Every month, we highlight one of the amazing artists in our reuse community.

This month, ACR has the privilege of spotlighting not one, but two fantastic reuse artists: Catherine Gonzales of ATX Craft Club and Sara Rogers-Smith of Art by SRSDesigns. These two artists have lent their generous support to our upcoming Holiday Reuse Art Market on November 28-29 and December 5-6, which has allowed ACR to continue to keep the market as accessible as possible to our crafting and vendor community. They will each have a booth at the market all four days days, so be sure to check out their wares and chat with them about their passion for reuse and the artistry behind their work.

Read on to learn more about each of these artists and get a sneak peek at some of the goods they’ll have available for sale at the market.

Catherine Gonzales of ATX Craft Club

Growing up in the Rio Grande Valley, Catherine learned various crafting (embroidery, sewing, etc.) through her mother and grandmothers. While they often created out of necessity, seeing them repurpose materials they had (old t-shirts, orange juice cans, etc) to create blankets, decor, costumes and many other things impacted Catherine greatly as a crafter. Seeing materials used in new and creative ways outside of their original purpose gave her freedom in her own crafting to think outside the box and cemented her use of new and reclaimed materials in all of her projects.

Over 20 crafting years later, ATX Craft Club was born alongside her mom where the pair utilize new and reclaimed materials, patterns, techniques to create items that are fun, cozy and can be enjoyed for years to come. At the Holiday Reuse Art Market, ATX Craft Club will be selling a variety of their very popular felt Christmas ornaments, mug rugs, felt bookmarks, other Christmas decor, small trinkets including fabric and needle books, felt jewelry, keychains, craft kits, felt art and more!

They take pride in their sustainable approach and "Craft Circle of Life" that ensures that at least 50% of all materials, tools and packaging used are secondhand and reclaimed. There are various tools and patterns that have been with Catherine for over 20 years that she still uses today in their current product items. They frequently source materials from Austin Creative Reuse and the items they will sell at the Holiday Reuse Art Market Market will include 50% or more reclaimed materials including: felt material, beads, sequins, thread, patterns, etc.

Part of their booth display stands and/or packaging materials have been sourced from ACR and other secondhand stores as well!

Learn more about ATX Craft Club on their website and Instagram.

Sara Rogers-Smith of Art by SRSDesigns

Sara is an ACR core volunteer who specializes in beads and findings and has been a vendor at four previous ACR markets. Since the spring of 2024, she has been using reuse materials to create sparkling and vibrant beaded embroidery art pieces. Her booth at the Holiday Reuse Art Market will features a DIY beaded flower bouquet station, decor made with vintage wooden spools, bowls/trivets/coasters made of fabric twine, pincushions and other items made with fabric and/or beads.

The majority of materials used in her art and other items have been sourced from reuse centers or were materials leftover from other projects. She makes every effort to not purchase new materials unless she is unable to find it from another source. She has sourced fabric, beads, hoops, sequins, glass jars and wire from ACR.