Steel of the Week Archives | Page 2 of 2

This week’s featured Steel of the Week is Yinzer Bingo by John the Craftist. Seen at Boutique 208, you are sure to get a kick out of this unique bingo card if you are from the Pittsburgh area. All the spaces on the card are relevant to the area, such as “Road Work”, “Pothole”, “Terrible Towel”, “Big Ben Jersey”, with some of the more culturally unique ones being ”Pgh Left”, “Jean Shorts”, “Confusing Intersection”, “80s Bangs”, and “Jagoff”. John the Craftist’s products mostly consist of PGH-centric/Pittsburghese greeting cards, along with magnets, keychains, buttons, gift tags, and other small paper craft items. Zodiac birthday cards are also available. All the products are handprinted, handcut, and hand-folded by John the Craftist, who is actually Thea Okonak of Aspinwall.

Along with Boutique 208, John’s stockists include The Mattress Factory Museum, The Shop at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Wildcard in Lawrenceville, Koolkat Designs in Mt. Lebanon, and Nota Bene in Aspinwall. John also vends at he I Made It! Market events, and this past year sold with Koolkat Designs at the Three Rivers Arts Festival and with Steeltown Etsy at Handmade Arcade.

You can get a first look at new cards by checking out the Facebook page, http://facebook.com/johnthecraftist. This is where you can also find out the next vending location and interact to give feedback or stories about the products you’ve enjoyed!

Have an item you would like featured as our Steel of the Week? Submit to sotw@iheartpgh.com!

This week’s featured item is a pair of one of a kind Converse Chuck Taylor shoes. Mad Momma Designs on the South Side hand-painted these sneakers. They are being auctioned on eBay with proceeds benefitting The Feast of Saint Anthony Festival Committee. The Feast of St. Anthony of Padua commemorates the life of the patron saint of lost items, a priest, wonder-worker, and doctor of the Church. This is a festival celebrated annually in Pittsburgh and across the country. Most of St. Anthony’s work was done in Italy, which is why Pittsburgh’s festival is focused on Italian highlights such as an Italian mass, homemade wine contest, and spaghetti-eating contest.

If your bid doesn’t earn you these shoes, there is another way to support the fund. Two all-inclusive trips to Italy (airfare included!) are up for grabs by purchasing a $50 ticket that will be based on the PA Daily Lottery Drawing, 7 pm Thursday, December 26. The trip is scheduled for September 13 through 25, 2014.

The auction ends Friday morning, so make sure you head over and place your bid asap!

Have an item you would like featured as our Steel of the Week? Submit to sotw@iheartpgh.com!