Tuesday 8 December 2015

Thank you

We just wanted to say a big thank you to all the exhibitors and everyone who came to see us yesterday at our annual Christmas Craft & Gift Fair in the Slieve Russell Hotel. We especially want to thank those of you battled through the floods and those that travelled a long way. A couple of our vendors unfortunately couldn't make it through and had to turn back. We ourselves took longer to get to the venue because of road closures due to flooding and fallen trees, so we know it may have been tricky for you. All our customers are very special to us including the lovely couple that regularly drive down from Dublin to see us as well as being regulars at our Facebook sales. It's great when we get to meet you in person and put a face to the name.

Look out for details of our festive offers coming soon, these will be for a limited time only so be quick and don't miss out.

If you are interested in taking a table at one of our future Craft & Gift Fairs then we do have a separate mailing list for that and you can find a link to sign up for that one by clicking here.

As always if you have any questions don't hesitate to email us, we will do our best to answer you within 24 hours, Monday - Friday (except bank holidays) 9.00am - 6.00pm, though it usually takes much less!

Until next time, happy crafting.
Trish & Tom

Tuesday 1 December 2015

Christmas Craft & Gift Fair



Hello there crafters, a quick reminder that our Christmas Craft & Gift Fair is taking place this coming Sunday 6th December from 12noon - 5.00pm in the Woodford and Erne Suites at the beautiful Slieve Russell Hotel in Ballyconnell, Co. Cavan and we'd love you to join us. As always we will have around 60 stands showcasing the best in handmade crafts, quality giftware and craft supplies. You can pop over to Facebook and visit our event wall where you can see who will be there and their great products.

Whilst you're there don't forget to click going and invite all your friends. If you could give us a share that would be great and much appreciated by all involved.

If you have any questions or would like to get involved just ask, you can find all our contact information on the website.

Until next time, happy crafting and hope to see you on Sunday.

Trish (& Tom)
 

Friday 26 June 2015

Summer Craft & Gift Fair

 

 
Not long to go now until our annual Summer Craft & Gift Fair in the Woodford Suite, Slieve Russell Hotel, Ballyconnell, Co. Cavan taking place in just over 2 weeks on Sunday 12th July, 2015.
 
We'd love to have you come and see us, this event is now in its 4th year andis the perfect place for some retail therapy.

With over 30 stands showcasing a whole host of handcrafted items and quality giftware including greeting cards, jewellery, glassware & ceramics, art, knitting & crochet, skincare & cosmetics, fairy doors, shaped crayons, wash bags for children, jam, handbags, fairy doors, candles, vintage collectibles, baked goods, craft supplies, homewares and accessories you're sure to find some treasures.
 
Free admission!

For further information visit the events section of our website at www.downland-crafts.com

Or telephone 049 436 4877 or 087 189 6229



Saturday 18 April 2015

What a beautiful day

It's the weekend, the sun is shining and I'm in the mood for crafting. There's something about a sunny day that makes you feel happy, well it does me!

I recently got a delivery of gorgeous gemstones and I can't wait to get playing with them, the design ideas are all in my head, now I need to get making them into jewellery.

Apologies for being so quiet this year, although I'm not the best blogger in the world by far I had hoped to blog a little more often. Unfortunately the year did not get off to a great start and I was unwell. The good news is that I am 99% back to normal health now (well normal for me...lol) and am gradually catching up with all the things I had planned to do this year.



Here at Downland Crafts both Tom and I are totally craft mad and are involved in lots of projects for the craft community not just our own website. We also know that many of our customers who purchase craft supplies from us have their own small businesses so recently we set up a new website for craft based sites. After noticing that most of the Top 100 & Top 50 type craft directories out there were based in the UK we felt there should be one for Irish Craft, so as we couldn't find one we set up our own.

You can add your website, Etsy shop, Facebook page or blog for free by visiting http://top100irishcraft.gotop100.com/ and clicking add your site under the logo. All we ask for your site to be approved is that you are based in Ireland (North or South), you sell handcrafted items, craft supplies, write a craft blog or organise craft events. We've also set up a corresponding Facebook page and Twitter account, once you become a member you are welcome to post on the Top 100 Irish Craft Sites page to showcase your products and special offers. You can also tweet using the #top100irishcraftsites hashtag and we will retweet for you.


We didn't stop there...oh no! I then decided there was a need for a new Facebook group again after noticing that, although there are business groups on Facebook already and I am a member of many of them on behalf of Downland Crafts, there wasn't a group especially dedicated to Craft Businesses so you guessed it I set one up!

Crafters often come into business through their hobby and can operate slightly differently from other businesses and have different needs. We hope by having this group the information available to our members will be more applicable to them.

This group is for people who take their craft seriously as a business and have a business presence online such as a Facebook business page, shop and/or website. The purpose of the group is to offer support and advice to craft businesses, this is not a selling group.

Again we have set up a corresponding Twitter account and will be using the #IrishCraftBiz hashtag.

Similar to our new Top 100 Irish Craft Sites, to become a member of the Irish Craft Business Network you must be based in Ireland (North or South), sell handcrafted items, craft supplies or organise craft events . When you ask to join you may be asked to provide information on your business such as links to your pages and sites so we can verify you.

Well that's enough waffling for now, I hope you find these new projects useful....I'm off to do some crafting.

Have a great weekend
Trish x