Craftiways

The early days

Sisters Mary and Ruth opened Craftiways 4 years ago in a small room above a ‘nail bar’ – within six months they had to relocate to larger premises to allow the business to expand to its current size. The shop’s opening was the culmination of 15 years’ crafting experience and the long term dream of running not just a craft store – but a friendly environment where customers could browse at their leisure with someone always on hand to help if needed.

Where to find them

The store is a stone’s throw from The Trafford Centre, just off Junction 9 of the M60 – and the name derives from the roundabouts at each end of Barton Road – Sevenways and Fiveways – hence Craftiways! The store attracts visitors from all across the country, some even as far away as Norway!

Learning new skills

Classes and workshops on all aspects of card making, parchment craft, scrapbooking and the occasional jewellery class are held regularly. The Parchment group meets fortnightly and ‘Demo and Do’ sessions are so popular that there are waiting lists to join. Tuesdays are “Craftanoons”, an informal gathering where customers make one of the many sample cards displayed in store. We also hold a Craft Club on the first Tuesday of every month, starting at 6.30pm and newcomers are always welcome.

Demonstration days are frequently held and guest teachers have featured Michelle Marsden and Melanie Heaton.

Mary, a retired teacher, is an experienced parchment crafter and is continually increasing her knowledge in new techniques whilst working hard to achieve further qualifications in this beautiful craft. When not busy ‘parching’ Mary is a skilled ‘paper engineer’ and her classes are always fully subscribed. In addition she is an accredited SDU tutor – teaching scrapbooking courses on a regular basis. Ruth is a ‘Cricuteer’ and teaches Cricut classes as well as running the UK helpline for the Cricut Gypsy, a huge change from her original career in Finance. She originally qualified as a rubberstamp teacher and still enjoys nothing more than getting ‘down and dirty’ with her endless collection of stamps and ink.

The shop stocks products from some of the top names in the industry – Kars, Kanban, Jolly Nation, Hunky-dory, Sizzix, Provocraft, Pergamano, Basic Grey, Papermania, Dufex, Promarkers, Martha Stewart and many more.

If you are in the Manchester area pop in to the store – (the kettle is always on) – mention Crafts on the Net and get a 10% discount on all your purchases.