The pleasure of hand-made

I've been sorting through photographs that I've loaded onto my PC today, and amongst the many since before Christmas, I remembered one I took of a felt brooch that I treated myself to from fellow artist and craft-maker, Andrea Farmer.

This particular little gem called to me first of all in April last year, when I received a box full of goodies from Andrea to sell at a craft fair I organised. It didn't sell at the craft fair, but I took it and other items with me to the craft fairs I've taken part in since, sometimes having the space and/or permission to sell the items on my table, at other times they have just come along for the ride! It wasn't until all my fairs were over that I finally picked out a couple of other items to give as stocking fillers for my two grand-daughters - for Matheea I bought a red, black and cerise coloured button badge (her current favourite colours are red and black, so she thought this was "Cool" when she opened it). For her sister, Evie, I bought a white and pink button badge, with little pink owl buttons along all the petals - she was also chuffed, and as she was wearing a pink outfit the day I saw them, she put it on straight away. Both girls have developed a love of "Make and do", so they have learnt to appreciate hand-made gifts from a young age, which I encourage as much as possible. I also made them a wardrobe styled trinket box each for my sister to give to them as gifts for Christmas - and as a place for them to keep all their badges and other small trinkets.

The brooch I bought for myself was a perfect match for a cerise coloured cardigan that I'd recently bought, and it is a firm favourite of mine at the moment.

I've taken photos of the three items I bought from Andrea, apologies for the poor quality, I had to take the photos in a rush before I wrapped the badges up for Christmas and in between other jobs!

Andrea sells a large proportion of her craft based items in her Etsy shop online, but if you live in the Chelmsford area you can visit "Make, Do and Mend" at 94 Byron Road, Chelmsford CM2 6HJ. They stock many hand-made gifts by local people and also run various workshops - more details on their web-site here.

The beautiful felt brooch made by Andrea, which is now MINE!!!!!

Matheea's button badge

Evie's pink and white owl badge

For the gifts my sister commissioned to give to Matheea and Evie, I opted for their favourite colours again and as I like to name my creations, I used their names also, and personalised them a little further by painting their initial on the top of the box.

Evie's mini wardrobe trinket box.

Matheea's mini wardrobe trinket box.

I think hand-made items are so much more than just a gift - you are giving a part of your personality away as well, and I only hope that whenever someone is given a gift made by me, they feel the same as I do whenever I receive something hand-made.  I smile at my felt brooch when I wear it, and always imagine the work that's gone into making it, and somehow that makes me take more care over it.

My mini wardrobes have mainly been created for commissions, although I am hoping to build up enough stock to sell them at local venues as well as in my Etsy shop online.