Friday, June 25, 2010

Help Create a Really Big Map of Indie Craft Shops!

Are you a crafter? Then you probably spend huge amounts of your time hunting down craft, jewelry, art, and fabric supply stores when you need materials for a project, and you like to buy handmade, too.

When I visit other cities, I like to visit their crafty places as well. (Hello Hobby Lobby! I wish you'd come to L.A.) I think it might be fun to create a big giant map of craft stores and shops that carry handmade items.

So I invite you to participate in creating the The Really Big Map of Indie Craft Stores and Shops!

There are only two rules:
The shop must be independently owned
The shop must offer crafting supplies or a significant number of handmade gifts.

The goal is to make a comprehensive guide to places of interest to crafters all over the world. I've made the map publicly accessible, so anyone may go in and add his or her favorite place. I started on the Los Angeles portion of this map last fall, but let it fall by the wayside until a recent Twitter conversation reminded me I should finish this post. I know Martha Stewart Crafts is doing their own list of NYC vendors they like, which should be full of really great resources to anyone visiting the city.

To add craft stores to the map, follow the directions below.
1. Go into the The Really Big Map of Indie Craft Stores & Shops
Copy and paste the code below into your browser if the link above doesn't work:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=
106588042821034017992.000472f317ae4a092ddcc
2. Enter the name of your favorite craft store with the city and state in the search box.
3. Click on the correct listing that appears in the column on the left.
4. When the location pops up on the map, click Save To on the pull-down menu and choose the Really Big Map.

That's it! Easy as that. If you have suggestions for the map (ways to improve, etc), please feel free to add your two cents in the comments below.

Please help create this resource by adding your own favorite craft store in your own home towns. It takes just a few minutes to help out your fellow crafters...and you'll probably start seeing cool crafty places in your own city that you'll want to check out, too.

Icon Update: I've been going in and updating each listing so the icon reflects the type of thing the shop primarily specializes in. (supplies, classes, or handmade goods for shopping.) Please feel free to click on the blue upside-down tear drop to choose one of the following 3 icons, or I'm happy to continue updating them as well. The listing will, however, then just show up under my name as the last editor.

Icons: wrench = craft supplies, house = classes, bag = shopping.

5 comments:

  1. This is such a cool idea! I'll have to look up the address of my LYS so I can add it!

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  2. Yay! So happy to see shops popping up on the map.

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  3. I can't get this to work for me. I would like to add Memory Lane PA, in Quakertown,PA Primarily scrapbook supplies, but they also offer classes.

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  4. Hi Ann--does the map come up at all, and are you logged into your Google account? If you are and it still doesn't work, I can add the store for you.

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  5. Got it to work! Thanks for a great resource!!

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