Handmade Weddings

So although I am not getting married I am constantly on the look out for fun and interesting wedding ideas. I have worked in a wedding shop and I have helped many a confused bride see what 'The' dress is and decide on the right style and colour of bridesmaid dress to go for. It can be so confusing!


I decided a while ago that I would love a shabby-chic handmade wedding. There are so many wonderful designers out there making things for your special do. So I wanted to give you some inspiration or a guiding hand in deciding what might be the right thing for you.


Starting with the bouquet this lovely example by The Patchwork Bride is a great idea, these can be personalised with the bride and grooms initials or have a particular colour theme to match your day! This bouquet is priced up at £60 and is completely handmade.

Next up is jewellery. Always a big part of the overall ensemble. Some brides want big statement pieces to set off a simple dress and others want to go for something classic. The blow set was made by Reverie. The earrings are £12, necklace is £25 and the bracelet is £15. All are hand made and use Swarovski pearls, along with sterling silver beads with Swarovski round crystal in the middle and a sterling silver clasp.

This beautiful retro bag by Reverie also caught my eye. Made with ecru satin and includes a beautiful pocket watch. This bag costs £55. 

Instead of a bracelet you may want to go for a watch (for those brides that need to make sure everything is running smoothly ;-)) the watch below was designed and made by Manors Crystal Designs using  Swarovski pearls, Swarovski crystals and fresh water pearls and retails for £29.99.

Something for the groom. These cuff links are from Off The Cuff are something a little bit different. All of the cuff links made by off the cuff use real watch movements. These are a perfect alternative to Mr & Mrs cuff links and they can be used again and again. The pair shown in the image below retail for £26.

Wedding favours can become very predictable, and with sugar almonds making a come back they can also be very throwaway. These wedding favour pebbles from Jo Lucksted Ceramics are an example of a more permanent gift for those attending your big day. The pebbles are made to order and can be stamped with your initials. Alternatively they can be used as place settings with the initials of each guest. Prices start from £4 but do go down depending how many you order. 

These cake toppers are brilliant and can be made to suit you and your interests. here are a few examples from Atop of the Tier. Each ceramic topper is hand made out of earthenware to your specifications, hand glazed and fired. A wedding topper will cost £160. They are a great reminder of you wonderful day and they can also include your children and pets. 

Decoration for the venue or of the top table are so important. The bunting blow was designed and made by Beautiful Things by Claire Macknass. Prices start at £12.50 but She also offers no obligation quotes for commissions or customised pieces. 

I hope  that you have enjoyed the things that I have shown you. weddings are all individual and in my opinion shouldn't be taken so seriously! Have some fun and make memories that you can keep forever!

Moving House

So the bf and I have been together for five years now and  although we lived together for two years at university we moved home so that we could save up to buy our own home.

We are almost there with the deposit money that we need but now we need to make sure we like the area we are thinking of moving to so we are about to start renting a house for 8 months to get an idea.

We are a little scared as we wont have our families that close by, however we are calling on our university experience to help us cope with our separation from the families that we are so close to.

I thought I would take this opportunity to share with you some of the things that we got for our lovely house during our mass shop yesterday!

The first thing that we had to get was this beautiful Monsoon tea set by Denby. We managed to get this lovely set for half price as Habitat in Lakeside is now closing.

Freezer magnet picture frame, also from Habitat, was £3.50 down to £1.80, so we had to get three! 

And these elegant glass candle sticks were £7.50 so we got two for our lovely dining table. 

We then got this 18 piece dinner set from Ikea in the Dinera range for £24.99. The cups to match were £1.89 each.

I hope you like what I have acquired and I strongly suggest that you get yourselves down to your local Habitat and check all of the amazing deals. It is a real shame that the organisation has gone into administration. 

Cosy Feet

The boyfriend found these in our cupboard!






These lovely hand knitted slippers are fab for keeping your little feet warm when it is chilly outside...now to try to make some.

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Everything Alice

In a previous blog post I showed you how I made some lovely rabbits for my niece's birthday present. Well now you can find a picture on the Everything Alice wall of fame entitled 'your Alice' just upload any of the lovely things that you make from their gorgeous book and hopefully they will put it up there! 

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

After my pink felt post seemed to go down so well I thought that you guys might be interested in these lovely items that are perfect for weather like this...

Umbrellas by Love Umbrellas

This umbrella is £20!

And this beautiful pink one is £30 - These umbrellas are perfect for brightening your cloudy day!

Killer Cupcake designs lovely jewelry with a weather theme that will brighten your day! And at £5.00 why not!

Or vent your frustration! £5.50

For the little one by Ena Green £10.00

For the home, this sweet cushion by Mini Maedel Creates £16.00

Check out this amazing all weather bunting from JUJU and BUBBA. For £25.00 you get 5 meters (30 flags) of beautiful weatherproof bunting! 

I hope that this has cheered you up a little.

Running Rabbit xx

Guest Post

I was recently featured on the Isle Of Tea blog, have a read of my post here.

Caught My Eye

These old beer bottles at the galley hall pub in Hertford.






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Apple Cosy

Hi everyone!

I know I have been lacking on the blogging in the last week, please forgive me but I have been busy making lots of lovely things!

I have been making brooches for my shop and an apple cosy for my friends birthday.. I hope she likes it!

I also got these lovely tags so that you know that the products are genuinely handmade by Running Rabbit Arts and Crafts.

C'est Chic Unique!

About a week ago the lovely Lizzie from Chic Unique posted some really great cut-out acrylic rings on Twitter for pre-order.

Well I had to get them! And here they are!

Pink Felt!

Yes that's right people I have fallen in love with pink felt.

When I was a child I was a real tom-boy, hated pink, wanted to wear girly clothes and go running about the garden and climb trees.

Now I love pink!

Recently I made some lovely bunnies (with some help from the b/f) from the craft book Everything Alice using felt and floral fabric.

Today I was perusing Folksy and found these beautiful handmade felt products in PINK!

Take a look at this lovely pink heart bunting, perfect for a childas bedroom or a girlie pad! Available from ben7tomcat, £10.00 Folksy.

This amazing pink felt button cushion is made by Handmade Mania, £12.50 Folksy.

I found this lovely brooch made by Laura Howard of Lupin Handmade, £12.00 Folksy. Laura's work has been featured in many publications such as, British Vogue's "Secret Address Book"! She also has a lovely blog and is on Twitter.

Last but not least this is a lovely tooth fairy enverlope from Shellybobbins, £4.00 Folksy. Shelly was 1500th in The Sunday Times Social List, Winner @Mumsclub 2010, #SBS Winner 14/11/10 by @TheoPaphitis. Shelly is also on Twitter and has a blog so give her a follow for all of her crafty updates!

Book Review ~ Everything Alice, Hannah Read-Baldrey and Christine Leech

Everything Alice is a beautiful new craft book that was officially launched today and is available from Amazon. Everything Alice was written by Hannah Read-Baldrey (Stylist & Illustrator) and Christine Leech (Art Director & Designer). On their blog they discribe how the book came about "This book began as a little idea – a little idea hatched within an ordinary conversation over a cup of tea. We were having a chat – standing at the bottom of a staircase in a location house, which was dressed up for Christmas Day, even though it was July – and simultaneously we both exclaimed, "How we would love to make a craft book with the theme of Alice In Wonderland." Everything Alice is our first book (one of many, hopefully…) and we couldn’t be prouder!"

I managed to buy this book before its official release date and fell in love with all of the amazing ideas and the diversity of them. From making cakes and how to decorate them, to making cuddly toys, doorstops and candles in teacups!


As suggested by the girls at Everything Alice I decided to try out one of their rabbit ideas...I wonder why?


My niece turned one on Saturday so I decided to make her one of the less complicated makes and simplify it by making one of the toys from the mobile project.

Because my niece is only one I decided to simplify the design as she is teething and i didn't want her swallowing rogue buttons, so instead of doing all of the lovely stiching that is suggested I used colourful fabrics to make two bunnies.

After cutting out the two bunny shapes I started sewing them together with back stich so that this one was a little fraid around the edges I didn't turn the edges in. I may have had some help from my sewing shy boyfriend...

After stuffing them with some synthetic wadding we cut out the tail and ear detail from alernating fabrics.

We made sure we stuffed their little tails too. Below is the final result. I did try to get a picture of my niece holding them but see either had them in her mouth or was chucking them at my head!

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Time For Tea?

Always!!!

If you find your self in London and you want a relaxed afternoon tea then head over to High Tea of Highgate.

High Tea of Highgate was open by Georgina Worthington after selling her flat to follow her dream.

Offering beautiful alternative loose leaf teas in gorgeous china and an amazing array of sweet and savoury morsels.

The above picture is of a tea for three!

The cupcakes were so beautiful.

This is a really lively little shop located in Highgate Village. This is a lovely place to go if you want a nice relaxed vintage atmosphere. The staff were really lovely and welcoming.

All of the loose leaf teas on the menu are also sold in the shop so you can enjoy them when you get home too! They also sell the lovely tea pots and china.

If you can't find the time to go and visit then you can peruse their online shop.

The Danson Festival

This Saturday I went along to the Danson Festival with my cousin and her beautiful baby who was celebrating her 1st birthday!

The Danson Festival is a mixture between the local town show and a mini music festival. It runs for two days and features live music from local bands, a funfair, the local car clubs and local crafts people.

While perusing the craft tents we found some lovely products for sale. Like the beautiful hand made soap from intercandle gifts








We met Susan Ilic who designs and makes 'pastimes picture boxes'. They are bespoke picture boxes that can either be vintage or contemporary. Susan told us about her plans to open a shop in Bexlyheath in the next couple of weeks. You can order by email.

We came across the amazing stand of Country Calico Kids run by Marion McCarthy from Swanley, Kent. Filled with lovely handmade gifts, from bears to doorstops her stall was filled with a wide verity of items that could be personalised. Marion is contactable by email.

Finally we found Annie May, run by Angie and Louise who had a lovely collection of handmade items both jewellery and things for the home.

They host home party's and are based in south London call 07772240628 for details.

I snapped up this lovely pin cushion for £8.




The Danson festival is a great event and caters to so many interests it is defiantly worth poping along!
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