Spring Is In The Air!

We are cautiously packing away our thermal undies here at the Handmade Emporium and getting ready for a wonderfully warm season (touch wood!).

We have lots of fantastic handmade gifts and treats perfect for the warmer weather and excellent for unique birthday gifts - with each piece on the site completely one of a kind you won't suffer the perils of the "Same Present Nightmare!"


Above : Gorgeous, stylish and practical, these lovely little purses are on-trend and handmade in the UK by Rosehip as part of her new "French Vintage" collection with the finest in vintage style fabrics. Fully lined and sturdy, yet gorgeously feminine with the Parisian theme, they make a wonderful and unique gift (or a treat for yourself!).


Above - "Bee Mine" Earrings by Caroline of Chain of Daisies.

Petite bumble bees in antiqued silver plate hang below pretty faceted topaz fire polished glass beads, which are linked to long sterling silver ear wires.
Handmade by Caroline of Chain of Daisies.

These earrings are adorable and make a wonderful little gift.


These handmade bubble bars are gorgeously scented in spring cherry blossom and make a wonderful treat on those chilling spring evenings!
We have a wonderful selection of bath treats by Ceri of Oakwood Soaperie, all made with care here in the UK.



All of our earrings are mounted on Sterling Silver, which means they won't irritate or discolour ears.
We believe in using the very best materials in all of our creations, to achieve a gift that will last and be treasured.



This English Oak clock has been handmade by Andy Driscoll, with the oak laquered beautifully, which emphasises the wonderful contrast between the natural, warm wood and the black clock hands - which makes reading the time very easy.

Please click on any of the images above or visit : thehandmadeemporium.com to shop securely online for these exclusive handmade items by UK artisans!

Cold Process Soaps? What Does it Mean?

A selection of 'cold process' soaps by Ceri before they are wrapped and labelled.

One of the most popular questions we get asked about our soaps is what exactly 'cold process' means! It's a funny name for a method of natural, traditional soap-making which actually isn't cold - the soap mixture is heated at one point!

‘Cold Process’ means that the oils are kept at a low a temp as possible to preserve their nutrients and so that the Essential Oils do not react in the mix or evaporate too much. This preserves the qualities of each individual oil so the gorgeous scents comes through in the final product.

Vanilla Bean Latte Scrub Soap by Ceri - The perfect pick me up in the mornings, this bar is packed full of vanilla coffee fragrance, with real coffee grounds and a pinch of ground pumice for a cleansing, scrub effect.

Cold process can also refer to the curing time of the soaps, the 'cool down' as it fully cures. This takes from 4 to 6 weeks! Commercial soaps are usually poured, cut and dried in a matter of days, even hours in a factory environment, but to do so they put a wide range of additives, preservatives and firmers which is the reason than many commercial soaps upset the skin.

The setting period is essential for cold process soaps to achieve it's lovely firm yet soft texture, without the use of any of those nasty unnatural ingredients!

Hadrians Wall Honey soap by Ceri, created with real British honey and beeswax.

The ingredients Ceri of Oakwood Soaperie (our hand-made cold process soap creator for The Handmade Emporium) are as natural as can be and she uses some amazing (and quite surprising) traditional methods and colours - for example in her Hadrians Wall Honey soap she uses Northumbrian Beeswax and Honey (often from her fathers hives) plus achieves the gorgeous colour of the soap using natural tumeric and orris root powder.

This creates a soap at is high in vitamins A&E and as gentle as can be.
It also smells absolutely divine!

The cold-process method allows for a bit of fun - the swirls on this festive candy cane themed soaps is created by whipping and folding the soap as it sets.

Ceri does not use palm oils in her soaps (a cause of deforestation) - they are created with pure vegetable oils and plant butters, plus a range of natural botanicals.

Each batch of cold-process soap by Ceri is unique and created with the utmost care and attention, with many of her pieces limited editions or one offs using rare or unique ingredients in-season from the garden. We are very proud to have Ceri with us in The Handmade Emporium and hope you will take a look at our website and try a piece of her natural cold-process soaps for yourself (or someone special) today.

To see our range of handmade cold process soaps, or other UK handmade treats and gift ideas, please visit our website by clicking any of the images or links, or go to : http://www.thehandmadeemporium.com/

Natural Gift Bags for Eco-Friendly and Cost Effective Gift Sets

Here at The Emporium we care about the environment and our impact, so feel that using traditional card or paper gift boxes can be a bit of a waste and if we do use them they're always recycled card.

As a result we primarily offer gift options in gorgeous, eco-friendly Jute bags.

These bags are fantastic for the environment, they look lovely and they

can be used again and again as a bag, too.

Jute bags are made from a completely natural fibre, woven to create this lovely, rustic look.

This fibre is completely bio-degradable, making them very environmentally friendly

Our jute gift bags offer a eco-friendly, natural alternative to synthetic bags -

they really are a "bag for life!"

Take a look at some of our gift bags today on the Gift Sets section of the website - just click any of the images on this post to go there.

Our gift sets start at just £10 each, so are an affordable way of treating someone special.