Monday maker, Memory boxes

Memory & Treasure boxes

As unique as your little one

To help capture every moment

 

Loving thoughts, Happy times 

& Personal treasures

Made to order

Have fun making memories 

To cherish in your treasure box.

Made for magpies,

Made for treasure collectors,

Made for Mums,

Made for infants,

Made for loving memories

always WITH LOVE

Made by me.

unikgifts

Monday Maker: Anna and her scribbles

Today is week two of Anna's maker blogs.  

Here is a little of where she starts and what inspires her.

What did you want to be as a child?

Goodness, I really can't remember!

An actress at one point, then I realised I was far too shy.

Something that involved creating something.

Where do you find creative inspiration?

I find inspiration  in everything. 

A books pages, The colours, the way something is printed, the placement or balance of a page.

I love the books Yves Riviere's has worked on.

A colour and crunch of a leaf

A napkin print or a pattern on a table cloth.

A colour and fragility of a Vintage Tea set.

A typeface on a letterhead, or a beautiful colour used in a child's scribble. 

My children most certainly give me inspiration- how they play, what they find interesting.  
Normally not what you would expect!

I love architecture and often love the feeling of a beautiful characterful building 
with plenty of love and history growing beneath the painted layers.

What makes you different, what inspires you to create unique pieces?

To be unique is to be different. To be inspired by all the different elements you see that touch you everyday in a unique way. To not be unique means you have copied or are unoriginal. To be inspired by something is a good thing.

by Anthony Fry

What blogs or magazines do you read regularly and would you count as an inspirational read?

I don't regularly read blogs or buy magazines. I tend to dip in and out. I love CRAFT making blogs although I have to admit I haven't actually made anything from them.

Magazines never interest me unless they I buy one for a particular article. I have precious saved copies of World of Interiors, issue August 2009 featuring David Earp of Shuktara and his home. 

I tend to be more inspired by a book, a typeface or a colour combination than a magazine.

For years I walked round with a sketch  I did of my Grandma's wallpaper because I loved the print. An inspirational ready- No i am more inspired by an inspirational weight or colour of paper.

Why are your pieces special?

I dont think my pieces appeal to all. But I do hope they find happy homes. I try and capture a moment, a fragment of time or a personality in my boxes. Making them special for a single person or family makes them a lovely thing to make.

Can you tell us about a gift that you will never forget?

Mr Phipps and his workshop

I am happy to say I have had many.

I received a hand beaten silver spoon when I left  my job to go on maternity leave made by a very special person who died a few years ago. He was a very special maker and was certainly as characterful as his spoons. He didn't actually give me the gift but the person who did knew how much I loved it and it was certainly received with many tears.

I received a beautiful blue Vintage tea set from my parents one year for Christmas after I spied it at a treasure shop one day while shopping with my sister. I have used it to drink tea from, champagne and absolutely adore it.

I was given a copy of my favourite photograph taken by  David Bailey, of Jean Shrimpton, from one of my sweet friends. I love it.

These are just a few, there are many.

What makes all gifts extra special to me are the element of surprise. I LOVE surprise gifts.

What have you got planned for the future?

To make more personal boxes for special people. 

I have another new product I hope to have finished by week four of my series of blogs. I hope to share it with you then.

Plus I want to make something in cloth. What I don't know yet. I am waiting for something to inspire me.

What are your three most important pieces of advice to any up and coming crafters/designers.

1. Play and have fun while you make, it shows in the finished product.

2. Be true to you, don't make for anyone else other than yourself. It will never be quite right if you do.

3. Make with love and care. It shows.

unikgifts

Monday Maker- ME!!

Name:Anna Matthews
Year of birth:1979
Current City:Guildford. (Closest city)
Significant others:Ida Lillian Rosalie, age 3 (AKA BIG Naughty & Smiley Sue) & Samson Allan Grey, 22 months (AKA LITTLE naughty & Sam Sam)





Company name: u-ni-k gifts

U-ni-k gifts - A bespoke gift website established by two crafty mums, who were astounded when their daughters were infants, by the lack of bespoke, traditional infant gifts that last generations. Inspired by the gorgeous gifts hand made by talented friends and family that they will treasure forever an idea was born. Over a cup of tea and coffee, these two mums had a brain wave to make a trove of all things wonderful especially for infants. Delving from their past professions and skills and imputing them into a new project. 
U-ni-k gifts, named after their first Born's and their new project (a totally unique one!)
I am one half of u-ni-k gifts

How would you describe a typical Sunday?

I am a Mum of two toddlers so most days are much the same. Busy and with an early start. Luckily I love the mornings, especially where I currently live. Most mornings the beautiful dawn chorus normally wakes me before my naughties do. 

The day depends on whether my other half is working on restoring the house we bought 2 years ago and currently live in as we renovate it or working in the office or free to play! 

If I'm on my lonesome with the naughties we bake cakes, water the garden, play on the slide and swings, paint, read books and then wind down with a film till Daddy gets home. If he's available we do something fun away from home. I am lucky enough to live in a very beautiful area with wonderful out door amenities for little ones. So we normally head to Farnham Park, Alice Holt or Frensham Ponds. 

When the little ones are tucked up it's wine time and feet up with my laptop working through my emails or conjuring up some new idea I have had whittling through my mind with fabric, paint or paper. That's if the other half allows me!

And here a quite obvious question: How did you become a talented crafts person / designer? What inspired you to do this?

My Mum was always at her sewing machine when I was a child. Making wonderful creations for parties or the school disco. Although I didn't appreciate it at the time it definitely made me who I am today. 

I was constantly with a pen, paper, paint or some type of Art shop equipment to hand. At birthdays or Christmas I would ask for Dryad Craft making kits or paper. A parcel of pretty papers is my idea of heaven! Of an evening you would often find me happily scribbling, designing or making lists......Nothing much has changed!

My biggest learning curve was at secondary school whilst sat drawing in class one day. I watched  a girl who is now a very dear friend, swooshing paint, mixing, making it sludgy and being quite free. I was in total awe. I loved the end result and the look of fun she had creating her picture. On that day I vowed that I would no longer stunt myself by trying to forever paint the perfect picture. I wanted to "play" and enjoy my pictures. Making an expression rather than a flat picture is far more fun!  

I went onto study Fashion at University which I know to many intellectuals sounds like a cop out. But learning to research, design, cut, sew and market a collection was much more than pretty pictures. It was about having a vision, justifying the vision, creating and marketing it! I was lucky enough to have my collection shown on the catwalk at London Fashion week, not a bad accomplishment for a girl who didn't know how to sew till she started her degree. I was known more for my ability to break a sewing machine than sew with it! My degree certainly made me thick holistically and wholly about a creation rather than just the pretty physical drawing. Perhaps a perfect insight to running a business too!

My love of creating from fabrics comes very much from my mum. Even today she makes beautiful dresses for my daughter......much prettier than anything you'd find in the shops.

My love of collecting beautiful things comes from my Nan. She worked in a charity shop where we often hung out. To a child it is like a massive fancy dress shop! Heaven. Rows of beads and pretty fabrics. These two people certainly had the biggest creative impact on my life.

Its Fill-in-the-blanks time. So, please fill in the blanks:

I love the early mornings with my dawn chorus  because it is a moment of still, contemplation

and beauty before the chaos of my life wakes! 

If I could live anywhere I'd live in Farnham where I am now. But my house

would be finished, decorated and beautiful. And I would have a cleaner to tidy up after my three messy

naughties!

If I weren’t a designer / maker , I would be a Witchy potion maker. 

Picking my herbs, flowers, spices, and medicinal plants while the sun rises and making potions and poultices as the moon sparkles!

People who like Treasure shopping & Charity shopping (and Magpies!) will like my creations.

unikgifts.co.uk

* I am currently in the process of making something new for unik.

Hopefully by week 4 of this series of maker blogs it will be finished and I will be able to

share it with you!