Merry Christmas followers!

I have had a busy few weeks on the lead up to Christmas and not kept up todate with my blog!
But, it's better to be busy than not with Extra Special Touch... and lots of people should be opening gifts this morning and finding a special personalised gift!
Merry Christmas everyone and lets look forward to a fabulous 2010!

Personalised Christmas Stockings

This week we have had a flurry of last minute Christmas orders... and not much time to let you know what we have been up to!
Our personalised Christmas stockings have been going well and also had plenty of orders in for our personalised Teddykompaniet cuddleblankets.

We are still taking orders for Christmas and last items will be disptached on Tuesday 22nd December.



Click here to see Teddykompaniet in our shop



Click here to see personalised stockings in our shop.

This week has been busy too!

Jan does most of the hands on embroidery... and this week she has been sooo busy! Lots of orders to complete from Christmas Fairs at the weekend... but the website has bought in plenty of orders as well.
So all of our advertsing and website is beginning to pay off and customers are starting to know about our wonderful gifts... here's to a great year in 2010 as well!

Jan has been selling at lots of Christmas markets!

Last week was a busy one!

Friday night was Lowdham Village Christmas Lights Switch on... Saturday off to Tom Brown at Gunthorpe village in Nottingham.... a lovely resturant and a very busy Christmas Market!
Sunday was a Christmas Gift Fair at Kelham Hall near Newark... just look at the building... an amazing place!
Jan has been very busy this week completing all the orders taken at the weekend!

We will be adding fair dates for 2010 soon... please click here for details.

Tom Browns Resturant Christmas Market @ Gunthorpe, Nottingham

We are at the Christmas Market at Tom Browns, Gunthorpe, Nottingham on Saturday. This is a lovely riverside resturant and I'm sure we should have a busy day!
We need to wrap up warm as we are in a markee outside on the lawn!

Click here to see our other events.

Why not have some food at Tom Browns, before or after you have looked around the Christmas Market? www.tombrowns.co.uk

Patchings Christmas Market

Today I went to visit Patchings Farm Christmas Fair... and what a wonderful day!
All the craft stalls were beautiful and had some really unusual items... I got lots of Christmas shopping done!
I really want to exhibit there next year! I'm going to call them tomorrow and see what the situation is!

www.patchingsartcentre.co.uk

Advert in Sew Hip December issue!

My copy of Sew Hip fell onto my door mat this morning, and I was so excited!
We have put in an advert to this months issue!

I've created some new blogs...

I have had a bit of free time lately... so I have created some new blogs....

Make your wedding unique

Personalised embroidered gifts

Personalised wedding gifts

Personalised wedding stationery

Knitting & Stitching Show @ Harrogate

This last few days I have been working at The Harrogate Knitting & Stitching Show.....
I have just arrived home and I'm shattered! But thought I would share some beautiful photos of fabrics and wool... they should inspire you do start sewing or knitting!

I worked opposite this stand all weekend.. and I just had to go and look at the patchwork fabrics when ever I had a spare few minutes! I now want to make a wonderful frayed quilt for my new house. Check out Fittlesticks fabrics....click here

Gorgeous wools by Serenity Knitting


Range of wonderful satins and cottons with Fabrics Gallore

Embroidered Christmas cards have been added to our website

As you can see, I have been really busy over the weekend and made lots of embroidered Christmas cards!
The gingerbread man & heart are designed by me, and then embroidered onto 100% cotton fabric. I have appliqued a piece of handmade 0r textured paper, with a blanket stitch to each card and then attached the cut our embroidery design.
We have several Christmas gift / craft fairs coming up over the next few weeks, so I thought I should make a few cards ready! I have also added them to our website tonight.
We are selling them at £2 each or six cards for £10.00.

Click here to go to our website and order Embroidered Christmas Cards

Embroidered Christmas Decorations

Just thought I would show you some embroidered Christmas decorations and cards that I have been working on tonight!

Click here to go to Christmas Decorations on our website

The hanging hearts are £6 each, they are finished with East of India ribbon and a wooden button. The gingerbread man is lovely, but takes quite a long time to make so I haven't made too many yet!

I love the Christmas napkins, they have the same heart shape as the hanging heart decoration and Christmas cards.. so everything matches!

I have been working away with work all week, and had lots of time to do hand sewing while I have been in the hotel in the evenings... also, i used the hotel as a backdrop for some of the photos!
Items will be added to our website over the weekend.

I've just got to show you this embroidery!!

We have just finished converting Bea's flower drawing into an embroidered framed picture... and it's so lovely... I wanted to show you all!

Bea is only four and has drawn a wonderful picture of summery flowers and butterflies.... We have converted it into embroidery and it looks gorgeous! I'm sure Bea will keep it for years and years... and maybe even saves it to show her children one day!?

I've won "One Lovely Blog Award"!!

Thank you to Petra Herbst for awarding me the "One lovely Blog Award!" Please click on the Award image on the right to link to her blog.
I will find 15 blogs to pass it on to later... I will go and have a look now!

Personalised monogrammed wedding napkins and place setting

Personalised monogrammed wedding napkins and place setting
Originally uploaded by Extra Special Touch Gifts

Personalised embroidered wedding napkins and matching monogrammed stationery.

Why do people like to receive personalised gifts?

I just thought I would write a few words about how I started my business and why, in turn, people like to receive personalised gifts.
A couple of years ago I got engaged, and started planning our special day. I really wanted it to be unique (doesn't every couple)... but how unique can it get??
I searched everywhere for the right, unique, unusual, special invitations... but couldn't find anything... just right.
So I made my own, and used mine and my husbands initials monogrammed on the wedding stationery... so they were completely unique to us.
I have always worked in the fashion / pattern cutting / designing world... and in the last ten years I have worked with embroidery machines and embroidery design software.... so I thought of embroidering monogrammed linen napkins to match my unique wedding stationery.
It worked brilliantly!!
I received lots of lovely compliments at our wedding and lots of guests took the embroidered napkins home as a souvenir of our special day.
Around this time, lots of friends were having babies.... so with embroidery in mind again... I made them all personalised baby gifts, with baby name and date of birth information... and they loved it!
In about a year, we must have had nearly ten sets of friends having babies.... so I was embroidering baby gifts every few weeks. And then one friend liked her baby gift so much, she asked me to do some for her friend.... and so my business began!
People love personalised gifts!
Especially for babies and weddings. Everyone likes to give an unusual gifts and as time goes on, we are running out of unusual gifts... but if it is personalised... you can give the same gift to lots of people and it will always be unique!!!
Personalised baby gifts will be kept as a keepsake or memory of the birth and often handed down to the child when it has grown up! (I still have a bag my mum made me with my name on when I was four... a long time ago!!)
Also, people often are giving unusual names to their children, or unusual spellings of a traditional name.... when gifts are personalised I made to order... we can embroider any name! I know this from personal experience, as a young kid, I always wanted pens, mugs, bags etc with my name on, just like everyone else at school! But having such an unusual name... I never could find my name printed, painted, embroidered on anything!!
As for weddings... again... personalised gifts are fabulous! Often couples have been living together for a while before they get hitched... so they don't need the customary kettle & toaster... but for the couple who has everything.. how about a personalised set of bath towels with their initials on... or lovely quality cotton pillow cases with their initials on?
We have recently done a commission piece for a wedding.... we took the flower design that the bride had stencilled onto her handmade invitations.... turned this into embroidery and created a beautiful 100% ivory slub silk cushion, with her flower design, name of the bride & groom and date of the wedding. Such a gorgeous gift! And because they know you have taken the time and effort to make the gift extra special.... they will love it even more!!
We are currently working on Anniversary gifts, 21st, 40th Birthday etc... and they will soon be available from our website....if you have any other requests... let us know and we will look at designing something special!

New baby & Christening gifts

We have been working on some new personalised new baby & christening gifts. They are housed in a extra deep white framed with an inner white mount.

The embroidery is done on 100% linen fabric and can be stitched in a choice of colours.

A unique keepsake they will keep forever!

Baby & Toddler Show 04/10/09

We exhibited at The Baby & Toddler Show at East Midlands Conference Centre on Sunday 4th October 2009. We were sooo busy all day!! We took our embroidery machine, and everyone stopped and had a look what was going on.
Congratulations to Alice T who won the free prize draw of £25 in vouchers to spend with us.


This is Jan, my mum, who does most of our embroidery work.

And me... looking very excited about the day ahead!!

Southwell Ploughing Match and Show 26th September

We had a fantastic day in Linby on Saturday!

Busy, busy, busy all day!

A new sample cushion made from Hayley's drawing!

A couple of weeks ago and did a request for drawings from children... so i could make some more samples of my cushions.

My first sample has been made, and thank you so much to Hayley and of course her mum, Rachel who emailed it to me! The finished cushion is below, and I'm sure you'll agree, it looks lovely! I'm sure Hayley will make a wonderful designer when she is older!

Check out Rachels website http://www.glamglassgifts.com/ to see unqiue hand made funky jewellery!

Craft Fair today @ Ruddington

We had a craft fair today in the local village of Ruddington. This is a new venue for us, and the hall was lovely. The sun was shining all day.... and I think because of this... we had a quiet day! But, we made lots of friends with the other stall holders!

We got mentioned on MoneySavingExpert.com!!

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=25084667&highlight=extraspecialtouch#post25084667

http://cuteable.com/embroidered-goodies/6368

We were mentioned in the forum of MoneySavingExpert.com and we have recieved loads of hits to our wesbite!!! Good times!!!

Also, this week we have been included on Cuteable's daily blog!!! All my hard work is paying off!!

Thank you Mums & Dads!!

I have receievd lots of childrens drawings and over the next couple of weeks, I shell make some sample cushion for a large show I have in October... Baby & Toddler Show at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham.

Have a look at the drawings ... and come back in a few weeks and see the finished cushions!

Thank you to everyone who has emailed me drawings!!

Calling all mums and dads....wanted.. children's drawings to make sample cushions... read on!

One of the unique gifts we make are children's cushions... designed by children for themselves!

We can convert the drawings into embroidered cushions & framed pictures, and personalise with the childs name, age and date the drawing was done. Each cushion will be unique to the child that painted it!

I have a large show in October and would like to make more samples to show off this technique... however, I don't have any children to draw for me!

If any ones children love to draw and would like to help, please contact me.... of course you will get a HUGE thank you... and any drawings I use, I will send you a completed cushion near to Christmas.

Please look at my website for more information and examples of what I need....

Thanks for your help in advance!

Quilt Show @ Harrogate 4th - 6th September 2009

I visited the Harrogate Quilt Show this weekend and bought lots of beautiful fabrics... and saw lots of lovely quilts to give me lots of insperation for my own work. I have uploaded some photos.. so you can see what you missed and maybe visit next year!