Craft Bloggers at Southbank Village Fair

from left: Kate, (me) and Anna. 

The Village Fair was so fun! On the craft bloggers stall we showed off some of our DIYs which each had a tag on them directing people to links for the full tutorials. It was a really interesting concept to use the format of a stall but sharing our methods for free instead of selling the finished product. The theme behind the event as a whole was a community coming together through shared passions. We really got into the spirit of this which left me with a sort of fuzzy-felty glow inside and a renewed sense of enthusiasm for crafting. 

Proud of our stall

Undoubtedly the best thing about the fair was getting to spend some time with some absolutely lovely bloggers. Davina from The Making Home, Anna from Crafting Fingers and Kate from Trends With Benefits were great company and it was so nice to chat to other bloggers in person for a change rather than having all virtual communication. I highly recommend that you go and have a peek at their blogs - I can't wait to give some of their tutorials a go! 

Embroidered lavender pillow and crochet pin cushion by Anna... Rosette by Davina.

Learn how to make this here. 

There is always a lot of discussion around the subject of copying in the craft blogging community, which I think is totally valid as there is nothing worse than someone trying to make money by directly ripping off other artists' work. However I think through the fear of accidentally being labeled a copy-cat, we sometimes shy away from trying out other people's ideas - even tutorials that are by nature made to be tried out! This weekend has really taught me to appreciate the fun that can be had by sharing techniques and ideas with other artists and bloggers, and I am looking forward to implementing that more into this blog in the future. 

Did anyone make the fair this weekend, or try out any of the tutorials from the virtual stall? What did you think? 

x Rachel 

Village Fair at the Southbank Centre

This weekend something very fun is happening at the Southbank Centre. They are hosting a quintessential Village Fair with stalls, games, crafting and lots more to celebrate community and bringing people together to share their passions. I am pretty excited, because I'm going to be there with some other lovely ladies on the craft blogger's stall! Instead of selling our crafts, we will be directing people to the tutorials that will show people how to make them themselves. We will also be answering questions, blogging on the go and just generally chatting to people, so it will be a lot of fun! 

In response to the Village Fair, bloggers across the UK are posting a collective virtual stall showcasing a selection of craft tutorials (above). The Tutorial Stall shares one favourite tutorial link from each of the bloggers and helps to celebrate the community of craft blogging and the role of the internet in craft revival. Here are the links to all these wonderful tutorials from the stall, enjoy...

1// Plastic Taxidermy - that one's mine! 

2// Dip Dyed Shoes by Trends With Benefits. 

3// Rubber Stamp Printed Handkerchief by Davina Drummond at The Making Home. 

4//  Crochet Pin Cushion by Crafting Fingers. 

5// Woven ribbon lavender pillow by Tales From Mountpleasant. 

6// Flower Fabric Badges by TheNew Craft Society.

7// Felt Streamers by This isWiss. 

8//  Little Paper Book by Something IMade.

9// Teacup Embroidery by AilieWilliams. 

10// Booboxes by Emily Quinton at The Start Up Wife.

11// DIY Curve Bead CordBracelet by Claireabellemakes. 

12// Bunting Notebook by Papermash.

If you're out and about in London tomorrow, pop by and say hello! I'll be there with Lynne from Papermash, Kate from Trends With Benefits and Anna from Crafting Fingers. Hope to see some of your lovely faces there! 

x Rachel 

ps. you can keep up with tweets and pictures from the weekend with the hashtag #villagefair... I'm sure there will be instagrams a-plenty! 

Creative Mess

This week I have been working on some lovely wedding invitations! They are in the final stages, which means lots of mess all over the place as I keep going with the production line. I've learnt a lot through making these, especially ways of cutting labour time by being as efficient as possible. It's all about "batching" tasks - this post has some really helpful info about it. 

There's something fascinating to me about projects in their messy unfinished stages and I am going to be celebrating that in this mini series. If you'd like to show some of your creative mess, go ahead and join the link-up below! It can be like a "what I'm working on now" party! Be sure to link back to this post so others can join in. 

Let's embrace the mess! 

x Rachel 

The Happy List

1//Beautiful Secret Garden Wedding Styling //2// DIY Constellations Runner //3// Fairy Lights in Wine Bottles?! Want! //4// Love this photograph by Ryan Kobo //5// Pretty Floral Ribbons //6// We go together... //7// Cutest skirt possibly ever! //8// Photo transfers on glass... Amazing.//

Elsewhere on the Web... 

>>> 27 Things that definitely belong in your dream home... 

>>> A great tips post on making the most of Twitter.

>>> A lovely calligraphy tutorial.

>>> Scoring your dream design internship. 

>>> Color Collective - a new (to me) resource that I will definitely be using! 

And making me happy offline... 

>>> The sun shining in London this week, please come back! 

>>> My granny square blanket is coming on swimmingly. 

>>> Fun post days. 

>>> 3rd anniversary this weekend = date day with Boris Bikes :) 

The Happy List is one of my favourite posts to put together! Although, it's not terribly productive for my day, as I get so distracted browsing for pretty things... Such is life. 

What's making you happy today? 

x Rachel