Friday's Craft Crush

Hello! I’m Jeanie B - writer and crafter living in East London - delighted to be here guest blogging for Craft Guerrilla.

Why not grab a pocketful of Crafty pic ‘n’ mix with CraftCandy - I have!

Maid of Gingerbread - yummy sculptural gingerbread

Last year I found myself at a conference in Leeds and after everyone headed to the pub to get pissed unwind, I was left twiddling my thumbs (beer’s not my thing). I fancied a swing dance class or craft session somewhere, but short of trawling through Google or accosting crafty vintage locals, I hadn’t a clue where to go…

…Which is why Craft Candy is such a good idea.

Crafty blogger Zoe Arch has been busy developing a brand new type of craft platform around the idea of word of mouth crafty info, which serves crafters like you and me, businesses and the wider community. 

Craft Candy has a website where you can find out what craft events or workshops are taking place locally but you can also download their free App which makes finding craft events neat and easy to navigate.

The App has links to social media tools like Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and FB so likeminded crafters can keep in touch. It’s a whole lotta crafting cool in your pocket and if I’d had this functionality in Leeds last year I might have found my way to a Craft Café somewhere instead of watching bad TV in my hotel room.

I attended the Craft Candy launch last week and we got some wonderful treats. I had the best banoffi pie cupcake ever from TheTea’s Knees, no word of a lie.

The Tea's Knees wonderful cupcakes

Once I was home my daughter rifled through my Goodie bag and bagsied the mini cross stitch from Urban Cross Stitch.

Hand crafted goodies

A craft listing site is only useful when it is chock full of varied things to do across a wide area, so if you’re running workshops or have a regular craft night, register with Craft Candy to get your event listed and that way the service can grow and grow. 

Zoe’s motto is “if you don’t charge people to take part, then we won’t charge you”. Put simply, it’s free to list free of events on both the Craft Candy website and the Apps.

The universe is currently filling up with Craft startups and communities which is great for us makers and hobbyists (I’m out to reclaim the term hobby), but ultimately confusing as every other venture is Craft or Make something. 

I get Craftsy and Craft Candy mixed up with Craft Blogs and Make Lounges mistaken for Make Spaces and Make Places. I have the same trouble with Vintage outlets, which all seem to have vintage in their moniker. I’ll make it my mission to compile a list of innovative named outlets, ones I find easier to remember.

Craft Candy’s branding is sharp and recognizable, I love it when that happens.

I am off to Leeds again next month for the same conference, this time I may be able to navigate to craft events if they are happening nearby. But what if I get happy feet – come on all you start-up geniuses out there – where’s the Swing Dance listing app? 

Jeanie B - swing dancing writer who crafts between drafts - find her on Make It Up follow @jitterbug65