Craft Fayres and New Cards

It's a busy time of year for craft fayres - I had my first one of the season just over a week ago at the Aldham Craft Weekend (above is a photo of part of my stall).  The fayre went well; it was really nice to meet my customers face to face for a change and to chat to the other stallholders!  Every fayre is different so it can be hard to judge which items are the most popular to make, I was really pleased to sell some of my new designs - I sold out of some of my cardmaking kits and this new card...

This card is available to buy from my Folksy shop.  I'll be sharing some of my other new card designs over the next few days.

The next fayre I will be having a stall at is the Christmas Craft Fayre at Firstsite (the new art gallery) in Colchester.  It's on this Saturday 10th November from 11am to 4pm and donations are being raised for Autism Anglia.

At the fayre...

The Creations Christmas Craft Fayre on Saturday went well :)  Here are a couple of photos of my art and craft supplies stalls...

The rest of the photos from the day will be on the fayre's blog soon!

I really enjoyed the day - meeting and chatting with all the stallholders and seeing all the lovely handmade items on display.  It was also really nice meeting the public and being able to talk to my customers face to face.  I hope that everyone else enjoyed the day too!

Organising the fayre had taken over my time for the last few weeks and now it's time to get back to normal and catch up on all the jobs I had been ignoring.  (It's amazing how much bigger my art room looks now I've tidied it up!!) 

Getting Crafty for Fayres!

Recently I've been busy getting ready for a couple of craft fayres - the first is on this Saturday 5th November.  It's the Green Fair in Lion Walk Church, Colchester and will be open 10am - 4pm.  I've never been to the Green Fair before but heard that it was really good last year.  There will be craft stalls, charity stalls, green groups, live music, refreshments and children's craft activities - I'm really looking forward to it!

I'm also working hard on preparing for the craft fayre that I am organising at the end of November.  It's all starting to come together now although I still have lots to do!  I keep coming up with new ideas for things to make for my own stall too - as if I don't have enough to do already!  www.creationsfayre.blogspot.com

New Moo Greeting Cards and Postcards

Most of last week seems to have disappeared into a blur of craft fayre activity!  I spent the week preparing for the Creations Spring Craft Fayre... making things for my stalls, putting up posters and all the other last minute things which needed doing.  The fayre went well, everyone's stalls looked great! There are photos of the event on the fayre's blog: www.creationsfayre.blogspot.com
So this week I'm catching up on things which were put off until after the craft fayre.  I have new makes to share and new products with my illustrations, like these cards and postcards printed by Moo...

I love getting parcels from Moo in the post - their packaging always makes me smile! :)
These postcards are a new product line, they feature a mix of Hexley and animal illustrations and should be appearing in my Etsy shop soon...

I have some new greeting cards too with Hexley and animal illustrations as well as some new card designs like the cupcake cards...

Craft Fayre success, Etsy shops and last posting dates for Christmas!

All the hard work paid off and the Creations Christmas Craft Fayre was a great success! There are more photos of the event on the fayre's blog. We were busier with customers in the morning but unfortunately when the hall was full of people I didn't get chance to use my camera, so the photos are mainly from the afternoon when it was a bit quieter. I was pleased with the feedback I had for the fayre - hopefully everyone enjoyed it as much as I did :)

Now that most of the fayres I've booked to have stalls at before Christmas are over it's time to get busy with my online shops again. I found out that you can now sell in different currencies on Etsy so my art shop prices are now in GBP (supplies are still in USD for now) - which should be much easier for me not having to worry about the exchange rate so much. Hopefully being able to use different currencies should also encourage more people from around the world to use Etsy too.

Talking of online shops, here's a little reminder of the last posting dates for Christmas (make sure you place your orders in time!)

*** UK - First Class Tuesday 21st December

Airmail:-

*** Western Europe - Monday 13th December

*** Eastern Europe, USA, Canada - Friday 10th December

*** Rest of the world - Monday 6th December

Creations Christmas Craft Fayre and an Etsy Treasury

Only 2 days to go until the Creations Christmas Craft Fayre! I'm feeling a mixture of excitement and nerves as I've never organised an event before. There's still quite a bit of last minute things to do but hopefully all the hard work will pay off - we'll just have to wait and see what happens on the day! If you want to find out more take a look at the blog for the fayre and if you're in the West Bergholt, Colchester area on Saturday please do come along and see all the great handmade items on offer!

On a different note... I started making a treasury on Etsy ages ago with an Autumn Woodland theme and I thought it was time I finished it before Winter gets here!

You can see the treausury in full here

Craft Fayres

Organising the Creations Christmas Craft Fayre has been keeping me busy - the response I've had from people wanting to be stall holders has been amazing! The spaces are now fully booked and there's a waiting list too - hopefully the day will go well and I can organise more events next year. The stallholders I've met/ emailed seem really nice so it will be great to meet everyone properly at the fayre in November... There's still a lot of work to do before then though with advertising, making posters etc I'm also going to make some bunting to decorate the hall - I've got the fabric and started cutting ... only 7 metres to make!!

I'll be going along to Colchester Crafters and having a stall again on Saturday. If you're in the area please do come along and say hello! It's in the Lion Walk Church Hall - opposite Boots/ New Look, there's a door to the stairs leading up to the hall behind Vision Express. There will be stalls with crafters selling their work, crafters are welcome to come along with things they are making - there will be tea and cake available too!

Handmade and Vintage Fair

I have a pile of things waiting to be photographed (both for my shops and here)... waiting for some bright days to take good photographs. After the heat early on in the summer August has had a distinct air of Autumn - I hope that we get a few more warm and sunny days before Autumn really does set in!

Anyway, I decided that I can't wait any longer and I've started on my photography list...

Just over a week ago I went to a 'Handmaid and Vintage Fair' in Boxted, a village only a few miles from where I live. The fair was in the church hall - I had never been there before but knew it was small - I was suprised at just how tiny it was! There were about 8 stalls but the atmosphere was great and there were lots of shoppers too. I loved the mix of handmade and vintage - just my sort of thing! My sister and I especially liked one stall and bought these (the hair slides are mine!)...

by PrimChick - you can see more of her handmade vintage inspired goodies on Folksy

Creations Craft Fayre

A while ago I mentioned that I'm organising a Christmas craft fayre. Well, after much research and planning, most of the details are now confirmed and I have just started a new blog to chart the progress of the fayre. http://www.creationsfayre.blogspot.com/

Please take a look! Comments are welcome - whether you are a crafter interested in having a stall, you live in the area and would like to visit or have advice on running a craft event (this is my first one so it's a big learning experience!) :)

Colchester Crafters

It's time for the next Colchester Crafters meeting tomorrow! I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone again :)
If you're in the Colchester area please come along to see the handmade items for sale or chat about your crafting projects! The meeting will be at Lion Walk United Reformed Church Hall, Colchester from 10am to 2pm. You can find out more on their website: www.colchestercrafters.co.uk

Hexley update

As promised, here is an update on my Hexley project!

I've spent some time working in my sketchbook developing some of the background to the town as well as researching costumes and everyday Victorian things to use in my illustrations.

The six outer settlements around the town of Hexley are now villages with proper names:

* Little Hexing __ (Welcome Centre)

* Cogcott __ (Transporation Centre)

* Swinworth __ (Zoologoy Centre)

* Hytheby __ (Oceanography Centre)

* Totfeld __ (Climatology Centre)

* Ryeham __ (Farming and Botany Centre)

Inspired by Victorian photographs, I have also been working on a series of illustrations on the people of Hexley. Here is a rough idea for Elizabeth Bridges - made using a combination of scanned pencil sketches and digital painting.

I've had a busy few weeks - it's not quite over yet either. On Saturday I will be exhibiting 2 paintings in the art exhibition at the Tendring Show. It's a big annual country show with over 20,000 visitors. I'm looking forward to visiting - especially seeing all the animals, it should be a good day for gathering reference photographs, sketching and having fun too!

Over the next few weeks I'm hoping that I can find a better balance between working on my online shops (photographing/ listing items etc) and creating new illustrations. There are so many ideas I have for new designs, it's just trying to get everything done! There is my new exciting project to be working on too - I'm organising a Christmas Craft Fayre in my village. I'm in the very early stages of planning still but should be finalising details like time/ place/ number of stalls etc soon. :)

Summer Fayre, West Bergholt

I will be attending the Summer Fayre, West Bergholt today - please come along if you are in the area! There will be lots to see and do - as well as crafts there will be games, a BBQ, bouncy castle, stalls, donkey rides and more!

The fayre starts at 2pm, following the primary school's fun run, and is at Heathlands Primary School, West Bergholt near Colchester.
Fingers crossed that the weather brightens up and we don't have any more rain today!

Stall photos

Thought I'd just share a couple of photos I took of my stall at Colchester Crafters on Saturday:

I enjoyed meeting the other crafters there and am looking forward to the next meeting on 3rd July! For more information go to the Colchester Crafters website. :)

Colchester Crafters

The first meeting of a new craft club in Colchester will be on Saturday - I'm really looking forward to it! The meeting will be at the Lion Walk United Reformed Church Hall, Colchester on 5th June from 10am to 2pm.

It should be a good opportunity to meet other people interested in crafts from the area. There will also be stalls (I will be selling my work there) so even if you are not a crafter please do come along!

For more information take a look at the Colchester Crafter's website.

Bergholt Heath YFC Fayre

I will be having a stall at the Bergholt Heath YFC 10th Anniversary Fayre today - so if you are in the area please come along! There will be a table top sale as well as other activities including bleep test, penalty shoot out, BBQ, tug of war... so let's hope the weather's good (it's quite grey outside at the moment).
The fayre is at the Orpen Hall, West Bergholt between 12-4pm.

Crows!

My last fayre at Aldham on Saturday went well. There was a good range of stalls and it was nice to get to talk to customers and other stall holders rather than only selling online :D

Now that the fayres are over I am getting back to painting. Yay! I'm working my way up to Hexley again, but have started with some crow paintings. There are two new ACEO crows, painted in Quink and watercolours. I also have a larger Quink crow painting, which I will be selling 5x7 prints of and making into bookmarks. So keep an eye out for those in my Etsy shop very soon!

Weekend Etsy Sale!!

This weekend I am having a sale in my Etsy shop! It runs from today (27th November) to Monday 30th November. There is 10% off all 5x7 prints and all bookmarks...

Here are the last posting dates for Christmas:

4th December - Australia, New Zealand and the rest of the world

10th December - USA, Canada, Europe, Japan

21st December - UK

Tomorrow I will be having a stall at the Aldham Christmas Fayre (near Colchester), so if you live in the area please come along! It is open from 10:30am - 4:30pm and is in the Aldham village hall. I'm hoping it will be a good day! :D

Pick Of The Week...

This week's pick has been waiting to appear here for a little while now, I had the perfect weather to photograph it today...

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Christmas Craft and Gift Show at the Charter Hall in Colchester. I went with my Mum to have a look around the stalls and maybe get some inspiration for my own stall. My eye was caught by seabreezestudio's stall; filled with lots of lovely bags and purses made by Yukiko Kamioka. I love the fabrics she uses and although I had a very limited budget I did buy a little lavender scented pin cushion, made with four fabrics including an apple print corduroy!! :D

Craft fayre and a catch up

Apologies for my absence since the end of October!! Last week I hardly had any time to keep up with everything online because I was so busy preparing for a craft fayre. I managed to get my stock ready in time and the fayre went quite well :) I sold more than I had at my last two fayres and I'm happier with the layout of the table. I had lots of nice comments on my work too :) My fabric covered magnets were the most popular items...

I think that each show I go to I will get better at talking to people and (hopefully!) selling things, I can't wait until the next fayre now! I will be having a stall at the Aldham Christmas Fayre on 28th November.