Tag Archives: tea towels

Introducing my new lampshades….

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Finally I can unveil one of the projects I have been working on of late. My latest addition to the Handmade By Me family…lampshades! And not just any lampshades, custom made lampshades in any size and shape you can imagine. This one here was just a tester…and made in honour of last weekend’s Christmas Night Market (which the southeaster managed to ruin)…hence the choice to use my Indigo Red fabric. And this is only the beginning, my next one will be a scalloped fluted shade….oh yeah! I sure aint taking the easy road on this…so watch this space for more details and pics and please get in touch if you are interested in me making a lampshade specially for you!

All shots below were taken at last week’s Tjing Tjing Exchange, I couldn’t have asked for a better space to show off my goods : )

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HMBM Lampshade

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So Mooi….

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One of our lovely Durban stockist’s Mooi sent me these photos of the Handmade By Me goodies on display in their shop. How gorgeous do the aprons look on those mannequins? Durban peeps best you pop over to Mooi soon and have a look for yourself.

Christmas doesn’t have to be all snowfights and santas…

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No it certainly doesn’t! And specially when you live in the southern hemisphere and spend your christmas days on the beach as opposed to in the snow. Now I really do LOVE being in the snow AND the build up to Christmas (in Dublin), in fact it is my favourite time of year (in Dublin), not only because of the many christmas functions, christmas parties, christmas dinners and christmas drinks taking place all the time, but because everyone is just in such a great mood! I have spent the last 4 christmasses in Dublin and believe me everyone there gets in the mood, there is even a radio station completely dedicated to christmas songs which is only available during November and December every year…and believe me that is 2 months too long! This year I will be in the sunny (hopefully) eastern cape sipping on cocktails instead of mulled wine, wishing I was covered in snow and I will probably have a (very small) moment where I will wish I could hear just 5 minutes of christmas FM (ha ha we will see about that one).

However in the eastern cape I will be relaxing instead of last minute shopping for christmas gifts. One of the most horrible and tragic occurences of christmas is trying to do your last minute chritmas shopping along with the rest of the nation! In any country! I have witnessed shopping etiquette (or should I say lack of) that rivals any other known to mankind (except maybe “The Brown Thomas day after christmas sale”…and believe me when I say that its a pretty hairy affair). I have seen people fight over small items and queues that will make you cry! And there is nothing worse than wishing more than anything, that you had done this 3 months ago like you say to yourself at this very time of every year.

And so that is why I am offering you a one stop shop for all your christmas pressies, with the convenience of door to door delivery, and all it takes is an email. Send me what you would like to order, I will send you an invoice, you can pay by EFT or by credit card and I will make sure that all your items are giftwrapped (at no extra cost) and delivered before you leave for your christmas holidays. For any overseas customers I can do the same for you except your items will be posted instead of couriered.

Please bare in mind any orders that aren’t in stock will need to be made up which can take a few weeks so its really best to order now.

For anyone who is looking for christmassy looking items I have my Indigo Red and Red Vintage Squares (if you want that christmas with an african twist) ranges that will work for all your christmas needs….and you can use or wear them again and again throughout the year! Here are some suggestions below…

For the chef…

For the host…

For the house…

For the kitchen…

And if you feeling a little crazy…for the wall…

And if you have no idea what to get, please get in touch I would love to help!

Celebrate Home…

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Earlier this year I was approached about doing some Handmade By Me advertising up for a new home magazine that was being created and launched in the United States called Celebrate Home Magazine. There was an article being written about a lady who had a collection of over 500 tea towels, and being a tea towel collector, maker and seller myself, how could I resist? Check out “Dish Towel Diva” on page 93. There was also a lot of support for young designers like myself to use this as a platform to get their products and ideas out there so I am really happy to help promote this gorgeous magazine, not to mention all the beautiful recipes, homewares and all kinds of great ideas it has inside.

Don’t forget to look out for the two Handmade By Me ads : ) I would love to hear what you all think???

Here is a link to download a free pdf of the mag and from here you can order a fully printed version should you like. Please feel free to send the link on to family and friends and enjoy!

http://cindydyer.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/a-labor-of-love-celebrate-home-magazine-is-born/

“The Fall 2012 Celebrate Home Magazine debuts on the first day of October with the mantra of “making the ordinary extraordinary.”

Published quarterly, Celebrate Home Magazine focuses on family, food, entertaining, gardening, art, crafts, hobbies, personal expression, hospitality, pets, decorating, communities and neighborhoods.

The time has come for a magazine like this—highlighting ordinary people doing extraordinary things. No matter your budget, your skills or the size of your space, we’ll enthusiastically share experiences of those who nurture the space they call home. Let us inspire you!”

 

 

Last week to avail of my Spring Special…

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Make your picnic basket the coolest in the southern hemisphere this spring and summer with my 5% discount off any matching tea towel and napkin sets. Well they don’t really have to match…and they don’t really have to live in your picnic basket. All you have to do is go to my Etsy store, order any napkin set AND tea towel and type in the coupon code SPRING2012 at checkout, and your basket will be updated and discounted! For any of you living in Cape Town I am happy for you to save on those postage fees and collect directly from me. Please get in touch and lets get those picnic baskets in shape!

Here are a just a few of the items you can choose from…

Vintage Bikes tea towel

Vintage Bikes napkins

Pink Flamingo! tea towel

Pink Flamingo! napkins

Pretty Proteas tea towel

Pretty Proteas napkins

Indigo Blue tea towel

Indigo Blue napkins

Red Vintage Squares tea towel

Red Vintage Squares napkins

Please note that stock levels are going fast and that if your item is sold out I will have to make to order which can take a few weeks. Please contact me if you are not sure before you place your order.

FREE shipping on tea towels with Citymob

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I’m not sure if you are all familiar with Citymob, the South African sales website with the best product selection around. Well you could read the blurb down below which explains their basic concept, or you could just mosey on over to their website and have a look for yourself. And for the next WEEK you can avail of the lovely tea towel sale where you can find FREE SHIPPING on selected Handmade by Me tea towels. Now that really is a great offer.

“Citymob curates the city cool. Anyone anywhere can now experience the best of local SA culture. A daily dose of exceptional customer experience. Uncompromised service, quality and imagination. The best local businesses. We put love in so you get love out. Citymob.co.za offers Daily curated Sales on Exclusive Experiences, Premium Products and Hand-Selected Styles at up to 70% off retail. Membership is free, but by invitation only. Members receive exclusive access to featured personalities, leading designers, bespoke experiences, collaborative pop-up shops and more.”

Spring into summer with Handmade by Me

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Spring is finally here! The flowers are out, the sun is out, we even made it out, and had our first picnic this last weekend. Albeit it was in the beautiful Cederberg which is always a couple degrees warmer, but all this sunshine and spring talk is really getting me in the mood for summer!! And with summer comes outings, picnics, sundowners, festivals, all those things I love to do. And so I thought I would share some of my new tea towels and napkin sets with you. All designed with the summer in mind, get ready to make your picnic basket the most wanted item in the southern hemisphere : )

And for those of you who need a little help getting that spring in your step I am offering a 5% discount on any matching tea towel and napkin purchases made via my Etsy store over the next 2 weeks. All you have to do is buy a set of napkins WITH a tea towel and enter the coupon code SPRING2012 and your basket will automatically be discounted and updated!

Here are some of the latest additions you can look out for…for the full collection please visit my Etsy store.

Pink Flamingo! napkins

Pretty Proteas napkins

Striking Strelitzias napkins

Origami Birds tea towel

Fly Away Birds tea towel

Indigo Blue tea towel

Pretty Proteas tea towel

Sweet Hearts tea towel

And just because this little guy below hasn’t had a chance to feature anywhere yet…

Space Rocket Solar System cushion cover

handmade by me.

Handmade by me at the launch of Utique

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Utique is the latest local design online shop to pop up in South Africa. It was literally launched last night and handmade by me was invited to display some work and celebrate in the beginning of something very exciting!

“Utique is all about showcasing the very best of South African creative talent by carefully selecting products from local designers, artists and small businesses.

We are passionate about finding and sharing those special pieces that customers assume are imported one-offs, never to be found again, but are actually produced in a tiny studio up the road.   We’ve made it our mission to seek out these hidden gems of design talent and bring them together in a curated space that is beautiful, inspiring, and simple to shop

All our suppliers are carefully chosen for their creativity, innovative style and quality, ensuring that we only promote the very best local talent.  From jewellery and ceramics to furniture and art, Utique is the place to indulge your sense for inspiring local designs”

Have a look yourselves, there are some amazing pieces to be found! And there are also some lovely mixed collections to browse if you are looking for gift ideas or you just want to have a snoop. I want one of those sootcookie ceramics real bad!!!

Here’s a link to their site…

And here’s handmade by me’s space at the launch! Note my lovely bunting which has been keeping me very busy these last few nights! What a fantastic way to use up all the scraps! After the lovely reaction to it last night I think I might add it to my product list : )

Time for tea…and finally the move!

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So next week is the big move! And as much as I am absolutely excited to get my little business going in sunny South Africa, there are lots of mixed emotions with leaving Ireland, my home for the last 6 years. Anyways with that in mind, I won’t be posting much over the next 2 weeks while we enjoy our last few days in Dublin, and start getting settled into life in Cape Town. I can’t wait to begin posting again because that means I will have started to get cracking on my next set of ideas and projects, and I won’t be able to wait to show you all. So while we get on and move, I’ll leave you with some pics of my new tea towel range, all ready and waiting to find themselves a new home : )

And don’t forget if you want to keep up to date with any news in the meantime you can go to http://www.facebook.com/handmadebymeblog and “like” handmade by me’s facebook page.

My new Cup O Tea design…

Pink Vintage Squares


Birdy Num Num

Pink Flamingo!


Blue Origami Birds

Striking Strelitzias


Red Vintage Squares


Indigo Red

Handmade by me.

Handmade by me is moving!

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From the rainy city of Dublin to the sunnier shores of Cape Town, Handmade by me is moving! And its all happening on the 4th of July! So from then onwards, everything will be designed and made in South Africa. Unfortunately due to the nature of alot of current stockists being “made in ireland” I will sadly have to stop supplying them, but I am delighted to say there will still be a few up and running. I am very sad of course to leave Ireland, it has been my home for 6 lovely years and it will always be where Handmade by me began. But one door closes and another opens and hopefully Handmade by me will find a happy and successful new home in Cape Town. I have alot of plans up my sleeve about developing new products and designs and can’t wait to get started! And I can’t wait to be working on this fulltime! Unfortunately most of these require me actually being In Cape Town so things will be a bit quiet here for the next month or two and then I hope to bombard with you with all things fabulous! So for anyone who hasn’t subscribed to my blog as of yet, you can still do so (type your email address into the “subscribe” block at the top right hand side of my blog) and you will be able to keep up to date with the move itself and new and exciting information and projects. You can also keep up to date via Handmade by me’s facebook page.

Irish supporters and customers I will be giving you all a 10% discount on any purchases of current stock. And for any cushion covers purchased I will throw in a free cushion filler! I can still make to order at normal prices for the next 2 weeks but after that I will have to do that from the other side and then post your item/s to you. I have lots of cushion covers, tea towels and napkins sets so first come first serve. If you want to send me a mail, I can let you know what designs are available and reserve them for you.

And of course no matter where you are in the world, you will always be able to get your hands of any of my products either through new or exisiting online shops and of course my very own Etsy store. My special bespoke services will always be up and running so if you still want to create something special or unique either for yourself or as a gift for someone else please get in touch!

Beautiful Cape Town….