Tuesday 27 October 2015

Featured Shop - Karen Young Jewellery

Our next Featured Shop is by Karen Young who makes the most beautiful jewellery.
I asked Karen if she could tell us a bit about herself and how she came to be running a highly successful jewellery business.

I always had a fascination with jewellery and gemstones that started as a child.  However, my passion for making and creating  took a back seat as I built a successful career in Financial Services for 12 years in central London.

Soon after the birth of my second son, I took a step back from my corporate career to spend more time with my two beautiful boys.  I have also been able to use this opportunity to reacquaint myself with the wondrous process of designing and making beautiful pieces of jewellery and working with gemstones.

My jewellery is  fabricated from silver (Sterling, Fine and my absolute favourite Argentium Silver) with the occasional accents in 18 and 24ct gold.
  I use high-quality precious, and semi-precious gemstones and freshwater pearls, which are all hand-selected by myself, to embellish and complete my jewellery designs.

My distinctive and versatile designs are heavily inspired by intricate and unusual textures and form found in nature and each piece is simple, modern and effortless to wear. I meticulously craft each piece by hand using both traditional and modern silversmithing tools and techniques, and transform precious metals and gemstones into unique and enduring mementos to be treasured, loved and shared.

Sneak peek at Karen's fabulous new collection 

Karen lovingly designs and crafts each and every piece of her distinctive and elegant Handmade Jewellery in her London studio using traditional jewellery making techniques. I think that the care taken in the process shines through with these wonderful, original designs.

Karen is active across all the media channels and has been using Instagram to show off her new collection as it launches.  Be sure to follow her so that you get the latest information! 

The new collection will be posted on Facebook including a competition with the chance to win a piece from the collection on Tuesday, 6th November! 

Friday 16 October 2015

Featured Shop - The Old Button


Our next Featured Shop is The Old Button - I asked Sharon to tell us all about herself and her amazing products.

I’m Sharon, also known as The Old Button – a name inspired by a box of buttons given to me by my grandmother when I showed an interest in sewing as a small child. My passion is designing and working with fabric, getting a real buzz out of coming up with a new idea and working out how I can translate it into a workable pattern. I love using interesting and quirky materials and my favourite techniques include patchwork, quilting, applique and hand embroidery – with the odd old button thrown in on occasion! 

My range of fun and functional gifts for children (and the young at heart) include reversible aprons, patchwork quilts and CE certificated toys, and as the festive season approaches, quirky Christmas stockings and decorations.



 Reversible Aprons
 I love making children's aprons with a difference. Each is reversible and offers a different theme on each side to give twice as much fun wearing them and I am always coming up with new ideas – my current favourites include these Robot and Car aprons for toddlers.
 
Christmas Stockings 

Santa on Holiday is part of my range of limited production stockings - I choose fun and quirky prints and only make a small number of stockings in each print each year. I also make one-off luxury padded stockings with lots of hand embroidered details and trim – such as this Festive Fairy,



Patchwork quilts 

I love designing patchwork quilts and usually have time to make two or three each season. I haven’t quite finished my Christmas themes ones yet, but here is one of my favourites from this summer – The Princess and the Pea is closely quilted in concentric circles to give it a modern, yet traditional feel.  
      
Play on the Go © Play Scenes  
I designed these fold up travel playmats to keep little ones amused on journeys – this Safari Zoo play scene has lots of hand embroidered felt motifs depicting different habitats and a handy pocket to store the lions and tigers and bears. 


This Christmas I’ve been invited to take part in the Etsy local event in the centre of Cardiff. I am working with a bunch of fantastic crafters and designers from Cardiff and the South Wales valleys in a pop up shop in the Capital ShoppingCentre from the 24th November until Christmas Eve.   So if you are near Cardiff in the run up to Christmas, why not pop in for a chat and maybe pick up a beautiful gift or two.  You can find more information on the Etsy website.  


Sharon can be contacted about her amazing products or found on Social Media in these locations.


We wish you well for the forthcoming Festive Season and it has been wonderful getting to know you a bit better!


Sunday 27 September 2015

Getting to Know Love, Beata



Getting to know Beata from Artbybeata




I have admired the work of Beata for many years and have watched her evolve as an artist.  I invited Beata to be our first Blog Post and to share some of her journey with us.

Hello!  Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

My name is Beata, I'm an artist and surface pattern designer.



Have you always been a designer?

Ever since I remember I loved to make art and when I was growing up I already knew I wanted to be an artist. Unfortunately I didn't get any encouragement from home so I went on an other route and got a degree in textile engineering then got a job in a bank. It was only years later when I started to paint again and opened my online store  selling my original mixed media girl paintings and their giclee prints and other related products. 




That's brilliant!  What are your aspirations?

It has been a big dream of mine to see my paintings on products so I started learning about surface pattern design, which led me to create patterns. Earlier this year while working on my portfolio, I ordered my first collection on fabric and created a very pretty product line featuring clutches, coin purses and more. The Love, Beata products are now available on my website.





What designs are you currently working on?

Currently I'm working on new pattern collections to add to my portfolio and looking for companies that would license my patterns for their products.
While most of my collections are kept private for now, here is a sneak peek of my recent collection, these products are available in my Society6 shop.

We love Beata's designs - this collection inspired by her background is so striking.




You can keep up with her plans and schemes at the following locations!

My portfolio website: http://www.lovebeata.co.uk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/artbybeata

Thanks Beata - we enjoyed finding more out about you!

Dottie x

Friday 22 May 2015

The Next Step.....



So the current chapter of British Crafters comes to a close today.  Behind the scenes I will be busy working on new promotion packages, new ideas and renewing energy!  I am passionate about the power of the British Crafters Community and really believe that we can all pull together to get shops noticed and your wonderful creations out there!

I look forward to you joining me on the next phase of our journey!

Details to follow soon!

Take care

Dottie x

Sunday 17 May 2015

Springing into Summer!




Well it feels like Summer might be here and Winter might be back on alternate days at the moment!  Hope that the weather settles down soon into a lovely Summer!  Good luck to everyone attending Summer Fairs this year - look forward to hearing how you all do!

Next event on the retail calendar is Father's Day now and we have a day dedicated to a Father's Day Gift Guide so we can see a wonderful array of unique products - so much better than you can find on the High Street!


Here is a resume of the services available to you.


Twitter Boost
This is available to book on a daily basis and over a 24 hour period you will receive a total of 20 tweets with up to 4 unique links of your choice.  These can be to your shop, a particular item, your fb page or your blog. 5 of these tweets will have photos attached to them for greater exposure on Twitter. In addition your @twittername will be used so that your account will gain exposure leading to more followers for you. After booking you must email britishcrafters@gmail.com with your choice of date and your 4 links.

Twitter 1402


This is available to book on a weekly basis.  Over 7 consecutive days  you will get 140 Tweets - 20 a day in each 24 hour period. You get to choose 10 unique links of your choice.  These can be to your shop, a particular item, your fb page or your blog. 5 of these tweets a day will have photos attached to them for greater exposure on Twitter. In addition your @twittername will be used in some of the tweets so that your account will gain exposure leading to more followers for you. After booking you must email britishcrafters@gmail.com with your choice of start date and 10 links by at the very latest 6pm on the day before your promotion starts.

Traditional Promotion

What you get for this is
a. A Featured Spot on Facebook with a shop link to your item and an uploaded photo plus a link to your fb page. (Bringing you new likes to your fb page too!)
b. 3 tweets to your featured item using #britcraft
c. Pinned to the Featured Shops Pinterest Board for that month. (promoted all month)
d. A Stumbleupon Review for your item.

For people that haven't yet booked with us here is a guide for you!



1.  Have a look at the upcoming themes on the drop down menus to see which of your items fit into which themed category.

2.  Decide on whether you want to book a single day or book for 5 days which saves you 20%.

3.  Purchase your chosen day or block of days from the drop down menu. The price is £2.50 for a day or £10 for 5 days.

4.  Email britishcrafters@gmail.com with your item link/links for promotion. If you have booked for 5 days then you need to send 5 links.

5.  Links must be received by 6pm please on the day before you wish to be shared.

6.  Shop links work better than FB links as you can't Pin to Pinterest from FB.  If however you only sell from a Facebook page then we will work extra hard to promote your facebook page on both Facebook and Twitter.
7.  As soon as your shop link is received you will be pinned to the Featured Shops Pin board and your promotion starts.

8.  Sit back and let us do the hard work for you!

 Below are the links to book slots.
  
If you want to book additional boosting Twitter promotion - select from the promotion options available.  Use this independently as promotion or in conjunction with our Traditional promotion.

Looking forward to lots of sales for everyone this Summer!

Dottie x



Twitter Promotion
Next date available for 7 day booking to start is 1/6

Traditional Promotion will be changing and is currently unavailable to book. New, exciting relaunch in June.....more details to follow soon.....Dottie x

Friday 3 April 2015

April Showers....





Bring May flowers....or so the saying goes!  Maybe an eternal optimist made this up!  Still it does seem that with the evenings being lighter and the temperature gradually rising that Spring is upon us!

We have had a busy season at British Crafters since January, with a hectic Valentine's & Mother's Day, closely followed by the Easter build up!  Our reach on FB has continued to defy the FB gloom merchants and on a few occasions we have almost achieved a post reach of 50K which is amazing!

Twitter continues to bring customers our way too and with almost 27K followers now, it really is a fabulous way to get your work seen far & wide!

We are going to take a break for Easter now and for a bit of recovery before reopening for the Summer stretch.  We will reopen for business on Monday 27th April with renewed vigour and enthusiasm to help you sell your wonderful creations!


We have a little surprise Easter Gift for 10 of you you too!  The first 10 Twitter promotions booked over the Easter Weekend - so from now on Good Friday until 2359 on Easter Monday will come with free traditional promo too!  Everyone likes a BOGOF! *So if you book a one day Twitter Boost you will receive Traditional promo on that day free. If you book a week of Twitter promo you get free Traditional promo in that week from Mon - Fri!* Once it's sold out I will add a note right here to let you know!


Here is a resume of the services available to you.

Twitter Boost
This is available to book on a daily basis and over a 24 hour period you will receive a total of 20 tweets with up to 4 unique links of your choice.  These can be to your shop, a particular item, your fb page or your blog. 5 of these tweets will have photos attached to them for greater exposure on Twitter. In addition your @twittername will be used so that your account will gain exposure leading to more followers for you. After booking you must email britishcrafters@gmail.com with your choice of date and your 4 links.

Twitter 1402
This is available to book on a weekly basis.  Over 7 consecutive days (Mon - Sun) you will get 140 Tweets - 20 a day in each 24 hour period. You get to choose 10 unique links of your choice.  These can be to your shop, a particular item, your fb page or your blog. 5 of these tweets a day will have photos attached to them for greater exposure on Twitter. In addition your @twittername will be used in some of the tweets so that your account will gain exposure leading to more followers for you. After booking you must email britishcrafters@gmail.com with your 10 links by at the very latest 6pm on the day before your promotion starts.

Traditional Promotion

What you get for this is
a. A Featured Spot on Facebook with a shop link to your item and an uploaded photo plus a link to your fb page. (Bringing you new likes to your fb page too!)
b. 3 tweets to your featured item using #britcraft
c. Pinned to the Featured Shops Pinterest Board for that month. (promoted all month)
d. A Stumbleupon Review for your item.

For people that haven't yet booked with us here is a guide for you!



1.  Have a look at the upcoming themes on the drop down menus to see which of your items fit into which themed category.

2.  Decide on whether you want to book a single day or book for 5 days which saves you 20%.

3.  Purchase your chosen day or block of days from the drop down menu. The price is £2.50 for a day or £10 for 5 days.

4.  Email britishcrafters@gmail.com with your item link/links for promotion. If you have booked for 5 days then you need to send 5 links.

5.  Links must be received by 6pm please on the day before you wish to be shared.

6.  Shop links work better than FB links as you can't Pin to Pinterest from FB.  If however you only sell from a Facebook page then we will work extra hard to promote your facebook page on both Facebook and Twitter.
7.  As soon as your shop link is received you will be pinned to the Featured Shops Pin board and your promotion starts.

8.  Sit back and let us do the hard work for you!

 Below are the links to book slots.
  
If you want to book additional boosting Twitter promotion - select from the promotion options available.  Use this independently as promotion or in conjunction with our Traditional promotion.

Wishing you and your families a relaxing and restful Easter time and I look forward to working with you all again as we charge into the Summer months!

Happy Easter!

Dottie x


Twitter Boost - One Day Promotion

Twitter 140 Promo - 7 days Promo - 7 days

Mix and Match Traditional Promo - Any 5 days from any week 20% d
 

Traditional Promotion 18/5 - 22/5

Saturday 14 March 2015

Spring is on the Horizon!


It's hard to believe how fast this year is flying by!  Valentine's done, Mother Day upon us and Easter just around the corner!  It's been an amazing start to the year for us with our FB page almost getting to a Post Reach of 70K, our Twitter following charging towards 30K and sales from our paid promotion and our free fb shares at an all time high!

If you are thinking of booking promotion and have any questions please just ask.  In the meantime
I thought that I would share with your the thoughts of 
Maggie Gee Needlework Studio
Margaret has been very happy that she started promoting with us last year and is now a valued regular! She shared with me...


"Dottie, the day I saw you on Folksy advertising your service you said  'It's the best 2.50 you could ever invest...'....Well it has been. For someone like me who can really only pay as I go, it has been an absolute God Send and has turned my business around. Words just can't thank you enough for all your work on my (other businesses) behalf."

Here is a resume of the services available to you.

Twitter Boost
This is available to book on a daily basis and over a 24 hour period you will receive a total of 20 tweets with up to 4 unique links of your choice.  These can be to your shop, a particular item, your fb page or your blog. 5 of these tweets will have photos attached to them for greater exposure on Twitter. In addition your @twittername will be used so that your account will gain exposure leading to more followers for you. After booking you must email britishcrafters@gmail.com with your choice of date and your 4 links.

Twitter 1402
This is available to book on a weekly basis.  Over 7 consecutive days (Mon - Sun) you will get 140 Tweets - 20 a day in each 24 hour period. You get to choose 10 unique links of your choice.  These can be to your shop, a particular item, your fb page or your blog. 5 of these tweets a day will have photos attached to them for greater exposure on Twitter. In addition your @twittername will be used in some of the tweets so that your account will gain exposure leading to more followers for you. After booking you must email britishcrafters@gmail.com with your 10 links by at the very latest 6pm on the day before your promotion starts.

Traditional Promotion

What you get for this is
a. A Featured Spot on Facebook with a shop link to your item and an uploaded photo plus a link to your fb page. (Bringing you new likes to your fb page too!)
b. 3 tweets to your featured item using #britcraft
c. Pinned to the Featured Shops Pinterest Board for that month. (promoted all month)
d. A Stumbleupon Review for your item.

For people that haven't yet booked with us here is a guide for you!



1.  Have a look at the upcoming themes on the drop down menus to see which of your items fit into which themed category.

2.  Decide on whether you want to book a single day or book for 5 days which saves you 20%.

3.  Purchase your chosen day or block of days from the drop down menu. The price is £2.50 for a day or £10 for 5 days.

4.  Email britishcrafters@gmail.com with your item link/links for promotion. If you have booked for 5 days then you need to send 5 links.

5.  Links must be received by 6pm please on the day before you wish to be shared.

6.  Shop links work better than FB links as you can't Pin to Pinterest from FB.  If however you only sell from a Facebook page then we will work extra hard to promote your facebook page on both Facebook and Twitter.
7.  As soon as your shop link is received you will be pinned to the Featured Shops Pin board and your promotion starts.

8.  Sit back and let us do the hard work for you!

 Below are the links to book slots.
  
If you want to book additional boosting Twitter promotion - select from the promotion options available.  Use this independently as promotion or in conjunction with our Traditional promotion.

I am looking forward to working with you to have a fabulous run up to Easter and beyond into the glorious months of Summer!

Dottie x



 

Twitter 140 Promotion - 7 days
Fully Booked  

Twitter Boost - One Day Promotion

Traditional Promotion 30/3 - 3/4

Traditional Promotion - 5 days - Mix and Match days & weeks 20%