Mother’s Day

Every year it is always difficult to find new inspiration for mother’s day card ideas. Now that my mum is a grandma though, I like to make sure she knows that Jack also wishes her a Happy Mother’s Day so I try to incorporate a nice photo of us into the card. I love the idea of creating a pretty frame on a card and these lolly sticks really does give the card a 3D effect! It seemed a shame to put this on a card so I made it into a hanging card which she can put up all year round. It’s given me some ideas for my craft stall too, as this can be easily adapted for anyone as a hanging photo frame!

Docrafts Blog Project

I wanted to share my latest little project with docrafts for their blog. I love anything felt and colourful so could not resist this project they asked me to work on. I designed the templates on paper and cut each shape out using colourful Craft Planet felt. Each dinosaur was brought to life with a little polyester stuffing, some decorative contrast felt and eyes. These were so easy to do but were also lots of fun! Have a look here for the link with step by step instructions!

https://www.docrafts.com/Blog/felt-dinosaurs/794

Latest Features

It’s been a busy year so far in 2017 since my last blog I have been up to so much! To start with I was eager to get my craft stall back out for spring and see what Easter crafts I could create as previously my stalls have always been focused on Christmas Fairs. I got inspired to make lavender scented Easter Crafts and loved the idea of upcyling a wool scarf into these cute little Easter Bunnies. The little chicks proved to be most popular which I was so pleased with. Simple Easter Cards are also ideal for this time of year.

Overall I was impressed with how well it went, especially as it was a small scale local event. So hopefully next year I’ll be back with some new exciting Easter crafts again!

In May we had a wonderful holiday break to Crete which was Jack’s first holiday! It was a bit daunting as he was only 7.5 months old so we were nervous about the flight and how he would cope with the heat. As you can see from the smiles he enjoyed every moment!

I have also been busy keeping stocks maintained for a retail space I have secured in a gift shop in Southampton called The Little Gem in Shirley High Street. I wanted to keep visibility of my work permanently and this was a great opportunity in a busy retail area. Its just a handful of my favourite items but so far there has been consistent sales which is exciting!

Docrafts have also continued to commission me to do projects for the Creativity magazine. I was so happy with the results of how the Teepee commission went and so were they as it featured on the front cover of the Magazine! It was my first front cover feature so I was very proud. I have two more commissions yet to be released this year so keep a look out….

Still Crafting!

It has been sooo long since I last updated my blog however I have a good excuse and his name is Jack! My new baby boy who arrived last year 22nd September at a whopping 9lb 4oz. He has kept me very busy to say the least but he is truly the most amazing little man, with the cutest smile, here is our very first selfie..

Unbelievably I have still fitted crafting inbetween feeding, changing and cuddling little Jack! I attended the yearly Southampton University craft fair and even had time to create new stock. These gorgeous cupcake pin cushions were fun and easy to make yet look good enough to eat (not that you would..owch!) The little ramekins are great little bases for these pin cushions and they come in all pretty pastel colours..

With Pom Poms being so on trend currently I just could not resist adding some pom pom crafts to my stock. These little pom pom fairies were ideal for tree decorations for the Christmas fair.The wool has lurex in it so the skirts sparkle! I also added little felt wings to these.

I enjoyed the Southampton University Craft fair so much I went and booked myself to the New forest craft fair too which was based at Exbury Gardens. It was a very cold day to be outside but I loved being there amongst fellow crafters and enjoying the festivities. Here is my pitch all set up!

You will also see some projects again from me in the 2017 editions of docrafts Creativity magazine. I am particularly excited to see my recent Wedding stationery project get printed, I just love working on Wedding Invitations!

 

Tag a friend blog hop

For this blog hop we have all worked on creating a fab little tag to exchange with a craft buddy. I love a challenge so was keen to participate with this blog.

I find it challenging to make a creation on such a small piece of card as I have so many ideas I want to fit onto it! I did make a few tags but I went with the design below for this blog hop as I was most pleased with the combination of textures and the sentiment. The colours all seemed to work well together as well.

I had Heather as my tag exchange buddy and was very pleased to hear she received my tag and liked it!

I was excited to receive a parcel in the post myself from heather too, and such a gorgeous parcel it was too. Gorgeous mixed media base with a stunning gold leaf die cut of a pretty bird on acetate. The little sentiment was perfect too the tag with some raffia, lace and burlap.

I love it and it will sit proudly in my craft office, thank you Heather!

Do have a look at everyone else’s tags on the blog hop too!

Mags https://thetaglady.wordpress.com

Katie http://whatkatiedid2.blogspot.co.uk/

Heather https://heathermitchelldesign.wordpress.com

Emily  emilygrantdesign.blogspot.co.uk

Michelle http://scrapthology.blogspot.co.uk/

 

 

 

Craft stash swap – Russian Roulette

This blog idea stemmed from my lovely crafting buddies I met through do crafts. With a plethora of crafting stash between us the concept was that we would each compile a craft goodie bag for another team member to let them work their creative skills on. We had names picked out of a hat and below was the craft stash list we had to post out to our crafting companion.

3 sheets of a4 or similar

5 embellishments (buttons flowers or chipboard)

A length of ribbon

A sentiment or journaling of some type

A surprise item

A template (optional)

I got Sarah to swap with so dug deep in my crafting goodies to find some pretty and colour coordinating pieces for my goodie bag to post to her as she has she has a beautiful crafting style! Here was my choice of crafting stash…

I got a lovely message from Sarah when she received her parcel to say she loved the colours.

I received a fabulous kit from Sarah which was packed full of exciting toppers, trims and sentiments. I started planning my projects straight away!

Included in my kit was a pack of button toppers, this inspired me to make a button jar card as I loved the idea of creating a greeting card for a dedicated crafter!

I loved adding the embossed background with Passion wording in it and then adding a little sentiment of Happiness. This would be an ideal card for a keen crafter! I used some pinking shears to give it a fabric cut look to the edges along with a black running stitch in black ink.

The next idea I had was to use up some of the lovely hearts in the pack and a pretty piece of velum which was printed with a gold damask print. The golden colours all complimented so well I decided the theme would remain gold and so kept the colours nice and clean for this design.

My next card I created was based around some pretty butterfly toppers in the kit and these gorgeous ribbon tail toppers. I also kept this simple as there were equal numbers of each so kept it to a 3 in a row template for effectiveness.

Finally I had some pretty twine to use and brighter printed hearts in my kit. There was also a very pretty aqua coloured lace which I was keen to incorporate as it co-ordinated with the heart colours! I used this pretty layout of a hot air balloon and added a sentiment to the twine.

So a big thank you to Sarah for sending me a wonderful kit of crafting goodies, they stretched far and I do have some left overs too which I am sure will come in future use!

Be sure to visit all the other bloggers from this event too!

Mags https://thetaglady.wordpress.com
Julie http://newnanny.blogspot.co.uk/
Emilie  emilygrantdesign.blogspot.co.uk

Katie http://whatkatiedid2.blogspot.co.uk/
Sarah http://stickerkitten.co.uk
Jaiq https://jaiqc.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

Greetings From Crete!

As we are on a lovely break in Crete I thought this would be an ideal time to recap on a few crafting projects since my last post. Before I move onto crafts though I must mention the announcement of our little baby Surey who will be with us in September this year! Hence not being up to as much crafting as I would normally like as the energy certainly has been zapped out of me during this pregnancy.

So to get us in training quickly for sleepless nights we have also welcomed Rufus to our growing family! He is a handsome Lagotto pedigree pup and we adore him despite his nippy teeth lol. We can’t imagine life without this little characterful chap.

So now onto crafting activities 🙂 I have had a few features in docrafts creativity magazine since my last post. In Issue 68 I did a pretty feature on flowers for a spring theme edition which included a bridal flower belt and flower bag.  The flowers were created from a combination of canvas, felt and burlap. I created the flowers individually and then adhered them onto a double satin ribbon with glue gun. I really liked the soft tones of colours together in this project.

For issue 69 I was asked to stitch a Bare Basics journal book cover. I did this using the Xcut Screw Hole Punch and twine. I created a geometric sail shape with the hole punch and stitched them with the twine, adding a little topper flag!

In issue 70 I did a fun feature on 3 ways with bows. This included 1) a Dog bow tie 2) Bow Accessories 3) Greetings Card. The dog bow tie was a challenge as at that point I did not have Rufus to test it on. However as you can see the bow fitted perfectly for the photoshoot!

The dog bow tie involved hand painting a bare basics bow and attaching to a canvas tube so that it could be attached to a dogs collar. The bow accessories were created from self adhesive x cut glitter sheets applied to xcut canvas sheets. These were super quick to make and can be used as hair clips, necklaces or shoe clips! The card was a  male bow tie card using papermania papier patch papers mounted onto canvas sheet for texture.

I have further features in Issues 71 and 72 so keep a look out in the coming docrafts creativity magazine.

A few of my other card makes have been for friends and family occasions. Here are a couple of the wedding anniversary commissions below.

 

I have also been keeping up wedding stationery orders below was an unusual invite sample request which was an exploding box idea with a New York theme. It was a challenge to make but I quite liked the outcome.

I have a couple of weddings which I am now working on and will post updates after they are completed to. I can’t wait to see how they look finished!

Right off for a dip in the pool now and enjoy the last day in Crete before returning to UK 😦  It’s been a fantastic babymoon!

 

 

Farewell docrafts PDT!

It is a sad day as I write my farewell blog to the PDT at docrafts. It has been an honour to have been selected to join the team last year and I have enjoyed the crafty challenges! I chose to not reapply this year as I have many other commitments which I have to focus on but hopefully I will still be briefed the occasional docrafts magazine commission to keep my crafting fix.

The variety of craft ranges which docrafts have sent me to experiment with last year was fantastic. It enabled me to try out lots of different styles of crafting and I was spoilt for choice for ranges to play with.

Below I would like to share a few of my PDT projects

When first approached by do crafts they asked me to work on a mini project mainly to showcase my sewing creativity. I got sent some tilly daydream fabrics and I experimented with 3 different makes. An Owl cushion, an Ipad cover, an Apple pincushion and a little coin purse. The team at docrafts really liked all of the makes but particularly liked the apple pincushion and it featured on the docrafts blog. This was my first published project! Here is the link to the “How to” instructions on the

blog https://www.docrafts.com/Blog/freshly-picked-apple-pin-cushion-project/192

 

In the first PDT kit I received the Owl Folk range of papers & trims. I loved using this range as the graphics are so cute and everything co-ordinates so well. I couldn’t resist mixing in a bit of felt too!

Below was my first ATC card! This was part of the PDT blog hop on ATC cards. Again I really enjoyed mixing the textures up and incorporating some canvas and felt in with the cute Owl Folk papers…

I have always been a fan of Gorjuss Girl ranges so when I received some of the new papers and couldn’t wait to use it on one of the template challenges which was on the PDT! I bought the hexagon xcut die set so that I could try this layout out as I had never tried anything quite like it before.. I love the outcome!

When I was sent the Folk Flower range I wanted to try different techniques of making 3D flowers to compliment the papers. The buttons and felt mix gives these cards a lovely handmade feel.

For the run up to to Christmas the PDT team got a fantastic selection of goodies to play with! My favourite range had to be pocket full of posies. It has a real traditional christmas feel to it but at the same time very pretty and not too old fashioned! I enjoyed trying out mixing up Velum with this range too.

As part of a Christmas project we all got given a fellow PDT memeber to make a card for, here is my easel card which I made for Mags! This range used Folk Christmas I love the modern twist in graphics and colours with this range, its clean designs really worked well with a blanket stitch felt heart to give it a Nordic look.

With one of my PDT kits I got a great set of Bare Basics nesting boxes and some irresistible Papier Patch deco papers. I trimmed it with lovely bare basics hessian and the colours really finished the project perfectly…

Finally, before I bore everyone I thought I would finish with one of my latest creations using my last kit from docrafts. This featured Capsule geometric ranges, I thought I would not enjoy this kit as much as it is quite a simplistic designed range, clean and a tight colour pallet. However I loved experimenting with the stencils on fabric and using the Artiste fabric paints, as normally I would just make sewing projects with ready printed or plain fabrics. However having studied print design at college it came flooding back! I made a book cover and tissue pack both turned out much better than I expected. I even managed to co-ordinate my note book with the Geometric Neon ribbons!

I have a few projects coming up in the next docrafts magazines issue 68 and 69 so I hope to continue to bring my creations to the docraft readers!

In the meantime, I want to say a huge thank you to the PDT at docrafts who have welcomed me to the team in 2015 and supported me. I’ve made some fantastic crafting buddies who I hope to keep in touch with afterwards!

And here are their blogs! Thanks Guys xx

https://heathermitchelldesign.wordpress.com

https://thetaglady.wordpress.com

http://newnanny.blogspot.co.uk/

http://emiliesadventuresincraftyland.blogspot.co.uk/

http://scrapthology.blogspot.co.uk/

http://whatkatiedid2.blogspot.co.uk/

Home

 

 

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2016!

It’s been a roller coaster 2015 busy but great fun and challenging. Joining docrafts last year was an honour, I have met so many like minded creative people and it is great to discuss ideas and projects together.

I’ve loved creating projects for the Magazine and also for challenges within the DT at docrafts. I look forward to making many more I hope!

It has been a while since  I last posted, as the Southampton Craft Fair was time consuming, building stocks and planning the set up. In between that though I’ve since had a some features in the docraft magazine too which kept me busy!

Decembers Edition Featured My Alphabet Wall Art which was predominantly made using Craft Planet Funky Foam and a hint of folk floral! The googley eyes really made the creatures come alive. I enjoyed making this project purely based on the creative challenge! I loved the outcome too ..

Januarys Edition has just come out and features 2 of my Projects. The craft with Paisley card, in which I combined a number of techniques, Decoupage, Stamping & Die Cutting. I formulated the butterfly design using the paisley shapes, I was really pleased how the colours worked together on this project! It was a tough challenge I will admit!

 

Januarys 2nd Project I completed was the Wardrobe revamp. I was really excited about starting this as I love sewing and upcycling. With my fashion background, I couldnt help but love this project! I revamped a top with a removable felt collar, a cardigan with wooden buttons and elbow heart patches, a stripey top with felt bow pockets, a black shift dress with silver fabric paints and a knitted cardigan with some felt fox brooches!

The collar took the longest to make as all the flowers were individually sewn on and then the collar was fully backed in felt and blanket stitched together. I found the warm colours worked really well together. Its amazing what fun you can have with some old garments!

February look out for me as I feature in the magazine but not with a specific project… I will keep you guessing!

March Edition I do have a feature planned which I am mid designing now and I can not wait to complete. My project plans are coming together so I think it will be a good one!

 

Southampton Craft Fayre 29th November 2015

It was my 4th year exhibiting at the Southampton University Craft Fayre and each year I set my sales plans higher than the previous year so the pressure was on.

This year has been a very busy year travelling with work, designing exciting projects with docrafts and a few wedding stationery orders too so the Craft Fayre preparation was very much last minute! I took a whole week off work to do some serious crafting. I managed to top up on some of my most popular items such as memo boards and coaster sets which seem to always sell well as they make great Christmas presents. I had a big wish list of NEW products I wanted to create for the stall as newness is always great to keep repeat customers interested in the stall. Unfortunately I did not manage to get all of my ideas created however I did manage to create these fun creatures out of pine cones which I became inspired by following the upcyclying pine cone project which I worked on recently for docrafts Creativity magazine.

I made some pine cone fairies to compliment the elves too which were cute but quite fidley to make!

I was also inspired to create some fire starter pine cones, they are simple to make and I love the idea of using them on my open fire. I didn’t sell them this year as I wanted to try and test them out but I think they will prove popular next year.

In addition to these I also had a go at needle felting some Christmas decorations. It was the first time I had really tried this craft so I was pleased with the outcome. I also made some needle felted snowmen which were rather popular at the fair!

 Here are some photos of the stall and my crafting buddies who were also exhibiting. All in all a great weekend of craft selling. I didn’t beat last years sales but still achieved some great sales across a variety of products. If I get another spare weekend before Xmas I may try another fayre too.. but that may be a bit optimistic!