I had a super crafty weekend – how about you? [caption id="attachment_8363" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Vintage buttons! Yay!"] [/caption] On Friday afternoon, Lisa and I headed to Hamilton to explore James St. North. This street seems to be experiencing a crafty renaissance – though there are still some seriously dilapidated storefronts, it's also home to some great stores that are chock-a-block with nifty wares. We popped in to White Elephant, where I reconnected with Jane, a former classmate of mine. (Small world alert!) You can read more about Jane and Hollie, the store owners, and the eclectic wares they carry, at their blog Love it A Lot. Down the street a bit, Mixed Media, an art supply store, tempted me with a wide array of art supplies, inspiring books, magazines and posters, and blank notebooks (my favourite). Needlework, a fabric store and creative workspace, made me wish for a free afternoon to do nothing but sew in the sun. Saturday morning I ventured out to City of Craft – and I'm so glad I did! It was packed and I had my hands full, so I don't have any photos, but what a great show. I was pleased to see lots of great vendors – some familiar, some new to me – including:

• Krystal Speck, who makes ceramic art & tableware (and offers pottery classes! exciting!)
• Kid Icarus, from whom I bought some supersweet recipe cards
• Wolfe Island Woolworks, with a selection of lovely one-of-a-kind yarns (read more on the blog)
• Rare Specimen, by Jane of White Elephant. I'd like to buy a pair of these cool earrings for each of my friends
• The Workroom also had a table at the show, where they were selling packs of vintage buttons (shown above) and fabric scrap packs. It was a feeding frenzy!

I don't have room to enumerate everyone I saw, but it was great to see so many vendors – and buyers – out on a cool, rainy spring day. Hooray!