I'm not even really sure where to begin. This past weekend was one that I will look back on with very fond memories. A superb bunch of entrepreneurial ladies putting together the best shopping event this city has ever seen. And making internet connections turn into real life friendships. Just the best thing ever.
Because Hamilton showed them so much love, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the first of many events to come.
The caliber of the pop up shop was staggering. White Elephant was so thrilled to be included among such talented and inspirational people as
Victoire,
Preloved,
Fieldguided,
Yarn Over Movement and
Robber. I couldn't help but go home with a couple of beautiful things myself, including
this rad Mauve Naif sweatshirt from Victoire,
the clean and classic Wren Coat from Preloved, and
the blush dip-dyed Thunder In Our Hearts tote from Fieldguided. I spoiled myself. But it was impossible not to. I could have came home with so much more if my wallet allowed me to. Hamilton needs more independent retailers carrying independent designers all the time. For real.
We can
finally let you in on all of our projects that we tried to keep a secret in preparation for this weekend. Firstly, we hung our new sign, which was kind of monumental.
Our welder friend Chris constructed a new bracket for us to hang our new sign from. Don't even think about stealing it because it's made ridiculously stronger and hung higher than our last one. I'd like to make some sort of menacing threat about Chris hunting you down if you mess with it, but look at those tattoos. He's a total softie. But seriously, please don't steal our sign again. I will cry inconsolably for WEEKS.
Lindsay worked hard on our ribbon banner that she cut from satin and we strung it outside along with bulb lights from Jane's window out to a tree. We were going to take it down immediately after the weekend, for fear of it getting grungy over time, but maybe we'll leave it up for a little while longer. I think it's so cute.
And we repainted our pew pew pew! This was the combined effort of Krysten and myself, and took about 3 weeks of work. So worth it. I can't wait to sit on this all summer long.
Oh, right, did I mention that we had KITTENS IN OUR WINDOW?
We worked with the
Animal Welfare Association of Hamilton on this project. They lent us four 14 week old kittens (which we later decided were more like "teenage cats" BUT STILL ADORABLE) for the night, and their lovely representatives Helen and Dale were on hand to answer any questions about their organization or adopting these specific kittens. Both of my cats, Tanooki and Meatbulb, were adopted from their association, as well as my mother-in-law's cat and my sisters. They are a great group and their passion for animal rescue is evident in everything that they do.
Jane and I have joked about having kittens in the window on many occasions, and the Field Trip seemed like the perfect opportunity to actually make it happen. Cute dresses, cute girls, cute kittens. We wanted to overload the Art Crawl crowd with cuteness. Jane and Doug constructed the kitten enclosure, building up the floor and constructing a 9 foot wall with a door. We stapled an old pretty floral sheet to the ground, made a kitten jungle gym out of some apple crates and old baseboards, hung ribbon from the ceiling for them to play with, threw in tiny balls of yarn, and gave them a
Loyal Luxe Log Cabin to explore, which we also now carry at the shop along with the Teepee. The kittens went nuts for the whole thing.
They were hyper and playful all night long. I think they loved the attention of being in the window and people cooing over them all night. The lone girl kitten, Tessa, actually figured out how to jump over the wall. Doug should have listened to Jane when she told him she didn't think it was high enough.
It wasn't so bad. It meant we got to hold her by the cash register for the rest of the night instead. Somebody please adopt this sweet and fiesty little girl. She's perfect.
On top of Art Crawl and the Pop up Shop, it was great hanging with these ladies all weekend long. Katie and Regine from Victoire are so cool. I can't say enough nice things about them and their shop and their vision for independent Canadian retail. At one point during the weekend, our new friend Emma, visiting from Germany, asked Katie and I "shouldn't you guys be competition for each other?" To which Katie replied, "no, because every dollar that is spent at either of our shops is a dollar kept out of the mall. We want each other to succeed." Bang on.
On top of putting together this whole event, Katie and Regine also found us this incredible Hamilton plate during one of their antique shopping trips. Thanks for believing enough in this city to want to do something amazing here. Thanks to everyone who helped us out, or who was a part of the pop up shop, or who came out and supported local and independent business, and art, and community and fun. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you.
We'll be drawing the grand prize winners of our online giveaway and raffle this week. But first, we need to nap.
