Never Cry Wolf

Happy New Year Wolfies!

First resolution of the year is to update our blog and make it more active this year. Sometimes we get so busy this blog gets neglected but we will change that..starting now! Let’s just recap the last few months in a (somewhat) organized fashion:

One of A Kind Christmas Show (Nov 24-Dec 04, 2011)

This was our first time doing the entire OOAK Christmas show, and it was great! The set-up of our booth actually took the longest it has EVER taken us (2 days, 5 hours per day). During set-up we always like to goof around a little. This was our home for the next 11 days. We also entered the Coffee Cup competition that they have for vendors every year. You can see our rendition of a coffee cup made out of materials that we use – ripped up misprinted t’s and ink. The show turned out to be a lot of fun (we didn’t expect anything less). Please see our pictures below, and check out lots more pictures from the show in our facebook gallery!

As a side note, we have such awesome fans/friends. Many of them came to visit and we got a few little treats like, gift card to starbucks from the sweetest Humber crew, homemade muffins made by Maxine, chocolate and hand crocheted ornaments by Atomic Ami Gals, handmade christmas tree earrings by Christina, and Pies from Steph! <3 Thank you so much!!

Feel free to connect with us on our facebook or twitter accounts. We are real people, and we like to interact!

The week after the OOAK we went to City of Craft. This was definitely going to be a handmade holiday. We treated ourselves to a couple of Julie Moon Skulls, which we have coveted for so long. Sorry, I was trying for hours to separate the gallery into 2 parts, but it won’t go, so the pictures are all together. They have captions and descriptions though

The rest of the year was dedicated to keeping busy with holiday sales (best time of year!) and having fun. We had a very successful 2011, and hope that 2012 will be even better! We are so happy and grateful to everyone who we have met throughout the year, new friends and old. Crywolf is a big party bus, and everyone should hop on!

As for January, it has been the first sign of OLD MAN WINTER! and it’s minus 14 degrees (Celsius) today. Stay warm this winter with $10 bucks off all zip-up hoodies

10 bucks off all zip-ups for the month of january

<3 Rose & Steph

Firstly, our sincere apologies for the hiatus on the blog front. It has been a wee little while since we last blogged and so much we have wanted to blog about!  There have been many many things happening in the world of Crywolf (namely planning the launch of our upcoming vinyl toy – Bü, which we will blog about next time). We’ve had almost no time to even make sure we are still breathing (but I think we are because we’re still alive…I think) let alone blog, but we are going to get back on that horse!

Last last weekend was on of our regular Toronto shows, The Spring Clothing show. It had moved back to the Queen Elizabeth building for the first time in years which people had mixed reviews about. Despite being hit with a terrible lighting situation (being under a half dead lamp) we had a pretty good location and it was a good show.

Photo recap:

Our booth setup. Can you spot the new designs?!

Here’s one of them. Matryoshka light sweatshirt on athletic blue! Will be available online in a couple of weeks.

And another! Ninja Panda on a cool new colour. Available online in a couple of weeks also.

Us smiling sweetly for the papa(razzi).

We ran around and took some snaps of our friends/fellow vendors.

Jenn of  Sick on Sin. She was rollin solo all weekend and we saw her booth bustling most of the time!  She kindly donated some goodies to us for something we will talk about in another blog. Anyway, overall a great person!

Eric holding down the Pause fort while Ken and Andrew pointed and laughed from afar (that may or may not be true). You can see a few of their NEW designs! I picked up a pretty hilarious tank that I will treasure forever. Thanks boyz. They also contributed some AMAZING stuff to the something something that will be written about in our next blog!

One of our favorite booths to shop at, Bicyclette. And we’re not just saying that. We just discovered them last year and fell in love. The owner Paige is super lovely. I came so close to buying this amazing statement dress – black and white Aztec-ish print, short and tight with puffed up shoulders… it was pret-ty awesome. I had to part with it in the end but got some pretty shirts instead. ALSO – brace yourself for some exciting news – Bicyclette’s new Queen st store is going to start carrying Crywolf tanks! YUS!

Within Bicyclette ’s booth were 2 other favs of ours – Biko Jewelry and DaLish cosmetics. We were sad that Corrine of Biko didn’t have her own booth this year as I’ve been eyeing her beautifully constructed jewelry forever and I swear I will own a piece some day. Maybe at this year’s One of a Kind christmas show?! Melanie of DaLish added a whole bunch of new clothes to her Crywolf collection and we got ourselves a bunch of  100% Canadian made and produced cosmetics with natural ingredients. No testing on furry friends! We back that.

This is Dawn of  Love Poetry Corsets. She’s super sweet and a really big Crywolf fan!

And last but not least is the best looking couple ever aka Mel of Fredrick Prince Jewelry and her boyfriend Brett. We did some tradesies and each got a beautiful hand-crafted necklace.  Mind the crappy webcam photo but here is the beautiful rough crystal quartz necklace I got. In certain light at a certain angle you can see a little rainbow reflection on the bottom of the stone, I keep trying to make people see it but nobody ever does. I guess I will keep that little treasure to myself.

I have a confession, this blog took me about 10 hours to write. Of course while doing a bunch of other stuff in between uploading photos such as writing a zillion e-mails, event planning, stressing out, etc. Clearly I used up any writing skillz on e-mails and so whatever was left  ended up as this blog. I’m embarrassed!

xoxox

As many of you know, we did our first ever Christmas One of a Kind show, the biggest Christmas craft show in North America. We’ve been hoping to get into this show for a while now and we finally did! After returning from China, we worked our butts off to prepare for the show and everything came together in the end. Thanks to all those who came and supported. Photo timez:

It wasn’t until day 2 that I remembered to bring my camera but I’m really upset because I don’t think I got a single good shot of our entire booth! I could have sworn I did but I guess I only took one on my phone so this will have to do:

We were hoping for a 10×15 but since we were on the waiting list we took what we could get and actually really lucked out by getting a corner. What I’d really like to emphasize in this photo is the beauty of vinyl flooring. In case you didn’t read about our last floor disaster during the Spring One of a Kind show you can check it out here. All I can say is vinyl flooring is  A DREAM and wood laminate flooring is FIT for the PIT (for shows, anyway).

We also bought and used a grid wall for the first time ever. It’s hard when you only have curtains for walls so these things really came in handy. You can also see some of our new stuff showcased: Crywolf baggus, kids & baby clothes and pet clothes!

AND silk screened Holiday Cards:

Our ability to amuse ourselves easily increases ten-fold when we do shows. We never fail to find it amusing that we have the exact same handwriting (when we want to). We are both experts at forging each others signatures which has come in handy more than once ifyouknowwhatimean.

If you read our blog you will know from this entry that we won 2nd place in the One of a Kind show’s exhibitor art competition. Here is our piece! (I immediately got scolded for taking photos):

We were so lucky to have had many visits by friends and family. Thanks to everyone who stopped by! We also met some really awesome fellow craftsters and made some new friends.

This is Gosia and in case you can’t tell, she is the sweetest! Here she is wearing our very own Wolfe tee. Gosia makes really beautiful paintings and sculptures of little characters. We both bought this little red hooded girl figure:

I still have to find a special place to hang her. Check out Gosia’s work and blog here. We are looking forward to doing a collaboration with her in the near future!

More visits:

Chris from Cargoh stopped by, which was really nice! Cargoh is a Canadian-based online marketplace for artists and designers to sell their stuff. Do check it out.

Jen and Michael of Sick on Sin and Orneryboy stopped by. I love this photo because clearly something funny was happening.

Cassie and baby Bennett who modeled in all of our baby clothes photos for our website.

Chris looks sad here probably because he’s a vegetarian and I offered him some smoked salmon. Chris makes some great buttons and other things too which you can check out here.

Random photo from the last day of the show. I was trying to capture the sheer mass of the lineup of people waiting to get in. I think I failed, but just take my word for it.

We met Karen at the CNE years back and it was nice to see her face!

My new thing seems to be taking photos of people when they’ve let their guard down. I like these types of photos the most, anyhow. Ghostface and mama D.

Last photo I took, my parents came down to assist us with take down which is always a super huge help and was EXTREMELY helpful this time especially because for the first time we have more boxes than can actually fit in the van! I don’t know what this means but I’m having visions of a Crywolf cube van… or maybe a Crywolf RV? A studio RV that we can print shirts in and live out of while we travel. Yea!

Anyway once again thanks to everyone who came and shout-outs to: Dani Gagnon, Jen Mahood, Stefanie Terzo & Christina Terzo Curcio, Mr. Fantin, St Robs kids, Patricia Youn, Tiffany, Aviv Zimerman, Mia, Melissa De Luca & Brett, Sarah Costa, Steph Agosta, Jean Rivard, Mrs B, Shannon & Cara, Angela Smith, Meghan D’Innocenzo, Lisa, Angela DiMaso, Marie, Geneviève Jodouin, our mums & dads.

THAT WAS LONG!
xoxoxox

We are sososo happy to announce that we’ve won 2nd place in the One of a Kind Exhibitor’s Art competition! Exhibitors were asked to interpret the theme of “love” in their own particular medium. See the OOAK’s blog entry about the winning pieces here.

We asked our fans on facebook to come up with some works of places/people/things/etc. that came to mind when they thought of the word LOVE. We got a lot of responses so thanks so much, you lovely fans you!

Here’s the final piece along with a description:

Our design was inspired by drawing connections from different fragments of words that combine together to create the idea of love. The words placed on each individual 1″ button (a medium commonly used for the promotion of messages, beliefs, interests and ideas) were collected from a group of random people’s interpretations of what the word love means to them. The words range from places to people, things, feelings, etc. We arranged all of the individual pieces into the iconic shape of the heart and included bits and pieces of the colour red to reiterate the idea of love. Although forming from a group of random words and ideas, the viewer is able to draw connections from the fragments and evoke their own thoughts and ideas of love.

After a little over a week of rest & recovery from our 2 weeks in China, we have finally been able to sort through over 5000 and 20 gigs worth of pictures. Unfortunately our blog is not equipped to handle such picture madness so we will have to direct you to our facebook to see our adventures in picture form.

China Trip: Album 1
China Trip: Album 2

We have so many stories of our adventures that even family members have not yet had time to read our email updates, lol. We were able to visit Beijing, Hangzhou, YiWu, and Shanghai over the course of our 14 day trip. It was a mix of shopping, tourism, family & friends, cuisine, culture, business, & pleasure. It was definitely a great adventure, and a humbling experience for the both of us to say the least.

In other news, we will be doing our first ever Christmas One of a Kind show in Toronto!

If you have never been, we can assure you that it’s definitely a show worth going to. “Each One of a Kind Show and Sale features an endless selection of handcrafted items created by talented artists and craftspeople.” We (Crywolf) will be doing the last 6 days of the show: November 30 – December 5th.

Save $2 when you purchase tickets online, or use code: ADcgqf9 to save $3 (a gift from us)!

Hope to see you there!

I went to check out BUTTONMANIA at G+ Gallery this afternoon where we had some 1″ collaged buttons on display.

The wall of many butts.

It was pretty cool to see what other artists had done.  Buttons have become such a commonplace fashion accessory and we make and see so many of our own every day, so it was interesting to see buttons used by artists as a medium and to be able to just step back for a second and appreciate them as individual pieces. My favorites were the one-of-a-kind buttons that were either hand drawn/painted or were made from an original piece of art.

Our collaged buttons!

Couldn’t leave empty handed…

Our purchses: birdies by Iris Lee
creepy/manga/monster buttons by Howie Tsui
chinese opera face by Xu Han

BUTTONMANIA will continue to run until December 27th. If you want to check it out it’s at G+ Gallery (50 Gladstone Ave, Toronto) and the gallery is open Wed-Sun (1-6pm).

ATTN: button lovers

What’s more awesome than an artist’s button show? Not much. We will be having some LTD edition collaged 1″ buttons in the show, you should check it out if you’re in/around Toronto. G+ is across the street from The Gladstone Hotel on the West side of Gladstone Ave.

That’s a preview of the collaged buttons that we will have in the show. Each one is different! Collect the whole C R Y W O L F set or you can just get your favorite button of the bunch. There will be about 50 for sale at the show @ $2 each.

If you’re in Toronto/the GTA we hope you can come and check us out at this years Craft Off The Lot, an art/craft exhibition featuring local artists and designers put on by the Cryptic Canvas gallery.

WHEN: Nov 12th – Nov 15th

Thursday 7pm-11pm (opening reception)
Friday 4pm-9pm
Saturday 11am-8pm
Sunday 11am – 6pm

WHERE: 1030 King St West (at Shaw) in the abandoned Chrystler lot

TICKETS: Pay what you can! (free raffle ticket with $5 donation)

We’ll have some brand new Holiday goodies for sale! Buttons, cards and a special LTD edition holiday shirt. All clothing will be on sale at a discounted price! Support your local artists/designers/craftsters and get something unique and special for someone you love.

Visit Craft Off The Lot’s website for more info. Keep an eye on our events page for more upcoming shows.

See you there palsies!!!

This is about a month late but no matter. Cne 2009 was a great year. Let’s see? Quick Recap:

* Met a bunch of cool people
* Saw people with super old p0isson buttons on their bag
* Very FEW crocs this year!
* New flooring (no more nasty carpet)
* New vinyl decals (a la stickitart.ca)
* Got our very first fan art (from Marika)
* New counter (hand-built by Stephanie)
* Lots of visitors/fans
* Banana chips/Soy beans/Roasted Corn/ JUICE IT/Cotton Candy/Dips/BBT.. best food ever
* Rowz’s bday at the ex (with amazing balloon)
* Bee following us into the cne every morning
* Radio interview while it was super busy listen here!
* Amazing weather!
*Afternoon naps
* Playing lots of games and winning .. NONE!
* Conned by a carnie (will never trust another one again!)

That was basically all our days summed up. Here are some photos which you can also see by adding us on facebook!

1st Day still fresh as 2 daisys

buttons!

booth setup

hard @ work

table view

so fast its a blur

happy birthday

sunny sunny

juice it dip yum!

This past week was the first ever Frugal Fashion Week in Toronto and on Saturday we set up shop at the Drake where they had a shop/brunch/fashion show happening. I can’t seem to get the word Frugalista out of my head now which isn’t good because I think it’s a terrible terrible word. Same goes for the word fashionista which conjures up strong feelings of vile disgust in both of us, mostly because of this song which we heard every day at the CNE last year. Enjoy:

Anyhoos, this was our setup:

Space was tight but we managed to make enough room. We had a few samples of BRAND NEW DESIGNS which were a hit and will be up on the site soon! VERY exciting!

All in all, a good day. It was my birthday wknd and I got to spend it with my closest pals which is all I really wanted! Love you all. Is it seriously almost August? Time is flying. WHAT HAPPENED TO SUMMER? Our next event is the CNE which starts August 21st. We’ll keep you posted on that.

xo!