Latest News

Hello all, long time no blog...hope you're all well.

It has been a busy summer - mainly working in the garden with renovations - but I have still been making and doing craft fairs. Here are a few of my latest items for you to view:

A lady ordered this through my Etsy site, she rescues Warren Chickens and wanted an iPhone 6 case that represents this, so I came up with this. As I don't have an iPhone 6, I looked up the measurements and made a dummy phone from card so I know it'll fit - as I do for all orders of mobile cases. What do you think? Well, in actual fact I made this one first:

Which is also very cute I think! But I damaged the zip right in the last stages of making (grr) so I had to start again. As I spend so long on the design and making detail, I needed to make a new design as I just couldn't spend another 2 days on the same one!

Theses cases, like all of the ones I make are padded to protect the phones, they have white canvas interiors and a pop of colour in the zips. Even though these are made to measure for mobiles, they could also be purses or pouches. Don't you just love the details? Click on the photos for larger sizes.

While I was at it, I made this one for my craft stall, in a design that my husband came up with. What do you think to this?

This is also an iPhone 6 case (as I know many people have iPhones now) and I just love the colours in this. Again, it took just about 2 days to make but I really, REALLY like them! Plus, it fits well with this being the 70th year since World War 2 ended.

Next up:

This is the second in the line of Vintage Materials and Doilies Sling Bags that I have designed and made, which sold the first time I put them out at a fair! The materials are so good and I simply love the doilies, which come from numerous charity shops. I make the straps 60" long so that they can be knotted into any position the owner likes, i.e. cross the body or as a shoulder bag of various lengths, I line them, add magnetic snaps to close and include two large internal pockets. So, not only do they look cute, they're practical! And, as they both sold the first time they were put out, I have to take that as a sign, I will make more...

Here is an order that was placed by a lovely lady at my fair yesterday in Bakewell:

She was looking at my Flat Based Make Up Bags and the Tissue Packs and really liked them, but she wanted them in matching materials and the bag to have an oilcloth lining, or at least wipe-out-able (new word). So she chose the materials, placed the order and I got cracking today. I am very pleased with how thay have turned out and I have made matching sets before - time to make more me thinks... These are packed up nicely and are ready to be posted in the morning. Isn't the material just great?! So funky.

And finally for today:

Well, it's called Creature (until I think of a better name, answers on a post card please) and he/she (?) happened quite late at night. Not that I couldn't see and that's why it came out wonkey - that was intentional! It's just that sometimes things come to mind and I simply have to go and make it right away. Look at 'it's' eyes! So cute and curious. My friend Jayne, who makes fantastic cards, said they would make cute items for small children or even babies to hold, so I could make them child friendly and promote as this... What I am going to do though is make a set or a family and see where the creativity takes me, so watch this space!

Ok, that's all for today, I'll try not to leave it too long before I blog again but in the meantime, take care and thanks for reading. If you like, please leave a comment or visit my Facebook page.

Julie.

P.S. I have just started knitting... hehe. :)

(C) FMN Crafts 2015.

New Miniatura Fair

Hi all,

Just a quck one to tell of the next Miniatures Fair we will be exhibiting at. This Sunday, the 16th November, we will be at a brand new fair organised by the people who bring us Miniatura, at Cranmore Park Exhibition Centre. If you are interested in Dolls House Miniatures, this promises to be a great fair with over 90 exhibitors. Click the link above to find out more...

The fair will be open 10.30am - 4.00pm, refreshments are available and the parking is free! The venue address is Cranmore Park, Cranmore Avenue, Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands, B90 4LF. Hope to see you there.

Julie.

Miniatura and New Lip Salve Holder Keyrings

Hello all,

We have been busy.

You know how my husband and I have a business between us called Forget-Me-Not Miniatures, well two weekends ago we stood at the Spring Miniatura show at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and it was quite a weekend!

A view of the hall

We arrived on the Friday (as traders are allowed entry to the hall to set up), we set up, found the hotel, ate and drank with friends, slept, arrived at the NEC again first thing Saturday morning and got ready to sell. Well, David didn't sit down until about 2pm (the doors opened at 10am) and I sat down, for a pot noodle, at about 3pm-ish. IT WAS PACKED. We had a great fair which also ran on the Sunday (although a little quieter) and we sold lots of miniatures. Our neighbours were Karen and Ray of Ray Storey Lighting and we always have a laugh with them, but we hardly spoke that first half a day! Wow. It was a great atmosphere, just what we needed and really fun for all involved. If you don't know much about Doll's House Miniatures, you should click some of the links and explore - it is a facinating business. So, here's to Autumn Miniatura.

And so, on our return, needless to say we had a little re-stocking to do and so that is what we were doing for most of last week. I had totally ran out of Huntley and Palmer's Assorted Biscuits and so I have been making them, David has been cracking on with Tudor Furniture and he is also making us some new stands for the stall... Lovely. Here are the biscuits by the way:

Huntley & Palmer's Family Assorted Biscuits (approximately 30 of 9 sorts)

Over the weekend, I returned my attentions to Forget-Me-Not Crafts and started to replace stock from my last Craft Fair in Bakewell. One of my lines which I sold out of bar one was the Lip Salve Holder Keyring. So here is how my new batch started life:

 And this is how they ended up:

I really love these little things, they are so pretty and yet so practical. Just clip your keys on or attach one to your bag and you need never be without your favourite lip salve, lip gloss or lipstick again! What I have started to do is make each and every one of them in different materials, so that each one is unique and each customer will receive a unique item. I think it's a nice touch and certainly evades repetition too.

I will always try, wherever possible, to add my FMN Crafts tabs and this is where they go on these items:

All the lip salve holders come with a lipsalve and all of them are brand new, of course. They vary (strawberry, aloe vera, original etc) so a customer may either choose one or take pot luck!

They make really good gifts too... Find them NOW in my Etsy Store. More news coming later in the week...

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment or Like me on Facebook (I've got 60 Likes now!) Have a great day.

Julie.

(C) FMN Crafts 2014