I am having a “seconds” sale!

Next Saturday 25th April – 10am – 4pm

See the fabulous poster designed by Louise fifties O’Donnell for details.

Please come and take everything away, I’m running out of space!

Very short notice indeed… Tea with Jud will be at an Art Exhibition/Craft Fair in the Glens of Antrim tomorrow. Pop in if you are in the area!

Date: Saturday 11th April

Time: 2pm – 7.30pm

Location: Glenravel  Sport and Community Complex, 143 Glenravel Road, Cargan.

Next week, I will aslo be at Carrickfergus Grammar School Spring Fair.

This time last year I was preparing for my first ever Craft Fair. I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone and how much my work has progressed. To celebrate Tea with Jud’s first birthday, I thought it was about time I had a wee competition!

All you have to do to enter is send a picture to jud@teawithjud.com with a caption telling me why you need some of my pottery in your life.

Everyone can enter… so get thinking! Myself and a panel of experts (my friends) will be picking the top 3.

Prizes are –

• 3rd place: £5 Tea with Jud voucher
• 2nd place: an espresso cup of your choice
• lst place: a mug of your choice

Competition closes on Sunday 26th April. I will announce the winners at the end of the month and show your pictures too!

I’m really excited about exhibiting at The Little Craft and Food Market this Saturday. It sounds like a beautiful place.

There will be lots of talented makers bringing their handmade goodness. Exhibitors include Bluebird Bakery, Stitches and Stitches, The Local, and Papermaid to name but a few.

There will be activities for kids, as well as free parking and free entry! So, if you don’t already have some Easter plans, come along. It should be a lovely afternoon.

Location: The Little Green Allotments, 3f Whitemountain Road, Lisburn

Time: llam – 4pm

March has been a complete fiasco. How is it possible that nearly every electrical item I own can break at the same time?! After getting brand new elements in my kiln, we discovered I needed a new controller too.  I won’t bore you with the rest of the breakages at Tea with Jud HQ, but lets just say my bank balance will be non existent after I pay for all the repairs.

Despite my patience being tested a lot this past month, I did manage to get a lot of work done, so I am now frantically trying to catch up getting everything fired and glazed, ready in time for my all the fairs over the next few weeks. If only the kiln would cool down quicker!

I also had a few days in Scotland, searching for premises for my coffee shop, but to no avail.

I did manage to squeeze in a camping trip with my good friends Claire and Charlie which was brilliant, as always. Congratulations on your engagement too! I’m not sure if my hand knit engagement hats will ever catch on but you both wear them well. I can’t wait to celebrate your wedding with you both.

So … next fair is The Fine and Dandy Market this Sunday 11.30am – 3.30pm. I hope you entered the competition? I have been working on a new purple glaze too, soooo exciting. I will have a very limited stock of purple polka dot items with me, and I hope to see you there.

Bring on April. New month, new challenges and no disasters please.

Disaster has struck! My kiln has broken!

This is very frustrating and inconvenient, but thanks to the wonderful Billy at Ulster Ceramics, new elements have been ordered, and it should be mended this coming week. This has put me about 3 weeks behind schedule, and  resulted in a large contribution to my ever expanding seconds pile! I will definitely be having a “seconds sale” as I am running out of shelf space! I have a date penciled in for April, but will keep you posted.

Prior to the above disaster, i have been working hard on

• customer orders; deliveries will commence next week once my kiln is fixed
• making for new stockists; soon to be announced

  

• using social media – i have been tweeting and finally added some pictures on instagram!
• developing dinner plates, side plates, a new shape of bowls.

  

• making stock for my coffee shop that doesn’t exist, yet!

So busy…

My biggest struggle is remembering what day of the week it is. Do all people who work for themselves find it hard to remember what day it is? Regardless of my brain malfunction, I think I am rather organized and I have a few craft fairs lined up, so here are some dates for your diary…

The Fine and Dandy Market – 29th March

The Little Food and Craft Fair – 4th April

Carrickfergus Grammar School  Spring Fair – 18th April

It would be lovely to see you at one of these.

I recently attended a seminar on branding and the use of social media in business. Apparently only 20% of posts should be about your business and 80% should be “social”.  I am aware I mainly use facebook, twitter and my website for tea with jud related topics, but in all honesty, that is the only reason I have them. This is not to say I am not a social person, I am very social!

Another point stressed in this seminar was that my business is me, I am my brand, therefore I AM TEA WITH JUD.  I hope you like my work regardless of my likes and dislikes, but to a certain extent my interests and social life do influence what I make. I hope my personality already comes across through my pottery, knitting patterns, displays, photography and the blurbs that I post. I don’t see the relevance of the extra 8O% plus, i don’t have the time!

For those of you who are interested, and for the purpose of this blog here is proof that i am not a robot, I don’t talk about my business ALL the time; my attempt at being a little more social.

I love snow more than anything. I love skiing. I love wearing cardigans. I love painting my nails red. I like knitting hats, but I don’t like wearing them as they mess up my fringe. I love colour, pattern and have a huge weakness for leopard print. I love music; listening to it, attempting to play it and dancing to it. I love laughing. I love camping and swimming in the sea. I love my family, and I love being an auntie – I have 2 nieces and 2 nephews, they are so cool. I love going on adventures with my friends.  I miss my friends who live far away. I am not embarrassed to admit I LOVE one direction and Harry Styles!

I do not like people who are selfish or people who lie. I deplore laziness. I also despise music by Simply red.

I think that is all the important stuff you need to know.

Cheerio for now.

ps: my next blog will be 1OO% work related…

Hello!

I’ve been up to my ears in clay recently, making lots of pots for shop orders, personal commissions for my loyal customers, and also making a start on my long list of aims for 2Ol5, its going slowly, but surely.

Much to my delight, after some good sales at Christmas, I have been working hard through January to restock The Craft Shop in the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester  just in time for Valentines day. wit woo!

I also acquired these fantastic pieces to help develop the “Tea with Jud” brand. My stamps were made by the amazing Emma Jackson at Paper Picnic,  and my fabulous hand felted brooch by Leah O’Neill at Woolgatherer.  

They are very talented girls. Now I will be easy to spot at all my future craft fairs. Speaking of which… Tea with Jud will be at the Fine and Dandy Market next week.

Happy new year!

I cannot believe it is 9 days in already! After a great break at Christmas and New Year I have been busy researching for new stockists and the perfect location for my Seasonal Coffee Shop in Scotland.

2Ol5 is the year of Self Employment! I am scared and excited but determined to make my business a success, so to keep myself disciplined I thought I’d share a few goals with you that I would like to achieve this year…

• Open my Seasonal Coffee Shop
• Have 5 UK stockists by the end of 2Ol5
• Improve my social media skills – including Pinterest & Instagram
• Find a reliable courier that insures pottery
• Make an easy to use shop on my website
• Develop all pottery ranges

I think that is enough to get me started!

May this be a prosperous year for us all.