kimberly ah

On Saturday, Karen and I braved the cold, cold wind and headed to Ravenswood for Show of Hands Chicago. Karen has never been to Renegade and we had plans to go this summer, except my trip to Japan got in the way. When I heard about Show of Hands, I knew it would be a good alternative.

First the space, the Ravenswood Event Center is spacious, interesting and amazing. The architecture and elements are gorgeous and the space holds old cars and crazy-awesome old neon signs. I feel like Naoto would have been entertained by the cars and signs if he had joined us. The Event Center is right off of the brown line, but we drove and parking was plentiful (for the city)…we only had to walk about two blocks from the car.

Second, Show of Hands was well-organized. There was a coat check and a lovely printed program. Everything was marked clearly as if the signs were ushering us into the event center and into the event room. The sellers were close enough to keep the flow going but there was room to breathe, to roam around and space to browse in each booth. (There is nothing worse than getting shoved out of a booth because people are crushing in to see.)

Best of all, it was a well-curated show. The crafters/designers/makers/sellers were all amazing. I could have bought something at every booth. And today I’m kind of kicking myself for not buying a few things (a woven clutch and some tangerine lavender lotion to name two…) It was the perfect size, too. Usually by the end of Renegade, I am DONE looking at things, chatting with sellers and pretending to be interested in the five hundredth ironic t-shirt. At Show of Hands, I never felt this way. It was the perfect variety of things and the perfect amount of shopping.

I can’t show you all of my purchases because I managed to pick up a few gifts. But the gifts for myself are pictured above.

The “Thank You For Being A Friend” postcards are from Zerobird. There are five in the set with the words to the Golden Girls theme song. They also had Three’s Company and Laverne & Shirley sets…obviously, Zerobird has great taste in television.

The vintage stamps and “I must decline for secret reasons” calling cards are from 16 Sparrows/Letter Writers Alliance. There are four versions of those calling cards…perfect for those of us who are a little bit introverted.

The typewriter postcards and the K stationery are from A Favorite Design. I couldn’t resist another monogrammed card and those typewriter cards are going above my desk.

Sidenote: I wish I had taken pictures of our day in action. I feel like I always say this, but I’m not a “blogger”, I’m a person with a blog, so I find myself getting caught up in the moment and enjoying seeing things in person sometimes rather than from behind the camera or my phone. There are some things I go into planning to write about it, and other things I don’t. But Show of Hands was just too good. I hope it’s an annual thing.