Monthly Archives: February 2025

Sarah Lou Crafts wins the #SBS Award

| Uncategorized

Carmarthenshire based Sarah Lou Crafts receives small business award from Dragons’ Den’s, Theo Paphitis.

An Ammanford based crafter has received a small business boost from Retail Entrepreneur Theo Paphitis. In September 2023, Sarah Skilton owner & founder of Sarah Lou Crafts, messaged Theo about her business during ‘Small Business Sunday’ and was one of six weekly winners to gain a repost by Theo to his over half a million X/Twitter and Instagram followers. The weekly initiative, set up by Theo in 2010, now has 4,000 #SBS winners and supports small businesses in the UK. Sarah recently attend the annual SBS Event at the ICC in Birmingham along with over 1000 other winners to meet Theo Paphitis and be presented with her official SBS certificate. 

Business and retail entrepreneur and self-confessed Shopkeeper, Theo re-posted Sarah’s message to his over 500,000 Twitter and Instagram followers and as a result, @SarahLouCrafts has received 100s more followers on Instagram and extra orders for her sustainable eco-conscious handmade gifts. Sarah is also profiled on the #SBS website (www.theopaphitissbs.com) that is exclusive to all Small Business Sunday winners.

Sarah said, “I cannot believe that I have won the #SBS Small Business Sunday award from Theo Paphitis. It is an amazing opportunity for my small business and self development. I am excited to be a part of the networking community and for this next chapter of Sarah Lou Crafts”. I actually won the award in 2020 with my previous business Adventure Accessories, but never got the chance to meet Theo and get my certificate due to the coronavirus pandemic. To win for a second time with my new business Sarah Lou Crafts is a fantastic achievement that I intend to make the most of going forward as I would love to stock my notebooks in gift shops around Wales.  

Small business champion and Ryman Stationery, Robert Dyas and Boux Avenue Chairman, Theo Paphitis, said: “We are thrilled to welcome new #SBS members every week and highlight just how important it is to support our small businesses here in the UK. My vision is that everyone who has ever won an #SBS re-tweet or Instagram re-post from me becomes part of a friendly club; like-minded individuals who can share successes and learnings. The website will also give a valuable profile to the winners chosen and I wish Sarah Lou Crafts every success.”

SBS Event 2024

On Friday 23 February 2024, I attended my first SBS event at the ICC in Birmingham. Every winner is invited and permitted to bring a plus one with them. I chose to take my small business owner friend Tash, owner and founder of Rubba-Bubba baby massage and yoga classes. Tash is working hard to win SBS herself so she was an obvious choice to take with me. 

Each year the event hosts a day of networking and talks for small business winners like myself. The annual event offers unparalleled networking opportunities and is packed to the brim with must-have advice from leading industry figures and on the day activities.

The day begins at 9am for registration and refreshments with time for Networking, Meet the Expert sessions, Breakout presentations and Speed Advice Sessions. 

Kypros Kyprianou, CEO of the Theo Paphitis Retail group opened the event with a welcome speech and introduced Theo the man himself, who then went on to explain more about the day and gave us some amazing facts about the 4000 SBS winners. 

The stat that stood out most for me was that 80% of all winners are Female and that 53% of winners are Sole Traders. That means it is just them running their small business. This information gave me such a confidence boost to know that I am worthy of being a winner after all. 

Screenshot from SBS event 2024 showing 80% of winners are Female and 53% are sole traders.

The rest of day consisted of a talk by Google to learn about AI powered marketing tools and how to supercharge our digital marketing strategy. 

Susan Bonner, #SBS winner and founder of The British Craft House and Buyindie gave an inspirational session on how she turned her dream into reality. 

NatWest held an interesting panel session where #SBS winners and NatWest Accelerator business shared their insights on how they achieved their milestones. Chaired by Debbie Lewis with Absolute Collagen founder, Maxine Lacey, ~#SBS winner and Spice Kitchen founder Sanjay Aggarwal and Naturally Tiwa Skincare co-founder Shalom Lloyd as panellists. 

After lunch we heard from Theo again as he gave an update to the pioneering #SBS Invest opportunity that was announced at the event in  2023 and the highlight of the day was the fireside chat with Stacey Solomon and Theo Paphitis plus time for questions and answers with the audience. 

Then to end the day we were able to collect our certificates and have our photos taken with Theo himself.

Over To You
Have you won the SBS award or are you trying to? I would love to hear from you and will hopefully see you at the next event too. 

You can read all my other posts at https://buyindie.co.uk/store/sarahloucrafts/blogs/

You can also sign up to my SLC Club newsletter where you will get a special 15% off discount code that doesn’t expire plus exclusive access to pre-launches, behind the scenes news and special offers. Sign up here. subscribepage.io/QffPBo

Free from AI. This post and all posts on the Sarah Lou Crafts blog are written by me from my own rambling thoughts and are typed by hand. Thank you for reading.

Moss Stitch Squares Temperature Blanket

| Uncategorized

2025 Temperature Blanket

This year I chose to make a moss stitch in the square blanket, with each row of the square being one day of the highest temperature, taken at 12 pm each day for Carmarthenshire, South Wales, UK and one square for each month of the year, that will then be joined together to make a blanket. 

You can track the daily temperatures for your area on the Time and Date website that records historical weather data. I keep a spreadsheet with the temperatures on for each day and then do a batch of rows for my blanket each week, rather than one row each day but you can work it however you like to suit your routine. 

Here are the colours used from the Stylecraft Special DK range , but you can use any combination you like and any temperature range you prefer too. 

Stylecraft Special DK Colour & Temperature Range ⁰C

Burgundy 31 and above

Claret 29-30

Lipstick 27-28

Tomato 25-26

Clementine 23-24

Citron 21-22 

Mustard 19-20

Buttermilk 17-18

Apple 15-16

Grass Green 13-14

Green 11-12

Aster 9-10

Denim 7-8

Navy 5-6

Lavender 3-4

Violet 1-2

Purple 0 and below

MONTHLY UPDATES

January 2025.
Here we are again with a new Temperature Blanket project for 2025. This year it is Moss Stitch Squares, each row of the square, around the white middle, is one day of the highest temperature taken at 12 pm each day and there is one square for each month of the year that will be then joined together to make a blanket.

Top Temp got to 11⁰C on 5.1
Low Temp was 3⁰C on 8.1 

February 2025. 
I was going to say “oh,  so much blue”, but then Spring suddenly sprang on 22 February and we had 5 gorgeous days of green before it dipped back to blue again. I am glad though, that the whole square hasn’t turned out to be shades of blue for the month. 

I wonder if we will get to use any of the other shades of green in March too. What do you think?

Top Temp got to 12⁰C on 21.2
Low Temp was 4⁰C on 14.2

 

Two crochet squares in a moss stich pattern with blue, lavender, and green rows showing the temperatures for January and February 2025. Shown laying flat on a yellow sofa.

 

 

More Updates will be posted monthly and in the meantime you can you can read all my other posts at https://buyindie.co.uk/store/sarahloucrafts/blogs/

You can also sign up to my SLC Club newsletter where you will get a special 15% off discount code that doesn’t expire plus exclusive access to pre-launches, behind the scenes news and special offers. Sign up here. subscribepage.io/QffPBo

Free from AI. This post and all posts on the Sarah Lou Crafts blog are written by me from my own rambling thoughts and are typed by hand. Thank you for reading.

Sarah Lou Crafts – FAQs

| Uncategorized

Frequently Asked Questions to Sarah Lou Crafts.

Do You Offer Your Products Wholesale?
I do offer the Notebook Journals, Cord Bracelets, Pawprint Pictures and Wind Spinners as wholesale bulk orders. Please contact me for a catalogue and price list. 

Is your packaging eco-friendly?
Yes it is. I am conscious of using recyclable and sustainable packaging for my products.
*The packing boxes are made from recycled cardboard and are recyclable.
*I also try to re-use boxes that I receive through the post myself, so occasionally you may see some slight wear and tear to your packaging but I am sure you will understand this in no way affects the quality of your carefully wrapped handmade items inside.
*The tissue paper is non-bleached and also recyclable.
*I also use shredded card packing that is reused from items I have received in the post.

I do not charge you for packing costs, just postage. 

Do You Accept Returns?
I accept returns and exchanges within 30 days of purchase and you are responsible for return postage costs. If you need to amend or cancel your order please contact me within 24 hours as I do try to dispatch orders the next business working day. 

How do I care for my handmade product?
Care instructions are shown on each of the listings and I will also include a care label in your package. Although most of my crochet items can be machined washed at 30⁰C (86⁰F), I recommend hand-washing and dry flat for all my crochet items to ensure the life of your handmade garment. 

Why does the colour look different when my item arrived?
I try to photograph each item in natural daylight but please be aware that colours may be slightly different in person to how it appears on your screen due to varying PC, laptop and phone screen settings.

Do You Offer Custom Orders? 
I love working with customers to create their perfect gift idea. I welcome custom requests, so if you have an idea, please contact me and we can work together to make it a reality. 

What Countries Do You Ship To? 
I send to the UK and Worldwide, except mainland Europe or Northern Ireland due to the EU GPSR.

—————————————————————————————————

If you have a question that is not answered here, please do get in contact and I will be happy to help. 

You can read all my other posts at https://buyindie.co.uk/store/sarahloucrafts/blogs/

You can also sign up to my SLC Club newsletter where you will get a special 15% off discount code that doesn’t expire plus exclusive access to pre-launches, behind the scenes news and special offers. Sign up here. subscribepage.io/QffPBo

Free from AI. This post and all posts on the Sarah Lou Crafts blog are written by me from my own rambling thoughts and are typed by hand. Thank you for reading.

How Hiking Mitts Can Help You On Adventures

| Uncategorized

Hiking Mitts

I have been adventuring since I was a child, from an active and creative family. Alongside adventures with Guides, Duke of Edinburgh and Scouting, comes a love of craft making. As a parent and multiple dog owner when adventuring I wanted gloves to keep my hands warm but had to keep removing them to get items from the backpack or to hold on to the dog lead so I decided to crochet my own fingerless mitts for people who want practical yet beautiful adventure accessories.

 

Crochet fingerless gloves are perfect hiking accessories. Even during summer, mountain climbing, beach exploring, or any outdoor adventure can be chilly.

 

They are available in a variety of colours and sizes, are lightweight and easy to pack. The convenience of fingerless gloves means you are still able to access your phone, navigation device, maps, backpack, dog lead. The list is endless.

 

Warm Wrists, Warm Hands

Believe it or not but wearing hand-warming fingerless gloves will indeed keep you toasty and warm. Large arteries of the body pass close to the skin at your wrists so they can release a lot of heat. Studies have found that if we were losing heat it was because our wrists are not properly insulated.

 

Whenever someone is exposed to cold temperatures, the nerves of the skin, blood vessels, and brain sense the colder temperature and then send chemical messages along the nervous system to the arteries of the skin, hands, and feet, telling them to constrict to keep as much warm blood as possible away from the skin, fingers, and toes.

 

This helps to prevent the body from losing vital warmth through the skin and to keep the blood and inner part of the body (with vital organs like the brain, kidneys, and heart) at the correct warm body temperature. In the vast majority of people, this chain of events just causes the skin to feel cooler than normal.

 

In some people, however, it can cause severe pain and affect your daily activities or enjoyment of adventures. It is therefore important to layer up and wear warm accessories when and wherever you are out and about.

 

It’s not easy finding products for us Frosties even during the summer months the weather can be chilly especially if you are more prone than some, to feeling the cold.

Hiking mitts are available in medium and large adult sizes and I recommend you even invest in a large size which gives you room to even add a warmer pouch into the glove. A medium-size will give you a snugger fit depending on preference and they are all long to cover the wrists and forearm area for added comfort and warmth.

 

How Hiking Mitts Can Help

  • Reduce extreme sensitivity to cold. The body may react to cold-causing pain. Wear Hiking Mitts to reduce your sensitivity.

  • Lessen skin colour changes. Fingers, toes, and/or sometimes the ears, lips and nose turn white due to lack of blood flow (called pallor). The blood that’s left in the tissues loses its oxygen and the affected area turns blue (called cyanosis). As fresh oxygen-rich blood returns to the area, it often turns bright red. Hiking Mitts, Ear Warmer Headbands and Beanie Hats will keep your extremities warm.

  • Avoid coldness, pain and numbness. A lack of oxygenated blood in the fingers triggers these feelings. Numbness is the sensation that the hands and fingers have “fallen asleep.”

  • Alleviate, tingling and throbbing. The quick return of blood to the fingers triggers these feelings, but keeping a warm and even body temperature can ease any tingling or throbbing.

 

Ear Warmer Headbands

To complete the accessories look are matching sets of ear warmer headbands to keep the crazy annoying wind from giving you terrible earache and that constant battle of keeping your windblown hair from your eyes. For extra warmth look no further than my warm Aran yarn beanie hats.

Beanie Hats

Beanie Hats are lightweight so perfect for adventures all year round. Slouchy Beanies are more ‘roomy’ than a classic beanie hat so you can wear your hair up or down, whatever suits your mood or adventure.

Boot Cuffs

Boot cuffs are short ankle warmers designed to give that extra level of warmth on cold hiking adventures. I created the pattern myself and they can be worn either long or short by folding over the ribbed cuff for added versatility.  

Lap blankets

Are smaller than usual blankets designed to be over your knees while sitting around a campfire when camping or caravanning and therefore lighter and easier to pack too. These blankets can also be used in the home as a comforter / small blanket for children or as a chair or sofa throw.

You can shop the full range of handmade gifts and ‘Adventure Accessories’ from Sarah Lou Crafts. 

 

 

 

You can read all my other posts at https://buyindie.co.uk/store/sarahloucrafts/blogs/

You can also sign up to my SLC Club newsletter where you will get a special 15% off discount code that doesn’t expire plus exclusive access to pre-launches, behind the scenes news and special offers. Sign up here. subscribepage.io/QffPBo

Free from AI. This post and all posts on the Sarah Lou Crafts blog are written by me from my own rambling thoughts and are typed by hand. Thank you for reading.