Places I've Been, Things I've Seen...

Here are some places Pink Flamingo has been to lately...

Competition Time - a fantastic prize bundle from The Life of Jennifer Dawn

Entering competitions is always fun. I've even been lucky enough to win some that I've entered. The thrill of finding out you've got your hands on a lovely product for free is great...what could be better? Well, getting your hands on a whole bunch of prizes, obviously!

And that's exactly what you can do if you head over to The Life Of Jennifer Dawn where you'll find an enticing prize package of goodies - including an ephemera craft pack from Pink Flamingo Ephemera!

 

You could win:

• Your choice of a set of 4 prints from Artful Life Designs 
•  A set of 100 mommy/playdate cards from Artful Life Designs
• Yellow daisy cabochon necklace from Bluebird Cottage Designs 
• Paper garland from Bluebird Cottage Designs 
• $15 store credit to Hobbies from the Heart 
• 50 piece ephemera pack from Pink Flamingo Ephemera 
• Three pom pom garlands (mint, pink, and cream) from Earth Cookie Creations 

There are lots of ways to enter too, which means lots of chances to win!
Just click here to find out how to enter.

Good luck!

 

Fairs, Markets and Unique Shopping Events in Sheffield

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...

 

April

26th 
Burton Street Spring Fair, Hillsborough
A mix of stalls, activities and farm animals with proceeds going towards the Burton Street Foundation's work. 1pm-4pm

Sheffield Country Market
A regular Saturday morning market at Broomhill with locally made food, crafts and produce. Today they're promoting their 'One Stop Shop'. 9am-midday.

Up Market 
Visit the vintage and craft market in its new location at Sellers Wheel Courtyard on Arundel Street in the city centre. 10am-5pm Saturday 11am-4pm Sunday


27th
Sheffield Antiques Quarter Vintage Spring Market
A mix of Sheffield's vintage and craft sellers to be found at Abbeydale Picture House in the Sheffield Antique Quarter. 11am-5pm

May 

3rd
Sheffield Vintage Fair
The ever popular Lou Lou's vintage fair returns to Sheffield Town Hall. Lots of vintage clothes, accessories and homewares. 11am-5pm

10th 
Sheffield Alternative and Burlesque Fair
Burlesque, vintage and alternative finds of all kinds. Corporation, Milton Street. Midday-6pm.

11th
High Storrs Craft Fair and Carboot Sale
Various ways to shop at High Storrs school! 10am-1pm.

17th
Mary's Marvellous Vintage and Craft Market
They market themselves as 'Quite possibly the best vintage and craft market in the world...ever!' They do have a lot of great stalls there! St Mary's church, Bramall Lane. 10am-4pm

17th - 31st
The Hat Stand
The latest pop up shop in the Winter Gardens in the city centre. This fortnight it focuses on all kinds of headwear. 

31st 
Lou Lou's Artisan Market
Following on from the success of their vintage market, Lou Lou is hosting their first Artisan market in Sheffield with lots of crafts, arts, clothing, food, jewellery and more. Midday-5pm.

Devonshire Market
A popular outdoor market at Devonshire Green. Find foods, crafts, clothes and more. 11am-6pm.

 

June 

3rd
Tapton Spring Food and Craft Fayre
Lots of tempting local foods and crafts on a Tuesday morning 9am-2pm.

22nd
Nether Edge Farmer's Market
A mix of lots of delicious local food with some crafts and entertainment thrown in too! Midday-4pm.

28th
Devonshire Market
A popular outdoor market at Devonshire Green. Find foods, crafts, clothes and more. 11am-6pm.

29th  
Crosspool Festival's Street Market

A mix of stalls outdoors in Crosspool.

3 Ways to Use Comic Book Speech Bubbles in Crafts

I can't throw any bit of a book away that has some use. Even the smallest pieces can be used to great effect. I've had a few comic book annuals to play with lately and I couldn't resist cutting out the speech bubbles to make things with.

Here are a few crafty ways I've put them to use...

Add them to pictures on cards or in scrapbooks...

Make them into bigger speech bubbles for cards and tags...

 

Make food toppers...

Queen's Notebook.com

These are just a few fun ideas to use up your little scraps. If you don't have any comic books to cut up, pack of quotes are available at Pink Flamingo Ephemera - and if you buy them over the Easter weekend you can get 10% off any order! Just use code EASTER10 at the checkout before the end of Monday 21st April 2014.

Sheffield Country Market - Local homemade food, crafts and produce

Sheffield Country Market is part of a network of Country Markets which offer local food, crafts and produce all over the UK. They have a co-operative approach with a variety of members from all walks of life working together to run regular local markets offering great quality items. In Sheffield these markets are every Saturday morning at Broomhill, but we also join in with other popular markets in the city.

The market in Sheffield offers a range of tasty treats and handmade crafts, as well as locally grown produce when it's in season. There's an array of breads, cakes, savory dishes and preserves (amongst others!) alongside cards, jewellery, cosmetic creams, knitted baby clothes, glass wear and wood turned decorations. I've been attending as a producer for a few months and can't resist coming home with more than I went with!

As well as the regular Saturday morning markets, we also have stalls the very popular Nether Edge and Sharrow Vale markets. Last weekend it was Sharrow Vale's turn to offer up its range of treats and Sheffield Country Market was right there amongst the other talented stall holders who provided Sheffielders with meats, cheeses, breads, chocolate, art, vintage finds, plants, books, jewellery and lots more too.

If you visited the stall you could have got yourself a prettily decorated Easter cake, daffodil decoration and Easter cards (all set for the weekend after!); a baby's cardigan, new baby card and chocolates for the new mum; or venison pie and porter cake for a tasty supper. Or you could visit the market on any Saturday morning in Broomhill to see what you missed!

Crafty Ideas from the Life of Jennifer Dawn

Blogs are fantastic ways to share ideas, know how and information. I love sharing my ideas and posts at link parties (take a look at these) and taking a look at all the other creative makes, tutorials and inspirations you can find there.

I sent Jennifer at The Life of Jennifer Dawn some of my ephemera packs to get creative with - and she's come up with some amazing makes! It's great to see someone else's take on supplies I use and get inspirations from these, and hopefully you'll get some inspirations too.

Simply click on the images to find the tutorials over at Jennifer's blog...

Mary's Marvellous Vintage and Craft Market - a scrapbook of my day...

Upcycling...how I choose my materials

Before I even knew what it was called I was upcycling. I've never been able to throw away things which could be useful or were just too pretty to get rid of. Even as a child I'd save bits of paper, stamps, sweet wrappers (and anything else that caught my eye) and turn them into pictures, cards and decorations.

I've never been a hoarder, everything is clean and tidy and has it's place. As my collection has grown I realised I needed to put it to more uses than just fulfilling my own needs, and that's when I started Pink Flamingo Handcrafting. I first started making and selling items using what I already had, but as my little business has grown so has the need for materials.

Ephemera - everyday objects that would usually be thrown away

So now I have to actively look for items to upcycle as well as collecting bits and pieces that would have been thrown away. I often get asked where I find things and how I use them, so I thought I'd share my ideas on this subject here.

A selection of broken books from a recent trip to an antiques centre

As a book lover and English Literature graduate, I can't bear to cut up books which are still readable, entertaining or informative. I'll often see books that I'll look through and think the pictures would make gorgeous cards, but the book itself (for example a cook book) is still perfectly useable. In that case I always put it back and hope it finds a good home.

Other books though aren't as lucky. Over the years they've been well loved, read, played with and ...well, look rather worse for wear. These are the books that I like to 'rescue'. If their spine is broken and the pages are falling out then I won't feel so guilty about tearing it up; if a child has lovingly scribbled all over the pages trying to draw their own versions of the pictures I know another child won't want to read it; if the book's been left lying somewhere forgotten and half the pages have discoloured and curled then I know I can rescue the good bits.

A puzzle book's not much use when all the crosswords are complete!

Of course, I only use the parts of the texts which are undamaged to make sure that my customers get great quality cards and gifts.

So, that's how I choose the materials I use in my work. And if you ever want to know exactly where the papers on your purchase have come from, all you have to do is ask me (I have a terrible memory for some things, but books always stay in my head!).

Greeting Cards - A History...

I admit it; I'm addicted to greeting cards.

And I'm not the only one - they've become an integral part of our culture with millions of pounds being spent on them with the average person in the UK sending out 55 each year. The idea of taking the time in a busy, an increasingly electronic, world to write a heartfelt greeting for a loved one really seems to connect with people.

This piece of information got me (even more) interested in what it is that people like so much about sending cards, and how the custom started in the first place. So I did a little research into the history of greeting cards and this is what I found out...

And in the future? Industry figures suggest that the sending of cards is still increasing with more being sent every year. Cards featuring messages, quotes and greetings as the main focus are growing in popularity suggesting the need for communication and connecting with loved ones is as strong as it was back in ancient times.

Vintage Pages Collection - a new collection from Pink Flamingo...

I love to make cards using vintage papers. There's something special and pleasing about finding unique papers or rediscovering nostalgic patterns and turning them into something unique to share with loved ones. I often create cards using pictures taken from old books and either simply use them directly on cards with a few hand drawn details, or incorporate them into a design.

This lets me create true one off greetings that can't be replicated - an idea I love! But lately I've also been thinking about designs that can be reproduced to create a collection. So I took some designs I've made before and added some new ones into the mix to create my new collection - Vintage Pages.

What I love about my new collection is that although the designs are replicated, each one is still a one off.

That's because each one is handmade using original book pages so will feature unique details in its writing or pictures.

Sending cards is a way of showing that you've thought about someone and care about a special day, occasion or achievement in their life, so I wanted to put that same level of caring and thoughtfulness
into my cards. I've carefully chosen the texts I've used to relate to the images I've created, and where possible, the occasion they could be suitable for.

If you order of any of these cards online you can also add any personalised you'd like to make it extra special. Or look out for them in selected shops!