Blogger Craft Party with Anna Hayman

A couple of weekends ago I trundled off to Lewes for a lovely bloggers crafting morning, with local designer Anna Hayman. It was a morning of colourful designs, plenty of tea, home-made cakes and we even got to try our hands at some lino-cutting ourselves! Set in the most beautiful house in Lewes, our small group of crafty bloggers gathered excitedly, plus of course in true blogger style, we probably took a couple of hundred photos of the house, before the event even started!

Firstly, we had a look at some of the lovely designs on display by Anna Hayman. Anna features a distinct bright colour palette of 5 key colours – red, orange, yellow, blue, and turquoise. With these Anna has created some absolutely beautiful, vibrant designs with a clear signature style. I love how cheerful and bright all the designs are, they are such fantastic pieces to brighten any home. Anna keeps all of the production of her products within the UK where possible – with her ceramics being made by the fantastic Stoke Pottery, (who have been in business since 1880) with her tea towels being produced in Spilsbury, Lincolnshire.

Lured in by the hand-made cupcakes (thank you Lucy!)  we took to the table for tea, cakes and a lesson in lino-cutting. On first impressions I thought the process looked quite daunting. Lots of sharp, pointy tools, plus every move you make into the lino seems so definite. Once you’ve made your mark there is no going back, so we all worked on a smaller practice piece first to get into the swing of things.

We all got into our designs, with each one being totally different to the next whilst we had a good chat. It was lovely to get to know some fellow bloggers; Charlie, Claire and finally meeting Bethanie in person after we’ve crossed paths for so long, plus also getting to catch up with the lovely Nat who I’ve known for a while now. The process of cutting the lino was so therapeutic, by the end I was hooked and just wanted to do it again and try new designs! It is amazing how relaxing crafting is. I must remember to make more time for crafting, as in my book it’s as valuable as meditation for relaxation!

I decided on a leaf design, this is my practice piece printed with the lovely teal paint. Seeing as I hadn’t got a clue how to do it, I think this turned out pretty well (if I do say so myself!)

Here is my final design, again printed in teal as I just love the colour and think it will look lovely against the light grey of our walls at home. After the event, Anna was kind enough to take our designs and add her personal touch to them, adding some colour and in the second image, a repetition. I am looking forward to getting my design framed and deciding where to put it in our living room! It’s such a lovely rewarding feeling to think I made this myself (with a little help from Anna and my blogging girlies of course!)

It was such a lovely morning. I really came away on a high feeling like I’d found a new hobby I really enjoy, plus a lovely group of ladies who I would love to meet up with again soon. We’ve set up a little Whatsapp group and are hopefully arranging a crafting coffee morning again soon, which will just be just fab.

You can buy products from Anna Hayman Designs from her website here, plus you can keep up to date with new designs and gorgeous pictures on her Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. I saw the other day she is talking about launching a range of kimono style dressing gowns soon – I’m in love already!

A big THANK YOU to Anna and organiser/chief cake-baker Lucy for having us! See you again soon!