If you have a wine-loving friend, mum, sister or brother but want a gift which is a bit more original than yet another bottle of wine (or just something to supplement it!!) then this might be for you!

save water drink wine

Our “Save water drink wine” plaques are really quite popular as gifts (and for indulging yourself) and are sure to amuse and raise a smile.  At only £6.99 plus P&P, they won’t break the bank either.

nunc est bibendum plaque

Then there’s the “Nunc est bibendum” plaques.  A little more highbrow perhaps, the Latin quote makes you look very well educated - and is a great talking point! (For those of you who didn’t study Latin - or, like me, can’t remember anything beyond the amo-amas-amat stuff - it translates roughly as “Now we must drink” - apparently.)  The door/wall plaques (without the wire hanger) are just £5.99 and come with sticky fixers on the back so you can put them straight up when they arrive.

To buy your plaque go to: http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/hangingplaques.html for a plaque with a curled wire hanger or this page: http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/humourousgifts.html for a plaque with sticky pads on the back.

We usually have these plaques in stock, which means we’ll post out the day after your order is received.  If it’s not in stock, it may take a few days as it will be painted especially for you.  If you need it for a specific date, please do let us know.

They’d make ideal Mother’s Day gifts - and Mother’s Day will be upon us in two and a bit weeks!!

Cheers!

cheers

I’m quite excited about my new display stands for craft fairs and markets.  They are chrome and shiny and give me lots of room to hang plaques, clocks and canvases.  Even picture frames.

shiny chrome gridwall

I was quite thrilled with these too:

plastic tags

because I can just stick them onto the back of plaques, frames, etc., and they are then ready for hanging:

hanging tags in place

I know, I know, I really should get out more!

The new display stands will be getting their first airing this Sunday (28th February 2010) at Worsley Park Hotel.  I’ll try to remember to take my camera and let you see some pics of my newly-revamped display.

If you’d like more information about the Worsley Park Hotel Craft Fair, you’ll find it here: www.creativecrafts-online.co.uk

To get there: Walkden Road, Worsley, Manchester, M28 2QT

Our little personalised photo frames are always popular.  We make them in a variety of colours as well as plain varnished wood and embellish them with a little painted picture (optional).

personalised first day at school photo frame

They’re great with just names on, with messages on, or whatever you like.  They are especially good for those firsts in life: first day at school, first Communion, first Christmas, first Easter, first fishing trip (yes, it’s been commissioned!) -absolutely anything you can dream up really!

They make a great memento of other special occasions too: Jessica’s Christening, Jamie’s 21st, Louisa’s 30th birthday, etc.  You get the idea.

The frames are made of wood, with a card backing which has the usual fold-out piece to prop the frame up.  They measure approx 7″ x 5″ with the picture area being a standard 6″ x 4″ (18cm x 10cm) making them ideal for displaying a favourite photo.  We usually make them in a portrait orientation but can make them landscape for you too.

They come in two basic styles: a plain finish and a shabby-chic finish.  Shabby-chic, as the name suggests, will have sanded-back areas with some of the wood showing through the painted finish.  We know this isn’t a look that appeals to everyone (although many of our customers love it, as do we!) which is why we offer the choice of a plain painted finish too.  If you choose the varnished wood, it will be a plain finish.

Only until the end of February, we’re offering the frames at a reduced price: they are usually £5.99 each but are just £4.50 each at the moment.  Now’s the time to buy!  Go to: http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/special%20offerphotoframe.html

With Mother’s Day being just 3 weeks away, they’d be a perfect gift for a perfect mum, too.  We can use whatever wording you choose: Best Mum in the world? Perfect Mum? I love you, Mum? World’s Best Mum?

best mum in the world photo frame

The special offer price is only available until 28th February though!!

Giving a child somewhere special to hang their artwork is a brilliant idea on several counts.

Emily

1. It gives them pride in their artwork which in turn increases self-esteem.

2. It keeps sellotape off the walls, the fridge, etc.  You don’t even need to hunt for (or use) the sellotape (or the fridge magnets)!!

3. It’s so easy to peg their mini-masterpieces up.  Let them choose a favourite to hang - even let them do it themselves (depending on their age and, please, always supervise them - springed pegs and wire can cause injury if not handled correctly). 

4. An artwork peg hanger from us is personalised so can help them recognise (and learn to spell) their name.

5.  Each artwork peg hanger comes with a wire hanging loop making it easy to affix to a wall, hook or door.  You can hang it from a nail, picture hanger, shaker peg rail or wall hook.

6. You can have a different little masterpiece pegged up every day of the week, depending on how prolific your little artist is!

hang up their pictures

Our artwork peg hanger consists of a plaque which hangs from sturdy coloured or silver wire, curled at the ends, and two wooden pegs at the back.   You can have any name or wording added to the front of the plaque and we do a variety of pictures on the plaques too.  At just £6.99, hand-painted to your specifications, it’s a bit of a bargain.  Order yours here: http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/artworkpeghangers.html and watch it become an integral part of the after-nursery/after-school routine.  These make a fabulous “first day at school gift” - makes a good little gift for a proud doting grandparent too:

look what my grandson made in school

art hanger for a little girl

www.wowthankyou.co.uk is a new website due to be launched on 5th March 2010 - and today is the last day for getting their fab free sign-up offer.

It’s a great deal for makers of nice things to gain extra publicity and sales - and the free offer closes at midnight tonight.  You need to get your supplier profile back to them before then.

What are you waiting for???  Email info@wowthankyou.co.uk

Yes, I’ve signed up and am looking forward to the launch of the site!

There is a reason I’ve called this post “Don’t Touch My Craft Room”.  Really.  Other than the fact I’ve had a bit of a re-organisation in my crafting space and plan to share some of the piccies here with you.

Here’s the reason:

craft room door plaque

One of the door plaques I sell is this one.  It surprised me that so many crafters attend craft fairs as customers (I don’t know why that fact surprised me - I attend as many craft fairs as I can as a customer even though most weekends I’m selling at them) - I only know they do because they buy this plaque.  The wording seems to be something many crafters definitely associate with!

It’s available as a hanging plaque too.

hanging plaque for craft room wall

I can change the wording.

personalised version

If you’d like a craft door plaque of your own, here’s the link: http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/doorplaques.2.html

And if you’d like the hanging plaque: http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/hangingplaques.html

But now onto my space.  As home-based workspaces go, it’s quite a generous size - I’m very lucky, I know.  I still manage to fill it - and mess it up!! 

This is the main space I use for painting:

my painting area

It’s often quite messy.  But also sometimes a bit like a production line:

watching paint dry

Round the corner, there are even more shelves of items ready to be finished off:

waiting to be finished and packed

It’s sometimes quite organised.

white boards

 The whiteboards keep me on track (mostly) - I update them daily.

It’s not just practical stuff that finds its way onto the walls.  I’ve put up some of my own paintings and you’ll also find postcards and photos that inspire me on the walls.  The beach hut canvas is one of mine.  I was inspired to paint this after getting lost in Devon one night.  I had to stop the car in a mad frenzy of excitement when I saw beach huts in the dark lit up by fairy lights.  It was magical, although the rest of the family thought I had completely lost the plot by this point.  They may well have been right.

pics on the wall

More of my paintings in another corner.

my paintings

This bit of the studio is a bit messy:

untidy area

I love sewing too but my poor sewing machine is feeling a little neglected these days.  It is a fabulous machine and deserves much better.  I will dust it off soon (promise!) and may even do a bit of something creative with it as well as the practical (read: boring) jobs I have lined up for it to tackle.

my sewing machine

red roses

Hope you’re having a lovely Valentine’s Day (or Chinese New Year).  I got my dozen red roses given to me on Friday night.  Why?  “Because there won’t be any left in the shops if I leave it any later.”  Hmm…can see his logic, I suppose, but also it has given me more time to enjoy these blooms.  They are gorgeous.

I’ve also been going on about The Time Traveller’s Wife DVD - I read the book a while back and it stands out as an all-time favourite book for me.  I loved it.  So it was no surprise I suppose when he surprised me with it this morning!  I haven’t seen the film but am looking forward to snuggling down this evening and watching it.

roses

If you’re sharing the day with someone special, enjoy.  And if not, take the time to pamper yourself.

roses

And if you don’t feel like celebrating Valentine’s Day, have a go at celebrating Chinese New Year.  This year is the Year of the Tiger. Enjoy. Hei Fat Choy to one and all!!

The crafting calendar usually starts slowly.  There have been a few fairs and markets about but I didn’t book any in January as internet sales were busier than I thought they’d be (which is nice, obviously) and I also needed some organisational and admin time, seeing as I didn’t get a spare minute before Christmas.

My first event of 2010 then will be at Worsley Park Hotel in Manchester on Sunday 28th February.  It’ll be great to get out and about with 1st Unique Gifts goodies and meet the public as well as other stallholders.

It’s followed quite quickly by a local one at Croft memorial Hall in Warrington on Sunday 7th March.  When I say local, I mean it’s -ooh - all of 2 minutes’ drive (and half a minute of that is waiting to turn right onto the main road!).

The other big thing going on is this:

www.wowthankyou.co.uk is a new website dedicated to showcasing UK handmade items - and we will be listing some of our products on the site.  It’s brand new, due to launch on 5th March 2010, and it’s really exciting to be a small part of that launch.

I’ll remind you of the website address nearer the time, but for now I have a lot of work to do photographing, editing and listing my items for sale via wowthankyou.

See you soon!

OK, so it’s all relative… but to me, yes, 10,000 is a lot.  It’s a significant number to me today.

Time for a celebration perhaps?

balloons

Maybe a little dance?

dance

Maybe even a little cake?

cake

Oh, go on then, a little drink too…

glass of wine

And some music…

And the reason for all this talk of celebration?

No it’s not my birthday!  (What, 10,000???)

Ten thousand (yes ten thousand!) people since July have clicked onto this li’l ol’ blog of mine.  Now, to some of those huge blogs out there, 10,000 readers may be something they achieve in a week or two - or even just one day, perhaps.

But 10,000 readers is a bit of an achievement for me.  Wow.  it boggles my mind if I think about it too long.

I wonder if any of them hung around long enough to read anything?

computer reading

If you hung around long enough to read anything (including to the end of this post!!), this is for you:

thank you cake

Thank you so very much. 

And if you bought something from my website www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk as well as reading, please feel free to take an extra slice of cake while I pour you a drink.

But for everyone, no matter how many of my ramblings they’ve read or not read, I am celebrating with a very special offer!

picture frame special offer

Hand painted personalised photo frames, with hearts or stars and your choice of wording, are just £4.50 (UK P&P is just £1.20 - different P&P charges apply for multiple orders, see website for details, email for quotes elsewhere in the world: wendy@1stuniquegifts.co.uk ) until the end of February.

Click here for this very special offer: http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/special%20offerphotoframe.html

The frames measure approx 7″ x 5″ and have a photo area of approx 6″ x4″ (18cm x 10cm) so they’ll accommodate a standard size photo.  They’re made of wood, hand painted and hand lettered, have an acrylic glazing (so are safe for children and lightweight, a consideration if you’re posting as a gift), and a standard card backing to make them either free-standing or wall-hanging.

Only available until the end of February at this special offer price!

When we moved into this house in March 2009, we knew we had our work cut out.  The house hadn’t been lived in for over two years and had been more than a little neglected even before then.

The garden had obviously been very loved at one time: two greenhouses, cold frames, compost heaps and several fruit trees were all evidence of a keen gardener having loved and nurtured this space.

These photos tell the sad story of how long the garden hadn’t been tended though:

conifer growing in a cold frame

The above pic shows a conifer growing out of a polystyrene planter inside a cold frame - not its intended final position, I’m sure, but it desperately needs felling now.

conifer by greenhouses

The conifer is growing right next to two greenhouses - you get an idea of how tall it is in the above picture: you can just see the tops of the greenhouses.  And this is looking right up into the same tree:

looking up into the conifer

And looking to the right of the greenhouses, in the photo below, you can see there’s a real problem getting sun to the garden:

sun through the trees

But this little fellow kept me company in the garden today

robin

Here he is again:

robin redbreast

The garden is going to be an ongoing project for quite some time yet…but that’s what gardens are like anyway, isn’t it?

I am deteremined that all the wood chopped down will be used in some way.  I’ve already made raised beds from some of it and someone on Freegle has taken a car load for their woodburner.  I do plan to (eventually) have a woodburner in my studio, so will be saving a large amount for that.

If anyone out there would like to take some of my chopped-down trees for creative purposes (woodturning, whatever), they would be more than welcome.  Email wendy@1stuniquegifts.co.uk if you are within striking distance of Warrington (you’d need to collect) and would like more info.