Goodbye to the fairs

After 4 years of organising the handmade and vintage fairs it is time to hang up my shiny shoes, put away my polka dot dress and move onto a new type of fair. As my focus, interests and life has changed over the past few years I thought I would pass the fairs onto someone new. Thank you to all my amazing stallholders over the past 4 years, the entertainers and visitors too, without you it would not of been possible.

  As a popular events organiser and crafter I have written an eBook just for you in 12 sections from how to apply and secure a place at a good venue to how to use social media and propel your business forward. You will learn how to fill in risk assessments,how to brand your products, pricing formulas, ideas for setting up your stall for the best profit, how to research the best fairs, an essential checklist for attending fairs and much more, this guide is perfect for people just starting out and has helpful tips for regular stallholders too. If you would like a copy email me at craftyvintagefairs@hotmail.co.uk all for the bargain price of £6.99! 


You ca catch up with me on Facebook, on my website or read my latest ramblings on my other blog.

Whats the world coming too?

Lovely Bits and Pieces posed the question on a social networking site about finding it worrying these days to put any photos of your work on the net, she said "all us crafters have load of designs and ideas, and some are very similar to others based on things we have seen when out and about, but sometimes ideas overlap, its a hard situation, here's hoping the crafting community doesn't start falling apart"

This made me think, with all the media coverage of the latest cases of copying, this whole thing about pinterest's T&C's not being moral and being sued for sharing ( has any case happened so far?) has things gone too far?, are we all getting too paranoid?, I love the net and all the diversity it brings but it makes me wonder if we couldn't share our ideas and photos on line how much of this would disappear, I wouldn't know what someone in another town had made unless that person had a shop or I knew them in real life. I think you have to question your beliefs about humans and the way in which everyone is scrutinised and made to feel like they have done wrong when they are genuine.

I think people are overreacting with all this coverage at the moment, agreed copying is awful, the Tatty Devine case is justified, as is some of the other blatant copying going on and this must be tackled and reported and shared. But I often have ideas, I draw them or talk about them and even make them and then lo and behold weeks later I see a similar/same thing in a magazine or on line. I know I have not copied but if the designer in the magazine or on line saw what I had designed or made I could be accused of copying, it's a shame that such a lovely community is becoming paranoid and has this "sue" mindset.

I went to a ladies shop the other day and her workspace was awesome, I asked if I could take a photo to put on my blog and asked if she wanted to be in the picture, she declined, I took all her details to share them on my blog I then was about to take a photo of her makes and she got quite bolshy and told me not to as I might copy her designs, I asked if she has a website (she does) so if anyone wanted to copy they could just go on there, its madness, I didn't blog about her and deleted my photos, I was surprised by her reaction, I thought I was doing her a favour spreading the word and recommending her work to my friends on line, to bring her more custom, how wrong could I be!

I think that in a world where an enormous amount of things have been made it is hard to find new ideas, it is rare nowadays that I am truly in awe of something someone has made because for the most part in one way or another I have seen the same things again and again.

The other more scientific part of this not considered is your long term memory which holds millions of bit of information, ideas and images, maybe you saw something briefly without even realising, it lodged in your memory without you being aware of it and then a time later you start designing, without knowing this memory comes back to you and you believe you have thought of it.

This is not meant to be a get out clause for copying someones work, its just another angle. Unfortunately people are scared and worried about saying and doing the right thing, not actually speaking from the heart in case it causes controversy, I am not one of those people, I say it how I think it is, if you don't agree, that's perfectly OK, share you opinions on my comment box, I would love to hear what you all think about this whether you agree or not, don't be shy and cautious, take the step and be bold!

Biggest ever vintage and handmade craft fair!!!

I have taken the plunge and gone and book one of Blackpool's greatest landmarks The winter gardens for a summer vintage and handmade craft fair!!

its going to be a two day spectacular of crafts, vintage, entertainment and music with craft workshops, a vintage tearoom and lots of handmade goodness.


There will be over a 100 stalls selling the northwest's finest gifts, clothes, toys, accessories, food, art, cards, homewares and much ...more. We are lucky enough to have two performances on the sunday from the very lovely burlesque performer Kitty Koko and I am so hounered to annouce that the amazing Kirsty Almeida will be performing too - how amazing is that.
We shall be having various bands performing over the weekend on the stage and tea and cakes served on vintage china all in the beautiful art deco surroundings of the Pavilion theatre at the Winter Gardens situated in the middle of Blackpool town centre 23rd June 10am - 5pm and 24th June 2012 10pm - 4pm Free entry.

Stalls are still available but going fast £25 for one day or £45 for the full weekend. We can set up from 8am and as it is a secure locked area you can leave your stalls set up overnight if you are doing a full weekend. You will get a table and 2 chairs with extra space around you if you want to bring rails, furniture etc, please let me know in advance of any requirements you have regarding this so I can accommodate you.

There are people coming from all over, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, Cumbria, Yorkshire to name a few so if you want to have a stall but don't drive just get in touch Im trying to organise a lift share.

Any questions please feel free to ask, I know this is going to be an awesome event and can't wait to see you there. If you can will you share this link with your friends and followers, if you share it leave me a comment in the comment box on here or send me a message on facebook (Dotty D Lightful) with a link to where you have shared it and you will be entered into a prize draw to win some lovely handmade goodies x
https://www.facebook.com/events/274062292649467/

Jan 1st

Happy new year fellow crafters, it's been a while since my last post and I'm sorry for that but I have been so very busy attending craft fairs in the lead up to Christmas, I have been making like Santa's elves!! It has been a great time even though it's been a tiring one too, here are some photos of my stalls set up at some of the recent fairs I have done, hope you had a lovely Christmas and are looking forward to this new year as much as I am, I predict great things for us all, lots of love Dotty x

A bit of promoting!

Been super busy crafting, homeschooling, trying to keep warm and sleeping lately, each day whizzes by and before you know it it's bedtime again, I have tons of fairs coming up over the next few weeks so have been neglecting my blogs, so sorry readers for that normal service shall resume soon!,

This week we did a photoshoot for our local newspaper, its for ladies pamper night on 15th December in Blackpool at Cafe Dolce on Abingdon street, 7pm - 9pm if you live locally and dare brave the seaside weather pop down, the lady on the left, Anne does angel (oracle) cards and readings, me in the middle will be selling my sewn items and Fran the one on the right does amazing vintage clothes, there will be other stalls too and lots of cake :)

Hope to see you there xx

A to Z of me

Saw this on Polly's blog and it looked like fun, I love to fill in questionaires, have a go at filling it in on your blog, leave me a comment with your blog link so I can have a nosey x

A: Age - 35 Ekkk!

B: bed size -double, full of homemade cushions and blankets

C: Chore that you hate - washing cutelry

D: Dogs - I had a collie dog when I was small but am waiting for a bigger house to get an airedale terrier and a french bulldog - although the mr thinks they are ugly

E: Essential start to the day - cup of clipper decaf tea and breakfast

F: Favourite colour - it varies but either green, pink or purple

H: Height - 5'2"

I: Instrument you play - little bit of drums but not for years

J: Job - full time mum/homeschool teacher/sewing crafts artist

K: Kids -three boys

L: Live - Blackpool

M: Mother's name - Eileen

N: Nickname - runty

O: Overnight hospital stays - 2 as a child, tonsils and appendix, 3 as an adult - all babies born in hospital

P: Pet peeves -littering, dog poo and people who stare rudely because of the way me and my boys look

Q: Quote from a film - " But the worst thing I ever done - I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and then, t-t-then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa - and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting sick and throwing up all over each other. I never felt so bad in my entire life" Chunk in the goonies - best film of all time

R: Right or Left handed - right

S: Siblings - 2 sisters, I'm the youngest

T: Time you wake up - usually around 8am

U: Underware -depends on the occasion ;)

V: Vegetable you hate - parsnips

W: What makes you late - my children

X: X rays- foot, teeth

Y: Yummy food that you make -cakes, pies, stir fry, curry in fact loads of lovely food!

Z: Zoo Animal - elephant