It is gloomy weather and gloomy times with the Covid pandemic raging again, and it looks as though Christmas this year is going to be a muted affair. And, along with many other changes, Christmas shopping is going to be a little different too.
One difference for me will be that I won’t be exhibiting at the annual British Crafts at Blackthorpe Barn as this year it is not running. This is because despite the barn being a large space it isn’t possible to have the crafters and customers physically distanced enough with the required ventilation. I see also that many indoor craft events across the country have been abandoned and the Christmas Markets in Edinburgh, Bath, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and even Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland have already been cancelled. It’s not all negative news though as the folk at ‘Make It British’ have worked hard to offer customers and makers alike a virtual pop-up experience with plenty of Christmas gift ideas.
In these weird and ghastly times it feels strange to me to have temporarily changed from painting silk scarves to painting and making silk face masks. It seems even stranger to me that face masks have become a ‘small gift’ or ‘Christmas stocking’ item, but that is where we are at the moment. In another way I suppose it is about making a bad situation slightly more tolerable.
Anyway, this ‘virtual’ event is on for just three days and many of the participants will be offering special promotions and discounts for all shoppers who register.
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Agnes Ashe 
Thanks for that. A great event to support.
No, thank you! š
Registered! See you there!
Thank you and cheers for registering. There are so many things to sign up to these days, it can all be a bit off-putting. I am not sure deep down in Instagram what’s happening, but I have activated a 10% off code on my shop for this ‘event’ (People are supposed to add MAKEITBRITISH.) and am now wondering whether anyone will notice or figure out how to use it!! Some days I really don’t feel quite so on top of this Social Media stuff as others. Anyway thank you again for your support generally. It is much appreciated. Agnes
I’m going to give it a proper go this evening. Like you, I’m fairly flummoxed by a lot of social media stuff, but I’ll make the effort.
Thank you for having a go. I think in the end it was all a bit confusing for everybody. For the first two days I am sure most visitors to my shop had no idea there was a 10% off code with the Make It British connection.
I’m afraid I rather gave up. I’m not really social media savvy. I’ve decided in the end to explore their website at my leisure and take it from there. I was trying to follow it in Instagram but there didn’t really seem to be any links.
Don’t get me started on the Instagram thing – I didn’t think it worked well and I can see why you gave up. It was all too fiddly and a bit too much even for me as one of the ‘brands’. My Instagram feed was totally flooded, so I stopped looking. I think the gift catalogue, once you found it, was perhaps more useful. It was all bit strange in the end!
Right. Gift catalogue it will be then. Thanks
What a brave idea, good luck to all concerned.
Thank you. There are some pretty big boys within the Make It British family so I expect it will go well. As a minnow I get some of my work in front of a few more eyeballs which is always good. I hear from sound sources that the South London hospital ICU’s are nearly full and can’t imagine it’s much different north of the river so stay safe when you’re out and about. Tricky times.
Actually, in Camden we are bucking the London trend with our confirmed cases down yesterday. Long may that continue. Thanks for your good wishes.
Crazy times, but we keep ourselves sane by hanging on together and adapting. Your masks cheer people up, I think.
Thank you and I so agree with you. I see one of our monsters (Farage) has been spouting a load of rubbish on your side of the pond. He’s a spent force these days and never won a seat in the UK parliament. Hope things turn for the better next week.
Thank you. I have stopped paying attention. To any of it. There is no other way to cope with it at a personal citizen level except vote, and be a good person to others as much as you can. That is what I am concentrating on, no matter what happens.
I sympathise and have found myself turning off the news these days more and more.