Bueno Style in Green Living Magazine

Next Door Style designer: Christi York of Bueno Style is featured in this month's Green Living Magazine. Check her out in the Winter Gift Guide by clicking to page 20.

Izzy and Buds raise money for VGH

Come out and support the 12th annual VGH holiday Craft Market featuring 18 BC artisans and craftspeople. Shoppers will find everything from pottery, jewelry, fashion accessories, greeting cards, home decor, illustrated arts, delicious jams & preserves and so much more!

Partial proceeds benefit the VGH and UBC hospital Foundation to help fund the latest, most sophisticated medical equipment, pioneering research and highly specialized care for patients.

Of course Next Door Style's very own Izzy and Buds will be there front and centre selling glittering jewels to funk up your holiday outfit. Sneak peak at Izzy and Buds style HERE.

Culture Crawl After Party

Dancing in Aisle 2!
Yes, after walking ALL DAY we still had energy to dance at the Strathcona local grocer, The Wilder Snail.


The Wilder Snail sits at the corner of Keefer and Hawks on the northeastern corner of McLean Park. A Cafe / Grocery store in the centre of its community, The Wilder Snail has organic and other natural products. There is a beautiful rough-timber, full-length coffee bar counter and big red paper-lantern lighting globes hanging from the ceiling. We danced under their red glow till the early hours. Thank you so much to Surinder, our host.

Strathcona is a residential area in East Vancouver with an incredible and vibrant Arts Community with studios, artists, and galleries occupying many locations. A fairly quaint community. Not without its' problems considering the proximity to downtown, etc., the Strathcona neighbourhood's decline in the history of Vancouver left a central pocket available for many artistic people from all parts of the world seeking a means to express their passion into and through their art.
Well the numbers are in and this year's "Crawl" saw 10,000 people descend into the homes and studios of almost 300 Artists.

Thank you for following along this week. I hope you enjoyed my view of the East Side Culture Crawl. If you get a chance, do try and check it out next November. Cheers, V

Eastside Culture Crawl Part 3

Did you know that Kroma Acrylic Paints were made in Vancouver? I didn't, that is, until I stumbled upon their workshop at the East Side Culture Crawl last weekend. Kroma was supplying free mini canvases and paints to test their acrylics and for kids to have fun.

As you can see in the pictures, Marc and I are the big kids in the picture. I am clearly NOT an artist and we discovered that Marc is. Who new?

Kevin is the main man at Kroma Acrylics and I have to say, even though I have no talent when it comes to painting I found his paints to be very high quality and very easy to blend and mix. My painting now resides as a back drop to my beta fish aquarium.

East Side Culture Crawl Part 2

I "crawled" on Saturday with 4 other people. Absolutely impossible to keep track of Marc who kept wandering into the potters and John into the wood and concrete art studios...ok I'm guilty too. My guilty pleasure was the fibre arts.

Julie Pongrac is an ex- figure skater who now knits a high end line of lace knit and cable knit mohair. Lightweight, warm and gorgeous!

Then I found a very interesting contraption at Vivian Zuba's studio. The quilting machine, she explained is very labour intensive to operate. The end result , as you can see, is an extremely detailed and beautiful quilting application.

East Side Culture Crawl Part 1

Each day this week I will feature a different gem of a person that I met this weekend at the East Side Culture Crawl. The Eastside Culture Crawl is an annual FREE 3-day visual arts festival. This event involves artists who work on the east side of Vancouver, BC, Canada in an area bounded by Main Street to Commercial Drive and from First Avenue north to the waterfront.

Imagine that one sunny Saturday morning you decide to go for a walk to grab a coffee and walk by (what looks like) a derelict warehouse in East Vancouver. Today, however, you notice that there are many people in comfortable walking shoes, toques and steaming cups of coffee walking inside. And I mean tons of people! Inside you discover artists' studios turned into galleries for the weekend to show off their art and even sell some pieces. It is the most inspiring experience and once you go one year, you will look forward to it every year after. You will marvel at the amount of creativity that exists in this unassuming city!

I was lured into the studio of Judson Beaumont from Straight Line Designs by a doll house village! Each building on the main street was brightly painted and named after insects. "Mothball Motel" etc. As I opened each doll house with as much enthusiasm as any child, Judson booms, "Isn't it cute?" His huge smile is infectious and he proceeds to show me his favourite design: the Beaver Cabinet.
You can find more images on his website. Oh, and it's really hard to find a straight line in his designs.......cute.

Holiday Glamour with Jolie Mack

I am thrilled to have 6 new elegant pieces by Jolie Mack available on Next Door Style. I shamelessly covet these earrings! Each one is hand made by Jolie herself. Her exquisite taste and attention to detail is what makes these pieces so valuable. I was very impressed to learn that Jolie donated a specially designed set of earrings to Friday evening's Red Carpet Gala: Super women and Friends. All funds raised through the Gala benefitted the foundation’s Advancing Women Leaders Mentorship Program.

From participating in this event Jolie has been commissioned to design an additional piece for a new private client. Congratulations!
Jolie Mack will be at Got Craft on Sunday December 7th 2008
11:00am to 6:00pm
2205 Commercial Drive (at E. 6th Avenue)
$2.00 (kids 10 and under are FREE)
First 30 people receive a FREE handmade swag bag full of goodies.

Featuring 50 local artists, got craft is a modern twist on the conventional craft fair. Support Vancouver’s
handmade revolution and buy local. Visit www.gotcraft.ca for more
information and a full list of participating vendors.

Pink Kong is not to be missed!

Brightly coloured and whimsical is what Pink Kong accessories are all about. I am so lucky to be featuring Pink Kong on Next Door Style. Her quirky designs are available with free shipping to anywhere in the world! Check out more images at a blog post by The Ongoing Project.

Raw Canvas on Living Vancouver

If you missed the episode of "Living Vancouver" where Raw Canvas was featured, not a problem, you can check out the link to the episode HERE.

Way to go Paige and Steve! This is huge exposure for the coolest "art jamming" space. Raw Canvas is located at 1046 Hamilton in Yaletown. They are available for funky private functions.

Green X-Mas Market

We are very excited that Next Door Designers such as:
Bronsino and BuenoStyle

will be showcasing at this year's Green Christmas Market: a celebration of stylishly sustainable gifts that lets you shop for guilt-free gifts from a wide variety of talented crafters and designers who just happen to work with sustainable materials, new this year a by-donation gift wrapping service (proceeds donated to Fashion High).
December 7th 200811am-6pm,
The Cambiran Hall (on 17th just east of Main St.),
greenchristmasmarket.blogspot.com I will be there helping out. See you there!

Free Shipping, Yipee!

Giving feels wonderful ( even if it is to yourself)!
Need something utterly gorgeous to wear to the Christmas Party? Looking for something unique for your one of a kind friend? Oh, did I mention it's all Local Vancouver Designers?
Go Browse NextDoorStyle

Radio Interview with an online shopping expert

Listen HERE to the CBC Radio One interview with Next Door Style's founder, Vanessa Fors.

Ok, that's me.....but I must tell you, I learned everything I know from Shay Wilson of the Ongoing Project.

Why so glum, Chum?

Whenever, I feel blah, I just put on this new necklace I bought from Adhesif Clothing. It is made of squishy felted wool balls threaded together. It's so random, I had to share it. I discovered Adhesif at last month's Portobello West Market here in Vancouver.

This picture taken on Georgia St. also makes me happy. It is totally a NON ENHANCED image. That's really the colour of the leaves.

Next Door Style Launch Party

Hello All!

In case you didn't make it to the launch party on November 6th, here are just a few images from the fun filled evening! All images by www.lumondo.com

Vanessa T Cunninham in the Georgia Straight

If you can get your hands on this week's Georgia Straight, you'll want to turn to page 27 and read about Next Door Style's very own Vanessa T Cunningham and how she creates her luxurious wraps and scarves. She will be at Circle Craft Christmas Market from Nov. 11th-16th. You can also click here to buy them online.