Summer INDIEana Handicraft Exchange

This past Saturday was the Summer 2010 INDIEana Handicraft Exchange. It was amazing! We got to catch up with a lot of crafty friends, meet some new cool people like the lovely ladies from So Silly and we sold out of cookies 2 hours before the event ended! Thanks so much to all the people that made it out and to everyone who stopped by our table to say "Hi" and purchase a bag of cookies.
This year there were a lot of new vendors who impressed us greatly with their handmade merchandise. It seems like at the IHE we end up spending more than we make because there are so many amazing things we want to take home.

Karli ended up with these lovelies:

Clockwise from top: Amazing hand-embroidered linen and velvet pillow from White Nest, up-cycled leather journal from The Binding Bee, sterling silver pebble hoops from Sara B Jewelry, screen printed shirt from The Bare Tree, felted sterling silver hoops from The Biggie, letterpress card from Paper Parasol Press, another screen printed shirt from The Bare Tree (this one for my husband) and a screen printed toddler tee from So Silly.

Sarah snagged these fine things:

Sweet T-shirt from So Silly, orange cream lip balm by Independence Natural Skincare, magnet and Scrabble pendant from Sunday Afternoon Housewife, and a Humpty Dumpty magnet from Backwoods Belle.

If you would like to get your hands on some of these items you will be able to starting July 10 at Indy's own homespun: modern handmade in Irvington. Check out their site for more details.

INDIEana Handicraft Exchange - Article for Venus 'Zine!

A Handmade Extravaganza at the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange

Each June I look forward to spending every cent of my savings on one-of-a-kind, handmade goods from some of the craftiest folks in the Midwest. The INDIEana Handicraft Exchange brings modern craftspeople and indie art supporters together. Last Saturday, 100 vendors spread their wares across their tables and set to work, greeting and exchanging with enthusiastic customers. It feels like the return-to-craft and buy-local movement is growing. People really do appreciate homemade things now, and it’s comforting to see it unfold.

The Binding Bee (1), Matty Cipov (2), Eric Stine (3), Urban Posture (4)

All things involving paper and ink suck me in. I don’t know if it’s the matte sheets, the crisp lines of the font, or the inspiration I gain from holding a blank paged book, but paper hits the soft spot. There were many printmakers, illustrators, and the like this year. This kind of (very affordable) stuff is what turns a bland apartment into a showcase.

Alexander Design Group (1), Sunday Afternoon Housewife (2), Studio AMF (3), sara b jewelry & metalsmithing (4)

I am tickled to see what un-jewelry-like objects can be transformed into wearable art. These artists seem to say, “Paper, not a problem. Felted wool, a cinch. Board game pieces, no sweat. Shrink art, why the hell not?” I agree; we liked it when we were kids, and we like it now. I love such out-of-the-box creativity. It fills life with whimsy and spunk. Don’t get me wrong, though. I dig a finely fabricated, silver pendant or a hand carved wooden ring. These pieces are timeless.

Cordial Kitten (1), morninglori (2), Steff Bomb (3), Bebito (4)

Even though I’m well into my 20’s, I’m still enamored with funky plush creatures. The little kid inside me wants to fill a Pet Net full of these completely unique…things. They’re not quite dolls or animals, but I wouldn’t call them monsters. Whatever you want to call them, I call them awesome.

So Silly (1), Jerry Lee's Western Wear (2), Bare Tree Apparel (3), Mama Kate's (4)

Being able only to sew a straight line, my jaw drops at the sight of tailored clothing and accessories. Screen printed items always catch the eye. How could you walk away from the perfect printed T? T-shirts are the ultimate souvenir, but why stop at a T-shirt? (I say this as my wallet aches.)

VSA Indiana (1), b.makemake (2), Curat (3), The Hot Cookie (4)

Soaps scented so sweetly they seemed good enough to eat, cookies which were definitely good enough to eat, and ice cream served in bowls made by special needs kids kept our taste and smell senses alight. Some vendors demonstrated their skills right at their table. The deep connection of from hand, by hand, to hand is truly what the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange is all about. It’s a good thing my wallet has time to recover before next year.

NEW FLAVOR - Coffee Toffee Crunch!

Just wanted to give all of our fabulous fans out there a heads up that we debuted a new flavor at the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange and it was such a hit we are now offering it in our Etsy shop. It is called the Coffee Toffee Crunch and is our chewy oatmeal dough infused with premium roast coffee and chock-full of rich, buttery toffee. Pick up a dozen for yourself today!

This Only Happens in Movies...or on MTV!

I have to tell you about our wild Saturday. It's one for the books; a roller coaster day full of twists and turns. The day begins very early (well, very early for me) at 7am. I loaded up my car with a bunch of crap to sell at Karli's yard sale. I was grumpy and still half asleep when I was trying to shut the door with my hands full - broke a hand-blown glass vase. Grrr! In my angry fit, I tossed a box into my car/fell into my car and clothes-lined myself in the car door frame. Ah, a pleasant way to start the day.

Things got better when I arrived at Karli and Travis's house. We set up shop in their front lawn. We had visitors even before all of our stuff was put out. THEN, while we were selling and customers were buying, one of the customers collapsed and had a seizure. Karli called 911, and a fire truck and an ambulance full of paramedics came to help. The woman was OK. Thankfully she didn't hit her head too hard when she fell. She recovered after a few minutes with a peanut butter sandwich and milk - hypoglycemic apparently. She actually returned later in the afternoon to thank us and continued shopping!!!

Our yard sale went very well, but at noon we had to cut out and head to a TV shoot produced by a handful of lovely folks from MTV!!! Because The Hot Cookie is a member of the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange, and Amanda and Neal Tafflinger won one of the Pepsi Refresh Everythinggrants for their future store, Homespun, we got to participate! Renowned MTV corespondent,SuChin Pak conducted interviews with all of the Handicrafters present. It was very interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes. All of the crew members were very nice, and LOVED our cookies. We are honored to have been a part of it.

Here we are being interviewed by SuChin.

She had just taken a bite of one of our Sea Salt Chocolate Chunkers and is showing the camera. She nibbled on them between questions.
The rest of our mock Handicraft Exchange. We did a pretty good job. The wind was a bit naughty.

And if that weren't enough, one of the producers bought pizza for us all; and not just any pizza, but Jockamo's pizza! Could life get any sweeter? The one minute segment is supposed to run sometime within the next couple of weeks and (potentially) be on MTV, VH1, TeenNick, Comedy Central, Hulu.com, and SpikeTV.

Fall INDIEana Handicraft - Karli's Goodies

I had such a great time at the fall INDIEana Handicraft Exchange and picked up such cool handmade goods that I felt a need to share them and the wonderful artisans who created them.

I picked up a satin flower brooch, hair clip and headband from the lovely Aubrey of Backwoods Belle. This was her very first craft fair and she already looks like a pro.
The blue wristlet is from Busty's Fun Bags. I think I am going to give it to my fashionista sister for Christmas.
I got a IHE logo t-shirt to show my support.
I also got a t-shirt from The Mustard Room with two rabbits in turtlenecks and moustaches. Totally awesome!
Sunday Afternoon Housewife made me two custom bunny scrabble tile necklaces to choose from and I had to have them both because they each looked like one of my rabbits.
My husband chose an awesome robot painting from Michael Altman as a gift for his one brother, and a pillow from Vintage Songbird for his other brother.
Finally, I won the too-cute scarflette from Aggressively Awesome Stitches in the IHE raffle.

My husband won this amazing gift pack from Nourishing Notes in the raffle.

It came with 8 hand letterpressed cards & envelopes, 2 hand-printed tea towels, and a cute note from the artists. The cards have witty saying on the front with cute foodie illustrations and recipes on the back. Visit Nourishing Notes' shop to get some of your own. Your friends and loved ones will thank you.

Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies

As Sarah mentioned in the previous post this past weekend was the annual fall INDIEana Handicraft Exchange. We had such a great time! To celebrate the arrival of autumn I made pumpkin spice whoopie especially for this occasion. We do not sell whoopie pies in our shop, because they do not keep and we are unable to ship them. I look forward to events like this where I can stretch my baking chops and break out my icing bag. If you were fortunate enough to snag a pumpkin spice whoopie pie at the fair and want to make more, or didn't have the opportunity to grab one before they sold out today is your lucky day. Here is the recipe I used to make the whoopie pies:

Makes 12 large whoopie pies (I doubled the recipe which is why there is a lot of batter in the photos)

Ingredients

• FOR THE PUMPKIN WHOOPIE COOKIES
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
• 2 cups firmly packed dark-brown sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups pumpkin puree, chilled
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• FOR THE CREAM-CHEESE FILLING
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions
1) Make the cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat; set aside.

2)In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice; set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together brown sugar and oil until well combined. Add pumpkin puree and whisk until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk until well combined.

Sprinkle flour mixture over pumpkin mixture and whisk until fully incorporated.


3) Using a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism, drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.


Transfer to oven and bake until cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of each cookie comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely on pan.

4) Assemble the whoopie pies: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Transfer filling to a disposable pastry bag and snip the end. You can also use a 1 gallon ziplock bag and cut off one corner. When cookies have cooled completely, pipe a large spiral of filling on the flat side of half of the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edge of the cookies. Transfer to prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate cookies at least 30 minutes before serving and up to 3 days.

5) Make the filling: Sift confectioner' sugar into a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth. Add cream cheese and beat until well combined. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla, beat just until smooth. (Filling can be made up to a day in advance. Cover and refrigerate; let stand at room temperature to soften before using.)

6) Eat & enjoy!!!

INDIEana Handicraft Exchange - Fall Edition

Can I tell you that I'm totally exhausted? Because I am exhausted. It was a whirl wind of baking this week. We were even baking and elbows deep in powdered sugar hours before the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange on Friday. We had record sales that night. It was a great feeling. We even sold out AGAIN an hour before closing on Saturday. It's really encouraging that our cookies are gobbled up so quickly. Karli made more whoopie pies for the occasion. This time she made a perfect seasonal flavor - pumpkin and spice. Needless to say, they were gone first. It was great to watch customers buy one and walk off, only to return within minutes to buy a couple more. Karli and I were technically "working" this event, but it's just so much G-danged fun, it's like play.

Our booth! I wish we had gotten a photo of me and Karli behind it, but the idea wasn't around at the time. Maybe I should photoshop us in....

Our gallery mates totally showed us up at booth displays. They had it down, and their tables looked perfect.

After Day 1 of Handicraft, Karli, Travis, and I took Andy and Julie of Nourishing Notes out for a snack and a drink. We ended up at the Living Room Lounge downtown. They got to eat their first Indiana tenderloin. They were not expecting a slab of meat the size of their plate, so this was their hilarious expression when it was set before them. If you get a chance to meet these folks, it's your lucky day. You can't find nicer people.

Gallery Mates: Bobbie of b.makemake. We had the pleasure of lining the En Route hall at the Harrison Center again with Bobbie and Aubrey. These girls are half the fun of Handicraft. I had to buy another critter to add to my collection. After an introduction, my critters liked each other instantly, as I knew they would.

Gallery Mates: the adorable Aubrey of Backwoods Belle. This was her first official business event, and Karli happened to be her first customer. The transaction was documented via multiple photos. It was just too cute!

Yay! This is Sara B. She was a student of mine. I didn't teach her much because she had so much talent under her belt already. She's got a great eye and hand for design. This was her first craft fair, I believe. She rocked it out like a pro.

I had a LOT of self control at this extravaganza. I didn't hurt my wallet as badly as last time. Check out my goods:

Frosty Almond tea from Herb and Ginger. It's red! Check out that red tea!

A breeder handstitched by Bobbie of b.makemake.

Flower hair clip from Aubrey of Backwoods Belle.

Bumble bee hair clips from Buttons for Breakfast.

Handicraft logo t-shirt from the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange.

Fan-flippin-tastic hand printed foodie birthday cards by Nourishing Notes.

Grumpy cloud pin made by Cordial Kitten.

I will attend this event again and again and again. It's more fun than words can describe! Thanks Amanda for putting together such a great indie-craft fair!

Art and Such

Slight subject change! I've been inspired by a couple of new-to-me artists, and I'd like to share them with you.

I found one while attending the First Friday Art Walk in Indy. A curious guy by the name of Kipp Normand has an amazing studio at the Harrison Center. (Kipp, you need a website.)

This is one of his assemblages. This is what he does. I wish I had gotten a picture of his studio. It is cluttered, some might say, but I think it's just packed with potential. It's like stepping into an I Spy book. His studio is long and narrow with an extremely tall ceiling. The only window is a stained glass window. One long wall is covered by heavy red curtains probably salvaged from a theater. One small wall was covered with old paintings depicting Christ - probably salvaged from many a church. Along the walls and littering the floor were scads and scads of wooden things, a cabinet filled with unusual objects: a glass jar displaying a preserved hand, dental molds, antique toys, etc. I didn't get enough time to look, and I didn't want to be rude. A random note: Also at the Harrison Center - bike polo. A sport I never knew existed. Please note that there are only two players with helmets and hand guards. Too much coordination is involved here. Too much.

Another random note: Indy Fringe 2009 - a theater and stage festival. I attended this short play, Another Classic of Western Literature. All was seemingly normal in this play, seemingly everyday in a real-life sense. But then a stem cell research baby, appropriately named, F*** You scampered onto the stage. Hilarious, unexpected, and off-putting in a good way. Too funny.

Back to the point! The second inspiring artist I found on Etsy.com. I usually find lots of cool stuff on Etsy, but this artist sucked me in. The illustrations are serene and quirky. I thoroughly enjoyed YouAreConstance's shop.

Possibly more art related blogs to come after two fantastic festivals arrive: The Indieana Handicraft Exchange and the Strange Folk Festival.

Friday Food Porn

Just thought I would post some of the preparations for the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange tomorrow. We are making classic whoopie pies especially for the event and they look tasty! Come by tomorrow and say "Hi". We would love to see you there.

New cookies and an awesome craft fair.

Karli and I have been brainstorming about a lot of things lately: packaging, gift boxes/sets, displays, getting our own kitchen space, buying our own freezer - (which we did today - woo hoo!), but most importantly, we brainstormed about cookie flavors. I've been working on new vegan-friendly cookies and continuing the gluten free cookie challenge. We thought a macaroon would be a nice addition to our arsenal - delicious and gluten free to boot.

Everyone knows that the best recipes always start with chocolate. How can you go wrong with that?!

Macaroons are made with egg whites, so I had to seperate the yolks. You have to be very careful not to get any yolk in the whites. Also, make sure that your bowl and wisk are very clean and oil/grease free. Otherwise, the egg whites won't fluff up.

No flour here. This recipe called for almond meal. I love nuts. They are just so versatile!

Cute little plops of macaroon.

So this is the finished product. I don't even know what a proper macaroon should look like...or even taste like. The taste is reminiscent to Nutella, though almondy instead of hazelnuty. They are chewy and slightly tough. I think I was a bit rough with those egg whites. Need to do some more research.

On another note:

The Hot Cookie will be rockin' out at the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange this Saturday from 10am to 11pm at the Harrison Center in Indy. Check out all of the other awesome vendors here. I, personally, am TOTALLY excited.

PS - If you are on Facebook and are not currently in our The Hot Cookie fan group, you can be. Join us here.