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Upcoming Event: Designers / Makers Market

girlwithbeads has a regular stall at the Designers / Makers Market at Spitalfields.

Upcoming dates we'll be there:

Saturday 18th May

Saturday 15th June

Saturday 20th July

Old Spitalfields Market, London, EC1 

Every Third Saturday of the Month 

11am - 5pm 

Old Spitalfields Hall is one of London’s most popular shopping destinations, Designers / Makers are extremely pleased to be working in partnership with them. 

Showcasing some of the UK’s most talented designers and makers to host a regular market that will highlight the plethora of craft and design talent within the UK. 

It’s important to note that we draw upon a pool of designers and makers from all over the UK, not just our own members – so the items on sale will remain fresh and exciting as more and more craft and design practitioners join in. 

The market has been running at this venue since November 2011 and is fast becoming the best market place to find quality and contemporary craft and design within London.

For more info visit: http://designersmakers.tumblr.com/Designers-Makers-Market

Upcoming Event: Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair

girlwithbeads will have a stall as part of Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair on Saturday 4th May 2013 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM Old Spitalfields Market 65 Brushfield Street London E1 6AA 100 stalls of Vintage Fashion, furniture and homewares all at affordable prices. 100 YEARS OF AFFORDABLE FASHION – from flapper to landgirl to sixties hellcat. You’ve seen it on ITV. Read it in Stylist, the Telegraph and Timeout. Seen it shopped by Pixie Lott, VV Brown, George Lamb… Europe’s largest FREE vintage marketplace, JUDY’S AT SPITALFIELDS IS BACK! Gathering a staggering 100 vintage stalls JUDY’S returns to THE OLD SPITALFIELDS MARKET on SAT 4TH MAY! A retro treasure-trove right in the heart of the East, have we got a treat for you! Featuring: ************************************************************ 100 YEARS OF AFFORDABLE FASHION – from flapper to landgirl to sixties hellcat VINTAGE GLITTER AND ACCESSORIES – because everyone loves bling! FURNITURE AND HOMEWARES – from Ercol tables to cocktail shakers, think the kitsch to the collectible! MENSWEAR GALORE – because chaps should never be ignored! NEW SEASON STAPLES – from rucksacks to grunge, tie-dye to pastel! UPCYCLED AND HANDMADE – with not a whiff of the Apprentice in site! SALE-RAILS GALORE – so you’ll never be leaving empty-handed All spread out over 100 STALLS, what more could you ask for?? ************************************************************* Live acts, offers and FREE ENTRY to boot, we hope you’re as excited as we are! Nearest tube is LIVERPOOL STREET. For more info visit: http://www.judysvintagefair.co.uk/

Upcoming Event: E17 Designers Spring Fair

girlwithbeads will be at this local event on Friday 17th May 7-10pm

More info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/174130099405364/

This Weeks Top 10 Finds - BCTF Special

Here as promised is a selection of great makers I spotted at the British Craft Trade Fair this month.

Williams British Handmade with their beautiful range of leather bags.

Bug with their gorgeous, fun and quirky range of jewellery.

Spring Lark with their lovely applique and embroidered gifts, homewares and accessories.

Snowdon with their range of bold prints, cards and bags.

Artist Sarah Jane Brown creates intricate little driftwood sculptures of seaside scenes.

Illustrator Sue Bulmer has a great range of monochromatic cards, prints and home textiles.

Laura Long makes these super cute knitted dolls.

Textile designer Deryn Relph has a colourful range of knitted cushions and home textiles that are a breath of fresh air!

Irish jeweller Saba creates quirky jewellery and enamel art.

Ceramicist Emma Williams creates tactile pieces using vibrant colours and textures, including these brooches.

British Craft Trade Fair 2013

girlwithbeads at the British Craft Trade Fair in Harrogate, 7th-9th April 2013.

So as this was my first trade fair I spent a lot of time researching different styles of stand set ups, I visited a few trade fairs to get ideas from other exhibitors and decided I wanted something modular that could be set up easily, configured in different ways and would fit in a small car.

I noticed a few people using apple crates and really loved the look and felt it would fit in with my brand as they are recycled and have a great vintage look. They can also double as storage and can be used to transport stock to the event. So I bought 6 crates from ebay and came up with this set up, using a broom handle for a clothes rail, and some planks of wood to make a shelf and provide some stability.

Testing my stand set up at home, with some masking tape on the floor to check the dimensions of the 2m x 1m stand.

I used some hessian sacks with union jacks on (left over from a Jubilee street party sack race from last year!) to cover the bottom 2 crates so that I could store my personal belongings and extra cards, etc on the stand.

Setting up at BCTF:

To complete the look and provide a covering for the ugly shell scheme, I bought a few metres of astro turf and hung it from the top of the stand. It provided a great backdrop and splash of colour.

Was really glad I took the old school stool as it was very useful to stand on.

  I used led spotlights inside the boxes to highlight my products, S hooks & chains to hang bags from the stand, plus Gwen the dummy was given a lick of paint to smarten her up!

The finished stand!

Also as a last minute bonus the organisers asked me to supply a bag to put in the showcase cabinet at the entrance to the fair!

I met lots of lovely people at the fair who I will blog about another time, but just wanted to mention these 3 who all won awards - Fantastic!

 Sarah from Williams British Handmade who makes beautiful hand crafted leather bags, and won the Newcomers Award.

Ellie from Bug who makes gorgeous jewellery and got a Highly Commended for Excellence in Jewellery!

And old friends Lidia & Paul from Zinc White who make great jewellery from recycled artists materials, and won an award for their stand design including the 'dancing' sign!

*Things I forgot to take and will take next time*

dustpan & brush

cleaning products

lint brush

biscuits!