2019 - A Year in Crafts

Hi there everyone 😀

I know I've shared bits and pieces of the things that I've made over the course of the year, both here and on Facebook, with some on my Hand Made at Number 27 page. I thought it would be nice to just bring them all together again for a bit of an annual round up ...

January to March
It's always nice and quiet for Hand Made at Number 27 in January so it's a good time to have a go at making something just for me. I decided that I would finally have a go at making something with mosaic and made a start at my January craft group and I'm really pleased with how it turned out ...
Inspired by my first attempt it wasn't long before I had another go ... this time it was more of a recycling project, using old tiles ...
There were also a couple of sewing days, making up plenty of reusable facewipes and peg bags for stock, another session making up beeswax wraps and a gorgeous snuggly baby blanket for a customer who had bought a sensory blanket from me in 2018 ...

April - June
The second quarter of the year was a busy one on the crafting front. With craft fairs on the horizon it was time to get busy making up lots of our best selling items ... more beeswax wraps and reusable face wipes, which have sold like hot cakes right across the year ... I'm really pleased that both of my best selling items are in line with our journey to zero waste ... long may it continue ...
As well as the popular old favourites I got to have a go a few new bits and pieces too ... some 'men's shirt' bunting, some little house key rings, where I had the chance to try out free motion machine embroidery and another two mosaic hearts ...
April saw our first of a number of craft fairs that we attended across the course of the year ...
Exciting news from my good friends, who became grandparents in the spring was another good cause for getting the sewing machine out ... and in May we were all delighted to welcome Emma Holly to the World ...
There was a bit of button art ...
... and time to have a go at something new for me, which didn't end up working out that well. It looked fine, but the soap bag just wouldn't dry out after use and using soap in the shower just left such a mess that it was abandoned as soon as it was started ... definitely a bit of a zero waste fail for us there ...
There was a totally unexpected and random order that I picked up from someone putting a call out on our local 'Spotted ...' Facebook page ...
Inspired by the Great British Sewing Bee I thought I'd have a go at making something to wear ... I think the least said about this project the better ...

And finally for this quarter ... do you remember this? Well it's been an ongoing project for about two years now but there was a bit of a spurt of progress ...


July to September
This quarter started off with a button art order picked up from our visit to the Lullington Open Gardens event with the craft stall, where we were blessed with glorious weather for a lovely couple of days ...
As seems to becoming the theme there were plenty more beeswax wraps and reusable face wipes made up ...
I tried a few new bits ... including fabric bookmarks ...
and ... after having fallen in love with all thing William Morris following a visit to Whitwick Manor ... I had another go at free motion machine embroidery when making these simple gift cards ...
There was time for me to finally make up some home made dish cloths for the kitchen ...
And ... though it seemed early ... it was time to start getting ready with a few Christmas makes ...

October to December
After our three week break on the Isle of Wight this quarter started off with some more card making ... this time using some positive 'self-affirmation' papers that I'd had free with a magazine ... trimmed up with bits of lace or ribbon. I'm really pleased with how professional they ended up looking ...
It was then time to start making for Christmas craft fairs in earnest ...

There were a couple of short notice Scrabble frame gifts made up which I don't seem to have photographed, along with a Christmas gift for Baby Emma ...
There were lots more beeswax wraps and reusable face wipes, including some larger sized ones, which continued to sell really well and are still doing so into 2020 ...
There were the regular Christmas gift tags, which are always popular ...
... and I added matching bookmarks to my William Morris cards ...
There was a bit of a last minute rush on Scrabble name tags ...
For me there was the 2020 calendar ...
... and my first ever Christmas wreath, made at the last craft group of the year ...
My very last crafty make of the year came in that quiet period between Christmas and New year when we finally decided to have a go at doing something with the candle ends we'd been saving across the year. We built up the courage to make some new candles and, whilst not perfect, we were both pretty pleased with how they turned out ...

Looking back I have been quite surprised at how much crafting I have actually done. I consciously decided not to do quite as much this year, concentrating more on attending monthly craft fairs than trying to sell on Facebook and it has actually gone pretty well.

I'm really pleased that my most popular makes for Hand Made at Number 27 are showing that more people are starting to think more about reusable options to replace single use and I love the fact that there has been a little bit of recycling in the mix too.

It's also nice to see that I've had chance to try a few new makes from my ever increasing list of things I'd like to have a go at ... as well as making a few bits for myself.

We are already booked in for plenty of craft fairs across the year for 2020 so I'm sure it will be another productive and crafty year 😀 I can't wait to get cracking!

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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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2018 - A Year in Crafts

Hi there everyone 😀

I was looking back through the photographs of what I made last year on my iPad and, whilst a fair amount have been shared over the course of the year, I thought it might be nice to just bring them all together for a bit of an annual round up ...

January to March
The first three months of the year are typically slow with orders for Hand Made at Number 27, though I did have a trickle of bits and pieces to keep me busy ...
I crocheted four sloths for an order and they really were a labour of love. They may be tiny, but they certainly aren't quick to make 😀

I also had two orders for box frames, one for a new baby girl and one as a family gift.

Towards the end of the Spring I started to have a go at some new makes for the craft fairs that we were planning on attending throughout the year including my first attempt ever at applique ...

Some generic button art heart frames ...

A batch of sensory taggy blankets ...

And ... after a number of attempts ... these little birdies ...

April - June

May and June were fairly busy with craft fairs. We attended our first fair at the Hoar Park Shopping Village in May and we were also out at the Armitage Village day and Lullington Open Gardens in June ...

Consequently most of my makes through April and May were to make sure we had plenty of stock to display including a brand new funky range of peg bags, which completely sold out at Lullington ...

More taggy blankets and my first play with pom poms ...

Appliqued hoops and fold up shoppers ...

And a stack of lavender hearts ...

In spite of all the time spent at and preparing for craft fairs I did manage to complete a pair of sensory taggy blankets as a special order ...

As well as a few bits for myself ...

I also managed to fit in my first morning at my local craft group in May, where I worked a bit more on a crocheted blanket that I have had on the go for quite some time...

July - September

These three months certainly gave me plenty to go at with another couple of craft fairs on the calendar and a steady flow of custom orders starting with these memory cushions that I was asked to make for a friend ...

I also had a fair few orders for personalised frames ... for weddings, teacher thank you gifts and a memory of a beloved pet no longer with us ...

And, even though it was only July it was time to get started on this year's Christmas makes ... some new things for 2018 and some old favourites ...

There was also time for a few projects for me too ... including my flamingo cross stitch phone case ...

... the recovering of our old and faithful footstool ...

... and a patch of crocheted pumpkins ready for my autumn mantel ...

October - December

In October we were really starting to get into our journey to less waste and I had my first attempt at making beeswax wraps, which ended up being very popular in the run up to Christmas ...

Another less waste make were these sets of reusable face cleansing pads ...

I completed a large sensory blanket for a customer who had bought from me before, which she absolutely loved ...

I didn't make many of my own Christmas gifts but I did make this matching pairs game for the little man, which turned out really well ... 

I also made him this cute little robot fabric drawstring bag to hold his toy robots ...

There were a few more bits made for a Christmas craft fair that we attended ...

And I finished off the year with an embroidery session for me in readiness for the Spring ...

Looking back I can't quite believe how many different things I've made and how many new crafts I've had a go at this year. It's been lovely to make things for our own home and garden and I really want to do more of that this year.

We do have more craft fair plans for 2019 but I want to make sure that my crafting never becomes a chore. For 2018 it seemed to work out just right ... Just enough to keep me busy doing something I love but not so busy that I've had to struggle with the pressures of deadlines ... after all, I am retired 😀

Here's to lots more crafting in 2019 😀

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