Wow Thank You: New website promoting UK handmade crafts launches

WowThankYou.co.uk, a new website celebrating handmade crafts and promoting the talents of artisans across the UK, launched this weekend.

With over 1,000 products currently on offer, many of which are one-off items, WowThankYou has been set up to encourage you to look beyond the high street and buy unique, home-grown, gifts instead.

Promoting the work of 230 small, often home-based, businesses and artisans – including Fi & Me - WowThankYou is providing an online outlet for artists and crafters who usually only sell through regional craft fairs.

WowThankYou has been set up by friends Tracey Kifford and Georgena Bowdidge who conceived the business concept after failing to find ‘different’ quality gifts online.

“Why import mass-produced goods when we have UK-based talent who put love and care into every item they make?,” say Tracey and Georgena.

Many items on the website utilise vintage materials and upcycling is actively encouraged and promoted – everything from reclaimed wood and recycled silver to designer keepsakes from cherished fabrics.

For more information see: http://www.wowthankyou.co.uk/ or follow them on Twitter @wowthankyou or Facebook.

Craft & Vintage Sunday

Myself and my lovely sister Fiona will be selling vintage inspired jewellery, crafts and beautifully illustrated cards and stationery at the Craft & Vintage Sunday on 28 February at Broadstone Mill in Reddish, Stockport.

These events will be happening on the last Sunday of every month and they seem to be growing in popularity with each one. It's really good to see something creative and entrepreneurial happening in our home town and we're very honoured to have been invited along!

There will be lots of unique handmade gifts to choose from and, what's more, you can talk to the people who made what you're buying - now, you don't get that on the high street, do you? Plus, you can get your hands on some one-off vintage bargains.

Doors open at 11am through until 4pm and admission is FREE!

Sponsor Me To Shine

I've never really been one for new year's resolutions; they're usually the same perrenial, unrealistic expectations that inevitably lie in tatters come February.

But, this year, I thought I'd resolve to do something positive and that wasn't purely for my own benefit.

So, I'm taking part in Shine Manchester on Saturday, 17 April 2010 by doing a half marathon night-time walk around the streets of Manchester to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

I'd really appreciate any donations (no matter how small) to help me reach my £150 fundraising target. Whatever you can give would be greatly appreciated and go towards the excellent work that Cancer Research UK does.

You can find out more about the event and the route here: http://shine.cancerresearchuk.org or click on the button below to donate.

P.S. Remember to GiftAid it, ta.

Happy (Belated) New Year

Ok, so I'm 23 days late... but already 2010 is shaping up to be a good year*:

Reason #1 - Thanks to the lovely Bethan, my jewellery is now on sale until 31 March at Norden Farm Centre for the Arts in Maidenhead.

I have never been to Maidenhead, but my jewellery has. And people seem to like it, so hurrah for that! (This means that my Folksy shop is down whilst I work out how much stock I actually have, but it will be back soon).

Reason #2 - I have lots of fun things lined up like sewing classes at the Minstry of Craft, another craft fair in April, mushroom foraging in Scotland in the autumn, and The Big Knit at the Nexus Art Cafe tomorrow.

Reason #3 - I'm moving (again!) No more mouldy, damp (possibly haunted) house and shuddering windows at 5am as the train goes by.

* Touch wood and hope that the laws of sod and tempting fate don't seek me out and strike me down.

Last fair of the year...

Where's Christmas come from all of a sudden? It's all been going so fast that I wasn't really sure whether I'd get the time to do anymore craft fairs this year. But it turns out that I do, and I am...
Plus, it's the first one I'm going to be doing ON MY OWN! I'll be selling a selection of my jewellery at the Stockport Market Christmas Art & Craft Fair tomorrow (Saturday, 19 December). We're going to be outside the main indoor market, along with all the usual street stalls. Apparently we'll have pop-up marquees, which I can't wait to see. I'm just praying that it doesn't snow!

If you're in the area, please come along and say hello.

2009 (or the last three months of it anyway) has turned out to be really exciting in terms of making things, meeting other makers and getting some really positive feedback on my work. There should be lots of exciting things coming up in 2010 including more fairs, an exhibition, a new website and perhaps even a few events. So keep watching this space!

Sew Sew

I've been so busy making stock for craft fairs that I haven't had the chance to put anything online recently! So here's a little bit of what I've been stitching...

Contemporary Christmas Craft Fair

Our first craft fair went so splendidly well last week, that Fi & Me have decided to do another one... this weekend!!

We're going to be at Fuse Crafter's Contemporary Christmas Craft Fair this Sunday, 8 November at Bolton Market Place Shopping Centre from 11am-3pm, selling our wares.

Pictures of both events will hopefully be coming soon. And more fairs in the near future, hoorah! It feels like things are really starting to take off for us, which is exciting and a tiny bit scary. Watch this space...

Vote The Pud!

It may be a little early for talk of christmas things but this is with good reason, I promise.


For the last couple of months, myself and some ladies from work have been knitting little hats to go on the tops of bottles of innocent smoothies. Basically we make 'em, send them to innocent HQ 'Fruit Towers', they put them on bottles which then get shipped off to Sainsburys and for every bottle sold, 35p will go to Help the Aged and Age Concern to help them to fund cooking clubs and get-togethers for the elderly.

You can see the fruits of our labour on our Flickr group. Unfortunately being the intermediate knitter that I am, I could only stretch to stripey bobble hats. But my friend Alison 'Needles' Steadman created a wonderful array ski hats, fruits and seasonal themed knits.

We've been waiting to see if her crochet masterpiece - a cascading arrangement of grapes - will make it to the Hat of the Week vote. Alas, it hasn't... but her Christmas pudding hat HAS!

Please PLEASE vote for it here.

It would make her year if she won.

P.S. The hats are supposed to go on sale 4 November, so get buying and keep an old lady warm!

RIP GeoCities

It was with a twinkle of nostalgia that I read about the demise of GeoCities today. It's not like I've even logged into a Yahoo account for at least eight years, but that's not the point. It's like finding out that your favourite childhood playground's been bulldozed, or that your mum's sold your train set... you may not want to play with it anymore, but the fact that it's gone makes you feel gutted and, well... a bit old.

Like many an internet nerd, GeoCities was where I learnt to make websites. Ok, I'll admit that they weren't very good websites, but we all have to start somewhere...

When I was sixteen, there was no Facebook or Myspace and hosting your own advert-free website cost a small fortune. Instead, the internet consisted of forums and chat rooms and weirdos and endless midnight chats on ICQ with pretty much complete strangers and 'BRB' while I'd go and make another coffee so I could stay up all night making my 'homepage'. 'About what?', you may ask.

About myself, of course! I was not remotely interesting, but everyone else had a homepage about what music they liked, who they loved and generally how angsty they were. Very much like Myspace, actually!

This abundance of apparent pretention that anyone out there cared if you listened to Fiona Apple and could quote bits of Heathers verbatim was also coupled with a lack of understanding of privacy, my own safety and a general flouting of copyright and libel laws.

Plagiarism abounded, as did crappy prose, white text on black backgrounds, tiled backgrounds, marquee text and blinky animated gifs, all of which I hope -for everyone's sake - are long buried along with GeoCities when it goes.

However, for all the rubbish that proliferated our numerous homepages, the late 90s and early 00s were exciting times for someone discovering the internet and realising that the world extended further than one's crappy little northern town.

And it wasn't a completely misspent youth. From making sites on GeoCities and sharing them with people on the other side of the world, I learnt what looked good and what didn't, about standard fonts, web safe colours and so on. I learnt HTML and CSS, which eventually helped me to land my first job out of university and it's knowledge that I still use on a daily basis.

I can't even remember my Geocities URL and I'm sure it'll be long gone by now anyway due to almost a decade of inactivity, but I guess a part of me is also a tiny bit grateful at the thought of someone at Yahoo HQ hitting the giant delete button on evidence of my cringeful teenage narcissism; gladly gone but never to be forgotten.

Jewellery and Craft Fair, October 31st 2009

I'm very excited about my first craft fair. Me and one of my sisters have a stall at the Jewellery and Craft fair at Stockport Town Hall on Saturday, 31st October. Halloween and craft fair in one day... fantastic! Stockport is our home town also, so it's a kind of fitting debut for the both of us.

I'm going to be selling my jewellery, brooches, cross stitch, embroidery, knitted handwarmers (my current obsession) and a small selection of cards. I really don't know what to expect and am currently swinging between thinking I don't have enough stock to thinking I have too much that no one's going to want to buy anyway, EEK!

Either way it will be FUN and a good learning curve. If you're in the area then pop in to say hello, bring us cake, or buy some unique handmade christmas gifts.

43 Things

I have been reading a lot about 'digital communities' recently (and, alas, how to get market to them... thus is the nature of my job) including this book by Larry Weber. It's very American in its focus but hey, we're in a global economy and it has opened up a whole new world of websites I may never have heard of to waste my time on.

One of them is 43things.com, where you can make 'life lists' of up to (you guessed it) 43 things you want to achieve. These range from the inane ("get a haircut"), the ludicrous ("be a pimp"), obscure ("laugh along with my wife"), sensible ("set realistic goals") and the sheer brilliant ("milk a cow"), right through to those ongoing epic struggles ("sort my whole bloody life out").

It just so happens that I do love making lists. In fact, I probably spend more time making lists than I do actually doing the things on them. Procrastination to the max. So here for your delectation - in no particular order - are my 43 things "to do".

1. Start a magazine
2. Work for myself
3. Write a novel
4. Do a Masters degree
5. Learn to speak Italian
6. Learn to drive (or more aptly, stick with lessons long enough to pass my test!)
7. Read all the books on my reading list
8. Learn PHP programming
9. Take up yoga and pilates again
10. Spend more time outdoors
11. Live in a foreign country
12. Own a Dansette record player
13. Make my own clothes (I have the sewing machine... which is surely half way there, right?)
14. Go interrailing
15. Learn how to bind books
16. Learn how to screenprint
17. Take creative writing classes (starting in September)
18. Remember how to play the guitar (uh, restring my guitar)
19. Take riding lessons
20. Run a 5k race for charity
21. Interview one of my heroes (one that is still alive, of course)
22. Find somewhere I feel settled and stay there
23. Volunteer
24. Go rock climbing
25. Visit Amy in Japan
26. Go walking every day
27. Be more sociable
28. Visit Amsterdam (again)
29. Finish building my own website (as opposed to building other people's)
30. Live in Manchester (I'm getting nearer...)
31. Plant a tree and watch it grow
32. Visit the Outer Hebrides (should hopefully be doing this next spring)
33. Live a simpler life (chuck out pretty much everything)
34. Climb Snowdon
35. Have my writing published (in Bust or some other equally cool magazine...)
36. Record a podcast
37. Make my own zine
38. Get another cat (keeping the one I currently have, of course)
39. Sing live with a band
40. Find an old school gameboy that still works
41. Exhibit my work
42. Visit New York and San Francisco (I don't care about the rest of the US)
43. Get my own studio space

And then I'll be happy and fulfilled... or something like that.

Best Hand Job In The North

Long the stuff of Manchester legend and comedy postcards (up there with "Manchester: we're all gay here"), I finally got to realise my life-long dream and experience the city's First Five Minute Hand Job yesterday.

It took longer than five minutes but what it lacks in efficiency, it more than makes up for in double entendres and giggles.

The New Feminism?

I made a promise to myself that I would never write about the Daily Mail again, but much to my delight - among the usual articles about feminism castrating men, betraying women and generally making the whole world unhappy, I found a truly sensible article by the wonderful Hilary Hazard of super-duper-rollicking-good-read of a magazine KnockBack (subtitle "This is the magazine we made because we didn't like the magazines they made for us").

The statement she makes about enjoying being female is particularly salient. At long last someone has made the point (to Mail readers of all people!) that feminists - or the ones that I know (and in that I include myself) - DON'T hate men. We don't have a sneaking hidden desire to want to BE men. We just want to celebrate what being female means to us individually (which, let's face it, is never really going to be satisfied by a mass media, is it?) and get a bit angsty when we have ridiculous here's-what-you-should-like-now-please-shut-up bull shoved down our throats.

The thing that Ms. Hazard's magazine does so well, and what sets it apart from any other womens or feminist magazine out there, is its irreverance. It's sheer don't-give-a-damn. It laughs at itself, at the situation and at just about anybody who happens to cross the editorial team's path by the looks of it. But what is even better... you can laugh at it to! You can feel good rather than guilty, and couldn't we all do with a little more of that?

It also doesn't hurt that KnockBack is helped along by some nifty design and high production values, all of which make her message to "sort out your websites... get a public profile that women want to be a part of" one that should really be listened to. These ladies know what they're doing, and what's more - with articles in national newspapers and appearances on the BBC - theirs is an approach that appears to be working!

Tiny Things

I have finally got around to putting some of my new necklaces online. I have a bit of an obsession with very small cameos and charms, flowers and insects right now so there are plenty of them there. Take a look, maybe buy one if you're feeling flush (I certainly am not... and rest assured that any proceeds will go towards the Lucy holiday pint fund! Go on, you know you want to...)

Said holiday is one week in a cottage in North Wales where I intend to relax (if I remember how to), walk up Snowdon and go 'crabbing'. To make things really cosy, we're even taking the cat! Baz on holiday, he really is spoilt to the max. I also intend to make all the cool things I daydream about making when I'm chained to my desk.

I'm currently working on an amigurumi bear, which is quite a tall order seen as I have only just taught myself to crochet (after someone told me it was easier than knitting. I have now come to the conclusion that they were lying!) Things started off badly when what I thought was the head turned out to be the body and it sort of resembles a knitted prophylactic, but it is gradually getting better. I am a big believer in perceverance. And fortunately a big fan of charmingly mutated handmade toys.

Ahoy, me hearties!

Well shiver me timbers, I seem to have caught the nautical bug which has been spreading like, uh, swine flu amongst every fashionista in the land. However, I have always had a thing for sailor stripes, anchor buttons (rum) and the like, whether its 'on trend' or not, and - as you may have guessed - I do rather like to put my own little spin on things.

The result is two new one-of-a-kind necklaces for my collection with kitschy little sailor-themed magnified cabochons, puffy hearts and tiny anchor charms.

You can find them in my shop, along with other jewellery, cross stitch and cards. My fingers have been very busy this weekend, making six more necklaces featuring teeny tiny cameos, insect charms and sparkly jewels. More to come very soon...

Feminist Shoes?

I generally just use Amazon for buying books, but after a weekend of hobbling around town on sore feet, the offer of 25% off 'comfortable shoes' reeled me in. (As someone who works in marketing, I'd love to say that I'm not duped by words like 'discount' and 'comfort', but I am only human after all!)

I found a pair of pumps that I liked for a reasonable price, but I'd never heard of the brand (Naturalizer) before, so I thought I'd look them up...

Now, jumping on the feminist bandwagon is not something I expect to see when I shop for a shoe, but apparently as the "suffrage movement had provided women with new-found freedoms and, as hemlines became shorter and shoes became the focus of fashion, Naturalizer symbolized what modern women had achieved."

I'm not entirely sure that having shoes that are comfortable and - gosh - pretty too is quite on a par with women gaining equal rights to men, including the right to vote (or did I just miss the whole point of suffrage? Did I, per chance, accidentally skim read over the bit about the shoes?!)

It is a pet hate of mine when advertisers/marketers use the women's movement or so-called ideas of feminism to sell products. Usually because it is done on the premise that "now you have all this freedom... to spend your money on crap which will make you more beautiful/happy/popular/all of the above." With the added clause of "And you really should do, because if you don't we'll make you feel bad."

I have no problem with benefit-driven marketing, I know how it works. But sell some benefits that actually mean something, not ones that you have just made up. Shoes are shoes. They are not political, they are not a statement, they are not symbolic of freedom from oppression (other than, perhaps, from the tyranny of blisters!), and they are definitely not something for which women lost their lives!

Needless to say, I probably won't be buying their shoes.

Greatest Dancer

Every time I turn the television on I keep seeing Earth Song and not enough good, dance-around-my-living-room MJ! And although Thriller is ace, I think it's a bit overrated. If you've got a spare ten minutes then watch Smooth Criminal all the way through. Best song, best video and definitely the best choreography!

Obey the mug

My new favourite mug. It can fit a good 2/3 of a pint of tea in it! I like the sentiment too. Buy it here, share the love.

Yarnbombing!

The best way to describe yarnbombing is probably 'knitted graffiti'. It can be anarchic, witty, expressive and fun, but not the least bit as disruptive or antisocial as its older, more notorious relation. If nothing else, it brings a little bit of comfort to a world that is generally, well, not that comfortable right now!

The practice began in Texas, but has rapidly spread across the globe covering buses, trees and lamposts (among other everyday objects) in wool. Now it has come to Manchester's Craft & Design Centre, where Salford-based Art Yarn have established a growing installation (or 'yarnbomb') called Yarn Forward.

Strip by strip they are covering the upstairs handrail with unique, brightly coloured and often fantastical crocheted and knitted designs. But it doesn't stop there. Where ever you look - from banisters to bike racks - there is some little bit of wool keeping it cosy.

You can post your entries in, so you don't even have to be in Manchester, the UK, or go to the Centre to take part (though I would highly recommend it, they have very scrummy cake!)

Here's how to take part:

• Knit or crochet a strip to measure 7cm wide x 40 cm long. Any colour, yarn and technique is accepted, the brighter and wackier, the better.



• Write a small note stating your name and location. This then gets put on a little label and is attached to your work so everyone knows who made it.



• Send it to the following address:
  
  FAO Kelda Savage
  Manchester Craft & Design Centre
  17 Oak Street
  Northern Quarter
  Manchester
  M4 5JD
  
  Or drop them off in person to the office on the 1st floor.

A sneak peak of my first contribution:

Please excuse the freestyle over-stitching. Apparently they look like 'computer hearts', but I think that might just be a diplomatic way of saying 'rubbish'. Either way, I kind of like them.

Happy stitching!

Rain, Rain Go Away

I didn't even have to get out of bed this morning to know that more jolly romps in the countryside were a big no-no. Instead, I went exploring Manchester, rediscovering my favourite places and things, like the echoey Central Library, side streets off Oxford Road and sitting with Alan Turing (well, his statue) in Sackville Gardens.

Memorial to Alan Mathison Turing, 'Founder of Computer Science'. Sackville Gardens, corner of Sackville/Whitworth Street

Lone Space Invader, behind the Palace Theatre, Whitworth Street

I also did a spot of shopping, but unfortunately my eco-friendly paper carrier bags disinegrated in the onpour and I had to stuff a pile of clothes into my bag, which made me look rather like a filthy shoplifter.

There were a lot of people wearing wellies who, I can only assume, were on there way (via several pubs) to Heaton Park for the Oasis gig. Many of them appeared to be drawing phalluses on each others' shoes. It was all rather odd, but each to their own I guess.

I also spotted a lot of these: