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!

Pamper Mum for Mother's Day

Next Sunday (3rd of April) is Mother's Day! Here at The Emporium we love our Mums, so have collected some amazing UK handmade pamper treats, soaps and gift ideas we know she will love and deserves - here are our top tips for the ones you need to make her feel special! :


1. Chuck out that slimy bar of supermarket soap!

Supermarket soaps can be great value, but they are packed with preservatives, artificial colours, scents and god-knows-what to make it have a long shelf life. (Not to mention some contain palm oil, which is the cause of massive deforestation of the rainforest to plant!)

Instead:




Lovely handmade soaps by Ceri of Oakwood Soaperie are packed full of goodness! All her soaps are handmade at home in small batches using the 'cold process' method and only use the finest oils, butters, Northumbrian honey & beeswax (provided by her Dad, a bee keeper for over 25 years), natural clays, botanicals, essential oils and blended fragrances. The soaps are cured for a minimum of 4 weeks to ensure they are in tip top condition when they are sold.
They use no animal products, so are completely vegetarian and most of them are also vegan, the only guinea pigs they are tested on are human.


2. Make A Splash With a Naturally Indulgent Bath

Most Mums love a long relaxing soak in the bath - but is she getting the best deal for her skin with her bath treats?



Our handmade Cocoa Butter Dream Bath Bombs smell divinely vanilla’y - not an artificial, sweet, melted ice cream sort of vanilla, but rather a smoky, pure Tahitian vanilla bean fragrance. To make it even more delectable, These bath bombs are also packed with cocoa butter (a by product of chocolate making) to give a hint of real chocolaty creaminess and superior moisturisation.



Or, if she prefers a slow melt, try a Vanilla Delight Bath Melt packed full of plant butters and oils to nourish your skin, fragranced with essential oils of Rose Geranium and vanilla. Drop into a running bath, climb in and let the nutritious oils feed your skin with vitamins and minerals. No need for a moisturiser after one of these luxury melts as the oils sink in to your warm skin and provide all the moisture it could need.

3. Pick A Handmade Gift Box Packed Full Of Favourites



Can't choose from our gorgeous range by Ceri? (It's hard - from scents like Peppermint and Poppy to Chocolate Truffle, she crafts it!) Why not take a look at our gorgeous gift boxes packed full of treats by Ceri. With bath bombs, melts, soaps, lip balms, scrubs and body butters Mum will be amazed at the scents and treats on offer.



In short, for Mother's Day Gifts that are truly special, visit The Emporium - we also have a gorgeous range of UK handmade jewellery, candles and cards that Mum will love, too.

On Craft Fairs and Lulls

I hate this time of year, I really do.
It's dark, it's cold and everyone is still eyeing their bank statements after Christmas - especially in this Dreaded Recession.

So, being a crafting person at this time is tough.
Without a big event like Christmas, Mothers Day etc, it can be hard to justify going handmade - after all, it's often a bit pricier.


I had a lovely craft fair yesterday with Merge Contemporary Craft Fairs. We mostly had the candles out, as they are lovely little gifts and great fun to sniff and see in person - but it was very slow on sales. We had loads of people in, and Zoe was fantastic about going into town and herding people into the fair, but people just were not buying.

However, all the crafters involved were still smiling, still cheery and making jokes and still being enthusiastic and dedicated to their product - repeating their spiel, answering questions and giving up their Saturday to entertain people with their crafts, all without a complaint.

Do you get that level of warmth and service when you pop into Tescos for a gift and card? Do you know who made your last gift? Do you know what they used, where they got the inspiration from and where they live? No - it's factory-made. And dull with it.

Valentines is coming!

Love it or loathe it, Valentines Day is only next month - so at The Emporium we have been working extra hard to bring you some fantastic gift ideas for that special someone!

From handmade cards to gift boxes, from scented candles to get you into the mood to fizzing bath melts if all you want is to pamper yourself and forget about the whole holiday! We have plenty of great Valentines

gift ideas, all delivered to your door.

Left it a bit late? Don't worry - we can send gifts directly to the recipient! We can even hand write a message in one of our lovely handmade cards and on our handmade gift tags! Just let us know in the handy comments box when checking out your order.

We now offer a selection of our most popular gifts in a gorgeous recycled gift box! Available in small, medium, large and luxury, these gift boxes are filled with some wonderful treats! Because each box is hand assembled, we can offer a more personal service - so please let us know via our contact page if you would like anything extra special!

Or, go to the gift boxes page and choose from a wide selection of options of what to have in your box - easy!



Each box is beautifully presented with a bow, hand made gift tag and filled with recycled shred to keep your gifts nice and safe.


Get in the mood with our new, delicious smelling candles - we now have over seventeen varieties of our amazing votives, so there is something for everyone!
Finally, we have some beautiful and affordable pieces of handmade jewellery available. Each piece can be gift wrapped, and they make wonderful unique gifts.



Many thanks for your continued support of handmade gifts, we hope to see you on The Emporium, Oundle website again very soon.

Christmas Stall

This week we set up our temporary Christmas Stall alongside the Charity Christmas Cards in St Peters' Church, Oundle. This means we are out of the elements - although the church is a little chilly, so if you do pop round don't be too alarmed by the amount of jumpers I've managed to squeeze on!

We are there Thursdays and Saturdays and will have a selection of gift ideas from the website available for purchase - have a good sniff of our scented candles and lovely hand-made soaps.





We also will have items not yet on the website - real one of a kind pieces to snap up while they are still there. These include new designs by Dormouse Designs' Anja Schafer and Chain Of Daisies' Caroline Sale. Come try some on and have a chat every Thursday and Saturday up until Christmas.