Cool Place Alert: Collage, The Sequel!

Many of you know and love collage on NE Alberta. Well, as of now, there's more collage to love - proprietress Maria Raleigh has just opened a second location at 4429 SE Woodstock!

The new store offers all the creative goodness you've seen at the Alberta store (which will continue on, of course): traditional art supplies, scrapbooking and card-making supplies, fancy paper, and those bins and bins of delightful little collagey bits you can't find anywhere else. I also love collage for hard-to-find goodies like encaustic supplies, German Dresdens, and funky jewelry findings, and coptic markers from Japan.

The new Woodstock store is bigger and already filling up with great stuff. Maria plans to add some basic sewing, knitting, and crochet supplies in the new location, too.

What's also great is that this new location will also have a DIY Lounge inside. So now Portland has two DIY Lounge locations, meaning twice the number of awesome classes in creativity of all kinds. Our favorite craft maven Jen Neitzel is working hard on the upcoming class calendar - visit that link and you can see who's teaching what at both Lounges. (Most classes at the new location will begin in July.)

Or, if you're more into freeform craft time, stop by Open Lounge Night, which takes place at both locations on Friday evenings from 6-10. For just five bucks, you can hang out in the Lounge and have access to its public supplies. Bring your own paper, glue, and crafty bits, and make stuff with other crafty folk.

So let's talk Grand Opening. The staff recently hosted a soft-opening party where friends of the store were invited to contribute to this giant collage covering the front counter. But the big celebration is on Saturday, May 31st from 12-4pm. Nicole Cipriano will be on hand with a free craft project table: micro collage magnets. There will also be a raffle of 100 goodie bags, plus snacks and lots of fun.

One of my favorite things about collage is how local it is - the staff is always friendly and knowledgeable, they're on a first-name basis with many of their customers, and the product range changes according to what customers want. Plus, Maria and Jen are super-supportive of local creative events. So be sure to support them back!

Collage is open every day, so stop by soon. Hours are M-F 10-8, Sa.-Sun 10-6.