Partney Fair

Like last year I decided to have a stand at Partney fair and I'm really glad I did. This year was an improvement on last year in many respects and I'm pleased to be supporting this local community as it resurrects this village tradition. Here's some pictures of my stand. 

 A change from last year we have purchased a new shelter as our traditional style gazebo didn't fair to well in the wind last year and it is prone to be a windy field. this Coleman event shelter is easy to put together and packs up in to a smaller bag than the traditional one, its is also incredibly sturdy and has numerous pegging points on the feet and useful guylines. (please excuse the scouter in me enthusing about a tent, I'll talk about the stall now)

  I've also picked up a new table which allows me more display space and opportunity to create this pleasing corner arrangement  meaning people can walk and flow around the stand rather than just being a flat table. I've created height and intrest with my white wooden crates.

Discovered this shelter really lends its self to displaying my crochet bunting we managed to string some across the back and one of the side (as seen in the first picture) and it managed to catch peoples eye.

 A new Item for the fair was these cute note cards which I'm making and selling in sets of six, Simply stamped in complimenting colours these sets are done as thank yous and a religious theme. Perfect for when you just need a little card to something or even to use as a gift tag. Sets of six three of each design for just £4.50 a set.

We had a good day even thou it was much hotter than we were expecting (or had dressed for) and look forward to attending again next year. 

My next stall will be at Orby Summer Fete being held on Saturday the 22nd of August at Orby Opportunities center and after that we have a small stall at a Skegness WI event in early September then it will be time to think about Christmas events and crafts.

 

Stampin up goodies.

So back in June while my other half was exploring the wilds of north west Scotland (Check out his blog here ) We decided to have a stampin up party, it had been a while since our last one at our house (although we have attended two brill ones at friends so far this year).
Our super fab demonstrator Zoe Tant did a lovely evening where we made these cards.

 These were made on crumb cake bases using the awesomely artistic stamp set, I like the gentle tones and mix of style of stamps in this set, from the detailed delicate floral motif to the grungy fern and very useful border section.
We also decorated the envelopes.

And here is our stash of stamp we got, including the awesomely artistic picked up with our hostess rewards.  We got a couple of good bundles including the wondrous wreath with die set and the other matching stamp set circle of spring. Also homemade for you set which came with the bakers box die which I had had my eye on. Also as something a bit fun I got no bones about it a polymer set which layers up dinosaur shapes and skeletons.

And here is the bakers box in action made up just perfect for a little thank you for some friends. The die is clear and easy to use and fits wonderfully with the set it came with as well as having many more ideas. You will be seeing lots more of this on my blog as I think it is awesome.

Burgh Festival Day

The sun was shining bright and the blue sky provided a beautiful background for our village festival day this year.
We had a craft stall at the event held on the field behind the village's unique five sailed left handed windmill.
At the event was a range of craft and charity stalls, as well as displays by the local council, fire and police service. Bouncy castle, zorbing and costumed characters with balloon modeling for the children.  The Baptist church provided a brilliant bbq and there was also an ice cream van and tea and cake served in the refurbished granary tearoom.  

My stall had an L shaped set up which I'm finding works quite well and the white wood crates and bunting helped with the staging. I took with me a range of crafts including the felt and crochet decorations, cards, tatted bookmarks and key-rings. From the shop we also took the hessian gift bags which proved popular and a new addition of maypole wands which I think are brilliant.

We utilized the side of the marquee to hang and display the crochet bunting and although this looked quite good I'm still trying to think of other ways to display this product to its best. I'm thinking of trying a clothes rail for my next event and in the shop. I also think its time to invest in another table to allow myself more display space.

Also at the event was a display of birds of prey and owls including this feller who was enormous and had fluffy feet and a huge wing span.

Quick little commission

Been doing quite alot of crochet recently I found some squares I had started for a blanket then changed my mind about I added an extra row to them and made a few more and they have turned in to a rather nice cover for a beanbag cube footstool I've got, will post some pictures some. I'm also busy making squares for some knee blankets for a commission decided to make them 8x8 squares so for three blankets that's going to be 192 squares to do and join together.

But I've taken a break from all the squares to make this little cutie. A quick commission from a neighboring business friend, who like myself is enjoying the new series of the clangers on bbc.
I didn't know if it would be possible as the original are knitted and there is actually a knitting pattern on the bbc website but I am a crocheter.
I did some searching and found a pattern here which I did some tweaking too to compleatly this. I had to first translate the pattern from american to english terms and it doesn't state a hook size so I went with a favorite 3.5mm.

   On the pattern they make their ears out of felt but I choose to do the back of mine in crochet and sew some felt to the front, My pattern for the ears is 5dc in magic circle pull up then 2dc in each stitch (10dc) tie off sew small piece of felt on to front and sew on to head. The pattern also has not clothes on the clanger but I had a look at some pictures and managed to cut suitable felt pieces and stitch them on. I think he's super cute and may have to make myself one as well now.

Christmas in June, latest craft style samples.

It really does get earlier each year.
I have recently completed my first Christmas crafting in the form of some samples for Craft style products. So here they are.

The items i was sent were more from the cut and create range this is a decoupage range where you cut the pieces out and layer them up with foam pads.
There was four new Christmas characters starting with this super cute polar bear.  Here I have built the topper up and put it on to a large embossed card blank which has been decorated with strips of pattered backing paper whic has been shaped at the bottom in to an on trend banner shape. A sentiment has also been added.

 The foam pads I used were not overly thick but the definition between the layers can be seen in this shot.

The next card is done in the always popular easel shape done using two smaller card blanks which have been folded and cut to create the desired shape.
This cute little gingerbread man character is so jolly with his hat and scarf. Hes backed with some plain and pattered paper and two coordinating strips are placed on the base section one raised on foam pads to act as a stopper.

Next was something abit different for me a tunnel card. this was created with a piece of embossed card as the back to which the largest piece of the reindeer topper was attached. A frame was created out of backing paper this has come out of a mixed pattern paper pad which craft style are doing this year, this is ones are mat and of a better quality to last years shiny thinner ones. in to the frame some patterned acetate as been placed  (sorry about the reflective glare on it) the backing piece and frame have been joined together with scored card

  as can been seem in this picture I found the good tip online of having two pieces folded like W for each side and sticking them together to create a flatter middle section to which things can be attached in this case the sentiment and rest to the reindeer topper. The topper is stuck to a thin strip of card to hold it in the correct place lines up with the back section.
I'm really pleased with how this card turned out since I have not done one before.

The last card I made in this set of samples is this rocking penguin. Using a round card base I attached a larger semi circle of snowflake backing paper which then gave me a larger area to attached the built up topper and sentiment. The sentiment on the sheet with the penguin is actually blue and I took this red one off one the other characters sheet as I thought it tied in better with the red snowflake background of the topper. I also added a few red diamante stickers to the backing sheet to give it abit of sparkle.

So there you have it jolly Christmas characters in June. See them being demonstrated on Create and Craft free view channel at 1pm today, hoping to see my samples on there.

Check back soon to see what I've been doing with some crochet squares.

Why Folksy?

Hopefully by now most of my readers have had chance to check out my new Folksy shop Hannah's Craft Cottage and see the exciting crafts I've got for sale there.
I thought I would do a blog post telling you all abit about Folksy.
Launched in 2008 Folksy is a UK based (actually near Sheffield on the edge of the Peak District) selling platform for handmade crafts sellers based in the UK. On their website they say they believe in Craft skills, Strength in numbers, and Cottage industries, this means they appreciate small industries working with creative talent to make beautiful items and gives a platform for them to show their work to a larger mainstream audience allowing them to grow their businesses.

I choose Folksy for these reasons, they have the ethos of working with sellers so we all get the best out of it and because they are UK based I feel this is better is a customer is looking for something "homemade" it also helps if its British. There are other larger platforms out there but why if you were looking for a British designed craft item would you want to buy it thought an American site.

I hope everyone likes my Folksy shop and share it with your friends also enjoy looking around Folksy in general it is a wonderful place showing what a talented island we are.

Check back soon to read about my newest felt decoration design.

Woodhall Spa Country Show

The first of this years craft stalls at events was Woodhall Spa Country show. This was a new event for us. I was surprised by the size of the show with a craft marquee, various outdoor stalls and stands, vintage tractors, poultry tent, sheep and cows.

 So here's my stall. I had a mixture of two tables one of which I put side ways to create a work space at the back. I used a brown gingham cloth as my main color with pale blue at one end this time I didn't pin any bunting across the front. I used my new set of white crates and white tree to create staging.

 To one end was a couple of crates with the candle jars on and the friendship teas, tissue packs and one basket of cards in front. The friendship teas sold well which I was pleased about.

 The Quirky birds took pride of place on the white tree and were greatly admired for their own loveliness and because the main theme of the show was poultry. they had good height on the third white crate and below them was the felt decorations and lavender bags.

 Mums new set of tatted key rings and bookmarks made a lovely display towards the center of the stall although I maybe could have done with something under the key rings to make them stand out abit better.

 The other end of the main table had a selection of cards placed on the staging steps and wooden easels I like how this looked although it is not a look I can recreate on all my stalls as the wind could easily knock them over. There was also a new batch of crochet brooches in a mixture of colors.

 This was the silk wrist corsage I took with me a pre-order from the official show photographer. I think she liked the country look I had aimed to achieve with soft tones, corn and berries, with a touch of girly lace.

I also wanted to share with you this little cutie, for many the star of the show a lovely Highland cow calf and mummy, it was so fluffy. 

The show was an enjoyable if long day with plenty of people admiring my crafts.