Congrats to my lovely online creative friend, Lorna from Lorna Gilbert Ceramics on the launch of her fantastic Instagram charity event at the end of this month.

Lorna has  encouraged the handmade ceramics community to come together to take part in a one day event to sell their creations to raise money for a charity of their choice. Famous TV potters Keith Brymer Jones, Kate Malone and Sue Pryke (The Great British Throwdown) are donating their work to be raffled off. This sort of pay-it-forward initiative is JUST what the world needs right now.

You can find details of the talented artists taking part, the charities they're supporting and the raffles to win amazing pottery prizes over on Lorna's second Instagram here.

Follow Lorna Gilbert Ceramics on Instagram.

Good luck everyone!

Hosting monthly trunk shows online was a necessary decision for the survival of my business during Covid-19 times. All in-person events have been cancelled for the foreseeable future, and shipping overseas has been patchy or still closed to some countries. Simply put, my  job is to buy materials, make all the things and then sell them to make a profit for my time, energy and experience. This is my full-time job, my income, not my hobby or charity work.

 Something has been bubbling under the surface for a long time. Something that I think I didn't really want to admit to myself if I'm totally honest.
I left teaching 10 years ago because I couldn't imagine life as a mum and as a full-time educator. This is the hand that many women are dealt after having children but I felt it was an easy choice that was best for the family at that point in time. I already secretly knew that I wanted to set up in business on a full-time basis, having previously had a side-business since being a teen.

It was a juggle with one little one in Nursery and another as a tiny baby. I learned a lot in those first years, more than my brain could take at times. I can't tell you how often I wanted to give it all up, how I had no idea what a brand actually was never mind owning the skills to build one. I was bootstrapping (self-funding) all the way and it was just me, a studio and an extremely supportive hubby. Being a solo business owner in the handmade field means that you have to learn how to become a photographer, graphic designer, writer, social media manager, marketer, accountant, website designer and salesperson. Oh, and design and make products at the same time.

It sounds as if I'm complaining. I'm not. I've never felt freer, more in control or self-motivated in my whole working life. And I should be happy with that right? Well, not exactly. You see the thing I talked about at the beginning, that niggly feeling, that secret fear is that I'm still a teacher after all, despite being out of the classroom for a decade.

I want a world where people can work flexibly, feel like they're making a contribution to their family's finances, take their business wherever they travel and have fun while they work. Most of all I want to share my tips and tricks with you, so you don't have to work as crazily as I did in the beginning!

It's been a long time coming, but my new FREE Facebook group OVERSEAS MAKERS GUILD to support you in building your handmade business overseas is now LIVE! (When I say 'group' there's actually only me in it so far, as you guys are the first to know.) If you are planning, in the process of setting up, or in the early stages of launching a handmade business overseas, we'd love to have you join us.

Hi! My name is Lena, and I am the owner of and maker at Root and Blossom. I sell personally handmade, high-quality cash wallets that equip people to be organized with their finances, whether it's for budgeting, currencies when traveling, or staying tidy. 

Root and Blossom was a brand name I remember hitting me square across the back of my head in 2009 one night while walking through a parking lot to my boyfriend's (now husband) truck. In retrospect, my life lacked many advantages growing up but for whatever reason, I never saw it that way. I've always lived with the mentality that life is what you make of it; regardless of your situation, you need to take root and blossom to thrive.

In 2014 my husband and I were young, newly married with a one-year-old and pregnant. We were overwhelmed with the world of money, investing, saving, and spending. We took a financial class that focused on cash budgeting, the idea being that it's critical to physically feel the painful emotions associated with giving money over and seeing money leave your wallet each month that wasn't present when mindlessly swiping a card.

I was already quite overwhelmed with switching away from social spending norms that I needed to find a way to make it less of a hassle at the checkout stand fiddling with my money, so I designed, constructed, and began using my wallet! Having all my budgets organized into simple zipped pockets in one place allowed me to organize and handle my money and budgets with ease and confidence.

After two years, my husband and I were able to rid ourselves of debt because we now truly felt and saw the value of a dollar. Throughout that experience, I'd got checkout employees and other customers in line asking me where I bought my wallet and how they could get one. I started making individual sales here and there, but then those people had friends or family that they wanted to pass my information along to, which eventually led to my first Etsy wallet sale on September 2, 2014.

Over the last five and a half years, I've learned that people around the world desire these wallets for more reasons than my intended purpose, and I adore that! I set out to solve the problem of simplifying budgeting, but I also helped solve the problem of organizing currencies for people who are traveling through multiple countries and thrifty shoppers wanting a practical way to divide their coupons. 

What I want potential customers to know about my business is that when you buy from Root and Blossom, you're not only supporting a single small business, you're supporting multiple!

It's my business philosophy that there is room for everyone, and the success of my business is because of the other team players in the arena. I also find it beautifully poetic that financial frustrations and burdens led me to a place of financial freedom where I now have the means to donate and support charities more than I was capable of previously! The bigger my business grows, the more I can give, and that's what keeps me in it. 

If you are interested in checking out my cash wallets, please visit my shop at www.rootandblossom.etsy.com! You can also find the latest Root and Blossom information through Instagram, @rootandblossom. XO

We've all been there... searching the internet blindly to find that special gift for an important birthday, a special thank you, a pick-me-up for a friend, a graduation, Mothers' Day, Fathers' day...the list really goes on. We spend hours and hours scrolling for that 'special something'.

But why do we feel the need to gift that special something in the first place?
1. It shows the receiver that we know them.
2. It shows them we care enough to go the extra mile to find something they'll love.
3. It demonstrates our good taste.
4. We want the receiver to feel unique and valued.
5. We want to support small businesses and all they stand for.
6. We want to shop sustainably, buying items from brands that are not mass-produced.
7. We want a story. Of the hands who made it, the history, where the idea came from.

As a maker, I see the work that artisans put into their work and support them as much as I can. I appreciate that they do the same in return for my business.