I am leaving wordpress for good
Hello readers!
The time has come to say goodbye to WordPress. I know I only stayed here for a year and I have not shared many things with your but I am taking you to very exciting places. From now on you will be able to find me @ my own personalized page….
www.littlehandsdreams.com
Please click above link and it will automatically re direct you to my new page. I am exploring new pastures and hopefully this will be more fun for you and for me.
Those who follow me can do it as well through the new page of otherwise you also have Facebook…. no reason not to follow in order to keep up with all my new products and adventures.
Thank you for reading me
Emma
Changing from WordPress to Blogger?
Hello all those who read me…
I have been quite busy thinking about changing from WordPress to Blogger as I don’t have the means to pay for a made to measure blog page therefore in a few weeks to come I will be announcing my decision and possibly the new page…
Until then, stay tuned!
Thank you
Emma
Guest Post: Magdalena Marsden @ Cocoa & Heart
I was fortunate to meet Emma at a craft fair in November 2011, in Hall Place, Bexley. The fair has been running for the last 11 years and is the biggest Christmas Fair (with a free entry to visitors) in Bexley Borough.
Each year, the fair is getting bigger in terms of stall holders and can attract over 2000 people each day. The fair is open both Saturday and Sunday and usually falls on second weekend in November.
The selection of crafts is mixed and the organisers do try to have a variety of different crafts there. Unfortunately, not everything is handmade by the stall holders and the quality of finishes varies from stall to stall. But that just means there is something for everyone.
I attend this Christmas Fair each year and always try to think how to improve what I do from year to year. This year, I completely revamped my craft stall, which was getting a bit tatty.
We recently renovated an old Victorian House and I had some lovely paint left over. My hard work paid off and the stall seemed to have attracted lots of visitors on the day. Emma liked the stall as well and that is how we met.
(picture of the stall)
I have been crafting ever since I can remember and most of my presents, that I gave, were usually made by me. I love working with fabric and designing my next decoration or a toy, but also like paper crafting and baking. Over the years I had a go at most crafts (with various degrees of success or failure, in some cases!), but I would always come back to sewing.
I would not say, that I am an experienced craft stall holder, but over the years I have visited and taken part in quite a few. What is great is there is a definitive move for younger people taking up various crafts and exhibiting. This brings a really different take on the traditional crafts. More generally, people are more appreciative of handcrafted goods and want to support it. They also understand, that to produce something by hand, not only takes a considerable time, but also skill and patience.
People often politely comment, that my work is ‘unusual’. So far, it’s a mystery to me, what they actually mean by this. I like to re-use fabric, so most of my work combines both new and old fabric. I play with the material until I am completely happy with it and it matches the image in my head, that I created for the project.
Here is some of my work….
As I am coming to the end of my little ramblings, I would like to thank Emma for encouraging me to start blog and Facebook page. I was heading directly for setting up my website, but I now love the idea of blogging and have met already lots of long-lost friends on the Facebook.
Have a peep at:
www. facebook.com/cocoaandheart
http://cocoaandheart.blogspot.com
All the best for New Year 2012 and keep crafting!
Magdalena
At last, update on the Craft Fair
After all the festivities and time off (but no rest) we are now back to normal and getting ready to resume all “obligations” including the blog. As promised to those who did not manage to attend and those who made it on the day here are some pictures of Julia (a friend of mine) and Little Hands Dreams stand on our first craft fair @ Woodlands Farm.
First of all my apologies on the quality of the picture. Sorry Malvina, you will have to come for the next fair… We were very lucky as the weather was on our side, therefore we will not raise many complaints. Those who live or have lived in London know what I am talking about.
The day started quite well as we got to the Farm on time and all the stall holders were rumbling around and preparing for the event. I had made a tablecloth for the stall but at my arrival we realized that the table they had appointed us was not the one we measured. Don’t worry! It all ended well as we managed to shift some tables around and Emma was a Happy Bunny again!
As you can see we had a variety of products. Julia, after some convincing of mine (who can resist!), agreed to make some bits and pieces for the day. She made this lovely product called “Smelly Cats”…. yes! No! Not the one from Friends…
Have a look below ” the variety she had…
These little cute decorations were filled with lavender, hence “the smelly”… She also made some knitted stockings and lovely cashmere arm warmers.
If you are interested in any of her products please feel free to contact Julia by email on knittedbubble@yahoo.co.uk and order, order, order….
On my side I had some woolly hats (only 2 left but already working on some more), aprons for our little masterchefs, very practical dummy holders, potty training mats (in case of any accidents), hair clips, a few taggies and my animal pillows.
Look at these!
I am already preparing for my next Craft fair (hopefully in November).
Soon I will be sharing a guest post from a lovely lady I met, while visiting the Craft Fair I would like to expose my produce this year. But all that and more to come…therefore, stay tuned….and thank you for reading!
Emma
Table sale update
Well, as excited as I was, we prepared all our bits and pieces for that day, Sunday 27th November, as advertised here.
I just wanted to share some ideas with you all…
1- Next time remind me to make more wintry hats and stuff like that, all in all make your produce depending on the time of the year. All my hats have nearly gone… 2 remaining!
2- Choose a venue with interior stands. We were outside and even though the sun was shinning towards us, you will be able to notice from the pics, it was quite cold.
3- Also in addition to number 2, choose a venue with cash point facilities… Clients will spend and buy more…
Please come back in the next few days to see some pics and some of the produce that will go for sale on Etsy, if no one else is interested in buying before.
Look what I found…..!
As I was browsing the net and looking at this blog called Chic Choc Charme I was actually reading the post of the 24th of October when I clicked on the link and I saw this lovely collection.
I completely fell in love with every single piece of clothing.
Here are some pictures….
Pictures by Hucklebones.
Go check out their web and blog
My dream is to be able to make this type of clothes for our little ones…. After the Christmas Fair mentioned here I will start working on my very own collection.
Enjoy all the links and I hope you like them as much as I did.
Emma
Christmas Craft Fair
Little Hands Dreams is going to have it’s first stand/stall/table…however you wish to call….
It all started when a good friend of mine sent me an email to advise me that a farm near home was holding a Fair before Christmas. I thought…this is it….I have to be there to see if my idea of selling my products is really good or I have to forget about having my house in a mess because of my overflowing creative side and my lack of time… If u see what I mean!
Because of all the above I am working at a very speedy pace to be able to cover every corner of the 6″ table.
Deadline is 26th November as due date is 27th November…. I am writing as if I was pregnant!
This is the same as if I was expecting a baby: preparation and organisation is a must, even though you know you are never 100 per cent ready… All you mums that had babies know what I mean
The other day I was reading the following post about market stalls in this lovely blog called Bugs and Fishes and this Lady gives very good advice on what to do & what to avoid when you have your own stall. Therefore thank you to Ruth, you can see her blog here.
Anyway, here are all the detail of the event:
The woodlands Farm Trust : CHRISTMAS FAIR
Sunday 27th November 2011
Times – 11.00 am / 3.00 pm
331 Shooters Hill, Welling
You can check the farm website out here
See you all there. Emma
Papier Mache Letters: Aoife
I keep writing now with all the bits I have been doing in the past months.
This story started when a colleague of mine showed me a site where they were selling some painted paper-mache letters and I said: Oh that is easy to make! Therefore as a result I had my first commissioned piece…
Have you ever felt that way? : Can you believe it, someone wants me to make something for their little girl’s bedroom! Wauw!
There I went to the shops to buy the letters, choose the paint, some stickers and some other bits for the decoration. I was not sure this was the way the “client” (oh yes I had a client!) wanted the letters to be decorated. As you can imagine, while I was doing them, many questions came through my mind… is she going to like them, more important is her daughter going to like them, are the colours right, what are they going to think about what I made? I should have done this that way, I could have done that the other way… Many things.
But finally the day to give out the commission approached and this is the result:
I am very happy with the result. Some letters have been painted and others have been covered with Decopatch paper. The finish is very neat and looks like a very shiny varnish.
The above letters is what sent me into the rush to do other things and I then made the Letters mentioned on this post.
If anyone would like to get some tips on how to make this, send me an email, or if you prefer someone else to do them for you, also let me know and, I will be glad to prepare something special for you precious one.
Have a lovely evening.
Emma
Xmas
Already preparing for Xmas? I could say yes & no. I am trying to prepare but not for my home decor. Instead I am thinking of other people’s homes as I am making some things for sale (that will hopefully be sold…)
Here is a sneak peek of what I have been making.
The whole idea came as I was talking to a colleague at work and she commissioned something for her daughter’s bedroom (will not go into much details as I will prepare a post for that story). Therefore I though I will be preparing for Xmas already!
My aim is to make a load of things and try to attend a crafts’ fair, get a table and sell, sell, sell… Therefore if anyone knows of any famous fair (or not so famous) around London, then please leave a comment.
I hope you like it!
Bibs: Part 2
Well! Really sorry for the silence during all these months but I have been dealing with some stuff & making quite a few things that I will be showing you in the next few days… I wrote a post some time ago about the same subject and here is my little brand new collection of BIBS. I hope you like them.
The birdie
The Heart
The Apple
The Clouds
The Star
The Flower
…and the Wiggle
And the whole collection…
I hope you like them…
Emma
