The Heritage Festival is back for 2013! A great weekend for the family, really enjoyable. History comes to life!

The Crafts Marquee will again be on Cathedral Square, but you’ll also be able to bring your own marquee (3m x 3m) to set up along Church Street – on the way from Cathedral Square to St John’s, where the Natural History Museum displays will be!

Plenty of people will be walking between all the areas, as well as the usual shoppers, so it’s set to be a great event.

Please apply in the first instance by filling out the form (found on the “Craft Market” tab above), or get in touch by email

(price dependent on where you set up, but between £25 and £45 per day; discounts for regular Red Barn Crafts stallholders and UKHandmade members)

brilliant article from Quernus Crafts via UK Handmade – so pleased to see this from an artist. It is difficult as an organiser to say tthese things, as I can appreciate the response could be “well she would say that!”, which I completely understand.

However, I believe in supporting the people that attend my events, and part of that is explaining what I think they can get from an event (that is not sales). I have often said that craft fairs are as much about advertising as selling and that most events have spaces far cheaper than the local paper small ads. thanks Kirsten!

UKHandmade article

June 23rd and 24th

I’m pleased to have been asked back this year, it’s a fantastic event and a great opportunity for local craftspeople to join in.

Follow the link for more on the festival itself (and see the Red Barn Crafts marquees in the background of the photo!) and I’ll be opening up applications further in the next few days.

http://www.vivacity-peterborough.com/festivals/heritage-festival/

You’ll need to download it to read it, but my piece about creating your own website is in the latest issue. A couple of other good answers to reader’s questions on the same page, worth having a look!

Craft Business magazine download

I will be demonstrating from this book:

at Hobbycraft in Peterborough, this Saturday, from 11am – 3pm, come along and say hi! If you’d like to have a go, there’ll be supplies available; the book is of course available for sale on the day from Hobbycraft.

Hobbycraft in Peterborough is at the Van Hage Garden Park

As it’s “Worldwide Quilting Day” – according to this American site – then it’s the perfect time to think about having a go at sewing yourself! Information about local classes will be available on the day.

I have a number of articles in the pipeline (one going to press shortly, so will link to that from here once it’s gone live on their website)

They’re all mostly to do with crafts online, one of the main themes of my little social enterprise.

Then, as if she read my mind, the lovely Laurie at the Crochet Liberation Front sent me this! It’s a free series of seminars explaining some of the basics of wordpress site management, and some promotional ideas too!

So, if you want to build your own site, and have the time and inclination, go ahead. If not, ask me and I’ll quote you. Special offers to local artists and craftspeople

Also, as I host sites, if you do decide you want to do your own site after following the link below, then you can host it with me, for only £35 a year!

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Check out this FREE course from WP Academy. The best part? They don’t speak TECHNO jargon, they explain things in simple and understandable terms.

My friend and colleague Marc Beneteau, Founder of WP Academy is passionate about getting the tools for successful internet marketing into everyone’s hands, and at prices they can afford. The Free WordPress for Business Virtual Summit is going to cut months off your learning curve of effectively creating and marketing your website.

Register now for the WordPress for Business Virtual Summit, taking place March 4-8. Join thousands of entrepreneurs and WordPress enthusiasts from around the world for a series of 10 free, content-rich webinars on WordPress Web Design, Internet Business, and Entrepreneur Success. Presentations include:

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Review the program and celebrity-speaker lineup, and signup from here

Sincerely,

Laurie Wheeler
Crochet Liberation Front

Crafts in the City is set for the second Saturday of each month:

March 9th

April 13th

May 11th

June 8th

July 13th

August 10th

September 14th

October 12th

November 9th

December 14th

If you want to come to any of these, please email your name, business name and product.
Crafts in the City is mainly for new people to try out the idea of selling to their public; support and advice is provided at each stage. I do however take on more experienced people and they join in with the support of the newer stallholders. It’s a growing community, but unfortunately I am restricted to about 6 stalls per month.

A half-size pitch is available for the 9th March if you’d like to try it out, email now.

So, here we go, a whole new year! Hope it brings all that you need, and some things you want

February 9th is the next Crafts in the City; then March 9th then every second Saturday of the months after that. We’ll be around Cathedral Square/Bridge Street and offer an opportunity to meet your customers, enjoying their delight in your work, and be able to take commissions and future orders. We also do lots of chatting and sharing stories, supporting each other in our journeys to becoming self-sufficient and running our own businesses. Local, independent, arts and crafts.

Please get in touch; join the newsletter, follow on twitter, friend on facebook. Or maybe even drop by and say hello in person

This weekend is full of things to do and places to go! Peterborough Telegraph has a long What’s On listing, and Facebook is full of events.

For local crafts, this Saturday there’s a final chance (for this year!) to visit the Craft Fair at St John’s, as well as the opportunity to create some tree decorations over in Hampton, with Sense, which includes craft stalls, too.

?One I’m organising is the Sunday Craft Fayre at the museum, as part of the Historic Christmas Fayre at the Cathedral and the museum, which started today and goes on through Sunday. Have a look around the amazing stalls around the Cathedral (re-enactors and their traditional products); enjoy fire breathers, medieval music and more. The musicians and re-enactors will also be visiting the museum, so enjoy a break at the new cafe and get warm before venturing out and again!

There’ll be christmas decorations, two amazing jewellery stalls, mosaics, cushions, wood work, all local, unique, beautiful designs, and handmade.

Have a locally made, unique, beautiful, handmade Christmas, you’ve no excuse not to with all these opportunities!