Bargain Buys and how I use them + Create & Craft Club membership

 Hello Crafters

Well here we are hopefully seeing the end of isolation soon and some sunny days on their way. Last weekend was a Bank Holiday and as I live in the West Country it is not great for getting out and about, so naturally I did some crafting and checked out the Craft Channels, along with EBay. This is always fatal for an avid crafter like myself as you cannot resist a bargain whether you need it or not. I ended up purchasing 3 great deals on Ebay and finally joining the Create and Craft Club. I don't know why I have put this off for so long, I think the £20 was not the issue it was the fact I thought that the deals were not always right for me. I am not a lover of buying £150 sets with multiple dies and accessories even though the deals offer better value than buying individually. I know i have suitable items in my stash and am really looking for the lovely papers and items to finish my products. 

So let me take you through the purchases, how I will use them, and the benefit they give to my crafting

Purchase 1 . First I bought a magazine with an extra DVD. This was a Crafters companion magazine and NEW and the gifts were included . It had a set of stamps (very useful words), a stencil, an embossing folder and a single flower die. So this alone covered the cost. But the best item was the DVD set, and so I happily bid on the item, and won it for less than half the original cost of the magazine.

Purchase 2:

Parchment papers and extras. This was an amazing buy as I just hit lucky with no other bidders. I had 4 packs of 12 x 12 Parchment papers, some very pretty sheets of 12 x 12 oriental papers, 3 mini book sets  and a couple of other items .

Purchase 3: My last purchase over the holiday weekend from Ebay was a DCWV 12 x 12 Cardstock stack, this I paid £13.65 but as these pads are normally £20 I was pleased with the purchase 

As the items have been delivered I have tried to take a good look at them and put away the "must Haves" and reconsider the other items, with a view to using, donating or re-selling them.

Purchase 1: I checked the pack out and have glanced through the magazine, noted a couple of projects that are new and I may wish to try, but most of the cards were nice but not what I really do so it has gone in the magazine rack to be given away soon, along with the stencil. The stamps & embossing folder are being kept and dvd is a great find. It is a double disc set. The dvd has many projects using the Crafters Companion A3 Score Board, as I have one of these and use it a lot, some new projects would enhance the use of the board. The second disc has over 500 printable pages items and I am looking forward to going through them and selecting some that may inspire new ideas and projects. 

 Purchase 2: The packs of parchment papers were in great condition in the unopened packs and 2 of the packs more than covered the cost I paid. All four have been packed away as they are lovely prints and I am sure I can use them. The oriental papers are also very pretty and I have kept them as well. The mini books were very interesting they are by Brenda Pinnock and so I undid one pack to make it up. I will have the fun of putting it together and then give it to a friend who sells items for charity. The other 2 I will add to my freebie box to give away when I sell anything. I like to add ‘happy mail’ and these will make great gifts for crafters. 

There was also a pack of 4cm square pieces of card, half plain and half printed. I could not think what to do with them to start with and then realised they were for teabag folding. So I had to check out teabag folding ideas on YouTube and make a Pinwheel design. It was a trip down memory lane, and these squares will now go into the bag to donate to crafters who make cards for the local hospital as I am sure someone will make good use of them, while I have tried a old technique again. 

Purchase 3 The DCWV Mariposa 12 x 12 pack has yet to be delivered, but I have used the 6 x 4” pad and loved the designs. If I don’t think I can use the whole pad I will break it up and sell one sheet of each design for someone else to try this lovely card-stock.

So all in all i had some bargains and have tried new techniques as well as some craft items put aside for a rainy day. I also enjoy the rush of winning an Ebay lot that I know will add to my stash. The only problem is I can get hooked on winning great lots, and am back in the habit of checking out Ebay for bargains when really I have very few gaps in my craft stash for more items and little need for more, but isn’t that part of what a hobby is all about. 

Now I would like to talk about Create and Craft Club membership a little more. Having bought the membership I wondered if I would get the benefit from it, but summer time is often a time for craft companies to clear out old stock and with members special discounts I thought I would check it out for a year and see if the value was there.

I am not great at reading small print so it was a little bit of a surprise to find the £10 credit you get on your account can only be spent on purchases of £50 or more. So far I have not received my welcoming pack and I was not aware of anything other than the 10% discount . Then looking through the pages of the website, considering a purchase to use my £10 discount I discovered a paper pad that said free to members, so I popped it in the basket, along with a couple of other items making it approx £20 worth of goods. This is when I found I had to spend £50 before I could use my voucher plus the capped p&p does not include members free items. Now when I think about that it makes perfect sense in respect of the freebie and so i took out the other 2 items and enjoyed an 8 x 8 paper pad for the postage cost of £2.99. The pad arrived and is very pretty with tags and toppers included so I am very happy with it. 

Feeling better about the membership I then realised there must be somewhere on the website with  information about all the deals and have found it and know where to keep up with deals for members. 

Then last night I was watching Create & Craft (do I find myself checking out the channel more now I am a member, I think I do), and just caught a demonstration on a deal for Tim Holtz Haberdashery bundle. I love Tim Holtz and so I went back through the programme to catch the whole of the item. Whilst I am not in the market for scissors (I have about 12 pairs as I do the occasional workshop) they were showing a class mat approx 25” x 14” , that had a section for a plastic mat for ink work. This was a bit if a revelation for me as I usually have to get a separate ink mat out and then find space on the desk for it so that I can mix my inks for distressing or painting. The bundle included a spare mat for this space 2 scissors presented in lovely tins and have a special members discount making a 35% reduction. I did think about it for a while but caved and  decided I would try it. There was also a die I had seen that was in a bundle that  I thought was more than I could possibly use, but I decided to buy the die singularly as although it was a hefty £22,  I could use my £10 voucher on the total purchase. I will review these 2 purchases after I receive and try them out. 

I think over the year I will get value for money, but I am aware I will need to be strong and not buy just because it looks like a great reduction. I will do more reviews on my membership throughout the year. If any of you are already members I would love to hear about your favourite buys and what you think of being part of the club.

Back soon with more crafting ideas.

Dee

Concertina Book Part 2 inside pages

 Hello Again hope you are all well and enjoying your crafting.

Today as promised I will show you how I have decorated the inside of my concertina book. I like to be able to use my books as journals and photo albums so this style suits me well. On the inside pages I will add some decorations and tags and then the outside panels will be left for photographs.

There are basically 4 double pages where you open out the book and I will take you through each set, but first lets see the book and front cover.

On the front cover I have added an eyelet to right side to take the ribbon closure. I have then finished the front with a glazed tile I made from one of the labels that come with the papers. To make the tile i have glued the label to a piece of heavy card stock and glazed it with Glossy Accents glue. 

Next you open the book for the inside cover and page 2.

On the inside cover I have used one of the longer strips left from cutting the pages and folded into 4 to make a small concertina booklet, and finished the top with another label. On page 2 I have tucked in a couple of tags rounded at the top 

Page 3/4

I have left page 3 with nothing tucked in to allow the picture of the bird to be seen, then fold over the kite flap and on page 4 there is a folded tag. I like to add these as they can be used to hold notelet pads or sticky-notes for jotting down information

Page 5/6           

Page 5 has another 2 tags added to the tuck-in and an embellished large Paperclip (shabby chic style) to the kite fold. Turn it over and there is another mini concertina booklet tucked in page 6

Page 7/8 

there is another large tag in page 7 and page 8 has been left to enjoy the bird in flight

Page 9 and inside cover. 

Page 9 has a mini notebook made from a spare piece of card folded in half and a mini notebook cut down and the back page glued to the back fold. 

I may add some more decorations, but i have used a good amount of the spare pieces and made some useful additions, as well as the decorated Paperclip, mini notebook and front tile.

I hope you will have a go at this book as it is quick and relatively simple to make and you can experiment with you additional items with plenty of tuck in areas 

The back of the album holds at least 8 photographs so this book would be lovely to capture a particular event or holiday.

Dee

Making Concertina Books from your stash Style 1

 Hi Crafting Friends

Over the last couple of weeks I have been looking at making mini-books and came across a great way of making them from any size paper pad you have.

The basic style works for 6 x 6, 8 x 8 or 12 x 12 papers, and can be made very quickly leaving lots of time to decorate your book. It is a concertina book with pockets on all the front pages and plain backs for your photographs. 

There are many tutorials on YouTube to make these books and I followed one from Treasure Books, a great lady with some lovely tutorials on journals and envelope books (my next project), it quickly became addictive and I made all three sizes in quick succession.

I have yet to decorate them inside. But thought I would share one I made for a particular friend and decorated ready to send.

To make my version of this book you will need 

4 sheets of 12 x 12 papers of your choice -  I used Fabrika Decoru “Sentimental Story”

1 sheet of 12 x 12 black card

Cut the papers 

The 4    12 x 12 cut to 9” square, save the ends to use in decorating inside

From the black card cut 4 pieces of card 6.5” x 3 5/16” 

For each of the main 4 pieces fold on the diagonal and burnish, fold gently the other way just to mark the centre of the square. Fold all corners to the middle using the folded line as a marker. 

Unfold the corners that are not on the folded line and fold in half 

When all 4 are folded we attach the side triangle to each other to form the concertina 

You now have a mini book with pockets on one side and plain panels on the reverse 

To make the book covers, glue 2 of the black card panels , add one to the outside flap and then glue the other on the other side covering the flap. Do the same for the back flap 

Once the covers are on the basic book is complete. The cover does not go all around as the book needs to open out fully to allow the back panels to be used. I will add a closure by placing an eyelet on the front panel 

In my next post I will show you my page inserts and decorations, and the front finish and closure.

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Last Show of AliExpress Items (until the next time)

 Hi Crafters 

Thanks for stopping by, it is lovely to see so many of you checking in, it keeps me motivated.

I am doing a round up of the other items from my last order with AliExpress, as I want to move on to other projects I have made in the last month and to revisit some of my early projects. 

The first item I have used from this bundle is a stamp set of greetings with ticket style matching die.

I thought this was very versatile as I can use it on cards, gift bags and boxes and for Memory books & Journals. The style suits a lot of projects 

Along with other dies which I will show, I also ordered some happy birthday stickers, and Thank you stickers for sending out with Ebay sells. The stickers come on a roll of 500 for about £2.50.

I have bought these before for my Ebay sells, and also for Home backed goodies, as I bake for WI and other events occasionally. 

These are the other dies purchased. The top die is a beautiful cut out Octopus Steam Punk Style, which seems odd, but can be used for cards or mixed media. 

The bottom picture shows an edge die and a set of wedding dies that are mirrored. They would be Perfect for invitation, save the day etc and I am going to use it for a Golden Wedding card.

Going back to the Greeting Stamps and ticket die, the stamps cover many occasions:

Ticket: Valid for 1,000,000 kisses Anytime, Anywhere Admit Two

You're Invited

Handmade for you

You are the best DAD in the World

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Birthday to You

Thank You

Welcome Baby

You are the sweetest MOM in the world

To......     Fro.......

So as you can see they cover a lot of areas of your crafting world

I thought when I bought them you stamped the image and then cut them out, I do  not do a lot of stamping. However when I stamped the image I quickly realised you cannot position the die correctly to cut out after stamping. So cut the tickets first and then stamp out the greeting onto the ticket.

My hands are reasonably steady and the first one worked well, however the second image was slightly lop-sided, and I was not happy with the result. 

So I cut a couple of stamped images out of the card and layered them onto the ticket. I preferred the result and so now I have the option to stamp direct or mount the stamped image  

Here is a picture of my desk with the finished items ready for use.

Back soon with lots of new and old ideas for projects

Dee

Great Paper Clip Dies Item 4 from AliExpress

 Hi Crafters

So here is the next item from the AliExpress Bundle.

I thought these looked good on the website and took a chance on them. As I am currently making Journals and Mini Albums these paperclips could be very useful for decorating and holding items. 

They arrived quickly and total cost for the set of eight styles was £4 including delivery. Very simple to use I cut them as soon as I had time and space to try them out.

If you use a paper that matches or coordinates with your project, these paperclips can be used on any pages to add tags, notes or embellishments that can be added to your layouts. 

Here they are in one of my Kite Books with matching card to the book pages

If you do Journals or Mini Albums etc these make a lovely addition to the pages, and you can tailor them to the users interests.   

Happy Crafting

Dee

Shabby Chic Tiles - Another Recycling Project

 Hi Crafters

As its a wet Bank Holiday I thought I would share this lovely idea from GI Kerr. This is my own version but pop along and have a look at her channel on YouTube to see the original.

These are lovely tiles that you can use to decorate your Journals, books or projects

All you need are:

Thick card (I used card from a parcel, you can still see the ridges, but I am quite happy with that)

Pretty papers with small prints and messages 

Glue Glaze such as Glossy Accents

Cover the card with your papers using a standard glue such as PVA add another piece to tidy the back and allow to dry 

Cover the top with Glossy accents and leave overnight before using on your projects 

Gi used a foam card that was beautiful and smooth, but I decided to make this a recycling project and use whatever I had available. Whilst mine have ridges I am not concerned about them, they add to the vintage look.

  I could add a paperclip to the paper I place on the back to make a lovely page decoration for journals etc

Use word tiles for scrapbook pages 

Or simple decorations for mini books as I have on this project

Happy Crafting 

Back Soon

Dee

 

 

Sea Horse Box - 3rd make AliExpress stash

 Hi Crafters

Well I am back crafting after my major sort out. Today’s make is from a very lovely seahorse box die. It comes in 2 parts and I think you can buy other end panels to use instead of the sea-horse, but I have lots of box dies and my own templates so just bought this set as I fell in love with the Seahorse.

This is a very simple set to use. There is a box die that cuts out the shape and scores the folding lines 

And then you simply cut 2 of the seahorse panels which have a flap at the base and you fold over the flap and stick to the base of the box.

Here are the 2 dies used.

 The box itself is small but perfect for a couple of fancy chocs or jewellery

You need to secure the seahorse cut-out to the side of the box, or as I have, tie it at the top to keep it together. 

The dies came from Top Expresssions at AliExpress, they came super quick and total cost including taxes was £8.20 for both. You can buy other panels and I am in the processing of adding a bride and butterfly to the collection and maybe a carriage, they cost between 2.80 and 3.80 each 

Having made the box and panel as it is shown I decided to see what else I could do with it. 

So here is a larger box decorated in the same way and a greeting card.

Both have been made with 12 x 12 ocean paper pad from the Range. These basic card pads are double sided and offer great value at £2.99 for the 12 x 12 packs, with 24 sheets. Although the card is not top quality it is perfect for trial projects and backing paper, and is thick enough to make sturdy boxes.

For the greeting card I used 2 sheets of A4 white card that was textured. The first sheet I cut down to 11.5” x 5.75” to fit nicely into my 6” envelopes

I then cut a piece of the blue card from. 12 x 12 sheet to measure 5.5” square, and cut my seahorse from another part of the same sheet. I cut another  piece of white card from the second sheet measuring 5.5”square and then simply layered them up placing the tab at the bottom of the seahorse under the 5” white square before placing it onto the card. I secured the top part of the seahorse with my Glossy Accents glue as it dries quickly and has a fine nozzle. 

I hope you enjoy these ideas and look at your dies to see which ones can be used in the same way.

Dee