Etsy: Made in Canada wrap-up

I feel like I'm still recovering from Etsy: Made In Canada. Our show was a great success! We think we had 8000 visitors - Etsy fans all.

The Toronto Standard interviewed me about the show, the team, and life as a geophysicist/printmaker.

Etsy: Made in Canada

It's just 9 more days until Etsy: Made in Canada, and our nation-wide collection fo pop-up shops! We're really getting excited about our huge sale at MaRS on September 27th. Today Etsy posted about Made in Canada, including some of the fabulous things our makers make, and some of the organizers, like me. You can check out the Toronto selections below and read about some of the other great sales and leaders from coast to coast on Etsy. This is the biggest show I've ever been involved in planning, and I think it's going to be amazing... you don't want to miss it! Hope to see you there.

Meet the Organizers

Ele Willoughby, Toronto, Ontario
Ele is the Captain of the 800-member Toronto Etsy Street Team, which will be co-hosting a 120-vendor market with the 416 Hustler Team at Toronto’s MaRS building. 
I’m Ele Willoughby (also known as minouette). I’m a printmaker and a marine geophysicist; I make fine-art prints on paper, hand-printed textiles, and interactive multimedia artwork. While I’ve had the great privilege of visiting much of Canada, living in a few different provinces, and traveling to many other countries, I’ve got to say that the creative community in Toronto is exceptionally active and engaged. There’s a lot of unexpected collaboration going on: your favorite local designer can recommend her favorite soap maker, the jewelers know the bookbinders, and the printmakers are taking quilting classes. There is so much Canadian talent on Etsy that’s already being exported to the world — now it’s time to let the rest of Canada know about it!

Shop Toronto

Etsy: Made in Canada

Along with my fellow leaders of the Toronto Etsy Street Team, and our colleages at 416Hustler, we've been planning a massive 100+ vendor show at Etsy Canada's home, the MaRS building in Toronto at College and University, for this September 27! Our show will be one of more than 30 simultaneous shows from coast to coast, complete with a nation-wide media campaign. We're really excited about it. 

If you are a Toronto-area vendor, you should apply to our show! Follow news about the show on our event page. If you are an Etsy vendor elsewhere in Canada, check out Etsy's portal to all the shows here. 

If you are an artist (or vintage collecting maven) whose been toying with the idea of opening a shop (ahem, you know who you are, yeah you, I'm talking to you) now is the time! Here, you can even use our promo code to get your first 20 listings free and if you sign up for Etsy Newbie Bootcamp, we'll walk you through everything you need to know. Plus, you can then apply to be part of our awesome show.


Maybe I'm still thinking about my little baby freedom fighter, but to borrow the words of John Lennon, "Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it now."

June so far

It's been a busy week for us so far. On Saturday, it was the TEST 5th Annual Spring Marketplace. RJH dropped me off at the show and then took the baby for some men's only time. There were all sorts of garage sales on the Danforth, so they wandered around and got some loot. Our neighbour found a free second-hand ExerSaucer (it's a little baby gym, in which he can stand, supported... something my sister-in-law likes to jokingly call the 'circle of neglect' because it keeps babies occupied long enough to try and do something) which she kindly hauled home for little Mr. Monkeytoes.

Sunday was our first wedding anniversary. Though it was a bit cool and overcast, we all went to Ward's Island. We showed the baby where we were married and had a lovely picnic. It was a great day!

Since then, RJH has been spending his week of vacation busily working on replacing the horrid insulbrick on the back of the house. He went and bought some cedar shingles (from the maritimes of course). There were some discoveries: the wood beneath my studio window was completely rotted, and has now been replaced. Dad came by yesterday to help stain the shingles - on both sides- before installing them. We have a rain warning today, so RJH is staining shingles in the garage. He hopes to be able to complete this project by the end of the week.

On Monday, I sent off a large package of prints, and a couple of handprinted pillows, to Ambergris Gallery, on Block Island (also known as New Shoreham), Rhode Island. They're hosting a show called 'From the Depths' this summer, so my sea creatures will be exhibited by the oceanside!

I did get to take a bit of a walk with the baby Monday too. We spotted that lovely swallowtail butterfly on a large lilac while we were out.

We just finished our Spring show, but our Toronto Etsy Street Team never sleeps. We're already working on preparing for the fall show. Etsy: Made in Canada Day will be September 27, at MaRS, at College and University streets, here in Toronto. There will be simultaneous shows in at least 30 other Canadian towns and cities and we're planning on a national promotion campaign. Our own show will be a big one: we're thinking of hosting 100 vendors!

Biggest news personally on the artistic front: I'm going to be selling at the One of a Kind Christmas show this year! I'm going to have a 5' by 10' booth from December 2 to December 7. This is a huge show. I did their spring show last year, but wasn't up for either the Christmas or spring show since. Little Mr. Monkeytoes was born during the Christmas show last year, and was too small and in need of too much attention during the 2014 Spring show, but he'll be one (one!) by December, so I'll be able to get some help with the childcare. In the meanwhile, I have to plan and build my booth and gather a lot of stock. There are tens of thousands of visitors, so I'll need a lot of items. This is a big investment too, but I think it will definitely be worth it. Wish me luck! I'll let you know how my preparations are going.

Right, nose back to the grindstone. ;)