Sunday 9 September 2012

Tomato Soup Mug For Handmade Monday



Its been a busy week for me, although not too much has happened on the making front. I have, however, painted this tomato soup mug which i rather like. It was partly inspired by the fact that we have finally been harvesting some home grown tomatoes this week - yay!




I've also been seeing those retro style soup bowls with soup recipes on them around lot at the moment and i thought i could do a modern twist on this idea with a mug (i much prefer soup out of a mug personally, there is something so comforting about sipping at it from cupped hands :)).

However, having made some lovely tomato soup to check the recipe (yum :)) i decided that maybe the design was best kept simple and i have not yet painted the recipe on the reverse side as planned... what do you think? Should i add a recipe to the back or leave it as it is?

If people respond well to this design, leek and potato will probably be next... or carrot and coriander... or pea and ham.... or roasted pumpkin.........

i like soup :)


Autumn Leaves Lavender Pillows


Thank you to everyone who left lovely comments about my apple and sailing boat lavender pillows last week, each and every one was very much appreciated :)

You may remember me saying then that i intended to make a few more... well, after stocking up on lovely Somerset lavender, which arrived beautifully presented in the post mid week...




... i made these three with applique Autumn leaves in the same gorgeous Michael Miller fabric i used for my Autumn leaves cushion a few weeks ago.



Along with my other lavender pillows they are now available to buy from my Etsy shop.


CRAFTfest


If you are wondering what has been keeping me so busy this week, then the answer is CRAFTfest! If you don't know, it is an online craft fair run by crafters network, Creative ConnectionsThe event runs for a week at a time (there was one in June this year, the September one was this week, and there is one starting on 24th November).

You pay £5 for a 'stall' (which is an album with product photos, descriptions and links to where your items may be purchased online) and although the appearance of the Creative Connections site changes to direct visitors to the stalls during the CRAFTfest week, stalls can be visited at anytime and any links to them remain active (mine is here).

The emphasis is very much on everyone involved contributing to promotion of each other's stalls, and the event as a whole. Lu Smith (of Handmade In Keswick) did a fantastic job of galvanising stall holders and organising promotional activities on social media networks - the usual suspects; Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, but also Craft juice, Wanelo, StumbleUpon, Etsy... i have learnt a lot about things like SEO and marketing along the way and i will put the most useful info in dedicated blog posts soon!

I hear that the event as a whole had 56,000 visitors and although the visitor numbers for 180 individual stall holders haven't been released yet, i can tell you that i have had a lot more visitors to my website and Etsy shop (and probably Folksy and Wow too, although i haven't checked yet) - no sales have materialised as a result of this increased activity yet... but they may still!

I'm really looking forward to the November CRAFTfest and am determined to have improved product photographs and social media connectivity by then as well as make some lovely Christmassy things to tempt people with!

In conclusion, if you are wondering about whether to get involved in November, i would highly recommend it! :)


Handmade Monday




That's all from me for this week... i will leave you with this pretty pic of Autumn brambles (i feel some jam making coming on...) and also a link to Handmade Harbour where you will find lots of other crafty blogs to stroll through... see you there! x


36 comments:

  1. I would definitly prefer soup from a mug and love the tomato one! What about chicken ...x

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  2. Just thinking about tomato soup in a mug makes me feel warm inside.

    I think adding a recipe would be a good idea. It can be a cookbook and a mug in one :-)

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    1. thanks Stephen!

      yes, there is definitely a practical side to this idea that appeals to me too! :)

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  3. Soup from a mug is the way to go. You should do an oxtail design. Or minestone. Yeah, get the soup thing :)

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    1. thanks Kat :)

      looks like i may have to do quite a range at this rate... everyone likes different soup! :)

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  4. The mug is great. Just the ticket for the coming winter months. I bet the lavender smells really lush and in pretty little hearts.

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    1. thank you!

      yes the lavender does smell amazing :) x

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  5. Oh, yum - I like soup too. I love the idea of a recipe on there, too. How fab, you wouldn't need to hunt a resipe book down!

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    1. thanks Wendy!

      i know, its true it could be pretty useful! :)

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  6. I may have to go and heat up some tomato soup. On my way to booking a stall at CraftFest November. Thank you for the heads up. Joanna x

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    1. you're very welcome Joanna :)

      enjoy your soup! x

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  7. I like your soup mug. There's nothing quite like tomato soup.

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  8. I do love your little leaf hearts, it is a gorgeous design

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  9. Ooo I like the idea of the recipe on the back esp if its simple recipe, this is a great idea I for one love tomato soup and rather than hunt through all my recipe books I could just look to my mug.

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    1. thanks Clare :)

      luckily tomato soup is a pretty simple recipe so it should fit on nicely... looks like that will be on my 'to do' list for this week! :)

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  10. I love the mug as is but agree the recipe on the back if not too long would be good.
    good luck with your craftfest

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    1. thank you!

      i will add the recipe and report back next week :)

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  11. You did much better with your tomatoes than i did! I love your applique leaf lavender cushions - so autumnal. I did craftfest this year (but in spring i think), i keep umming and ahhing about doing another one because i didn't get any sales out of it. But then i thought maybe my technological skills weren't up to making the most of it!

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    1. thank you Helen! i am really enjoying making Autumnal things as i love this time of year :)

      i think a few people feel like this about CRAFTfest, i feel i got a lot out of it even without sales but i can understand why this might put you off... a lot of people seemed to benefit from technological tips from fellow crafters this time around (including me!) so maybe you could get that from it too.. x

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  12. Love the mug. Some really useful info about craftfest. Thank you

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  13. what a great week. I love the mug - our tomatoes this year were not great, but one of my neighbours has had a glut of them. Think I need to save some of the seed she used. hope you have a good week.

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    1. thank you!

      we have struggled with tomatoes too and haven't had half as many as we usually do... just not enough sunshine i think! x

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  14. The mug made me smile and I shall look forward to seeing what it looks like with the recipe on the other side. I think it's a great idea. Thanks for the info on Craftfest, it's always good to hear what's going on out there!

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  15. Um!! Soup makes me think of winter, there's nothing like a mug of soup and a crusty roll to warm you up. My favourite at the mo is carrot & coriander. The recipe idea sounds great.

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    1. thanks Melanie!

      i looooooove carrot and coriander too :) might make that one next! x

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  16. I love cream of mushroom... Your photos of the tomatoes make me feel hungry!. Like your house cushion too !

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    1. thank you very much!

      i will put cream of mushroom on the 'to do' list :) x

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  17. I really like the clean and simple design on your mug. Very appealing. Can't decide on the recipe or not - sorry. Keep changing my mind. How about some with and some without! :)

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    1. thank you :)

      i'm super indecisive don't worry :) i'm thinking maybe i'll advertise with the recipe but offer it without also... that way everyone should be happy! (except those that don't like tomato soup that is :)) x

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  18. Your tomatoes look delicious. I like the soup in a mug design but I'm not too sure about a recipe on the back, it might be to complicated.
    Craftfest is something I've seen but not got involved with, I may need to check is out further.

    Jan x

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    1. thanks Jan :)

      the tomatoes have been tasty if a bit few and far between!

      i hear where you're coming from with the recipe idea being potentially a bit complicated.... i think i'll have to give it a go and see how i feel about it then! x

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Your lovely comments are much appreciated x