Large Self Closing Pouch

Hi Crafters

I have made the self-closing pouch before with instructions from You Tube, it was a long time ago and I am sorry I cannot remember who's videao I used. 

I then purchased a die to cut small boxes and this is very pretty, but only big enough to hold 6 chocolates, or a piece of jewellery.

The Crafters Companion A3 Scoreboard allows you to make a lovely large pouch, that measure 8" wide and 10" high, and is big enough to hold a scarf or body lotions etc

It is relatively straight forward to make and a great item to have ready to use for a last minut gift etc.

The Crafters Companion pouch is made from 1 sheet of A3, but I have managed to redesign it and make it from 2 pieces of 12 x 12, again I am very happy with the result.

You are up to date with my Crafters Companion Scoreboard makes.

I am so pleased with my purchase and have been converted. The only downside is the selection of A3 card available. Crafters Companion are the only card stacks I have seen that have pretty prints, but half of their designs are now out of stock, so I have to hope that when I finish the 2 pads I have, they have either got the previous ones back in stock or designed some new. There is only one CHristmas pad showing on their website and I cannot say I like the designs that much, lets hope there are more for 2018, or I will be using white card and papers. 

Sorry did I mention Christmas in April. 

The Concertina Folder

Hi Crafters 

From my previous post you will know I made a concertina folder from the Crafters Companion A3 Scoreboard and pad purchased a couple of weeks ago. I am still enjoying the board, so it was a great investment.

The concertina folder was the first item I made having watched the DVD. It was simple and straightforward to make with the kit I had purchased and the finished item was lovely, I will be selling them at my next Craft Fayre that s for sure.

However having produced them from the A3 card I got to thinking about all the 12 x 12 card stashes I had and decided to redesign the folder using 12 x 12 card 

I am very pleased with the result. It is big enough to hold photographs, receipts, recipe cards etc so will be a useful tidy in hte kitchen or craft room.

This has a ribbon tie, whereas the larger ones I make have a magnetic clasp or string ties. The finished folder measure 7" wideand 6.5" high 

As you can see the Crafters Companion kit has kept me busy and crafting happily for 10 days so far.

Faceted Pillow Box (Large)

Hi Crafters

Another project from the Crafters Companion DVD
I saw this and had to try it out as the finished product is fascinatingly different from anything I have done before.

It took several tries with scrap card first. In fact I had 2 false starts before getting it right and then scrapped the third and made a fourth, in good quality card. I use the colourful and cheap 12 x 12 pads from the 'Range' to do trials as they cost £3.99 for a 24 sheet double sided pad, so perfect for this.
The downside of the pads is the quality means they crack on hte scored lines.

The good news with this project is that it uses 2 pieces of card 11.5" square so instead of using my precious A3 card I can use my 12 x 12 pads

As you can see this is a real showpiece

I would say you need to have some experience of card crafting to make this work as I not only  printed the instructions I had to revisit the DVD to see where I had gone wrong.

Having said that this, I then managed to redesign the box for a smaller version with 2, 8 x 8 pieces of card and this is a more practical size, which I will probably use quite a lot.

Even more pojects to follow

Lovely Gift WIne Box

Hi Crafters

If you read my last post you will have seen my enthusiasm for the Crafters Companion Score Board and videos.

Here is the Gift Wine Box as promised 

It still needs decorating, and a tag, but you get the gist

Okay so this looks like any other box you make but wait a minute!

This box has a lining making it stronger and better equiped to hold the precious bottle of wine. I would definately use this if I was giving some wine and needed something to gift it. As this takes 3 pieces of A3 card the minimum cost to make it is around £1.50, and woudl therefore need to sell for £4.50 to be practical. If making for craft shows I will probably sew wine bags. as these will probably sell better for the price point.

Would definately recommend the Crafters Companion Scoreboard.

More posts coming up on items made using the board. 

Crafters Companion A3 Score Board

Hi Crafters

I was flicking throigh the craft channels the other evening, as you do, when I came across a deal for the Crafters Conmpanion Score Board. Now anyone who reads this blog or has been to a craft day with me will know I love the the Fiskars cutter as it has the ability to cut and score with the one tool, but the presetnation was good and so I followed the programme for a while.

Needless to say I was hooked, not only did they have the A3 score board but 2 pretty A3 pads and 2 DVD's giving ideas on using the board. The price by buying the bundle was £45 if purchased seperately £75. I do not usually buy DVD's, I have been crafting a long time and can usually work out how to make an item and that's part of the fun but Sara from Crafters Companion demonstrates very well and the samples are always enticing. I decided to treat myself and popped in an order, which came today.

OMG I love it. Unlike my ususal approach I decided to watch a DVD first and this meant that having watched how a couple of items were made I felt confident having a go myself. Usually I would use unwanted card and paper to trial a new item but made my first project with the Score Board from the A3 card in the bundle. The card is very pretty and double sided and well worth buying for the projects shown. It took just 1hr to make a concertina file, the only slight criticism I have is the fasteners used on the project were not demonstrated, having used a magnetic clip which was a little heavy for the item, it took me another hour to find out what and how to make the string ties used on file demonstrated. The bad news  was I could not buy the item in question, the good news is I can make it and have all the tools to make and fasten it onto the next file.

This purchase has been a bit of an epiphany for me. In the past I have been reluctant to buy kits when I have similar tools available to use and can make do with the card and papers I already have. But these projects have been so straight forward and finished so nicely that I can see the value of having an A3 board and A3 quality card to do the job. So it would seem you can teach an old dog new tricks.

When I have time I will post a picture of the file I made, but not tonight as I want to make the wine box. 
Dee
    

Craft Show Shepton Mallet

Hi Crafters

I have just returned from the Craft4Crafters show at Shepton Mallet. Along with craft show at Exeter it is one of the main events in the south west.

Each year there is a 'will I won't I' dance before the event, but this time I decided to go. Like most crafters I told myself I did not need anything but I would go to see what's new and get ideas.

The journey from where I live is approx a 50 minute drive and this is part of the decision of whether to go or not. The show is not big and all the stalls can be visited in an hour and a half easily, as there is just one main hall, with a few stall upstairs. So do I drove for 2hrs to a 1.5hr show.

Needless to say there were road works on route and this made the journey over an hour. It is always very busy in the hall and difficult to get to the stalls to see the products, but this year I started at the back and worked my way to the entrance. The stalls are a mixture of sewing knitting and papercrafts, which reflects the craft industry. As I do all these crafts there was plenty to enjoy. I walked the hall before buying anything and then went back to the stalls to purchase. This seemed to work well and I finished up with fewer impulse buys that were not really needed.

For my papercrafts I picked up some essentials such as sticky tape and blank cards, this suited me as I have a mass of dies, paints and papers. I did see a marbling demonstration that looked very good. The equipment consisted of a block that fed the colours onto a plate and substance that set the colour onto the paper or fabric or stone and made it non smudge and colourfast. It looked really neat, but I was not in the market for another new hobby so decided to pass.I did buy some great value fabric from the "Bombay" stand who were selling fabrics at £2.50 a metre. Who could resist such a bargain. 

I thought I had finished when I came across the "House of Zandra" stand. This is a lady who designs felt animals, you may call them toys but they seem much more. The selection is fabulous and each animal has a story with its name. The mouse is a storyteller, while the penquin is the warm hearted penquin and the Berry eating rabbit, you get the picture. There were so many lovely kits I could not make up my mind, and in the end bought 5 with the idea that at least 2 would make great Christmas presents (if I do not get to them first). 

The journey home went well with no hold ups, and so I was very glad I made the trip. I  miss the days when there were multi-stalls selling stamps with amazing demonstrations and samples to be seen. Also the big Sizzix stand and die companies are not present at this show, I suppose this reflects the way the craft industry is going, with many sales made on-line and via tv. On the plus side there were demonstrations at a lot of stands, make and takes, as well as classes in the upper rooms on all the days of the show, so I could have made a whole afternoon of it, had I wished. Well worth a look and infinitely easier than going to the NEC, although thats a whole different story.

Dee 

Review of Anna Griffin Stamp & Die Greeting Set

Hi Crafters

Another Birthday has come and gone, had a lovely day, off Slimming World plan, with champagne and lemon posset from M & S, but its only once a year.

Part of my present from hubby was a greeting stamp and die set from Anna Griffin. As you know I am quite a fan of AG, and have looked at this set before, but felt at £35 plus p & p it was a little expensive, particularly as I have several greeting stamps already, making it a luxury.
So this made it the perfect gift.

It arrived quite quickly from QVC and I had to wait a couple of days before my borthday to try it out.

The stamps work well and the die cuts cut easily, I then layered them with sticky pads to get the 3D look and depth for the greeting. I was a little disappointed that the effect is not the same as the greetings you can purchase from Anna Griffin and I can only put this down to the fact that they come with a corrdinating sticky backing layer adding even more depth, also the 2 dies per design are quite wide apart unlike the purchased greetings.  

Are they a good product: 8/10     good selection of shapes and greetings on stamps
Value 7/10  you can definately buy cheaper from other makes but not as complete a set

The set will sit well with my Anna Griffin papers, dies and embossing folders. 

Wallet Mini

Hi Crafters

Sometimes when I am selling a new product or make a good sale I like to add a litle extra to the parcel. It always good to open a parcel and find a little free goody. I was looking for a small gift to add to a parcel and decided on a wallet mini.

They are perfect to capture a single event such as a party or prom, I wish they had been around when I was at my college leaving party as a wallet mini would have been just right to pop in the photos to remind me of the occasion and the good friends made during the 2 year course.

Having only one or two left in the box I decided to make some more and not having made them for some time had to remind myself of the measurements and process. It was workth it as they take about an hour to make from start to finish and I now have 2 more to add to my box.

It takes about 3 sheets of 12 x 12 papers and each mini will hold 10 large pictures.

You can add little changes as you want such as the holding section in the middle and on the back of this one I have a little section that will hold a pen or tags. 

the base card is scored at 2.5" and  9.5"
Turn the page and then score at 33/4", 4", 8", and 81/4"
Burnish all the fold and then cut off the four outside corners 

Then add papers to decorate each section. It is best to measure each section and cut half a centimetre smaller. You will have 2 side flaps and these make up the 4 extra sides in the middle of the wallet. I like to use the outer flap to make a storage pocket as shown below 

The Sew Useful Bags

Hi Crafters

Back to sewing now. With some new bags for holidays. I have made a few shoe bags and a couple of lingerie bags for sale on Etsy. 

The bags are simple but very handy for holidays and home storage. I always use shoebags when packing for holiday so that my good clothes are not next to worn shoes, and its great to have a lingerie bag to match. Knickers can be rolled up and placed in the lingerie bag and then the bag goes straight into the drawer when we get to the hotel or cabin. If you want to be super organised you can use the lingerie bag as a nightdress case to keep the room tidy.

The bags are quick to make with the shoe bag having a drawstring top, and the lingerie bag a magnetic clip on the flap. They can be made in an hour, and the selling price is more dependant n the cost of the fabric used. 

Here are the 2 styles I have made so far.

Standard:

These are made from a merchandised cotton with ribbon drawstrings 

Luxury

Made from heavy cotton with a Regency Print with some top stictching and cotton cord drawstring

All are available in my Etsy store and make a great gift, when you put 2 shoe bags and a lingerie bag together  

I think I would like to try a bag for my great neice next, perhaps a shoebag with a cat on??