Happy Christmas, see you in 2010!

If you are a member of Folksy or Etsy then you will no doubt be familiar with  the fantastic work of NiftyKnits who kindly gave me permission to use her nativity meerkats as my Christmas Blog greeting card to you all as I sign off for 2009.  Funny that I am now so familiar with these meerkats that this concept doesn't seem at all unusual!

If you would like to know more about Nifty, including the adventures of the world famous touring meerkat twins, currently in Jerusalem and New York respectively (yep I just wrote that) then click here for her lovely blog which is not all about meerkats and is a jolly good read!)

SO!  Merry Christmas, Nadollig Llawen and Shalom! - have a fantastic new Year, see you in 2010 when I will be launching Craftblog UK! 

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  You can register your interest on Twitter www.twitter.com/craftbloguk  or just leave me a comment and I will find your blog and make sure you are included, I'm hoping it will be a really useful resource and lots of promotion for everybody involved.
  
  
  

Now please share your Christmassy blog posts or news with me here, I'm looking forward to having time to read all the blogs I'm following and find a few new ones! 

(Oh, one last thing!  Don't forget you can enter my blog advert giveaway (simple entry) and win just like my previous winners, The Copper Swallow, Emma in Wonderland and Natalie Wilson - click the links to see the feature posts they also won.  If you win you'll have advertising from 7th Jan until Valentines day 2010.  Enter here now!)

UK Handmade Gift Guide

Click to launch the full edition in a new window.

I hope you have all seen this! 

I'm feeling very proud to have been a small part of creating this and to be associated with the talented team behind UKhandmade.   Take a look at all the stunning gifts in here and let me know what you think or leave a comment over at the UKhandmade blog and if for some unknown reason you have yet to encounter UKhandmade then why not take a look now at the brilliant website and quarterly publications which are jam packed with inspiring crafty articles. http://www.ukhandmade.co.uk/http://ukhandmade.co.uk/main/

x H

Shop Update - Jewellery Kits with Wristlets

I have finally got round to taking some photos of my new stock - still many more to do!  Here's a selection of the bead kits - all available on Folksy now at £12.00 + P&P.  Perfect little gift for a girl and all hand made from quality Japanese fabric.  Every kit contains these gorgeous glass millefiori beads, cute candy coloured seed beads and enough elastic to make lots of cute necklaces and bracelets. 

Giveaway - win a months free advertising!

Would you like to win a feature all about your work and a months free advertising on this blog, just like December's lucky winner? Just follow this blog and leave a comment at the end of this post - that's it!


The winner of the December advertising Spot is... 

Also known as Serena Cowdy from the succesful blog Cowdy Calling, a humourous and friendly blog about Serena's many and varied talents, actress, photographer, artist and freelance finance journalist...  

The Copper Swallow Folksy shop opened a few months ago selling 1930's inspired, handmade paper goods, greeting cards, tags and notelets and has become a popular shop already. 

"Why 'The Copper Swallow'? Well, I've got copper-coloured hair and I tend to zip here and there at half the speed of light. A bit like a swallow, in fact - although with a lot less grace..."

She may not be graceful, but her work is stylish and elegant and Serena has a strong brand awareness, as she uses a very select palette of materials for her current range. Old stamps, manilla card and a typewriter from the 1930's are used to make each piece. 

This apple place name tag is a perfect example of her work, which is all refreshingly uncomplicated and original.  It also shows off her photography skills!   I'm fairly sure there will be more than a few sophisticated brides-to-be wanting Serena to take on their wedding stationary order - I'd get in their fast if I were you, she's a busy lady! 

If you would like to learn more about Serena and the Copper Swallow take a look at her professional website http://www.serenacowdy.com/ or follow her on twitter http://twitter.com/SerenaCowdy

HOW TO ENTER THIS MONTHS GIVEAWAY!

It is so simple!  You must become a follower to enter this competition (or be one already!).

1. Leave a comment on this post with a link to your blog, shop or website and let me know your latest news, think of it as a mini advert! (click here for my guide to leaving clickable blog comments)
How simple is that!

MORE PUBLICITY FOR THE WINNER!

Entry to this months competition ends at 12pm on the 6th of January 2010.  The winning entrant will be featured in a blog post like the one above, which will then become the new entry form for January's competition - so you'll have everyone who enters next month seeing your feature too - it's the giveaway that just keeps giving!!! 

I will make you an advert if you do not already have one - so don't let that stop you entering!

Good Luck!

(PS.  Don't forget to visit The Copper Swallow! to see her new range of notebooks )

Folksy Mini Treasury - Tree Time!

...Happy Handmade Xmas

If you love handmade, (think quality, unique and beautiful) items but you look mournfully at your list of electrical gizmos and gadgets requested by your nearest and dearest, then at least grab yourself a selection of gorgeous handmade chrimbo decs!  (I wonder if you can buy a hand knitted nunchuck case - now there's a niche market???)


Take a look here for more...

Sneak peak!

It's not finished yet - still needs the butterfly and stitching  painting on but the sign is looking good!  Excuse this photo it was taken last night with no flash or tripod - the others are all so blurred.  My painting in the background also steals the show a little!  I'm still umming an arring and moving bits around but I'm happy with the feel of the display - I'm going to try not to put too much stuff out all at once so it maintains a clean look as all my stuff is so highly patterned, but it's difficult to decide what, where, how...   still have all the price labels and more straps to make!

First Craft Fair... Saturday 5th December - Stanmore, North london

How cute are these stickers, my daughter adores being given stickers so I thought I'd not only stick them to my product packaging but also offer them to any kids too. W has been sorting all my stationary during his lunch hour at work for me, I've given him a huge list and so far everything has been great - including these below, which are intended to hang off the little pink paper bags I have, but I need some method of cutting a perfect circle as they look a little scruffy using scissors.

                          

In terms of stock I think I am doing ok, I just did a little trial run and I'm feeling happy with what I've got and my display is finally all coming together.  I just need to finish off some straps and make up a few more purses (as people keep buying them!) Will try to get everything photographed this week so I can show you all my new things.

Would be lovely to see you , my helper who is my brother's girlfriend has offered to bake biscuits to hand out and she's a pretty good biscuit maker so you wont want to miss those! 

There are instructions of how to get there here - http://www.delapoleevents.co.uk/ and it also lists all the exhibitors, looks like something for everyone, so fingers crossed it will be a really good fair for everybody.  The venue looks gorgeous, lets hope everyone is feeling really Christmassey now it's December.  Happy Advent x H