Olympic Gift Mania

We have some true Olympian heroes in Britain, Jess Ennis, Mo Farrar and the Brownlee brothers to mention only a few, and as the dawn of the Paralympics looms we look set to build on the fabulous events of the past few weeks. 

I feel truly inspired by the Games and the athletes taking part and I have to say that I am extremely proud to be British at this time. Sport crosses barriers and strikes a chord in the hearts and minds of spectators who, whilst they may be stood on the side lines are no less involved at the time the competition takes place. 

During the Olympics I uploaded some fabulous baby shoes to ArtyHarty.com, some of which are sports inspired and there are even some Union Jack shoes – after all it’s been quite a year for us Brits with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee preceding the Olympic Games. 

They are handmade here in Great Britain and specially designed for baby feet. Made from leather and suede, many are available in gift sets with a matching vest and hat. Designed to be easy to slip on and remove, they keep babies feet warm in winter and cool in summer and have anti-slip soles. Such a fabulous idea, however, it’s the design and the attention to detail that really caught my attention and I just had to give ArtyHarty.com customers the chance to see them. They’ll make great gifts and I’m expecting them to fly at Christmas – perhaps not as fast as Usain Bolt granted! 

We have some great designers in Britain and I’m a big fan of British talent be it designers, crafters and artists or our sporting heroes. 

And did you know that a Brit invented the World Wide Web – well it has to said that I for one didn’t and was quite surprised when it was announced at the Olympic Opening Ceremony. Thank you Sir Tim Berners-Lee without you ArtyHarty.com would simply not exist nor would this blog or even WordPress or Google – imagine that!

The ArtyHarty.com Story

 

It’s been a journey!

I don’t know about you but I always seemed to encounter the dilemma of finding the perfect gift at an affordable price, especially for those special occasions – you know the ones, like the arrival of your best friends first born which somehow compels you to find something truly special that others won’t have thought of. It was from this recurring dilemma that ArtyHarty.com was born, to help other people find the perfect gift at a great price.

It all started when searching for suitable gifts for my four young God children. Being unable to find something unique and different at an affordable price, I decided to design a piece of wall art that would stand the test of time and be cherished for years to come.

Encouraged by the positive comments of friends and family, I decided to make my work available to a wider audience and started testing the market at local craft fairs. During this time I expanded my portfolio to include digital paintings, infographics, artworks of famous quotes and I started taking commissions for bespoke personalised art.

Bringing my range of beautiful and distinctive gifts to a wider audience was the obvious next step and so, ArtyHarty.com was born. Along with a great range of digital and graphic art you will find a diverse choice of unique and wonderful gifts that are also handmade here in the UK by carefully selected artists, designers and crafters.

We always listen to our customers and make every effort to further improve ArtyHarty.com on an ongoing basis, and are constantly updating our site and our product range. We welcome your comments be they good or bad along with ideas for additions to our product range – Please use the Customer Feedback form on the website www.artyharty.com.

Craft Fair for Everything Handmade

Well, over the Bank holiday weekend I took some ArtyHarty stock over to Harrogate to show at a craft fair. The Made-It Craft Fair will run for 6 weeks at the famous RHS Harlow Carr Gardens on the outskirts of Harrogate.

There are lots of handmade products on show all at reasonable prices and made by talented artists and crafters. From jewellery to original artworks; hand turned wooden items to shabby chic signs; unique cushions to stuffed toys and handmade soaps to kiln fired and hand painted ceramics, to name but a few.

The weather was pretty good over the weekend and I rocked up to lend a hand on the Sunday which was just as well as the weather had brought out hundreds of visitors to the gardens, with many also visiting the fair which is based in the Bath House in the Harlow Carr grounds. 

Well worth a visit if you fancy a day out at one of the largest garden centres in the UK and taking in some of the handmade crafts at the fair – one thing is for sure any purchases you make will be unique and made in this fine country of ours!

ArtyHarty.com – handmade in Great Britain

I’m a great believer in supporting British talent and the local economies they themselves support.  ArtHarty.com is a boutique online giftstore with a cause and our cause is supporting Great Britain plc.

It’s not just our Olympians we should be supporting this year (and each year to follow) but everything British.  And why not? We have some great talent here in Britain and by featuring their fabulous work on the ArtyHarty site we also support the local economies in which they are based and help the environment by reducing transportation.

The good thing for our customers is that this also helps to reduce overall costs for them and brings often undiscovered talent to their living rooms resulting in unique gifts that can often be personalised to suit a colour scheme or match the personal details of a loved one. You won’t find much in the way of manufactured wares on the site (although sometimes we do find things that we find unresistable and are too good to miss) handmade, made in Great Britain and can be personalised are our mottos and quality work and personalised service are our buzz words!

So we’ll be back pushing our cause and launching new British talent into digital space very soon – watch this space and cheer on Britain!