Well the writing will definitely be on the wall for anyone who’s bought some of these painted wooden letters!  I’ve been painting a lot of them just recently.  Most people order names for children:

Katie

Jack

They’re available in any colour(s) but the cream is by far the most popular.

Alfie

You can make words with them too…like baby:

baby

or dining room:

dining room

You can have capital letters or lower case letters - or any mix of the two.  Each letter comes with sticky pads on the back (although we’ll leave them off if you prefer) for easy fixing to a wall or door.  They measure a maximum of 15cm (6″) in height, although some letters are a lot smaller than this.  Some of the capitals or letters with risers are of course taller than some of the lower case letters.

They’ve been really popular with people doing up children’s rooms, with people buying presents for new babies, and with people wanting a statement for their wall. Literally, I suppose!!

For your name, word, sentiment or statement, see more here: http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/Individualletternamecanvases.html or just visit the website for lots more personalised gifts: www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk

You can tell a lot about a company by their testimonials page.  It’s one place I always head to on a new website if I have the opportunity! And I have to say that I’m quite proud of some of the comments on mine: http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/cusomercomments.html 

It’s always amazingly fabulous to get feedback from customers - for two main reasons.  The first is that nearly all our feedback is extremely positive and people say they love my designs and products, which obviously feels good for me.  This actually comes from recipients of gifts as well as from the purchasers, which is even more amazing. It’s enormously encouraging - and it tells me I’m doing something right!  I do appreciate each and every comment.

The second reason is this: if someone isn’t happy with something (it doesn’t happen very often, thankfully!), I like to have the opportunity to put things right and to make that person a delighted customer

happpy customer

who would be happy to recommend me to others.  I aim for excellent customer service, and some customers have told me that’s exactly what I provide. 

There is another reason comments are brilliant, and I’m not sure I should have relegated it to third position - some of the best ideas for widening my range often come from customer requests.  Customers do have brilliant ideas!  One of the good things about being a very small business with handmade products is that I can respond quite quickly to a lot of these requests (dinosaurs and trains are in the sketchbook at the minute ready to be transformed into door plaques but maybe other products too).  This plaque was a response to a customer request:

warning this room may contain beads

It was made for the lovely Marie from www.pebblesandpearls.co.uk and it will be presiding over her work area as she makes up your necklaces, earrings and bracelets.  Like me, she also does custom orders so it may well be the place to go for the jewellery you need for a special occasion.

If you’d like to read some comments from our customers, they’re here: http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/cusomercomments.html 

If you’re one of my happy customers, do feel free to email your comments to wendy@1stuniquegifts.co.uk - and if you are a business owner, we’ll add a link to your business too, if you’d like one.

If there’s one thing we specialise in here at 1st Unique Gifts, it’s got to be totally unique personalised gifts.  I don’t like to brag or boast too much (a very British trait, I believe!) but we are told they’re funky, quirky and gorgeous.  They are certainly bright, colourful and a lot of fun.  I love the fact that they bring a smile to people’s faces - it’s one of the nicest things about selling direct at markets and fairs.

personalised moneybox with scottie dog

We hand-paint and personalise all our gifts here in our garden studio in the small village of Croft in Warrington, Cheshire, UK.

hand painting the canvases

This means that you can specify changes in colour and design. It also means we can also add any personalisation to suit your requirements - so you can add any name (yes, any name - no limitations on number of letters, unusual spellings or even unusual names) and on some items you can add any message you choose too.  The only limitation on this is space - but because all personalisation is hand-lettered, we can usually accommodate whatever you ask for as we can make the writing smaller or larger to fit the space.

If you are looking for a personalised gift, especially if it’s one for somebody with an unusual name, we hope we can help you.  We’re a new business so we are still developing our range -  if we’ve not got what you’re looking for then we may be able to create it.

Our individual shabby chic letters can spell out any name or message and with optional sticky pads on the reverse they are so easy to fix to a wall or door. 

pink lowercase shabby chic letters spelling baby

They’re a fabulous gift for a new baby.

spell out any name with individual shabby chic letters

One of our most popular gifts for new babies and Christenings/Baptisms is our stork canvas.  We hand letter this with the baby’s name, date of birth, weight and even time of birth if required.  We can also accommodate a special message around the side edges of the canvas.  The stork canvases come in three different sizes to suit different occasions, rooms and budgets.  Of course, you can choose any colourway - the neutral background is the most popular.   Here it is in blue:

stork and baby canvas

The individual 6″ canvases (below) with a different letter on each one are also a really popular gift for a new baby or young child - or just something to brighten up any child’s room.

individual canvas letters spell out a name on the wall

individual handpainted canvases spell out any name

A lovely gift for all ages is our campervan canvas or campervan clock.  We can paint this in any colourways and will add a personalised numberplate - at no extra cost.  In fact, none of our personalisation costs any extra - the price you see is the one you pay.  The only extra is postage! (and if you live anywhere near Warrington you can even save on this by arranging collection.)

campervan canvas

campervan clock with personalised numberplate

There are fabulous personalised end-of-term gifts for teachers, personalised first-day-at-school gifts, lots of ideas for children’s gifts and room accessories, fairies, footballs, hearts and cupcakes.  And lots, lots more. 

Visit the site now for even more personalised gift ideas we hope you’ll love: www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk

picture frame gift for a teacher

I don’t know how I forgot to add this photo frame to the chicken gifts I showed you yesterday.  Anyway, not to worry, here it is now:

chicken picture frame

If you’d like a frame to show off a pic of your “girls”, then this surely has to be it.  I can make it in landscape or portrait format, it’ll take a standard size 6″ x 4″ photo, and you can have it in any colour.

Or perhaps you know someone who’d like this as a gift?  You can let me know here:

http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/customdesignform.html

Oh, and don’t forget, these frames can be personalised to your exact requirements.  So if you’d like Hetty, Betty and Esmerelda written on the frame, then that’s what you can have!! 

They take a standard 6″ x 4″ photo and cost just £5.99 (and that includes postage at the moment, as it’s free P & P for July and August!).

I know people visit this blog when they are looking online for unique gifts.  The unique, hand-painted personalised gifts I create on clocks, canvases, door hangers, etc. can be found here: www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk as always. 

People always say my gifts are “something different”, and here’s something else which I think fits the “something different” tag too:

I’d like to share with you some unique gifts made by Rachel from the Wirral.  These cufflinks (above) are made from fingerprints that a customer sent to her.  Aren’t they just gorgeous?

And look at this too:

I’m sure these will be very popular.  You can find more info here: http://glamglassgifts.blogspot.com/

If you’re looking for a unique gift for someone special, I’m sure you won’t have too far to look!

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, Stockton Heath Festival is hosting 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 (in Stockton Heath, Warrington - of course!).

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?

It’s all go in the studio at the moment.  Here are a few pics of what is keeping me busy at the moment.  For a kick off (oh dear, was that supposed to be a joke…?) there are these footballs which double up as clocks.  They can be personalised with any name or message, which I hope will go down well with junior footballers.  Sitting alongside them is something for mum or big sister - a shoeshop doubling up as a pen pot.  You probably can’t see it, because it’s not so good a picture, but there’s a sale on in the shoeshop!!  Again, it can be personalised.

football clocks and a penpot shoeshop are nearly done

And then there’s these cat goodies.  A cat clock, pen pot, moneybox and hook rail.  There’s a mirror, too, but it didn’t make it into the photo.  I’ve added some appropriately catty quotes - although because they are painted to order, I could add your favourite quotes.  Or even your cat’s name… now, that would be spoiling him!

hand painted cat goodies just needing finishing off

campervan clock nearly done

I also tried out a bit of a craft fair display, and here is a peek at some of it.  The mirror looks a bit raggedy round the edges because I’ve not taken the protective plastic off it yet - I need to varnish before I do that.

trying out a craft fair table display

My first craft fair’s on Sunday 31st May at Grappenhall Community centre in Warrington, Cheshire.  Because it is the first one, I’ll be offering introductory discounts on most things.  Come along and say hello!!