Any modern craft show is going to have a huge number of creative people. Even people who stick with traditional crafts, where innovation is not the purpose, are pretty much guaranteed to have some artistic qualities, or else they wouldn’t be so interested in creating. With a show like Bazaar Bizarre though, the room is just packed with people who are pushing the boundaries of their crafts, always trying to be the first to come up the next new thing.

Often I’ll flip through some crafty magazine and come across something interesting, something I’ve never seen done before. Just once. Then two months later it’s suddenly in EVERY craft themed magazine. The same thing happens with new ideas in organizing and storage magazines. So I always love that first new moment, when you see something you’ve never seen before, just before it explodes into popular notice.

These nostalgic bags from ConTrive are a pretty good example of that feeling I think. In spite of the fact that those juice (I use juice in the loosest sense of the word) pouches are extremely durable, so durable they broke the straw half the time, it never would have occurred to me to turn them into an actual bag. If I were going to buy one I’d go with Capri Sun (not pictured) since that’s the kind of juice drink I preferred as a kid. They’re rather cute and definitely attention grabbing, and I suspect over the coming months we’ll see many more repurposed food packages like this, if it hasn’t started already. The only downside is I suspect these bags are no longer water tight.

Then there’s these plastic things from PhilosoPhrets. I love that they’re unusual enough that the creator felt the need to include a “what the heck are these?” sign in his display. The explanation didn’t quite cut it for me, but I suspect anyone musical would get it without any trouble. As I understand it, the boxes go outside of a device that adds weird effects (wammy?) to guitars.

Somehow, I don’t think these will catch on quite as quickly as the KoolAid bags, not because they’re less cool, (though possibly less Kool), but because the potential audience is much smaller. These boxes are beautiful, and actually I can see having them just as decoration, but I think for the most part the niche is limited to people who, you know, play guitar. Musicians who can afford luxuries like art. On the other hand, artistically painted guitars sell for a whole bunch of money, so who knows? Maybe the next Craft Magazine will be full of painted guitar effects enclosures.

Finally, my favorite new idea from the weekend, these bangle style bracelets from Sassyfrass. The bracelets are bent out of knitting needles.

I love the simplicity behind the idea, and the shiny metal finish used for most knitting needles is actually quite pretty and contemporary looking. I’m also impressed with the method used for displaying it, which immediately caught my eye.

It’s been a lot of fun to watch the craft movement over the last couple years: a combination of green attitudes wanting to reuse the old and the desire to create something new and different. Maybe eventually, I’ll move from spectator to participant, but for now I’m really enjoying the view from the sidelines.

Related: Bazaar Bizarre, Bazaar Bizarre – The Cute