With all the #lockdown and social distancing many trade and retail fairs have been cancelled. This has inlcuded the ones I usually attend in England. I'm really missing meeting people, catching up with my stockists and chatting about my products. The British Craft Trade Fair is a favourite if for nothing else other than as it's full of exhibitors who are creatives and is in the lovely city of Harrogate and home of Betty's Tea Room. But it is attended by lots of high quality boutique and gallery owners, who are a joy to chat to.
To make up for the lack of real trade fairs for these stockists, The British Craft Trade Fair are hosting a virtual trade fair online on 14-15 June. This will give trade buyers a chance to see the exhibitors show case their products in phtos and videos, and there will also be a live hour for trade buyers to contact exhibitors in real time for a chat. Trade buyer can register for this show already. Each of the creative people who were going to be exhibiting will have a page of photos curated especially for the show for trade buyers to see, and will be making videos to show off their products. As part of the making of my video today, I raided my garden for flowers to fill my jugs and candle pots on the dresser in my kitchen. As there have been many positive comments on my instagram, facebook and twitter feeds about my jugs of flowers I thought i'd share them for you all to see.
So first of all here's the dresser full of jugs and flowers. It shows off our jugs range well - you can see the different designs and sizes very clearly.
All the flowers are either flowers that had been blown over in the wind or are conventionally known as weeds. Here they are individually so you can see the different jugs and flowers.
This is our large blue tit jug full of young honesty seedheads, hawthorn flowers, yellow poppies, and buttercup.
More info about this jug can be found here.
These are pots from our candles. The containers are bone china and so make lovely vases once they are empty. Here they are filled with hawthorn flowers, honesty seed-heads, a plant the bees love from my garden (if anyone knows it's name I'd love to know), and some aubrietia. The middle candle is our godwit unscented candle. You can find out more about our candles here.
Here's our large godwit jug full of ferns, aquilegia, the plant the bees love, and some seed heads, and a buttercup. If anyone can identify the flowers -I'd love to know their names! Find out more about our godwit jug here.
On my stairwell window ledge, here's a small long-tailed tit jug full of honesty seedheads, aubrietia, and the lovely purple flower that the bees love. To find out more about this jug click here. And along the same window ledge, here's a redshank bone china candle pot full of the same flowers.
On my dresser next to one of my collections of fossils found on our holidays, here's a small puffin jug full of euphorbia, aubrieta, hawthorn flowers, and the purple flower loved by bees and butterflies. To find out more about the puffin jug click here.
Here is one of our mugs2go with its silicon sleeve and lid removed, and being used as a vase for flowers. It's full of ferns, euphorbia, and hawthorn flowers. For more information about our mugs2go click here.
I love making these arrangements, and it's lovely to have my house now full of flowers! I also made a short tiemlapse of the putting together of these arrangements for the video. If you'd like to see it click here
Let me know if you know the names of any of the flowers and seed heads that i've used! I'd love to learn what their names are.
And I must apologies for the slightly random layout of this blog. the blog software gets very confused by the images and text - anyone who is an expert in shopify blogs use do get in touch as I'd love some tips!
Otherwise, go enjoy the sunshine and find somewhere local with a few lovely weeds for your house - but please be responsible, and don't go clearing urban areas where the flowers are needed for wildlife.