Chicago & The Renegade Craft Fair Gang? You are fantastic. Thanks to everyone who came out to shop and check out the 350+ artists and crafters at the 2010 Renegade Craft Fair in Wicker Park, Chicago. It was great getting to meet so many new people and to talk with old friends too.

After doing our usual fun convoy caravan with my friends Mark & Beth from Hero Design, I set off on my own to find my way into Roscoe Village in Chicago.

Forgoing the hotel route, this time I took the advice of a friend and tried out the website Homeaway.com to see if I could find a short term condo / apt. rental for our friends Beth & Joel from Rag Trader Vintage & myself to crash in while working Renegade. It took a little work and a lot of back & forth communication between a few different owners, but in the end it worked out beautifully. We found the Roscoe Village Guest House units, with a 3 bedroom / 2 bathroom place in the super pretty Roscoe Village neighborhood for less than a hotel, and, shoot. We had a kitchen & livingroom to relax in at the end of a long hard workday. I highly recommend them. And Rag Trader Vintage were my lifesaving booth neighbors, helping me set up & break down this time since I was working this show solo. Thank you so much guys!

Despite the potential for trouble with rain on Saturday morning, everything turned out tip top. The early morning rains on Saturday went from this:

Rainy Saturday set up.

To this within just a couple of hours and all was perfect for the rest of the weekend 🙂

All set up and in the sun. Yay!

And, holy cow geekery, we got a mention on the amazing design & lifestyle blog Apartment Therapy today in a post about first-time art buying, where our Beach House poster was the recommended print buy from the Renegade Handmade Store in Wicker Park. Thank you Apartment Therapy, you make me blush.

Click to read the full Apartment Therapy article.

And last but never least, thanks so much to a customer who left me this sweet note, you ROCK and made my day:

Dawww, thank you kind sir!

Hope to see you all again in December & next year!