at Miso Funky, Hungry Designs and Mr Ben, the thrill of chasing the perfect vintage item had well and truly been extinguished. We had to make a swift exit. I can't help but worry that I may have allowed the perfect sparkly brooch or the perfect vintage tea set to pass me buy. Maybe next time...

After rebalancing our senses with a quick trip to vintage hidey-hole Watermelon (Great Western Road) and some tasty lunch at Naked Soup (Great Western Road), Clare and I headed Macsorley's bound to set up this months installment of our monthly crafty get-together [We Are] Fuzzy Felt Folk/Country Crafting.

Clare had prepared a new public crafting treat for her adoring/adorable Country Crafters called 'Let's Face It'. The idea was that people would hand make themselves new faces with the aid of a simple paper plate, a selection of adhesives and some cut out features. Genius. I had spent an entire Saturday afternoon buying a heap of new country ditties to entertain our guests and couldn't wait to give my updated iTunes library a workout. We arrived at the bar to be told that all DJ slots were suspended for the time being. With slumped shoulders and scuffy heels, we took our soda pops, flopped on the leather couch and grumped. Bad crafty karma all round I guess...