Crafty Feast 2012!

I've missed the past few Crafty Feasts so when I heard the date for the winter edition, I made sure to sign up to volunteer as a way to commit to actually being there this go round. It was held at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center on December 15. What makes Crafty Feast different from the other dozens of craft shows held in the area around the holidays is the festive, casual atmosphere. It's easy to see from this photo that the people are enjoying milling about the colorfully decorated room, some -especially the men- enjoying beer as they tagged along with their ladies, and even the children were having a blast between the visual stimulation overload and the children's craft area.

The show was in early December so that people could have plenty of time to buy gifts in time for the holidays, including myself. The reason this post is much later is so I could show off the goods I bought for people as Christmas presents too. There was so much variety, and lots of people there including lots of my friends from the Twitters! Hi everyone!

A few vendors...

And this is the small haul I bought for presents. The Just Wanna Melt lotion bars went to my mom and aunt, since we are all genetically plagued with dry, itchy legs in the winter. The Bike Columbia print is from Off The Map, who I heard about from The Shop Tart. I was excited to find their booth and to get this print for Patrick. They had prints of tons of different cities, from Portland to DC and many places in between. I really hope this print ends up in the living room so we can all enjoy it.

Volunteering was fun and fast paced! I worked the registration table and couldn't believe how quickly the four hours zipped by. It was a great experience and I plan to volunteer again in the future, although next time I am going to take more money to buy even more great local art (especially a bouquet of the button flowers from The Button Florist, which I LOVE).