Easter Decorations to make you drool

As we are approaching the end of March, and we are well into the period of Lent, I have started thinking about Easter. For many, Easter is a time when you can eat as much chocolate as you like, egg hunts and lamb roasts, among other festivities. 

I suspect some things are going to be difficult to do this year, with most countries in lockdown and the advice is to stay home and practice social distancing. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t still partake in a little Easter celebration. After all, Easter is a celebration of all sins being forgiven and everyone being given something of a clean slate. 

So, with that in mind, I had a nosey around Pinterest this morning, as I was preparing for  my weekly 'Teacup Tuesday' social media posts. Wow, I have never seen so much creativity in one morning! It’s safe to say the teacup is neither humble nor insignificant. Even at Easter, it takes pride of place on many Easter decorations.

he imagination and creativity of people astounds me and I can never get enough of it. From teacups housing tiny gardens with Easter eggs, flowers and bunnies, to nests cradled in the depth of the teacup, with tiny eggs and birds, to more daring, intricate and mind-blowing displays of ‘floating’ teacups with eggs and other things flowing out of them. It was fascinating. I have never made such a decoration before, and, before you wonder why anyone would waste a perfectly good teacup, I suspect they use cups with faults and flaws which would have otherwise found their way into a bin. It’s a wonderful way to reuse and repurpose a teacup into something more spectacular and more glamorous than its previous role.

Below, I have put together a little collection of some of my favourites. As you can see, they are all so different! I had to restrain myself, otherwise I would have added a whole lot more! Anyway, I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

On my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages, I am hosting some fun activities involving some of these teacups. Want to know what I am talking about? Go take a look!

Do you incorporate Easter decorations into your home? How do you style your Easter décor? 

Finally, before you go, which out of the ones below are your favourites? Mine? I honestly love them all! 

Special Announcement: Etsy Shop put in 'Holiday Mode' in battle against Coronavirus Pandemic

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, I have made the difficult decision to put my Etsy shop on holiday mode, as a way of protecting myself and others. Deliveries are going to be a challenge at this point in time and items could get lost easily. Additionally, I am not sure how safe it really is to send items through the post. I await guidance from the health experts and the government with regards to the safety of sending packages through the post.

Sales are vital to the survival of my business. My business is my livelihood, and I appreciate it immensely whenever someone chooses to buy something that I have made. However, at the point in time, the health and safety of my customers, as well as my own, are my primary concern and priority, and I do not want to put myself or any of my customers at risk.

In the meantime, I will continue to design and create products, using only the yarn which I have had in my stash for many, many months (I always buy in bulk!) since before the Coronavirus descended upon us. So, when I reopen my shop, there will be plenty of things for you to choose from, including brand new products.

I will continue to share my creations on my social media, not only to keep you posted, but, believe it or not, to keep me motivated, busy, happy and sane! If you want to keep up to date, and see what I am working on, you can follow me on: Facebook , Instagram and/or Twitter . I’ve already got a few things that I’m working on and I have lots of ideas that I will be developing. I can’t wait to share them with you!

You can also follow my blog as I will be keeping my readers informed and entertained with relevant news, shop updates and many other interesting topics.

I am in the early stages of developing my newsletter, to help keep people informed as easily as possible. If you would like to sign up for my newsletter, please contact me and let me know you would like to be signed up for the newsletter. As soon as my newsletter is up and running, I will email it to you.

I am looking forward to reopening my shops when things have calmed down. In the meantime, I hope to see you on my social media pages and please, take care of yourselves and of each other. This is a challenging, trying time, but together we can and we will get through it. Let’s support each other, especially the vulnerable who can’t always help themselves. Let’s also be sensible, listen to the experts and practise social distancing etc, as we have been advised to do.

Best wishes
Judith xx

Make Time for Tea

“If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are too heated, it will cool you. If you are depressed, it will cheer you. If you are too excited, it will calm you.” - William Ewart Gladstone 🌟☕️

Make time for tea. It’s a fantastic way to ensure an adequate fluid intake, which is important now, more than ever, as we deal with the devastating Coronavirus (Covid_19 virus) that can cause fever and consequent dehydration.

Many have taken the challenging step of staying at home, which means greater exposure to the drying effects of central heating and air conditioning. It’s all too easy to forget to drink adequate amounts of fluid when you’re not moving about as much as normal. So it may be helpful to keep track of your fluid intake so that you take enough. 

The benefits of tea are widely known. Hydration is one of them and therefore tea lovers should take advantage of the fact that tea is considered a ‘good’ fluid to have. William Ewart Gladstone’s words resonate with me because they remind me of just good tea is for our minds, bodies and souls.

So, make time for tea, enjoy your cuppa, and tick off a glass of fluid on your fluid tracker.

Self-care : Take Care of You

With self-isolation on the cards or a reality for many people, it’s important to find time to take care of yourself. Some people struggle with mental health issues such as agoraphobia. It must be frightening for them to contemplate bring house bound when they are actively trying to fight their issues. Now, more than ever, it’s important to explore ways to take care of your physical and mental wellbeing.

Mindfulness is an extremely useful strategy and is worth trying. There is a wealth of evidence to support the value of mindfulness as a way to cope with everyday issues, but also when there is a lot of stress and anxiety around us. Systemic anxiety can be so powerful that it can cause people who are not usually anxious to become anxious. As Professor Mark Williams, former director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre says, mindfulness means knowing directly what is going on inside and outside ourselves, moment by moment. With this in mind, you begin to focus on you and only you, and you can start a journey of rebalancing yourself into a happier and healthier state. If you would like to explore mindfulness, there are lots of tools available to help you navigate your way through this modality, such as books (my favourite being Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a frantic World which is recommended by the UK's National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) and The Little Book of Mindfulness: 10 minutes a day to less stress, more peace) as well as mindfulness activities, colouring in books, pampering, meditating etc) available to help you navigate your way through this modality.

Hobbies and crafts which you can enjoy at home, such as knitting, crocheting, sewing, reading, writing, listening to music, watching TV/films, cooking, baking, etc, are excellent choices to keep you going while you are at home.

Talking to each other instead of texting and sharing meals (if you live with others of course!) are hugely important and are often taken for granted.

All these things could help and keep you well physically and mentally while the world fights this Coronavirus pandemic. Do your part by taking care of yourself and others, and remember that you are not alone in this fight.

For now, put the kettle on, make a nice cuppa tea, sit down comfortably and enjoy your well-deserved cuppa.

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to my blog, the Tafferty Designs blog. This blog has been on my bucket list for a long, long time. 2020 just seems like the year to finally get it off the ground and embrace the power of blogging. so here I am!

Whilst Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have given me platforms to connect with my customers, fellow crafters and fellow small business owners, I am always acutely aware that many in those audiences are not always keen on posts which are longer than a few lines. This makes it tricky to do more than skim the surface and I am hoping that the blog will allow me to provide my readers with more insight, reflection and research into the goings-on at Tafferty Designs, the world of tea and a bit of everything else that comes my way.

Tea has always been my favourite beverage and it is the beverage I am most familiar with. So I shall use this blog to chronicle my enchanting and enlightening discovery of all things tea-related, from beautiful tea accessories, artisan teas, tea ware and books. I am to share with you loads of information that will make you fall in love with the wonderful beverage and the pastime of teatime, over and over and over again.

In the meantime, you can visit my Etsy shop to see my range of handmade teapot cosies.