PRIZE GIVEAWAY!!!

At last, I've got my act together and I can now introduce my PRIZE GIVEAWAY!!  The first name to be drawn from the hat will receive this -

This little hand-tooled leather notebook measures 8 x 13cm and contains sixty pages of high quality, Windsor & Newton cartridge paper (110gsm) which have been stitched into the leather cover using waxed thread.

The notebook is tied with leather thonging which you can trim to suit.

Designed, carved, stamped, dyed and stitched by me and worth £20.  It's a perfect size for slipping into a handbag or coat pocket.

There is also a SECOND PRIZE for the second name that I draw out of the hat and here it is - 

A hand-tooled leather bookmark!

I've put a little length of thonging leather at the end because I always like to have something to twist and twiddle round my fingers when I'm reading a good book!!

So, what do you have to do to enter this prize draw?  If you are on Facebook, then I would love you to go to my Leathercraft page and 'Like' my shop as I'm trying to increase the 'Likes' on this page.  Here's the link - Pippa Dore Hand-Tooled Leathercraft.   

If you'd rather leave a message here instead though, that would be great and if you have any comments or suggestions that would be even better!!  Either way, your name will go into the hat and the prize draw will take place on

Tuesday 14th August 2012 

I can post anywhere in the world!!

Best of luck!!! xx

A Present for Me!!

It's been a busy week, but I've manged a little time in my shed to make a start on these two notebooks.  One of them will become the prize in my blog giveaway!!  I just have to apply some wax and give the covers a good old polish and then start measuring and cutting the paper to go inside.  Each of these notebooks has 60 pages, so it takes a little while to cut them out using my guillotine.  They will then be stitched into the leather covers with some nice, strong, waxed thread.  I like the page-stitching process.  It's a little fiddly, but it's very satisfying seeing the pages grow and the notebook filling out.  A good job to do whilst watching the racing with my dear husband!!

 I made this personal organiser last year for my shop, but I have decided to keep it for myself.  I designed the pattern myself, not long after my sixth baby was born.  It depicts a lady holding a baby, so I was always a bit reluctant to put it in my shop as I liked it too much!  It replaces the very old and tatty Filofax that I've had since I was a teenager!  I haven't thrown the old one away though (far too much of a hoarder!), I'm using that to store my old Filofax diary pages in, because I can never throw them away either, (you can imagine how cluttered my desk is!)  I love my new present to myself and it reminds me that I want to make some more personal organisers as they were very popular last Christmas and I have some new designs that I want to try out.

I'm hoping to launch the giveaway very soon and also post Part Two of my favourite handmade shops.  Hope you're all looking forward to a nice weekend. xxx

Back in Business!

Phew, my shop is finally open and I listed most of my items last night, but had to break off to eat tea, wash children and get some sleep!  Hopefully, I will get the rest of my stock listed today and photograph a few of the things that I couldn't yesterday because of the rain. 

Some of the prices have been tweaked because I am using more expensive materials these days as the finished appearance is so much nicer and the costs of my raw materials have increased.  This is the part of running a business that I find the hardest.  Give me a jammed hole punch and some spilt leather dye any day!!!  And then there are the new postage rates to consider too which are a headache.  Don't you hate that little plastic slot that they have in post offices now that the letter/packet has to squeeze through in order to decide what postage to pay?  Sometimes my postmistress gives the letter a helping shove, other times, she's feeling mean and if it so much as grazes the sides of the slot, she's certain it's a parcel!  I haven't raised my postage costs by much because I don't like to buy something and then find a huge delivery charge at the bottom, so my general price increases have shouldered a lot of the postage costs too.

It's great to have my shop open again though, just being back amongst the whole crafting community is exciting.       



Some of my favourite tools!

To celebrate the opening of my shop, I am going to offer a giveaway competition over the next week, so be sure to drop by and enter!  Details will follow .....................

Thanks again to all of you who have given me encouragement with my leathercraft business, it's meant a lot and givem me a lot of support. x