Monday 29 November 2010

vintage Christmas decorations

Two weekends ago, I took a visit to my favourite charity shop area of Leicestershire - the Age Concern shop there never lets me down!  I have been itching to show you these festive treats that I found since that very day, but I have been so busy with making, listing and stall holding that I have only just found the time to post about them!





The decorations were four for 50p, and the cards were 10p each (these are not the only two that I found, but were my favourites!)  The second decoration (the red mouse) is probably one of the strangest things I have ever seen, therefore as always in these situations, I had to have it!  Their designs really remind me of being a little girl and going to my Nan and Grandads house at Christmas :)


I am getting really quite excited about Christmas now, me and Steve decided to abolish the usual chocolate advent calendar, and have instead made our own for each other (each had a budget of £24 to spread across the 24 days).  It is essentially going to be a bit like a Christmas stocking, except we get to have all of the presents spread out!  It's all very exciting, but I still need to get three more items before Wednesday!


One last thing, if you haven't already, please enter my Kakes Makes giveaway :)

Sunday 28 November 2010

The Christmas Craft Fair

Today has been quite a strange one.  I woke up early this morning, and my face and hair were FREEZING (only parts of me outside of the duvet you see).  As you may be aware, we have snow up here in Leicestershire - I think it was -9 degrees this morning.  We live in a flat which is part of an old converted house, and it's so cold, there was ice on the inside of our windows this morning - ARGGHHH!  So, obviously all of this coldness made me quite the grump.  Me and Steve packed up our little car and drove off to my second to last fair of 2010.  During setting up time, I managed to a) spill tea all down myself and b) drop my phone down a toilet (luckily, I hate my phone anyway, so am using this as an excuse to buy a good one, hmm... iPhone perhaps...?)  I must say, today did not get off to a good start!  The fair was at Parklands Leisure Centre in Oadby, Leicestershire, and due to the very cold weather and lack of heating, it was so so chilly!  I did manage to make quite a fair profit, but it was quite a slow day.  I met some other lovely crafters though, and had some very interesting chats concerning making and selling!  Has anyone else been holding stalls at Christmas events, and how have you found them?  


Anyway, that has been a bit of a ramble!  Here are a few photographs of my stall from today (sorry about the dodgy lighting, it was in a sports hall!)  I do think that this is my favourite stall set up that I have done :)




P.S Don't forget to enter my Kakes Makes giveaway!  :)

Kakes Makes Giveaway

That time has finally come, whatkatiefound has reached 100 followers (in fact, it currently stands at 109, yippee!)  And, as promised, I am doing a Kakes Makes giveaway!  


So here is what you can be in with a chance of winning :)








  • a hair bow made from vintage material
  • blue teacup earrings
  • a robin pin badge
  • vintage Christmas fabric pin badge pack
  • a slice of cake ring
  • a cross stitch initial pin badge (any letter in a colour of your choice)
I hope that you will all find this an appealing giveaway!

To enter...

please be a follower of whatkatiefound (including through bloglovin), then leave a comment under this post to let me know which Kakes Makes item you would like to find in your stocking this Christmas :) (Take a look at my Folksy shop to see what's on offer!)
This giveaway is open worldwide, and entry ends next Sunday 5th December 2010 at 8:00pm.  The winner will be chosen at random (most likely using an Internet thing, but possibly the old school way, picking a name out of a hat or something).

Oh, and I must take this opportunity to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who reads whatkatiefound and everyone who has already purchased items from me, I really do appreciate it :)

Saturday 27 November 2010

snow!

Knitted Headband - made by my friend Helen
Cardigan - vintage (Dolly Mixture, Leicester)
T-shirt and Bag - H&M
Denim Dress - Charity Shop
Tights and Belt - Primark
Boots - a shoe shop in Nottingham a LONG time ago!
Ok, not a very imaginative post title, I know.  However, us Leicester people were 'lucky' enough to have woken up to the pretty sight of snow.  I say 'lucky' because I love snow (when I'm walking in it, or sat inside all cosy looking out at it) but NOT when I am driving in it - it really scares me!  Our car was slipping all over the place today, we couldn't get up one hill when we were going to a Christmas fair this morning, so had to park around the corner and walk!  Myself and Steve got ourselves to two Christmas fairs today. At the first, I brought the most amazing sewing bag/magazine rack for 50p (not quite sure what I will use it for yet).  At the second, my friend Ivona was selling her amazing cakes, so I got to have another yummy bannoffe pie cupcake...mmm!  I also brought myself a really cute wool hair clip :)
I have been so, so busy this week.  I have been making every single night this week and I am now so very tired (I am drinking my second glass of red wine as we speak!)  I am at the Christmas Craft Fair in Oadby tomorrow, and have some new stock including pom pom tree decorations, party ring earrings, more cake rings and scrabble tile keyrings.  Fingers crossed it will be another successful fair! I will be sure to take lots of photographs and share with you all next week!


I have also started to make my Christmas presents this week.  I have decided to make some dolls for my nieces, I hope that I have time to get them finished.  Here is how my first is currently looking, oh dear, she desperately needs some eyes and some clothes!  I will keep you posted on how she is coming along, I did make her some shoes today :)
 Oh, and one last thing.  I brought some purple potatoes the other day.  Yes, purple.  So me and Steve had the most colourful dinner ever.  This made me so happy :)
Hopefully next week I will have some more time on my hands, and will be doing a few posts to catch up on some things.  Oh, and I will also be sorting out my Kakes Makes giveaway!  I'm so excited to have reached 100 followers on whatkatiefound, a big thank you to everyone!  So keep your eyes peeled, it's going to be a good 'un!


Hope that you're all having a great weekend, and starting to feel festive - I sure am!

Monday 22 November 2010

a busy busy bumblebee

I have been meaning to add new items to my Folksy shop for a long time, and tonight I finally took the plunge and began snapping away, cropping and listing!  You can take a look at my Folksy shop here and see what I have been up to :)


Oh, and here is a little sneak preview (even more new items will be listed over the next 2 weeks, just in time for Christmas!)








Sunday 21 November 2010

Steve Poxson photography

Some of you may already know Steve, but for those of you that don't, he is my boyfriend and is an incredible photographer.  Steve really does have a natural talent for photography.  He's often an 'onlooker', resulting  in capturing the beautiful things that many of us (including me!) could easily miss.  Steve will never be seen without a camera, or five, in his bag and is a lover of the traditional film camera.  
Steve is always so supportive of me and my crafts.  He helps me to design packaging, takes photographs of my products, and comes to fairs with me to keep me company.  I think it's about time that I showed my support for him and his talent and shared with you all some of my favourite images of his :)

Steve has a Flikr account and can be followed on Twitter.  I hope that you enjoy this selection :)










Leicester Winter Food and Craft Festival

I feel like I am defrosting right now!  From 9am - 5pm, myself and Steve have been outside, I lost all feeling in my feet at about 11am!  I can't complain though, all in all we had a lovely day and I sold lots of my Kakes Makes products :)  The most popular items today were the teacup candles and robin pin badges.  I think it's really interesting how different products sell better at different fairs, it's so difficult to judge!
Oh, and me and Steve had a really yummy stone baked feta cheese and olive pizza for lunch, and our friend Ivona (cake maker extraordinaire!) kept us well supplied with cakes from her stall!  
I managed to get a few photographs of my stall, I had a corner section in the market, which I thought was really good, there was so much space too!









Thank you to everyone who came along to support me and who brought some of my products, it is very much appreciated!  Next fair is next Sunday, The Christmas Craft Fair at Parklands Leisure Centre in Leicester - will be having a rest tonight, but back to making tomorrow!  Hoping to list lots of new items on Folksy in the next two weeks too, so I will keep you updated!

Friday 19 November 2010

a handmade Christmas (10)

I have known of the wonderful She Draws for a while now, and had the intention of featuring some of Laura Figiels creations as part of my a handmade Christmas feature for quite some time.  It turns out that this is great timing, as I am completely amazed by the newest She Draws product - rubber stamp rings!  Costing only £7 each, and available in three designs, these would make a perfect Christmas present or stocking filler!  My personal favourite is this in disguise design :)
She Draws also sells beautifully illustated t-shirts, stationary and jewellery.  This vintage phone charm necklace is also on my wishlist :)
Thank you very much to Laura for allowing me to use her images, I recommend that you all take a look at the very popular She Draws Folksy shop for some of your Christmas shopping!

You can read Laura's blog here and follow her on twitter here :)

Also, as I have now featured 10 of my favourite sellers, I thought that I would do a quick re-cap, so here they are once more (click on the names to find their online shops!)

1. Skull and Cross Buns
2. Lola's Room
3. Violet May
4. Nikki Made
5. Tea and Ceremony
6. Mr. Wick
7. Treaclezoo
8. Wallpaper Rose
9. Amy Blackwell
10. Sixes and Sevens

Has anyone brought anything from these sellers?  It would be lovely to hear from you if you have!

I will be selling at The Leicester Winter Food Festival this Sunday, would be great to see some of you East Midlands people there!  There will be over 200 food stalls and 50 craft stalls at the event, and it's FREE! 

Hope you all have a great weekend, I will post some photographs from the fair next week!

Monday 15 November 2010

a handmade Christmas (9)

I am a little bit over excited about writing this post, because this person is someone that I have known for a few years now, and I have been able to see how her beautiful illustrations have developed over that time.  A few months ago I was even lucky enough to partake in a 'craft swap' with her, where she became the proud owner of a Kakes Makes cassette tape brooch, and in return I received two of her prints.  They now have pride of place in our craft room :)


So, what is the name of this illustrator? I hear you cry.  It is the super Amy Blackwell!  She also has a delightful website which is not only a great read, but also a visual treat!


A little more about Amy.  She is based in Nottingham and is a member of the Nottingham Craft Mafia.  She is creative in so many ways, if she's not doodling, she's knitting or baking or doing something that inspires me to get up and start making!  


It has been a real challenge choosing some of Amy's work to feature, because I genuinely love it all, but here goes :)





In keeping with the Christmas theme, I have also included some of Amy's more festive illustrations :)

Head over to Amy's Etsy shop to view a stunning selection of prints, greetings cards, bags, badges and more!  There are some very charming items for sale which would make great gifts for your loved ones.  I brought my friend Laura and her boyfriend the at home on the sea print as a housewarming present in the summer, and it was very well received!


Many thanks to Amy for allowing me to use so many of her illustrations for this post!  I hope that you all enjoy taking a look at her wonderful doodles and other crafty ventures :)

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