Meet HandmadeMN Artists and Crafters at the Spring Soiree

By Sharon Parker aka Arty Didact

Riyah-Li Design

Shopping on Etsy is great, isn't it? You get to browse through all sorts of fabulously unique handmade cool stuff while sitting cozily in your pajamas, and when you include "HandmadeMN" in your search terms, it's all Minnesota made, too. What could be better?

How about getting outdoors in the spring air after an especially relentless winter and strolling an outdoor market on a Minnesota May day? Well, yeah! And, you get to meet and chat with those artists and crafters whose work you've been eyeing online.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then getting to examine the real thing and pepper the maker with pesky questions has got to be worth 10,000 words at least! But way more fun than all that text, of course.

How can I get in on this fun thing?! you ask. You could come on out to the Spring Soiree on May 7 in North Saint Paul, where a whole passel of HandmadeMN members will be cheerfully displaying their wares, and waiting eagerly to answer those questions you've been dying to ask. (You know, like, "How did you ever think up that?" and such.)

But it's not just all about us (in a manner of speaking, that is—of course it is all about us, but that's something else entirely), it's a full blown party put on by North Saint Paul businesses and, in particular, Design Vertigo, who will host the outdoor art market (the part that's all about us).

Besides us, there will be specials and fun activities hosted by local businesses, including participatory sidewalk chalk art and a plant sale, and did I see something about a business offering free coffee and cookies? I think I did.

To keep posted on the latest news as the date approaches, you could "like" the Spring Soiree's Facebook page, bookmark Design Vertigo's event page, and keep checking back here, to the HandmadeMN blog, and especially our page about the Spring Soiree, where you can see just which HandmadeMNers are going to be there.

Cheers, and happy spring!