Gorgeous Vintage Style Gift Ideas

About Rosehip

Rosehip designs are created in my studio and workshop in Cambridgeshire where I design and make seasonal ranges of bags and accessories. I live close to a busy city in a ‘vintage’ house with a large garden, beautiful flowers and trees and a small flock of chickens. Hubby has a studio there where he prints and paints.


This new collection reflects my love of all things French; I married into a French family and this cultural influence inspires my design work.
The ‘Belle Epoque’ is the inspiration for the style and colours of the bags and accessories; the gorgeously rich colours and floral motifs of this era have been translated into practical items with hand printed embellishments.

I have used 100% linen as the main fabric, this is an eco-friendly fabric with a crisp feel and is typically French in origin; my trademark appliqué hearts are found on many items and all the bag designs are my original creations.


Above : Keep your keys safe in style with these beautiful French Vintage keyfobs.

These one of a kind pieces are created with 100% linen in a hand-printed and appliqued design, with fabric from "French General" by Moda and is finished with a vintage button, a ribbon loop and a vintage effect split ring with an antiqued Paris Eiffel Tower charm.


Stylish Purses
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!)


Useful and Chic Notebooks
Fantastic for your handbag or case, this cute little plain paper notebook is snugly fitted in a French vintage-style handmade case, with elastic strap, ribbon tie and little pocket to slip in your favourite pen or pencil (with pencil included!).



Beautiful Make-Up Bags
These one of a kind pieces are created with a 100% linen outer in a hand-printed and appliqued design, a vintage button and a lace trim. The zipper fastening is sturdy, plus the inside is fully lined with 100% cottom vintage style print lining.

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

Featured in Popular Crafts!

The fantastic Popular Crafts has featured us on their News page as a hot story!

This months issue is Valentines themed and features over 20 step-by-step craft projects to make and covers over 15 crafts!

For Valentine’s sew yourself a romantic dress and compliment this with a silver clay heart pendant and don’t forget to send your message of love with one of their Valentine’s cards or a cross stitch heart pocket. The even have a special section on Brides who say I DIY with all the wows to help you say your vows including a floral umbrella and resin heart favours.

Great for artists and artisans, this month they have special feature on how to approach galleries to sell your art.

In addition they have loads of projects, competitions, stories and more - it's a great read and available at WHSmiths or any leading newsagents.

January Sale!

We've had a fantastic festive season here at The Handmade Emporium, but still have a few pieces left in stock that we'd love you to try!

All the items on our sale page are at a drastically reduced price, with some of our handmade cold-process soaps starting at just £3 each, and our bath treats from just £1 each!


Luxurious soaps by Ceri of Oakwood Soaperie - this handmade artisan poppy seed and rose soap is a wonderful treat.

In addition, we have gorgeous notebooks, bath bubble bars, candles, cards, gift sets and more - many of them great for saving for Valentines or Mothers' Day if you are feeling particularly organised!


Our unique, completely handmade notebook. Each one is one of a kind and makes a lovely gift.

We will have a whole new range of lovely UK Handmade gift ideas arriving soon, with unique Valentines and Mothers' Day ideas, too!
Keep an eye on our website for more details, this blog, facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/EmporiumOundle or Twitter at @emporiumoundle.

In addition, you can sign up for our newsletter for exclusive first looks and limited edition offers and items by putting your email address into the newsletter sign up box on the left sidebar on our main site : http://www.thehandmadeemporium.com/

To go grab a handmade treasure in our sale, click on any of the photos or here to visit our secure online webstore.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from everyone at The Handmade Emporium!

What a year the last has been! We have:

• Added some amazing new UK artisans to the site, creating so many more wonderful UK Handmade gift ideas.
• Grown the site from just a handful of treats to hundreds!
• Been picked by BBC Dragons' Den Star Theo Paphitis as his 'Small Business Sunday' Pick!
• Had features in loads of magazines and papers across the UK.
• Grown by over 500% sales-wise!

But best of all we've had the most wonderful feedback from our customers. Thank you to everyone who has emailed us or got in contact just to say how much you love your orders from us - it's just fantastic to hear how pleased everyone is.

Here's to an even bigger and better 2012! Let's keep on supporting UK Handmade!

A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you All!

A very Merry Christmas to all of our wonderful customers and friends of The Handmade Emporium and a healthy and Happy New Year!

We are looking forward to another fab year of fantastic UK handmade treats and hope you all will join us, too!

Can't thank everyone enough for all their support this year and for choosing to buy your gifts for your loved ones with us. It's a real pleasure to think our handmade crafts are making their way to homes across the UK.

Just a quick blog post, as I can hear the family wrestling with the turkey in the kitchen accompanied by bursts of horrified laughter - I am fearing the worst!

All the best,
Rebecca, Millie the Cat and Family
xxx

Last Order Dates Reminder

Just a quick reminder that our last UK order dates are as follows!

Royal Mail First Class : Sunday 18th December
MyHermes Courier : Thursday 15th December

Orders received after this date can not be guaranteed for Christmas, so please don't leave it too late!

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/