Shiny Fuzzy Muddy is back at the beautiful historic Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street, December 10th and 11th. This collaborative event is brought to you by 4 core members and local makers, Janna Hurtzig, Kari Woo, Arleigh Wood and Frances Dickinson pictured to the left. They formed a non-profit collective to create events that bring art to people. Shiny Fuzzy Muddy brings together more than 30 local artists to meet and share their craftsmanship in an environment that opposes the large mass produced products. They hand pick the artists that join them each year so you can expect some returning favourites as well as some new guest artists that will be exhibiting their work. This year you will again find jewellery, ceramics, fine art, clothing, textiles from local artists including Toodlebunny, Arleigh Wood, Julie MacKinnon Ceramics, Westerly Shoes, LUprints, Daub & Design, Adhesif Clothing Company and kari woo contemporary art jewellery, Winterluxe and LUprints. Some of the new designers participating this year include Haejin Lee Ceramics, Vanessa Lam with A Drop of Wonder Studio who does photography with mixed media painting and Claudia Schulz who designs hats as pictured below. Shiny Fuzzy Muddy runs Saturday, December 10th from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm and Sunday, December 11th from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm. Admission is $3.00 and these funds will go to an Emerging Artists Scholarship. Each year, Shiny Fuzzy Muddy identifies an Emerging Artist and supports their new business endeavors with a grant to participate in the event. In 2016, the Shiny Fuzzy Muddy Emerging Artist Grant was awarded to a personal favourite East Van artist, Stephanie Symns, of ANTIPOD Workshop. Symns is a textile designer who uses the digital realm as well as much more hands-on process-based work like weaving, dyeing or hand-printing. We know Stephanie is now set up in a new studio space off Clark Drive and participated in her first Eastside Culture Crawl the other week. So these grants go a long way to promoting art in our community. To learn more about the other artists participating this year, we invite you to visit Shiny Fuzzy Muddy.
If you are planning to attend Shiny Fuzzy Muddy, you may wish to check out the contest being offered by the Georgia Straight. It is a chance to win $200 to spend at Shiny Fuzzy Muddy. Note no cash value, but $200 in amazing works by the artisans on site during the event. Contest closes December 8th.
It’s that time of year when gift giving is front of mind for the holiday season.
For all those participating in this year’s 
We love finding the unique, different and creative things people are doing in and around East Vancouver. This brings us to our latest find. We’d like to introduce you to a new business brought to you by the one and only 
Tis the season is upon us for an array of craft markets and artisan fairs. The collection of local talent is rather awe inspiring when you attend any of these events. If you are looking for a gift for a birthday, anniversary or Christmas, you are likely to find something at any one of these markets. You will find an array of items including art work, pottery, clothing accessories, baked goods, local spirits, gifts for that foodie in your life or beard kits for the man in your life. Of course, it goes without saying these markets are a great way to support local enterprising entrepreneurs. Each market has its own unique feel, whether you are looking for a smaller market such as River District Winter Craft Fair or something on a bigger scale like Make It! At the PNE Fourm or Shiny Muddy Fuzzy. We have set out below a rundown in date order of the upcoming markets in East Van for November and December. We will continue to update this list as we learn of more. We hope you will join us in supporting local this holiday season.
If you missed last weekend’s showcase of local talent, being Elemental Trends, you are in luck. This Sunday, October 30th is 
If you have some birthdays coming up or want to get a jump on Christmas. Alright we know some of you don’t want to think about Christmas until after Halloween. Generally speaking, we are in that camp as well, but reality is that it’s just over 8 weeks away and once Halloween is behind us, time will fly by quickly. So for those that wish to get a jump start on things, you may wish to check out the 
Recycling and repurposing has been a way life for us long before it was on everyone’s radar as it is today. Honestly, it pains us to throw things away. Out of sight is not out of mind for us. It has to go somewhere and if it’s just tossed, it will likely be in a landfill. That’s not to say that we don’t toss things away, we try to keep that to a bare minimum. So we are always pleased to see new ways to recycle and repurpose items. On that vein, we’d like to introduce you to 
If you are looking to brush up on your cooking skills and/or pick up some new ideas for appetizers to serve guests, the 
ILiveInEastVan.com 