Thursday 23 February 2012

Lilac Groupies

Good Morning Folks

Well here I am as promised with some information about some of my lovely Lilac Ladies and Gents. We all have stalls at CRAFTfest  which starts on 10th March and runs for a full week; if you have missed the booking deadline don't worry there will be another one in June.

Take a look at some of the wonderful stalls and people that are in the Lilac group.



Northfield Primitives



Inspired by vintage and antique toys, I design and make animals and dolls which I stitch on a beautiful 1920's Singer treadle sewing machine. I use old Meccano wheels, vintage ribbons and buttons, traditional German glass eyes and rusty bells in my work, which adds to the vintage charm of each animal.





RLW Designs



Hello!! My name is Rebecca and I am a designer/maker based in York. Working mainly in enamels I create fun, quirky pieces to brighten your day!

Days out, picnics, trips to the seaside... I take my inspiration from simple, everyday pleasures producing a collection of mixed media works using a range of materials, enamels, wood, metal and found objects... the use of stencils and naive, hand drawn illustrations add character and humour to each decorative piece.

Enamelling is the process of applying powdered glass onto metal...
I generally use a copper base, applying the vitreous enamel powders through a fine sieve...
The metal is then placed inside a small kiln for a couple of minutes...
With temperatures of between 750° and 850° the glass powder becomes liquid...
As it is removed from the kiln the molten glass solidifies to form a smooth, hard finish...
Enamels are durable and will not fade...
A wide variety of colours are available both transparent and opaque...
The nature of the materials and the techniques used ensure that each piece is unique, individual...




All Things Blankets and More



If you're a cat owner or just a cat lover then All Things Blankets & More is the stall for you.

I sell cat beds, cushions, blankets & throws all individually handmade by myself; many of which can be personalised and are all tested and approved by myself or my 4 kitties.

I have a few new product lines planned for 2012 but I am more than happy to accept custom orders.



  
Dysfunction Designs



I create handmade tribal jewellery for both men and women. I use handmade clay beads, which I make myself, and team them up with a range of ethically sourced and unique wooden,bone and horn beads to create unusual and interesting bracelets and necklaces.






Lionheart Stationers



The Lionheart Stationers come to share with you the whimsicality of hand drawn stationery and the vibration of personal touch. Our aim is to add excitement to your correspondence, animating words through images. We want to offer an alternative to the computerised world we’re living in, in which paper and pen have been replaced with texts, emails and status updates. We are here for those who still think that a written sentiment seems to convey something more then just a brief email that we regularly send and receive. Our products are created to warm the heart and show someone in writing that you took your time to think about them.
We do anything from thank you notes to birth announcements, christening invites to party invites, save the date or correspondence cards. Everything can personalised and one thing we love is having commissioned artwork.



Handmade bespoke sterling silver jewellery



My aim is to bring you high quality handmade jewellery that is affordable, elegant and completely unique. Everything you see is made by me and based on my own designs.



Dottie Designs


Dottie Designs makes personalised Keepsake Boxes, Photo Albums and Guest Books for all occasions. I like to work with the customer to ensure that they have the perfect gift and will match colour schemes to Wedding colours, or the colour of a Prom Dress. I work from my sea-side studio in Hampshire and am very lucky that I am able to pursue what was my hobby as a business.


Chasing Beads



My name is Suzanne and I own Chasing Beads. I design and sell jewellery at various events as well as my website (and not forgetting Facebook/Twitter). I specialise in beaded jewellery as well as teaching various age groups how to make jewellery at home parties and local venues.





Handmade bags for all occasions.




The stall has a range of different types of bags, made from new fabrics, unless otherwise stated.
i like to make bags from a wide variety of fabrics and tend to go for bright and bold, but I am toning down my choices in response to feedback received!!
I also make bags to order.




Designs by JoJo



Over the last two years Designs by Jojo has concentrated on designing a luxury wedding invitation range, a range of greeting cards, party invitations, sourced some gorgeous favours and started making a contemporary jewellery range - so quite a busy time juggling with two children in tow!

Designs by Jojo is inspired by rich, vibrant colour, textured paper, nature, everything that glistens and especially sparkles and hopes that you will enjoy looking through the range of products available or if you have something more specific in mind, please don't hesitate to email me as bespoke designs are my speciality! 



JoSara




Contemporary Mosaic for the Home and Garden. I love to create colour palettes and pattern, and I love to create things for wildlife and the garden, as well as the home. I use mosaic because the tiles are frost proof and fade-resistant, which is perfect. I hope you like the end results.




Uniquely yours



I crochet and knit to my own designs, all manner of accessories for
summer and winter., Scarves, hats, gloves, lacy wraps and lacy summer
gloves. Hairbands, earwarmers and so much more. I like knitting but
it`s crochet that`s my real passion.
I also make mug and cafeteria cosies. I paint ACEOs, mainly in
watercolours and really enjoy it.




Sparrowprimitivecrafts


Add a touch of vintage style charm to your home with our carefully crafted items. We specialise in shelf blocks, wooden signs, bunting and Primitive style products. They are all made in our studio with a great deal of attention to detail, ensuring a quality item for your shabby chic country style home.

Colour options are available from our website.

Our products have been seen in numerous national publications including Country Living, Bella, Daily Express, Sunday Express and Sunday Mirror; and we are also a BBC Dragon Theo Paphitis’ Twitter Small Business Sunday winner.



I Hope you've enjoyed my preview, and I'll have some more for you soon, don't forget they will all be at the CRAFTfest from 10th March for a whole week

F xx

Saturday 11 February 2012

CRAFTfest March

Good Morning,

I promised to come back and tell you more about CRAFTfest, so here I am.



CRAFTfest is an online craft fair open to anybody across the world. This time it is running for a whole week, to give people plenty of time for browsing and shopping. Anyone can join in, it is open to crafters, artists, suppliers, ALL OF YOU. It is very easy (and cheap) to join in, simply pop along to http://www.craftfest-events.com/ and fill in the booking form. You can make payment (of only £5) via paypal, so nice and easy.
Once you've booked your stall, you create an album on the site of all the items that you would like to sell, together with a price and location where they can be bought, (website, Folksy, Etsy, even via email if you wish). There is not a limit to how many items you can include, and NO commission is taken on sales. What could be better?

I'll tell you what's better.... we have set up support groups/teams, to help promote both the event and you stall. You will be allocated to a group and told who your leader is.
This gives you the chance to join in with group discussions, follow on twitter, like on facebook etc., and the following etc. will be reciprocated.
Then whenever you promote we will share it, retweet etc. and hope you will do the same for us.

All the team leaders will be writing blogs about their team members including pictures and websites/Folksy shops etc. - so maximum exposure.
Where else could you get all this for £5?



BUT wait there's more.... Once you join the CREAFTfest you will have joined Creative Connections - what's that I hear you ask...

Well it is an amazing community of crafters and artists, we have forums, discussion groups and even a live chat room where you can go and talk to many of us, and get any help, advise or just a friendly chat.

We would love to see you there, and watch out for the next blog as I will be telling you a bit about some of my group - The Lilac Group

Bye for now

F xx

Friday 10 February 2012

Post Decorating

Hi

and welcome back to you, sorry I have been absent for so long; but those of you that follow me on facebook will know that I have been decorating my house from top to bottom. This was all with the view of selling the house; and it has now gone on the market.  http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36787118.html 

I am very pleased with what we acheived (my sons took time off to help me ). Every room in the house was decorated except for 2 of the bedrooms, which had been done recently.

We also managed to spring clean everything, including the loft!!.

It feels so good to know that there is nothing in the house now that we don't want.  My only regret is that we didn't take before and after pictures; for those of you that are interested; here are some of the results of all of our hard work.



Now that all the decorating is done I want to get back to sewing, however it is not easy to be creative and tidy at the same time!! I am having to limit myself to sewing at times of the week when I do not have to either go to work, or show people around the house. Please don't think I am complaining, I would love more viewings, although am having my second one tomorrow, (and the house has only been on the market for 1 week), so doing well I think.

I am going to focus very much on the Creative Connections CRAFTfest which is running in March for a whole week (for only £5), so look out for more details in my next blog. There is not much time left if you'd like to book a stall so check out their website and see what you think. http://www.craftfest-events.com/

I'll be back soon to tell you more about the CRAFTfest, and would love to see lots of you there, either as a seller or a buyer, (or both!)

Take Care

F xx