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Monday 5 December 2011

Sudbury Christmas Market - some lovely things!

This weekend I was at Sudbury Hall - a National Trust property near Uttoxeter - where they held a Christmas market over the weekend. Luckily for me, it turned out to be nicely busy!
 I usually display a range of products - some are bought-in wholesale gifts and others are my own handmade items (I don't think I could make enough stock to fill a whole table!) and I have to say that it was the 'bought-in' things that sold more than anything else. I do think that it has a lot to do with the fact that people seem to be being quite careful with their money this year and the imported, mass produced goods are obviously much cheaper than good quality handmade ones. However, it's not all doom and gloom - I did sell a good few of my wooden plaques, knitted boots, crochet toys etc. so I'm happy :-)

I was lucky enough to share the marquee with some very talented and lovely crafters so I thought I'd share some photos with you. Sorry that the quality of the photos is so awful - I used my phone, and I blame the fact that it was so cold that my hands must have been shaking too much!

Well, you know what a fan I am of cute needlefelted critters - imagine how inspiring it was to find these on the stall next to mine! They are amazing aren't they? All made by the very clever Sarah at Two Fat Hens

Needlefelted teddy bears
 It was also lovely to catch up with Naomi from Doveridge Crafts who sells Decopatch materials and also makes her own gorgeous items - check out this chair!

Decopatch chair in progress
 I love the way the paper blends so well with the colour of the wood - what a lovely way to make a piece of furniture really special. I couldn't resist a closer shot...!


Love the knitted hearts too!
 Being a birdwatcher in a previous life, it didn't take me long to spot these little lovelies - which I recognised from HWR Designs because I've admired them on Etsy! It was so nice to meet Helen, and I can now put a face to all the tweets (no pun intended!). I know what I'm going to be saving up for now... a whole menagerie of these little birds!


Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!!!
 And last but not least, here are some beautiful wooden ornaments from Diane at An Eggcup Full of Whiskers - sorry but I don't have a website address for her! These are made from reclaimed wood - can you guess what they were in a previous life?


Lovely, simple wooden ornaments
 Well, believe it or not Diane gets a lot of her wood from old pallets!! What a great way to recycle an everyday (and let's be honest, rather ugly) piece of wood.

So there you are - a lovely, inspiring weekend. Thank you to everyone who chatted to me, and especially to the stallholders who let me take photos of their fabulous products!
Now go and visit Handmade Monday to see what everyone else has been up to - see you next time :-)

9 comments:

  1. Glad to hear you did well at your fair. Have been reading a very mixed bag of reactions to how other people have gotten on at their ones. Hugs Mrs A.

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  2. Glad you had a great weekend fair - we've been busy here in Winchester too. Great pics.

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  3. Glad the craft fair went well for you. The little teddies are gorgeous as are the other items. You were surrounded by lovely things! Mich :)

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  4. Some brilliant photos and links. Will check them all out when I have more time x

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  5. It really is great when you work with other good artisans... love the wooden toys. Am glad it was a good fair for you :)

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  6. I'm glad the fair went well for you, I love those little birds too, very pretty. x

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  7. What a fun sample of things! The little bears make me want to run right out and learn to needle felt! And the chair...well I need to learn to do that right now too! Everything is just gorgeous! :) Thank you for sharing.

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  8. Some lovely items, I love meeting new people at these fairs, they are usually a friendly bunch, I'm glad you done well :o).

    Jan x

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  9. what a lovely lot of goodies - I've not done a craft fair yet but I am quite inspired by seeing your pictures

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