Make Tribe’s Make It Merry

By Carling A.W. Elder

By Almost exactly one month ago, I had the pleasure of attending perhaps one of my most favorite holiday events of 2013. Make it Merry, hosted by the lovely ladies of Make Tribe, was an incredible night of crafting, chatting, friending, and learning at Artifact Coffee in Clipper Mill. The event was a collective effort of Make Tribe and eight other talented vendors including Priya Means Love, Almanac Industries, C. Connor Rasmussen and the Bar at Woodberry Kitchen, Karson Butler Events, Laura Hooper Calligraphy, Esther & Harper, Hex Ferments, and yours truly, Local Color Flowers.

As Christmas tunes wafted through the beautifully decorated Artifact Coffee, guests were split into groups of ten. The groups of ten then circled the room and completed a holiday craft at each vendor’s station. While they crafted, guests sipped seasonal cocktails and chatted with each other, happily making new friends, or reacquainting with old ones.  By the end of the night, each guest had made many different crafts including cocktail bitters, a leather bracelet, a coffee body scrub, paper bows, and a holiday swag. Needless to say, the wire baskets holding each guest’s creations were overflowing!

I’m always finding myself in awe of how we can all be given the exact same materials, and yet create something so unique, and so undisputably, ours. Swags are a perfect example of this. Ellen and I came to the event loaded with all varieties of evergreens, including cedar, white pine, juniper, and holly. We also brought tons of decorations such as shiny jingle bells, bright Christmas ornaments, gold and silver pinecones, and sparkly and natural colored ribbons for everyone to use. 

Once a group of ten guests had gathered around our station, I began instruction. Swags are fairly easy to make, but can still be a bit intimidating. After basic instructions, I was more than happy to see each guest attack making a swag with excitement and creativity! As a result, each swag turned out beautiful and unique as a gorgeous decoration for a front door, or a lovely gift to give.

 

At the end of the night, each guest left Make it Merry with a brimming basket of completed crafts. These crafts were a beautiful reflection of each guest’s own taste and personality; as well as a mini reflection of the vendor who dreamt of the project.

This combination of camaraderie, crafts, and collaboration made Make it Merry a wonderful event, and the perfect way to kickoff the holiday season! Many thanks to Make Tribe for including Local Color Flowers!  Check out more photos and video of the Make it Merry Event!

Be sure to stay tuned Make Tribe’s social media sites (Facebook and integral), and maketribe.com to be in the know when they announce their events for 2014!