Craft Fairs - Pain Or Pleasure?

Welcome to Handmade Monday 13 organised by Wendy of 1stuniquegifts which welcomes crafters, each week, to share their week of crafting with fellow readers.
I missed last week as was busy preparing new stock for the long awaited and most anticipated Pennine Fairs first event of the year at Sywell Aerodrome, Hangar One in Northampton.
Over 60 exhibitors travelled this weekend to this well acclaimed fair with high expectations of a successful and profitable weekend.
Run by "The Anns" these fairs promote handmade crafts and all stalls are personally vetted to maintain a high quality fair.
I arrived rather late on Sunday morning and was pleasently suprised to be next to my lovely friend CJ from Curious Cat. I set up quickly and had a quick look around the fair.

As always the stalls were of a high standard and there was a lovely variation and a few faces i hadnt seen before as well as many that i had.

My favourite stall of the day was run by Irene Campsill with her gorgeous "handbags for individualists". These photos dont really do the bags justice but believe me they are beautifully made and very individual.

Irene spent a lot of time sitting sewing and i spent a lot of time observing, fascinated by her work and such attention to detail. You can find her designs on her website www.1-off-handbags.co.uk

As always the fair was well attended and had a high footfall.

I found myself, quite often, people watching.

I love to sit and watch as exhibitors explain their crafts in detail and the visitors keenly listen and take in everything being said.

Crafters at work are amazing to watch.

Even in quiet moments you will see stall holders chat, laugh,share experiences and knowledge and quite often good friendships are formed. And we all share with each other joy when our goods are purchased and dismay when the day is not so good.

But there is a downside to this crafting world. As i said you have high hopes that this fair will be your success story. You are passionate about what you do, it excites you and suddenly you have a bad day, few sales, and you start to question the worthwhileness of this journey that you are on.

I have witnessed today one stall holder at such a low point after not reaching their weekend goal that they were actually reduced to tears at the sheer frustration of spending hours creating something new and original
and not reaping the rewards that they truely deserve.

So does the GOOD outweigh the BAD?

And just for your amusement let me share with you 3 ignorant public remarks from this weekend, i'm sure you have heard plenty more in your time!

"Would you give me a discount on your bag as the straps are too long and i will be adjusting them myself?"

"I know this is cheeky but if i bought 5 pen cases would you give me a discount?" "I cant really as they are only £3"" Ok i thought i would ask, i wanted to sell them in my shop"

"These tooth fairy pillows are gorgeous, bit expensive though" "You wouldnt think £8 expensive if you had sat for 3 hours making them!"

Thanks for stopping by today, hope you enjoyed the read. For more interesting craft tales pop by Wendys blog and read what other crafters have been up to this week.

And incidently the lady bought the tooth fairy pillow!!!!!!

Until Next Time

xxx

Handmade Monday Week 11 - The Kanzashi Fabric Flower

The Kanzashi Fabric Flower are the decorative hair ornaments used in traditional Japanese hairstyles. Today, they are most often worn by brides and Geisha participating in tea ceremonies.For Geisha, the style and manner in which Kanzashi is worn indicates status. Apprentice Geisha wear more elaborate Kanzashi than older Geisha do, and they progress through several hairstyles where the Kanzashi ornaments must be worn in a fixed pattern. These flowers have become quite a large part of my products just recently (as you have probably noticed!). I think they make each item just that extra bit special. Very easy to make so i thought i would record each stage in todays post. Start with cut out circles of fabric. For my large flowers i tend to have 12 petals in the flower but that is entirely your choice. Take your first circle and fold in half.

Fold in half again

And again.

Next fold down one flap

And the same on the other flap

Thread your needle and pass through all sections of your fabric at the base of the petal

. Do the same with each circle and add to your thread. When they are all threaded take your 2 cotton ends and pull all the petals together and tie a knot.

Sew a button into the center. I usually put glue on the button base also to keep in place securely.

And glue a circle of fabric on the reverse to hide all the raw edges.

And there you have it. A perfect embellishment for your new bag!

This is the next bag in my collection and can be found for sale on Folksy.

As you know i also make them with a brooch back sewn on the reverse. Inspired by Carolee Crafts black and white fabric last week i went out and purchased some for myself. Looks great as a brooch.

And on Folksy this week i was asked if i could put a flower on a hair clip or barrette as i have found out that they are called.

Of course i could!!

You can find more of my flowers for sale in my Folksy shop CottonsAndDreams.

Find out what other crafters have been up to this week by visiting 1stuniquegifts blog and clicking on the links.

Until next time.

xxx

Handmade Monday Week 10 - Mother's Day

Welcome to week 10 of Handmade Monday organised by Wendy of 1stUniqueGifts. Well it cant have escaped anyones notice that this weekend was Mothers Day. The only day of the year that your children show just how much they appreciate what you do for them. I got bacon sandwiches, cards , bath bombs,soap and spaghetti bolognaise for tea! For my own mother i wanted to make something special using my new BigShot machine that i bought at the NEC last week. So i used my new butterfly cutter (coz she loves butterflies). The felt cuts beautifully in the machine.

There is a shop on Folksy called PantsAndPaper (my absolute favourite i have to admit) selling beautiful butterfly brooches so i used that for my inspiration.

I know it's not nice to copy others work, even though often classed as a compliment, and i couldnt print on fabric the way Sam does, so i tried to do my own thing and my own design.

I was really pleased with how it turned out. Apparently it hasnt arrived in the post yet so my mum has yet to see it!

I loved making it so much though that i decided to make a few more today. Not sure yet whether they will be brooches though, i may use them in other ways.

Also for mothers day this week i was asked to make a phone case for an i phone4.

And 2 pen cases.

And finally i had my 3rd sale in Folksy. This gorgeous Lilac and White Kanzashi Brooch will be winging it's way to Manchester in tomorrows post. What a lovely feeling!

Thank you so much for popping by. If you want to see what other crafters have been up to this week pop along to 1stUniqueGifts blog and click on the links.

And if you are interested in seeing what other beautiful items PantsAndPaper have on offer please follow the link to her folksy shop.

Until next time.

xxx

Handmade Monday 9 - Looking Back Over The Years

Welcome once again to Handmade Monday organised by Wendy of 1stuniquegifts where clever crafters join together to share stories via their blogs. Having spent this week attempting to finish all my bags and failing miserably i tried to think of something different to share with you this week and i thought of looking back at other crafts i have tried over the years. Ever since i was a child i have always been making one thing or another ,as i guess most of us crafters have, usually as presents for family. I love to try anything but dont always have a lot of patience if things dont turn out right straight away. When i left college many years ago it took me a few months to get a job so my mother and i got into decoupage. We didnt make cards though, we did pictures on tiles and plates and personalised them with letra set letters. We cut all our pictures from wrapping paper and covered with a plastic covering. All seems so basic now especially after seeing ,at the NEC this week, all the latest equipment for card designing. Please excuse the photos as they are 25 years old and not that clear!! We booked a christmas craft fair at our local civic hall in Kent, there didnt seem to be so many events in those days and the novelty factor brought in so many visitors. I can remember us having crowds round our table, it was a fantastic feeling and we sold loads.

A few years later i had my first son and took a year off work and got into salt dough for something to keep me occupied.

Again i got transfixed by it and built up a massive stock of wall decorations, kids mobiles and clown name plaques for kids bedrooms. The plaques especially sold well but after about a year i gave up when, at a school fair, i overheard a child saying to his mother "oh we did that in school this week. It's easy!"

A couple of years later i bought a felt picture hanging kit. I loved it so much when i finished i knew i had to make it my next project! Only did one fair with these and sold what i'd made plus a few decoupage bits provided by my sister. (Once again please excuse the quality of the photo)

So by this time i had 2 small kids and a full time job cooking and i turned my attention to novelty cakes, mainly for my boys birthdays.

This forever friends teddy on an armchair i made 2 or 3 times for different women, i loved making it coz i loved the end result.

Mr Potato head was quite a funky one.

And i was really proud of this one though it took ages making each footballer. And that little boy isnt so little now and nowhere near as cute!!

And just to finish off i would like to share with you the only wedding cake i have ever made and am extremely proud of.

It was for my bosses daughter and was really nerve racking to make as it obviously had to be perfect for her and would be viewed by 100 people.

Each flower on top was individually made and if you look closly round the outside edge i tried a sort of lace effect and each piece made and stuck on individually.

It's lovely looking back at things but even better to look forward as there is still so much to learn and achieve. Cant wait!

Thanks for popping by and if you have the time please pop by Wendy's blog to find out what other crafters have been up to this week.

Until next time.

xxx

Hobbycrafts And Sewing For Pleasure At The NEC

One of my christmas presents this year was a ticket to The Hobbycrafts and Sewing fo pleasure show at the NEC this week, 24th - 27th March. Details can be found here .

I went on Friday and the show was absolutely packed with women. The car park was home to several coaches from all over. Many women walked with trolleys, obviously intending to spend spend spend!! The first hall was mainly for card makers with each stall selling everything you could possibly want for card making. It had been my intention before i went to make sure i looked out for a stand selling the BigShot Sizzix machine so i could have a demo and see if it was really something that would be worth buying for myself.

I wasnt disappointed as THE CRAFT BUG had a stand there specialising in machines and dies and they were able to answer all my questions which resulted in my OH declaring that he was buying me one for my birthday! They were £20 cheaper than the one i had looked at in Hobbycraft the other week so it made sense to buy it then and there.

And here it is.




As my OH had bought the machine i needed to get a couple of DIES to get me started. They were selling at £12 each with an offer of 3 for £33 so i went with the offer! These are the 3 i chose but have since had a look at their website and made a list of 6 others i want!

Another purchase i made yesterday was some fabric that i spotted looking very lonely in a basket on the stall of a lady selling wooden hanging plaques. Not sure what i'm doing with it yet but i'm sure i will think of something!!

As i said the lady was selling hanging plaques and very kindly let me take a photo of the stall, as it was one of my personal favourites and she was very welcoming and friendly.

You can find more of her work at www.woodenheartco.com and i see she also has a shop on folksy .

As well as all that i also bought some fabric squares for pin cushions from a company called PINFLAIR .

Have a look on their site for all your craft requirements as they seem to do quite a range of items.

And then i found spotty buttons so i had to have some!! They were supplied by CRAFTY RIBBONS and what a selection of ribbons they had. Take a look at their site for more info and i've also just found their blog which i will be having a good read of when i have time.

After a quick spot of lunch we came across two lovely ladies working hard at a small table with polymer clay. Now i bought 4 or 5 packs or fimo in the summer with the intention of making buttons but the ones i made didnt really look quite right and i was interested in learning more so they talked me thru a few processes.

Even my OH found their demonstration really fascinating and we both felt we had learnt something. You can buy clay and other materials from their website CLAYAROUND .

To end my days spending spree i popped by the JANOME sewing machine stand to ask for a new foot for my machine that i could use when trying to embroider a design, as with my present foot i cant see the pattern i am sewing and this foot has a wider eye so i can see.

I will let you know the result. If you are a janome machine owner you may be interested in this blog i follow SEW JANOME

I left the show at 4pm feeling exhausted and rather poor, but excited by my new goodies i had purchased. Definately a great christmas present.

The HobbyCrafts show returns to the NEC in November from the 3rd to the 6th and will be accompanied by Crafts For Christmas Show. One ticket gets you into both shows. Full details can be found on the ICHF Events site .

Thanks for popping by.

Until next time.

xxx

Handmade Monday Week 8 - Bags, Fabrics and Cushions

Welcome to week 8 of Handmade Monday run by Wendy of 1stUniqueGifts. I feel quite a sense of achievement to still be joining in with the challenge of weekly blogging and still being spurred into keeping up with my sewing because of it.
Have to admit failure on The March Hares listing club on Folksy though, managing only to list for 5 days of the month!!!! Maybe try again in April!!
So this week was a positive sales week for me. If you popped by earlier in the week you will know i did a fair on Tuesday at Blooms Garden centre in Rugby and did really well. 4 bags sold and i now have 5 on order so a lot of sewing going on in the evenings after work at the moment.
Before doing anything new this week i finished off a bag i had been making from some left over William Morris fabric i had from a customers order earlier in the year.
As yet i havent put flowers on the front as i'm not sure they will look as good on this fabric and am wondering whether to try a small bow instead. As that bag was finally finished i visited The Bramble Patch and spent rather a lot on fabric!! It probably is a much dearer way of making things when i only buy by the quarter but it means i can always keep fresh with different designs and colours rather than mass producing the same product all the time and getting bored by what i do.
So i got some more dotty and daisy fabric but also some blue, red and even pink corduroy.

Preparation is the boring part so i cut, pinned and sewed darts in all of them at the same time, and also the linings.

Then the best bit, sewing them together!!

So that's the bases done and next job this week is to do all the pelmets.

As well taking all my new stock to the fairs last week i took some of my old stuff as well and put on at a bargain price just to destash.

Among these items were the bolster cushions i made a couple of years back for kids. Filled with small polyester beads they are brilliant cushions for kids, especially on long car journeys.

And i did well and sold half a dozen and even had a lady asking if i could make her one in chicken fabric, which i have!!

Now to clear up the mess on the floor!!!

Thanks for popping by and dont forget to pop by 1stUniqueGifts blog and see what other clever crafters have been up to this week.

Until Next Time.

xxx