STILL CATCHING UP ON BLOGGING -THINK IT WILL TAKE A LOOOONG TIME

Hello everyone

May Bank Holiday and we have sunshine!  How lovely.  I know the UK is notorious for soggy Bank Holidays and that is why a sunny one is extra special.

We had several trees removed from our garden this week - I hate losing trees, but some of these were dangerous and had to go.  The incredible thing is how much lighter our garden is now that they have been removed and we lots more space too for planting.

I took part in a Wedding Fayre at the Frensham Pond Hotel on Sunday, 26 April.  I always enjoy these particular events; they are well organised and a lot of the exhibitors are regulars, so it is great to catch up with them.  It was also nice to get requests for wedding stationery quotes - makes the day extra special.

Other achievements this week have been the completion of my new event website: Surrey Bazaars.  This brings all of the bazaar events under one 'umbrella'.  I hope that the reputation of the bazaar events (hard won with lots of great work (still continuing) from stallholders and helpers) will be recognised as a brand for events that are home to excellent handmade work.

I am looking to 'recruit' helpers for my bazaar events - these are self-employed positions and involve variety of work.  You would be amazed how hard it is getting someone to do this - I have posted on Facebook, Twitter and Streetlife and have had two enquiries - having received the details, the two enquirers never bothered to come back to me.  Very surprised and disappointed at the lack of interest.

Yet again, I forgot my lovely blog!  I started writing this one over the recent Bank Holiday weekend.  time has done its usual annoying thing of rushing by too quickly.  Since then we have had a General Election with the usual shocks, disappointments and surprises.  Where I live it is known as a safe seat and sadly because of this we never even have the whiff of a candidate - would be nice if they could be bothered occasionally to come and see what life is like in the outer reaches of their constituency (or potential constituency).

Before I completely forget this particular post, think it is a good idea to sign off now - no doubt there will be another 'catching-up' post soon, so do come back.

Have a great weekend

Jill

SUNSHINE SUNDAY (AND SATURDAY)

Hello everyone

Sunshine!  What more can I say?

Many thanks for the lovely comments on my blog post of last week - always appreciated and it is so nice to have feedback.

A busy week  and as I sit here tyring to remember what I have done, I can't, although I know it was a busy week.  A friend of mine writes a Done list every day rather than a To-Do list - makes more sense really as you can then recall what you have done and been proud of it.

I took part in a wedding fayre at the Frensham Pond Hotel today.  It was fairly quiet but I took definite order details from three people, so fingers crossed more may follow.  There were less stands there than at previous events and we were wondering why.  Those people taking part at today's events were regulars and those that weren't (from memory) were ones that we could not recall from previous events.  It is such a lovely venue.  I don't know if you know Frensham Ponds in Surrey?  It is rather like having the seaside on your doorstep.  Here are pics of some of my today's display:

This proved to be a very popular range and although the ivory ribbon and pink butterfly looked pretty, several colour ranges are available.

This week is a mix of preparing a set of accounts for a friend's church which I then have to present at the parish meeting on Wednesday evening, yet more event work, card-making, getting ready for an other wedding fayre next Sunday, making stock for an event I am taking part in on 22 March and trying to sort out the website I have set up for the event part of my 'hat' collection.  How I managed to book two wedding fayres so close together I don't know.

A fairly brief post for me this week - before the sun completely disappears I am going to take a nice cold glass of wine into the garden.  Don't forget to visit the Handmade Monday bloggers and and catch up with their makes.  I will be back next week and in the meantime have lots of sunny fun.

Jill

PHEW - THAT WAS THE WEEKEND THAT WAS

Hi everyone

A very busy weekend following a hectic week.  It's definitely a feet up and watch television evening - well, it will be once I have done some more work.

Yesterday I took part in the Play Kenya Craft Fair in Pirbright and a great day sales-wise.  I sold my lovely black cat jute bag, as well as one I made in the week with a Scottie dog on a red sequin lead.  My mini-cards were a great success and I also sold one of my cuppa-candles.  I completely forgot to take photographs and my cake-making friend, Linda, took some instead but they may have to wait for next week to be posted on my blog.  The craft fair was pretty near to 100% handmade, which was lovely.

Today it was the Wedding Fayre at the Frensham Pond Hotel.  I have taken part in a wedding fayre at this venue before and it is always very well organised.  Mala, the Sales & Events Organiser, regularly visits each stallholder throughout the day to see how their day is going; there is always good follow-up after the event and a really nice touch is that we get vouchers for tea and coffee and a sandwich.  Lots of interest in my wedding stationery, a request for a quote and I hope there will be follow-ups once the brides-to-be have ploughed through the large bag of promotional material they collected during the event.

Earlier this week Mala asked if I could produce some wedding stationery to go on their welcome table - their colours were going to be purple and white.  I produced an invitation and place name card.  Mala also asked if I could produce two menu cards for the table, which I made in similar colours to the invitation and here are photographs of them:

The following are a of pic of my stall and a sample invitation I was recently asked to produce :

One of the highlights of the event was this cake:

Isn't it fantastic?  All those lovely vegetables.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  The cake is made by the brilliant Cruikshank's - have a look at this website and you will see the gorgeous cakes he makes.  I asked him if I could take this photograph and promised I would add his details as a thank you.

It's over to Handmade Harbour for me now to catch up with everyone's week.  Thank you everyone who commented on my blog post last week - as always very much appreciated.

A slightly quieter week for me - hopefully - although I do have two events to make for on Saturday, but thankfully nothing on Sunday.

Have a good week everyone.

Jill

AN 'EVENT'FUL WEEKEND

Hi everyone

Fridays on my blog have always been reserved for guest bloggers who have a post they want to share about their products, a hobby, a favourite animal and sometimes an event they are either organising or are involved in.  Just for today, I am using the Friday Guest Blogger spot to promote the two events I am taking part in this weekend.

19 October 2013: 11.00 am - 4.00 pm: The Play Kenya Craft Fair at Lord Pirbright's Hall, Guildford Road, Pirbright, Woking, Surrey, GU24 0JN

The event is hosting a wide variety of craft stalls to raise funds for Play Kenya - have a look at their blog to see what they have been doing recently.  As an organisation, Play Kenya is devoted to supporting emotionally damaged children through therapeutic play.  The aim is to support and give skills to local communities so they can make a difference to their children

20 October 2013: 10.30 am - 3.30 pm: Wedding Fayre, Frensham Pond Hotel, Churt, Farnham, Surrey, GU10 2QB

This is a beautiful venue for a wedding fayre, and en even better one for a wedding.  There will be a great mix of wedding businesses taking part in this event and you will get the opportunity to spend time collecting ideas and advice for your special day.  I will be there with my CPC Wedding Stationery hat on showcasing my beautiful range of hand-made wedding stationery, so come along and enjoy the day with us.

Hope to see you at both events and come back on Sunday to read my review of how they went.  Have a good weekend everyone.

Jill

WORK, WORK, WORK - ROLL ON CHRISTMAS

Hello everyone

What a soggy and miserable day today is - only weather-wise that is.  I don't think it has stopped raining all day - thank goodness we did a bit of gardening yesterday as the ground is now pretty muddy.

A busy week again - it's that time of year, isn't it?  You just can't sit back and think everything has been finished, you are on top of your work and it's time to put your feet up, can you?

On Friday I took part in the Autumn Fair at the Normandy Therapy Garden.  A little surprised when I arrived to find that I was going to be in a small marquee - there were three other stalls in with me.  If you recall Friday's weather it was very, very windy and although the marquee was well anchored to the ground, the sides were flapping a bit, but we did have quite a bit of sunshine during the morning.  I know the organisers as I have held a card-making workshop there so it was nice to see Penny again.  Thank you everyone for the numerous and very welcome cups of free coffee.  The event was very well attended and I am pleased to say I made a small profit.  The Therapy Garden is a lovely place and if you live in this area or if you visit here, please do go along and have a look at it.  It provides great learning opportunities for people who may not get the chance to work with plants.  You can also buy vegetables there, plants and some pretty amazing wooden structures (plant frames, bird boxes, etc).

The only disappointment and nothing to do with the Therapy Garden is the signposting here.  About three years ago our Parish Council (PC) promised to put up signs to the Village Hall and the Therapy Garden (they are on the same land).  True to their word, they have put a sign up - directing everyone to the Manor Fruit Farm!  Great if you know that the land where the Village Hall and Therapy Garden are situated was formerly the fruit farm but if you don't live in the area, it will not mean anything to you.  I feel a letter to the PC coming on.

I made a few items of new stock and here are some photographs taken at the event:

This one is made with what felt like 1,000,000 ribbon circles!

An autumnal ribbon wrapped around a polystyrene ring, decorated with same ribbon ties and topped off with felt flowers and brown beads in the centre of the flowers

As you can seen, the sun did shine during the day 

A work-in-progress wreath.  navy blue ribbon wrapped around a polystyrene wreath and decorated with sea shells (bought from The Works, not removed from a beach).

I had a lovely order for a large quantity of my decorated jute bags from a friend this week - thank you Lesley.  I am going to enjoy working on these very much as they are to be butterfly themed.

I have a meeting at a local day centre on Wednesday to discuss holding regular card-making workshops there.  I should have more information for next week's Sunday blog and will tell you all about it then. I hope that not only will this be of interest to the people who use the centre regularly, but also to local residents, people who have attended my card-making workshops and newcomers to this lovely craft.

A very busy week which ends with a Craft Fair in Pirbright on Saturday and a Wedding Fayre at Frensham Pond Hotel on Sunday.  I have a feeling that this time next week, I might be asleep!

Between now and then it is work, work, work - no doubt the same for all of us involved in the world of handmade.  Have a great week everyone and don't forget to visit this week's bloggers taking part in Handmade Monday - would you believe it is week 138??

Jill  

PHEW! WHAT A WEEK.

Hello everyone

Hard to believe that this time last week we were awaiting the arrival of Hurricane (later known as Super storm) Sandy.  I know we weren't expecting it here, but sometimes the tail end of weather in New York nips over to us.  More important though was those of us with family and friends in America who were worried for their safety.  I am so pleased that my brother and sister-in-law are safe.  The news and photographs of the devastation throughout New York and New Jersey are very hard to take in and I know that everyone there is working very hard to return things to as near-normal as possible and I wish them well.

I took part in my first Christmas event of the season yesterday (Godalming Independent Christmas Market) and I am really pleased to say it was a great success - in fact I did better at this one than at the same event this time last year.  A sign of improving times?  Not sure, the public are a fickle bunch when it comes to handmade aren't they?  right place, right time?  My mini-cards sold really well and always seem to be very popular - long may it continue.  I had also made up some packs of 5 different-design cards, but of a similar theme, and these sold well too.  I sold two of my fabric decorated hearts and my best 'bit' of the day came when one of my Twitter friends, Lesley ( known on here as a guest blogger under the name of the Mad Dog Woman of Shackleford) came to see me and ordered a Christmas fabric wreath.  Thank you Lesley, a lovely order to receive.

Here are a couple of pics of my stall.  I had ordered a new banner from Vistaprint and hoped it would arrive before yesterday - as so often happens it arrived yesterday.  A great shame as the wall behind me was crying out for some information about me.

It wasn't successful for everyone and as we all know, this is often the case.  One stall holder was selling very beautiful jewellery she had made but it was priced in the £100 region - people visiting these types of craft events are not necessarily looking to pay that sort of price.  A couple of other stalls didn't sell anything, and it seems Craft Fairs are still very hit and miss.  My cake-making friend, who had the stall next to mine, did well - her cup cakes were very popular, as were her gorgeous coffee and walnut cakes.  She is still taking last-minute orders for Christmas cakes, so if you would like one let me know and I will ask her to get in touch with you. 

Some more news 'of the week' is that I won a book in the blog hop managed by Make and Craft to celebrate the publication of the first issue of their magazine.  Each day was hosted by a different person and on the day that it was hosted by Hannah Blavins (Spans Studio) I decided to enter as I very much liked the look of the book prize: A Compendium of Mosaic Techniques.  I had decided that if I didn't win, I would buy the book as the projects looked great.  You can imagine how pleased I was to receive an email from Hannah telling me I had won - wonderful news.  Thank you Hannah and thank you Make and Craft - there are lots of projects that I plan to have a go at, in particular the dragonfly which looks beautiful.

The next two weeks will be, almost, non-stop work making things for the event at Secretts.  I am looking forward to it, but also thinking 'oh, boy, have I done the right thing booking into a 3-day event'.  Well, he (or she) who dares and nothing ventured, nothing gained, etc.  I have also booked into the next Frensham Pond Hotel Wedding Fayre in February 2013 - seems a long way off as Christmas is still to be managed, but as you all know these bookings have to be secured early.

Wallace and Gromit (oops sorry, Wallace and Jasper) are still with me.  They are slowly becoming less nervous, but it is a long process to get them over their nervousness.  They are lovely and it is great fun to sit and play with them.  Richard was Senior Kitten Looker-After on Saturday while I was at the event and I know Jazz and Daisy will have kept an eye on them too.  Of the three black kittens I wrote about recently, I am pleased to say that Mo has found his fur-ever home - hopefully it won't be a long wait for Jessica and Bradley to be adopted.

Compared with normal weekend posts, this one is a shortish one but don't forget to visit the bloggers taking part in Handmade Monday this week.  Blog posts now are getting very Chrismassy.  I hope you all have a good week and  I will be back with my usual Wednesday post and my Friday Guest Blog post - it has become such an interesting part of my blogging week and I really missed having one this week.  I have some spaces in November and December, so please do get in touch if you would like to be a guest blogger (christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com).

Jill