Tea Lovers Wallet - New Make

Tea Lovers Wallets 

 Hi Crafters 

Today I am showing one of my new makes. Tea Lovers Wallet. It was made for the craft fair at the end of August and it was one of the best sellers, along with the Tea Lovers Journal. I think once people knew what they were they sold as a great gift or treat. 

Simple to make yet pretty and practical the wallet holds 6 (or 12 if you want to double up in the sections), so ideal to take away for a weekend break or for work.

Thoughtful present for someone who enjoys Fruit teas.

The few I have left will be given to friends or sold o the Trade Stall at club.

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Another Example of Best Ever Box

 Hi Crafters

I thought I would show you the inside of another box I made using the same method as my last post. 

This box has not been lined and you can clearly see the finish on the box sides. The boxes actually go together without glue, but for a tighter finish and sturdier box the flap sides and end 1/2” on the sides can be glued down.

It fits together beautifully

Back soon with new projects

Dee

Best Box Ever

 Hi Crafters 

First quick make of Best Box Ever 

I have been making boxes for some  time but saw someone on YouTube recently making the extra edging for the inside of the box to give a very professional finish. It was only a glancing view and I did not see the item being made or remember who I was watching at the time. 

A couple of weeks past and I suddenly remembered the edging and decided to have a go at reproducing the technique for my own boxes, as I want to do a class on boxes for Christmas.

The largest you can make with 12 x 12 card is a 5” square box which is of good size 

I made it up and it came out very well however this was using a thin paper and so I am going to have to make one with heavier card stock to ensure the measurements work for the folds 

Take 2 pieces of card 12 x 12 and score all 4 sides @ 1/2”, 2” 31/2” using the top and bottom measurements on your scoreboard

Cut both ends as if making up a box in the normal way cutting small notches in tabs and sides 

Burnish all lines and make up as normal gluing down the extra fold onto the base of the box piece

This gives a lovely lined edge and professional finish

As my box was from light paper I then lines the lid and base by cover 2 pieces of card (cereal box) cut at 4 3/4” square and covering with the same paper 

I also lined a piece of card 4.5” square to cover the top 

To make the box requires 2 sheets of 12 x 12 matching papers. 

Whilst this box does not look very different on the outside, the inside has a very professional finish and construction can be completed without glueing in the first instance, so you could unfold the sides for storage and glue together later when you are going to use it.

Back soon with more craft musings 

Happy Crafting

Dee 

 

Craft Fair 2021

 

First Craft Show 2021

Hi Crafters

I am back to day to round off my posts about the Craft show I attended on Bank Holiday Monday.

This is the first time I have attended this fair and  you are only allowed to sell items you have made so gift boxes with scarfs and Trinket Boxes with brooches were out as the inside items were not Hand-Crafted. So I decided to try my Journals, Journal Kits and Tea Lovers Journals & Wallets plus Clips for decorating Journals and bags, Clipboards (something practical) and some gift bags and Trinket boxes.

The footfall was very  encouraging and  organisation for the day very good. There was a lovely selection o f stalls with knitted items, Beautiful quilted hangings, jewellery, Fabric boxes, and Ceramics to name a few. The venue is set up for a Family Fun Day which runs from 11am to 4pm and in the field is a very big Car Boot. There is some entertainment and games for the families, while the Craft show sits alongside this in the main hall.

Now for sales. 

The Tea Lovers Journal and wallets sold, the clipboards and Journal kits, and at the end I sold some decorated paperclips. Sadly I did not do well with my Journals, sold no gift bags or Trinket boxes, which surprised me. 

I learnt I am not the greatest saleswoman in the world and presentation is important so that buyers can see what you have and how the items are used. Pitch your items at the right price for your venue. Kite Journals look great as do Turkish map books but the majority of people do not know what they are.

So some good news and some bad. Overall it was a lovely day and I met like minded crafters and received good feedback for my items, which was very encouraging. I will be putting my Journals on Ebay and in my Etsy Store. I have donated some gift bags and Trinket boxes to a friend who sells anything and everything given to her for  a Cancer Charity and I will be sitting down and working on what items I make for the Christmas Fair.     

Back soon with new makes and ideas to share. Oh yes and more good news the craft group I joined a couple of years ago is starting back next week. 

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Gifts Made for the Craft Show

 Hi Crafters

I have run out of time and so am summing up the items I am selling at my first craft show this Bank Holiday.

To recap I have.3 section on my table. Bags and Trinket boxes, Albums and Journals and the last section is gifts.

The gifts include 

Clipboards and separate clips to buy if you wanted to make your own boards 

Tea Lovers Journals and wallets

And here is a picture of a selection of the Journal/Bag clips I made

Overall the table was a little full and but there was a good selection of items 

Back soon with a synopsis of the day.

Dee

Craft Fair Show & Tell Journals and Journal Pins

 Show & Tell Item No6

Journals & Journal Pins

As well as the  Junk Journals shown in my last post I will be selling plainer journals that can be used as notebook album and journal. These all have laminated covers and have 2 main signatures inside with some added tags and embellishments ready to enhance your journaling.

The books are finished with elastic binding allowing the signatures to be slipped in. This also enables them to be removed and new pages added if you wish to renew the contents and continue using the journal. 

There is an elastic strap in the middle that pulls over the book to hold it all together nicely when carrying it around. I have hung some danglies from elastic on the spines to give some bling as I have not added any labels or embellishments to the front, preferring to let the pretty papers stand out and the buyer to name/label the journal if they wish.

These journals I will be selling for £8.50 each or 2 for £15

The last items for sale in the Journal/Book section are the Journal pins.

I have a lovely collection of them available for the show. The clips I have range from simple decorated cloths pins to heavier clips that can be used as Bag Embellishments or Journal clips and they will sell from £1 to £4.50 and then some collections of 5 for £5

Over the next couple of days I hope to show the last category of gift items I will be selling.

So back soon

Dee

Craft Fair Show and Tell No 5

Craft Fair Items No 5

Journals - Junk Journals & Kits

So here we are in the second section of the Craft Show Table. Last post showed you the art books and kite books I would be selling, I only have a few of these the main part of the second section will be showcasing my Journals. I have 2 styles  Journals that are constructed with a laminated cover but inside are quite different. The first has  many different papers, sizes and pockets including doilies vellum tea-stained papers and patterned papers. 

These have been made with a vintage feel as I love the shabby chic look of the papers I have used. 

Here are some pages inside the albums 

This double page inside this journal has been made with 2 envelopes that are embossed and attached by the flaps.. There are a mixture of pretty papers and plain papers for writing notes, ideas and headings for photographs etc.

My Journals are not really ‘Junk Journals’ in the traditional manner as they are fairly clean pages, not torn or magazine pages, old envelopes and recycled packaging, I like to use pretty papers with a cleaner finish. The book can be used as a journal or album or combination, it is just great to have a pretty book to pull out and log your ideas and memories, and add pretty pins and clips to hold your bits and bobs .

So I have made a half dozen of these and I have also made a few kits which have a selection of papers, the laminated cover and lots of papers to make tags, pockets and embellishments for the pages. You can decide what papers to use to fill up your journals and this will decide the type of finish one your book. The pages are stitched in.

These Laminated journals will be on sale from £6.50 each and the kits will be £4.50 each.

As well as these books I have some other journals that i will talk about in my next post

So until then Happy Crafting 

Dee