A Huge Warm Welcome......

It's my pleasure to introduce you to our latest group of Etsy Ireland members. We have nine fab new shops to browse. So if you get a chance over the next couple of days please visit and drop off a few hearts.


Above from left to right:

Swarovski Beaded Heart in Montana AB by the green peach;

Wood Fine Art Sculpture Modern Framed, Painting, 11x11 by Art Glamour;

Handmade Vintage Postcard by De Vintage Studio.



Above from left to right:

Blue Hat Fascinator with Flowers by Whatever Gets You True;

Leo. Drawstring pouch with vintage black silk Japanese kimono by Bohemian Cats;

Blue sparkly earrings by Delicious Art Glass.



Above from left to right, one member three more shops!:

Merman Demon Prague sling pouch with long shoulder strap. Copper pure silk backing. from Baba Studio Prague;

Hungarian silk embroidery - gorgeous lavenders, greens and pinks on black ground. Found in Prague from Baba Vintage;

and last but not least Danse Macabre. Bohemian Gothic sling pouch with long shoulder strap. Teal pure silk. from Baba Laptopbags.


Great to have you all on board and looking forward to seeing more great things popping up from you in the near future. And don't forget to our new members you can check out how many hearts you receive at a glance here. Until next time....

Crafty News

 

A big hello from the Crafty News Desk - cant believe how quickly the time has flown.  This weeks photograph was taken just 2 weeks ago in Florida..... sunshine and sand mmmmmmm!!!!!!!
Enough of that.  

A big THANK YOU to Purls for holding the fort while I was away.


What a busy time we are having here in Etsy Ireland.  The big success story has to be the ETSY pop-up shop in Limerick  EtsyIrelandPopUpShop  I am in awe of what Ruth and her team of intrepid crafters have and are achieving in Limerick.  All I can say is WELL DONE ONE AND ALL .......
If you are in Limerick do call by and say hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ireland's first online craft website FONDELIFAIR has been officially launched today.    fondelifair
I wish Alice and Michelle and all of the crafters (including mise) all the very best of luck with this endeavour.  God bless all who sail in her  (champagne bottle smashes against the side.....)

A new Irish supplies website has also been launched sunflowertouchsupply   Stop by and have a look

The Glucksman gallery in Cork is taking applications for their craft fair which takes place at the beginning of November. You can download applications from their website  glucksman

The Ulster Festival of Art and Design is happening from June 1st to 12th.  Information here ulsterfestival

Next weekend, 5-6 June, is when all things woolie happen at the Wool Festival in Kilkenny.  Details  =  Wool Festival

The Design Tower Summer School is coming up in June - located in Dublin's  Grand Canal Basin - a perfect location to learn some new skills including Leather work, Paper making, Jewellery, Sculpture etc. 
Details =  thedesigntower

And finally there is a Art and Craft Market taking place at Darcy McGee's at the Spawell in Dublin on 19th June.  There are a few of us taking part and there are still a few stalls available.  Details =  spawell  There will also be live music happening on the day.  If you know of any musicians who would like to take part there are also some slots available.  Get in touch with Lynn. 

So that's about it for this week.  Now I know there are a lot of events happening all over the country with many of our team taking part.  It would be great if we knew where ye are going to be so we could call by and say hello.  So send me on your details and I will let everyone know where you're at.  Are any of you involved with the Bloom Festival in the Phoenix Park next week????? tell me, tell me........ please.

Bye for now
Mo
huggleknits

Fab Five on Friday

Featured items:
1. Topaz Acrylic Cube Beads, from balanceddestash
2. The Hive and the Honey Bee, Print, from meluseena
3. Of Bees and Bee Skeps, DVD, from HandsSeries
4. Bees Love Roses, Necklace, from miskay
5. Crochet Circle Earrings, Honey Bamboo Yarn, from graceandfavourshop

Chosen by Beth of magpieandbutton.
As always, if you would like to suggest or curate a Fab Five on Friday of your very own, just send me an Etsy convo :)

The Name Game

Hi there. Anne-Marie of Handmade by Amo'r here, musing if a rose by any other name really would smell as sweet, or if it would be as thorny as my own Esty shop name has become to me of late.

Nameplate cufflinks by Flying Squirl Jewellery

I’m suffering from store name envy. Forgive me a little name-dropping here but ones like Queen of Cuffs, Patchwork Delights and Huggle Knits are simple and clever. These names instantly give a clue to what is on offer while also evoking an emotional response. Irish Woolen, Purls of Colour and Homespun Ireland also conjure up a sense of the brand. Names like Balanced, Rainbow Stained Glass and A Box for my Treasure I find engaging and most importantly, memorable.

How I rue the day I chose to name my store Handmade by Amo’r based on own my initials. (Anne-Marie O’Rourke.) It seemed an obvious choice as I’d gained the nickname Amor, meaning 'love' in Spanish, when living in Spain. My shop was to be, and is, a labour of love.

Scouring the internet for businesses with similar names (in English) I found no reason not to use it. Granted, there were some with Spanish names incorporating the word. Now, if you search for ‘Amor’ with relevant keywords you’ll find tonnes of other brands (but please don’t!) I’m buried so deep I practically don’t exist.

A few years ago when I signed up green and uninitiated, I knew nothing of brand identity or marketing. SEO was just the Irish translation for the phrase ‘here is’. The more I learn, the less I seem to know.

I do know however, I made the faux pas of choosing byAMOR as my Etsy user name instead of amor or even handmadebyamor.

‘an elephant never forgets’ by Michael Prior Photography

My friends, family and happy customers, who are my greatest advertisers, do not pass the name byAMOR on to their friends and colleagues. The simpler term amor, naturally sticks in their heads, sometimes attached to some random other word. As we already know, a search for the term 'amor' will not dig up my store! As if to prove my point, this very week my cousin told me she couldn’t find my shop when she googled said term. The searcher needs to google byAMOR if I am to be found.

While gnashing my teeth over my predicament, I sought distraction and began pondering the stories behind other shop names. Sailmakers Daughter was a name I always found intriguing. Curiosity got the better of me, so I asked the owner, Edana for her story.

Butterfly ring by Sailmakers Daughter

“Like many others I have a strange obsession with the sea and come from seafaring roots - my Mam's family being from Clogherhead and 2 of my Uncle's are fishermen“ Edana explains. “It was something I wanted to incorporate into my shop identity from the beginning but I spent a loooong time deciding on a name. I thought that it should incorporate hand craft also and spent a while looking through annals of bygone crafts. The Sailmaker fitted the bill and Daughter I added because of my family's sea going ways plus I felt it softened the effect and also allows me a nice wide scope for the ridiculous number of crafts I seem to dabble in.”

Mary of ‘The Blue Cow and the Grey Crow’ (Myrasimon) also had an enchanting story to tell.

Evening Bag by The Blue Cow and the Grey Crow (Myrasimon)

“I chose the name ‘The Blue Cow and Grey Crow’ based upon the idea that people describe colour in relation to their own experience. “she says. “A bluey-green isn't the same as a greeny-blue for instance. My father, a farmer, describes cows that are grey in colour as blue (ours is a Belgian Blue/ Freisian cross breed I think, 1980’s), as most farmers do. That’s a bit of a mystery! Hooded crows, as the rest of the world calls them, he calls grey crows. The head and wings of these birds are black and the body is grey.

So in a given context a colour description can be very individual (Grey Crow) or in another context a widely accepted description. When it comes to describing the colour of the pieces, especially the knit ones, on my web site I've faced a similar quandary. Hence the name!”

Beaded heart necklace by The Green Peach

Liz of The Green Peach explains that her shop name is a little of where she grew up and where she lives now.

“I was born and raised in Georgia, USA, just north of Florida, which is famous for peaches. It's called the Peach State. I moved to Northern Ireland about four years ago and that's where the "green" comes from. Mostly because compared to South Georgia, where everything is mostly brown, N. Ireland was quite a welcome contrast!

I've also been making jewellery for a while, but only just joined Etsy recently, so I thought green was appropriate in that sense as well. "

Names like these are memorable and obviously mean something to their creators.

If you are contemplating opening a new or second Etsy shop, you'd be well advised to learn from my follies and heed this important Etsy post ‘What’s in a Name.’ Also, make sure your friends, family and customers have easy access to your shop link - add it to the end of emails etc. If you can, keep your loved ones well stocked with a few business cards and/or other promotional material to pass on.

'Legend,' Connemara marble necklace

As for me, born with a noble Irish surname like O’Rourke, I’m not about to lie down and play dead. Too late to win head-on without starting over, I shall attack the problem from the sides. I’ve already taken the first steps to counteract my rookie mistakes. So far, 'byamor' and 'handmade by amor' seem to be yielding better results but how I solve the greater problem is a story yet to unfold. May the game begin!

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome!

It's my pleasure to introduce you to our latest group of Etsy Ireland members. We have nine great new shops to browse. So if you get a chance over the next couple of days please pay them a visit and drop off a few hearts.


Above from left to right:

Party Time flowers and blue three tier cake stand by Aunty Apples Refinery;

Crystal show dog jewellery collar by mrleppy;

Turquoise Cocktail Ring by V Designs.



Above from left to right:

Bless Our Crooked Little Home 8x10 typography illustration by ThePrintMakers;

Personalised Golf Towel by PersonalPresence;

Angela Necklace by AphZeph.



Above from left to right:

Spring Angel Art Doll by Button Angels;

Fresh Summer Daisies by Haidee's Art;

and last but not least Ray Of Light crocheted LED tealight lantern by HeliCreations.


Great to have you all on board and looking forward to seeing more fabulous things popping up from you in the near future. Until next time....

Crafty News

Our Etsy Ireland pop-up shop in Limerick is still going strong. Check out the shop's Facebook page for updates and opening times! And not only is Ruth from Nicedaydesigns doing a fabulous job with the Etsy Ireland pop-up shop, she was also recently featured in Prudence magazine! Congratulations!!!
Read all about it on Ruth's blog - and if my place ever looked as gorgeous, I'd die of shock!!!

Fi from Patchworkdelights is having a blog giveaway! If you want to be in to win some beautiful goodies, post a comment and follow her blog before 25 May midnight (GMT)!

Anne-Marie from byAmo'r recently drew our attention to the problem of the Etsy Shop Local defaulting to the UK for the Republic of Ireland. No, this has nothing to do with any Royal visits or visits of US Presidents who all have Irish ancestors, but according to Etsy it is a technical problem and they are working on it. My Shop Local regularly directs me to some interesting places in Scotland rather than Belfast, Northern Ireland.

If you are not showing up in local searches, try the following:

Check that you have set the location in your profile from the suggested list of locations that pops up. If you manually type in your location, it may not correctly be registered in the Shop Local section. To do this, sign in to your account and go to Your Account, Public Profile. Then in "city", begin typing your location. You should choose from the list that pops up the closest match to your location. This should correctly register your location in the Shop Local feature.

To be found in local searches is important so that Irish buyers as well as ex-pats and international customers with Irish heritage (like said US Presidents past and present) who look specifically for Irish or Celtic materials and items directly from Ireland will be able to find your shop.

Thanks to Anne-Marie for all the information and for getting in touch with the great and good from Etsy.

Congratulations to Alice and Michelle of Fondelifair. The new Irish online shop site and community has just welcomed its 101st member! The community is starting to thrive and hive, and I've already become addicted to the place...

I haven't received much information about markets, but this exhibition looks really interesting:

A Constant Thread
An exhibition celebrating older Irish craftspeople as part of the Bealtaine Festival, Rathfarnham Castle, Rathfarnham Road, Dublin 14, running until 29 May 2011, open 10:00 to 4.30, free entrance.

The 'Art of Craft' Fair, organised by Armagh City & District Council and The Craft & Design Collective, will take place from 27-29 May across the two sites of Armagh's Market Place Theatre and Saint Patrick’s Trian Visitor Complex. It includes craft workshops, demonstrations and performances.

And it's National Drawing Day on 28 May 2011, so you might want to put pencil to paper to honour the occasion!

Mo has just arrived back from her holidays, and will be back at the Crafty News desk next week! So please send any snippets of crafty information you have to http://www.etsy.com/shop/HuggleKnits
Welcome Back, Mo!

And for me, it is goodbye to Simon, the travelling gecko, who has been staying with me for the last three weeks! He'll be on his merry way towards the end of this week, and he'll be sadly missed here.

 Purls

Fab Five on Friday

Featured items:
1. Vintage Blue Flower Stud Earrings, from ABoxForMyTreasure
2. One of a Kind Art Piece, White Shadow Box, from hanselandpetal
3. Cool Blue Bavaria Germany Three Tier Cake Stand, from AuntyApplesReFinery
4. Flowers in a Blue Jug, Original Oil Painting on Canvas, from ARTbyTRUDI
5. Blue Toile Heart Bunting Garland Shabby Chic, from TheThistlePatch

Chosen by Beth of magpieandbutton.
As always, if you would like to suggest or curate a Fab Five on Friday of your very own, just send me an Etsy convo :)

Crafty News

This week's Crafty News is late and short, but then again, we just had the big news about the extension of the Etsy Ireland pop-up shop in Limerick, so if you've been awol from the Etsy Ireland bloggersphere or facebooksphere, now is the time to catch up and celebrate!

So what else is new?

• Our very own Designbirdie is having a Blog Giveaway with lovely prices! So don't miss your chance to win some goodies - and yes, also say hello to her new blog!

• “Latitudes” the new exhibition by Filament Fibre Artists is opening this Thursday the 19th at 6:30 pm at Airfield in Dundrum.
  If you can’t make it to the opening night you might be interested in coming to a tour of the exhibition on Sunday the 22nd at 3:00 pm or to join the Filament Fibre Artists as they celebrate National Drawing Day at Airfield on Saturday the 28th of May. Tours and drawing activities are included in the cost of entry to the Airfield Estate.

If you have any news about art and craft events, markets or National Drawing Day, please share! While Mo is hopefully enjoying some sunshine on her holidays, send your info to me, Purls, or post it in the comments.

Team Treasuries!!

Olde Worlde Cinema

I'm on my way to the cinema today to see Hanna so todays theme is old world cinema and all the glamour attached to it. I went for a black and white theme inspired by the film noir classics, and all the beautiful and glamorous woman that they featured.

Also sorry for not posting the treasuries on the blog lately I was really busy setting up the pop-up shop and it kept slipping my mind...I need to start carrying around a notebook to remind me of everything!

Mirka Design-Call Me When You Get There

 By A'mor-Brassy,Blue and Honey Dew

Fiore Jewellery-Weird and Wonderful Collection

Pop-Up Shop Pictures and Exciting News

The blank dusty canvas.

 It's been an eventful weekend for the Etsy Ireland Team, as we had our first Pop-Up shop as part of the Catherine Street Cultural Dig in Limerick City. We were lucky enough to get a large space in Bourkes Bar in the heart of all the activity. The above space is an unused section of the put that the owners were good enough to clear out for us to use for the weekend. As you can see it was a rustic blank canvas so we spent 2 days putting together the 'shop'. I thought that getting a bold strong colour for the table clothes would help brighten the place up and also go towards tying all the elements together, to stop it from looking too higglety pigglety. Then contrasting the red with some bright green crepe paper to help cover up the cardboard display boxes that I used, I then used these colours in the poster design so that it all matched together, to give it that shabby chic shop feel. We were never going to get the space looking like a boutique so we worked with the rough edges and 'cuted' it up a bit.

After about a day working the space started to look like it was coming together.

Opening day Saturday morning.

After some last minute tweeks and table rearranging we opened our doors at 11am on Saturday morning, and with about 20 minutes we had our first customer, which is pretty amazing. From doing markets I know that you can stand for hours with lots of enthusiastic browsers and still not make a sale, so it's good to break the seal early to relieve that underlying stress. Saturday was a really busy day, so it was great the Rebecca from Lucky Rainbow Designs, Jess from Betty Octopus, Mollie and her son Elliot (friendliest kid ever, who helped out lots with getting customers into the shop!!)from Spleodar, and Helen from Stained Glass Fayre were there to take the selling in turns. We also ran free craft classes on the Saturday, Rebecca did a card making demo in the local craft shop Silkes, I did a sewing demo in the pop-up shop, and Kate from Feltfieltrofilc did a felting demo. Which meant the place was a buzz with activity.

Browsing customers.

There was great feedback from the punters and browsers alike, they were very excited to see a shop with all Irish handmade goods. They also loved the idea of the pop-up shop, feeling it was in the spirit of new recession Ireland. There was plenty of well wishers, most people taking business cards from the sellers if they weren't deciding to buy on the day. It was great that the festival was on as it meant that there were lots of arty creative types in the area who understand the work that goes into handmade.

All of us that were there manning the shop were really excited to be taking part, but as Sunday rolled around we started feeling pretty doom and gloom that it would all be taken down the next day. We had a little word with the organiser mooting the idea that we might ask to keep it open for a week, and she thought we should run it by the owner of the pub. Much to our surprise and AMAZING DELIGHT Niall was open to this suggestion, and then said that he wouldn't need the space for the next month!! So I'm delighted to announce that we have our own pop-up shop in the heart of Limerick city for the next month!!!!! And free of charge!! It was an amazingly nice gesture from Niall, I couldn't believe how easy it was, I nearly gave the man a hug even though I don't know him at all really. After many squeals, high fives and sporadic happy dances we started to think about the logistics of it.  All the local etsy members are going to take it in turns to man the shop, putting in voluntary hours whenever we can manage it. We are gonna open 3-4 days a week, with a few extra 'staff' on Saturdays to handle the extra footfall. I'll be in touch with all the members that are already taking part via email with more specific details about the arrangements.

We are full to the brim with work already, but it might be nice to rotate the work a little bit over the month so people don't get bored, so a few more sellers would be welcome, but sadly not a massive amount as we already have a lot on our plate. If you are interested please email me at ruthcrean@yahoo.ie.

To see more pictures of the shop click here.
Also please visit our new facebook page for the pop-up shop, the more we can spread the news about this the better, so sharing,liking and linking would be greatly appreciated, especially from those sending items to the shop.

We also need to send a huge thank you to Michelle and Alice from Fondelifair who sponsored the event for us. They donated money for the printing of flyers and posters, which really helped out with our expenses. (to those of you who already paid €5 each, the money was used to buy table cloths, blue tac, thumb tacs, etc etc, all the hidden expenses that go along with running an event like this). Any of you who haven't heard already Fondelifair is an Irish website set up for selling handcrafts online. I've joined myself and so have a good few other team members. The site will be launched at the start of June, and there is free membership until the end of the month, so get in there quick! It can be really good to get in on a site like this at the very start, as your pieces will not get lost within millions of listings like what can happen on Etsy. They will be having a big launch in June with lots of national press to raise awareness so it would be good to have some of your items listed before all that goes ahead.

Our hero Niall, who has given us the space for a month!!

Fab Five on Friday (on Monday)

I'm sorry for the delay, all. See Purls' post below for an explanation :(

So, here is our Fab Five on Friday, presented to you on a Monday instead. Enjoy!
♥ Beth

Featured items:
1. Vintage Style Earrings, Black and Transparent, from JoannaBizu
2. Striking Black and White Shoulder Bag, from TheOpheliaBagShop
3. Modern Abstract Wood Sculpture Wall Hanging, Painting, from ArtGlamourSligo
4. Red Camelia Mod Accent Throw Cusshion/Pillow, from kaftansarafan
5. Ariel, Vintage Art Nouveau Deco Dress Clip Chain Necklace, from nicobel

Chosen by Beth of magpieandbutton.
As always, if you would like to suggest or curate a Fab Five on Friday of your very own, just send me an Etsy convo :)

Blogger problems

When I was checking our team blog tonight for Friday's Fab Five, I discovered that the article I had written Wednesday night (when I should have been in bed) was gone! Just when I was frantically searching the database for it, and remembering that I hadn't copied it on text file because I was half-asleep, it suddenly popped up like a rabbit from a magician's hat, albeit with funny symbols in the labels and no comments. So I thought I better check the blogger site for help, and there I found the following:


Blogger is back

What a frustrating day. We’re very sorry that you’ve been unable to publish to Blogger for the past 20.5 hours. We’re nearly back to normal — you can publish again, and in the coming hours posts and comments that were temporarily removed should be restored. Thank you for your patience while we fix this situation.

We use Blogger for our own blogs, so we’ve also felt your pain.

Here’s what happened: during scheduled maintenance work Wednesday night, we experienced some data corruption that impacted Blogger’s behavior. Since then, bloggers and readers may have experienced a variety of anomalies including intermittent outages, disappearing posts, and arriving at unintended blogs or error pages. A small subset of Blogger users (we estimate 0.16%) may have encountered additional problems specific to their accounts. Yesterday we returned Blogger to a pre-maintenance state and placed the service in read-only mode while we worked on restoring all content: that’s why you haven’t been able to publish. We rolled back to a version of Blogger as of Wednesday May 11th, so your posts since then were temporarily removed. Those are the posts that we’re in the progress of restoring.

Again, we are very sorry for the impact to our authors and readers. We try hard to ensure Blogger is always available for you to share your thoughts and opinions with the world, and we’ll do our best to prevent this from happening again.

So, we are back on track. Beth, if you tried to publish your Fab Five today and weren't able to, you can publish it now :)

Creative Burnout?

("Take a breath" from Devintagestudio)

Running a small creative business on your own is not easy. You do everything from being the designer, maker, ideas person, seller, stall holder, IT whizz kid and super communicator with nerves of steel to being your own clever bookkeeper, accountant and tax expert. You might also have another full- or part-time job and family commitments.

 ("Reds in my head" Photograph by mariposavintage)

Phew!

Have I forgotten something?

No wonder that sometimes amongst all this buzz, the creative juices dry up. Suddenly everything goes blank, and you just don't want to pick up another bead, knitting needle, crochet hook, fabric, needle, wire, paint brush, button or piece of wood ever again.

So what can you do to bring back your creative mojo? Your friendly Etsy Ireland team blog has a few suggestions:

Get a good night's sleep. Life looks better after some kip!
(Painting by Art by Trudi)

Loaf around in your PJs and do sweet nothing at all until you are so bored that the ideas flood back in
(PJ top from thelittlebluecottage)

Forget the diet, grab some delicious food and indulge! 

(Cupcake by BeeLiciousCrafts)

Pamper yourself - have a relaxing bath, light a candle, surround yourself with lovely smells...don't think about having to create something, just be...

(Eye mask by aroominthecottage)

Move your body! Go to the gym, do some Yoga or Tai Chi, stretch...let the body work and the mind rest! (Yoga bag by mukkymonkey)

Go out for a walk and let your legs and mind wander. If you can combine the walk with a holiday, even better! (Photo by Michael Prior)

Dance - nothing better than dancing the worries away. Dance in the kitchen, in your bathroom, in your slippers, your birthday suit...

(Extra large bath sheet towel by Personal Presence)

("Dancing is like dreaming with your feet" by Fairytea)

 Have a good yarn, laughter or moan and groan with friends! In the flow of conversation, new ideas grow!
(Lil mohawk hats by justynajustyna)

What do you do when creativity is at its lowest? Do share in the comments below.

Purls

Thanks to AM - without her inspiration there would have been a blank page on this blog today!

Designer Dublin - Some Nice Events

Hi Y'all

Just a bit of info on an open studio event that is happening in Dublin on the 10th of June which involves some of the team.

Actually for the whole of June there is a series of events, talks and seminars, mostly free, discussing craft and design.  Check out the web site if you can't wait but there are also some brochures coming out with a map with listings of all the stuff.

I have booked into several events which look really informative and have some good guest speakers like designer Paul Costello and fashion editor Deirdre McQuillian (Irish Times).  All events are listed on their web site here;

http://designerdublin.ie/category/events/

Anyhoo, that's it, I think some of you would really like the events!

Angela (a.k.a. artysmarty)

Crafty News

Flowers at Malone House, South Belfast

Since our Mo is away on a well-deserved holiday and nobody has come forward to step into her shoes for these three weeks, you'll get me, Purls, once more.

And this leads me into the next subject, which is our blog. I am a bit thin on the ground for contributions, so unless you want to read Purls' yarnspinning every day, or have Jacob's growls and scowls for a week, I need to see paws up for the blog.

To show you all how effective our blog is, here is a link to an article by Alice on Fondelifair, which shows clearly that people are reading this blog and that articles translate into visitors to featured shops and author's websites.

This is very good news. Do you need any more persuasion, or do I have to send the bear in???


More crafty news:

• this weekend, Etsy Ireland's pop-up-shop, organised by Ruth from nicedaydesigns will dazzle visitors during the Cat Dig in Limerick. If you had the good intentions of sending some of your products down, but it went out of your head, check with Ruth whether or not it's too late to send things now.

• Some of our team members have joined Fondelifair, the new Irish online craft community and marketplace, and we're making ourselves quite at home there while getting to grips with the joys of Word Press. For those who would like to learn and brush up their Word Press skills, this might be the right course for you.

• The Home Souk and the Fashion Souk are on in Belfast this weekend. Both are taking place in the Europa Hotel from 11am to 5pm (Home Souk is on 14 May, Fashion Souk on 15th)
  

• Various Craft Fairs are happening in Cavan, Dundalk, Meath, Portarlington, and Athy during May and June
  

• Don't forget to put in for the Craft Guerrilla Designer Makers Competition to gain a stall space at one of the Knitting & Stitching shows in London, Harrogate and Dublin. The Deadline is 30 June 2011!
  

As always keep an eye on the Year of Craft website for updates countrywide, and tell me of any interesting crafty news happening in your area!

Fab Five on Friday

Wow, take a look at these beautiful swirling purple items from amazing members of the Crafty Ireland Team. It's a really invigorating collection of treasures, don't you think?

Featured items:
1. Wire Wrapped Bracelet, from mrleppy
2. Ultra-Violet Rust, Fine Art Digital Print, from cherryblossomtattoo
3. Elegant Handmade Flower Brooch, Fabric Silk Purple and Wine Colour, from joannafelt
4. Beadwoven Glass Brooch - "Amethyst", from Balanced
5. Bealtaine Whirling Dervish Gypsy Bohemian Sweater Coat, from spiralgypsy

Chosen by Beth of magpieandbutton.
As always, if you would like to suggest or curate a Fab Five on Friday of your very own, just send me an Etsy convo :)

Selling Opportunity at Bloom 2011

This information just came in from the Crafts Council of Ireland about a selling opportunity at Bloom 2011.

Bloom 2011 is the fifth year of Bord Bía’s very successful garden show, celebrating garden life. The consumer show takes place from Thursday the 2nd to Monday the 6th of June 2011 in Phoenix Park, Dublin. Opening hours are from 10am to 6pm.

Celebrating Year of Craft, the crafts presence at Bloom 2011 will be stronger than ever – with a craft-inspired garden, retail, demonstration and workshop space.  Bloom represents opportunities for craft makers to promote and sell to this very large audience. In 2010 Bloom achieved pheonomenal success by attracting over 60,000 visitors.

The Crafts Council of Ireland’s objective is to raise the awareness of craft by offering consumers the chance to see it, feel it, engage with it and purchase it – and hopefully develop a life long affinity for craft in all its forms. The Crafts Council of Ireland area brings all of the craft activities into one key location – focused around an interactive garden that highlights 'growing your garden with craft'.

The Craft Avenue will be situated at the heart of the craft area. It will encompass approximately 20 – 25 craft stands (depending on demand and the sizes of stands required) – in outdoor, all-weather/weatherproof and lockable stalls. Please note – the stands are not in the usual marquee format.

This area will be promoted to visitors in advance of the show and will feature prominently in the Bloom website. In addition it will be highlighted in the Bloom catalogue and on signage throughout the show.

Selection Process
In order to ensure quality and consistency, all craft exhibitors must pass an independent selection process – organised / administered by the Crafts Council of Ireland. Applicants must be registered with the Crafts Council of Ireland.

Successful applicants will then be contacted by the Bloom sales team by the third week in May, regarding confirming and booking stands. 

The decision of the selection panel is final. All those selected will be offered a space at Bloom at the discounted rate of €800 for a 2x2m stall excluding VAT. Double stands are available. Successful applicants must ensure that their stand is staffed for the duration of the show.

Applicants who do not pass selection may be offered space in the Grand Pavillion, at the standard rate of €242psm (including shell).

Selection Fee
A processing fee of €25 will apply to all applications, so you need to post this fee to the Crafts Council. This fee is non-refundable and will entitle successful applicants to a listing in the CCoI information brochure at Bloom.

Deadline for completed applications is Tuesday, 10 May 2011.

Purls has further information and the application form, but you can also contact Nicola at the Crafts Council of Ireland directly at nicola@ccoi.ie

Spring into Handmade Summer

May Day! May Day! Summer is on the way already and I’m way behind on stocking up my shop with fun and brightly coloured accessories for the coming season.

Father & Son Aprons by A Room in the Cottage

We’ve had glorious weather here in Ireland lately. We never know if this is our only chance for a summer. So the minute the sun tentatively pokes its head out, the unmistakeable aroma of BBQ hits our nostrils like a pungent dose of smelling salts.

Original Painting by Art by Trudi

One swallow does not a summer make, unless you’re in Ireland, that is. So I guess it’s time for listing such goodies as travel and beach accessories again.

Elizabeth R Bridal Cuffs by Queen of Cuffs

I intended building up a dedicated bridal section in my shop, but I kind of got distracted by the such things as The Royal Wedding. (Ah, it was lovely though, wasn’t it?) But there’s time yet to bead up a few more pretty little dainty things. After all, Summer does not hold a monopoly on weddings.

Wool Scapular by Homespun Ireland

At least I remembered that May heralds First Holy Communion for many an Irish child.

White Linen Dress by The Cat in the Pyjamas

I’ll never forget my Communion Day, maybe not for the ‘correct’ reasons, but rather for my initiation into the world of lace and pearls, pretty accessories and my very own jewellery that I was actually allowed to wear. (A teenchy silver Christening bracelet imprisoned away in my mother’s jewellery box did not count.)

Pearl Communion Bracelet from own shop, Handmade by Amo'r

Oh dear, what a slippery slope into frivolity and beaded debauchery my 1st Communion led to.

Floral Hairpin by Wild Expression

I can hear my aunts, ‘The Nuns’ scolding me now for my naughty lack of reverence, but every 7 year-old Catholic girl secretly knows that the white bag and the flower clips are every bit as important as the beautiful and meaningful prayer book.

Angel Card by ShineSpinner Cards

Seriously though, I was actually a little angel... underneath it all...

Original Birthdate Newspaper from Personal Presence

Though the peak season for birthdays in the Western world is apparently mid-August to early October, the peak month for this side of Summer is reportedly, May. One thing is for sure, birthdays are always in season.

Looking ahead to June events as a source for inspiration, this year Fathers day is 19th of June in Ireland, the UK and North America. The Special Olympics are in Athens from 25 June to 4 July. Pearls are the gem for June and this post on pearls, written a whole year ago, may still be of use.

Edwardian-styled 80s Blouse by Little Blue Cottage

And my personal favourite, Bloomsday celebrates James Joyce’s Ulysses on and around June 16th. The literary festival gives people a chance to dress up and take part: plenty of scope for Edwardian style clothes and accessories so! Oh what fun!

Lastly, lest you can't find it, Etsy's merchandising desk gives an update on international trends each month.