Well life got so busy after that big news announcement that I never had a chance to update my post! As you have probably seen on the front page, I am now a member of the CYpress Vanguard Fashion House. We are a group of local artists and designers who have come together in a coop setting to create a European style fashion house. We have clothing, lingerie, and accessory designers. We do fashion shows together, incorporating each others designs, and the house itself serves as a boutique with our work on display. The designers also work in the boutique, so any time you drop by you will be sure to meet someone interesting!

I have some great news to share! But not just yet!!

Ok, it's a big deal to me though!! I wanted to be part of this market 2 years ago when it had a different organizer but it was too full and I wasn't quite ready to apply. Then there was some switcheroo stuff and the Sustainable Food Center took over this location and the original market moved to the new Barton Creek Mall location. Fine, but I still wasn't ready to apply and Barton Creek was twice as far away. (did I mention it takes me 7 minutes to get here? love it!) Plus, the Sustainable Food Center, which runs several excellent farmer's markets around town and is considered one of the top 10 farmer's markets in the country, didn't actually allow non-food items at their markets! Talk about disappointment!  Then, last month, the SFC announced that they would re-awaken the artisan market tradition at the Sunset Valley location and would select a group of local artists through a juried selection process. I was finally ready to apply! I had a very nail-biting, constant-email-checking couple of weeks waiting to hear back from them, but finally word came through that I had been selected to participate! I was so excited! I hope everyone will come out and visit the farmers market and the new artisan market. You will be pleasantly surprised. You can check the website and see which farmers and artisans are attending every week before you come out and plan your food and art shopping ahead of time. There are so many local products, it's truly fantastic! I have always loved this market and I am very happy to be a part of the new artisan market!!

We've written about how we do it on Etsy's engineering blog, Code as Craft, but we've never explained it all in one place, in person, with free beer.  That's about to change!

From 4-6pm on Saturday, March 12,  key members of the Etsy engineering team, along with special surprise guests, will offer a series of small rapid talks providing a fast-paced and intensive overview of tools, processes, and cultural practices that make moving fast easy.

Come catch a conference worth of tech talks, parties, and hallway conversations in two hours (and only three blocks from the convention center).

Talks include:

"Scaling Startups" (Chad Dickerson, CTO)

"Continuous Deployment:  the Why and How" (Kellan Elliott-McCrea, VP of Engineering)

"Deployinator: Etsy's Deployment Tool" (Erik Kastner, Software Engineer, Developer Tools)

"Metrics-Driven Development" (Mike Brittain, Lead, Core Platform)

After the talks end at 6pm, stay for drinks and bands for the rest of the night!  Members of the Etsy engineering team will be hanging out.

For other events and to get the low-down on all the DIY goodness in the Etsy space throughout the weekend, check out our Facebook page, read the Etsy blog post about SXSW, or look below!

SATURDAY, MARCH 12

Noon-4pm: Crafting, screenprinting, mingling, and more.

4-6PM: Etsy Code as Craft: Moving Fast at Scale (the page you're on now!)

6-8PM: Online/Offline: A Meetup for Social Media + Community Managers, hosted by Etsy, Meetup.com, Google, and #CMMeetup (RSVP here:  http://etsy.me/SXSWmeetup ).

8PM-close: Live performances by Neighbors ( http://neighborsmusic.com/ ) and the Black Angels ( http://theblackangels.com/ ).

SUNDAY, MARCH 13

Noon-1pm: Stop by for our Etsy-approved hangover kits and come chat with the Etsy team.

1-4pm: Handmade Music Craft Session & live performance.

5pm: DIY Panel with KnittaPlease, Burdastyle, Threadless, and Spoonflower.

7pm: Live performance by Quintron and Ms. Pussycat ( http://www.quintronandmiss pussycat.com/ ).

9pm: BurdaStyle DIY Fashion Show ( http://www.burdastyle.com/ blog/meet-the-designers-bu rdastyle-diy-fashion-show ).

10pm-close: Live performance by DJ Rana June ( http://www.destroythesilen ce.com/ ).

We are going to have a great weekend  next week with SXSW and the Etsy folks coming to town for the interactive portion of the conference! Here's a quote pulled from the Etsy blog - "you'll have a chance to create something with your hands: upcycle T-shirts into bags, paint shot glasses, screen print your own band's shirt, craft instruments out of technical doodads, make buttons to spread the word and glean inspiration from Burdastyle, Threadless and Pebeo. Our nights will be filled with rocking to the music of Neighbors, The Black Angels, Quintron & Miss Pussycat, and Deejay Rana (photo below). And dress to impress at the DIY fashion show of Etsy and Burdastyle members from across the US."

Basically its 12 to close on Saturday and Sunday, 12th & 13th, at Aces Lounge at 222 6th Street. In addition to the activities above, the Etsy Austin team will have a wall with a display of items from Austin team members, and a really hilarious photo opportunity prop to take your picture with! The only hint I can give is... don gato.... You will need to come check it out!

We love SoCo! I will be at the South Austin 78704 Artisan Market this coming Saturday from 11:00 to 6:00. The market is located on the corner of South Congress and Gibson in the LAZ parking lot next door to Hotel San Jose across from St. Vincents Thrift. Super location with lots of cool places to shop and browse up and down the street. Austin Pets Alive does adoptions here daily! I am also scheduled for 03/06 and 03/13. Hopefully it will be an ongoing opportunity for a regular location!

This is totally thanks to Merritt Gade and our Etsy Austin Team!! I am not sure who heard about the Artisan Market first, but it was posted on our lovely team forum and Voila! We are planning to have every 3rd Saturday as exclusive Etsy Austin Team day at the market. Starting March 20th, we will have over 23 etsy Austin vendors representing all that is indie craft from Austin. Stay tuned for more information!