I have never intended this site to be about much other than crafting and tea, but I did soemthing yesterday on another site that I really wanted to record here, just for a giggle.

Facebook (yes, I do!) has a facility which makes a collage of your year based on your status updates, and I thought mine just really captured a bit of ‘me’.  Here’s a little glimpse into that other world…

I’m embarrassed to say this post should have been written about a month ago!  But its been nonstop round here; craft fair, Christmas shopping, weekend in London and busy busy in the day job and I’m now stuck at home with a cold! 

So I thought what better time to write about the goodies I got in Yorkshire (all those weeks ago) while I’m sitting under a blanket with a cuppa.

I have two sets of loveliness to report.  I think I’ll start with tea.  I had been really excited about visiting Harrogate, not least because it is the home of Betty’s Cafe Tea Rooms!  Purely by coincidence (honest) we ended up parking just near Betty’s so headed there first.  As expected there was a long queue and everyone was saying there was up to a 45 minute wait.  It’s no secret that I love tea, but balanced with my hatred of queueing, I was not going to wait. We decided to have a look around Harrogate and return. 

After a good look around Harrogate, including trips to Duttons for Buttons and Cath Kidston (see below) we returned to find the queue just as long.  There was only one thing for it… pop into the bakery and take some goodies home.  Here are the things I got:

A lovely lemon cake, tomato and herb loaf, Betty’s Tea Room Blend tea and a cotton Betty’s bag to carry it all in.  Yum!

And then there was the Cath Kidstonshop.  I have never been in one of her dedicated shops before, only the section in Selfridges nearby at the Trafford Centre (which is virtually my local shops!).  I have never particularly thought of myself of a fan of Cath Kidston, but my heart did skip a happy beat when I saw all the colourful and flowery loveliness in the shop.  I just couldn’t resist.  I am ashamed to say I have yet to do anything with the lovely things I bought (back the the aforementioned busyness I guess).

So what did I get, well, a pretty little selection!

I got 2 pieces of gorgeous cotton print fabric (I had a really hard job choosing which ones as cotton print fabric is my favourite of favourites, especially little repeat prints), a set of matching tins, a little butterfly brooch and a little green glass salt and pepper pinch pot.

I plan to use the fabrics just for myself.  How selfish is that??!  I think I might crochet some cushion fronts and back them with these fabrics.

I must be getting into the Cath Kidston thing as I have since bought her Sew book too!  Not had the chance to make anything yet, but it comes with the pattern and fabric for the bag on the cover, so that seems like as good a place as any…

So here’s the problem…  I’m making lovely and intresting and pretty things as Christmas pressies but I can’t write about them here for fear of spoiling the surprise for their recipients. 

I’ll just need to wait until the new year and let it all out then, or a little sooner if you’re on my Christmas list!

This time last night I got home after my first ever craft fair, and was very glad of a seat and a cup of tea!  It was lots of fun and an interesting first outing for frou-frou!

The event was described as a having Craft and Gift stalls and overall there was actually very little craft and mine was one of only 2 or 3 with handmade and crafted items.  In fact, many stalls were (cheap) wholesale jewellery and hair things.  I don’t want to be too rude about them as everyone has their own reasons for being there, but it was hard to sell many of my things when there were trendier, cheaper and more sparkly things all around.  

After the cost of the table fee I didn’t come out with much, but it wasn’t about the money and at the end of the day I had my first experience of selling things I have laboured over and loved for a long, long time – and that was a great experience.  I think I learned a lot of what is most popular, and that is the cutesey and pretty girly things, in particular the butterflies and button hearts. I also think that an actual ‘craft’ fair would be much more appropriate for me and my goodies.

One thing I did realise is I need to add some more interest to my stall display.  I did have a few display items, but these were all at the back and quite tall.  The cake stand and sweetie jars worked well too, but the rest was very flat.  Also, because there was quite a lot of colour it all looked like quite a jumble, so maybe some streamlining would help too, or more colour themes.

Caveman was a great help as shifter, carrier and chief packaging operative!  At one point he said ‘You know, you’re really good at this’ which was a relief and lovely words of encouragement!!  It helps that a) I LOVE to chit chat and b) I knew every stitch of every item on that table!  It is a strange feeling putting yourself  ‘out there’, no matter how much you love your own work, it’s a risk in how it will be received.

If you like what you see, or want to buy anything as I have lots of stock left, drop me a line via my contact page, or you may see them on Folksy some time soon. 

Thanks to my lovely chums who came along for support! xx

I’ll leave you with some pictures…

And tomorrow is my first ever craft fair!  I’m so excited I can hardly think about anything else, despite having lots going on in the day job and Christmas itself, and all the associated craziness, looming large.

I think I’m all ready to go.  Tonight I’ve been packing things up and decided to use the gorgeous paper bags I have bought for the occasion.  If you want to know what’s inside them you’ll just need to come along!  OK, so I guess you’re not all local, so I’ll post some pics after tomorrow night.

Here are some of my little parcels containing the goodies I have been working hard on in the past few weeks, as well as those I’ve had stashed away awaiting their first public appearance!

I’ve also been working on my display.  I have a pink torso display, pink and white spotty cake stand, red flat metal Christmas tree, glass sweetie jars and pretty glass dishes. I also have some pink battery operated fairy lights.  Colours are largely red, pink and white.   Sounds ghastly doesn’t it?!!  However, I am sure it will be just the right balance of Christmasy, girly pink and and pretty, sweetie yumminess!