I have no doubt that there will be plenty of entertaining in the upcoming month as we lead up to Christmas, and I’m sure many of you are looking for different ways to decorate. How’s this for a beautiful place setting, and the best part is that the napkins have been handmade using a stencil and fabric paint. You can check the original post out here for more details.
Happy entertaining!
If you follow Jamtin on Facebook, or Twitter, you might have seen us mentioning the I Heart Market once or twice before. Now I might be a bit biased on this market because I do of course know that there are many beautiful handmade markets scattered around the country, this is ‘my’ handmade market – the one I get to go to when ever I’m in town on the first Saturday of the month and so yes of course I feel a little bias towards it, especially when I’ve spend so much time oohing and aahing so many of the goods that are available.
Some of my favourites from the Market include (but by no means are limited to!)
Genevieve Motley – how stunning are these cuff links
And these brooches from her as well…
(And while we’re on Gen Motley, if you’re a mom, or going to be a mom, you might just love reading her series on “Raising Creatively” over here)
Beautiful art and design by Jen-Jen
Next up us Yummi – how much of cuteness is Ethan the Ellie? You should check out their website for their full range of handmade toys.
More Yumminess from Yummi with their Decor Range.
And then you have to pop over to Olivia Villet to let your eyes slowly absorb her beautiful stationary, gift cards, wrapping paper amongst others…
Wrapping Paper (R10 a sheet)
Sticker sheet – R18 a sheet
Next up is The Little Mud Hut who makes a delicious array of amazing goodies, ranging from stamped pegs, gift wrapping, bunting, fridge magnets – seriously – just a whole lot of awesome made here.
I don’t wear much jewellery, but I do really love the jewellery from Starbright Girl
Ok peeps, I have to close off this post now, as it’s taking me so long getting distracted at every blog I visit…
All I can say is that this is just the tip of the I Heart Market iceberg… there are three markets coming up especially for Christmas on the 3rd, 10th and 17th December, at the Moses Madhida Stadium (Durban).
And remember
ps – I apologise to the lovely stall holders at the I Heart Market for not often saying hello as Jamtin… flip, the truth be told is that I’m just such a shy thing. I know, pathetic, but true!
The Little Mud Hut oozes with talent and creativity and just plain and simply beautifulness… I have so many of their goodies scattered around my home, from my very own personalized fridge magnets, pegs on my desk as well as in my ‘gift drawer’, bunting in my baby’s room and a heap more scattered around…
Here’s some of what they create…
A beautiful range of pegs with different words, different designs, different colours… (pegs are perfect for pegging post together, a book mark, wrapping a present in a paper bag)
Bunting, beautiful bunting
And lastly, if you’re getting married and looking for gorgeous favours for your gits for for that extra special touch for your decor, who gorgeous are these….
The Little Mud Hut – perfect for so many occasions, from stocking fillers, to the decor at your wedding and everything in between.
You can email Venessa here
I recently received a bunch of glass jars from Consol and they are truly beautiful to use for storage around our home. There are some in the kitchen, some in my office, one withbe jelly beans in (they don’t last long), some that are still empty cause I need to find things to store in them! With a few of these jars around at the moment I did think about using some to make some Christmas presents. What you think?
Love this gift idea for Cookies in a Jar. You can see the full post over at Make it Do, together with the free printables like the one on this jar, as well as a printables with the directions for baking.
And how about these labels for your mason jars that you give… (Seen on Older and Wiser)
Or how about this cute sewing kit from The Paper Mama
“Skaapie is a small friendly creative company that makes pure wool homemade felt products using local and natural materials. Our specially handcrafted felt toys are made in Cape Town, South Africa by talented people who love bringing wool to life.”
That’s the ‘official’ introduction that Skaapie uses on their Jamtin Listing… I think they could also add something along the lines of : “Bringing joy and cuddles to both children and adults with their deliciously beautiful range of felt toys and decor that are made with love, by wonderfully creative people, for wonderfully clever people who know the beauty of a handmade goodie”.
Take a look at some of their range and tell me you’d be crazy not to add at least one of these to your Christmas wish list…
Love these monkeys (handfelted with 100% merino wool of course)
And what about this felt bunting
More bunting and mobiles here
And…how about these stunning cushions
I could go on for quite a while longer, but why not pop over to Skaapie’s listing on Jamtin where you can see the variety of products they have on offer, as well as their contact details for placing your order 
A few of us friends get together every couple of months on a Saturday for a crafting day… Babies and kids are left behind with the Dads, craft bags are packed with scissors, double sided tape, glue guns and any other crafting accessories we need. Cupcakes are made, we’ve even had home made lemonade and biscuits brought as sustenance for the day, and it’s a full day spent chatting, creating and gathering inspiration from each other. Seriously, I’m such the novice amongst the group of creative ladies I’ve been clever enough to surround myself with – that’s my talent I bring to the group – choosing the right people to hang out with!
Now how cool is this invite for our next craft day!!!
(Image and idea from Lefrufru Blog)
And then I could use these craft party printables from Etsy, as seen on Green Lily Designs
And anyone looking for some tips on how to host a craft part here are some from Living the Swell Life.. (Don’t be intimated by this list – this would be a uber uber craft party). In my opinion all you really need is a group of like minded crafting chicks, whatever you each want to bring from your craft cupboards, some inspiration from each other, some basic food & drinks and that should be more than enough for an amazing day that you’ll wish you did more often (hint hint to our craft club, it’s been a while!)
I’d love to know more about craft days that you host or attend?
I first heard about Kamersvol Geskenke probably 2 years ago now and have been in awe of the event from the first moment I lay my eyes on their website… So many talented and creative people, all selling handmade products; in a setting that is just too beautiful, with an attention to detail second to none.
The day finally arrived – bidding farewell to children and husbands, we left our homes for Durban airport at 4.30am on Tuesday morning… (a 4am wake up for me should be some indication of my extreme excitement for our ‘Kamers Tour’). I’ll jump to the important stuff… we arrived at Lourensford Wine Estate bright eyed and bushy tailed, 9am sharp on Wednesday morning, not quite sure what to expect, but all three of us bursting with nervous excitement – we just knew what we were about to experience was going to be special – I’m happy to report that the reality of it certainly didn’t disappoint.
Our day was spent wandering through the tents, looking, touching, chatting to the stall owners, and of course buying!!! Leisurely cups of coffee in the tent, listening to toe tapping live music, adding to the ambiance of the occasion. Lunch with the backdrop of the mountains in the distance and then the attention to detail of the actual event. Bunting marking off the parking to welcome you, actually, bunting everywhere, ribbon strung from the roof of the tent, vendor caravans, roses, food stalls, oh, the list could go on. I can’t do it justice trying to explain our experience – it was exactly that – just the most amazing experience that I shall savour for a long long while… perhaps until Kamers 2012!
It brings such excitement to my heart to see such beautiful handmade products, such creativity, such beauty and the best part of it all – all handmade in our beautiful country.
Anyone in Cape Town or the surrounds would be crazy not to visit tomorrow (Saturday 29th October is the last day).
The good news for any Joburg and Pretoria people is that Kamersvol will be in Irene, at the The Open Window School of Visual Communication. 29th Nov – 3rd December 2011
Please visit the Kamersvol Geskenke website for more details.
Photos all from the Kamersvol Facebook page
One day… seriously, one day soon I’m going to get my herb garden growing nicely… At the moment there is one lone lettuce that I’m not even sure is a lettuce… I do love these ideas..
Using a cork to mark the herbs growing – this would be perfect for a beginning like me who might need some help in this area… (Idea from Shine Your Light Blog)
How good would it be to have this hanging in the kitchen!
(Image from Pinterest)
(From Casa Sugar)
I’m still at the very start of my Facebook page journey so believe me, I’m no expert, not even close… but I did want to share this marketing tool with you in case some of you are still debating whether to create a Facebook page for your own business or just didn’t know that you could.
I recently received some really valuable advice on “selling” your business – I was reminded that the more I put into my sales pipeline the more will come out… Filling the pipeline has thus become a priority of mine (yes, I know it’s kind of obvious, but I did have to hear it from someone else for it to sink in), and one element of my pipeline is to use my Facebook page to promote Jamtin, to interact with our Jamtin community and to share many of the handmade products I come across when on Facebook. It creates momentum and helps reach people that I might not necessarily have reached. (well, that’s the idea!)
I do believe it’s a valuable tool that is available to all of us to use, so…..
To get started…
Things that might be useful to know….
Some of the benefits of creating a Facebook page is the apps that you can use…
Places you can promote your Facebook Page
For more detail, you can download this pdf from Facebook on using their Facebook Pages…
Lastly…. please like our Facebook page and do let us know if you set a page up for your business so we can like you too 
Hope this was useful!
x
Chalkboard paint could possibly be one of the most underrated product for some DIY fun I reckon!
So… to start off with, I found this ‘recipe’ from The CSI Project to make your own chalk board paint – the great thing is that by doing so you can create chalk board paint in any colour…. (I haven’t tried this yet but am hoping it works as well as it looks!)
And once you’ve made your paint (or brought some of the standard stuff from the store), you could do something like this at your entrance hall…. imagine being able to create a personalised welcome to your family or visitors when ever you wanted to create one! This inspiration comes from The Four McGarveys
And here’s some more inspiration from Chic Cheap Nursery
Have you seen those cool glass jars with the chalk board labels on them where you can write on what ever is in the jar (like the one in the picture above).. uber trendy at the moment I think…. I’ve even labelled the pasta in my kitchen with them… you know… it’s important to label such things in case you get confused
But… don’t you think this idea is such a great one to make your own chalk board labels – all you need is some plain white label stickers, chalk board paint and there you go -your very own labels…
You can see how it’s done at A Little Learning for Two
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