More Preparations and ‘finds in the cupboard”

 Making the Most of Your Stash

As I prepare my stock for the Christmas Craft Fayres, I naturally end up tidying the boxes that have been holding my makes.

Yesterday tidying another box of papers I made some more laminated folders. I did not need them,  but as I looked at the papers I realised they were perfect for the project, and I had a half hour spare so decide to make a half a dozen to use up the papers. Over the years I have finished off many paper pads this way. As a treasurer for my local W.I. I have lots of different pots of money to collect at meetings, so I allocate a folder for each project or event. I also use them to hold receipts, recipes etc in the home and to give money or small gifts.

So another little bundle of laminated folders.

I went to put them into one of my finished article boxes and came across a number of other items made over the last couple of years to use up the papers were perfect pads and fabric scraps.

I use up all the papers and fabric peices I can possibly find use for, and although I very rarely put them on my tables at craft fayres as I have little space,  I have a friend who sells them to neighbours and colleagues for Cancer Research, so nothing is wasted. 

As I have expanded to 2 tables for my fayres this year I decided to package up all these items for a stocking filler section.

These are envelopes that close onto a double front flap and I have added a card and tag

Here we have 2 laminated folders or wallets and the front blue one is a document wallet

This picture shows a set of three budget purses and a set of of 2 gift purses 

3 sets of a folder and matching bookmark made from pretty vellum papers

Lastly I found 8 tissue holders made from my fabric scraps. 

Altogether there were 46 bundles, all now labelled and ready to display . I have decided to charge one price and it will be just £1.50 an item. 

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Christmas Craft Fayre Report 2

 Marketing Paper-crafts

First Item for the Gift Table

The second table I have booked at the Fayres will be for Gifts and Paper-crafts. I have already decided the items that will be displayed and limited them to allow customers to see clearly the items available .

There will be 3 different single pack Christmas cards and a couple of 6-8 pack designs 

A selection of brooches and earrings  (Christmas and General) which are sold in a small fabric gift purse. 

Christmas napkin rings in a fabric gift bag 

And Blizzard books 

I have just finished making a few of each of the two sizes I make.

The small Blizzard book holds:

 Business card,   

Gift Card 

Supermarket & bank cards

While the standard Blizzard book is a lovely keepsake, you can have black card pages for a photo album or standard pages for a notebook, or water colour paper for a sketch or painting book. I add Black or white card.

Having finished a number of books, I started to write the packaging for selling. 

I am trying to standardise the point of sale paper-work. 

When selling at a fayre it is important to remember that customers need to be able to see your items, and their use, easily. That is the reason I want to keep the tables more sparse than usual with spaces on the table . The Blizzard books are packaged with a product description that includes my craft logo. I took some time to choose the lettering and layout of the product description. With my logo  - “Paper-crafts With Personality” centre stage and as these books were my own design I placed the word “Unique” before the logo.  

These are the small Blizzard Books that take business cards, Bank cards, Gift cards etc

I altered the description a little for the larger version that can be used as an album, art book etc. 

A sample of each size will be open on the table 

First item finished and packed away.

So now onto the next items. 

My choice of 3 Unique Christmas Cards 

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Expandable Storage Bags finished

 Christmas Fayre progress report 1

Hi all you lovely crafters out there. 

Well as promised I am crafting and showing as I work my way toward the Christmas fayres.

Over the last week the sewing machine has been out again and I have made 10 shoe bags (or expandable storage bags to add to my stock. This was one of the bags I decided to include on my table but only had 4 remaining in stock. 

I had to remind myself of the sewing sequence for them as I had not made them for a year, so I took myself on to YouTube to watch my favourite sewing lady. Her Chanel is called Christine’s Home Affairs. Of course nowadays you have to sit through 4 lots of adverts to see a video, or pay to remove advertising (and I am too tight for that), but Christine shares so much of her time and information it is a pleasure to watch her videos. She also shows you how to bulk sew, and how she prices her items to sell, so for anyone starting out there is a lot to learn here. 

I started by selecting the fabrics I was going to use and cutting 10 bases. 

Next I needed to cut scraps for the handles and zip ends. I am not a lover of sewing in zips buy putting a tab end on them makes them neater and simpler to insert, so worth the effort cutting out.

I tried to get a production line going but found it difficult to sit at the table for more than a couple of hours and the bags were taking more than 45minutes each, so I split the load into a 2 to be finished on the first day and then 2 lots of 4 to be sewn over the next 2 days. 

So here I am 3 days later with 10 finished expandable storage bags, ready to tag and bag. 

 These will be added to the stock list and I will check the next items to be made. It is surprising how the months creep on you. At the beginning of the year, after checking my stock and deciding on the bags and gifts I wanted to make for 2025, in my head I had structured the months ahead with a line up of makes to do. Needless to say these well made plans did not come to fruition and I found myself at the end of August starting the process again.   

During the process of tagging the bags I will need to work out a price. My sewing and crafting is not a business, it is a hobby and I do it for pleasure and to raise funds for my local hospital, even though there is no need to make a profit, pricing is very important. I think most craft sellers will agree. Overprice your goods and people will look but not buy. Underprice and they will not buy as the items become devalued. So although a profit is not the main issue, pricing is. At craft fayres people come with an expectation to get the unusual, hand crafted items and most are prepared to pay a  premium for the this, recognising the work and individualism in the item. Underprice and they may decide your items are not the premium product they thought they were. So I find pricing my items the most difficult part. The price is decided by the price of the fabric, zips etc, and the time it takes to make. You also need to factor in to your price where you are selling. If I sell in my home town I have to take items that have a better margin as prices have to be kept low to make the sells, whereas the Christmas fayres I am attending I can take any of my makes. 

These bags take me 45 minutes on average. And I get approximately 3 from a metre of fabric plus a 15” zip. I am charging them at £7.50. I am making money on them provided I do not factor in my time, and this is where it gets tricky. My time is obviously worth something, but I am not a professional, and there are a lot of bag makers out there, so whilst I would like to charge my time at £20 an hour (as this includes the maintenance and purchase of tools packaging and presentation costs, in reality I often end up charging an item at £5 for my hourly rate. So whilst £7.50 does not cover my time I hope I will have other items at the fayre with better margins to make up for this, as I believe this is a price that will give a better number of sells . 

Bags labelled with “Sew Useful Bag” tags and Handmade with Love price tags

Well on to the next make.

Happy Crafting 

Dee 

 

Autumn Crafting

 Getting Ready for the Christmas Craft Fayres

Summer is over, day trips are limited by the weather so my spare time turns to preparations for my Christmas Fayres.

Last year I did 1 Fayre at the end of August and 2 Christmas Fayres. 

For some reason for the August fayre I took a few cards I had made and sold a few. I have been selling my bags for a couple of years   now and not really trying to sell cards, as they had not been selling well.  So it was a pleasant surprise when I sold a few cards and had some commissions for cards from friends, this led to renewed interest in designing my Christmas cards. A couple of designs came to mind and I  started to get excited again about card crafting. With a huge stash of card dies and card craft items I soon had a good pile of cards to take to the fayre in November. The designs were unique and one incorporated a gift while the other was a card and embellishment in one. These sold better than ever, and so I decided to have 2 tables at this years fayre, one for bags and one for cards and gift ideas. The same thing happened to the fayre booked in December, the cards sold well alongside the bags and gifts, and again I decide to book 2 tables for this year, which I have just done. 

First job is decide which bags I am going to sell on Table 1 and which cards and gifts for Table 2. 

Second job is stock check and decide on the items I need to make to get the stock levels up to cover the 2 fayres.

Third job is labelling and pricing the items. 

As I get prepared for the Christmas season I will share my progress on the blog.I will tell you what I have made and how I priced it, and then after the fayres I will report back on how each item sold.

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Challenge finished One last Card from scraps

 Using up those scraps

As I mentioned in my last post the challenge to use up the 36 page 12 x 12 paper pad, has finished and I am just showing one last card that used up some of the trimmings left over from the challenges.

There were not many and as all the papers coordinated I was able to use them all on the same card.

It is a great feeling when you can use everything and not have any papers or card scraps to throw away.

The only item I have added to make the card is some rose gold tape purchased in Paperchase sale. The tape is a lovely colour but not very sticky so I would not use it to secure any crafts but for this card it worked perfectly to edge some of the strips to make them pop on the card. 

The strips with the edging have been placed ad-hoc and I do think they make a difference.

The strips have been added to a plain 6 x 6 card with a greeting elevated in the centre . The greeting is backed by another piece of coordinating scrap .

I love this way of using up scraps and the design was inspired by Sam Calcott, who has a great number of videos on using up scraps which are well worth checking out. 

Back next weeks and I will be telling you about a local craft show I visited.

Happy Crafting

Dee

Challenge Project No9 - Mini Brag Book

 Mini Brag Book

So for this challenge we are down to 3 sheets of 12 x 12 and some scraps.

With 2 of the sheets I decided to go back to what I remember as Grandma’s brag book, not my idea, and one of the first construction ideas I ever made. As these pages are double sided they are perfect for the project.

Score the sheet at 3”,6”,9” on both sides 

On the first and third score line cut up to the top horizontal score line, and on the second score line cut down (in other words in the opposite direction to the other 2 ) to the bottom horizontal line.

Then starting from the outside corner fold the square forward and back until the sheet form a booklet. Then leave the outside sheet and glue the next 2 pages together until you get to the last single sheet. 

Method One 

Cut 2 pieces of scrap cardboard (cereal boxes are perfect for this) 31/4” square. 

Use some of your scraps to cut 4”squares and cover the outside of the cardboard by sticking the cardboard in the centre of the 4” piece of scrap paper and cutting the corners before sticking down on all for sides. Once dry add the covers to the top and bottom of the book .

 

Method 2

Cut a piece of coordinating scrap paper 3.5” wide and 7” long score at 3 3/8”, 3.5”, 3 5/8.

Fold the cover in half and fold the score line to give a small bound edge.

Place a piece of ribbon 12” long between the book and the cover before adding the cover as follows:

Glue the top page all over and centre the cover over it. Turn the book over and glue the back 

page and then bring the cover over lining up to give equal sides. 

Pull the ribbon up, add the bead, and knot it off. 

I then cut 8 pieces of 2 3/4” square to make photo mats, which will be added to the pack . 

This is the last of the projects for this challenge and I have one piece of 12 x 12 left and a few odd pieces. I am going to make one last card using some of the scraps and perhaps use the last sheet to make another envelope folder, for the store cupboard. 

I also have enough scraps to make a larger card, and I have an idea I want to try, which I will show when complete

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Challenge - Project No 8

 

This folder is slightly different. It has a pretty notepad, and a small memory book.

The notepad was made with scraps of copy paper, (as previously described) and covered with a half sheet of paper.

The memory book was made with a sheet of 12 x 12 , sectioned and then cut through the middle and folded to make the booklet. 

Each of the seven section has been covered with a white phot mat and the side pocket has labels for journalling.

 

            So 3 sheets of the paper and half a sheet for the notepad.

This leaves 3 sheets of paper and a few bits and pieces. I would like to find another project to complete the challenge.

Dee

Project 7 - Of the Paper Pad Challenge

 Coming to the end of the pad

We are down to the last few projects now with odd pages remaining, and a few odd pieces.

None of the projects are new, I have made them all before but they suit the project and with all the papers coordinating should make a pretty display. 

Project No 7 is a classic envelope folder.. I have made the Christmas version before with 4 Christmas cards A notepad , and gift tags, and decided to use one of the last full sheets, to make a summer version. It would also use up some smaller pieces. 

This envelope is made with one sheet of 12 by 12 paper. Mark the centre of the page and then fold all four corners into the centre . Then simply fold the square in half. You can either fold the back triangle over the front or leave them down as covers for the pockets either side. In which case it would be good to use a strong wet glue to run along the outside edges leaving a pocket in the top of the envelope

In one side I placed 4 cards and envelopes, and in the other side a small notepad and 4 notelettes. 

 

We are getting near the end of the challenge 

Back soon with the last couple of projects 

Happy Crafting

Dee

Challenge Project No6

 Using Up more Bits & Pieces

The aim of this challenge is to use up your papers, but why not clear out more bits and pieces as well. 

So to make the next batch of cards I went back to the cupboard and checked out some stacks of  embellishments, and came up with some great charms that worked with the papers. 

So another pack of 4 cards were made with the papers and the simple addition of the charms.

3 of the cards had a cat charm and 1 had a large butterfly. 

All four were packed in one presentation bag ready for the McMillan coffee morning.

As you can see 3 were made into Birthday cards and 1 ‘Just A Note’ card that could be used to cheer up a friend 

Back soon with more ideas

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Project 5 of the Challenge - Back to Basics

 Pretty Stationary Sets

This project required using some pastel coloured A4 papers to make the base folders, and allowed me to blitz the papers requiring 2 and a half sheets of 12 x 12 and one sheet of A4 per folder, plus ribbon.  

A quick gift to make. No tools needed and makes lovely Thank You/Teachers gifts

Simply fold up the bottom of the sheet of A4 by approximately 2”, If you are making more than one use the first one as a measure for this fold to match all the folders. Trim the outside corners before running some glue down the outside edge of the fold to make the pocket.

Next measure the size and the folder and cut 2 sheets of paper 1/2” smaller on the height and width measurements. Glue to the outside. 

Next I used the same papers to make 6 matching notelettes, 

Going back to my craft room I picked up a stack of copy paper. Whenever I sell items or print anything that does not use a full page I save the other half.  I trim the pieces to 14cm x 21 and then fold in half. Putting 10 sheets together I staple the centre . The last thing I make for the folder is a matching note pad, using the 1/2 sheets of 12 x 12. Cut the 15cm x 30cm down to 15cm x 23cm. Gently fold the piece over but don’t push down on the fold. Slide the folded paper into the crease of the fold, Glue the top page of the stack and bring the folded paper down. Turn over and repeat , securing the notepad papers to the cover. 

Pop the 6 cards into one side of the folder and the notebook into the other.

You now have a great set of stationary to gift. Just add some matching ribbon to close the folder . 

I made 5 of these and added them to the challenge stack.

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Challenge Project No 4

 Next cards - Similar but different 

Now on a roll, my next card was something similar in design to the previous cards, but with a little twist.

The cards were covered with the 3.75” squares of patterned papers and a bow of white ribbon was attached to the centre. But instead of an embellishment or greeting added to the card, I added one of my hand made stickpins. 

The card would then be a greeting and small gift - all in one.

These cards were packaged individually with an explanatory note in the package, and I matched the pins to the colours of the background papers. 

I had enough pins to make 6 of these cards and so project 4 of the challenge has been completed. 

Keep checking in for more ideas of how to use up those lovely papers you have. 

Happy Crafting

Dee 

Challenge Items 1 & 2

 First 2 Gift Boxes of 6 Cards 

First 2 boxes of cards have been put together.

The idea that inspired the idea of using up the 12 x 12 pad was the quick gift box.  Made from one sheet of 12 x12 with enough width and depth to add 6 cards and envelopes . In order to decide the size of the card, you need to take the amount of centre space required for the cards & envelopes you are using. As this was 4 x 4 cards, I needed a minimum of 4.5” (allowing the extra for the envelope and a little wiggle room. Then the depth you need to hold six cards all with a little embellishment (stack the cards and envelopes and measure) for the first 2 boxes needed to be 1.5”

This makes the width of the card to make the box needs to be 1.5” + 4.6” + 1.5 =7.6” 

While the length needs to be 1.5” + 4.5” + 1.5” + 4.5” =12” 

This gives you the score lines 

First box had a very simple design. I cut one of the pieces of 12 x 12  papers into 3.75” squares. Wrapped some white organza ribbon arround the papers and then glued it onto a card front. 

Since photographing these cards I have added a small pretty white embellishment with Diamante centre.

These can have a greeting added or left plain as a notelette..

The next box I decided on another simple design on the same theme but this time as Birthday cards. 

First 2 sets completed. I looked in the cupboard to see what else I had I could use, and came across some flowers I had had made some time ago .

Another six cards were quickly made and boxed

Set 3 

As you can see 3 were made with summer colour flowers and 3 with autumn colours .

To if these flowers into a gift box required more depth and therefore a standard box had to be made that required 2 sheets of papers

These were all simple to make and started the Challenge off with a quick win, leaving 

27 sheets for the next projects. 

back soon with more ideas for the remaining papers.

Happy Crafting

Dee

Craft Challenge

 Using Up more Craft room pieces.

In keeping with my attempt to downsize my craft items I have started to tidy up all my boxes with papers, embellishments, gems, ribbons etc. I use a lot of stacking boxes to store my crafts, from the ‘Really Useful Box Company’ . As I go through the boxes I weed out the items I will no longer use and donate to charity and then mark the boxes with the contents, in the hope I will not buy doubles and triples of everything. This is a start, but it also highlights areas of concern. The stack of 12 x 12 & 8 x 8 paper pads which even after donating some, and selling some, leaves me with far too many. I cant bear to part with them just because I love the designs and even though I have no project in mind at this moment, I know I will enjoy using them sometime in the future. I tell myself they will only go up in price and so I am being practical keeping a good stash. All I need to do is to stop buying, and use what I have in the stash. 

Every now and then, I have a reason to select one of the paper pads and get to work on the next project, and so it happened last week. . My sister in law and I attend a craft club, where last week she announced that in Septembers she would be running a McMillans Coffee morning and would like some cards to sell as well. Last year with the same formula her friends and Jackie made over £800 to give to McMillans and they would like to match it again this year.

I went home and started thinking about what I could make for her and decided the best thing to do was select a paper pads and see what I could make with it. I chose one of the  12 x 12 pads by Crafters Companion I had purchased a few when they were on sale. This one was called Hydrangea. There were 34 of the 36 sheets remaining and I decided I would make as much as possible from the pad

Very pretty papers and I wanted to make a lot of cards, so I took one of the papers and made a box to present the first 6 cards. From a 12 x 12 I could make an all in one box that will take 4” cards. The problem being I had no 4 x 4 cards in my stash. A quick check on the internet and I was lucky to find them on sale at Hobbycraft. They were selling off the Craftstash 4 x 4 with envelopes, 50 in a pack, reduced to just £1. Great quality and too good a deal to miss. So I picked up several packs and set too, to make as many cards as possible using the papers and anything I had in the cupboard. 

Over the next couple of weeks I will craft and share my makes with you . So keep checking back to see what I have come up with. 

Happy Crafting

Dee

Special 70th Birthday Card/Memory Box

 Memory Box/Card

My latest project was a special card for a great friend. 

This is not my own design but an amalgamation of a few similar boxes I had seen on YouTube, in particular, and worth checking out NGOC Vang. This is a great memory box and I mixed the ideas from this Explosion Box, with an explosion card I have made before and then butterflies popping up in the middle. 

The outer box is made from a sheet of 12 x 12 card stock scored at 10cm and 20cm on each side, to make 9 squares. Another piece of 12 x 12 was used to cut the 4  hearts to line the corners, and the 4 pieces of  card 14.6cm x 6cm scored at 2cm on the 2 short sides and  1 long side. I then cut the corners and folded each of the scored edges over a  9.5cm square of plain card. This is a holder for the additions embellishments/tags/notelets etc . 

The Inner box is made from a piece of coordinating card stock 9” x 9” and scored at 3” and 6”. 

The corners are made the same as the outer box and each side has a black card photo mat

The centre has been decorated with  butterflies stickers on acetate strips, at different heights.

Thus being the first one I made the whole box took me 5hrs. So this is one for someone special.

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Using up Scrap fabrics

 Project 4

This is the last project using up oddments of fabrics that remained after tidying the 2 bags of fat quarters. 

For this last project I used the green christmas  fabric. There were several small pieces and so

 I decided to cut them into tree shapes and make cards with them 

Very simple and you can do it with any pieces of fabric that you think suit your Christmas style

As you can see I have cut random sizes with pinking scissors and then grouped them on the cards.

I then finished with a few gems and just have to add my Christmas Greeting 

 .

 THE BUNDLE OF FABRICS SHOWING THE GREEN PIECES USED TO MAKE THE TREES.

This completes the projects using up the scrap fabrics .

Come back soon to see my next fabulous 70th Birthday card made for a special friend. 

Happy Crafting

Dee.

More Scrap Fabric projects

 

Another great use of your Scrap Fabrics

Remember the tidy up that gave me a small stack of scrap fabrics to re-use. 

Project 3 Used the odd pieces of orange and coordination patterned fabrics to make 2 pretty little tote bags . 

I sewed 3 pieces of the oddments together to form the outer bags and the only additional materials I needed was the handles, and some plain lining fabric.

The 3 pieces together made a panel big enough to fold in half and make the outer for the bag, and it was wide enough to cut in half 5o make 2 bags.

I added the handles to the front edges and cut 2 lining panels the same size.

The finished bags can be used as gift bags, small totes, book bag. 

Come back soon and see the last project with this bunch of salvaged scraps. 

Dee

Using up fabric scraps Project 2

 Project 2 - Purses & Makeup bag

The next piece of fabric uses was actually 2 pieces quite narrow but reasonably long ,

Not the black print as this was too small for this project but the grey and small mauve print behind it.

The wider piece I cut into 2 lengthways and made 2 purses from it. This size purse I use for jewellery or gift cards, but they have multiple uses. 

The pattern I use is an all in one pattern. and I use it for all size pouches up to nightdress case size, unfortunately I have been using the same method for a couple of years now and cannot remember which YouTube video I first saw it. But if you check  Jean Truelove Quilting on YouTube, she shows you the pattern and method.

The 2 narrower pieces made 2 pretty little purses. The finished size is 10cm square, which will take a credit card but would also be lovely to give jewellery or other small gifts, or give money.

On one of  the purses I have added an embroidered hedgehog appliqué. 

.

The 2nd piece of fabric became a wallet size, and again would make a great gift wallet, small pencil case, or personal hygiene wallet, and on this one I added a fabric transfer. 

I also made another one the same size from the remaining section of a fat quarter.

I make many of these purses and wallets including Christmas fabric styles for gift and voucher .

Number two project done 

Back soon with No 3 .

Happy Crafting

Dee