The Big Craft Event

I had a good day at the Big Craft Event on Sunday.  The weather was bright and sunny and there were lots of visitors.  Chris and Rachael were wonderful - I couldn't have done it without them.  Chris had made me a shelf last week, when I realised that I needed something substantial to put my framed work on (nothing like leaving things to the last minute, Ellie!).  Rachael was great with arranging the items and having ideas for how to improve for next year and generally being fun to be with. 

Lots of people were very interested in my felt work and in the screen printed pieces in particular, so this is an area I am going to work on next year.  There were enquiries about cards, so that will be another focus, as will smaller pieces.  The birthstone hearts (felt hearts with geniune gemstone charms for the different months - they are on the seasonal tree display) weren't as popular as I had hoped, so I will move away from those, although there were so many hearts on so many stalls, that perhaps people had reached saturation point with them.  Out of all the hearts, the small ones were the best sellers, so I may continue with a few of those.

The biggest surprise was the needle felted sheep, which I had added as a bit of a last minute thing, in order to catch people's eye and encourage them to look at the other items.  I had managed to make six in the end and they all sold.

 They had all been given names and customers seemed to be drawn to them. 

 They are very cute, but I was delighted that customers liked them as much as I did.

I did stab my finger several times making them, but I am getting better at that and I also need to pay attention to my posture as the hours I spent on the last two sheep took their toll on my back. So, more sheep is definitely the way to go!
It was an enjoyable experience and I like meeting people and spreading the joy of felt making.  I also need to look at providing workshops as I had a few enquiries about that too.  In the end, I covered the cost of having the stall and made a little bit of profit too.  I have signed up for next year, so will be working on new items and lots of new ideas over the months.

Seasons swap - Wow!

 I do enjoy a good blog swap, as my lovely followers will know, so when I saw the Seasons Swap, organised by Kimberley of Creative Chaos, I signed up.  It was a great idea - find out your swap partner's favourite season and then buy and make things to send them.  I was partnered up with Maria, from Dotty's Daughter .  We emailed and found out that we are scarily similar, even down to our ages!  Maria told me that she didn't have a favourite season and I responded that early Summer was my favourite.  So, armed with some information, we started shopping and making.  Our parcels were swapped and I received the parcels above.

 I opened them to find a plethora of gorgeous gifts.  Maria had been so generous!  Flowery bunting, tulips, felt squares, felt flower pegs, a heart decoration, buttons, a gardening themed scissor fob and a personalised patchwork pincushion with sewing charms,

 The patchwork pincushion deserved its own photo.

 Bunting, buttons, hearts and flowers...

...and the gardening scissor fob, complete with welly!  I emailed to thank her and received a lovely reply, but she also said that she had forgotten to add in another part of the parcel so that would be sent too. Lucky me - two parcels!

 Here's what was in parcel two.  Lots of sewing goodies including needles, pins, ribbon and some patchwork for me to start.  There were also seeds and a dragonfly bracelet, some cat clips and some angel decorations made by her daughter.

 Here are the angels - aren't they lovely?

 Here's my patchwork project for the autumn evenings...  A HUGE thank you to Maria for her amazing generosity, thoughtfulness and kindness and for being such a lovely swap partner.  As I was opening my parcels, it did strike me how we had sent similar types of things.

Here's what I sent: Spring (magnets, seeds, a scissor fob/keyring/bag charm and bird material), Summer (a mug, magnet pegs, some sewing machine material and a piece of the London material, (which I used to make a doorstop for my friend in Canada) as she used to live in London), Autumn (hot chocolate, a spiced candle, a notebook and some pens) and Winter (a felt heart, monochrome bracelet and earrings).
It was a marvellous swap to be involved with and I really enjoyed it.  Thanks to Kimberley for organising it and of course, to Maria.

From My Home to Yours blog swap - parcels!

I like taking part in blog swaps and have just been enjoying the 'From My Home to Yours' swap organised by lovely Betty. The idea was to have four things from your home area, one of which had to be hand made, and anything else you felt like including.  I was partnered up with the fabulous Emma and we got in touch, emailed and looked at each other's blogs for inspiration, as well as likes and dislikes.  We made, gathered, bought and created and then swapped.

 Here are some of the lovely things which Emma sent me in the first parcel (excitingly, Emma told me that there would be another one too).  There's a lovely blue bag, made and embroidered by Emma, as well as some fabric washi tape, some floral straws, some flower pegs (perfect additions for my seasonal tree), the sweetest little crocheted owl and some delicious praline chocolate, made on Jersey.

Such a lovely and very appropriate zipped bag!

How gorgeous is this little blue owl?  Thank you so much, Emma, for your lovely gifts  - they are great!

As it was Emma's first ever blog swap, I really wanted her to enjoy it.  I found out she liked owls and her favourite colours were pink and purple.  As you might imagine, those things featured quite highly!  I included a felt heart (hand made and incorporating Lincoln Longwool), and a magazine about Lincolnshire, a map of Lincoln (in case she ever wants to visit) and various postcards and fridge magnets with images of Lincolnshire.  I also included some owl related things, craft related things and jewellery.  I think all my blog swaps so far have included felt and jewellery (that could be a clue for my next swap partner!).  I was lucky to find some owl material and an owl mug and I painted some pastel owls, taken from the wrapping paper which can be seen below, onto a notebook.

Here it all is, wrapped and ready to be packaged up.  It was a lovely swap to be involved with, so thanks to Betty for the organising and huge thanks to Emma for being such a lovely swap partner.  When parcel part two arrives, I'll post about that as well.

Four Happy Things Swap

 I recently took part in Bobo Bun's Four Happy Things swap which was great fun.  The idea was to include one thing from childhood, one thing in your favourite colour, one thing vintage/retro and one thing handmade.  I was partnered up with the lovely simply vintage and we emailed a couple of times and then it was all systems go.

The parcels were duly exchanged and the unwrapping began! I was extremely lucky and received some beautiful gifts.  Above is the childhood collection - sweets, ribbons and little gardening buttons all in a Flower Fairy tin.  I loved the Flower Fairy books when I was little.

The vintage thing was four beautiful embroidered napkins, in lovely seasonal Spring colours.

The favourite colour thing was an egg shaped tin containing an egg shaped soap.

The handmade thing was a ribbon bookmark, made by simply vintage, with a ladybird on one end and a leaf on the other.  As a wonderful added extra, she had added a book, all about gardening tips.  

 Here it all is - wasn't I lucky again?  Thank you so much to simply vintage, who was a perfect and very generous swap partner. 
What did I send?

 Here are my four happy things waiting to be wrapped for posting.

 The childhood thing - Lindt chocolate (I remember little Lindt moulded animals with flat backs, which tasted creamy and gorgeous, from when I was little) and Iced Gems (which were PARTY FOOD to me, as we only had them when there was a party).

 My vintage thing was this cake plate from the 1930s/1940s or thereabouts.

 The favourite colour thing was a blue macrame bracelet with agate, sodalite, fire agate, lapis lazuli, aventurine, quartzite and a polymer clay bead.

The handmade thing was a felt heart made from the wool of my sister's sheep (well, you knew that jewellery and felt would be featuring, didn't you?)
I really enjoyed this swap, so many thanks to Mrs Bun for organising it and to my swap partner, who was fantastic.