Craftyguider – Page 3

May Fair – Craft, fudge and lots of cake

Yesterday was the annual Standon May Fair. As usual I had my Craftyguider stall to raise funds for my Guide group. As well as this, I am a mum of two girls at a school that has a cake stall there every year that parents donate cakes to, a WI Vice President with our group running a stall with free cake and some sideshow games, and a Rainbow Guider of a unit which sells fudge.

I’ve been rebuilding my stocks of craft items that sell well at this event, so over the last few weeks I’ve been getting to grips with my hot melt glue gun, making badges and fabric mirrors, and getting some new greetings card designs made. I’ve also got new point of sale materials, organised the float, and made sure the string and sellotape were packed.

I think it turned out very well, and we definitely had a successful trading day. Two of my Assistant Guiders helped me during the day, one staying from set up to shut down, and two of my 30 Guides helped sell at points during the day. Other Guides passing the stall were made to come and spend money!

The WI were doing a Guess the Weight of the Cake, Guess the Number of Buttons in the Jar (one of our secretaries counted over 3000 buttons into a jar!), and Guess Where Jess the Cat Is game for the kids. They made a fabulous job of making the stall look gorgeous, talked to passers by and got quite a few women to sign up. Members also contributed cake to be handed out free.

As I love baking, I made a couple of tray bakes for the WI stall. The other 4 cakes in the picture went to the school stall. I had a text from a mum saying that they may be abandoning the stall as the number of cakes donated at school were really down. I bought a few extra ingredients and doubled my donation to 4 cakes. I hope they did well.

The 4th stall I contributed to was the Rainbow stall. As the Rainbow leader couldn’t cut fudge this year, I organised some mums to come round to mine to chop it up and weigh it into individual 100g bags.

After 2 hours, we had it all finished, and the fudge sold out in record time.

Thank goodness for the lovely British bank holiday weather!

Handmade Cards

One of the first crafts I did on a large scale was card making. I designed and made all my wedding invitations and acceptance cards, not as a cost saving exercise, but because I wanted the challenge.

I spend a lot of my time on my sewing machine, but I do have paper crafting sessions where the sewing machine gets relegated to the floor (shock, horror!) and I cover everything in ink, glue and bits of paper. I always send handmade cards to friends and relatives, and my girls always hand make any cards for close relatives and their friends’ birthdays.

With May Day approaching which means a stall at the local fair, I’ve been making cards.

I downloaded the designs to make this card from Printable Heaven some time ago as men’s cards are always tricky to think up. The elements are combined on a sheet for you to print, cut out, and in this case fold, before assembling them on the card.

This card was made using a die cutting plate from Hobbycraft. I love the design, but it is a pain to use in my Sizzix Big Shot. I just can’t get it to cut cleanly yet.

Another Printable Heaven selection. These 12 toppers will become cards tomorrow specifically for Craftyguider stock. The dogs are adorable, and hopefully lots of dog lovers will visit my stall!

These two are also Printable Heaven designs based on the old cigarette card collections. The muted backgrounds are really effective with the cards on top.

And I still have some way to go. I’ve unearthed my stash of toppers I’ve made up but never used. It’s time to use them!

Linking to Handmade Harbour’s Handmade Monday.

Fabric Covered Mirrors

With craft fairs coming up, my next at the Standon May Day, East Herts on the 6th May, I need to get a move on and make sure my stall is ready.

I think 7 handbag mirrors won’t last me very long so I opened up my freshly stuffed scrap bag and started cutting and assembling. With so many fabrics that I love in there, I ended up with quite a few choices.

My Russian doll fabric has been very popular and I’ve made 2 bags and a few mirrors in the past from the small piece I had. I’ve managed to get three mirrors out of the rest and I think that’s my lot now.

And these are a few of my other favourites.

Everyone loves a nice polka dot!

I love this design. It was a piece left over from some Christmas bunting but it’s gorgeous on it’s own.

This reminds me of a summery picnic.

The full selection of designs are on my website, and as always, all profits go directly to my Guide unit.

Which one is your favourite?

Pin Badges

One of my many sidelines on the craftyguider website is making pin badges on my badge machine. I have three dies – 25mm, 38mm and 58mm – and I love upcycling pictures, maps and making my own designs.

These badges were made for my Rainbow unit as the leader had come up with the idea of having little groups for activities based on the Rainbow Magic fairies. Rather than just have the colours, I copied some pictures from my daughter’s book and came up with these.

Recently I’ve been asked to produce some hen night badges for two different hens.

Hen party one was themed on the Miranda TV series. The hen is a regular customer of mine from twitter for various badges and sewn items, so it was wonderful to play a part in her celebrations.

Each person on the hen do would be given 4 badges as a gift. An evening in front of the TV pinging designs back and forth on twitter produced these designs. One dodgy shoulder and 84 badges later, our hen had a bag of badges to dish out.

Hen party two found me on a craft stall at a local fete. She had been a Guide at the unit I now run, and her friend was getting married. As all the profits from my sales go to the Guide unit, she was happy to place an order with me. She had even dreamed up the artwork which was fabulous. It was a Guiding theme with all the participants in the hen’s patrol, and the hen had some interest badges to earn for her badge sash.

All I had to do was convert the artwork and produce the badges. I wish I’d had this idea when I got married!

My badge machine gets a lot of use with name badges for my WI, a badge making activity at school craft club, business logo badges for people to use at craft fairs and trade shows, and badges for all 300 participants at school sports day, as well as making badges and fabric covered mirrors for sale at craft fairs.

What would you have on your personalised badge?

Knitting Needle Rolls

On one of my recent crafting exploits into new things, I attempted cable knitting. I got a bit stuck and the lovely @knittingvillage came to my aid and explained the pattern. I’ve finished knitting the cushion front now and just need to sew the back on. Another WIP on the list!

A few days ago, I had a tweet asking if I made knitting needle rolls as one of the customers in the shop had asked for them. I didn’t have any in stock, but I had plans to make some for my website and craft fairs this year so I bit the bullet, cut some fabric (shock, horror!) and made three similar to this one I made for a swap some months ago.

This was the first one made with some fabric I bought for one of my ‘just in case’ projects. I’m definitely making some things for me with the rest.

I also made one in pink

and this gorgeous blue combination

and all three were finished off and taken to Knitting Village in Buntingford to see if she could sell them. I’ll also be starting crochet hook rolls and other accessories to sell (and perhaps a couple of bits for me!)

If anyone is interested, I’m selling them for £15, and as usual, all profits go to local Guiding.

Here we go again

About a month ago, I got a tweet from a customer to say that I had a load of PCs on my website instead of bunting and cards. This rang a bell as being the template for the software, and on investigation by my computer bod husband, we discovered that all the data had been wiped by a hacker.

Fortunately my income doesn’t rely on the business, but as I don’t have a back up (just because husband runs websites for a living, I shouldn’t assume he’ll safeguard mine), it now means I need to relist the vast majority of the data and try and remember all the tweaks I’ve made over the last year and a bit. Once I’ve done my stock check I can reopen the site and get back to fundraising for the Guides.

So here is my pile of cards. It’s the biggest part of my website so I’d best get stuck in. Wish me luck!

Patchwork Quilt

The latest project in my completed WIP list started as a background to a bunting commission. The recipient was a boy (alien species for a Guide and Rainbow leader and mother of two girls!) and the theme was transport/trains.

Once again twitter came to the rescue with suggestions of fabric shops in Cambridge. After dragging my 3yr old round three of them in the rain, we came to the last and found Sew Creative had a layer cake (10″ squares of fabrics) of Riley Blake Designs ‘Scoot’ fabrics. This combination of fabrics seemed perfect for the brief but I couldn’t make bunting efficiently from a layer cake. It was then I decided to make a quilt as a Christmas present from the layer cake, and if the customer liked the fabrics, I could buy a fat quarter bundle from elsewhere to make the bunting.

With the fabrics approved, the bunting was delivered, and I hope Dylan liked it!

With my layer cake at the ready, I was determined to make my first proper (ish) quilt. I have made quilted patchwork cushions before, but nothing on this scale. However, I soon realised that my original intended recipient wasn’t suitable, so the project was parked. This was until two good friends sent an invitation to their baby’s baptism.

As it was only 24 squares, I thought it could be a play mat, quilt or sofa snuggler, so my 3 year old and I spent some time arranging the squares.

Having photographed the layout, this made it easier to make up as I knew which bit went where. I then quilted ‘in the ditch’ (along the lines between the squares) using batting and a royal blue backing fabric. I figured this would be practical if it was used as a play mat. After this I was in unknown territory as I’d never bound a quilt before. I found a ‘self binding’ tutorial and had enough fabric round the edge to fold over and sew.

It is wonky in places, it’s far from perfect, but I was pleased with it as my first attempt. When I have a bit more time, I might try something a bit more technical and time consuming, but for now, I’ve handmade a gift, gained a new skill, and completed another WIP.

Spring Swap

After all the fun I had with the Popular Crafts swaps before, of course I was going to enter the next one. Unlike the button, owl and heart swaps, Spring wasn’t that obvious at first. Added to that, a bad back stopped me from doing anything creative for some time.

I was paired with @Gemma_Winter whose likes included sparkly things, unusual things and kitsch. Having changed my mind several times about what to make, I had a snoop on Gemma’s twitter profile and saw that as well as her love of fabrics and patchwork, she also loves baking. I’ve had some insulbright insulated wadding in my stash for some time so I thought I’d have a go at making an oven mitt.

On one of my many browses through the fabrics online, I happened upon this lovely fabric from Fabric Rehab. The flowers and birds said ‘spring’ to me, and I thought the pattern was fairly retro and kitsch.

And here is my oven mitt.

I was so pleased with how it came out, I’ve already cut more out to put on my website.

I also needed a treat so I went sparkly and unusual with an applique flower and some sea themed charms.

The birdcage picture is one of my hand-stamped images that I send out with my Craftyguider purchases as a compliment slip.

I can’t wait for Gemma’s parcel to arrive!

Next swap is a Union Jack theme. Thinking cap on.

Nothing to see here!

Yes, nothing at all for too long.

I have neglected my blog and the website for ages. The main reason is my bad luck with my health. There was I, minding my own business, blogging and crafting as I should when I was brought down by sciatica. No warning, no reason, just the proverbial pain in the derriere. This was accompanied by pains in most other places which made it impossible to sit at a sewing machine. Or anywhere else!

I was just recovering after weeks of pain when a visit to my chiropractor made things flare up again. Cue another enforced recovery period.

And then just as it’s become bearable again, I was struck down by a virus which meant more than 2 minutes of activity absolutely floored me. This was not 2 minutes of vigorous exercise or even housework. The 2 minutes could be chatting to someone while I was sitting down. I even missed my first Guide meeting as a leader due to illness. Husband has been a hero with childcare, school runs and looking after me. Luckily my tweeting thumb was unaffected, and I’m now a Draw Something addict (user name craftyguider for anyone interested!)

I’m now on the mend and even did some sewing this week. I’m still shattered, so if anyone is at GirlGuiding’s Big Gig on Saturday, I’ll be the one snoring during Olly Murs and The Saturdays.

And have a look at my twitter profile page. I’ve updated my background with my new logo and QR code.

Something to see soon!!!!!!

Stevenage Stamperama

After a really rubbish night with the craftyguidelets, I decided I was going to go to Stamperama. I wasn’t going to go as I’d been to the Bluewater show last week, but I loved it last year so I went! Husband broke his shaver and so he dropped me off at the door while he took the craftyguidelets round Argos and Costa Coffee (my 5 year old has a loyalty card!).

As I was on the clock, I did a quick recce round the stands. Not as many bargain bins as last year, but still lots of lovely stuff to crave.

My main reason for going was to add to my Promarker collection. Luckily I always carry my list with me so I could see where I had gaps in my colour range. I got 10 for £15 which was great. From the same stand I got a spare blending tool, white opaque pens to replace my used up ones, and these gorgeous stamps.

I always loved Sarah Kay images and I think I still have my sticker album from when I was little. I would’ve bought the entire range of these stamps, but I was good!

I also went on the Meiflower stand and bought a few pearls, charms and gems and these gorgeous embellishments.

They’ll look great on wedding cards.

My other purchases were some embossing folders and a Tim Holtz die of a dress form and bobbin.

Watch out for some new cards coming onto the website!