media love

Posted on March 8, 2016 by seraholland

While we are busy painting and sanding and getting our new shop ready (which is just so unbelievably exciting), we thought we would share some of the fantastic media love we have received over the past few weeks.

Your Family magazine chose our Birds in Paradise placemats as one of their suggested ways to be kinder to the planet. Our collection of earth-friendly, recyclable and reusable placemats were created with this exact purpose in mind.

Sunday Times Home Weekly featured our Geometric Orange Lux Panama Cushion Cover as one of the quickest ways to update your living room last Sunday.

Danish magazine Enfants Terribles‘s blog featured our Prickly Pears Nappy Cover as one of their 9 favourite styles of the season.

Our Prickly Pears Tea Towel was featured in this lovely Etsy treasury featuring tones of green.

And even though it’s not technically media love, we thought we would share this photo of our small lampshades getting ready for an order which we shared last week. Aren’t they just the cutest!

Find out more:
website: www.handmadebyme.co.za
facebook: www.facebook.com/handmadebymeblog
twitter: @handmadebymeSA
shop: shop.handmadebyme.co.za

10% off all Cape Town and Elephants products for Heritage Day!

Posted on September 23, 2014 by seraholland

To celebrate Heritage Day and the wonderful country that we live in, we are going to offer a 10% discount on all purchases made tomorrow (Heritage Day 24 September) in both the Cape Town and Elephants designs from the Handmade By Me online shop. The price will reflect the discount for one day only, so if you have been eyeing out one of these items you should definitely take advantage!!

Shop the Handmade By Me online shop here.

The Cape Town and Elephants ranges consist of cushion covers, tea towels and tote bags.

Find out more:
website: www.handmadebyme.co.za
facebook: www.facebook.com/handmadebymeblog
twitter: @handmadebymeSA
shop: shop.handmadebyme.co.za

Turn over a new (spring) leaf with our Deco Birds design…

Posted on September 22, 2014 by seraholland

Yay we are delighted to see our Deco Birds in daytime green tea towel featured in the shop z.a. section in this month’s issue of Glamour magazine! We have just been away this weekend, and while driving back into Cape Town I was amazed at all the beautiful colours of spring popping up all over the place, it really is such a beautiful time of the year!

Deco Birds in daytime green tea towel

Deco Birds in night-time blue tea towel

Also available in cushion covers in daytime green and night-time blue

To buy any of these items please visit the Handmade By Me online shop. Please note that because of the Post Office strike we are waiting until it is safely over before we send out any more orders. For customers shipping within South Africa you are very welcome to order using our courier option. We thank you you for your patience and apologise for any inconvenience caused!

Find out more:
website: www.handmadebyme.co.za
facebook: www.facebook.com/handmadebymeblog
twitter: @handmadebymeSA
shop: shop.handmadebyme.co.za

Last round for Christmas…

Posted on December 17, 2013 by seraholland

We’re working round the clock here at Handmade By Me to make sure you get all you want this Christmas. Unlike some of the bigger retail chains out there, when you buy handmade and local, you get extra special TLC to make sure you get what you want when you want it! Unfortunately last orders using the post office must be in by midnight tonight. BUT my trusty courier company are working right up until Christmas, so if you live in a major city in South Africa, I can very easily overnight your presents right to your door. If you live in Cape Town you are also very welcome to collect from me in Vredehoek. So you still have a few more days if you need a little extra time, but all final last orders for Christmas must be in by Friday end of day!

Then we’re going to take a little break, soak up some sun, eat lots of food and drink lots of wine, and spend lots of time with our family and friends! We will be back in action on 6 January next year.

If you need some inspiration for those last minute gifts, have a look at some of Fair Lady magazine’s colour co-ordinated gift ideas for Christmas. You may spot a few items of mine…

win win…

Posted on May 21, 2013 by seraholland

A few months ago I received an email from a family who were looking to adopt a child from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Because adoption is such an expensive process they were looking to raise the appropriate funds by having a big giveaway on their blog, Outnumbered and living to tell about it. With the thought that last year there were 147 million children living without parents and only an estimated 25,000 adoptions in mind, I immediately offered to help by supplying them with a tea towel for their giveaway. Apparently I wasn’t the only one, as they managed to get so many products, that they have been able to have 2 completely separate giveaways.

Today I heard that they have a referral and will be adopting a little 4 year old girl to be their new daughter. I am so delighted to hear this and timing couldn’t be better as the 2nd giveaway (including a handmade by me tea towel) is up for grabs as of today! You can help support their adoption too by entering the giveaway here, a donation of $5 equals one entry and it really is so easy to do! If you can’t help financially maybe you can share the link with your friends and families. The winner will be chosen randomly on May 27th… Winner takes all!

Here is what is up for grabs…please click on this link to enter the competition, and see the actual giveaway post on their blog, as well as all the live links to all their lovely sponsors…

http://craftadoption.blogspot.com/2013/05/fundraiser-giveaway.html

Pink Flamingo! in Good Taste…

Posted on November 5, 2012 by seraholland

I am delighted to see my Pink Flamingo! Tea Towel has made it into the Good Taste magazine. A lovely piece written about We Heart This, one of Handmade By Me’s favourite stockists, if you haven’t had a chance to visit this lovely online store do so now, there are plenty of lovely christmas items just waiting to be delivered straight to your door!

Celebrate Home…

Posted on October 4, 2012 by seraholland

Earlier this year I was approached about doing some Handmade By Me advertising up for a new home magazine that was being created and launched in the United States called Celebrate Home Magazine. There was an article being written about a lady who had a collection of over 500 tea towels, and being a tea towel collector, maker and seller myself, how could I resist? Check out “Dish Towel Diva” on page 93. There was also a lot of support for young designers like myself to use this as a platform to get their products and ideas out there so I am really happy to help promote this gorgeous magazine, not to mention all the beautiful recipes, homewares and all kinds of great ideas it has inside.

Don’t forget to look out for the two Handmade By Me ads : ) I would love to hear what you all think???

Here is a link to download a free pdf of the mag and from here you can order a fully printed version should you like. Please feel free to send the link on to family and friends and enjoy!

http://cindydyer.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/a-labor-of-love-celebrate-home-magazine-is-born/

“The Fall 2012 Celebrate Home Magazine debuts on the first day of October with the mantra of “making the ordinary extraordinary.”

Published quarterly, Celebrate Home Magazine focuses on family, food, entertaining, gardening, art, crafts, hobbies, personal expression, hospitality, pets, decorating, communities and neighborhoods.

The time has come for a magazine like this—highlighting ordinary people doing extraordinary things. No matter your budget, your skills or the size of your space, we’ll enthusiastically share experiences of those who nurture the space they call home. Let us inspire you!”

Last week to avail of my Spring Special…

Posted on October 2, 2012 by seraholland

Make your picnic basket the coolest in the southern hemisphere this spring and summer with my 5% discount off any matching tea towel and napkin sets. Well they don’t really have to match…and they don’t really have to live in your picnic basket. All you have to do is go to my Etsy store, order any napkin set AND tea towel and type in the coupon code SPRING2012 at checkout, and your basket will be updated and discounted! For any of you living in Cape Town I am happy for you to save on those postage fees and collect directly from me. Please get in touch and lets get those picnic baskets in shape!

Here are a just a few of the items you can choose from…

Vintage Bikes tea towel

Vintage Bikes napkins

Pink Flamingo! tea towel

Pink Flamingo! napkins

Pretty Proteas tea towel

Pretty Proteas napkins

Indigo Blue tea towel

Indigo Blue napkins

Red Vintage Squares tea towel

Red Vintage Squares napkins

Please note that stock levels are going fast and that if your item is sold out I will have to make to order which can take a few weeks. Please contact me if you are not sure before you place your order.

Flamin’ Flamingos!

Posted on July 26, 2012 by seraholland

For those of you who aren’t friends of handmade by me’s facebook page you might not know the exciting news yet! I am also delighted that this is my first and very happy post from sunny Cape Town. I received an email a few days ago to let me know that my Pink Flamingo! Cushion Cover has made it to the shortlist of 250 products from OVER 2 MILLION to be presented in the DaWanda Lovebook for Winter 2012-2013!!!

This is such exciting news for handmade by me as “the Lovebook is sent to journalists from across Europe, the US and Australasia, who may then select products for publication and publish them in magazines and newspapers. Products from previous Lovebooks were later published in Time magazine, Vogue, Gala, Brigitte and many other publications.”

Take a look at the Lovebook Summer 2012 here:

And for those of you who haven’t seen my Pink Flamingo! design here is the cushion cover and matching tea towel, and the design is also available in napkins…

Now lets hope this is the beginning of great things to come! I am working on some very exciting projects so as always…watch this space!

handmade by me.

Time for tea…and finally the move!

Posted on June 27, 2012 by seraholland

So next week is the big move! And as much as I am absolutely excited to get my little business going in sunny South Africa, there are lots of mixed emotions with leaving Ireland, my home for the last 6 years. Anyways with that in mind, I won’t be posting much over the next 2 weeks while we enjoy our last few days in Dublin, and start getting settled into life in Cape Town. I can’t wait to begin posting again because that means I will have started to get cracking on my next set of ideas and projects, and I won’t be able to wait to show you all. So while we get on and move, I’ll leave you with some pics of my new tea towel range, all ready and waiting to find themselves a new home : )

And don’t forget if you want to keep up to date with any news in the meantime you can go to http://www.facebook.com/handmadebymeblog and “like” handmade by me’s facebook page.

My new Cup O Tea design…