The Mollie Makes Handmade Awards 2016

Yesterday was a big day, something we have been looking forward to being a part of for a while now, The Mollie Makes Handmade Awards. We have been watching for the last two years as friends and idols have been finalists and winners of these prestigious awards. This year, it was our turn!



Mollie Makes introduced a new category for 2016 ' Handmade Champion' which, being a blog about all things handmade, we fit in to nicely. We were over the moon when a few weeks ago we were announced as finalists in the category, along with the lovely Katie and Rachel from The Fold Line and our new friend Phillipa from The Maker Place. I know everyone says this but we were blown away that we got down to the final three, and so honoured to be included with such an amazing talented bunch of people.

Anyway, let's get on and tell you a little more about the day itself. We arrived at the venue for the day, the beautiful and completely Insta worthy The Fable, Holborn. We were greeted by Cath, Editor of Mollie Makes and given name badges before bumping into a few familiar faces; Fran (Fall for DIY) Rachel (Oh No Rachio), Hannah and Rosie (New Craft House) and Nikki (Nikki McWilliams) they were not up for an award yesterday, but were invited along to join in all the fun!

We headed downstairs to kick off the day with a welcome chat from Cath, then we were whipped off on a Photo walk with the amazing Xanthe Berkeley. We had a lovely stroll around the area and got some fun colourful snaps, and a few boomerangs just for the hell of it! It was a great chance for us to chat to our fellow finalists and hear about their work whilst having a lot of fun! We loved meeting Teri Muncey from the Lovely Drawer (Sammy fan girl-ed a little) Jodie Smith who was up for the Youth Award and is from Hull where H went to uni! We got to spend some time with the gorgeous Kate and Rachel from The Fold Line and Phillipa from The Maker Place, who although were our 'competition' on the day we are keen to work with in the future. Honestly the whole day couldn't have felt less like a place we were going to win or lose in.

We also got a chance to chat with Lucy from Peas and Needles, Kim From Finest Imaginary (you know we already love her!) and Chloe from Cotton Clara who is soon to be working with Sammy on a project for Sew Crafty.

We headed back in time for a talk with the girls from Pavilion craft book publishers, on what goes into writing a book. I think it is no secret that we want to write a book so for us this was a great chance to pick up some tips from the guys we will pitching to in the future.

Then we had a break for lunch and a chance to get ourselves ready for our presentation. We hadthe opportunity to pitch ourselves to the judges about our passion for the handmade community and why we think we are Handmade Champions. Our judges Cath Dean (editor of Mollie Makes), Kat Molesworth (Blogtacular), Alison Sadler (The People Shop and previous winner) Harriet Vine (Tatty Divine) Zoe Pearson (Pinterest) Jennie Smith (EtsyUK) and Sinead Koehler (Crafty fox Markets) were all very sweet and encouraging.

After the presentation was over and the pressure was off we joined in with Lucy's (Quill London) Calligraphy workshop. Lucy makes it look so easy, and although both of us have dabbled in calligraphy before, some extra practice and tips from the master is never to be passed on.

The afternoon went all too quickly with a chat from the amazing Sarah Hamilton who blew us all away with her passion for the work she does and her Just a Card campaign. Then a quick talk from The Pinterest team, before we were treated to a performance from some lovely ladies we recognised from way back when we organised our Live it Vintage event back in 2012, the Haywood Sisters!

An inspiring closing keynote from both Harriet and Rosie from Tatty Divine was when the nerves kicked in for us all as they finished up and the award winners were announced. This was not our time, the lovely girls from the Fold Line got the honour of being this years Handmade Champion.

Check out the Mollie Instagram for all the finalist and winners in each category.

I can't say that we are not disappointed that we didn't get the prize, but I can say that we don't feel like we lost anything! We had a really wonderful day and got to spend time with some truly talented people who all love handmade as much as we do. I also want to say a huge thank you to the Mollie Makes team who made all of us feel so special, welcome and truly loved. To Cath, Nikki, Helena, Bekki, Nina, Emma and the rest of the team, Thank you for making our day so memorable for all the right reasons.

Lastly thanks to everyone who wished us luck in person and on social, we really wouldn't have been up for the award if it weren't for all of you. If you are thinking of going up for it next year, do not hesitate! Do it, you literally have nothing to lose!

Sammy and H xxx


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