my favourite shops - christmas gift guide

I spend a lot of time on Etsy, and I have to say probably a lot of money too. It is hard being a seller because you find yourself amongst all this loveliness all the time! I have lots of handmade things so I thought I would share with you some of my favourite sellers, just in time for Christmas!

Moo Cow Hand Knits

not only is moo awesome but she also knits the best! I have one of her oatmeal drop stitch scarves, a beautiful purple swing top , rose corsages and a cuddly cowl neck jumper. She also handknitted a beaded purple wrap for my wedding, and I have just ordered some pumpkin coloured armwarmers too! I have more moo things than I thought I did!

ffflowers
Fabulous fabric flowers!

A cute little orange spice flower adorns my windowsill in the living room and some ffflowers nearly always find their way amongst my christmas shopping. I have a tendency to kill every plant that I own, I have so far only kept one alive for about 3 years, with about a dozen being killed in that time, so I much prefer these because they always look fresh and nice. Helen also makes little brooches, ooh and hairpins.

Sweet Treats Bakery

Yummmmyyyy!
The yummiest foodie shop on Etsy. I have some smoked salted caramels winging their way to me right now, they aren't for a gift, I'm keeping them! I have bought their marshmallows before and they are to die for, the lemon meringue in particular. Go stock up on sweet things, I want to dunk my head in their caramel sauce.

Ink Me Up

Beautiful hand drawings turned into prints, lavendar bags and totes. I have a litle chicky drawing, a wren print and an avocet print, all beautiful! These are really well received gifts for bird lovers and the new kitties, chickens and foxes are cute!

Asking for Trouble

Pure cute! I have bought notebooks as gifts before and the little book marks, and cards. I love the Jammy Dodger mug!

Quercus Silver

I couldn't not include Su, she made my wedding ring! I really ought to buy some more of her jewellery, I love the juicy colours and also the simple silver work. I have my eye on some of her gold work too.

I hope you've found something lovely here and will shop handmade this Christmas, I am! :)

UK Silly Sale!

Today Etsy sellers in the UK are running lots of special offers in our shops in the name of silliness and bargains!

I will have FREE SHIPPING in my Etsy shop along with a $10 sale section too!

Everything in my shop has free shipping and here is a peek of the $10 sale:

A very good time to stock up on Christmas gifts or to treat yourself before Christmas present buying begin.

All prices are amended and free shipping applied.

You can also search 'UK Silly Sale' on Etsy to find other bargains from my lovely UK friends.

Happy Shopping!

Back from holiday!

I have neglected the blog somewhat, I've been back from my hols for 4 days now!

We had a fantastic time in Somerset with gorgeous weather.

Lots more pictures on my Flickr account which you can find here

I'll be catching up on some blogging this week too, two new recipes and some lovely handmade finds might find their way in!

Hope you are having a lovely summer :)

xx

Folksy!

Recently I have been introduced to a new site, Folksy, a UK website for handmade goods which is in its infancy. Whilst I love Etsy it is great to have a UK online presence which allows my customers to pay in UK pounds.

I have spent a bit of time on Folksy this evening and I have listed a few items, more to be added during the week.

My Folksy Shop

Catching up.

I love popcorn, proper homemade rather than the bags you put in the microwave (which always end up in you burning your hand on a jet of steam when you take it out).

We often used to make it with my Mum when we were small . I've not had it for a while so I looked in the cupboard and found a bottle of maple syrup - perfect combo! Its lovely this way as the syrup easily coats most of the popcorn and of course it tastes unbelievable.

There are many other ways of making it requiring melting chocolate and baking in the oven with nuts, it is something I am researching heavily!

In other news (I shouldn't dedicate a whole blog post to popcorn really) I've recently opened a shop on Folksy - a new UK site for handmade goods, which is in its early stages but is looking great already. For my UK customers, you can pay in GBP here rather than USD over on Etsy. Please take a look at my shop here

I also have a great new website, and a banner to match, I hope you like it!

A week to go..

Well actually less..

Its a week until the We Make craft fair in London, which I will be exhibiting at!
Its my first craft fair so I am hoping it will be a success, mostly I am looking forward to meeting my customers, as so far I mostly sell my jewellery online.
I've been busily crafting away all weekend, and I have even turned my hand to some paper craft by making my own earring cards, which are a bit arduous but the results are lovely.

I am so happy with the amount of materials I have at the moment, I love having lots of beads and findings to work with it, although sometimes my best creations come out of trying to make something out of a few things that I have left over.

I am also keeping my shop alive too, even though I'm gearing up for the fair, I have recently added new items including almost edible strawberry and creamy butterscotch coloured necklace and earrings - delish!

Catch up blog!

I've been busy filling up my shop this week and playing around with snazzy cameras.. so this is a pictorial catch up!

Some new items:

Aqua - sterling silver earrings made with gorgeous sea blue trumpet beads

Spring Snow - milky white briolettes hung from sterling silver.

I had a go on an SLR camera the other day, sadly not mine to keep though, and i was so impressed with the pictures I might have to start saving up.

If you scroll down to a couple of entries ago there is a picture of some blossom in my garden, using my usual camera. Now look how it turned out using this SLR...

Amazing, the colours are so lovely, I might frame this.

I also got a Treasury this week and filled it with delicate and airy things to match the spring weather we've been having (at last!).


Hopefully i will be back soon with more new items! :)