Craft workshops in Newcastle

Clare Albans — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 08:00:46 +0000

Following my appearance on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour last month, I received so many lovely comments about my blog and the show – thank you SO much! It really meant a lot I even got recognised by the lovely lady on reception at BBC Newcastle, as she had seen me in Craftseller Magazine last year! (You can read about that here if you like.) On the show we talked about craft workshops, and I said that my friends and I often have crafternoons where we get together and bring along our projects, and generally have a lovely time drinking tea, eating cake and crafting. I have had quite a few enquiries about craft workshops in Newcastle since the show and I really can’t tell you how much I have wanted to do this for so many years – it has been a real dream of mine to get them set up. So…I have decided that after thinking about it for so long, I am actually going to do it!

My plan for craft workshops in Newcastle

My plan is to set up some craft workshops in Newcastle upon Tyne, which will hopefully begin in November 2016. This will give me time to get everything set up and I’ll be running a few to ‘test the water’ so to speak. Then if they are successful I’ll look to create a more regular schedule. These workshops are for adults (sorry, kids!) and will have a limited number of spaces for each one. I have so many ideas of things that I think could potentially make brilliant workshops. I’ve actually had to put a notebook by my bed again for when I wake up with ideas in the middle of the night! Haha!

I’m obviously working this around Little One as she is my number one priority, so the workshops will be on weekends at first. Some people might think I’m a bit mad trying to get this up and running with a (currently) 3-month old, but I feel like now is the time for me to go for it. I want to raise her knowing that she can give anything a go, so I’m doing the same I would always rather go for something and if it doesn’t work, then at least I’ve given it a go. This is so much better than forever wondering if it would have worked!

So at the moment, I’m working on things for an hour or two a day once Little One has gone to bed. I’m setting myself small targets and making a little progress on my project every day. I’m so very excited and I hope the people of the North East will be too!

Craft workshop survey

I’m still at the very early stages of setting up my new venture, so I’m currently carrying out some research in order to find out what people are interested in making. I’d also like to find out a bit more about potential locations and hear any other thoughts and suggestions that you might have. So to do this, I have put the skills from my day job into practice and have created a short online survey to find out more! If you live in the North East and you are interested in attending workshops in Newcastle, it would be brilliant if you could spare a few minutes to complete it. It is completely anonymous and you don’t need to provide any personal details. This research will help me to provide the workshops that people would really love.

Please click here to take part in my survey.

Edit 14th November 2016: My survey is now CLOSED. Thank you to everyone who took part!

If you know anyone who would be interested, please do share it with them too. As much as I love my readers from all around the country (the world, even!), please only complete this survey if you live in the area and are interested in attending craft workshops.

I really appreciate your help – thank you so much! I’ll be keeping you updated with the latest news here, and on my social media – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

WORKSHOPS UPDATE!

My shop is now open and you can book workshop places for November and December 2016 I’m starting out with a vintage floral embroidery workshop, followed by a felt Christmas decorations workshop. Both are suitable for beginner/intermediate level and I’d love to see you there!

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Woman’s Hour

Clare Albans — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 06:30:01 +0000

I love it when fun things happen unexpectedly, and this week I was approached by BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. I am really excited to say that I will be appearing on the programme this coming Monday 13th June 2016! The show is being guest edited by Mary Berry and I’ll be chatting with Jane Garvey from Woman’s Hour and Momtaz Begum-Hossain from @TheCraftCafe. Momtaz runs the craft night The Make Escape in London and has worked in the craft industry for many years designing and selling products, writing books and running a wide variety of craft workshops for children and adults all over the UK. I’m really looking forward to discussing crafting and letter writing, and representing the Northern crafters out there!

The art of writing letters

Do you still write letters? Many of my long-term readers will know that it’s something that I try and do as much as I can. I really love spending time making cards and envelopes to send (yes, I still do that after many years!) and I always send thank you cards for gifts that I have received. I think it’s really important to do this – partly because I was brought up doing it, and partly for the pleasure of saying thank you. For me, it’s much nicer to do that with a card or a letter, with something you can hold in your hand. What do you think? Do you still send letters or thank you cards? I’d love to know, so please do leave a comment in the box below if you have time. I do hope you can tune in on Monday! 10am (BST) on BBC Radio 4.

If you’d like to make your own cards or envelopes, there are loads of tutorials on my blog! See links below or browse through the archives to find inspiration.

An update

I had so much fun on the show and have had some lovely comments – thank you so much! Here are a couple of photos of me in the broom cupboard at BBC Newcastle before we got started:

It was a really great experience – thank you all for tuning in! I’ve been working on something exciting since the show…stay tuned for more information coming soon!

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