Summer Arts & Crafts Show May 13, 2017: Meet the Makers Part I

The Handmade Nashville Summer Arts & Crafts Show is May 13th at the Red Caboose Park in Bellevue. It is a great venue for families with a playground on site and it's in an easy to find, high traffic area of Bellevue with fast access to I-40, just about 20 minutes drive from downtown Nashville. Visit our event page to get updates plus driving directions.

All of our events feature only handmade items with a wide variety of locally made crafts including jewelry, natural bath and body products, clothing, bags, accessories, home decor, personalized gifts and much more!

We are excited to introduce you to some of our 60+ vendors. Read on for part one of a three part blog series to get to know some of the people and crafts that will be with us on May 13th.

Original Organics Herbals

Grown from a love of plants and herbs, Rachel’s line of small batch products feature primarily organic and wildcrafted ingredients. Raised in Nashville, she is happy to be back in the rolling hills of Tennessee after growing her love for natural living in the woods of Wisconsin for many years.

On walks through her garden, and sometimes in unexpected areas like the city or the forest, Rachel collects beneficial and healing plants, which she combines with organic essential oils, mineral-rich salts, and vegetable-based oils and butters. These mixtures eventually emerge as nutrient-dense moisturizing balms, detoxifying bath salts, non-toxic deodorants, and skin-soothing serums.

All of her products are feel-good in more than one way: the nourishing benefits of plants and herbs front and center, with Rachel’s deep connection to the earth driving environmentally-aware and sustainable processes throughout production.

Find out more on Facebook!

Wise Butter LLC

"Don't deny what you know to be true: everything's better with butter."

Wise Butter is small-batch, blended butter made lovingly by hand in Nashville, TN. Their butter allows you to have a spiritual experience with toast. Or it can make that sad little recipe you're working with sing. The flavors change with the seasons (and our whims) and they work meticulously to highlight local produce and other regional specialties. Their butters span the spectrum from familiar to unexpected, so both a gourmand and a 5-year-old could easily be pleased with something Wise Butter has to offer.

Wise Butter offers five flavors, two of which are seasonal and rotate often. They always stock Roasted Garlic Basil, Chipotle, and Vegan with Smoked Salt. Their current winter flavors are Pumpkin Spice and Maple Cranberry. Be sure to follow them on social media for the latest roster.

Sally Hodges Bags

Sally of Sally Hodges Bags loves color, textiles and fabric of all kinds and it shows in her work! This small sewing business is committed to repurposing, recycling and reusing; and Sally makes bags and other small items from felted sweaters, vintage fabric, home decor, used clothing and other found objects.

With sustainability in mind, each piece is made using around 90% second hand contents.

Sally has sewn for most of her life and she has been a quilter since 1974. For the past ten years she has enjoyed working with repurposed fabrics which has given her the freedom to be improvisational and creative.

Beckitybootique

Beckitybootique specializes in handmade clothing for children and dolls as well as writing services for small businesses. Although it started as a sewing hobby business and a way for a new stay-at-home-mom to make some "fun money" for the family, after a few years writing began to take a forefront, especially after a third baby came along. Beckitybootique now offers writing services on Etsy and also under the name "Beckityboo" on Fiverr.com.

Popular products include Halloween and Christmas dresses on the sewing side and Etsy "About page" biographies and product descriptions on the writing side.

Writing for small businesses helps owner Becky feel connected to the handmade world even at times when she is not able to be physically creative and she takes great pride in being able to help other small businesses be more successful.

Look out for more information on our event coming soon and don't forget to make plans to be at our May 13th Handmade Nashville Summer Arts & Crafts Show!

How to Have a Stress- Free Craft Show with Handmade Nashville

Handmade Nashville is made up of over 900 local people who make and sell all kinds of different handmade items from jewelry and furniture to clothing and artwork...our purpose is to  support every single one of our members, regardless how far along they are in their skill or their business!

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Our philosophy is, by lifting everyone up, everyone has an equal chance to succeed and get their work in front of interested buyers in the Middle Tennessee area (and beyond!). So with this in mind, we have come up with a couple of new ways to help new or inexperienced sellers get started and for experienced vendors to get their items into a stress-free craft show!

• You don't need a ton of supplies or sales experience!
• You don't need to be at the show all day!

Option 1: Handmade Nashville COMMUNITY BOOTH

Perhaps you have another event on May 13 or can't get a babysitter? Maybe you're just shy about selling your handmade items directly to the public? No worries!

The Community Booth will be prominently placed at our show and staffed by Handmade Nashville admins. We offer this option for new sellers or experienced vendors who just flat out don't have the time or supplies to run their own booth.

You simply bring us your items before the start of the show and we'll present them alongside our own and others like you. For an idea of what this looks like, take a look at this picture from our last show!

At the end of the day, you come back to pick up any unsold items and we will transfer the proceeds from your sold items to you via PayPal within one week of the show date.

You can sell around ten items this way (depending on size) and the cost is just a flat $25.

For more information, check out our vendor app:

Option 2: Participate in our SWAG BAGS and BUSINESS CARD DISPLAY

At our Summer Arts and Crafts Show on May 13th, like all shows we do, we will hand out free swag bags to the first 25 customers. Everyone loves free stuff and it encourages foot traffic. Inside our swag bags are items from our members who are at the show.

Some members add a freebie or a sample, others add a coupon to their online store and others add brochures or business cards that explain their business. Being a part of this promotional bag is beneficial to get your product and your business noticed.

For only $5 we are offering ALL of our members the opportunity to be a part of our swag bag program (members who will have a booth at our Summer Arts and Crafts show or who are a part of Our Community Booth need not apply as this is provided with your booth fee.). In addition to being able to put your card or sample into the swag bags, you will also have your business card displayed in our Community Booth in a prominent location, for the taking by the thousands of customers we are expecting to see at our show.

This is a great way to help spread the word about your business for a very little investment. If you're interested in being a part of our swag bags and having your business cards on display at our show at Bellevue Park, please fill out this application, pay five bucks and get your sample items to us. Our hope is to have our swag bags overflowing with handmade goodies and our community table brimming with cards / information on hundreds of our talented members!

If you'd just like to come along and shop at our event, we'd love to see you! Join our event page on Facebook for up to date information and directions to the show on May 13, 2017!

Attention Handmade Arts & Crafts Makers in Middle Tennessee!

We are looking for HANDMADE arts and crafts vendors to join our SUMMER ARTS & CRAFTS SHOW May 13 in Bellevue!

What is Handmade Nashville?

Handmade Nashville is an active Facebook group with almost 1,000 members. We have been supporting each other and our small handmade businesses since 2014 and we have hosted several craft shows for our members in Nashville in recent years. We have an active Facebook page with 1,700 followers.

All About This Event!

For our latest event we are relocating to a larger venue in Bellevue, TN! We will be set up at the Red Caboose Park (aka Bellevue Park) on Colice Jeanne Road/Highway 70. This is a great venue in a high traffic part of Bellevue and is highly visible from the highway. It is family friendly and pet friendly and is located right next to the playground and public library.

What to Expect:

Our events are 100% handmade vendors...we don't accept any resale or Direct Sales vendors. We advertise our events on Facebook as well as locally.

Our admin team is made up of volunteers so all of the profits from our shows go right back into the next event and this helps us keep our costs reasonable. We are all handmade vendors ourselves with craft show experience and we put a lot of effort into vendor communications and making sure someone is available to help vendors at all times during our shows.

More Information:

For more info, you can request to join our Facebook group or follow our event page on Facebook.

Vendor Application:

Or sign up right now using our online vendor application!

Summer is coming soon (ish) and so is the Handmade Nashville Summer Arts & Crafts Show!

Mark your calendars because we're gearing up for our next craft show!

When? Saturday May 13, 2017

Where? The Red Caboose Park in Bellevue, TN

What is it?  The Handmade Nashville Summer Arts & Craft Show featuring 60+ local vendors selling locally made handmade products

What's different about this event? We only sell HANDMADE items at our events, so you won't find anything mass produced or offered through a direct sales format. All of our items are 100% handmade locally in the Nashville area!

Our event is family- and pet-friendly! We'll have food trucks there too!

FIND OUT MORE and keep up to date with important event-related updates by clicking on the "GOING" or "INTERESTED" tab near the top of the event page which you can find at the link below:
Handmade Nashville Summer Arts & Craft Show EVENT PAGE!

We'll see you there!

Pop IN to our Pop UP and Help Handmade Nashville Celebrate our One Year Anniversary: September 12, 2015 at Curvy Yoga

Handmade Nashville has come a long way in one year!  We’ve gone from a small Facebook group with just a few members to a thriving community of over 1,000 local artists and crafters. 

We consider our Facebook group to be our home, but in this past year we have branched out with a public Facebook page as well as an established presence on other social media like Twitter, Pinterest and of course, right here on our blog and also in the "real world" with our artisan events!

In a few weeks, we’ll be celebrating one year since our founding member and “fearless leader” Dee Cheek invited a few of us to start the group.  To celebrate, we’ll be hosting a Pop Up Boutique Style Artisan Market in our regular spot at Curvy Yoga in East Nashville. 

Amazing painted dresser by Boho Status Quo

If you haven’t been to one of our events before, you definitely don’t want to miss this one!  We’ll have more vendors than ever before (twenty seven and counting!) plus giveaways and food; and don’t forget amazing handmade artisanal crafts made by our wonderful vendors from all around the Nashville area.  Among the vendors this time we’ll have jewelry, quilts, furniture, soaps, soft toys and more.  We’re also going to have a special consignment booth with a little bit of everything from some of our members who want to participate, but aren’t able to be there in person all day

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We're once again proud to be part of the East Side Art Stumble, so if you're already planning on doing a bit of cultural tourism on the east side of town the evening of September 12th, don't forget to pop in and see us at Curvy Yoga from 3-8pm!  

Our Vendor Line-Up for This Event:

Betty Lou's Biskits 

Boho Status Quo 

Boutique Babies 

Create in Me 

Cupcake Sensation

Cute Fluffin' Stitch 

Cyndy's Art in Glass 

Great Bear Forge 

Inner Sun Soap 

Marble Art by Rachel

Music City Mercantile

Angelkiss Crafts 

Statement Peace Jewels 

Goddess Awakened

Made by Paygee 

LuSu Creations Boutique 

Snug a Bug Threads 

Adorable stuffed animals from Cute Fluffin Stitch

And at our Handmade Nashville consignment booth:

Cheek Arts 

A Little This A Little Tat

Beckitybootique 

Seams Sew Wright 

Chandler's Dezigns 

By JenJen 

Twisted Kross 

Frannyv 

Handmade Nashville Blog Link Up 8/13/15

What to do:

1. Go to the link "Click Here to Enter"
2. Type in or copy/paste the link to the blog post you want to share
3. Follow the instructions on the linky form
4. Visit some of the other blogs on the list and read/comment/add them to your G+ circles if you'd like
5. Sit back and feel love bestowed upon your blog by other bloggers!
6. DONE!

If you really want to, you can link back to this post in your blog ;)

Member Bio: Venuto Woodwork

Hi Nashville and the world!  Today we’re introducing you to Caleb Venuto of Venuto Woodwork.

Caleb and his wife live in live in beautiful East Tennessee among the endless rolling hills and green pastures.  He’s a carpenter, originally from Big Bear Lake, California.  Caleb and his wife have endless hours of fun and antics with their three cats/furbabies.

Caleb’s love of creating custom high quality wood pieces originates from a little wood rocking chair that was handed down to him as a child. Together the family fixed slats on that little rocking chair and repainted it several times over the years so that each grandchild and great grandchild could experience rocking in that little wooden chair, making it a family heirloom.

He later explored woodworking at Big Bear High School and developed a greater love for creating beautiful pieces out of wood.   For his high school final he made a large 5 shelf cabinet with a glass door for his mother that she still uses and loves.  At the same time during high school, he started a job at a custom door company.  Working with wood runs in the family and Caleb’s grandfather is also a big influence as he is a very talented woodworker and used to have a great workshop. Caleb eventually perfected his skills in Torrance California, creating custom cabinets and wood products for high-end customers and he now has his own custom carpentry business in Tennessee.

In October 2014 Caleb opened an Etsy shop to display his exotic wood tie creations.  He was inspired to start making wood ties after purchasing a simple wood tie several years ago; it was not made to last and lacked quality workmanship, but it was an idea that intrigued him.  He worked on creating a unique exotic wood tie collection that was both beautiful and extremely high quality. His success in making the wood ties lead to him starting to make exotic wood jewelry, children's ties and tie bars.  He eventually started customizing and engraving initials and custom symbols on his tie, tie bar, and necklace collection.   He also makes custom wood signs and decor. 

“I love to see people's expressions when they see a completed project.”

Caleb enjoys creating and designing items with the help of his mother and wife.  Their input and help is crucial in making Venuto Woodwork into a successful business.  His mother (who still lives in Bear Lake, CA) has a marketing/graphic artist background and is his partner in social media and shop updates along with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) updates.  They enjoy working together and discuss weekly, sometimes daily, how to improve products, customer satisfaction, quality, and outreach. 

Originally Caleb made all of his wood ties by hand, but that was not suitable for smaller projects like necklaces and bracelets so, in due course, he purchased a CNC machine to cut out his designs.  He uses specialized programs to design his art and his mom designs vector art in Adobe Illustrator.   Caleb’s goal is to eventually get a laser cutter to expand the jewelry line with more intricate pieces.  He also hopes to eventually work with acrylics and metal. 

Caleb loves working with exotic woods, he says “Zebra wood is my favorite but my Heartwoods are fun to work with especially because purple is my favorite color.  I put a lot of time and patience into each product I create, by hand, for people to enjoy hopefully for many years to come.” 

Inspiration comes from shapes and animals and his wife and mother love continually coming up with new ideas.  Venuto Woodwork also hosted a design contest to get ideas from the community and some of those designs ended up in the Etsy shop.  He finds that his Instagram users are also very supportive.

If you’re looking to meet Caleb in person, he is a regular vendor at Border Bash and a new event at Wolfhills Brewing Company.  He offers all his jewelry, ties and fun signs at these local events. 

In looking to the future, he hopes to eventually expand his woodworking business into a full-time venture.  He enjoys the work and meeting new customers he encounters along the way.

Caleb’s favorite quote is from Marc Jacobs, "I always find beauty in things that are odd and imperfect - they are much more interesting."

 

Thank you for taking the time to get to know Caleb and Venuto Woodwork and hopefully you will enjoy owning one of his handcrafted custom products soon.

If you’d like to learn more, Venuto Woodwork can be found online here:

http://www.venutowoodwork.etsy.com

https://www.facebook.com/venuto_wood_work

http://www.facebook.com/venutowoodwork

http://twitter.com/venuto_woodwork

http://www.pinterest.com/VenutoWoodwork