New Beginnings

It's really exciting to realise that in less than two weeks we will be back in business and holding our very first craft market, not only under our new name, but also in a new location.

Date:  9 September
Time:  10am to 4pm
Location:  Cramlington Masonic Hall

The Masonic Hall in Cramlington is located in Cramlington Village on Middle Farm Court.  The postcode is NE23 1DN for anyone who might need this to locate it.  And it benefits from it's own car park at the rear of the hall, which will be open to all market visitors on market days.  Definitely a bonus in Cramlington on Saturdays.

 

So what can you expect when you visit us on 9 September?  

Here is a brief summary for you.

Guide Dogs

Mike and Karen Piper from Guide Dogs will be there with the Guide Dog Tombola and other Guide Dog items.  Some of you may remember them from their visits to us in Manor Walks.

And if you are very lucky you may also get to meet a guide dog (or two?) during the course of the day.

Kids' Crafting

Our kids crafting is usually popular.  We charge £1 per child per item and the money we make from this is also donated to Guide Dogs - in June we were able to hand over a cheque for £1126.29 which we had raised from kids' crafting and other events.

Craft Showcase

Today we have Wendy demonstrating Powertex art - how to transform everyday objects into fabulous works of art or create unique outdoor garden/patio items.

She will also have completed items for sale on her own table.

And then of course we have all the other crafters:

Handmade Miniature Doors 

Judith will be joining us for the very first time today with her beautiful handmade miniature doors made from recycled wood.  Doors can be purchased from stock or made to order.

Charlie Cards 

"Mr and Mrs Charlie" will be there with a selection of handmade greetings cards, including a selection of the very popular "pop-up box" cards.  Cards can be bought from stock or personalised to order.  Different sentiments or an age can be added to some of the pop up box cards while you wait.

Far Horizons 

Roger will have a selection of his wonderful local landscape prints, as well as a number of wildlife prints.  You can also purchase coaster sets and mugs too.  New in stock is his 2018 calender which contains large A4 size copies of his photographs.  Roger can also provide you with any of his prints in whatever size, frame or format you require, to order.

KSY Crafts 

Kim will be there with a selection of her sea glass, decorated glass and wood items.  Using a pyrography tool she can also personalise wooden items to order.

TC Crafts

TC Crafts means hand decorated boxes, handmade tote bags and the lovely aroma of lavender bags.

AyVee Jewellery Design

Angela makes a large selection of jewellery, including chainmaille necklaces, cuff-links for the man in your life and children's bracelets to name just a few.  She also has healing crystals and makes a small selection of crystal healing jewellery - just ask her and she will be able to advise you.  Like most of our crafters she can also make jewellery items to your own personal requirements to order.

Craftee Thoughts

Elizabeth hand crochets many items but specialises in baby items and jumpers for older children.  If you don't see what you need on her table then she will take an order and handmake something to your requirements.

Hearts'n'Horseshoes

Pauline and Pat are a mother and daughter team.  They hand decorate hanging wooden hearts and plaques for all occasions, which can also be personalised to order.

Paulin Crafts

Linda is our book folding crafter, turning old and unloved books into works of art.  She will make your own personalised book to order too.

Greylord's Bookbinding Services

Stephen is our bookbinder, handmaking notebooks in a variety of sizes and with a variety of different covers.

So now all we need to make our first market a success is for you to come along and see us.  Like most crafters I know - we all love a good chat!

If you are unable to make it on 9 September then here are the dates of the rest of our market days in 2017.

If you do intend to call in to see us then please do let us know by visiting our Events Page.

Thank you for reading this blog post.

Cramlington Creative Crafts

And in the meantime .......

Just in case you haven't already heard, we will be starting monthly craft markets in September in Cramlington Masonic Hall!  Oh, and did I mention in my last post that there is also free onsite parking for market visitors?

But if you can't wait until 9 September to see us, then here is a list of dates and locations that you will find some of our crafters during August.

Friday 4 August 

Roger from Far Horizons will be at the Art Steamer in Newcastle Central Station between 10.00am and 6.00pm with a selection of his wildlife images in various sizes and formats.  So if you are out and about in Newcastle then this is the place to go!

Sunday 6 August

Today you will find three of our crafters at the Family Fun Day (10.00am to 5.00pm) at Blyth Rugby Club. 

Angela from AyVee Jewellery Design
Kim from Vimbo Crafts
Kim from KSY Crafts

The fun day is in aid of Teardrop, which is a charity that supports bereaved parents of babies born asleep, or lost through miscarriage or shortly after birth.  So if you are out and about in Blyth please do go along to support it.

Saturday 12 August

Today you will find Elizabeth from Craftee Thoughts and Roger from Far Horizons at the Aurora Craft Fair in Morpeth Town Hall between 10.00am and 4.00 pm

Saturday 19 August

It's the turn of Mr and Mrs Charlie from Charlie Cards today.  You will find them at Beaconhill Community Centre from 1.00pm to 4.00pm where there is a family fun day in aid of the Cramlington Under 9's Football Team.

Sunday 20 August

Newbiggin Maritime Centre is the venue for Angela from AyVee Jewellery Design, Kim from KSY Crafts and Elizabeh from Craftee Thoughts between 11.00am and 4.00pm today.

Saturday 26 August

Today Elizabeth from Craftee Thoughts will be at Cambois Gala, Selbourne Terrace Playing Fields between 12 noon and 5.00pm.

And finally I just thought I would give a mention to The Builders Yard.  Seems like a funny thing to mention on a blog all about craft doesn't it?  Well don't let the name fool you - this is James, an old friend of mine.

 James and his wife live in Ledbury, Herefordshire, where they have re-established an old builder's yard as The Builders Yard - a space that combines integrated healing, homeopathy and pottery.  James makes everyday, practical items as well as more conceptual pieces, and also offers one to one tuition as well as taster sessions.  You can find out more about The Builders Yard by clicking  HERE.

That's it for today - I think I have brought you all up to date.  Please feel free to share this post, and once again I thank you all for your continued support.

And another door opens .......

Since I last posted in here we have successfully changed our name to Cramlington Creative Crafts and have been working away behind the scenes to find ourselves a new venue.

As Lev3l3 Crafters we started out almost four years ago doing monthly craft markets, and now as Cramlington Community Crafts we will be going back to basics and doing exactly the same thing.  So I am very happy to report that our first market will be held in Cramlington on Saturday 9 September, 10.00am to 4.00pm.


Our new venue

The venue for our new monthly markets will be the Cramlington Masonic Hall in Cramlington Village. The Masonic Hall was built in 1925 and stands on what was previously known as School Lane.  The hall is directly opposite the site of the old Parkside Middle School, which has now been replaced by new housing, and I believe School Lane is now called Middle Farm Court.

  
Access

Access to the hall on foot is via the "cycle track" at the end of the Blagdon Arms in Cramlington Village, or via the cycle track and underpass from the Parkside estates.  Access by road is via the village - veer left around The Plough, turn left at Quarryside House and the car park at the rear of the hall is visible on the right.  Yes, that's right - there is an onsite car park at the hall, for the use of market visitors, which I am sure will please many of you!

 The hall doesn't appear to be named on Google Maps so this might help you find it.

There is also disabled access into the front of the hall, accessible through the car park.

Market Dates 2017

We have set the dates for our first four monthly markets as follows:

Saturday 9 September
Saturday 14 October
SUNDAY 26 November
Saturday 2 December

10am to 4.00pm

Guide Dogs

Also at our September market will be Mike from Guide Dogs with their tombola stall and also some Guide Dog merchandise.  As many of you already know, we have supported Guide Dogs for the last two years.  When Lev3l3 Crafters ceased, we were able to pay over the sum of £1126.29 which we had raised from our Kids Crafting sessions in the mall in Manor Walks, tombolas and donations for pre-loved knitting patterns, to name but a few.  So well done to everyone who supported us in raising such a great amount for them.

 Kids' Crafting

Talking of Kids' Crafting, we will be continuing with our sessions at each of our monthly markets starting in September.  We usually charge £1 and all the proceeds go to Guide Dogs so win, win all around - happy kids and happy Guide Dogs!

Email Address

 We now also have a dedicated Email adddress should you wish to contact us:

cramlingtoncreativecrafts@gmail.com

And in the meantime ...

If you can't wait to see us in September, some of our crafters can be found in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea  at the Maritime Centre this coming Sunday 23 July between 11.00am and 4.00pm.  Our crafters attending this event are

Angela from AyVee Jewellery Design

Annette from Nettis Soap

Elizabeth from Craftee Thoughts

Julie from Bags, Buttons and Bling

Kim from Vimbo Crafts

Kim from KSY Crafts

Pauline from Hearts 'n' Horseshoes

Roger from Far Horizons

And last but not least, I would like to thank you all for your continued support.

Going, going .......

Well I have finally managed to find some time to keep you up to date with that has been happening with Lev3l3 Crafters.

As you know if you read my last post, Lev3l3 Crafters will be coming to an end at midnight tonight.  The reason for this is that our parent company "Digital Community Youth Ltd" are closing down and the company is being dissolved -  and that means Lev3l3 Crafters too.

Every crafter who made up Lev3l3 Crafters has voted for us to stay together as a group and so from tomorrow we will be starting all over again as Cramlington Creative Crafts.  And as a new stand-alone group, without the financial backing of a parent company, we won't be in a position to financially maintain a unit in Manor Walks any more.  However, all is not lost and we are currently exploring all our options before making any big decisions about how we move forward as a group.  In the meantime the name on this blog will change tomorrow (at least I hope it will - if  Blogger allows me to change it).

In the interim, anyone who wishes to contact any of the crafters  can do so via this blog, our Facebook Page (which will also change name tomorrow), or direct to the individual crafter (there is a link to each crafter's FB page down the right side of this page).

And in other news ......

We have continued with out monthly Krafty Kidz sessions in the mall right up to and including our last market day last Saturday. 

 The money we raise from the Krafty Kidz sessions goes to Guide Dogs and I will be paying over all we have raised so far in the next few days.

And finally we would like to thank every single person who has supported us as Lev3l3 Crafters and hope that you will continue to do so in the future when we are Cramlington Community Crafts.  Special thanks go to Bruno and the rest of the management team in Manor Walks (past and present) who have supported us every step of the way over the last 3.5 years when we have used The Venue as our base (in all three of it's different locations).

Thank you for reading this blog post.

As one door closes.......?

Last time I managed to post anything on here Lev3l3 Crafters had just relocated to a new unit in Manor Walks and started to hold craft markets in there every day Monday to Saturday.  As a result of all the increased crafting going on, in order that supply could meet demand, time for updating business pages and this blog diminished dramatically!  Let's just say that we hit the ground running .....

Since we opened in our cosy little unit we have gone from strength to strength.  The downside of The Venue being in such a small unit was that we no longer had any space in there to carry out our Krafty Kidz sessions.  Manor Walks management team, past and present, kindly allowed us to use space outside in the mall in order to continue to craft with the kids.  We also continued to hold Krafty Kidz sessions in the central mall in conjunction with The Vue cinema in Cramlington too.  As a bonus all the proceeds from these sessions go to the Guide Dog Association so win, win all around!

We were also encouraged by Manor Walks management to have a display in the mall outside The Venue each Saturday in order to draw attention to our little craft market, which has worked quite successfully.   (We do tend to have a problem with passers-by thinking we are a charity shop for some reason - despite the sign above the door stating we are crafters!)

 In addition to this we also had "crafting showcases" out in the mall each month where individual crafters demonstrated their craft.

 

 Ebeneezer Scrooge even visited us in The Venue as part of the Christmas Lights Switch-on in December 2015 (and not Wee Willie Winkie as someone suggested!!)

 In June 2016 we were very honoured to be invited to the Duchess of Northumberland's Garden Party for volunteers and carers.  The Duchess holds an annual garden party in her capacity as Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland.

As part of our support for the Guide Dog Association we managed to have some of their volunteers visit the market, along with their beautiful guide dogs.

And in November last year we had a tombola stall in the mall outside The Venue to raise funds for them.

We have also had new members join our group during our time in our current location, whilst others have moved on to other things.

Our new members include:
 TC Crafts

Pintastix

Craftee Thoughts

Paulin Crafts

Greylord's Bookbinding Services

Earlier this year our founder Sue took the very difficult decision to leave our group due to other commitments.  She has been instrumental in guiding our group since she founded it a little over three years ago and it is largely thanks to her that we are where we are today so she is a great miss.

Sue with her trusty assistant Lucy

So that is a very quick potted history of our time in our current location.  But now for the bad news.....

Our "parent" company Digital Community Youth have taken the decision to close down, which means the end of Lev3l3 Crafters as we know it.  With effect from 1st June we will no longer exist.  At present we are in limbo waiting to find out when we have to vacate The Venue and as soon as we have a date for that I will update the blog.

However, on the plus side, each and every member of our crafty group has said that they want us to remain together as a group.  You can find links to the business pages of all of our members at the rightside of our blog page.  How we proceed as a group from 1st June is not yet clear and requires a great deal of thought as we will effectivley be "homeless".  We will also have to decide on a new name so the name of this blog will also be changing, as will our Facebook business page and our twitter account.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of the inside of our current Venue.  Thank you for reading our blog.