Made in the Shade returns to Edinburgh this weekend with GCM members Much Too Fun and Asking For Trouble amongst the 42 designer makers, vintage sellers and creative businesses including fellow Glaswegians Laura Donald, Angharad Jefferson, Magic Alice, Neil OSM, Clare Nicolson Morag Macpherson Textiles and Gillian Kyle. Plus there’s cakes galore from Auntie M’s Cake Lounge, hurray.

Saturday 24th July from 10:30 – 5pm at the Roxy Art House, Edinburgh

Up North you’ll find our friends in the newly formed North East Craft Mafia at Tea Cosy Carousel, a weekend-long art, craft and design fair.

24/25 July from 10am – 4pm at The Academy, Aberdeen.

Glasgow has a good showing at the latest Bust Craftacular in London this Saturday. Elaine Eckford will be flying the GCM flag plus amongst the 60+ stalls you’ll find Miso Funky’s emo-broidery and a range of GCM folks work at All Things Original. Not to mention DJ action from Made in the Shade.

Saturday July 10th from 12pm – 7pm at York Hall, London E2 9PJ

You can find mafia members at two different events this weekend:

Granny Would Be Proud in Hillhead Library from 10am to 4pm on Saturday the 3rd of July

Say No To Plastic in Oran Mor from 12pm to 5pm on Sunday the 4th of July

If you follow any of our members on Twitter, you’ll know that on Monday nights at 9pm, a fair few of us are glued to the telly. We’ve been watching retail expert Mary Portas give advice to struggling outlets on how to improve the shopping experience for customers, and how to sell, sell, sell without selling out.

Although we only currently have one bricks and mortar retailer amongst our number, Rachael Albert, who you’ll find in Glasgow’s DeCourcey’s Arcade, the tips Mary gives can often be applied to online shopkeeps like us – as well as giving great advice to keep shoppers savvy, too.

There are a couple of extra special reasons to watch tonight’s episode, however, as the shop in question specialises in the gifts/handmade market AND features the work of two Glasgow Craft Mafia members. Keep your eyes peeled for the graphic design expertise of Much Too Fun’s Mhairi Mackenzie, and the sometimes graphic designs of Miso Funky – our resident cross-stitcher extraordinaire!

Why not settle down in front of BBC2 and pop over to Twitter this evening, follow @queenofshops for her thoughts and insights on filming as the episode unfolds, and join in the conversation!

We’re having a trunk show as part of the Hidden Lane Festival on Saturday 26th June from 12pm til 5pm.

Come along, meet our members, have a look at their work and get crafting!