Kid Icarus, the little print shop in Kensington Market, packs a huge punch in the craft community, especially when their one day only Handmade Holiday Show rolls around. This Saturday December 4th, from 11-6, head to St.Stephen-in-the-Fields, 103 Bellevue Ave (College and Bellevue) for some handmade goods, raffle giveaways and holiday shopping that you can actually enjoy! We chatted with Bianca Bickmore and Michael Viglione, the brains behind Kid Icarus, about their upcoming event!

SDTC: What are you most excited about for this show?
We’re excited because we have a lot more paper products this year, and that’s what Kid Icarus all about. We also have a bunch of stuff geared
toward guys for a change, some great clothing, posters, a lot of stuff for young professionals 18 and up, and also for grandparents and
parents. We’re also excited about our mystery bags, (being given out to every guest at the door) handmade by sewingschool.org, a blog that teaches how to sew and offers patters. They designed the bags and we’re screen printing on them. The mystery bags are filled with locally made goods and coupons and things that you can use toward the show, and the bag is a reusable tote. We’re also having raffles as well; with prizes from local crafters. It’s going to be a fun day. We have some great media sponsors this year who are helping us get the word out there, My City Lives (mycitylives.com) and Blog TO (blogto.com) and Worn Fashion Journal (wornjournal.com).

SDTC: What are some of the craziest creations you’ve ever seen at handmade holiday?
One of my favourites is Doublenaut, they do some great poster designs. They were in our show last year and they were a hit. Beside Herself does some neat things that are a little more crazy, they make these carny toys in a day of the dead kind of style but in hot pinks and pastel blues, we sell them in the store. They’re kind of like toys for adults. There’s also Killside Krafts, she’s an up and coming crafter who makes her own notebooks. There’s also The Limeshop, which is a new vendor for us, they do a lot of kitchen stuff and home stuff, like tea towels with poppy designs.
Eric, who does a lot of huge black and white paste ups in the city, has a company is called AT.AW. He does a lot of fine artwork, but he also has these orphan plus toys, definitely adult toys, but they could be for kids too. They’re a little scary. It depends on your kid I guess. Their thing is they need a new home to be loved. Ella’s Botanicals makes all her lotions, hand creams, and beauty products herself, and stuff for new mothers.
Pretty Raccoon does large screenprints on shirts and sweaters with a nautical or nature theme.

By Kait Fowlie

SDTC: Where do you find all these crafters?
All these people were handpicked. We didn’t put out a vendor call, we worked hard to get a good mix of people, so these are cream of the
crop, the hottest people in Toronto right now. Well, we think they are the hottest, in look, style and work!

SDTC: Do you still need volunteers?
Yup, we can take them. We can always use more help, especially the day of. We can also use volunteers is to put up flyers in your neighbourhood. It’s a great way to make connections in the craft scene, you never know what can happen with that. Get in touch with me and we can work out what you want to do to help. (Go here for more info.)

SDTC: What kind of fun stuff can be found on your blog?
Check out our video on the blog, it pretty much sums up
what the show is all about. You can see Jordy and Jessica from Sewingschool.org, they’re the guys who made the bags. We’ll also be launching a gift guide soon, hopefully in the next couple days!