Christmas In July Gift Guide

I realise that it is very hard to think about Christmas on the hottest week of the year here in the UK, but the Christmas In July Market is in full swing on Tresstle and I’d like to share some of the gorgeous products available for pre order.

These Christmas decorations are all gorgeous and completely handmade: Star Letterbox Decoration from Sakarma Handmade, hand turned wooden trees from Treow, snowman decoration by Laurel Tree Pottery, and hand knitted, super cosy decorations from Clair T Designs.

I couldn’t resist adding my own Heirloom Santa Christmas Tree Decoration to this gift guide!

Beautiful porcelain ceramic decorations from Clara Castner

These embroidered tree decorations from Smallbeans Stitching are delightful. The clocks are hand stitched too!

Viksilver creates stunning silver jewellery, as does Jewellery by Silvana whose work is made with sterling silver, Delicious Bits Jewellery is made from very pretty screen printed polymer clay and Sparkle Yonder’s machine embroidered decorations are marvellous.

All of these would make gorgeous gifts!

Up North Textile Design produces beautiful hand woven cushions, She Could Sew She Did makes gorgeous hand sewn gifts, Flower Child makes natural fibre patchwork quilts, clothing and accessories from beautiful fabrics that will be treasured for years to come, and Sophia’s Illustration creates illustrated bespoke house portraits.

There’s so many beautiful products here, I hope you see something you like!

Teresa x

Christmas in July

No…. I haven’t gone crazy! Its a month long online market I’m taking part in, where customers can order products made to order and makers can avoid the manic rush later in the year!

The online market is being hosted by Flower Child Heirloom Clothes and Accessories on the Tresstle event platform. There are some gorgeous products available, and makers will be adding more throughout the month. I’ll be publishing a gift guide later in the month and I will be featuring some of my favourites.

Already available are my Christmas Twinkle Teddy Tree Decorations, which can be personalised with an embroidered initial, and I’ve added options where you can choose the colour of the bear and their scarf. These teddies are one of my favourite products to make, and I really like the option of adding an initial. You can find them in my Folksy shop here.

Today is the launch day for my Donkey tree decorations. These little donkeys are completely hand stitched, and are made using wool felt and vintage threads. This year you can choose your own blanket design from a selection of 3, and your donkey will be made to order. Please visit my Folksy shop page to find out how to order your own donkey.

And last but not least, here’s a little look at the other Christmas decorations I will be launching in July! Follow me on Facebook or Instagram to find out when they are available.

Teresa x

Trying my hand at ceramics with Hands On Pottery

I’m really pleased to share a project with you today that has been rather a long time in the making! Last year a friend and I signed up to do a hand throwing pottery course at a local ceramics studio, Hands On Pottery. Having avidly watched the Great British Pottery Throwdown for the last few years I was really intrigued as to whether my A’level Ceramics skills would re-emerge on entering a ceramics class!

The pottery studio awaits!
(Hands On Pottery have now moved to a different studio, this is the old room)

Well, hand throwing is quite a lot harder than I remembered it being! My ambitions of making a large fruit bowl were quickly dismissed, as I discovered my wonky fingers were not helping me make a straight pot, or in fact anything at all. Our teacher Elaine was fantastic and managed to get me to make three small wonky pots, of which I’m very proud.

Fresh off the wheel before tidying them up

Leather hard pots, mine are the wider ones, my friend Clare made the taller slimmer pots.

Then the November lockdown started, followed by a very busy December for me, and then the January lockdown, so it meant that it was only in April of this year we managed to get back into the studio to add glazes to our fired pots. I had spent quite a bit of time looking at ideas on Pinterest of how I might be able to glaze them…and finally this week I went to collect our pots… and here are mine, in all their wonky glory. I’m so pleased!

Possibly my favourite…

Also possible my favourite

I have taken a ridiculous amount of photos of them already, and you can probably expect them to pop up in my product photos quite often now!

Matching with my embroidery work!

View from above: I continued some of the decoration inside the pots.

Making the pots wasn’t quite as relaxing as I thought it would be, although by the final class I felt much more confident, and my hands were starting to remember what to do. I thoroughly enjoyed it all though, and there is a great sense of achievement in holding a pot you have made from a lump of clay!

I think they will be happy living in my living room.

Teresa x

Rainbow Needlefelting

Have you seen the latest Makes magazine by Take a Break? It’s another packed issue full of craft projects and ideas, one of which is a Rainbow Needle Felted Mobile by yours truly!

This was a really fun project to make, and is a great beginner needle felted project. If you want to get hold of a magazine, you can find them here.

I had a lot of fun playing around with the hearts before making the mobile. Needle felting is therapeutic in so many ways!

I’m taking part in this online craft fair, starting tomorrow! I have an exclusive discount available for the market, head to Shop Small, Love Indie to find out more at 10am, see all the small businesses taking part and find out what my discount is! I’m planning on a small shop update of lavender bags too, which are selling out fast!

Over on Instagram I’ve been taking part in March Meet the Maker, hosted by Joanne Hawker and Tresstle. It’s really fun every year to share aspects of your business that people are interested in and that you don’t normally share! If you’d like to find out more, click here.

In shop news, there are a couple of new products in my Folksy shop, with an option to add an embroidered badge to your purchase, creating a lovely gift to send to a friend. I’ve enjoyed selecting badges that complement the product, either a lavender bag or purse.

And that’s it for this blog post, I hop you are okay,

Teresa x

Folksy Friday: Craft Kits

Its been an age since I last wrote a Folksy Friday blog post, and as I was feeling a bit glum this week, and at rather a loss with what to do with myself, I thought it would be a nice thing to do. I

When I’m feeling a bit lost creatively I usually turn to a craft kit, either one from a magazine or one I’ve bought, to inspire me again. So today I thought I’d share some of the gorgeous craft kits available on Folksy, mostly textile inspired ones, but there are plenty of others available, click here to see the full range available.

I’ve included two embroidery projects, one available as a kit and one that is a PDF which is sent via email. The Blue Tit Cross Stitch is from Alex Agg. The Star Embroidery is available from Flynn & Mabel and looks like a really fun way to learn lots of new embroidery stitches.

Needle felting is a very therapeutic craft, the beautiful kit from Frankie and Sydney has everything you need to create a lovely piece of textile art.

I couldn’t resist including the super cute Beginners Cross Stitch Bear from Sarah Watkins Design, and the delightful Elsie Mouse from Cotton Fairy. I love both of their yellow jumpers!

Jewellery making is an absorbing craft, the Bracelet Kit from The Wire Lady looks fun and the colours are lovely.

Oyster Catchers are one of my favourite birds to see when I’m out and about, (they also make a cute peep peep noise!) and this kit from Puffin Cove has all you need to make an Oyster Catcher Lavender Bag.

Finally, last but not least, I’ve included a pack of fabric, trims and embellishments from Mandy Barnes Textile Art that is certainly going to get your creative juices flowing again.

Happy creating!

Teresa x

Random Acts of Kindness Day

On Wednesday this week it’s Random Acts of Kindness day, and to celebrate Pedddle are hosting an online Market, the Random Acts of Kindness Market.

It’s all about buying a gift for someone else, to spread love and appreciation. I think it’s a lovely idea! Each small business taking part has created a special gift, which when purchased will be gift wrapped, and a hand written note included for the recipient. I love the idea of lots of people receiving surprise gifts through the post, that also support small businesses.

Read more about Random Acts of Kindness day on the Pedddle Blog

I have made a new collection of my Mini Happy Flowers, brightly coloured felt flowers that are hand made from wool felt, hand stitched and stand in small wooden bobbins. Each one is slightly different, with different colours and stitches. They will be available in my Folksy store from 10am on Wednesday morning. I think they make a lovely gift, or as a treat for yourself! Being kind to yourself is very important too!

There are some other fantastic makers taking part, here’s a selection of some that caught my eye on the market page…

Top Left, Wriggly Tin Soap Co Foot Spa Set; Top Right, Lilliput Wight Colourful Coiled Trinket Dish ; Bottom Left, Utterly Pottery Personalised Ceramic Coaster; Handmade by Tinni Rope Statement Necklace

The market will take place on Pedddle’s new sister site, dedicated to online markets, Tresstle. Here are all the links you need to shop:

Pedddle: link to stall holders taking part here

Tresstle: link to the online market, products and other events taking place within the market here.

Folksy: my online shop is found on the Folksy website, dedicated to hand crafted products made in the U.K. is here.

Happy shopping!

Teresa x

Christmas Table Decorating And Much More

A few weeks ago I scrambled into the loft to get out some Christmas decorations to create a table setting for Christmas. I had lots of fun creating a ‘tablescape’ that would set off some new christmas decorations I had created a tutorial for, for Love Crafts, and the tutorial is now available, for FREE, at Love Crafts!

Love Crafts have created a free downloadable e-book featuring some beautiful projects to make your Christmas table special. My embroidery hoops are used as napkin ties, and then your guests can take them away to hang on the Christmas tree! Other projects are place settings, a quilted table runner, paper trees and some delicious looking cookies.

My other news this week is that this weekend is my final big market of 2020. It’s in association with Pedddle and is featuring the work of Folksy sellers from across the country.

You can find my ‘stall’ in the east market, and I will be running a discount of 10% off with code FolksyXmas. This will be my last discount code for quite a while, so if there’s something you’ve had your eye now is the time!!

I will be running a small competition to win a Jingle Christmas Tree decoration, there are 5 available, all you have to do is place an order with me over the weekend to be in with a chance of winning!

You will also be able to see me talk to Camilla from Folksy on Saturday morning from 10am as part of a live shopping event, where I will have a few exclusive offers available. This is the first time I’ve ever done something like this, it might be chaos!! I’d love it if you can come to watch at 10am on Strykin,

Thank you for reading, I hope you have a great weekend.

Sherwood Makers Online Market

This weekend I’m taking part in the Sherwood Makers Online Market. Sherwood is an area of Nottingham close to where I live, it has a bustling high street chock full of independent shops and cafes, a fair few charity shops and more creative people than you would imagine! I know a few of them and have met many more at craft fairs in and around Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. This year, three Sherwood based makers have grouped together to form Sherwood Makers, to showcase the talent in Nottingham and promote the small businesses that are looking for lovely customers! Anna (Anna Treliving Design), Helen (Helen Lamont Design) and Laura (Little Egg) have done a fantastic job and I’m really looking forward to the weekend they have put together.

You can shop with each business taking part from their own online shops, and the directory of shops taking part can be found Here, on Facebook, and Here, on Instagram.

I wanted to showcase some of the businesses I’ve discovered through the Sherwood Makers, some of whom I’ve bought from before, and some I will be buying from very soon! (It’s very tricky sometimes, all I want to do is buy the things I like for myself!!)

Mosaic Baubles by Sophie Robins Mosaics

Pincushion by Katherine Mary Hill

Ghanaian Wax Print Bag by Duukuu Design

Snail Cushion by Emily Spikings

Moon Tree Decorations by Molly’s Mum Textiles

Hand Painted Ceramics by Utterly Pottery

Polymer Clay Earrings by Becca Bradford

So much lovely stuff!

As ever, I will be sharing more over on my Instagram account, over the weekend, and all my customers this weekend will get a free crocheted star popped into their order! The link to my shop is here.

Have a great weekend,

Teresa x

Christmas Season 2020

Normally at this time of the year I’d be sharing a list of craft markets you would be able to come and shop at in the East Midlands, however this year is a bit different! I’m taking part in plenty of markets, all of them online. The main advantage to this is that you can shop with me (and many other stall holders!) from the comfort of your own home, complete with a cup of tea and a biscuit…

So, here’s where I’ll be, kind of, over the next two months

This week is the Indie Roller Christmas Essentials Mini Market, where there’s around 500 stall holders taking part across the country. You can see all the stall holders here. Try our the surprise me button on the market page!

Then on Saturday I’m taking part in another market hosted by the fantastic team at Pedddle. It’s the Festive Bazaar, and you will be able to find my stall in the East Market. I’m looking forward to starting my Christmas shopping and supporting small businesses.

I will have some new Christmas decorations available at each market, here’s a taster!

Yes!! Jingle Jellyfish!!

As we are all going to be spending quite a bit of time indoors over the next month or so I thought I’d reshare my FREE Crocheted Bauble Pattern that I published on this blog a few years ago, please share a photo with me if you give them a go! Just click on the link below the photo for the pattern.

FREE Crocheted bauble pattern

I think I might have to make a few more for myself too!

Take care everyone,

Teresa xx

Creative Collaboration

Since the start of lockdown there has been an amazing shift in the creative community, which already has a strong and supportive online presence, to selling products at online craft fairs. In person fairs have been for the most part cancelled and postponed, and so makers and designers have turned to online events, that have a lively and supportive feel to them, as so many in person markets do.

I joined an online support network in April called Pedddle which showcases stall holders and markets alike. Since April Pedddle have created their own online markets, which i have taken part in, and they have been a real success. It’s certainly been a steep learning curve getting to grips with an online market but Pedddle have been there every step of the way to support the makers and small businesses taking part.

This Saturday sees their latest market taking place, the Creative Collaboration Market. Pedddle have teemed up with a selection of market organisers to host a huge online event- over 500 stall holders! And, I am one of them. I’ll be setting up a small stall at home and will be running a discount of 10% off with code SHOPLOCAL, through my Folksy shop. I also wanted to share some other stall orders who will be taking part from 10am on Saturday morning.

Beautiful prints, notecards and artwork available from Ruth Thorp Studio, I’ve bought cards from Ruth a couple of times before and they are gorgeous, and very high quality.

I love all the work from Etchable Laser Design. I really can’t choose a favourite! This duck is very cool.

These bears from Curly Lulu are adorable!

These scarves from Lyndsey Currie Designs look so cosy and warm, perfect for the winter ahead.

The vivid colours and bold illustrations of Blue Ranchu Designs really caught my eye, especially as they are of all my favourite garden birds!

And finally, although I could have chosen lots more, I wanted to share some jewellery too, and these earrings from The Cluttery will definitely be going on my Christmas list…

I hope you manage to visit the market on Saturday, it’s on until 10pm, and you don’t even have to go outside!

Teresa

My Christmas Decorations Collection launching on Saturday!