Who: Amanda and Brookes
Where: I’ve Got A Hole in My Soul Night at Rotture
Photo by: AM

Because you deserve to give yourself a present too!

Starting tomorrow, Nolita is hosting a weekend of steals and deals!
Here’s what’s happening:

HOLIDAY PARTY | Dec. 14th, 5-8pm Get some late-night shopping done with in-store specials, yuletide fun, and fancy cocktails for everyone!

GIVING TREE | Dec. 14th to 16th
Pluck an envelope from its branches for your gift: an opportunity to receive 10-40% OFF anything in the store, free gifts, or ‘buy one get one 1/2 off’ specials!

Check out these woodsy picks from vendors appearing at Crafty Wonderland this weekend.

Left to right:
1. Winter Branch Necklace by Fernworks
2. Woodland Magnets from Robot Candy
3. Wooden Bird Earrings by Frozen Peas Accessories

Today marks the fist day of a sale running through the rest of the month at Moulé (1225 NW Everett): Find 30-50% off all men’s and women’s clothing, handbags, and shoes (but don’t pass over the interesting home ideas while you’re there) from lines like Rag & Bone, Catherine Malandrino, Rachel Mara, Edun, J. Lindberg, and many more!

Is still noteworthy when a Portland designer makes the Style Section?

Well, Nau does so in today’s edition, where a large photo of their (really cute) Dualist Jacket appears with the article “A World Consumed By Guilt: Eco-shopping to save the land, but is it all truly green?” Regardless of local interest (CEO Chris Van Dyke is also quoted in the piece), it’s an interesting article in that it weighs the pros and cons of different modes of “green” apparel design and production—Nau, for instance, is criticized for hauling the raw materials, fabric, and eventual final product of the jacket through three countries before it’s ready to purchase—and notes the complications involved in deeming something truly green. The conclusion, as you might guess, is that nothing’s perfect, and consumers may need to learn to accept compromises. On the other hand, manufacturers need to be transparent—possibly by legal compliance—in their green claims.

Tonight at Phlox (3962 N Mississippi) you can check out modestly priced art (from $35-75) by Riki Lynn Henderson, plus jewelry from Agnieszka Zoltowski at $28-100. Not bad, not bad. Plus! All apparel in the store will be 15% off, like this adorable snug ‘n’ cozy jacket from Yag, which looks terribly tiny here, but which you can see a bigger (too big for an image grab) photo of on Phlox’s new web store.

Haven’t finished your Xmas shopping yet? Have no fear. This Sunday you can finish all your holiday shopping needs at the ultimate mother lode of local holiday art & craft sales—Crafty Wonderland’s Super Colossal Holiday Sale. There will be over 100 independent artists selling their goods under one roof, plus many other cool perks like a full bar, goodie bags, and a wrapping paper table.

All the juicy details on the sale, including an interview with the Cathy Pitters and Torie Nguyen, the lovely ladies behind Crafty Wonderland, is behind the jump.

MERCURY: The Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Holiday Sale isn't happening at the Doug Fir, like your regular monthly shows. What made you choose the Norse Hall instead?

CATHY & TORIE: We love having our monthly events at Doug Fir Lounge but it can only hold 40 vendors and we wanted to do a large sale for the holidays. Last December we did two smaller sales two Sundays in a row at Doug Fir and it was just too much! We decided to move to a larger venue where we could hold a one-day Mega Wonderland with 100+ vendors. We still love Doug Fir and will start back up with our monthly sales there on Feb. 10—after taking a much-needed break in January.

Besides all the crafty goodness to peruse through, what else is happening at the Super Colossal Holiday Sale? Did I hear rumor of a full bar?

Yes, there is a full bar! And it's not just any bar—it's the Horny Troll Bar—that's really what it's called! We even worked with the fabulous ladies at Norse Hall to come up with some special crafty/viking themed cocktails for the event. There will also be recycled gift wrapping by SCRAP at the DIY table so you can wrap the gifts that you buy. The DIY table will be in the bar, which is an all-ages area.

How long have you ladies been working on this event? How much planning did it take?

We decided on a venue in June and started taking applications in August. It's been crazy ever since! We accepted about three times the number of vendors that we usually take plus we added some fun extras like goodie bags to the first 200 shoppers and a fancy event program. We solicited donations from local and national businesses to put together some fantastic goodie bags. The program is looking great too. Along with advertising and a map of the vendor layout, it has an interview with Portland crafty superstar, Rebecca Pearcy of Queen Bee Creations, as well as a retro holiday how-to project. We just kept thinking of more fun things we could add to the event to make it awesome and couldn't stop ourselves. We're a little bit crazy that way.

Can you give us a quick synopsis of the different kinds of goodies shoppers will be able to find at the sale?

Pretty much anything and everything: handbags, clothing for kids & adults, jewelry, art, knit & crochet items, hats, cards & calendars, journals. We're even having an area where we have several kids selling their own art. Folks can check out a full list of vendors with links to their websites at www.craftywonderland.com/vendors.htm

What are you looking forward to the most on Sunday?

CATHY: Handing out the goodie bags in the morning will be fun plus I'm hoping to finish up my holiday shopping. Then I'm having a Horny Viking cocktail at the bar when the event is over!

TORIE: I'm excited to see how the space looks full of vendors and shoppers! This event has been a ton of work and it will be great to see it all come together. I also hope to wrap up my holiday shopping and will be right next to Cathy at the bar when we close the doors!

The Super Colossal Holiday Sale is this Sunday, December 16 from 11 am to 5 pm at the Norse Hall, 111 NE 11th Ave. For more information, please visit craftywonderland.com and norsehall.org.