A Few of my Favourite Things

Well, things have finally slowed down for Christmas. My final last-minute orders were sent out yesterday and my online shops are 'on holiday'. I have some new designs and products to share with you in the new year but in the mean time I thought I would share a few of my favourite things with you. I plan to do a post like this every now and then to share my favourite textile designers with you and am starting with the following three as designers I have admired for many years.

First up, Belinda Downes. Belinda produces beautiful embroidered, hand-painted and appliquéd book illustrations that I have long admired. Such wonderful attention to detail and delicate images that work really well in print. This summer I also came across her fantastic greetings cards under the label 'Paper and Cotton Ltd'. Of all the textile illustrators I have come across Belinda is definitely one of my favourites.

Next up is Poppy Treffry. I love Poppy's relaxed hand-drawn style and have been a fan of her work for many years. It is wonderful to spot her products in so many fabulous stores such as Liberty in London. There seem to have been lots of textile badges around this year at the various craft fairs I have visited but my firm favourites are still those by Poppy Treffry which I first discovered several years ago on one of my many visits to the Eden Project in Cornwall.

And finally, Clare Beaton, another of my favourite textile illustrators. I am not sure exactly when it was I first stumbled across Clare's work but I have been enjoying her gorgeous children's book illustrations for quite a number of years now and must admit I have a growing collection of her books! Clare's embroidered and appliquéd illustrations are always so cute with lots of lovely trims used for texture and detail. I love all her little finishing touches.

Well I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my favourite designers and look forward to discovering more in the new year.

Merry Christmas to you all and thank you for all of your wonderful support this year.

Claire x

Christmas Giveaway on Facebook

I am having a Christmas giveaway on Facebook. Pop over to my page for a chance to win one of my cute little Christmas Robin decorations and a Christmas Pudding card.

Claire Hurd Design Facebook page.

AMENDED 13th Dec. 2009 - We have a winner!

Congratulations to Julie Davis who was randomly selected using 'Random.Org' as my Christmas giveaway winner. Your prize will be on it's way to you very soon.

Thank you to everyone who entered. The kind comments and messages you sent were lovely and a real boost.

Handm@de Cambridge Christmas Craft Fair

I am back! It has been a while as I have been very busy keeping up with online orders and preparing for the Handm@de Cambridge Christmas craft fair.

The craft fair took place on Saturday and I am really pleased with how it went. It was my first craft fair and I was not really sure what to expect so went along with the attitude that as long as I covered my costs I would be happy. It turned out that despite being a relatively quiet fair I easily covered my

costs and made a healthy profit on top.

It was lovely being able to chat with my customers and I received lots of really positive feedback on my products which was very encouraging. I was also able to catch up with some familiar faces from the Winchester and Oxford fairs. Through the Handm@de craft fairs I have met some really lovely fellow designer/makers and it was wonderful to chat about crafty things and share hopes and dreams with people working in similar fields.

I particularly want to introduce my blog readers to the following people - all truly lovely, very friendly and creating beautiful products.

Julie of 'Little Button Nose', Karen of 'Chalk Hill Studio', Karen of 'Hodge Podge Arts', Cath of 'Emerald Framing', 'Twinkly Spangle', Natalie of 'Nat's Nest' and Alice who organised the event. It was wonderful to meet you all and sorry if I have missed anyone!

New advert on Shop Handmade UK

A while back I won a blog giveaway and my prize was to have an advert on the Shop Handmade UK blog for the month of December.

The lovely Belinda of Shop Handmade UK has been working on it for me using images I emailed over to her and has made it live a few days early. Follow this link to take a look, you will find my advert top left. It looks great - many thanks Belinda x

Bunting and Butterflies!

My bunting is finished! I am really pleased with it so thanks again to Mum for doing all my cutting for me and getting me started. I have made it in three sections so it can be hung in one long strip or in three sections one above the other if space is limited.

Please excuse the quality of the photos, they were taken in the evening and would really have benefited from some natural light!

Keep your eyes peeled for bunting appearing in my online shops (here and here) in the new year. If you would like to place an order before then simply email me at studio@clairehurd.co.uk.

I also wanted to share my butterfly badges with you. I shall be selling these at the Handm@de Cambridge Craft Fair on Saturday the 5th December (not long now!). These floral butterflies have been hand-stitched to their fabric base down the centre only so their wings stand forward and reveal a contrasting geometric fabric reverse. The butterfly shown has a bright pink gingham on the reverse.

My lovely Jo Heckett giveaway prize!

I wanted to share a photo with you today.

I won this lovely clip-on peg by Jo Heckett in one of her Facebook giveaway competitions. I shall now be packing it away carefully ready to attach it to a special note to my 'husband' (!) on my big day. It will make a lovely addition to the handmade elements I am introducing to my wedding decorations.

Do take a look at Jo's website and also check out her Facebook fan page for more beautiful ceramic gifts and household accessories.

Craft Fair and Google Maps

I have now received all the promotional material for my upcoming craft fair and wanted to share the details with you. It would be great to meet some of my blog followers on the day so if you are able to pop along do come and say hello.

I also wanted to show you this great Google Map. It has been put together by Sharon of Ravenwolf Design and shows the location of Folksy sellers in the UK. The idea is that we can get in touch with others nearby to form friendships and organise craft fair table shares together. It is a work in progress but is looking fantastic already. Many thanks to Sharon for all the hard work she has put in to this map.

What I am Working on Today

Just popping my head in to say a quick hello.

I am busy, busy, creating Christmas goodies for my Craft Fair stall whilst keeping on top of my online orders and commissions.

Here is a quick glimpse of what I am working on today.

My Handmade Christmas Robin decorations have been selling as quickly as I can make them so I have been working hard these last couple of days to produce a bulk quantity in preparation for further orders and for my craft fair stand.

I also have some 'Claire Hurd Design' bunting cut and waiting to be embroidered which my Mum has very helpfully started off for me (thank you Mum!). I shall do a proper reveal as soon as it is finished.

The Christmas Craft Fair I shall be exhibiting at is the Handm@de Cambridge Craft Fair at the Guildhall in Cambridge city centre on Saturday the 5th December between 11am and 5pm. Do come along and say hello. There are some great designers exhibiting and it will be the perfect opportunity to do some unique handmade Christmas shopping.