The Handmade Fair 2016 and Exclusive Ticket Offer!

Calling all makeaholics, crafters and DIYers. It's that time of year again to grab your tickets for Kirstie Allsopp's The Handmade Fair!

This year Kirstie will be getting creative with the likes of Patrick Grant, Annie Sloan and many more fellow experts and creatives so sharpen your craft knife and get your paintbrush at the ready for whats set to be another amazing year.

The fair will be returning to The Green at Hampton Court Palace from Friday 16th - Sunday 18th September and gives you the opportunity to try your hand at everything from gilding to lino-cutting, shopping for unique, hand crafted items as well as craft materials, and of course fabulous food and drink. 

Having attended The Handmade Fair 2015 and The Handmade Christmas Fair and meeting Kirstie herself, I can safely say I'm hooked and incredibly excited for this years too. There's so much to do an see and will certainly get your creative juices flowing.

You can feed your creative cravings in areas such as the Super Theatre, Skills Workshops, and Grand Makes, which are packed with names and brands like Fiona Cairns, DMC, Rosy Nicholas – and of course, Kirstie Allsopp who will all be imparting their wisdom and creativity. Plus there’s the chance to try something new – from mug painting to block printing, willow weaving to needle felting, it’s all covered! Then there are the shopping villages, packed with beautiful gifts, ingenious ideas and quirky wares, and all the delicious food and drink you can manage – it’s everything you need for a fun day out with family, friends or both.

Your exclusive ticket offer – save £5!

Yup, you heard right. As a reader of Laydey Katabella, I’ve got an exclusive offer for you!  

Full Experience tickets – including entry, 1 x Super Theatre session, 1 x Skills Workshop and 1 x Grand Make – usually cost £32, but you can get yours for just £27 – saving £5 per person.

Simply quote LAYDEY27 when booking at www.thehandmadefair.com or via the ticket hotline on 0871 230 7153.

*Calls cost 10p per minute plus network extras. Booking fees apply. Offer ends 23.59 on Wednesday 31^st August 2016 or when sold out.

I really hope you all enjoy the fair as much as I do this year and be sure to check out my previous posts on the fair to get a feel of what you're in store for.

If you're attending and see me mid-make, eating cake or with glue in my hair, please come and say hello! See you there? 

En Francais

Salut! What seems like a life time ago I took a trip to France for the weekend and with the dreamy scenery and glorious weather I couldn't resist taking some outfit snaps.

Bardot tops are my new found favourite thing for the summer wardrobe. They're so easy to wear and effortlessly feminine. They go with so many things too and I love to pair them with jeans for day outings.

There's something about being in France that makes me want to want to don a floppy hat and red lippy. Is it just me? These ASOS shoes were again a brilliant pair for looking chic but being comfy.

Top - Tesco (similar here)
Jeans - Abercrombie & Fitch
Shoes - ASOS
Hat - eBay
Sunglasses - eBay

So this is one of my holiday outfits. I have another one coming soon and a post coming on the chateau we stayed which won't be one to miss!

And finally can I say a big thank you to my hubby for taking these snaps? He's getting a bit more patient with taking them for me and I think he's done a ruddy good job!

Are you loving bardots this season?

Tennis Yellow

Sunglasses - eBay

Jacket - Thrifted

Top - New Look

Jeans - Abercrombie and Fitch

Back pack - New Look

Shoes - ASOS

Watch - Danish Design

When the summer days are gloomy, which they regularly can be in Britain, I like to add a bright bold colour to an outfit, in particular this amazing chartreuse colour. 

This long line jacket was actually brand new with tags but thrifted for a measly £8 from the charity shop! A true charity shop gem and one of the perfect examples of why people should delve into their local charity shops. You never know what you'll find!

I’ve gone off dresses a bit this year and have warmed to jeans again with a blazer or jacket chucked on top for some structure.

These black pointy shoes are also super comfortable and easy to walk in due to their perfect heel height and add another element of interest to my outfit. Well done ASOS for designing such gorgeous shoesies but apologies to my other half for the ever shrinking shoe space in our wardrobe. Ahem…

Still feeling thrifty with my money and with the ongoing saving for a house, these sunglasses came from eBay at the price of just £2.89!! I love the modern cat-eye shape and they’ve finally steered me away from aviators.

What are you wearing for the wet start to the British summer?

Laydey Katabella & Wild Frost Café's #InstaPrettyParty

Just over a week ago I stepped out of my comfort zone and decided to host my own blogging event know as #InstaPrettyParty.

Photo c/o Loved by Laura

I got the inspiration from attending Louise from B.Loved #InstaPrettyParty at The Handmade Fair in 2015 so decided to use her idea but do my own take on it. 

The purpose of the session was to teach fellow bloggers how to take Instagram-worthy shots and swap tips and ideas.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may well know that I have a slight huge obsession with Wild Frost Café in Ramsey and I’m forever posting snaps of the food and flowers, (I’ve even done a post on it too), so for me this was the perfect place to hold an Instagram inspired event. It’s also blooming gorgeous and has so many pretty photogenic areas, it makes for the perfect blogger meeting point!

I ordered some beautiful blooms from Louise for us to photograph – some arranged and some loose for use in flat lays and made up a little tips pack for everyone to give them some pointers on ways to help them (which I had far too much fun making.)

I also ordered this gorgeous Victoria sponge cake for photographing and of course for eating! I can tell you now that it tasted just as good as it looked if not better! 

I had six lovely bloggers come to the event – some I knew and some I hadn’t met before. I must admit I was rather nervous about speaking to a group as public speaking isn’t my strong point but the girls were lovely and the atmosphere was laid back and fun which is what I was aiming for. It was also lovely to meet Georgina, Alice and Amy for the first time and see Pippa, Sophie and Laura again.

Photo c/o Clashing Time

So I guess you’re wondering what sort of tips I shared right? If you’re like me and you don’t have beautiful wood floors throughout your home, my top tip is to get your mitts on some wallpaper samples from a local DIY shop. Not only are the samples free, they’re easy to store and can be rolled away when not in use and they make for a really great background. Everyone particularly likes this mauve/ grey wood effect one which complimented the bouquets perfectly.

I also gave tips on styling and lighting. Natural light works best and less is more when it comes to composition. I brought along some props for everyone to style too. Things like buttons, ribbons and pretty papers are great for adding interest to an image and another tip I suggest is to print pretty quotes you like from places such as Pinterest to use in your images.

The two hour event flew by with flat lays being snapped, cake being eaten and coffees slurped and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves which I’m so pleased about.

I really want to do some more #InstaPrettyParties and further events now and think I have the bug for it! I’ve got lots of ideas whizzing round so keep your eyes peeled for more in the future. Thank you to everybody that attended and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

I also vlogged the event which you can check out below:

Have you been to an Instagram party?