Quick & Easy Gifty Ideas

I always need quick and easy projects I can make for the occasional craft fair I attend.  What's needed is something quick and inexpensive to produce out of supplies I've already got and that I can sell at a low price. Hopefully to draw in customers who might then make multiple purchases - isn't that what supermarkets do!

Anyway - whilst browsing in The Works craft section a few weeks ago I found these pretty sticky backed fabric sheets - £1.99 for a pack of four different designs - and the idea of these little brooches came into my head.

They couldn't be easier to make. I drew round the wooden shapes on the paper backing of the fabric and cut out just inside the pencil line. You can carefully cut off any overlaping edges with a sharp scissors but its better to get the size right on the first stick! I gave the fabric a coat of Mod Podge but watered down PVA glue would be just as good. Glue on a brooch back and present on a stamped card. These will make an appearance at my next fair whenever that is - I've nothing booked at the moment - but they'd also make pretty last minute token gifts don't you think?

In the Good Old Summertime......

Its hard to keep blogging at this time of year.  And with so much good weather this summer I've found it difficult to make myself sit down and share what has been occupying my days over the past month or so - apart from work of course.  Fingers crossed there will be more happy excursions to enjoy before the shorter darker days arrive, and before Summer 2014 blurs into one sunshiny memory, I thought I'd share a few photos with you.

Last Monday was a glorious day here in North Wales and my sister and I were lucky enough to have picked that day to go shopping in Llandudno.  We were tempted to linger on the promenade on our way back to the car and decided to take a walk on the pier.

As you can see above, the pier is of typical Victorian design and with the mountains of Snowdonia in the background, in the perfect setting.  We took our time enjoying a bag of fresh donuts and a stroll to the pier end - it was almost 8 o'clock before we got home!

The week before had been occupied with my usual last minute frantic preparations for the Vintage in the Vale Fair at Trelawnyd Memorial Hall.  As always "it was alright on the night" and I had a happy day catching up with old crafty friends and being inspired by the craftsmanship of the stallholders both old and new.  I'm already thinking about plans for the next fair at the beginning of November - did I really say that!!!

In July I'd been lucky enough to grab a bargain offer on this beautiful cottage near Dolgellau - Tyn y Simdde (booked through Under the Thatch).  Three of us spent three happy days pretending we lived in this heavenly spot deep in the forest, high up on a hill - if that makes sense!

The simple cottage interior has been beautifully restored, providing every comfort you could wish for and the wonderful views from the garden, and indeed every window, made for perfect peace and quiet to read, watch the birds in the garden or, as in my case, get crafty.

Located only an hour or so from home, I'll definitely be keeping an eagle eye out for further bargain offers.

And finally, you might remember a few weeks ago I was making preparations for my sister's fund raising afternoon tea party.  I'd like to report a resounding success with about £480 being raised for the Oswestry Bone Cancer Centre Appeal. 

My sister took the prize as star baker but my small craft stall proved popular too and I was very happy I could add a good bit to the total raised.

And everyone liked the pompom 'thank you blooms' they were presented with to take home.  We're planning another event in the future.

Well I think I'd better stop here!  There have been other pleasant days out and hopefully I'll be reporting on a few more before we have to start hunkering down to preparations for autumn and Christmas.  I do hope all my readers have enjoyed their summer so far - I think it will go down as a good one here in the UK even if there have been a few wet days here and there..... apparently there's one on the cards for tomorrow.  Keep dry all!

An Easter Af-Fair

Yet again I've been neglecting my blog - no wonder my audience as fallen away (according to bloggers statistics) but I want you, my faithful followers, to know how very much I do appreciate your visits even if there is no time to comment - and I know how hard it is to keep up with commenting on everything we see in blogland no matter how much we enjoy and admire the talent out there.

Anyway, last Saturday was my first fair of the year, Vintage in the Vale Easter Fair at Trelawnyd Memorial Hall.  Yet again Gill and her team pulled off an inspiring, creative and happy event through sheer hard work and meticulous attention to detail.  For the first time there was a professional photographer in attendance and I do hope she won't mind me using a couple of her photos here.  In all the usual last minute panic I didn't photo-record what I'd taken with me so I was delighted with her photo of my pompom Easter blooms which sold out by early afternoon. :o)  Thank you Love Luella Photography!  You can see the whole album on my facebook page should you be interested.

Here's my stall all set up and (almost!) ready to go.  Its such a friendly event and it was lovely meeting up with other lovely regular stallholders and meeting some new ones.  Here are a few to inspire you.

My lovely VIV neighbour Nia whose gorgeous shop Wish in Rhuddlan High Street is not to be missed if you are in the area. 

Emma's colourful Hobo Heart Collective stall full of reclaimed wooden delights.

The Way to Blue - Sarah's beautiful blue cyanotypes.  Don't you just love that pop of yellow from the daffodils.

Woolly wonders from Lost in the Wood - it was Laura's first time at VIV but I surely hope it wasn't the last!

And I'm not missing out all the stalls full of hard to resist vintage goodness!  I do wish I'd got round everyone with my camera but take it from me they were ALL fabulous.  The next fair is on 2nd August so plenty of time to arrange your diary if you are anywhere near the North East Wales coast this summer.  You won't regret a visit, not least for a nice sit down with tea and cake enjoying vocalist Paula Rose singing all those iconic songs from the 30s and 40s.

See you there?????

Cute & Easy Crochet

I often turn to my craft books and Pinterest boards for inspiration when there's a craft fair coming up but do worry about using someone else's idea for profit - even if its with raising money for charity in mind.  I love these little purses I found in Nicki Trench's book Cute & Easy Crochet - they would be perfect for my stall, but there's that guilt feeling in the back of my mind again!

However I spied a similar comment on Nicki's facebook page and to my delight found that she has very generously given permission to sell her designs in return for a small one-off Product Selling Fee.  Yipee!  I can feel completely comfortable making these for my stall now.  I have tweeked the pattern a bit.  I found I coudn't make a neat buttonhole fastening so have changed to large press studs or magnetic fasteners.  And if the lining fabric I've chosen is a bit thin I back it with fusible interfacing to make a sturdier purse that would perfectly protect a mobile phone. 

Using odd balls of Aran yarn from my stash produces slightly random sized purses but I rather like that as different folks will want to use them for different purposes. 

Note:  There is one proviso from Nicki - you can only make up to 100 items from any one pattern.  Hmm, can't imagine that will be a problem for me! :o)

First Market Day

Had a lovely day yesterday at the very first Henllan Craft Group Vintage & Craft Market.  Met up with some old friends and made some new.  A lovely venue, the Church Institute has recently had a makeover - I loved the Christmassy windows decorated by the different groups using the hall.  And this time I did remember to photographically record what I took with me!  I am trying to be more organised but as usual I didn't have much sleep the night before. :(  Luckily I'm not working today.

Our summer visitors are here!

I was delighted to see my first swallows here in North Wales on Saturday (27th April) whilst driving home.  They were swooping over the river fairly close to the coast - but I couldn't stop to admire them there.  Then yesterday I saw two of our local swallows from the window of the top bedroom at my workplace.  They were resting on a TV aerial and I wondered if they had just arrived from Africa.  Its always a happy day when we see swallows and feel summer is really on its way at last.  

Looking back to last year I noted first seeing swallows on 3rd May and I made a card to celebrate.  This time I thought I'd make a quick embroidered picture - well more of a stamped applique really - for my celebration.  I stamped onto some blue fabric, cut out my swallow, attached it to some plain linen using iron-on adhesive, which I then attached to a pretty printed cotton.  A few running stitches and french knots were added and I stamped on the date.  The swallow stamp is from a set of four pretty bird images by Hampton Art - a US company but I think I bought them on ebay.

I was reminded of the swallow's lustrous blue feathers when I was browsing the way to blue's gorgeous stall at the fair on Saturday (I make no apologies for harping on about this fabulous event - see my last post).  I couldn't resist a couple of purchases - but what to choose!  In the end I went for this pretty notebook and a tealight lantern.  I was drawn to this image of a robin silhouette and once lit and sitting on my mantlepiece I didn't regret buying it even thought it took me ages to decide which design to go for.

(source)

I do remember reading about cyanotypes and I have a dim memory of a nature project in a children's book showing how to transfer an image of a pressed flower or leaf onto paper or fabric using sunlight.  However this is the first time I've seen this process being used to such beautiful effect - and by a local artist too!

Note to self for 2014 - Swifts arrived Bank Holiday Monday 6th May

Vintage in the Vale - Take 2!

Yes, a very happy day was had by all at Vintage in the Vale.  So pleased for Gillian - the clever creator of this fabulous fair. 

Clever, clever crafters...........  this is Lisa's gorgeous stall.......

Lovely stall holders................ here's Nia from Wish in Rhuddlan......

Lots of original creativity.....................

And delicious vintageness (I suppose that's not a word).....................

Really hard not to spend all my takings on such loveliness - these gorgeous aprons created from vintage dresses being very difficult to resist!

Add songs of the 40s and 50s from Paula Rose and lots of tea and cake, what more could you ask for?  Don't you wish you'd been there!  But wait.... don't feel downhearted, you could be at the next fair on 17th August - save the date!  I'll see you there!

I have been busy - honest!

The last craft fair of the season happened on Saturday - it was a quiet affair!  But although there weren't many customers I enjoyed the friendliness of the other stall holders and the lovely ladies in the kitchen who provided us with some delicious homemade pumpkin soup and numerous cups of tea to warm us up.

As always I saw the dawn the night before finishing things off and made more than enough Christmassy things that I'll now be putting away until next year. 

I didn't sell any Christmassy hair clips or crochet snowflakes - items that went really well at the last fair - so you never can tell what will be popular.  I'm already starting to think about ideas for springtime Eastery projects. 

But before that there are the family's Christmas gifts to get finished!  I glutton for punishment you might think - and you'd be right!

Vintage Yarns

Once again I'm in a last minute panic about a craft fair tomorrow!  For my last fair I made a few crochet flower hair clips and as they seemed popular I thought I should make some more.  Most of those in the photo above have been made using vintage yarn I've found on ebay and in charity shops and, yes, I have been able to make myself break into the skeins - something I usually find really difficult.  But needs must and I've found it very pleasant to work with something that has lain forgotten in a draw or workbox for many years.

This Robin Perle is very pretty but the very devil to unwind - it nearly drove my Mother round the bend trying to unravel the knots I got the first skein into and she usually loves untangling for me.  You can see it looks quite wild!  The label states it is coupon free so these definitely date from the 1940's or early 50's. 

This Jewel yarn from Pearsalls and Hayfield is much more sensibly packaged - the end is pulled out from the centre without unwrapping the skeins.  And of course this keeps the yarn in pristine condition.  In fact I have to say that all the yarns I've bought have been in perfect condition without a hint of mothballs or damp.

This "Artificial Silk" is really beautiful.  All these yarns are made from Rayon and although I knew it was a man-made fibre I had to google it to find out exactly what its made from and it turns out to be manufactured from plant-based cellulose.  So its not completely artificial and doesn't come from anything horrible like oil or coal.

It all has a lovely sheen as you can see in the photo above, and I expect most of it was bought to make those pretty crochet doilies that were so popular in times gone by - and still seem sought after by crafters today for modern projects. 

I've found it quite difficult to package my clips to my liking and this is my latest attempt - but I'm still not completely happy with how they look.  I just used a die cut tag and cut a slit in the centre to slip the clips through - but of course the clips don't lie flat and the whole thing is rather bent.

My Life in Photos - Vintage in the Vale

Well, what a success!  You might remember I was lucky enough to be asked to the first Vintage in the Vale event which took place in Trelawnyd Memorial Hall last Saturday.  I had a brilliant time - sold lots and lots, met some fab fellow crafters and lovely customers and consumed lots of tea and cake!  Everyone was delighted with the turn out - they were queueing at the door at 10.00 am - and I (and all the other stall holders, I'm sure) want to send Gillian a huge thank you for organising such a fabulous show.  I do hope she can now relax a bit and basque in the warm glow of a job well done.

I also picked up some great ideas for stall display - something that is often forgotten in the mad few days before a fair.  However I was pleased with my idea for displaying my felt brooches.  I've not been happy with the way I've displayed them previously - and then I suddenly remembered this old frame.  I'd painted it red years ago so all I had to do was cut a piece of mount board to size, cover it with a piece of burlap (stuck on with double sided sticky tape) and pin on my brooches with fancy pins.  It must have hit the spot as I'd just about sold out of brooches by mid afternoon!  Now I'm really looking forward to the next fair - which I believe will be in the spring.