Make Mine Lavender...or Chocolate!

You may not know that many of the cute baby bunnies purchased at this time of year as Easter gifts for children, from pet shops and breeders, sadly find themselves unwanted and in rescue shelters, a few weeks or months after the novelty of looking after a real live bunny rabbit has worn off.

It’s a misconception that rabbits make good pets for children and here are just a few reasons why:

-They need specialist care, patience and very gentle treatment, due to their sensitive digestive systems and very fragile skeletons.

-As prey animals, their natural instinct is to hide from noise and things they might perceive as predators…lunging hands, sudden movement, high pitched and loud noises.

-Bunnies can live for up to 10 years or more, IF correctly cared for.

-They are not suited to living in a hutch in the garden without another companion bunny as they live in colonies in the wild and will suffer from boredom and loneliness. If you get two, there’s twice the problem, if re-homing is required.

Bunnies are wonderful pets for caring, gentle grown-ups with enough spare time, money and understanding of a rabbit's needs, to keep them happy and healthy. Bunnies should ideally live indoors with you, as a house-bunny to ensure sufficient mental stimulation and companianship.

Keep the children in your life happy this Easter with a cute lavender bunny from Hepplewhite’s Emporium and we will donate 25% of the value of your order to Helicopter Ears Rescue, Bedfordshire’s premier bunny and small pet rescue charity.

Buying a lavender bunny from Hepplewhite’s Emporium will not only help and protect bunnies in need but will also:

- Aid sleep and relaxation
- Fragrance and adorn your home
- Eliminate moth damage to your clothes when hung in your wardrobe or placed in drawers
- Last for many years
- Require no hutch cleaning, feeding or vet bills!

So why not take a sweet little lavender bunny home this Easter for you or your friends and family to enjoy and at the same time, help bunnies in need at Helicopter Ears Rescue AND help spread the word on the tru amount of time, care and understanding needed to humanely care for bunnies.

Find out more here:

www.etsy.com/shop/HepplewhitesEmporium
www.facebook.com/HelicopterEars
www.makeminechocolate.org.uk

Purchases from March 14^th-April14th from Hepplewhite's Emporium apply.

Happy Easter from Hepplewhite's Emporium!

Afternoon Delight!



Hanging Hearts and Pyramids from Hepplewhite's Emporium

What better way to chase away the winter blues than throwing an Afternoon Tea & Mini Craft  Fair at Hepplewhite's HQ, one icy Sunday in late February? Add a bottle of Laurent Perrier Rose, which had been chilling patiently in the fridge, to grace such an occasion, some smoked salmon sandwiches and homemade cream cakes - all that was needed was some craft!

And craft we had, not only from Hepplewhite's Emporium but also from multi-media artist, Nicola Arnold. Nicola's love of all things vintage plus her background in printing and design, translates into unique and varied creations over many mediums. From decorated mirrors, to buttons, brooches and greetings cards. My favourite pieces were a copper butterfly brooch and a horse skeleton motif lavender bag!




Nicola Arnold's horse skeleton lavender  bag and decorated mirror

 

A selection of Nicola's Multi-Media creations



Plans for future Afternoon Tea & Mini Craft Fairs at Hepplewhite's HQ are in the pipeline and I hope to be able to offer art and pottery from other local crafters too...although those crafters are not yet aware of my plans, so I will have to charm them into agreeing to take part first!

A selection of handmade goods from Hepplewhite's Emporium

Meanwhile, to chase off the remainder of the winter blues, I'm dreaming of a sunny summer's day in the garden at Hepplewhite's HQ, with a few more crafters at their white-clothed tables, offering an enticing selection of their own unique and beautiful handmade creations.

Two of the Afternoon Tea Tables at Hepplewhite's HQ

An Unusual Type of Inspiration...

How does a fully employed, horticulturally minded, erstwhile foodie suddenly find herself selling handmade, hand-stitched goods on-line?

An over abundance of harvested lavender; a recent love affair with fine fabrics and a very special bunny named Mr. Hepplewhite, to be exact.

The lavender was far too lovely to be resigned to the compost bin. The embroidered silks and linens were begging to be turned into something useful and beautiful. And Mr. Hepplewhite...well he was just chilling out in the fireplace after a morning chasing squirrels, eating fallen leaves and poking around in his beloved shed.

The summer was well and truly over and Christmas was beckoning. No more long, warm evenings spent tending the garden. Plus, the need to focus on what on earth to buy for friends and family was becoming more pressing by the day.

So, I don't need to draw you a diagram, 2012 was the year I would make all my Christmas gifts, starting with handmade lavender bags and sachets, using all those gorgeous fabrics I'd been collecting, along with the stash of previously harvested Lavandula 'Hidcote'  from my garden.

And the shop name? Well it just seemed right somehow. I always wondered what Mr. Hepplewhite was doing poking around in the shed.

I liked to believe he was preparing his own shop, to sell essential supplies to his wild friends who shared the garden with him; the robin, squirrels and pigeons.

And that he'd approve of his Emporium, founded in his own name.