Autumn - A great time for Crafting

Hi there everyone 😀

In the great scheme of things I'm fairly new to Facebook, only finally taking the plunge and joining back in 2014. I'd really hung back from joining, finding it hard to understand the appeal and, for some reason, it scared me just a little bit. Did I really want the world to be able to look into and comment on my life?

The driver for me finally signing up was my hair dresser of the time. I'd shown her the stuff I was making in the earliest days of Hand Made at Number 27 and she asked me how she could buy from me. She bought this owl fabric tooth fairy pillow from me, whilst I was in the salon, and was actually the first person to buy something I'd made that wasn't a friend or a member of the family ...

She was just so encouraging ... At the time I was trying to sell on Etsy but hadn't had any interest at all. She said I just had to get on Facebook ... it was where all the mums she knew were and where they looked for the kind of hand made stuff that I was making.

So I bit the bullet and created a Facebook account and set up my Hand Made at Number 27 page. It was so exciting seeing my friends following my page and even more so when people started liking it who I didn't even know.

I'm not looking to make a load of money from making stuff, but I do love crafting and needed an outlet for the end result. My aim really was for it to pay for itself, which it is doing. I've also had lots of really lovely feedback from people who have bought from me and that is really motivating.

Setting up the Facebook page was definitely the right way to go for me and I get a fair amount of interest on the majority of things that I post and I now have just over 300 followers, which I'm really happy with. It allows me to carry on making stuff, making enough sales to cover my costs, without lots of stress of having to make things in volume to short deadlines.

So now I'd best get to the point of this post ... Autumn being a good time for crafting ...

Well, when I joined Facebook I also signed up to Timehop, which provides memories over a period of time and this was what came up one day this week ...
This was last year and I was going hell for leather making up all kinds of things for Christmas craft fairs. Beeswax wraps and reusable face cleansing pads have both done really well over the last year and were made as a result of me trying to reduce my use of single use things like cling film and cotton wool pads ... it seems that there are lots of other people trying this too.

This next memory was from 2017 when I had a go at hand making some of my Christmas gifts ...
I crocheted this tea cosy for my good friend Lesley and it's the one and only one that I have, or intend to, make ... it was definitely a labour of love.

In 2016 I made a fair few of these paper cut frames ...
This next picture is from 2015 ...
I remember taking these Christmas decoration hearts away with me to Thorpe in The Peak District on our week's holiday, where I added bows and ribbons ...
The photo for 2014 takes me back to one of my very first makes ...

A stretchy glass beaded bracelet, made for my youngest God Daughter for Christmas ... in fact everyone I knew was given these for Christmas that year.

It's funny looking back at both the quality of the photographs and the quality of what I was making back then. When it comes to bracelets I moved away from the glass beads as they were painted and after time the colour rubbed off on some of them. I also found a better way of hanging the charms and I definitely upped my game on the photograph side ...

So, has Autumn been a good time for crafting this year too? Of course it has. There's no better way to fill a damp and miserable afternoon than by sitting at the dining room table, surrounding by all kinds of bits and pieces and turning them into something useful or beautiful ... or both ...

I've had a go at marking cards with fabric and free motion machine embroidery ...
More cards with words of positive affirmation ...
Christmas decorations ...
Plenty of beeswax wraps ...
... and reusable face wipes ...
... and as tradition would have it ... I will be aiming to have another Christmas gift tag making session whilst we are away later this month ... not sure we will make this many this year though ...
So there you go ... Autumn ... it really is a great time for crafting, so if you're feeling at a loose end, a bit lower than normal or just generally fed up with the dull and dreary weather ...  have a go at creating something. Doesn't have to be anything too taxing ... bake a cake, make a new cushion cover, have a go at making some cards ... anything. Make it for yourself or make it as a gift. Make it from scratch or make it from a kit. In my view there is nothing as rewarding as standing back and looking at something that you created yourself. Go on ... give it a go 😀

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