Crafty family

I loved doing my competition, it was great fun and also an excellent way of clearing out some of my textile creations. Of course this means I now have room to make and store many more bags, cushions, pin cushions and what ever else I feel the need to create. I have so many products on the go that I feel that I should be more organised and I am even considering opening up another shop, just so I don't start to look random. Of course this all takes time and energy so I intend to get my head down and crack on, I will try and blog updates but to be honest I don't know how some people find the time to do it all.


In the meantime here is my lovely daughter Lily, she also has the textile bug!! She recently sat her SATS- bless her. We were all kind of dreading it but I have to say that her teachers were brilliant, they were calm throughout the week and put no unnecessary stress on the children. Lily came home every evening with so much energy and zest that I actually think she enjoyed the week, so much so that she decided to make brooches for everyone in her class!! Thankfully we live in a village and there are only eight children in her class.

Lily loves donkeys and I found this fun fabric at Fabric Rehab so we snapped it up. She made brooches for the girls, a key ring for the only boy in her class and a lavender bag for her teacher (thats the big donkey in the pic). However she didn't stop there she then went onto make business cards and then sealed them all in their own bags.
Her mates loved them and I was really proud of her.

And the winner is........

               Woo! Hoo! Congrats to CRAFTY HELEN.

Thank you to every one for taking part and being so lovely, I wish I could give you all something but then I really wouldn't have any stock left. I'm going to do another fab comp very soon.

Ok Crafty Helen now you have to get in touch with me so I can forward all your winnings.

Summer Lovin' Giveaway

So here it is.... my first giveaway. I have decided to do this because I am starting to accumulate rather a lot of textile/crafty products. It's my fault- I never stop crafting, making and experimenting. Sometimes I haven't even finished one product and I'll start another. 

I am giving away a super cute applique 'Bird' bag. I originally made a collection of these bags to keep make-up in, but I use one to keep my sewing bits and bobs in. I'm also giving away a 'Big Button Bow Brooch', a 'Flower Brooch', a 'Bird Lavender Bag', a pin cushion with a heart on and an Ice-Cream Key Charm that is slightly scented with lavender. 

So all you need to do is say "Hi" to me, either here or convo me through our Folksy or Etsy shops, Twitter, Flickr.......anywhere you happen to find us!  

I will announce the winner next Monday 21st June.  Good luck! 

*BIG BAG SALE* and shameless advertising

I've decided to have a SALE over at my Folksy shop.
http://folksy.com/shops/onceinthenorth

Basically I'm always sewing, making and creating (not always with fabric- sometimes papier- mache elephants!!) and I've now got into the situation where the unit where I work and my house are bulging at the seams. They are about to burst wide open with yummy fabrics, buttons, ribbons and trimmings, bag handles, wadding, phew I could go on and on. I have a million and one new bag and cushion ideas and I need to make room for them.


All my bags that I have put up for sale are made with lovely quality designer fabrics, the handles and magnetic clasps are from u-handbag.com/, they are all trimmed with velvet ribbons and all have some hand stitching or applique within the bag design. They are all extremely well made as I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to sewing and I have designed the patterns myself. I have reduced them from £47.00 to £35.00- they're a bit of a yummy bargain really.

Yummy bag number one with lovely bead handles.

Yummy bag number two with many gorgeous applique circles and knots.

Yummy bag number three with fun red knots.

Yummy bag number four with even more gorgeous applique circles and knots.



Please convo me if you would like any more details. They are all slightly different in size these details can be found over at folksy

Another Busy Craft Fair

I think it's been over a month since my last blog post. No I'm not slacking off! I've been busy, busy! Sewing, printing, organising and all because of a mammoth three day craft fair event that has just taken place. Well it was in fact a Flower Show at Holker Hall heres a link to their home page http://www.holker.co.uk/metadot/index.pl?id=2171and very posh it was too!!

I'm posting some pics but my brain and its thinking power are still recovering so there will be very few words.



This is my stall, after three days it felt like home. It was hard work getting the fabric, bunting and prints up and organised but I was really pleased with the final result. It was bright and colourful, Lady Cavendish stopped and said it was cheery which is a lovely response.

Bags of bags, chillies and my daughter Astrid! (OH! I can also see a coffee and a Danish). Someone bought my favourite bird bag. Boo! Hoo! You can see it here under the large purple chilli print. I nearly never put it out because I wanted to keep it, at least its gone to a good home. I've decided to make more as it was a very popular point of discussion and a huge number of lovely people admired it.

It was an eventful weekend- I've been asked to do four more shows and approached by two shops. Thumbs up from me!! Oh and hopefully we'll get lots of orders for prints on canvas

I sat next to these cushions for most of the weekend. What you can't tell from the photo is that some of them are filled with lavender and the hotter the marquee got the more potent the smell became, of course the smell was beautiful but it sent me very woozy!

This is the lovely and very funny Caroline Nash. She is such a talented crafts person check her out on Folksy @ http://folksy.com/shops/carolinenashcrafts

This is Gwen Bainbridge also very lovely and funny- I'm convinced this is something to do with designers working in ceramics. She kept me going all weekend because these events do have their tedious moments. Check Gwen out here http://www.gwenbceramics.co.uk/

So now I have a massive list of things to

• Spend more time with my girls
• Get out more
• Tidy up my house and find out where the smell is coming from
• Tidy up my neglected and sorry looking Etsy shop (I've some new ideas for that)
• Blog more and give away some fancy prizes

My Crafty Fair Weekend

I've uploaded some pics of my marathon craft fair weekend. I call it a marathon because of the distance between the two events (Lake District to nearly the Yorkshire Dales). It was pretty hectic and very busy. I sold some small bits and pieces and gave away plenty of price lists for our photographs on canvas side of the business. I always wish I could sell more at these sort of events..... don't we all!! I've learnt that people are still not willing to part with much money and an average amount a customer will spend is between £7.00- £8.00, but I always try to tempt them with gorgeous things.
ME!

More me

(I'm not fond of getting my picture taken so I usually clown around. However I'm now starting to think that I should act sensibly because in MANY years to come how will I explain myself to my grandchildren!!!)

Ian from allfusedglass

Lisa from enchanted-wood

Me again at Dent on Saturday morning and with a lesson learnt- not me though my other lovely half! Lots of lovely crafters have blogged valuable craft fair advice lately, my one piece of advice is to be organised. Make lists of everything you need, start it a few days in advance so that you can keep adding to it. Plan your stall- lay your items out in the same size area your table will be or you could even sketch it. Take pics from previous events.
My lovely man didn't plan a thing, he was printing labels for his extremely tasty chutneys and chilli oils on Saturday morning and we ended up rushing. So basically he forgot some labels! WHOOPS! He did however make more money than me...BOO!

May the Fourth be with you....