Autumn on Coriandr

After a hiatus, Coriandr features are back! Autumn is well and truly here now in the northern hemisphere and Coriandr is full of handmade items that are not only inspired by this season, but represent its beautiful colours too.

Orange Crush Button Charm Bracelet - MrsGibson

A perfect bracelet for button and autumn fans alike.

Bronze Oak Fallen Leaf Brooch - Mrs Toad Designs

As the owner of a custom made brooch from Katherine, I definitely recommend this one. Its a stunning piece of art that you can wear.

Handmade Notebook - Creativesque

A note book is an essential item for anyone, so why not fill this one with its 100% recycled pages full of ideas, pictures and sketches to inspire you?

Carnelian Silver Cuff Bracelet - alibalijewellery

This stunning bracelet looks good enough to eat, as the carnelian stones remind me of toffee!

Cute Red Felted Tub - Snowdrops And Daisies

This felted crocheted tub is perfect for keeping small, important items safe. The deep red makes a beautiful bold statement.

A Yarnie Offer!

After some brainstorming and some advice from the ever wonderful Lottie, I've come up with an offer that knitters and crocheters will love.

Or at least I hope so!

I've decided to reward loyal customers who buy yarn (hand spun or hand dyed - no samplers i'm afraid!) from TomatoTea with a 10% discount on their next yarn, if they take a picture of the finished project they have made with their previous purchase and allow me to blog their efforts!

So not only do you have an incentive to finish your projects with TomatoTea yarn to get a discount off of your next yarn, you get some exposure too!

So how does this work? Well, if you have already bought some yarn from me, all you need to do is send me a nice, clear picture of your finished item that you have made with the yarn and allow me permission to blog about it. Then next time you buy some yarn, either on Coriandr or Etsy, just pop the name of the yarn you used for your project in the 'message to seller' box. I'll cross check this and you'll be refunded 10% off of your yarn purchase through PayPal after full payment is received. (or i'll adjust the amount owed if paying by cheque).

For example, Lottie purchased 'Violent Violet' from Coriandr and has kindly sent in some pictures of her project and allow me to blog about them in an earlier post.

Now when she goes to order another skein, all she has to do is enter 'Violent Violet' in the 'Message to Seller' box on either Coriandr or Etsy to get a 10% refund through PayPal. If she sends me another picture of what she makes with the new yarn, she can do this again, quoting the new yarn she bought.

Please note that this is a 'yarn for yarn' offer, by which I mean, if you have bought one yarn and followed the directions above, you'll get 10% off of another single yarn. If you have bought two and sent a picture of each yarn in its finished state, you get 10% off of your next two yarns, and so on. This offer applies to all yarn available in my shops, hand dyed or hand spun with the exception of samplers. Be sure to use the same user name each time you purchase, otherwise I may not be able to match up what you have bought!

As for yarn sent as a gift to someone else, if the buyer wishes to get a discount, just be sure to get a picture from the recipient and permission for me to blog about their finished project.
If the recipient of the gifted yarn wishes to get a discount, they must ask the person who bought it for them to contact me, quote the yarn bought and the recipients user name for either Etsy or Coriandr. The recipient still needs to send me a picture of the finished project and again give me permission to blog about it!
Please note, the buyer and the recipient can not both receive a discount. Priority goes to the buyer first, so be sure to ask them if its okay!

I hope I haven't made this too confusing! Any questions feel free to ask!

Poll: Which Picture Makes The Best Listing Image?

I'm in need of your assistance everyone!

I can't decide which picture to use as the main listing image when listing my yarns on Etsy and Coriandr. It's hard to decide which is more likely to draw a potential customer in to have a closer look. I tend to photograph all my yarns in 5 set ways but choosing one as the main image is difficult! Any comments are appreciated too :) Thanks for voting!

1. End of Skein 2. Whole Skein 3. Perspective Skein 4. Loose Skein 5. Yarn Cake
Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Violent Spinach

A while ago, I sold my very first hand spun yarns, two of which went to the lovely Lottie. She has very kindly sent pictures through of what she has created with the yarns and has allowed me to show everyone what TomatoTea hand spun looks like when knit up. Its a silly thing to say, but i felt so proud when she showed me!

Lottie bought Violent Violet and made a cabled panel for a blanket project.

At the time, she was slightly disappointed that someone had beaten her to Super Spinach, another hand spun skein she was interested in.

Ironically, the other buyer was her good friend Frantasm who had actually bought the yarn for Lottie as a late birthday gift!

Lottie has knit the yarn in a lovely simple garter stitch square, which i think really shows off Super Spinach quite nicely.

Lottie has been brilliant and I hope to provide her with more hand spun in the future! Please check out Lotties Coriandr Shop for awesome recycled, knitted and woven goodness.

...and breathe....

Phew.

As much as I love having a proper job again, it sure does eat away lots of time! Its been way to long since I last posted an update for TomatoTea. So here's a run down of whats been happening.

First of all, we had an amazing week down in Cornwall at the beginning of September. The weather behaved and we had some wonderful days out.

Secondly, as mentioned I have been working my socks off in the bookshop. I've been put in charge of the Arts section - which includes crafts! I'm hoping to stock that section to breaking point in time for Christmas and get more people crafting!

And finally, i've still found pieces of time to make! I took some knitting to Cornwall and made a colourful array of neck warmers, ready for autumn and winter. I love this design as it can be worn by guys or gals and its toasty warm but not bulky like a scarf. It keeps the wind out of the opening in your winter jackets!

I've also been carding, spinning and dyeing so look out for some new additions to Coriandr and Etsy.

Yes, thats right, i've reopened my Etsy shop in time for Autumn and Winter. I'm still keen on Coriandr, in that it will always be my first 'port of call', however I promised myself last year that I would make a real go of the colder period in 2009 and I'm hoping Etsy will help me do that :)

Thats it from me for now, i'll post some pictures of crafty progress during the week! Have a great weekend!