This Sunday I'll be at the Penarth Christmas fair, pop down to see me if you're local!
Be there or be a scrooge!
Be there or be a scrooge!
It was ok, the Welsh didn't tell me off for not speaking Welsh....phew!
Here's a few pics. There were only 4 'stalls' and a spinner so it was fairly small but there was a Welsh cloth exhibition in the next room over and a famous author (I have no idea what he wrote, that's terrible right?). There were various things going on in the building and their cafe was really busy!
Lizzie and I shared a table and I'm not convinced that two bags per hook was really a good idea on the front there!
That empty gap on the front is where the Christmas bunting was.... It's not even November yet and I'm sold out, do I make some more or not? I don't have any more Christmas fabrics left so it'll mean extra outlay and what if I don't sell it? Then again, what if I don't make any and I could have sold it?
Lizzie's Yoodles. (Yarn Doodles)
A very bright and sunny Katie Celf's baby slings. These slings are very well made and beautiful!
I'm sure she'd ship abroad too, check out her site here: Katie Celf Baby Slings
I liked her cute sewn signage!
The sun is blocking out a stunning knitted coat but this stall was only selling Christmas items. Cards, bottle bags, ornaments etc.
There was one more stall to the left of ours but I forgot to take a photo! She was only selling bracelets but was also doing some demonstrations.
All in all it was a good morning, we sold more than we thought we would (we thought we wouldn't sell a thing!) and passed some time in an enjoyable way.
Hopefully the Stella pattern will be out on Wednesday, so watch out for that and the various giveaways that accompany that from my pattern testers!
p.s. yes mum, we have sorted some of the buttons, we'll photo them soon for you to browse :)
Here's a few pics. There were only 4 'stalls' and a spinner so it was fairly small but there was a Welsh cloth exhibition in the next room over and a famous author (I have no idea what he wrote, that's terrible right?). There were various things going on in the building and their cafe was really busy!
I'm sure she'd ship abroad too, check out her site here: Katie Celf Baby Slings
There was one more stall to the left of ours but I forgot to take a photo! She was only selling bracelets but was also doing some demonstrations.
All in all it was a good morning, we sold more than we thought we would (we thought we wouldn't sell a thing!) and passed some time in an enjoyable way.
Hopefully the Stella pattern will be out on Wednesday, so watch out for that and the various giveaways that accompany that from my pattern testers!
p.s. yes mum, we have sorted some of the buttons, we'll photo them soon for you to browse :)
Craft fair on Saturday last. Fed up of printing labels trying to get the font and colour right (who can remember to write them down right?). What do I do? Go to Asda and buy 6 kids chalkboards at £1 each.
I'm sure they used to be half that price.
Anyway, here they are in all their neon orange glory. The future's bright, the future's orange.
Yup, they really are that bright.
I didn't have time to spray/paint/varnish/decoupage them before the fair so pulled out some trusty washi tape and voila, job's a gooddun'.
I think I will spray paint them something neutral but it was good enough for that one day, quick and easy!
I'm sure they used to be half that price.
Anyway, here they are in all their neon orange glory. The future's bright, the future's orange.
Yup, they really are that bright.
I didn't have time to spray/paint/varnish/decoupage them before the fair so pulled out some trusty washi tape and voila, job's a gooddun'.
I think I will spray paint them something neutral but it was good enough for that one day, quick and easy!
* Edited to protect the innocent :)*
It was a pleasure to get to know Di from Mad Cat arts & Jewellery a bit better as we were next to each other on our stalls.
Here are some photos of the 7 or 8 craft stalls inside the tent.
It was a pleasure to get to know Di from Mad Cat arts & Jewellery a bit better as we were next to each other on our stalls.
Here are some photos of the 7 or 8 craft stalls inside the tent.
I know, I promised myself I wouldn't do any more craft fairs.
But aside from the fuzzy head from getting up too early, the panic of pricing and the spending far too much at other crafter's stalls, I really love craft fairs!
This one Saturday was fairly local to me in Merthyr Tydfil in the High St Baptist Church hall. It was bright, cheerful, and had the most delicious chocolate fudge cake I've ever tasted! 40p a slice, bargain!
I took some piccies of mine and the other stalls for you and I'll try to link to the businesses below the photos where I have contact details.
I met some great people and Lizzie and I had a really fun day.
Forever tangles Facebook page has their shop where you can buy or commission works. I was fascinated with these all day and kept wandering over to have a shifty eye sneaky peek!
I didn't get any contact details for these lovely ladies at all but I'll try harder next month!
My first purchase of the day was a pair of earrings from Joie's stall before I'd even sold anything myself! Typical. You can visit Joie's website here.
Unfortunately Paula had run out of business cards but I have her number if that helps?
I couldn't stop laughing at her plaques they were so witty. My favourite was probably the one that said , 'You'll always be my best friend, you know too much.'
The organiser of the fair had their own stall with beautiful candles and wax melts all lovingly wrapped up and badly photographed by me!
And of course the most photos are of mine and Lizzie's stall :) What's a blog for if not some shameless self promotion?!
You can visit my etsy store here.
It was only the first fair there this Saturday but hopefully it'll be every month, I'll let you know in advance of the next one so you can pop over for a goosey gander. Except you Tammie, you can't commute from Florida to our fair just so that you can see my bunting!
But aside from the fuzzy head from getting up too early, the panic of pricing and the spending far too much at other crafter's stalls, I really love craft fairs!
This one Saturday was fairly local to me in Merthyr Tydfil in the High St Baptist Church hall. It was bright, cheerful, and had the most delicious chocolate fudge cake I've ever tasted! 40p a slice, bargain!
I took some piccies of mine and the other stalls for you and I'll try to link to the businesses below the photos where I have contact details.
I met some great people and Lizzie and I had a really fun day.
Forever tangles Facebook page has their shop where you can buy or commission works. I was fascinated with these all day and kept wandering over to have a shifty eye sneaky peek!
I didn't get any contact details for these lovely ladies at all but I'll try harder next month!
My first purchase of the day was a pair of earrings from Joie's stall before I'd even sold anything myself! Typical. You can visit Joie's website here.
I couldn't stop laughing at her plaques they were so witty. My favourite was probably the one that said , 'You'll always be my best friend, you know too much.'
And of course the most photos are of mine and Lizzie's stall :) What's a blog for if not some shameless self promotion?!
You can visit my etsy store here.
It was only the first fair there this Saturday but hopefully it'll be every month, I'll let you know in advance of the next one so you can pop over for a goosey gander. Except you Tammie, you can't commute from Florida to our fair just so that you can see my bunting!
Yes, as in...urm....5 days ago. Better late than never!
Here's my outfit, it's one I've worn before and not too exciting. The pic was taken in front of our craft fair stall with some strong yellowey lights beating down on us. Great for lighting the stall, shocking for photos!
White long sleeve t-shirt - Peacocks, Green paisley sleeveless top - Made by me, Jeans - Peacocks (trend here?), Utility apron - Made by me, Necklace - TJS Jewellery Designs
In the background you can see my lovely mother in law Chrissy who I did the craft fair with. We both prepared items separately but they blended in well on the table.
What's that? You want some table pics? Good job I knew you'd ask so I took some!
Our whole stall :)
As you can see, we had something for most people and it was a delight to look at. Well, I thought so!!
There's more to come on the tale of 'Last Weekend' and the many horrors it contained but for now my tummy's rumbling which must mean it's lunchtime!
Samantha x
At home with Mrs H
P.s. Here's the Atheneum at Bury St Edmunds all set up ready for customers to come in. Dusband took it. He forgot to turn to the right to take a pic of the raised alcove type stage area that we were in.
It never really seemed to get packed. We didn't do very well really on takings and interestingly enough only the sausage lady and cake lady had been there before (of the stall holders we spoke to). Everyone else was there for the first time. I suspect that if we'd known there were not many repeat bookers we'd have questioned the trading success. Anyway, lesson learned!
Here's my outfit, it's one I've worn before and not too exciting. The pic was taken in front of our craft fair stall with some strong yellowey lights beating down on us. Great for lighting the stall, shocking for photos!
White long sleeve t-shirt - Peacocks, Green paisley sleeveless top - Made by me, Jeans - Peacocks (trend here?), Utility apron - Made by me, Necklace - TJS Jewellery Designs
In the background you can see my lovely mother in law Chrissy who I did the craft fair with. We both prepared items separately but they blended in well on the table.
What's that? You want some table pics? Good job I knew you'd ask so I took some!
Our whole stall :)
 |
| Doorstops, bunting, tissue pouches, needle cases, post it cases, knitted coat hangers |
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| Lavender bags, peg bags, hand knitted bedsocks, hand knitted slippers, balls, cards, gift tags, bunting, cushions |
There's more to come on the tale of 'Last Weekend' and the many horrors it contained but for now my tummy's rumbling which must mean it's lunchtime!
Samantha x
At home with Mrs H
P.s. Here's the Atheneum at Bury St Edmunds all set up ready for customers to come in. Dusband took it. He forgot to turn to the right to take a pic of the raised alcove type stage area that we were in.
It never really seemed to get packed. We didn't do very well really on takings and interestingly enough only the sausage lady and cake lady had been there before (of the stall holders we spoke to). Everyone else was there for the first time. I suspect that if we'd known there were not many repeat bookers we'd have questioned the trading success. Anyway, lesson learned!
Check out the dainty little petit fours stand that I found for a grand old price of £1 in the St David's Hospice shop yesterday!
It's just perfect for displaying my scrabble tile magnets. Now all I have to do is cover that awful white tray with some cute paper!
It's just perfect for displaying my scrabble tile magnets. Now all I have to do is cover that awful white tray with some cute paper!
So picture the scene. It's Friday night. Your crocheting sister Loopy Lizzie has arrived. You've already been told to calm down and not panic by craft fair aficionado Leigh the Sewing Diva and the corner of your usually immaculate (but dated....hey, we're saving up!) living room looks like this.
So now you're in the zone of where we were when we saw the weather forecast for the following day's enormous amount of rain. Um. Yup. Great.
Ok, so THE BIG DAY has dawned and it's raining. 6am and we were kind of blurry eyed but up and awake and dressed in our setting up clothes. My BFF Stacey arrives and we load up both of our cars withstuff important things and head on down to Caerleon. Lizzie and Stacey get there first and when offered a pitch directly next to the info tent at the entrance OR right up round the corner they chose next to the info tent. Good call girls! Until a blacksmith arrived and parked his whopping van and tent in the centre of that area blocking us off from people. Ah well, never mind eh?
Anyway, so my first reaction to the festival was 'oh, it's smaller than I had thought'. But as it was hammering down and we only had an hour and half to set up we got right to it with the gazebo. With sides. That when the wind blew brought in a wave of rain water. The roof of the gazebo was leaking, the sides were leaking, it was muddy underneath and we were all pretty soaked.
We ended up leaving 80% of our stock in the car as it was just so wet that it was pointless putting it out to get ruined. People just didn't wanna see wet and muddy things! But then...a few prayers later by 11am the rain slowly stopped and patches of blue sky were reported. I was fairly convinced it was a rumour but then I saw them myself...hurrah!
I hot footed it back to the carpark to bring out some more stock while Dusband (nicknamed our health and safety officer as we may have died from falling equipment if it hadn't been for him!) pegged the gazebo, did the guy ropes etc, etc.
Here's our tent with it all set out. Still less than we'd planned and things not quite 100% but better.
It was super windy and our gazebo took off at one point! Lucky we found some extra pegs to secure it.
Our lovely outfits meanwhile were left abandoned in the car and we stayed in our jeans and wellies for most of the day. Never mind, wellies go with everything right?
Lizzie got to crocheting and after a while I got my t shirts out to start making tarn (T shirt yarn) ready to weave myself a rag rug on the hula hoop. I forgot to take pics of me starting so the tutorial will have to wait until I finish so I can re start for the pics!
Lizzie obviously spent too long in this position (ignore the face, she's usually very attractive) as her sunburnt arms had little white creases at the elbows where they didn't get any sun!
Maybe she's incapable of not grimacing when a camera comes out?
If we were to do another outdoor event we'd both start crafting earlier and sit outside the entrance. People didn't seem to want to come into the gazebo if we were sat in to one side but they were happy to go in past us and have a browse knowing we wouldn't be breathing down their necks giving them the hard sell.
We sold a couple of items but over all it was a disappointing affair. From our vantage point near the entrance/exit we didn't see many people carrying bags or purchases. We spotted about 6 or 7 people carrying sock monkeys and a few people carrying frames so the sock monkey and art stalls obviously did ok.
Leigh was around the corner and further along slightly than us and said that she'd noticed the same that there wasn't much money changing hands. I guess most people just didn't see anything they wanted to buy or were the 'day out' crew.
We met some lovely people and had some great chats with some customers. Hopefully some of them have found their way here so...helloooooo!!!
The fair started at 10am and finished at 6pm and we were a little disappointed that the organiser didn't find the time to just pop round and ask how we were getting on considering it was our first fair or even to have a look at our stall. It seemed unusual but maybe I'm too much of a control freak that I'd have to go see what everyone's selling!
By the time we got home at 8pm ish we were all so tired that we sat and grunted at each other for an hour (following a dinner of breakfast cereal) before climbing the mountainous staircase to bed. I was totally looking forward to my 8am lie in this morning.....Sunday mornings have never been so fabulous!
Anyone else have a disappointing experience on their first fair?
So now you're in the zone of where we were when we saw the weather forecast for the following day's enormous amount of rain. Um. Yup. Great.
Ok, so THE BIG DAY has dawned and it's raining. 6am and we were kind of blurry eyed but up and awake and dressed in our setting up clothes. My BFF Stacey arrives and we load up both of our cars with
Anyway, so my first reaction to the festival was 'oh, it's smaller than I had thought'. But as it was hammering down and we only had an hour and half to set up we got right to it with the gazebo. With sides. That when the wind blew brought in a wave of rain water. The roof of the gazebo was leaking, the sides were leaking, it was muddy underneath and we were all pretty soaked.
We ended up leaving 80% of our stock in the car as it was just so wet that it was pointless putting it out to get ruined. People just didn't wanna see wet and muddy things! But then...a few prayers later by 11am the rain slowly stopped and patches of blue sky were reported. I was fairly convinced it was a rumour but then I saw them myself...hurrah!
I hot footed it back to the carpark to bring out some more stock while Dusband (nicknamed our health and safety officer as we may have died from falling equipment if it hadn't been for him!) pegged the gazebo, did the guy ropes etc, etc.
Here's our tent with it all set out. Still less than we'd planned and things not quite 100% but better.
It was super windy and our gazebo took off at one point! Lucky we found some extra pegs to secure it.
Our lovely outfits meanwhile were left abandoned in the car and we stayed in our jeans and wellies for most of the day. Never mind, wellies go with everything right?
Lizzie got to crocheting and after a while I got my t shirts out to start making tarn (T shirt yarn) ready to weave myself a rag rug on the hula hoop. I forgot to take pics of me starting so the tutorial will have to wait until I finish so I can re start for the pics!
Lizzie obviously spent too long in this position (ignore the face, she's usually very attractive) as her sunburnt arms had little white creases at the elbows where they didn't get any sun!
Maybe she's incapable of not grimacing when a camera comes out?
If we were to do another outdoor event we'd both start crafting earlier and sit outside the entrance. People didn't seem to want to come into the gazebo if we were sat in to one side but they were happy to go in past us and have a browse knowing we wouldn't be breathing down their necks giving them the hard sell.
We sold a couple of items but over all it was a disappointing affair. From our vantage point near the entrance/exit we didn't see many people carrying bags or purchases. We spotted about 6 or 7 people carrying sock monkeys and a few people carrying frames so the sock monkey and art stalls obviously did ok.
Leigh was around the corner and further along slightly than us and said that she'd noticed the same that there wasn't much money changing hands. I guess most people just didn't see anything they wanted to buy or were the 'day out' crew.
We met some lovely people and had some great chats with some customers. Hopefully some of them have found their way here so...helloooooo!!!
The fair started at 10am and finished at 6pm and we were a little disappointed that the organiser didn't find the time to just pop round and ask how we were getting on considering it was our first fair or even to have a look at our stall. It seemed unusual but maybe I'm too much of a control freak that I'd have to go see what everyone's selling!
By the time we got home at 8pm ish we were all so tired that we sat and grunted at each other for an hour (following a dinner of breakfast cereal) before climbing the mountainous staircase to bed. I was totally looking forward to my 8am lie in this morning.....Sunday mornings have never been so fabulous!
Anyone else have a disappointing experience on their first fair?
Yeah, so, I need to work on my blog titles...
Anyway, this one's for you Polly.
Gather your supplies:
So, in short, cans, paint, lace & glue.
Good. Ready?
1) Look at can of primer and ask husband if he thinks you really need to prime tin cans first. He will probably answer in the negative. Put primer back in un-shed. (Or shed if you have a real shed.)
2) Spray paint your cans. Yes....thin coats are better....the blue can I used thick coats and it's run.
3) Pick cans up from the inside to photograph them for your blog remembering to collect some tiny paper cut type cuts to torture you for the entire next day. Check!
4) Wait impatiently for it to dry. I suggest painting just before Kidz club so that by the time you get home from Kidz club you're too tired to think about decorating them and end up leaving them to dry overnight in the un-shed.
5) Hot glue around the top of the inside of the can because you've now discovered the tiny cuts that the sharp insides have given you. Decide it looks a bit pre-school and stick beads into just warm glue. Alternatively you could stick a bit of ribbon around it in a wonky fashion as I did on the second can. (I forgot to take a pic, you can imagine this step).
6) Get your piece of lace ready to glue and lay your can down 'stabilised' by something either side. As it happened my lace was exactly the size of my cans....dunno how but it wasn't planned!
7) Run a line of hot glue around the top and stick your lace on. I think I must have been reading too much agaagg....I rarely use my glue gun usually...honest!
8) When you get to the end, trim your lace to just slightly overlap and glue it down. I also glued down the side of the over flap (?) to stop it flapping around like a ...urm...flappy thing.
9) Add every single mature pen you have and take photos for you to admire at a later date! (Or share on your blog)
These will be stepping in as 'pen holder' and 'crochet hook holder' at our craft fair in Caerleon on Saturday...I'll take pics of them in situ!
Anyway, this one's for you Polly.
Gather your supplies:
- Empty & Clean tin cans (careful for sharp edges!)
- Can of primer that you won't need but it's in the pics
- Small can of spray paint
- Some lace or something purdy
- Hot glue, normal glue or....ok, just glue.
 |
| Ignore the tub behind which has precisely 2 dwarf lavender plants inside and approximately 1 gazillion weeds! |
So, in short, cans, paint, lace & glue.
Good. Ready?
1) Look at can of primer and ask husband if he thinks you really need to prime tin cans first. He will probably answer in the negative. Put primer back in un-shed. (Or shed if you have a real shed.)
2) Spray paint your cans. Yes....thin coats are better....the blue can I used thick coats and it's run.
3) Pick cans up from the inside to photograph them for your blog remembering to collect some tiny paper cut type cuts to torture you for the entire next day. Check!
 |
| See, told you it had run |
5) Hot glue around the top of the inside of the can because you've now discovered the tiny cuts that the sharp insides have given you. Decide it looks a bit pre-school and stick beads into just warm glue. Alternatively you could stick a bit of ribbon around it in a wonky fashion as I did on the second can. (I forgot to take a pic, you can imagine this step).
6) Get your piece of lace ready to glue and lay your can down 'stabilised' by something either side. As it happened my lace was exactly the size of my cans....dunno how but it wasn't planned!
8) When you get to the end, trim your lace to just slightly overlap and glue it down. I also glued down the side of the over flap (?) to stop it flapping around like a ...urm...flappy thing.
9) Add every single mature pen you have and take photos for you to admire at a later date! (Or share on your blog)
These will be stepping in as 'pen holder' and 'crochet hook holder' at our craft fair in Caerleon on Saturday...I'll take pics of them in situ!
