Last weekend Kay came to visit me. It’s been flippin’ ages since we last saw each other, so I did my best to organise a good Manc weekend for her.

We did all sorts. We ate Caribbean food, munched on samosas at the Makers Market, listened to the music of Sarah de Warren at a gig in town and had brunch at The Elk. Before all that however, we went to the Etsy Made Local Christmas market. These markets are always a great place to pick up Christmas present and discover some new independent businesses.

I took a lot of photos, and I’m going to *try* and link you to the relevant seller for each one!

First off we have Nicola Briggs Ceramics above!

Detailed trinkets by J.R Hayes.

A funny story about this stall, I stopped for a look and quickly realised I knew the brand – it was Rock On Ruby. This was set up by a blogger known as Rock On Holly, who I’ve followed on Twitter for almost three years. Thinking aloud, I said ‘Oh this is by Rock On Holly!’, to which the woman at the stall went ‘Yes! I’m her mum!’

We had a lovely chat about how much blogging has changed and how weird it is that bloggers I first discovered years ago are now weaving their way into my real life and vice versa.

I noticed at this market that stall holders cottoned on to me being a blogger very quickly, whereas years back they might not have even known what a blog was. It was nice and heartwarming to see this change!

If you haven’t already noticed, I am incredibly detail-orientated, so I love stuff like this! These two prints below were by Charlotte Hicks Illustration.

These beautiful items were by Fox and Lilly, I particularly liked the ‘Keep Going’ print! It’s a good sentiment that I’d like to be reminded of every day.

This stall was the only one I photographed and forgot to pick up a card for – I regret it, because these plant and candle pots are so cute.

And finally these lovely prints are by Rianna Phillips! I really liked her stuff – you can make personalised orders on some of the items too.

I love going to these kinds of markets. I’m always inspired by people who have built their own brands from the ground up and made a sustainable business that suits their lifestyle. It’s these kinds of people that first hooked me into the world of blogging and social media – a big one who I still follow to this day is Junkaholique.