Felt Club veteran Michelle Caplan kicks off her first solo show from 6-8pm this Saturday, April 28, at {open} gallery in Long Beach. Click here for info and directions. Best of luck, Michelle!

Howdy, Earthlings!

Just a quick note to let you know that our fave neighborhood haunt, Reform School, is taking 15% off everything in the shop today!

They'll also be giving out baby trees from the Arbor Day Foundation with each purchase. (While supplies last, natch.)

Billie and Tootie will also be happy to share info from their pals at Treepeople.org for anyone interested in volunteering and/or community tree planting.

PLUS! They'll have lots of organic treats and drinks for you and yours to enjoy. So head on over and celebrate Earth Day at Reform School (and be sure to check out the wonderful artwork by Felt Club veteran Jill Bliss while you're there!).

4014 Santa Monica Blvd.
(@ Sunset Blvd. in SilverLake)
Los Angeles, CA 90029
ph: (323)906-8660

Alison Gordon, crafter of WonderlandQ, co-organizer of Bazaar Bizarre and Sampler Contributor Relations superhero, very recently faced a medical emergency. Like so many other independent artists and crafters, Alison is without health insurance.

The Wonderland Retreat Etsy shop (named in honor of Alison's website) was created by her friends to help ease the financial burden of her ordeal, and Etsy is waiving all fees. If you would like to help a fellow crafter, please consider purchasing an item from the shop or donating an item of your own. To donate an item, please contact Renee Garner (wonderlandretreat AT gmail DOT com) for more information. To make a monetary donation of any size, please send PayPal to info AT auroraseven DOT com.

If you'd like to donate something handmade, please send the following info to Renee:

* name
* 1 biographical sentence
* website for more detailed info on the artist/goods (if you have one)
* address/contact e-mail
* a photograph of the product
* a short description of the product
* suggested price
* mailing info: will you mail straight from their location or will you mail to her to ship upon item's sale� If you mail will you cover shipping or should that be added to the transaction?



There's a lot of great stuff in the shop, including stuff from Felt Club vendors like Made By Tess and Susan Stars! Items are selling fast, so visit the shop soon and help a good cause.

If you've ever considered advertising in ReadyMade magazine, now is the time. Alison Gordon, the talented lass behind Wonderland Q (and Sampler helper-gal extraordinaire), is the ad sales gal for ReadyMade, and she was recently hospitalized for gallbladder surgery. As is all too typical in the freelancer/craft world, she's uninsured and sure to be socked with a huge hospital bill once she checks out. Alison's doing OK and is in good spirits, but obviously it would be great if we could all help ease her workload and her worries during this difficult time.

Enter Marie Kare, Sampler head honcho and all-around Good Egg, who has offered to help sell the upcoming issue's remaining ads for Alison. The commission from any ads she helps sell will go directly to Alison, which is sure to lessen her troubles some.

As Marie herself noted on the Sampler blog: "If you've been thinking about doing some advertising, now might be the perfect time. Not only would you be spreading the word about your own business, you'd be directly helping one of the awesomest ladies in the crafting community."

Here are some further details from Marie, please e-mail Marie AT homeofthesampler DOT com for even more information.

The ads are in ReadyMade's Digest. They're $350 and run for 4 months. For more information about ads in the Digest, ordering them, etc., please just send me a quick email and I'll send you the PDF with all the information inside. Unfortunately, RM is on a bit of a deadline and would need SIGNED INSERTION ORDERS BY TOMORROW, APRIL 10 and artwork by WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11. (Their caps, not mine!)

Please help spread the word in any way you can, and Felt Club wishes Alison a quick and painless recovery!