Posts belonging to Category New gifts just created

These red hearts are not only a cute way of saying “I love you”, they can say anything you want them to . . .

best friend, lover and spider catcher

What would you have on yours?  If I can make it fit, I’ll be happy to write it for you

If you order yours now (more information and more gift ideas on that page too) you’ll get it in plenty of time for Valentine’s Day.  It could make the ideal quirky gift for the man (or woman) who has everything.

Each heart is styled in a subtle shabby-chic finish, with white faux stitched edges and a jute string hanger – and each is (of course) hand made to order here in Cheshire.

best friend, lover and tea maker

Following on from the VW campervan wedding canvas, it was only a matter of time before the VW Beetle muscled in!

personalised Beetle canvas

This canvas is the first of its kind: a just married sign hangs from the wing mirror, the date of the wedding is on the number plate – and the happy couple’s names are above the car.

It’s now on the website, available to order in three sizes and at a very affordable price!

This is the campervan canvas that started it (they make ideal gifts for births and special birthdays as well as weddings!):

personalised campervan canvases

Well, what do you think?  I think the Beetle wedding canvas painting could be great gift idea for a couple planning a vintage-themed wedding, especially when the wedding car is a classic Volkswagen.  And because they are all hand painted to order, colours can be changed as well as wording.  You could match up with the wedding colours or even the wedding car!

Hello and welcome to the 40th (really?!) Handmade Monday.  Click the link if you want to know what it’s all about.

This week, I finally listed this

a boat in the harbour is safe but that's not what boats are built for

on the website.  For quite a few weeks now, there has been only one of these plaques in existence (and I sold it very soon after making it).  So now I’ve made a few more and popped them on this page.

I like the motivational quote.  It reminds me very much of the feeling I got when I took redundancy to start up a business from scratch.  Plus it reminds me of the seaside (always good!).

Do you have a favourite motivational quote?  Let me know if you do – I’d love to make a few more plaques with motivational quotes and little illustrations to go with them.

P.S. Don’t forget the clock giveaway here.  (Speaking of clocks, did you remember to put your clocks back last night?  I’ve been confused all day – it really doesn’t take much  )

If you’re here for Handmade Monday . . .

A while back, one of my customers asked me for a photo frame depicting a Scots Guard.  She was very specific, sent me links to what the uniform looked like and sent me a photo of her sister – a Scots Guard – wearing her uniform.

I like customers being specific – it leaves less room for guesswork and mistakes!

I came up with a frame which looked like this:

scots guard photo frame

My customer loved it – and apparently her sister did too.  That’s what I call a result!  It’s always a bit nerve-wracking doing something where there is no point of reference for the customer – they are putting complete trust in you to come up with something they hope will be a little bit special.

If there’s anything you’d like me to do for you along similar (or completely different!) lines please get in touch.  The best way is to just email me and ask – my contact details are at the top of this blog.  You don’t need to pay until you see the artwork via an emailed photograph.

Looking through my images recently, I found a few photos of canvases and they reminded me how much I love . . .

pirate boy canvas

the chunkiness of these canvases (especially the smaller ones which just seem more chunky!).

I also love that the painting goes all the way round the edges of the canvas.

pirate boy canvas

The storybook princess is one that seems to capture people’s imagination!  This one gets sold for Christenings, new babies and little girls’ birthdays.  It’s a very sweet and quite special addition to any little princess’s bedroom and puts her very much centre-stage of the story!

storybook princess canvas

My favourite though is this little tugboat, below.  I like it most on the 6″ canvas, which just seems so cute.  The 6″ (15cm) canvases would work well standing on a shelf as well as hung on the wall.  A very cute picture for a little boy’s bedroom, especially one with a seaside theme.

tugboat canvas painting personalised

The canvases come in three sizes and are not just for children!

3 sizes of square canvas paintings

The campervan wedding canvases make a fab wedding present (especially for those hard-to-buy-for couples who already seem to have everything!) with the couple’s names above the van, the date of their wedding on the number plate and a just married sign hanging from the wing mirror.

campervan wedding canvas

You can even opt to have a message on the back edge of these (it sits against the wall so won’t be on display to embarrass them!).

back of a 6" canvas with message around the edge

The campervans work for other occasions too – like new babies:

pink campervan to celebrate new baby's birth

and special birthdays:

campervan painting for 50th birthday personalised

If you’re interested in any of these, you’ll find more info about campervan gifts here and canvas paintings here.  Because they’re all hand painted to order, you can have any wording and any personalisation to suit your own situation.  If it fits, I’ll write it on for you.

The paints are top quality acrylics which are designed to be long lasting (think centuries not just decades) making a lovely keepsake (and not expensive, either, but shhhh – don’t tell everyone).

Maybe I should paint some new designs on canvas.  If you have any ideas, feel free to leave me a comment!

Hello and Happy Handmade Monday to you.  You probably know the drill by now  – but there’s more info here if you need it.

I’ve been playing catch up with orders this week, which always means there isn’t much design time.  However, with requests for several new ideas including spiders and The Stig, I’ve had to get my design side into gear (I’ve just realised there’s a pun there if you look hard enough but maybe you’d need to be a Jeremy Clarkson fan to get it).

painting the stig on a door hanger

This is what I’ve come up with . . .

the Stig door hanger

Introducing The Stig (of Top Gear fame, of course ) . . .

the Stig

And a hairy, red-eyed spider (possibly related to some of the thuggish spiders I find in my studio from time to time) . . .

spider door hanger

on a black background, as per the customer request, which was a bit challenging, although making the spider dark grey with lighter highlights seems to have worked.  The customer requested red eyes – and I think that was a good choice – it makes him look a little spooky and slightly menacing.  Could be a good idea for a Hallowe’en gift!

spooky red-eyed hairy spider

The web and the writing are in silver, which works well against the black.

I’ve started to update the door hangers page on my website – it hadn’t been updated in ages and everything looked so dated.  There’s always a huge sigh of relief here when there’s a web page update done and ticked off the list!

How’s your handmade week been?  Leave your link below so we can pop over to your blog too.

Quite a few people have been asking about a beer o’clock clock, and here it is at last:

beer o' clock clock

It follows in the footsteps of the wine o’clock clock

wine o clock

and the gin o’ clock clock.

gin o' clock

It seems there’s a little bit of a theme going on here!  All these clocks are available here.

If you have any other requests, do let me know!

beer o clock

As always, you can make a request for a bespoke design without being under obligation to buy.  This is how it works:  I make up your design (or a sketch of your design) and email you a photo of it.  If you like it, I send you an invoice for payment.  If you don’t like it, well . . . you don’t need to buy it.  Once you have paid, I add any personalisation that’s unique to you (names, dates, etc) and post it to you.

Unfortunately, because it gets so busy, I won’t be able to take any bespoke requests between mid-October and Christmas.  I can still make minor changes to designs for you though (like colour, size, placement of the image, etc).  Just let me know!

Following on from the VW camper, the VW Beetle clock is now available to buy.

personalised vw beetle clock

Because these clocks are handpainted to order, you can choose your colours as well as choose your own personalised number plate.  The reg plate can be a real vehicle’s plate or it could be a name, numbers or initials.

They’re available in two sizes and are surprisingly affordable for a custom-made vehicle (OK, you won’t be driving anywhere in them, but they make a fab gift!).

You can find out more, or buy one, here.

Do you have roses growing around your front door?  No, me neither, but I won’t let that stop me hanging one of these home sweet home plaques in my hallway.

With the roses growing around the door of the white cottage on this plaque, I can have the perfect image in my head without the prickle of thorns when I have to prune them!

home sweet home

Like everything here at 1st Unique Gifts, these plaques are completely hand painted here in my little garden studio.

I make them in small batches, although no two will ever be exactly the same.

painting a batch of home sweet home plaques

So, whether you do have roses around your doorway or not, if you’d like one of these home sweet home wall plaques, you can order one here.  If you’d like to have one personalised, I can do that too – just let me know!

While the home sweet caravan plaques have been popular this summer

home sweet caravan plaque

there have been a lot of customers opting for personalised versions

Jan and Tim's caravan

I love the fact people can request whatever they like on these

Grandad George's Place

such as names

Howard and ann's caravan

but this one is my favourite, I think:

our caravan rocks

The caravan plaques are available here if you’d like a late summer gift for someone.  Or maybe even something to hang in your own little home from home.