Flyers now available

I had a lovely surprise this morning when a big box of 2000 flyers was delivered about 4 days sooner than expected.

They look fabulous, all shiny and bright – hopefully they’ll do their job and get people coming through the door. All we need to do with them now is get them into locations where people are likely to pick them up. This afternoon I’ll be doing a quick round of Banbury – coffee shops, The Mill arts centre, the library etc! I might duck out to some of the Cotswolds villages tomorrow...

If you know of somewhere that we should leave some flyers or display a poster then please let us know, or ask us to send some out to you... you can contact us at OxfordCraft@gmail.com.

...and the last stall has gone...

...well ladies and gentlemen, thats the last stall taken and I for one am very very glad. I'm also very excited! With just under 7 weeks until the fair there is still much to be done.


For those who have missed the opportunity to exhibit you can still contact us at OxfordCraft@gmail.com to be added to a reserve list or for details on how you can contribute to the promotional bags that will be handed out to visitors, and contain a mixture of coupons, business cards and small samples. We'll be accepting items from everyone who wants this exposure right up to the end of October.

Meet the Makers - Victoria of PinkFlapJacks...

Latest in our line up of Meet the Maker pieces is Victoria of PinkFlapJacks. Victoria sees the beauty in items others have discarded, often reusing materials in her pieces... or perhaps just using up the bits and bobs left over from her husband’s furniture projects.

So, here is a little information from Victoria about herself, her craft and how she got here...

I live here in central Oxford, but am originally from little old Wales, in the middle of the mountains where the entertainment and shopping facilities are in short supply so as children we were constantly making things out of things!

My mum's chant was: "only boring people are bored; go and make something!"

In all the different places I've lived, I've always been making something. When I lived in Ireland I was an arts and crafts teacher so that was lots of paint and general papery messes...I did the same in Scotland, leaving a trail of glitter in the school corridors. In my family home there's always been a sewing machine on the go and a workshop or a workroom set up somewhere for experiments! I've often made my own jewellery and clothes and am always on the lookout for unusual funky things to wear...I also lived in Bolivia for awhile and there were lots of people there on hippy trails who showed me new ways of making necklaces and things...also it was an excellent place for picking up cheap fabric and supplies...

As the world in general has become more focused on recycling and ethically made products so have I...I usually go to charity shops or junk sales and buy old clothes and bags, and sometimes jewellery; to cut up and refurbish into something I can sell or give away to friends as a gift...
I find it really difficult to compete with the large and far cheaper shops but am ever trying to find new ways to sell my handmade things...

When I'm making something with my sewing machine or some new jewellery experiment I can completely zone out and lose track of time altogether...which is what the Dalai Lama recommends!!

Anyway now I'm in Oxford with my lovely ginger husband who works as an antique furniture restorer stroke skateboarder stroke great pasta sauce creator!

Other stuff I love doing involves lots of activeness like snowboarding or swimming in the river or dancing madly...

I love reading too and wish I had more time to write about something interesting! Such as why pink is such a nice colour full of variety and how delicious different types of flapjacks can be...

I also have an ever growing button collection which I keep in a groovy glass jar - I think it’s meant for spaghetti...red cross bargain...

Butterflies and fresh flowers are lovely...xx

Just 7 weeks to go!

With just under 7 weeks to go until the Fair we've suddenly found ourselves getting busier. Each exhibitor should expect to receive an information pack over the next week or so. This contains a lot of important information so please make sure you have a good read through!

Flyers and Posters have been designed - and will be making an appearance around Oxford and the surrounding area over the next month. If you know of somewhere to display a poster, or to leave a small pile of flyers then please contact us at OxfordCraft@gmail.com and we'll either send some out to you or try to get them there ourselves.

We're all very excited by the people that will be exhibiting, and the enormous range of items that will be on show at the fair. Check out the links on the right here to see a few of them!

Almost all of the stalls have been taken now, with just 3 to go!

Promotional Bags - Update

With just under two months to go until Handm@de things are beginning to get even busier behind the scenes. For the last few weeks Katie, our promo goodies' wrangler has been seeing less of her living room as more and more fabulous items have poured in. And yesterday Becci(MomentsByMartha), Jane (Lovealittle) and myself with baby in tow descended upon her flat for a busy day of sorting out the promotional bags.

Here, we had all the excitement of seeing what's been sent in so far!

Every one had a job, even the little ones... Here is Amelia seeing how many bags I had tagged...

And Ramsey making sure that Becci's hole punching was up to snuff!

And here are the completed bags, there are alot of them! Each one filled with great promo items, business cards, flyers and coupons!

But don't worry if you haven't yet sent anything, we are still accepting items to go in the bags! Just pop on over to the Flickr Group to get the low down on sending your items.

Meet the Makers - Jane Lloyd of Lovealittle

Today's Maker in the hot seat is Jane Lloyd of Lovealittle. Not only does Jane have the market all sewn up (intended pun I'm afraid) for Tetra Pouches for carrying about useful things like mooncups and other essentials but she also makes adorable gingerbread men finger puppets (we have one and it is a hit with my 5 month old), Waldorf dolls and more besides!

So over to Jane to tell us why she's looking forward to November and Handm@de...

I was excited to be a part of the Wemake London.

It was inspiring to meet the lovely faces behind the Etsy stores and a fun day. Everything inspired except the location as the venue was a little off the beaten track.

I met Becci from "Moments by Martha" for whom I'd just made some promotional lavender bags. She was wanting to plan an Oxford sale before Christmas. I offered my help, mainly for ideas and we haven't looked back. Handm@de promises to be truly inspirational for all concerned.

A little more about me can be found at www.mumandworking.co.uk/Career-Focus/handmade-cards

Etsy Buy Handmade thehappycrafter