The Vintage Marketplace Recap

Hello friends! Just a little recap from The Vintage Marketplace last weekend to share with you. I'm only posting now because I'm still recovering from its aftermath! My craft lab barely got reorganized, and I just started my Christmas shopping!

So here we go:

Our booth - Cream Cottage Chic

Cream Cottage Chic

Array of vintage goods

Handmade Goodies - Pin Cushions, Tissue Pouches, Cute Birdhouses, Leather Hair Bows

Array of Handmade Bags

Vintage Postcards, Herb Markers, Vintage Goodies

Our Little Information Center

Me and my sister in action!

Here are some other great booths at the show:

Booths!

Earth Cookie - We heart Earth Cookie!!!

The Shabby French Home - Our wonderful neighbor

Cute booth (but I don't remember the name!)

Adorable glass door display!

The Vintage Marketplace Photo Booth

The Vintage Marketplace Photo Booth - Isn't this just too pretty?

Me and my sister had a blast! This was our first time ever participating at a show. We didn't even know how to assemble our booth, but luckily our dear friend Jessica from Earth Cookie helped us out. Friday was fun, Saturday rained all day (but hey it felt like camping!), Sunday was sunny and beautiful. We made great new friends and had fun with the best customers we could have hoped for.  It was such a wonderful experience that we are going to participate at the next Spring Vintage Marketplace in March (details coming soon)!!!

CreamCraft

It's Here It's Here!

Today is setup for me and my sister at The Vintage Marketplace!Boy are we nervous and excited too. This is our first ever show where will both be selling vintage wares, furniture pieces, handmade goods, and Christmas goods.If you want to stop by, it starts tomorrow December 6 and ends Sunday, December 8 (our booth will only be there Friday and Saturday). 

Here's more of what I will be selling:

Pin Cushions made with Vintage Honey Cups

 

Large Cross Body Bags

Array of Tissue Pouches

Leather Bow Hair Clips

See you real soon!

CreamCraft

Christmas Time in the Lab!

So I've been MIA for the past couple of weeks, but I have a good reason! I've been gearing up for "The Vintage Marketplace" Christmas edition. It will be held December 6th-8th,2013 in Fallbrook. Me and my sister will have a booth "Cream Cottage Chic", along with other lovely vendors selling vintage and handmade goods. You can find more information here.

My lab definitely looks like Santa's workshop, but sadly, I'm the only elf working. I'm busy sewing multiple bags and have been non-stop for the past couple of weeks while I blast my Pandora Christmas station in the background. 

Here is what I've been working on:

Medium Size Cross-Body Bags

Little Bagettes

I must admit, I'm exhausted and my craft lab looks like a bomb went off! My goal is to have at least thirty bags or so, but I don't know if I can make it! I'll try and have a few posted up in the shop later this week. See you real soon!!

The Vintage Marketplace

Creamcraft

CUTE BAGETTES AND TOTES

I made a cute tote bag for my friend Emily. She's going on a tropical vacation (take me with you please) and wanted a roomy bag.

I used Yuwa Japanese fabric that I purchased in Tokyo. It has 2 front pockets and 1 inside pocket. I created a gusset on the bottom so the tote is roomy enough to take with you on the airplane, beach, or shopping. Have fun Emily!

The Emily Bag

Here is a small bagette I made using Cosmo fabric from Japan. You can view details here. The next version will have a leather flap. I love working with leather and hopefully will be using more of it on my bags.

Cute Little Bagette

Thanks for stopping by!

CreamCraft

TOMATO, NIPPORI FABRIC TOWN

Almost done blabbing about my Tokyo trip. I thought I would share the best part of my trip - Nippori Fabric Town. It's been a dream to come here. I've heard about this place from blogs I've followed over the years. 

Fabric Town has over 100 shops of fabric, lace, embellishments, leather, and so much more. There is a great map I found here: Tokyo Craft Guide website (another great e-book on Crafty Tokyo) which has every shop listed and mapped out for you. 

Nippori Fabric Town

My absolute favorite must go-to place was Tomato. This is the holy grail of fabric. There are 3 locations on this street, and I went to all of them.

Tomato Fabric Store, Sevenberry Prints, Floral Bolts

Tomato Fabric Store, rack of Kokka Fabric,

Japanese gals at the cutting table, lace, bias tape

My poor husband carried a fifteen pound bag of fabric the rest of the day. Here is what I ended up buying:

Ted Fabric!

I'm working on some new bags with the fabric I purchased. I'll post next time. Till then, Arigato. 

CreamCraft 

TOKYO CRAFTINESS AND ZAKKA

Hello there! Continuing my Tokyo adventure with a little bit of craftiness, okay alot of it. I collect Japanese craft magazines and Curly Collection is one of them. I went to their lovely store in Daikanyama. I picked up some cute fat quarters, buttons and badges, and crafty kits.

 CURLY COLLECTION

Curly Collection Store, Daikanyama, My purchases - Fat quarters, badges, craft kit, tissue pouch

Loft and Tokyo Hands is a crafters dream! Loads and loads of stationary, stickers, scrapbook materials, and total utter cuteness! This is a must see and do if you go to Tokyo. Great places to go for neat souvenirs! Loft was having a "Pop Box" Popculture Bazzar with handmade goodies by local artists. I picked up some one-of-a-kind art pieces and goodies.

LOFT

Loft

Cute Roller Stamps, Gnome Souvenirs

Handmade Goodies, Stationary Galore

I also went to an oh so cute store - La' Epice Zakka Store - in Meguro-Ku. It had natural zakka items, stationary, and gifts.

LA'EPICE ZAKKA STORE

La'Epice Zakka Store, Stationary Made in Japan

Next posting - Tomato Fabric Store in Nippori Fabric Town!!

CreamCraft

The Vintage Marketplace

Hello Friends! Taking a break from my Tokyo adventure as I put pictures together for my next postings :) So what better news to share in between posts than "The Vintage Marketplace"!

The Vintage Marketplace is a seasonal vintage flea market in Fallbrook, CA. They have wonderful antiques, vintage goods, vintage inspired craft goods, and the cutest vintage booths ever! Me and my sister always have attended in the past, and we are actually going to be a part of the show this Winter (yippee)! So, if you happen to be around, save the date and stop by!

 

My sister has a flair for antiquing, re-purposing, and crafting. Our booth is called "Cream Cottage Chic". I will have more details to share with you in the upcoming months in regards to our booth, show specials, and a sneak peak of what our booth will entail. You can find further information on The Vintage Marketplace here or on their Facebook page.

CreamCraft

TOKYO PLACES - PART TWO

One of my favorite areas in Tokyo - Harajuku. Why? Because it was cute of course! We started our day off visiting the Meiji-Jingu, a lovely Shinto sanctuary with a 1,500 year old torii (gate?) inside of Yoyogi Park.

MEIJI-JINGU

Meiji-Jingu

Torii Entrance, Hand washing before you enter sanctuary,

Shinto Temple, Wishes for the monks

Now for the cute part....

 HARAJUKU

Takeshita Street, Cute Mori Girl Store, 

Harajuku Park, Harajuku Girl

Harajuku was oh so cute! Not what I expected, but even better! It had dozens of cute streets with adorable shops. A mix of mori-girl fashion, vintage clothing, a sprinke of high end, and a touch of hipster. I'd say this is the Melrose of Tokyo. You can spend the entire day here! My favorite street was Takeshita.It has a handful of Mori-Girl shops, cute crepe stands, and Lolita girls!

We didn't get to see too many crazy Harajuku peeps in their full regalia, just a few here and there.

TSUKIJI FISH MARKET

We had sushi for breakfast. It was the only food available at 9:00 AM. At first we couldn't find the actual fish market, but then we started seeing Japanese men riding a stand-on-a-forklift-contraption zooming here and there, then everywhere. We followed them and made our way to hundreds of fish stalls. Amazingly, it didn't smell so bad! This is a definite must see!

GINZA

 Ginza Street, Cartier, 

Cute Ginza Signage, 

Cute Tudor Building Smashed in Between

Ginza reminded me of the Matrix. Buildings as far as the eye can see. This is definitely the high-end shopping area of Tokyo. Food was a little more expensive here. Coffee and a fruit drink was 700 yen each (or $7.00 US)! The architecture here was AMAZING. My husband was in heaven (he loves anything design). Cute seeing ten foot wide buildings smashed in between bigger ones.

ROPPONGI

 

Roppongi Hills/Giant Spider

Roppongi Nightlife

So, the husband kept raving about Roppongi. He's former military and his military friends on leave from Okinawa told him to go to Roppongi for clubbing and nightlife. There really wasn't clubbing, but tons of bars and crazy drunk people passed out on the side walk. One thing we noticed in Tokyo, they can drink. Everyone seems to be dressed in their 9 to 5 uniform and headed to the bar. Good times!

CreamCraft

TOKYO PLACES

Tokyo has so many areas, you can spend the entire day in one little ward. 

SHINJUKU

Lit street, Tokyo Metropolitan Gov't Building,

Robot Restaurant, Shinjuku-Gyoen Garden,

Golden Gai, Drink Alley, Food Alley

We stayed in Shinjuku, which is probably the craziest and busiest areas of Tokyo. We were a 5 minute walk from the biggest train station in the world - Shinjuku Station. It has around 400 exits and over 4 million people pass through each day. Everyday, we took this train and ended up getting lost! I live in Southern California and sit in traffic everyday, but this was way different - body traffic! Best of all, it has a mall on top of it - Lumine Mall.

After shopping, we went to Shinjuku-Gyoen Imperial Garden for a boxed lunch.  It was a nice rest from all the shopping! Beautiful Japanese, English Rose, and French garden all in one. Nice place to rest after shopping.

The robot in the picture you ask? Me and the hubs really wanted to see a sumo match, but we visited before the sumo season began. So, he needed to see some form of entertainment and what did he choose, Robot Restaurant. It was weird, but fun. A giant stuffed panda, robots, laser beams.

We topped off the day at Golden Gai, a cute drink alley behind the bustling streets. There are rows of 4-seater bars. We met some great people and bought the whole bar a shot of Sake (good there was only 4 people).


CreamCraft

TOKYO TRIPPIN 2013!

Hello friends! I haven't made my official posting until now and what better way to start it off with my trip to Tokyo, Japan!

 Imperial Palace

I went on a 2 week vacation with the hubs (best husband ever to make this trip possible I might add). Wonderful places, food, people, and craftiness! 

My trip wouldn't have been possible without the help of cute and crafty blogs about Tokyo, awesome guide books, and word of mouth. I used a wonderful and cute guidebook from hello sandwich (sadly, it's out of print, but you can still purchase the pdf version on her website, hooray!). She lives in Tokyo, so she has first hand experience!
 

I will break down my trip with you in sections - places, craftiness,and eating, as well as a showcase of the cute things that I picked up! So grab a cup of tea and view along with me!

CreamCraft

Well hello there!

My name is Karen and I run the store creamcraft.etsy.com. This blog is a companion to my etsy store. 

You will read about my crafty ramblings,magazine obsession, food love, and occasionally, about Fred (my teddy bear dog), and much more cute stuff! 

Thanks for stopping by!

CreamCraft