This holiday season Shop Local! The Nevada City Craft Fair returns Sunday, December 16, 2012 to the historic Miners Foundry Cultural Center in downtown Nevada City, CA. The independent, juried craft fair showcases the local region’s top Etsy vendors, artisans, do-it-yourself crafters, and features their unique, handmade, original and repurposed art, clothing, accessories, jewelry, and housewares.
Attendees can also expect to find letterpress, paper and stationary items as well as children’s things, toys, ceramics, bath products, and more. Over 60 vendors, reaching as far as Reno, Chico, Sacramento and San Francisco. We promise you’ll find something for everyone on your holiday list.
Below, meet some of this year’s vendors and read about their favorite holiday crafts and gift ideas and we’ll see you Sunday, December 16th!
Danielle with Sailors Ravine Studio
Your Craft: Books Arts, Photography
Favorite holiday art/craft project: At holiday time any craft that’s not a gift needs to be quick,easy and fun. Nothing is more simple than making tags and ornaments from last years cards.
Favorite holiday gift to give: I love giving mandarins from the local farms. Yummy and good for you!
Favorite holiday gift to receive: I’m always happy to receive art supplies.
What’s a favorite holiday memory from your childhood: Making Christmas ornaments one year with my mom. I was in high school and
they were just inexpensive kits but I’ll never forget that day and now my kids hang those ornaments on our tree.
Briana Reijnen
Your Craft: Letterpress, foil-press, paper goods, pin-back buttons, etc.
Favorite holiday art/craft project: Making gingerbread houses!
Favorite holiday gift to give: Letterpress printed cards and notepads.
Favorite holiday gift to receive: Good company, good food, and good desserts!
What’s a favorite holiday memory from your childhood: Decorating the tree with handmade ornaments, and stringing lights outside. Of course, I can’t leave out listening to the Burl Ives Christmas record over and over!
Miranda Wensel
Your Craft: Earrings
Favorite holiday art/craft project: Anything if made with a friend while consuming eggnog and brandy!
Favorite holiday gift to give: something homemade! Last year everyone got crocheted coasters.
Favorite holiday gift to receive: Usually something homemade and edible.
What’s a favorite holiday memory from your childhood: very carefully, my brother and I would make special sugar cookies for Santa, and ready some carrots for Rudolph. All that belief in a kind of magic only present in childhood, really made things special around the holidays.
Poppy Hill Papers / Gloria Pearson
Your Craft: Handmade papers including stationary, note and greeting cards, notebooks and other quality handmade paper goods.
Favorite holiday art/craft project: I really enjoy making embossed greeting and note cards. Each card has a unique embossed design, which is fun to choose, but I also do a lot of experimenting with colors and plant textures ending up with a lot of unique cards. They’re not only a lot of fun to make, but lots of fun to give.
Favorite holiday gift to give: Cinnamon rolls. It’s a family tradition. I grew up having homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast every Christmas. When I had a family of my own I made them for our holiday breakfast. Now I make lots of cinnamon rolls and give them to friends so they can follow my favorite tradition. I even send one batch of cinnamon rolls to a dear friend in Virginia!
Favorite holiday gift to receive: Time with my daughters, who are grown and live far away, so we have to make the most of any time we get together.
What’s a favorite holiday memory from your childhood: It’s not a single memory, more of a family tradition. As children, we would wake our parents (who I think were probably already awake and just as excited about the morning as we were), and have to wait for my father to get up and shower and shave, and my mom to put the turkey in the oven. Meanwhile we couldn’t touch any of our gifts except our stockings stuffed with goodies from Santa. Although we all complained about it every year, I think the excitement and anticipation of the wait made the morning even more fun for all of us. I continued the tradition with my own kids.
Kiya Rios
Your Craft: Kiya’s Naturals – Making Up-cycled luxury clothing with cashmere and wool.
Favorite holiday art/craft project: I look forward to the change in weather to make piles of one of a kind baby-womens clothing and toys. My favorite item to see completed are 4″ baby boots because you can hold them both in the palm of your hand and marvel.
Favorite holiday gift to give: I love to give something handmade that feels of texture, time, and treasure. If i can’t find that perfect something i settle for chocolate!
Favorite holiday gift to receive: My Stocking filled with tiny packages and chocolate!
What’s a favorite holiday memory from your childhood: The smell of my Grandmothers linens while sleeping over and the thrill of the day dancing in my head.
Marty May
Your Craft: Screen Printing and Drawing
Favorite holiday art/craft project: I love making the paper dolls holding hands. I usually choose to cut out an animal, though. You know, the one where you fold paper, cut out a character, then unfold it to reveal a string of them holding hands. Great fun!
Favorite holiday gift to give: I usually hand make something. Anything from sculpture, to a simple drawing, to a screen printed item of clothing.
Favorite holiday gift to receive: I like homemade gifts! Anything handmade. Candles are great, sweaters, soaps, preserves, I love them all.
