Sunday 18 December 2011

My First Craft Fair

I was recently asked to participate in a charity Craft Fair to raise money for the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice in Farnham. Although I'd never done a craft fair before, I thought it was about time I did, and how can I refuse when the money raised is for such a good cause?

Everyone made me feel very welcome when I arrived, and there was a steady flow of people visiting all the stalls throughout the day.    I tried to explain to people who visited my stall that because I make the jewellery by hand myself, to just ask if they didn't see something they liked and I'd try to make it for them.  Or if they liked something but would prefer a different colour, I'd be equally happy to go away and make it for them.

One lady really understood this concept, and asked whether I could make some "treble clef" earrings for a music-lover.   I told her I'd never tried to make treble clefs before, but I was happy to give it a shot!  She was really happy with the result (and so was I!):



I was incredibly pleased with the amount of interest my little craft stall received, and happy that the hospice benefitted from it.  The "best seller" of the day, was the set of "Christmas Angel" earrings in silver (pictured).  (Two ladies both wanted the last pair at the same time!):


It was a great atmosphere and I may be inspired to participate in other craft fairs in future ... watch this space :-)

Saturday 3 December 2011

CraftsLink

I recently joined a website I found that displays and promotes hand crafted items.  It was called CraftsLink and it promotes and shares the work of artists from various niches, whether they are in business or doing it as a hobby.  I've since discovered it is a lovely community to be a part of, and it feels like it has potential for even better things to come.  

This morning I was pleasantly surprised to find that my profile on CraftsLink was currently their "Bio of the Week!"  Thank you to everyone involved in CraftsLink for being so supportive of my new venture.  I'm really happy to be a part of this community, and hope there are other crafters out there who are inspired to do the same.



If you want to find out more about CraftsLink, they also have a blog so you can keep up with the latest news.   There is of course also a Facebook CraftsLink community and Twitter too!  Keep up the great work guys  :-)

Thursday 1 December 2011

NCT Raffle Prizes

It's been over a year since I gave birth to my baby girl, and the time has gone so quickly.  The pregnancy itself was abnormally difficult, and there were long periods where I was bedridden and unable to move without help.  But of course, as every parent knows, it was worth it.

The National Childbirth Trust provided me with a lot of support during that difficult time, and I was pleased to be able to give something back to them recently.  I created these two sets of earrings for a charity event they held in Basingstoke, and the earrings ended up being raffle prizes.   I think everyone had a good time!  I then offered identical earrings at a discount on my facebook page, and was surprised at just how quickly both pairs disappeared!



If you like these, you can find them for sale on the Inner Fyre website's charity page.