Art in the Gardens

I've been very busy lately (hence a little absence from here). One of the things that's been keeping me busy was preparing to take part in Art in the Gardens in Sheffield's Botanical Gardens which took place over the weekend. It's a popular annual event showcasing arts and crafts from all over the UK which I go to every year as a visitor, but this was my first year as a stall holder.

My friend Sue from Apple Harvest suggested we should apply for a joint stall earlier in the year as it's an event we both loved, and were thrilled when we got a stall! Like me, Sue uses lots of vintage papers and upcycling in her work so it seemed natural to show our pieces together.

The weather forecast had promised us a lovely weekend outside, but when the Saturday morning came it was a different story. Setting up was a little dull, and then the rain started - and didn't stop all day! It didn't prevent some determined visitors though and we had some customers to chat with. Being quieter than the event usually is also meant that we had plenty of time to wander around visiting other stalls and talking to other artists and craft makers.

Saturday was dripping wet...

...and very grey.

Sunday though was a completely different day. The sun shone, the sky was blue and the event was packed! It was wonderful seeing so many people enjoying the art and the gardens in the their full glory. 

Bargain Craft Supplies at Bird's Yard - and some ideas on what to do with them

It's sale time at Bird's Yard (Chapel Walk, Sheffield city centre)! The designers have been having a sort of their supplies and have brought them in to make a 'pop up craft shop' full of bargains.

It started with me having to move a cupboard in my house that was full of supplies. After emptying it (and wondering how so much stuff could fit in one cupboard) I realised there were things I'd had for years, that although pretty, weren't being used. So the idea was sparked and here it is.

Here are some of the bargains you can find if you call in, and some ideas so they will get used.

Craft Supply Sale, Bird's Yard, Chapel Walk, Sheffield - Thursday, Friday, Saturday this week 10.30-4.30

Ceramic animals

Galabeer and the Dog have brought a large selection of Wade Whimsies at £1.50 each of 3 for £4. They're lovely to collect or here are some ideas on how to get crafty with them...

Fun jar lids. Find the tutorial at House to Home

Paint them to make fun decorations at Doodle Craft

Buttons

There are a selection of vintage buttons from various designers starting at just 50p!

And The Life of Jennifer Dawn has lots of quick and simple ideas on how to get crafty with them...

Fairs, Markets and Unique Shopping Events in Sheffield - July, August, September

There are lots of events that happen around Sheffield which are great places for local artists, crafters and producers to share their work...and for customers to find unique treats, do some one of a kind shopping and meet the makers. 

Here are some that are coming up in the next few weeks...

July

4th-7th
The Steel Stage for the Tour de France 
Music, stalls, entertainment, beer festival and lots more. And on the Sunday you get to see the Tour de France go passed too!

5th
Sheffield Country Market
A regular Saturday morning market at Broomhill with locally made food, crafts, plants and produce. Spooner Road 9am-midday.

Sheffield Alternative and Burlesque Fair
A shopping event full of burlesque, rockabilly, vintage, gothic and much more at the Corporation nightclub.

10th, 11th, 12th 
Craft supply sale at Bird's Yard
The designers based in Bird's Yard on Chapel Walk are having a clear out and selling lots of supply based bargains in the shop.

12th & 13th
Kelham Island 1940s Weekend and Vintage Fayre
Lots of wartime themed entertainment including a tea dance, vintage hair and beauty, swing dancing and live music as well as vintage and craft stalls.

20th   
Sharrow Vale Market
The popular street market returns with a mix of food, entertainment and crafts along Sharrow Vale Road. 12-4   

26th
Bird's Yard Craft Fair
A mix of food, craft, art, handmade and other entertainments in the city centre shop on Chapel Walk. 11am-4pm.

Devonshire Market
A mix of food, drink, vintage and handmade at the outdoor market. 11am-6pm

 

August

30th
Devonshire Market
A mix of food, drink, vintage and handmade at the outdoor market and this time it's a Street Theatre Special 11am-6pm
 

September 

6th and 7th 
Art in the Gardens
A two day celebration of handmade, crafts and arts in Sheffield's Botanical Gardens.

14th
Whirlow Farm Fayre 
Stalls, food, entertainment and animals all set on a farm!

Sheffield Antiques Quarter Late Summer Market
Both indoors and outdoors at the Abbeydale Picture house, this market offers vintage, antiques, crafts and food. 

20th
Mary's Marvellous Market 
A mix of vintage and craft at the popular market held in St Mary's church, Bramall Lane.

21st
Nether Edge Market
An outdoor street market packed with food, craft and art. Lots of entertainment too! 12-4, Nether Edge and Glen Roads

27th
Devonshire Market
A mix of food, drink, vintage and handmade at the outdoor market and this time it's a Sheffield Jazz special 11am-6pm 

Lou Lou's Vintage Fair
Lots of lovely vintage clothes, accessories and home wares at the city hall. 

Inspirations from Vintage Greeting Cards

I love to make greeting cards using vintage papers from all kinds of sources. Sometimes an image is so beautiful I just cut it out of a book (a damaged or unwanted one) and use it in a card. Sometime I use book or music pages to make shapes and patterns to create designs. I also like to look at original vintage cards for inspiration...and here are some that I bought recently.

These wedding and engagement cards look to date from the 1960s and 1970s and feature gorgeous colours and interesting details. There's lots about them that I like and these are some of the details that will be inspiring some new designs from me.

Craft Supply Sale Preview

On the 10th, 11th and 12th July Bird's Yard in Sheffield is holding a special sale...and not just any sale - it's all about craft supplies! Their independent designers have been having a sort out and are setting up a special section full of bargains for customers to get crafty with.

As one of the sellers in the shop I'll be taking along some supplies, but I've also been having a little nosy through what others are selling too. I've just got to make sure I don't come home with more than I take...

There'll be supplies from lots of the shop's designers covering lots of crafts. Expect to see treats from: Galabeer and the Dog, Handpicked Books, Inkling, Life's Big Canvas, All Wrapped Up By Alice, Atelier Raniera, Talented, Shadowcrafts, Molly Rouge and lots more!

Here are a few sneak previews of what you might find (if you're quick enough!)...

Pink Flamingo (me!) ... lots of embellishments. Look out for fabric, scrapbooks, stamps, vintage papers, craft kits and beads too.

Galabeer and the Dog will have lots of vintage choices... this is just a little taster of what you'll find

Life's Big Canvas is bringing lots of origami inspirations... as well as buying packs to take home you can also learn how to do it yourself on Thursday the 10th July.

My Weekend...

I had a fun weekend with two different events where I was able to meet people, do some organising and a little shopping too!

Saturday

I helped to organise and run a 'competitive craft fair' at Bird's Yard in Sheffield where customers could vote for their favourite stall from independent designers. We also had live music and tarot card readings!

The winners were My Vintage Sister who make scented candles in vintage teacups and glasses as well as pretty paper creations. They'll be joining the shop in July for free!

Sunday

On Sunday I went to Nether Edge Farmer's Market as part of Sheffield Country Market where I had items for sale along with other local handmade craft and food treats. I also treated myself to lots of local food from the other stalls too including delicious marshmallow from Sociably Sweet, oat and apple bread from Forge Bakehouse, beetroot sour dough from Seven Hills Bakery and some lovely curd made with goat's milk (as well as chutney, ice cream, burgers, stuffed vine leaves, raspberry shortbread, mushroom flan, coconut and rice milk drinks...there's a lot of tempting stuff there!)

Friday Finds...

...this week I've found fun upcycled gifts (for you or a loved one!) on Etsy.

1. Earrings upcycled from a belt and a briefcase by Insomniac Treasures
2. Rings whose images are made with upcycled papers by Heidi Kind Finds
3. Baby shoes made with reclaimed linen by Leila Badblood
4. Apron made with an upcycled towel by All Things Old Are New
5. Hedgehog paper holder made from an old book by Lauratoaccessories
6. An upcycled wristlet bag that comes with its own story card telling you its past life by Whimsical   
    Ever After

Let Me Introduce You To...some talented local designers

In my last post I wrote about the 'competitive craft fair' I'm helping to organise at Bird's Yard in Sheffield this coming Saturday (11-4 on Chapel Walk!); here are the 'competitors' who'll be displaying their work hoping the customers will pick them to be the shop's latest designer.

All the sellers are local, independent small business owners and make wonderful, unique pieces. Click on the titles to find out more...

Tommy and Zac

Cute and Quirky Girl

Apple Harvest

My Vintage Sister

Strangelord

Natalie Burton

Sillie Billie Designs

Maker's Meadow

A 'Craft Fair' with a Difference - Bird's Yard 21st June

Craft fairs are great places to find unique items, local interest products and good deals. I love shopping at them and selling my own creations at them too. But now I also have a  new way of approaching them...helping to organise one.

I love organising. Any excuse to make a list and use colour coded folders makes me happy! So when Bird's Yard in Sheffield was looking to hold some events, I jumped at the chance to help out and get out my notepads and highlighters.

The event I came up with is a 'competitive craft fair' where potential new sellers for the shop get to hold a stall and tell customers about their work, as well as letting them buy it. The customers can then give their feedback and the stall with the most votes gets to be Bird's Yard's latest designer rent free in July! (And of course if our customers fall for other stalls too I'm sure they'll be space for them along with our other sellers).

As well as the craft stalls there'll also be live music to entertain us and the customers throughout the day, tarot and playing card reading and face painting too. Lots to keep you entertained on a Saturday afternoon!

To find out who's selling there visit the event page

or visit on the day!

Bird's Yard, Chapel Walk, Sheffield, S1 2PD

Made with Maps...a new collection from Pink Flamingo

I admit it. I have an addiction to maps. And it's spilled over into another Etsy shop for Pink Flamingo - introducing Made with Maps.

Following the success of my 'I Love This Place ...Sheffield' range which are made out of vintage maps of Sheffield, I've now made keyrings, bookmarks and cards made with maps from around the world.

And there's more to come too. Ready to be made and become available are magnets, gift tags and badges so watch this space.

So far a few items have been listed in my new shop, but there are plenty more to come - I was just too excited to wait before they're all there to spread the news! And if there's a place you'd like to see featured, custom orders are welcome too.

 

Visit Pink Flamingo's new shop Made with Maps here - www.madewithmaps.etsy.com 

Tips for Crafting with Paper Ephemera

A few weeks ago over on my ephemera page on Facebook I started a series of posts called 'Thursday Tips' where I share a little tip or trick that I've learn through my own crafting. I thought, now I've posted a few of them, that I'd collect them here to create a little article.

I also like to post projects I find, things I make, ephemera I have for sale and anything other vintagey and papery I find! If you'd like to discover a new tip every Thursday do head over to my page take a look.

Thursday Tips

When you've finished cutting up old book pages use a circle punch to make small colourful circles with the scraps. I save them until I find a suitable projects for them. These 1/2 inch circles are left from a 1960s book I cut the pictures out of.

                            


Use a black (or other colour) fine liner pen to create a stitch effect border around paper embellishments for cards and scrapbooks to make them stand out and look defined.
                           

 
To help add definition to pieces of paper you might be layering in a card making or scrapbooking project, gently run an ink pad around the edges. It gives a slightly muted soft edge to help it stand out.

                           


When cutting out small details from paper use a small, sharp pair of scissors and keep them still. Turn and move the paper with your other hand. This makes for a cleaner and sharper cut.
                             

Ephemera doesn't just have to be old paper (although that is my favourite type!). Technically it's any item that was produced to have a short, one off purpose and not meant to be kept and last a long time. I find it useful to keep a box to put all these kind of items in so I've always got plenty of ephemera ready to go when I'm feeling crafty!

                            

If you're making paper beads using strips of vintage (or other) paper, use a quilling tool to make the process easier. Just slot the end of the paper between the gap in the middle of the tool and roll up! It's a lot quicker and neater than rolling paper around cocktails sticks like I used to do.
                                         


If you're doing some stamping over vintage book pages try stamping the pattern as normal (the darkest green in this picture) and then re-stamping without adding more ink going backwards to create a worn effect to match the vintage style.

                                   


If you're making something with vintage papers and there's a tear or mark on it, cover the blemished part with a postage stamp. (This is why my vintage map cards have stamps on!)

                                        


If you're decoupaging an object and are making paper strips to cover it, use a ruler to tear the paper rather than cut it with scissors. Tearing the paper instead of cutting it gives it a softer edge so it lays flatter to the object you're gluing it to and using a ruler means the torn paper will be straight!

Pink Flamingo and Apple Harvest

Yesterday I tried something new for a craft fair - a shared stall. I'd been chatting with Sue from Apple Harvest about a new craft fair that was taking place in Sheffield and we thought we'd try it out together. So together we went along to Lou Lou's Artisan Market at Sheffield Town Hall...

Pink Flamingo and Apple Harvest's shared stall

Sharing a stall meant thinking of different ways to display my goods too. Not only was there less space so I had to get creative, but I also got to play with Sue's display items too! This basket proved useful for carrying items to the market and looked great on the floor in front of the table with my pictures and notebooks in it along with Sue's lavender hearts.

One of Sue's ebay buying sessions lead to her acquiring this handy little stand - perfect for my Sheffield keyrings! And she was generous enough to lend it to me for the day.

There were also a wider range of goods for customers to look at and we inspired each others' making sparking ideas for each other. I loved Sue's 'chopstick flowers' which have her hand felted flowers attached to chopsticks which are covered in green ribbon but still have Chinese writing visible on the bottom. I thought they also looked rather cute in their beer bottle vases!

A selection of goodies from Apple Harvest

And there was a box of vintage sewing supplies! Sue was sharing her cotton and sewing accessories for sale (even though she'd be happy keeping them for herself!) I loved the tags hanging from the box showing prices and saying what they were - an idea for me to use too.

We're planning other projects together in the future which I'm sure will be a lot of fun! Look out for us in September at Art in the Gardens, Botanical Gardens, Sheffield.

 You can find out more about Apple Harvest here:

Apple Harvest's Etsy shop

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