We're thrilled to announce that our Gift Wrap That Gives campaign is entering its 7th year, and we couldn't be prouder to share that in 2024, we'll be supporting Sheffield Hospitals Charity.
But why Sheffield Hospitals Charity?
The answer lies in a deeply personal journey. In 2023, our beloved mum passed away after battling dementia for the last four years of her life. Throughout this challenging period, Sheffield hospitals played an integral role in her care and comfort.
It's worth noting that part of Mum's decision to relocate back to Sheffield stemmed from her confidence in the quality of healthcare offered by the city's hospitals. For those who knew her well, Mum's choices were often grounded in thorough research, with just a hint of her signature snobbery!
We're incredibly grateful for the care our mum received and we can't think of a better way to show our gratitude than supporting Sheffield Hospitals Charity with our Gift Wrap That Gives campaign.
This year, we pledge to donate 10% of all profits from the sales of our gift wrap, both on our website and Etsy store, to Sheffield Hospitals Charity. It's a small gesture with great significance, allowing us to give back to an organisation that provided immense support during a difficult chapter of our lives.
We're excited about the opportunity to not only make your gifts look gorgeous but also to contribute to a cause that holds a special place in our hearts. Thank you for joining us on this journey of giving back and making a difference in the lives of others.
Find out more about Sheffield Hospitals Charity here
Shop our gift wrap here
M & H x
]]>
In 2023 we will be donating 10% of our profit from wrapping paper sales to Tommy's through our Gift Wrap That Gives Campaign.
Why Tommy's?
Martha welcomed her second born, rainbow baby into the world in late 2022. He was 4 years in the making after years of secondary infertility and heartbreaking losses.
Tommy's provided invaluable support through Martha's fertility journey and we want to support their vital research and development into pregnancy issues.
Find out more about Tommy's here
]]>
With the world continuing to be upside down and the cost of everything sky rocketing, we've returned to our roots of making to create easy DIY projects that our customers can create.
Christmas Stocking Presents!
Use our gift wrap to create unique stocking presents! Hang them from the mantelpiece or stack them under the Christmas tree to add an extra festive wow! Here's how to...
1. Fold your sheet of gift wrap length ways, with the printed side on the inside. Sketch around your preferred stocking shape, cut out, cutting through both layers of the paper.
DIY Wedding Favour Crackers
Using our gift wrap, create impactful wedding favour crackers. Watch the video tutorial here
DIY Desk Organiser
Get all Blue Peter and use old cereal boxes and our gift wrap to create a unique desk organiser! Watch the video tutorial here
DIY Gift Bags
Make cute gift bags from a sheet of wrapping paper, perfect to wrap those awkward presents with! Watch the video tutorial here
DIY Bookmark
Create a cute 'Thank You Teacher' gift with a sample of our fabric! Watch the video tutorial here
]]>Being kind is part of our nature at m&h.
Whilst we've got through the pandemic, things are still tough. Energy costs are rising, and the impact of global crises are having an impact on all our day to day lives so we’ve decided to make every day a Random Act of Kindness Day!
Every order placed with us on our website will receive a Random Gift of Kindness, when you open your order and find an added extra, yes, it’s supposed to be there! It’s from us to say thank you for supporting our small business and to simply make you smile.
Use your gift of kindness yourself, pass it on to a friend that would really appreciate it or even give it to charity to help a stranger out.
‘Kind people are the best kind of people’
M & H x
]]>Some of our key values are the environment and sustainability, we want to ensure that our products are kind to the environment.
All our products are made by us or small manufacturers in the UK. We've always had our products made in the UK as supporting British manufacturing is incredibly important to us, not only with regards to helping to create jobs but the quality the UK produce is renowned across the globe. We have also recognised that having UK production is also great for the environment, our carbon footprint is greatly reduced as we don't have to ship or fly products around the world and we are able to ensure that all environmental policies our suppliers have in place are kept to, from using vegetable inks and fsc paper in our gift wrap to the traceability of the cotton used in our tea towels and fabric.
We start with thinking about the environment at the making stage and we also want to end the process thinking about the environment too, by creating a second life for our products once they are past their best for their original job!
So, we've put together a wodge of 'second life' ideas for some of our products!
Re-use our greeting cards as:
Re-use our gift wrap:
Re-use our tea towels & aprons:
Re-use our mugs:
Pinterest is our 'go-to' place for upcycling ideas so if you have a m&h product that's been used so much it's past it's best or has broken over the years, please don't automatically throw it away, see if you can upcycle it and give it a second life!
M&H x
]]>I'm the Yorkshire half of m&h based in Sheffield and to celebrate Yorkshire Day I (Martha) have put together a guide to my top 5 Yorkshire places to visit for families over on our blog! Hopefully this will give you some school holiday inspiration too! (I had made a schoolgirl error in our email this morning if you spotted it by including Chatsworth -doh, of course this is in Derbyshire not Yorkshire! Love thy neighbours n'all that.)
http://www.
]]>
We thought we'd put together a little collection of unique Dad gifts that are great for Father's Day (It's on 20th June this year) but also make brilliant Dad birthday gifts too.
Ever 'not' seen blokes congregate around a BBQ? Nope nor me so what about a BBQ course as a gift for your Dad so that the flames can be used to create tasty food not just incinerated sausages? Present the gift along with one of our aprons so that he looks the part too!
Dart’s Farm in Topsham run Big Green Egg (the king of BBQ’s) masterclasses and you can find other courses around the UK. Find out about the masterclass here
Beard perfection is a thing! With the perfect beard being so popular beard grooming products are a great gift idea for a chap that is proud of his facial hair (we love Sheffield company Dapper Dans beard oil), team it with one of our wash bags for a beard grooming present to be proud of!
Many Dads are coffee lovers whether it’s needed for the caffeine hit to help them get through the sleepless nights when the kids are little, if he’s had one to many on a night out with the lads or he simply likes the taste a coffee! Pop a pack of coffee from your local coffee roaster together with one of our fine bone china mugs for a cute coffee gift for him.
Try to support your local coffee roasters (simply have a google to find the nearest to you) our favourite Sheffield Coffee roasters are Tamper Coffee and in North Devon we love Kope Coffee Roasters
Getting a gift for a Dad that wants nothing is hard but most Dad’s like a beer so how about buying your Dad some shares in BrewDog! Not only will you be getting beer for your Pa (and on every birthday in the future) but you’ll also get a tree planted in the BrewDog forest and a wodge of other benefits. BrewDog is a big-little brewery who are showing the brewing industry that respecting the environment and enjoying a beer can be done and of course the share certificate should be wrapped up in our 100% recyclable luxury gift wrap to complete a great gift!
Shop all our unique gifts for dads ideas here
]]>
I moved to a hamlet in North Devon when I was 14 from Leicester, it was a bit of a shock and I fled the shire at the age of 18 to study fashion in Brighton and London, only to return 5 years later!
Fast forward 20 years on and I still live in North Devon, but I don't think I can be called a local yet!
Even though I'm not classed as a local, I figured I know a fair bit about this amazing part of the country that I live in and thought I'd share it with you.
My Favourite North Devon Beach
My 'go to' beach is Northam Burrows. This is the estuary end of Westward Ho! you drive through the Royal North Golf Club (founded in 1864 this golf club is the oldest in the country) along with dodging golf balls (my car has only been hit once) you also need to make way for ponies and sheep!
Being part of Westward Ho! beach (which is 2 miles long) you still have to climb over the pebble ridge to get to the amazing long sandy beach. I've always loved this beach as you can turn left and find yourself in Costa Del North Devon (Westaward Ho!) perfect for ice creams, a pint and the two penny slot machines or turn right and walk to the mouth of the estuary. On a clear day you can see Lundy (inspiration for our Puffin designs) an island 3 miles out in the Atlantic and the last place between us and America!
The sea is as safe as the sea can be, with very few riptides and the beach is consistently awarded Blue Flag status so taking the kids in the sea for a swim or surf is fine. The RNLI also patrol the beach between May and September.
It's a dog friendly beach too! Out of season you can walk your dog along the whole two miles of Westward Ho! but between May and September dogs are only allowed on the Northam Burrows end of the beach.
Where I eat in North Devon
Nestled between the coast and the moor North Devon has plenty to offer on the amazing food front. Obviously, the pandemic has hit these guys hard and we haven't been able to treat ourselves but with the world opening up again I hope to visit again soon.
The Royal George, Appledore
I love this pub, with its shabby chic interior, amazing location teetering on the harbour wall in Appledore and the spot on food, it's no wonder they've won so many awards. The menu changes regularly and they source local fish and meat to create delicious hearty food and if you're hankering after some yummy food but can't get a table, they do Gourmet Food boxes too, including a weekend Fruit De Mer Hamper!
Curry on The Beach
Say whaaat! Yup curry on the beach, in a little cove called Barricane just around the corner from Woolacombe (another vast sandy beach in North Devon) in March a little hut gets craned onto the beach and amazing Sri Lankan Curries are served every evening (weather dependant) until September. Be warned this gem is popular so the queues get big and its cash only!
The Chich!
A village pub that serves the most amazing (and massive) locally sourced pub grub. I love this pub it's within walking distance (er a 30-minute stroll) and is a quintessential 15th century thatched inn that serves proper food and a pint! In the winter you can sit by a roaring fire and in the summer, you can sit outside and enjoy the view over the river Taw.
Things I do in North Devon.
My kids are now nearly 11 and 14 and are born and bred North Devonians so I've done alot over the years to keep them occupied! The 11-year-old still likes to hang out with his parents but the 14 year old is getting more picky, here are a few of the things we do as a family at the moment:
Surf and swim in the sea, the kids still love to go in the sea and as I said before Westward Ho! is safe so we try to make a trip at the weekend and as often as we can during the school holidays for a surf or swim. Don't forget to look at the tide times if you are visiting as there is no beach at high tide (the sea hits the pebble ridge about an hour or so before actual high tide). I check tide times using magic seaweed!
Dog walks (the kids now need to be bribed to come with us), there are loads of lovely places to walk or cycle around North Devon. The Tarka Trail is 180 miles of cycle paths and walking routes that cover the whole of the area you can cycle and walk-through countryside and coast all in one day! The South West Coast path is a must if you're looking for breathtaking views but it's not one if you're scared of heights!
We often wander through the grounds of Arlington Court too, a regency house owned by the National Trust with beautiful gardens & a massive estate with over 20 miles of walks.
This is just a snippet of my North Devon and being in lockdown for the past year our options have been limited, I'll be back to add more to the list including what we used to do when the kids were younger, more on the beaches, places to visit, where to eat and where to stay!
But for now, if you feel the need for a bit of the coast in your life but aren't on your hols yet, you can always add a bit of our coastal collection into your home!
H x
There are so many things to think about when you bring a little human into the world and most of us want to create the perfect baby's room as part of our nesting ritual (even though they probably won't move in for 6 months after their arrival)! Here's a few baby room ideas for you!
Top Baby Room Homeware Essentials for you and your baby.
Apart from the obvious... a cot we think these are the top homeware items you need in your baby's room.
A chair to feed from, cuddle and sleep in!
The chair in your baby's room is for you! It needs to be comfy and supporting for when you're feeding your baby, having a cuddle and maybe sleeping in during those hours between night and morning!
If you fancy a challenge whilst you're nesting you can always try your hand at re-upholstering an old chair in one of bright fabrics (try etsy, ebay or your local facebook marketplace to find a project chair)!
Chest of Drawers
A Chest of Drawers is perfect for you to store all your baby clothes and bedding in and can double up as a changing unit too, by putting a change mat with raised sides on the top (this is great for your back, however it's only safe whilst your baby can't roll and never leave your baby unattended). You can always upcycle an old Chest of Drawers by painting it and add a pop of colour and fun by lining the drawers with our luxury gift wrap!
Nursery Storage!
You'll need storage for all manner of things from nappies and bum cream to toys and books! Our storage baskets are great to use in your baby's room, they come in 3 different sizes across all our fabric designs, perfect for adding a splash of colour to a neutral nursery!
Nursery Lighting
You definitely don't want to be fumbling around in the dark when you're feeding or dealing with a 'poonami' at 3am in the morning so a light is essential. Our lampshades can be made for a ceiling shade or table lamp and come in 3 different sizes perfect to give your baby's room a colour splash and help you see in the middle of the night!
Baby Room Themes!
There are so many idea's for baby room themes, as baby's grow so quickly and develop their own personalities, we think it's best to accessorize a room so you can change the nursery decor as they grow and discover what they like! Here are a few of our favourite themes!
Jungle Theme
The perfect theme for a baby whose parents are animal lovers or Mum is a crazy plant lady! Purify the air with amazing plants and add a colour pop with our Giraffe, Sloth and Panda prints!
If you fancy a Jungle themed wardrobe for your little one too, check out our collaboration with childrenswear designer Maebelle and Bo for some awesome Rhino clothes! Find out more here
Neutral Nursery Ideas
Create a calm space for your baby with a neutral or muted colour palette, add interest with textures from rugs and textiles and accessorize the room with our monochrome baby print, cushions and lampshade.
Rainbow Theme
Create a riot of colour and fun with a rainbow themed baby room! Use every colour in the rainbow to accessorize your baby's room! Our nursery animal print bundle will create budget friendly wall art to fit in with this theme.
You can shop all ideas for your baby's room here
]]>
We've created wrapping paper sheets from our favourite designs for the perfect finishing touch to gifts for all occasions.
Our wrapping sheets are designed by us in Sheffield and printed in the UK on high quality paper. Each wrapping paper sheet measures 50cm by 70cm.
Are our wrapping paper sheets recyclable?
Yes, All our wrapping paper is recyclable! In fact 98% of our printers materials are environmentally sustainable or recycled and our wrapping paper is printed in the UK on FSC certified paper using vegetable inks.
Take a look at how our gift wrap is made:
Reuse then recycle!
Our gift wrap is recyclable but it is also reusable! We print our gift wrap on high quality fsc paper, the quality of our wrapping paper means that it can be reused many times. Check out the video below where we show that same piece of wrapping paper being used 11 times and to be honest we think it can be reused up to 15 times (we just got a bit bored of wrapping and re-wrapping)! If you have a close group of friends or a large family please think about using quality wrapping paper that can be reused as reusing is even better for the environment!
Gift Wrap That Gives
Every year we donate 10% of our profits from our wrapping paper sales to a chosen charity, because we believe that giving is good! Read more about our Gift Wrap That Gives Charities below:
When to use our wrapping paper!
Our wrapping paper can be used for so many occasions, here's when we would use each design:
For a summer wedding gift our parrot wrapping paper will finish any present off in style. Our leopard and monstera leaf wrap will create a unique new home gift perfect for a friend who is plant crazy!
Be the envy of any baby shower party with a gift wrapped in our new baby wrapping paper. If you struggle to find wrapping paper to wrap birthday gifts for your brother, dad, boyfriend or husband our puffin wrap will tick the box. Find great ideas for unique Dad gifts on our blog here
A keen gardener or bird watcher would love a gift wrapped in our blue tit design and our magpie wrapping paper is great for wrapping a teacher's gift at the end of a great school year.
Our dinosaur wrapping paper featuring a brightly coloured T-Rex, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Spinosaurus and Pterodactyl finishes off a gift for your neice, nephew, son or daughter perfectly. Whilst our whale wrap is great to complete a travel gift for a friend.
Our penguin, sprout and walrus designs are the perfect trio of wrapping papers to create unique Christmas presents!
Here's how to wrap presents without using sticky tape!
If you don't use sticky tape your gift wrap can be reused or recycled straight away.
We've used paper twine as a finishing touch as it can be recycled, if you use ribbon remember to reuse it!
Are you rubbish at wrapping presents?!
If you get all fingers and thumbs when you wrap a present don't worry we can help. We've just launched a gift wrap service for Christmas. We can wrap your gifts in one of our Christmas themed wrapping papers (sprout, penguin or walrus), finish it with a colour popping paper rafia ribbon and add a hand written tag too!
Our gift wrapping service is also perfect for sending presents directly to friends or family. To add this to any order simply select the 'add gift wrap' button on the product page.
What else can you use our wrapping paper for?!
Our wrapping paper isn't just for wrapping presents it also makes great wallpaper for dolls houses, paper for decoupage as well as lining drawers and lots of other paper crafts!
Here's a few of our videos from our Tik Tok shop where we show you how to make your own paper chains, make your gift bows and make your own Christmas Crackers!
How to buy our wrapping paper!
If you've just got a small gift you can buy a single folded sheet or maybe two but if you have a lot of gifts to wrap we have a 6 folded sheet option available for all our designs. If you can't decide which design to get we also offer a mixed sheet pack of 6 designs available folded or rolled in a tube.
Don't forget we have matching greeting cards too!
You can buy all our wrapping paper here
We love our wrapping paper but don't just take our word for it, here are some of the reviews we have received recently!
]]>
School's nearly out, kids are tired and the teachers are on their knees (believe me they are, my husband is in the final weeks of re-training as a Primary School Teacher and I have a new found respect for these guys)!
If your children have an inspirational teacher you'd like to thank, we've put together a selection of martha and hepsie designs that any teacher would love! From unique mugs to slurp their tea from to pencil cases and storage baskets to keep their sacred pens in! Shop our Teacher gifts collection here
You can also add a unique finishing touch to your own handmade teacher gift with our free printable gift tags! Simply download our free Teacher Gift Tags here and print at home.
Here's our favourite clip from Educating Yorkshire showing just how inspirational teachers can be!
M&H xx
(P.S Our free printable gift tags are for personal use only, all images and designs are copyright of martha and hepsie ltd).
]]>
We launched our first baby wear collection a couple of years ago and so many of you have asked us whether we'd be doing anymore in other designs. Well we have...sort of!
We've collaborated with the award winning, Sheffield based childrenswear company Maebelle & Bo to create a new collection from our crab and rhino designs! Maebelle & Bo make fun organic clothes for children from birth to 12 years, specialising in creating practical and comfortable clothes for little ones. All of their clothing is either made by Rachel (Mum to Maebelle and Bo) or by an organic fairtrade company in India using organic cotton printed with our crab and rhino designs!
This childrenswear collection contains rompers, leggings, dresses, t-shirts, shorts, jumpers, hats, mittens and jumpers perfect for new borns to tweenagers!
The colourful crab design is perfect for the summer babies, kids that love to rockpool or love the sea. Our rhino design ticks all the boxes for animal lovers, who wouldn't want to scoot around the block in a rhino jumper or run around a wood in a pair of orange rhino leggings?
If you are looking for a great matchy-matchy gift our crab and rhino are available in our homeware and stationery designs. How about our crab cushion to go in a cool coastal nursery alongside a crab romper or our rhino A4 art print with a rhino t-shirt for an animal loving 3 year old?
Shop the full kidswear collection at Maebelle and Bo here
]]>
]]>
We've got our diaries full and booked up a massive 17 dates for the rest of 2019 where we'll be out and about peddling m&h wares and meeting you lovely lot!
Find out where we are between now and December here:
September
15th September - Netheredge Farmers Market, Sheffield
21st September - Harewood Makers Market, Harewood House, Leeds
22nd September - Vintage and Handmade, Barnstaple Pannier Market
October
5th & 6th October - Northern Craft Fair, Gateshead
November
1st, 2nd & 3rd November - Craft Festival, Cardiff
2nd November - Northern Craft Fair, York
22nd, 23rd, 24th - Hepworth Christmas Market, Hepworth
23rd November - Escot Artisan Christmas Market, Exeter
28th & 30th November - Exeter Etsy Christmas Market, Exeter
December
1st December - Connect & Create, Barnstaple Pannier Market
1st December - Nether Edge Christmas Farmers Market, Sheffield
14th December - Harewood Christmas Market, Harewood House, Leeds
For more information on each individual event please have a look at our facebook events page here: https://www.facebook.com/pg/marthaandhepsie/events/
We look forward to seeing you all
M & H xx
]]>We've chosen charities that relate to martha and hepsie as a brand and us as people. The 6 charities we have chosen are:
Children & The Arts: We've both have design degrees, loved art at school and believe every child should have access to the arts. https://www.childrenandarts.org.uk/
Mind: We have both seen friends and family experience mental health issues so this is a subject very close to our hearts and feel that Mind is the perfect charity for us to support. https://www.mind.org.uk/
Home Start: Having young families we truly understand how tough it can be and want to support a charity who can help when needed. https://www.home-start.org.uk/
WWF: Nearly all our illustrations are of birds and animals so we thought it only right to nominate a charity that supports so many of the worlds beautiful creatures. https://www.wwf.org.uk/
Wellbeing Of Women: We are women, mothers, sisters and daughters and the research Wellbeing Of Women fund will affect us all. https://www.wellbeingofwomen.org.uk/
The Trussell Trust: Food is an integral part of our lives. We love to cook and eat and want to help those who find themselves in need of food, whatever their circumstances. https://www.trusselltrust.org/
10% of profits from the 2019 sales of all our gift wrap across our website, Etsy Not On The High Street stores as well as sales from Appletree and Avalon will be split across the 6 charities.
Giving is good!
M&H x
]]>
This has been a bit of a sanity project for me as I ruptured my Achilles Tendon and was stuck with my leg in plaster for 2 weeks unable to weight bear and totally not able to use a sewing machine! Ideally it would be lovely to make this on holiday whilst sunbathing on a beach but instead I was sat on the sofa with my leg aloft binge watching Queer Eye on Netflix!!!
I found an old embroidery hoop from my GCSE and Uni days and made a plan to sew (Way back when I won a competition with Oasis who used my embroidered jeans design as part of a display for the opening of their flagship store on Argyll Street, London)!
To be honest I haven't used any fancy pants embroidery stitches and I only had a little bit of embroidery thread in the right colours so just doubled up normal sewing thread. My aim was to 'paint' with thread and to see what happened...
MAKE TIME: This took me a day in total as I'd pick it up and sew for an hour when I had some free time or watching the telly during one week.
To make the embroidery hoop art you will need:
Step One:
Place the backing fabric in the hoop and cut out the design from the m&h fabric, don't throw away the scrap piece of fabric!
Step Two:
Place the cut-out design on the hoop and hold in place with a very small amount of fabric glue, then sew along the edges with a running stitch. Once the main design is in place, I added a few snippets of the left-over fabric in the same way.
Step Three:
Sew! The idea for this hoop was to give the impression of a crab on a wet stone...So I only used grey and black thread using the snippets of fabric to represent water. I used a simple satin stitch all going the same way to fill space and create texture. (Mollie Makes has a great section on simple embroidery stitches here : http://www.molliemakes.com/home/library-embroidery-stitches/ as well as Most Craft here: https://www.mostcraft.com/
I filled the space that the length of the thread would fill and then ran a different colour thread through chunks of one colour to break it up a bit.
It's like painting with thread and you stop when you're happy with the picture!
There's loads of ways to finish the back of the hoop to make it look neat, here are some ideas: https://www.pinterest.it/pin/294985844326435882/?lp=true
Ta dah you've made a piece of embroidery hoop art!
I've loved rediscovering embroidery and have grand plans to create a piece of embroidery hoop art for every martha and hepsie design, so I guess this is the positive that has come from rupturing my Achilles (that and the fact that the kids are doing the dishwasher)!
H x
]]>
It's April, officially Spring and it's hailing outside so I thought I'd show you how to make a Peg Bag from one of our tea towels because it's the perfect weather to be hanging your washing out...!
MAKE TIME: 1hr 30mins
To make the peg bag you will need:
Step One
You need to create a 3 piece pattern for the peg bag:
Piece 1(front): Draw around the hanger and add 2cm to the top of the pattern and 3cm to the base.
Piece 2(front): Fold the tea towel in half, place piece 1 on the top of one half of the tea towel, piece 2 will be the same width as piece 1 and the length of the tea towel remaining from one half.
Piece 3(back): This piece will be the two pieces of the front put together but take off 2cm from the bottom.
(Please excuse this photo, I should've ironed the tea towel - whoops)!
Step Two
Place the pattern pieces on the right side of the tea towel and cut them out.
Step Three
Fold over the point at the top of both the front and back section by 1cm and top stitch. Next fold over a 1cm hem on the bottom of section 1 and the top of section 2 and top stitch.
Step Four
Put both front pieces (pattern facing) on top of the back piece, there will be a slight overlap of the hems where the opening is).
Starting from the top of the small opening where the hanger will go through sew all around the peg bag to the other side with a 1cm hem.
Step Five
Turn your peg bag out and place the hanger into the top section.
Now fill it with pegs and wait for the weather to get better so you can put your clothes on the line to dry!
Choose from 8 tea towel designs to create your m&h peg bag here
]]>
It's cold outside and tea drinking is at it's maximum, so we thought we'd start our 2019 m&h makes series with a tea towel to tea cosy make!
MAKE TIME: 1 hr 30mins
To make the tea cosy you will need:
Step One
Measure the height and width of your teapot and add 5cm to the width and height.
Step Two
Cut out two rectangles from the tea towel, coordinating cotton and wadding using the measurements from your tea pot.
For example my teapot measures 30cm wide by 25cm high so the rectangles I cut out were 35cm by 30cm
You then need to curve all the tops of the rectangles, I used a slate cheesboard to draw round!
Step Three
Place the tea towel fabric and the coordinating cotton (this will be the lining of your tea cosy) right side to right side and the place the wadding on to of the wrong side on the tea towel fabric, pin together.
Sew all three layers together along the base of the tea cosy. We used a straight stitch 1cm up from the base of all the fabric. Be careful that your sewing machine foot doesn't get stuck in the wadding.
Do this for both sides of your tea cosy, remove the pins and trim any excess wadding.
Step Four
Open out both sides of your tea cosy with the lining one side and the wadding and tea towel material ( the outside of your tea cosy) on the other.
Place both right sides together and pin the seams together and then the rest of the tea cosy.
Sew the two sides together starting at one seam but remember to leave a 10cm gap at the top of the lining to be able to pull your tea cosy through.
We used a straight stitch 1cm up from the edge of all the fabric. Be careful that your sewing machine foot doesn't get stuck in the wadding.
Trim any excess wadding and threads.
Step Five
Pull the tea cosy through the gap left in the lining. Before you tuck the lining up into the tea cosy, sew the opening together by turning over the raw edges and sewing a running stitch over the top (don't worry if it's not really neat nobody is going to look at the inside of your tea cosy)!
Tuck the lining up into the main body of the tea cosy and ta dah you've got a new tea cosy or hat!
]]>
For more information on the individual markets please visit our facebook events page here
M&H xx
]]>Dear Diary,
Where did this week go? The weather is awful and I'm writing this fighting the urge to move my laptop to my bed! But I personally find it important for there to be some distinction between work and home, so I'll stay put staring out of a rain drenched window, in my slippers with a cuppa - how glam!
A trouble shared is a trouble halved.
This Wednesday Martha 'Bared All' on local Radio Sheffield which also happened to be on World Mental Health day. She had a chat about her background, our Mum, what makes here happy & angry, memorable days, inspiration and the future. Hear her here (she's about 1hr 36min in)
Talking to 1000's of people on the radio isn't something that comes easy to Marth but she really enjoyed it and proved that stepping out of your comfort zone is a good thing to do.
When you run a small business it's normal to have days where you can speak to very few people and sometimes nobody. Loneliness, imposter syndrome and anxiety seem to be more common than you may think in our creative world, so it was great to see our community supporting Mental Health across social media.
We're no mental health experts but totally stand by the saying 'A trouble shared is a trouble halved' (even if it is your sister who lives 200+ miles away).
It's ok to not be ok, so please look after yourselves xxx
Sheffield Makers
Along with all the preparation for all the Christmas Markets we are attending (find out where we will be this festive season here) We're also busy prepping for the launch of the second Sheffield Makers store! We'll be stocked in the shop alongside many other amazing Sheffield Makers and you'll find Martha in the shop a couple of Thursdays a month! Find out more about the shop opening here
Other (boring) stuff
Yes, I'm still updating our Etsy listings ...., we prepped more stock ready for the next couple of months and updated our trade catalogue. You see most of the stuff that we get up to is quite boring but essential and in no means instagramable! (However, I do think that we all should share 'real' IG to show everyone what life behind the screen is really like)!
Have a great weekend (I'm planning on a couple of duvet days)!
M&H xx
]]>
Dear Diary,
Waaah what a week! We've been so busy we've failed to do our daily brain dump on what we've been up to so here is one big off load (to be honest with the crazy Christmas season staring at us like a bull at a Matador it's probably going to be like this for the next couple of months)!
Craft & Flea Sheffield
Martha had a great Saturday at the Craft & Flea held at Sheffield's Cathedral. Craft markets are so unpredictable we've learnt through trial and error to not expect anything from a market and don’t go expecting to take a certain amount of money! Yes, you must do a load of prep before the market, set it up, be there for the whole day and take all your stuff home when the market ends but if calculate what you should take to cover your time and products etc you'll be very disappointed! Treat any show or market as a PR opportunity, marketing project, networking event and a chance to meet kindred small business owners as well as a sales opportunity. You never know how many people who walked past your stand and didn't buy on the day come back to buy from your website or from a stockist when the moment is right for them.
Craft & Flea have dates all over the UK, find one near you here. We'll be at the one in Leeds on 28th October and Bristol on 4th November.
Gift Wrap That Gives!
Running m&h isn't about making loads of cash for us it's much more than just money. It's about being able to do what we love whilst being able to balance the see-saw of life and work, keeping the guilty working mother gremlin at bay whilst ensuring we keep our identities.
We are also very keen to be part of the 'pay it forward' culture we love true philanthropic brands such as Selfish Mother, Gandy’s Flip Flops and Toms and taking inspiration from these guys we've developed our Gift Wrap That Gives campaign!
We will be giving 10% of profits from the sale of our gift wrap designs to nominated charities and we have launched by donating to Trussell Trust foodbanks in Sheffield and North Devon from the sales of our Christmas Brussels Sprout gift wrap!
Find out more about our project here
The Creative Community
I mentioned in our first Dear Diary blog that I'd been listening to Holly Tuckers Conversations of Inspiration well this week was the turn of the awesome copy conjurer Andy Poplar from Vinegar & Brown Paper. We first listened to a talk Andy gave at a Folksy event 5 years ago (maybe 6 years ago) where we were in awe of his ability to convey emotion with simple words or phrases etched into everyday items. Intrigued? Mooch about Andy's website here
Anyway, this isn't just about us girl fanning about Andy's work it's more about our affinity with his story and how his emotions and experiences parallel ours. The unhappiness in previous careers, the time to mend, the creativity that turned into a business, the dark lows and the bright highs. Staying ahead of the game, finding the right work balance and becoming the richest we've ever been, not in monetary terms but in happiness. Listen to this amazing podcast here.
Working for yourself is amazing don't get us wrong but the reality is everyone struggles and if their Instagram appears to be all positive, they're simply not telling you everything that is involved in running a small business and life! With that in mind please send virtual hugs to another fellow creative Devonian, chunky knitter Lauren Aston who is navigating the shit storm of breaking her wrist just before the busiest time of the year....
Argh we've done so much more this week, but I really need to stop writing here and get on with the never ending job of rewriting our Etsy titles and tags (fun Friday)!
Have a great weekend, I've got no plans other than siphoning our home-made blackberry vodka out of the Kilner jar with a Calpol syringe and drinking it!
M&H xx
P.S Last weekend I did make Bacon cakes which were surprisingly yummy and found dinosaurs!
]]>
Running your own business is not just about making sales. It’s about giving back too. We’ve been thinking about how we can give back to our local communities and have decided to launch our new campaign: Gift Wrap That Gives.
We will be donating to charities of our choice from the sale of our wrapping paper and we’re kicking off the campaign by donating 10% of profits from the sale of our Christmas Sprout Gift Wrap during October, November & December from our website, Etsy and Not On The High Street stores to the Trussell Trust Foodbanks
The Trussel Trust charity works tirelessly with the aim to stop UK hunger. They have a network of 420 foodbanks across the country providing emergency food & support to people experiencing crisis. If you’re fortunate enough to be wrapping gifts this Christmas, make sure they’re wrapped in sprouts and let’s give big to those less fortunate.
In early 2019 we we will announce other charities that will be part of our Gift Wrap That Gives campaign from the sale of our other wrapping paper designs.
Giving is good.
M&H xx
]]>
Hello!
After recovering from a weekend of a few too many glasses of Prosecco, a very wet afternoon at the visiting fun fair and the kids dancing round a 'ham' bag here's our round up of what we got up to this week!
Monday
When the school run, and order sorting is done we always start our working day with a phone call to each other. Monday calls are always a bit longer as we catch up on what we got up to at the weekend and we generally end up in fits of giggles as we relay stories of us being plonkas in some form or another...
Giggles aside we sort out what we're getting up to today which involves getting everything ready to launch our 2019 Calendar, planting the seed for an exciting philanthropic project and Marth getting ready for Radio Sheffield!
Tuesday
So today is one of my days with Ernie and being mum but I'm always checking in on emails and social media on my phone if I'm not in the studio- it's near impossible to turn off completely when you run your own business!
I'm a little more tired than usual today as I had the pleasure of being on Radio Sheffield last night! I joined four other lovely Sheffield ladies on the Monday Night Social show discussing all sorts of randomness from crisp sushi, steak dinners, airport drinking and of course a little bit of m&h.
I was so nervous before going on as public speaking is not my strong point and something I don't naturally feel comfortable with but it's healthy to push the boundaries and step out of your comfort zone sometimes.
My nerves soon vanished, and I ended up really enjoying myself, so much so I'll be back on-air next month!
If you missed the show you can listen on iplayer for the next 30days
M x
Wednesday
I immersed myself in Etsy and got my head around the geeky thing of how they have changed all the search bits and bobs to be rudely interrupted by a phone call from the school to go and collect a small sickly boy - my m&h day ended! H x
Thursday
Autumn homepages created, logo designed, and press releases written for an exciting new project we're launching next week, Craft & Flea market prep for Saturday, Pinterest pin made for our m&h hedgehog pin cushion, oh and more Etsy tweaks.
I can also confirm that working from home with a boy that was poorly but is now very much recovered isn't easy!
Friday
- orders - emails - keyword updates - post office run - social media updates -
Anybody remember the children's TV character Worzel Gummidge who changed heads? Well running a small creative business is basically like that! You are designer, marketeer, sales, accountant and some things you do better than others! We've learnt over the years that it's ok to recognise your weaknesses and ask for help from those who are stronger in a certain area than you are, you can then concentrate on your strengths and do what you enjoy.
What's your business weakness? Both Martha and I aren't the best at trade sales, so we've got some peeps who are in the know to help us out! The Great British Exchange helped us get into the John Lewis Project and we also work with Beautiful British Designs. If you are looking to partner with a sales agent make sure they fit your brand, as all our designs are made in the UK we choose people that champion this USP.
On a side note apparently, they're bringing Worzel Gummidge back to our screens!
Have a great weekend, if you're in Sheffield you can find Martha at the Craft & Flea market on Saturday with a whole load of m&h. As for me I was informed on the school run this morning that I'm making Bacon & Maple cupcakes and visiting a dinosaur park...yup living the dream!
M&H x
Erm I've just re-read this and apparently we have started and ended the week with activities involving pig products (dancing around ham bags and baking bacon cakes)...I'll leave this here...!
]]>