I am just about to drive out to the Greensburg office to pick up the t-shirts for Craft Congress! I am very excited about the shirt designs and I will post some pictures later.  I just wanted to share this article about Craft Congress that was in today’s Post-Gazette and extend a warm welcome to all of the crafters visiting Pittsburgh.

Artists convene ‘Craft Congress’

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

By Timothy McNulty, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh hosts the first-ever national conference of independent craft-makers this weekend, with organizers hoping to position the city as a capital for the growing underground crafts movement.

The “Craft Congress” was organized by leaders of the Handmade Arcade, the one-day sale and festival each fall by do-it-yourself artists in Point Breeze. The arcade — often featuring whimsical crafts with a feminist and environmentally friendly perspective — has grown exponentially since it started three years ago, mirroring the growth in indie craft-making nationwide.

The conference will gather more than 50 craft leaders from around the country — and one from Leeds, England — to discuss growth in the subculture and its attendant challenges. Many artists who started doing crafts as a hobby are now hoping to do so full time — with the help of Internet sales sites such as www.etsy.com — but also seeing their merchandising ideas co-opted by major retailers.

The conference will also allow many festival organizers, Web site designers, DIY magazine publishers and others to meet for the first time.

Indie crafting “has grown because of the Internet. A good number of these people are Internet friends who don’t know each other in the real world,” said Handmade Arcade and conference organizer Gloria Forouzan.

“There were a number of questions about what are the best practices in fairs and how to teach vendors how to sell, and we thought, why not establish some real-life relationships and address the challenges we all face?”

Since indie vendors often sell over the Internet or travel to regional fairs, they can live virtually anywhere, so Forouzan said she and others also hope to use the Congress to “demonstrate how great Pittsburgh is” to visiting artists.

The conference is being held at the Spinning Plate Artist Lofts in Friendship. Attendance is closed to the public.

I am ordering some more fun t-shirts (and some baby items for a friend who just had a new baby boy) because the Secret Blog Sale is almost over.  There are only 36 more hours to save 25% on everything!!!!

Have you ordered anything yet?

Coupon codes: SECRETBLOGSALE and CADSECRETBLOGSALE (Please note that it is CAD not CA, I think we were missing the D in the last blog post.).

I know this is last minute but I just got an email about this event and I think it looks really cool. I will try and stop by between all of the Craft Congress events.  For more info visit http://www.yourenotthebossofme.info/.  The trade fair looks really cool and they have a great list of sponsors (I am a big fan of the folks at the Brillobox).

YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME: Copyright and Transgression Festival
Do current US copyright laws favor powerful entertainment corporations? Is a highly restrictive copyright environment a protection of creative work or a muzzle? Are things really that bad? Are there alternatives?

You might find the answers to these questions and more at this (mostly) FREE 2-day festival of performances, screenings and lectures based around Carnegie Mellon University’s landmark College of Fine Arts Building.

Artists, critics, lawyers and filmmakers will discuss copyright, criminality, fair use and transgression in contemporary American culture as they relate to issues of cultural ownership and cultural heritage in an informal and open forum.

Featuring: a Keynote lecture by James Boyle, a performance by Girl Talk, presentations by Jacob Ciocci, Martha Colburn, Brody Condon, a discussion lead by Kathy M. Newman and Melissa Ragona, a performance by CMU’s Contemporary Ensemble, a selection of films curated by Thomas Beard, and a multi-media closing party VJ’d by Suzie Silver.

Clocky, the alarm clock that runs away from you, is just one of the cool things that Jana has blogged about.  You can check out more cool stuff in her blog - LifeOnAShirt.com

3 days left for the super secret blog sale.

What is the Super Secret Blog Sale? Save 25% off all purchases until March 31st.  But we are only posting the coupon code here on the Spreadshirt Blog.  Use the code SECRETBLOGSALE and for our Canadian CASECRETBLOGSALE.

Use the code, order cool stuff, be happy.

Spreadshirt is happy to be one of the sponsors of the first ever Craft Congress, organizers of craft fairs all over the USA are convening in Pittsburgh this weekend to talk about how crafters can take over the world.

On Saturday there will be a reception that is open to the public. I just wanted to share a picture of the invitation to the party because it is so darn cool. Great graphics and I am sure these were printed by hand. If you are in Pittsburgh this weekend this is one event that will be a crafty good time.

This crafty event is being held at AIR (Artists Image Resources), which is a printing studio that holds a weekly open studio nights where any one can come screen print. Back in the day, before I knew about Spreadshirt, I used to head over there to make my shirts. If you are interested in seeing the process of screen printing, AIR is the place. Just thinking about it makes me happy that I have found Spreadshirt - custom t-shirts with no mess.

Hey Shoppartners … start thinking about baseball t-shirts. Offer your shoppers 21% off all baseball t-shirts (Mens, Womens and Baby) for the entire month of April.

In honor of Roberto Clemente (who happens to be a baseball legend from Pittsburgh!), we are offering 21% off all baseball t-shirts for the month of April. The banners are in the Shop Partner Admin - look under Marketing: Banner Services. Sale starts April 1st so you still have a few days to design those baseball t-shirts.

You tell us.  Thank you to everyone who participated in our last two webinars.  They were a great success.  What would you like to see covered in the next webinar?  Here are some ideas we are thinking about let us know what you like.

• Product Assortment
• Setting up a Shop 101
• Print Types -  What is the difference?

Easter is just around the corner…  For that special bunny in your life, a custom t-shirt is just the thing.  We now have Easter gift wrap too.

And since you are a smart bunny, and you read the Spreadshirt blog Secret Blog Sale coupons and save 25% on your Easter orders.  Just use the coupon code SECRETBLOGSALE (Canadian friends can use CASECRETBLOGSALE) and save 25% off all orders until March 31st.

Thanks to Joe at Fantastic Blognanza for the tip.  There is a new version of Inkscape available.  Some of the folks at Spreadshirt have been checking out Inkscape and so far I am hearing good things.

Inkscape is an open source vector graphics program.  If you are new to Spreadshirt, the Spreadshirt’s plot printing technique requires vector graphics.  You can read more about vector graphics and Spreadshirt in the FAQs.