At Home with 1st Unique Gifts

I’ve not known quite what to write about this show which was at the weekend.  Mixed feelings is a bit of an understatement.

Let’s start with the good bits.  Sales were good.  I had lots of very lovely customers.  The lady on the next stall was fabulous - a real gem of a person (funny, kind, thoughtful, generous - oh, God, now I sound like a lonely hearts ad!!), and we became good friends very quickly.  Her name’s Lizzy, and you can see her fabulous products here:

www.lavenderandlime.com 

They backed us onto the fudge stall (fatal for the waistline and tooth enamel!), with delicious fudges served by the lovely Margaret.  The weather was fabulous, apart from the odd shower (which sent everyone running to the craft marquee for cover, of course).  The organiser of the craft marquee was supportive and helpful.  And of course, the balloons were fabulous!

nightglow

hot air balloons

Could it be any better?!

Ah, but you then have to factor in the bad bits.  The security guards who surrounded me, one of them who stood over me in an intimidating manner, and who wouldn’t let me off site when I wanted to go home after working a 12-hour day.  The exit sign which directed me into a funfair.  The three-point turn in the middle of the funfair, in the dark, with children running around.  All in the name of health and safety (I wasn’t allowed to go out of the main gate, where nobody was, for h&s reasons!).  Oh, I could go on. 

Suffice perhaps to say I’m not a great fan of the organiser Events4U at this moment in time.  Not likely to be, either, as the phrase wide berth definitely comes to mind.  I must add that there are successful hot air balloon shows organised by other people around the country which I’m told are fab. Might be worth looking them up. 

Anyway, like the balloons it’s onward and upward.  A local school show this weekend, followed by the Stockton Heath Festival next weekend (11th July).  Looking forward to them already!!!

The Stockton Heath Festival (in Stockton Heath, Warrington, Cheshire) is an exciting event spread over a few days (and a few venues!) which just gets bigger and bigger every year.

On Saturday 11th July, there will be an Art and Craft Market - it should be a great event, with artists, designer/makers and crafters all displaying their wares.  I’ll be joining them, so look out for the 1st Unique Gifts stall.  Lots of canvases for kids’ rooms, clocks, picture frames and door hangers and door plaques.  Everything we do can be personalised especially for you - sometimes on the spot (depending on the stock we have with us).

You can look up more info on the Stockton Heath Festival here:

http://www.stocktonheathfestival.co.uk

 Look forward to seeing you there!! Oh, by the way - the Art and Craft market will be in Mill Lane Field.

What a fabulous day it was yesterday at the Cheshire Show.  If you were there too, in whatever capacity, I hope you had a great day too.

My customers were all fabulous!  Everyone was lovely.   Other stallholders were lovely too.  It was great to put names to faces of people I’ve met online on the craftsforum. 

The sun shone all day, but it wasn’t clammy like the day before.  It was a shame to be inside a marquee all day (although I could think of many worse places to be!) but it was lovely on the rare occasions I ventured outside for loo breaks.  Speaking of which, I was amazed and impressed that the toilet facilities were kept clean, were fairly plentiful, and replenished with loo roll and hand towels.  Doesn’t take much to please me does it?!

If you were one of my customers, or potential customers, thank you.  You all collectively put a smile on my face yesterday.

I’m sitting here at the Cheshire Show, typing this in between chatting to the earlybird customers.  It’s just gone 9am, and looks like it’ll be another hot day.  Yesterday was hot, clammy and airless in the marquee, which made people want to exit asap - not brilliant!!  However, it was a good (if slightly sticky…) day and enough people braved the clammy conditions to keep us happy!

Today is the second and last day of the Cheshire Show, but the Capesthorne Hall Hot Air Balloon Extravaganza in Macclesfield is hot on its heels.  It starts on Friday afternoon, and runs into the evening, is on all day and evening till 10pm on Saturday, and runs all day into the evening till 8ish on the Sunday.  Phew!!  Long days, but should be great fun.

As well as making up customer orders, next week will be spent replenishing stock so I can add names, dates, messages, etc., to items and gifts at the fair.  It’s all hand-painted at the moment so pretty labour intensive!

I forgot to bring my camera today, but I’ll try to remember it for the hot air balloons!  It’s the first one I’ve been to and I believe they are amazing.

Will you be at the Cheshire Show next week on 23rd and 24th June?  I’ll be there with some of the 1st Unique Gifts goodies - please come and say hello!  It’s a massive event - there’s more info here:

www.cheshirecountyshow.co.uk

It should be a great day out! Let’s hope for good weather - always improves a day, doesn’t it?

What’s happened with the weather?  It’s been glorious these past few days, and I woke up this morning to hear the rain pouring down! 

I took a few pics of the garden yesterday.  Remember, we only moved into this house in March.  The garden was a bit of a jungle (still is, in places)… anyway, here’s the tour!!

baby courgette plants

I made the raised bed for the courgettes from various bits of a felled tree.  Worked pretty well, I thought.

onions in a raised bed

The rased bed for the onions is a folding frame which I found outside our front door when we moved in.  Not sure what its original purpose was, but it works really well as a raised bed.  There are four of them, here’s another housing the potatoes:

potatoes in rased bed

Surrounding the raised beds is an area which was a bit wild - well-established ivy vying for ground space with healthy-looking weeds and dozens of stray cherry tree suckers.  I pulled out what I could, given my limited timescale, and covered the lot with cardboard (we had plenty of it, having just moved in!).

The worms apparently love cardboard, and I’ve used this method of weed suppression before.  It has the advantages of being easy, cheap and environmentally-friendly.  The cardboard will have rotted away in about 12 months, and will improve the soil structure as it does so.  If I get round to it, I will add shredded twigs on top of the cardboard (and there are lots of twigs and leaves under the cardboard too).  The only disadvantages to the cardboard method is the lack of visual appeal.  it does end up looking a bit like an allotment, but it is temporary.  And the autumn leaves will cover it later in the year if I don’t beat them to it with my shredded twigs.

We found a few gems hidden in the garden, such as:

a plum tree

this plum tree, which is laden with baby plums.  There looks to be more plums than one family can reasonably manage to eat, so apart from plums at beakfast, dinner and tea, I think I’ll be looking up recipes for jams and chutneys.  Yum.

There was also:

a pear tree

this pear tree, with lots of tiny baby pears.  I thought it was an apple tree to begin with, but if it is then they are very odd-shaped apples!!  There’s also an apple tree, but it’s looking a bit poorly and doesn’t have much fruit on it.

Before you get jealous of my lovely garden, let me just show you that everything in the garden is not coming up roses:

the nettle patch

Yes, we have a flourishing nettle patch.  I think I may have to look up a recipe for nettle soup, although if I tell Mr 1st Unique that’s what we’re having for tea, he may well decide to go off and find somewhere else to live.  But, hey, credit crunch and all that!  Surely it has to be worth a try?  I think I’d have to call it something more attractive than nettle soup!!

Oh, and look here http://www.nettles.org.uk/ - we’ve just missed “Be nice to nettles week”.  There’s a recipe for nettle soup, too, but it needs half a pound of nettles.  My God, that’s a lot, even for my garden!!

Back to work!!

We’re finally on facebook - see us here:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1065025000#/pages/1stUniqueGiftscouk/96823927582?ref=ts

Keep up to date with us - become a fan.  Not really sure what I’m doing with it yet, but watch this space!!  I’m sure I’ll find out!

I thought you might like to see this painting for twins, a recent commission.  It’s generated a fair bit of interest so far.  It measures 14″ x 14″ and was commissioned to go on the wall of the babies’ grandmother.

The babies’ names, weights and date of birth are incorporated into the picture.

stork canvas painting with twins

The stork canvas is painted to order each time, so I can change colours to suit you, and accommodate your own wishlist.  The 14″ x 14″ size costs £40.00 plus £3.90 UK postage (overseas postage rates on request).  It’s available to order here: http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/childrens%20wall%20art.0.1.html

It makes a rather unique gift, one which is likely to be treasured and remembered.  It could be great for a christening, or just to treat yourself and remind your children or grandchildren how special they are.

Do you know anyone who would love one of these?

If you’re in or around the Warrington area this Sunday (31st May), do come down to Grappenhall Community Centre on Bellhouse Lane, where you’ll find a craft fair - and me.  Well, not sure I’ll be any sort of attraction, but let’s hope there’s at least a slight ripple of interest in the 1st Unique Gifts range.  I know there will be a lot of other great craft stalls there - a really good mix. 

Father’s Day is on 21st June this year, just three weeks away.  Do you know a dad who’d like one of these?

campervan clock with personalised numberplate of your choice

dads shed penpot ideal fathers day gift

Either of the above would make a fabulous Father’s Day gift with a difference. Have your gift for dad personalised with your own choice of numberplate on the campervan clock, or choose your own message to go on the back of Dad’s Shed. It certainly beats another pair of socks!  You can buy them at  www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk - get yours now.

Getting away from Father’s Day, here are a few other things I’ve been working on recently:

cute cupcake clock for the kitchen

This cupcake clock would work well in a kitchen. 

ladybird clock

The ladybirds on this clock will help you tell the time - count the spots!

See you soon - maybe on Sunday at the craft fair?  Come over and say hello!

Oh, the frustration of modern technology.

The website is published.  No, you’re not getting a fan-fare - please read on.

It is published, yes. But not without its teething problems!  First, all the editing options disappeared, and the hosting people told me I’d need to rebuild it.  Near-hysteria was relieved when they realised their upgrading had caused its temporary disappearance.  It’s back.

However, it’s now having a little tantrum.  As all roads lead to Rome, so all menu buttons lead to penpots.  How bizarre.  The techie guys are looking into it, so I hope they find the solution. Soon!!!!

If you want to have a look, here’s the link: www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk - with any luck, the penpots will not be bullying the rest out of the way by the time you get there.

To paraphrase Henry Ford:  You can have any gift, as long as it’s a penpot.

Oh the joys of medern technology!