Vintage Thanksgiving

Good morning! We are happy to have Horseshoe vintage vendor Photographic Amy as a guest blogger today. She has a bunch of fun ideas about incorporating vintage into your Thanksgiving holiday. Enjoy!

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Hello all you wonderful Horseshoe Market fans! My name is Amy and I have a shop on Etsy, called Photographic Amy. I had planned on selling photographs when I chose this name, but, you know, things evolve! So I sell vintage and I had a booth at the first fabulous Horseshoe Market (the one with the record player, globes and type writer among other things, if you happened to stop by)! I love the hunt for treasures, the patina and warmth of things with a history!

I am going to share with you some ideas of how you can incorporate great vintage items into your Thanksgiving celebrations, whether you are traveling far or having Thanksgiving at your house. You can bring visual and emotional interest to the event with vintage items.

Luggage

You can travel in time just by packing in vintage luggage or use open in the guest room with rolled towels, travel size toiletries and a special chocolate treat! Stacked, luggage makes great storage and fits perfectly under a sofa table or angled in a corner of a room for a side table with a lamp on top!

Awesome Brown Leather Vintage Vacationer Suitcase by: FunRetro

Clothes
Wherever you are, a fabulous vintage dress, cloak, statement jewelry piece, Fedora or vintage plaid shirt will always draw attention and stand out from the crowd! Mad Men is influencing fashion, why not have your own bit of fashion history!

1. 1950s / 50s vintage BEFORE THANKSGIVING COMES dress by: Swanee Grace 3. Vintage 1960s Plaid Shirt - Browns Medium by: Mod Men

Games

Having some fun vintage games for the adults and children alike! The make great conversation pieces as well as a ice breakers. Entertain the masses! Setting them out on a coffee table will create an inviting atmosphere and jog memories!

1. Break Thru - 1965 Strategy Game of Evasion or Capture Vintage in Box by:Three Old Keys

2. Lincoln Logs by Playskool 1974 - Frontiersman Set by: RutabegaSix

Serving
A retro cheese tray goes fabulous with faux wood grain cheese servers! Wrap warm rolls in a vintage tea towel placed in a wonderful wood box. It is so visually interesting to use a mix and match of flatware, serving ware and china on a buffet table!

1. Vintage Wood and Ceramic Retro 70s Cheese Tray by: Jen's Closet

2.Vintage Faux Staghorn hostess knife set by: Luncheonette Vintage

3. Antler and Sterling Silver Carving Fork by: Treasure Isle
4. Wooden Caddy by: Pull Over The Car
5. Vintage Mixed Restaurant, Hotel Silver, Horn and Hardart, Yorketowne by: Falcon and Finch6. Vintage Dinnerware Set by: le Vintage Maison

Relaxation
Create a comfortable atmosphere for the post turkey tryptophan nap. Turn on the football game and relax on a roomy couch, automans for feet propping and plenty of blankets and pillows for stretching out. A solid color sofa makes a great backdrop for vintage blankets in bold geometric designs that are all the rage. Have plenty available for everyone to wrap up with!

1. Mid Century Green Sectional Sofa by:Junk 2 Funkbiz

2. Large vintage afghan featuring spice colors and scallops by: Jawaddel

3. Vintage Crochet Square Pillow in 70s Colors by:Fun Retro
4. Vintage Stacking Pillow Ottoman Footstool Rolling Stool Autumn Fall Colors by:That 70s Shoppe

Vintage items have a feeling of history and depth that bring interest and excitement to your wardrobe and decor! Feel free to mix and match vintage eras, just stick to a similar color or tone. Be adventurous! Most importantly may you have a lovely Thanksgiving gathering with loved ones!

We Love Denver

some Colorado-based artists we love. 1. vital industries 2. butterworth and bee 3. rl walker3 4. two little fruits art studio 5. samuel schimek t-shirt 6. vintage renewal 7. january jones 8. cyanide stitches 9. maranon

Is it just us, or is Denver art + craft totally showing its awesomeness lately on a national level?! For example, two weeks in a row, two Denver hand-making businesses were interviewed for Etsy's Quit Your Day Job feature. Check out Cyanide Stitches story here, and Vital Industries story here. Both businesses were also Horseshoe vendors!

Additionally, we've seen Denver folks pop up in cool national magazines. Jeanne Connolly of Vintage Renewal has been featured in ReadyMade a few times, and we saw that Denver Handmade Alliance's Art by Craft got a shout out in ReadyMade, too. Cool stuff. As we are finalizing plans for our 2011 markets, we continue to be inspired by people and organizations in Colorado who are doing extraordinary things (Another great one? The YesPleaseMore pop-up store that sells 100% Colorado goods).

We're proud to be part of a culture of creativity, authenticity and people going after their dreams! Speaking of dreams, we saw that Fashion Denver's Brandi Shigley is putting on another one of her dreamer/doer workshops on November 10th. Check it out! If you know of other extraordinary things going on in the Denver art, craft or vintage world, leave a comment below and spread the word!

Guest Blog Post: Janssen Designs

As we are finalizing details for the 2011 Horseshoe Markets (we promise info coming soon!), we've had a chance to reflect on some things we were really happy about for our first year. One of these aspects was all the first-time vendors we had who took a risk to put themselves and their creations out to the world. One of these vendors, Rachel Janssen of Janssen Designs, was kind enough to write a guest blog post for us today. Check out Rachel's experience below and her awesome "green" tips about creating a booth! Thanks, Rachel!

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Have you procrastinated participating in a craft fair? I sure did, for about two years. During that time, I sold my upcycled one-of-a-kind children’s clothing periodically on Etsy while attempting to balance the full time day job, being a mom, and selling vintage goodies in my other Etsy shop, RetroLabs. But I felt I was missing out on the connection with customers and the kids who may be enjoying these comfortable creations.
I heard about the Horseshoe Craft and Flea Market in early August after becoming a member of the Denver Handmade Alliance and realized it would be the perfect fair to have my first booth. The popular Denver neighborhood, very reasonable booth fee, and promoter Amy Yetman’s enthusiasm were what attracted me to this fair. So off my application went and much to my delight came my acceptance into the fair!

Being a first-time vendor, the hardest part for me was figuring out my booth space. I decided an important aspect of my booth would be to extend my eco-friendly business philosophy into my booth space. I tried to use only recycled and borrowed or owned items for my booth set-up which had the added bonus of keeping booth preparation fees down. Hang tags for my clothing were printed on recycled paper and sewn onto repurposed catalog covers. Two white bed sheets from the thrift store created the back wall of my tent (luckily we already had the tent for our camping trips). My Janssen Designs banner was crafted out of t-shirts and recycled wood for the frame. Paper gift bags from the thrift store were used as shopping bags for customer purchases, which could in turn be used again for gift wrapping. I did end up buying new the materials needed to make the tent weights. These PVC and concrete weights were worth the effort and cost, however, and I know they will be used again and again. Once my booth space was figured out (and inventory made!), I was ready!
Fair day arrived (quite early!) and off my husband and I went with our hot cups of coffee. Once the sun came out and warmed me up, I realized we were going to have perfect weather for the fair. I had such a wonderful day meeting Amy and talking with my fellow vendor neighbors (Joy at Studio Bead and Rebecca at Nana Pat Project), and also market-goers and new customers! I was thrilled when one customer immediately put her daughter into her new Janssen Designs creation-such a pleasure seeing the dress being worn and enjoyed!
The Horseshoe did a superb job organizing this green craft fair and making my first craft fair experience so enjoyable. My only regret is not taking much time to walk around and do a little shopping of my own. I did, however, manage to buy a few bars of fantastic soap from Clean Getaway Soap Company and admire Studio Yoshida’s funky upcycled jackets.

I had so much fun at the Horseshoe that I jumped right in and applied to the Holiday Farmer’s Market and Gift Show and was accepted! It’s Dec. 4 & 5 at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont. Keep up to date with Janssen Designs on Facebook!

A big thanks to the Horseshoe Market and all the lovely volunteers! I can’t wait to hear about the Horseshoe Fairs for 2011!

Wednesday Inspiration: Daring to be Courageous

I love the following video by Kelly Corrigan. This video is women-oriented but I do think we all can relate to the message. What are your ideas? Your secret dreams? What is creativity calling you to do? There's so much power in being vulnerable, authentic and creative. As Mary Oliver said, "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

Holiday Markets!

The question we've heard more than anything since the Horseshoe Craft and Flea Market is "when is the next Horseshoe Market?" and "are you doing a holiday market?" We love these questions since it means you all want more!! We will be giving you more Horseshoe Markets starting in the Spring (no holiday market this year), but we wanted to make sure to spread the word about all of the fantastic holiday craft markets happening in the area. Yay for handmade art, crafts and for local markets!

1. Art by Craft presented by the Denver Handmade Alliance
Saturday, October 30th, 10 am-6 pm
MCA Denver, 1485 Delgany, Denver, CO
Featuring the work of 30 plus local crafters. FREE admission as part of the MCA Denver’s Family Free Day. The first 50 people in the door get a swag bag full of goodies from local crafters and crafted based activities for all ages in the Idea Box at MCA Denver. It's going to be fun!

2. Gifts For Yule 13th Annual Holiday Fair
Saturday, November 13th from noon-6 pm and Sunday, November 14th from 11-4 pm
Historic Phipps Tennis Pavillion
3400 Belcaro Drive, Denver, CO
Free admission. Art, antiques, linens, handknits, jewelery, beads, soap, bath, kids, vintage, folk art, glass.

3. Atlas Gallery Winter Art & Craft Show
November 20th, 10 am-6 pm
708 16th Street Greeley, CO
More than 25 local artists and crafters, live music all day, baked goods & hot drinks, chair massage & homeopathic goods. Free admission! This is put on by one awesome artist and Horseshoe vendor, Bluedoor.
4. Fancy Tiger's Holiday Handmade
December 3rd from 5-9 pm
December 4th from 10 am-4 pm
Sherman Events Center, 1770 Sherman St., Denver, CO
Denver's alternative holiday craft fair featuring 65 of Colorado's most amazing handcrafters! Holiday Handmade is not to be missed!!

5. Firefly Handmade Holiday Market
December 10th, 11th, and 12th
1904 Pearl Street Boulder, CO
This is Boulder's brand new, super cool holiday craft market! The brains and creativity behind this one-- BirdDog Press and Dandy Social Club (super vendors who were at the Horseshoe!) Check the website for up to date info!

We can hardly wait. There's nothing better than doing your holiday shopping locally from Colorado makers at some awesome local markets!
Also, if we have forgotten any, please post them in the comment section!

The Recap!

Hey all! We took a couple of weeks off after the Horseshoe from blogging (and I've been sick for almost a week now--hopefully at the end of it) and now we're back. We've had time to take stock of what a great day October 2nd was, and for what the future might hold for the Horseshoe Market!

In our first market, we welcomed over 100 art, craft and vintage vendors, a few fabulous food vendors and some local non-profit organizations. We also had an estimated 3000 customers and visitors! We're proud to say that the Horseshoe Market was a "green" market, courtesy of the Green Wish Foundation who recycled for us!

For those interested in web and media related statistics--from July 15th (website launch) through October 2nd, we had over 2500 unique visitors to our website and over 13,000 page views! The Westword featured us in three articles, the Huffington Post and the Denver Post published an article on the Horseshoe as well! We hope that the activity on our website continues to drive traffic to our Featured Vendors and vendors in general.

In our post-event survey of vendors, over 95 percent said they would like to participate in another Horseshoe Market, and many said it was one of their most successful markets, in terms of sales! Overall, we were thrilled with so much about the day. Customers, visitors and vendors had such good vibes throughout the whole day. We will also make a few needed changes (per your requests and feedback!)--we will definitely have more portable toilets and we will probably start at 9 or 10 am next time around.

All in all it was a fantastic day--thanks to all of you amazing vendors and visitors for coming out to the Berkeley neighborhood, and thanks to our sponsors for supporting this first event. We are in the process of planning our 2011 markets and will keep you posted as soon as we have finalized the details! Thanks again for a superb community day full art, vintage and craft!

Q & A Thursday with Tomte!

We are very happy to have Tomte with us today on our final Q & A before the Market on Saturday! Tomte Craft, a fabulous Denver shop showcasing handcrafters from across the country, was created by Brett and Crystal of Vital Industries (one of Horseshoe's Featured Vendors!). Tomte has been super generous for donating vendor totes for us on Saturday. Thank you, Tomte!

Brett and Crystal are not only the founders of Tomte and Vital, but also of Denver Handmade Alliance! Though they are humble, quiet-seeming folk, they are moving and shaking the craft world in Denver! Simply said, they are awesome. Please read more about them and Tomte below. We are glad you're in Denver doing what you're doing, Brett and Crystal! Go visit Tomte at 1644 Platte Street to see lots of amazing goodies!

HS (Horseshoe Market): Can you tell us a little bit about how Tomte came to be? (when you started, inspiration…)

Tomte: Brett and I have been creating and selling our personal line, Vital Industries, since 2007. In our travels to large craft markets we would meet so many amazing makers from across the country, and we wanted Denver to have a showcase for their work. The internet is fantastic for craft and handmade, but it’s also very important for people to be able to interact with things in person. There’s a much larger depth of experience. Last October, the space Tomte is in came available, and it was just a natural step.

HS: We love your little gnome – is there a back story on him or how you came up with the name Tomte?

Tomte: Brett’s family is Swedish/Norwegian, and we’ve always been drawn to the Scandinavian aesthetic. I have a few little wood and wool gnomes from Sweden that I’ve received as gifts, and when we were naming the store, the word “Tomte” (who are little gnomes that help out and do chores while you’re sleeping) just seemed perfect. Our two little tomten were kind enough to be figure models for the logo.

HS: How many artists do you currently have at Tomte? How do you find new artists or how do new artists become part of Tomte?

Tomte: Tomte currently has about 30 artists in the store. As Vital Industries, we spent the last few years traveling to large craft fairs such as Renegade Craft Fair and Urban Craft Uprising, and have met some amazing makers. In the very beginning, Brett and I simply asked our crafty friends if they would send some things to the store, and they were kind enough to do so. It is important to us to fill the store with things that we love. Because of that, most of the artists that are in the store we’ve invited personally and we are careful to keep the curated feel cohesive.

Inside the lovely Tomte Craft on Platte Street

HS: What’s been one of the greatest accomplishments/events/milestones for Tomte?

Tomte: Tomte will be having its one year anniversary in October, so that’s definitely an exciting milestone for us. We feel an incredible sense of accomplishment when someone is totally blown away by something in the store. Also, we love when we can connect a customer to an artist that they might not have been exposed to otherwise. Supporting the artists that are represented in the store is a passion of ours, and we like nothing more than to send them a check. Some of our vendors are casual crafters, but many of them are full time makers, and we’re very happy to be able to help them do that.

HS: What’s in store for Tomte in the coming months? In the coming year?

Tomte: We hope to continue to grow our customer and artist base, as well as taking a bigger role in promoting handmade locally. Also, we are keeping an eye out for space where our studio and store can be directly connected; a space where Tomte can expand a bit and host open makers’ nights and workshops.

Vital Industries Old Fashioned Glasses. Vital Industries also screen printed the Horseshoe t-shirts!

HS: Where do you think the future of handmade in Denver is going? What is Tomte’s role with that?

Tomte: Denver’s handmade community is growing, and it’s quite possible Denver can have a national presence in the craft scene. We’ve been involved with the Denver Handmade Alliance, whose mission is to promote handmakers in the greater Denver area – fostering creativity, supporting buying handmade and shopping locally, while providing outreach and education for the craft community.

Eventually, we’d like Tomte to become a gathering place. A little spot in Denver where people come to be inspired to work on their own creative projects and shoppers can find great handmade goods.

HS: What are some of your must have handmaking/crafting/artisan resources?

Tomte: Brett spends a lot of time on Etsy.com running our Vital shop. Etsy’s blog, “the storque”, has great business resources, as well as tips for making the most of selling on Etsy. We are huge fans of the site. It’s where Vital got its start and is what has enabled us to do what we do.

HS: Favorite spots to craft in Denver?

Tomte: Brett and I spend a lot of time in our studio, which is in the same building as Tomte. It has great light, and plenty of room to spread out. (And spread out we do). Outside of that, Fancy Tiger’s Craft Night is pretty great. We don’t make it nearly often enough, but it’s a great place to hang out and make things. (Brett tends to have a beer or two mixed in his craft case with his crafting supplies to spice up the crafting experience.)
HS: Favorite place to eat? Best coffee?

Tomte: Café Awesome. It’s in our backyard, and Brett makes a delicious grilled pizza with clams and homemade dough. Yum! We also have pretty fantastic beer, which Brett brews upstairs. Brett also makes lattes with novo espresso, raw milk from Windsor Dairy and homemade vanilla syrup. They’re delicious. It’s not currently open to the public, but if anyone really wants to stop by and have one, feel free to send us an email. (We spend lots of time at home.) Okay, we let it slip. We are huge dorks.

Well, we like dorks :) Thanks, Brett and Crystal!