Craft Club Challenge-w/c 21st July 2014

Mini Cupcake Stand

There is always an occasion where these little cake stands are a great addition to the decorations, be it Christmas ornaments, party favors holding chocolates (great for weddings), individual stands for a scrummy cupcake, and as you can see below just a lovely stand to display home decor, once you have made one you'll be hooked!

They look lovely in pretty papers or great in simple card stock....the heavier the item to display the thicker the card stock should be and the more base stands required.

As you can see below in the photo below ...this shows a large black dome....this is in fact a piece of scrunched kitchen foil made in that shape then painted with black acrylic paint and this is now ready to take 3D decorations such as flowers, pre-brought or hand crafted (paper or fabric), sweets, altered art style of paper decorations such as masks, crowns, wings, cogs, tickets etc.  This cone enables decoration visible from all side and the best glue to attach your decorations is Pinflair Gel glue/silicone, or a hot/cold melt glue gun.

I hope you have as much fun with these as I have had.  I will be demoing how to make the stand and will leave the decoration up to you.  To get the most out of the session you may like to plan ahead and create at home some 3D flower decorations/ leaves/altered art pieces etc ...there is no rush you can simply create the stand and take them home to finish off.

You will need:

• Good wight decorative papers (they should be lightweight card really) you will also need good weight card stock to strengthen your piece.
• Tacky PVA glue....cheaper PVA glue is harder to use as it has more water content and in recent weeks I have used a lot of mine to compensate for cheaper glues or if people forget so please make a short note to bring it with you.
• Ribbons (thin ribbons work better around the base), gems and pearls, flowers, fine border peel-offs, mini bows,
• You may want to do some stamping/embossing its up to you.
• You may also like to bring your border dies if you have them....thin ones work well or what ever you have.

.....and that's it... go vintage, altered art, matching your decor at home, funky, Christmas or Halloween, wedding, kids party.  These also make a great stand for a birdcage (use our dies and make them fit!)

Go that step further and create a glass effect dome to go over the top...use the top of a clear plastic drinks bottle or use outdoor plastic party glasses, make sure they are a good dome shape, snip the stem off and add an accent on the top to cover where the stem was removed.

I will be adding in more grey rubber stamps to our stash for you to use each week...Just a little reminder...one of the stamps was left out on the table on an acrylic block and the box was on the shelf.  Please ensure all the stamps you use are washed well (so bring your Alcohol free baby wipes) and dried and put back in the appropriate box (keep the box out till you have finished with the stamp) These stamps will be easily lost as some are small and they are loose. 

The grey rubber stamps for this week are a huge selection of flourish stamps.... will post the contact sheet here shortly.

Looking forward to a great week and for those who are a Pinnacles club member don't forget their discount weekend starts this Friday and ends Sunday.

Craft Club Challenge - w/c 25th November 2013

Fabric Flower creations.

I can't believe we only have 3 weeks left until we break for the Christmas period and this week is the last demonstration/techniques week with the next 2 being "catch up" sessions.

We are side stepping the paper craft world for this week and creating a variety of beautiful fabric flowers ready to use on any of your crafty projects including, decorating....cards, hats, scarves, jumpers, gift packaging, handbags, cushions, 3D  home decor projects and the list just  keeps going!

I have loads of fabrics here for you to use but there are a few things you could bring if you have them which will help with speeding up your work:

• Hot met glue gun and glue sticks ...I have a couple of glue guns and some glue sticks but they are a bit hit and miss!! I have loads of  glue sticks for the large one but the trigger spring has gone and no sticks for the smaller ones but I have cut some of larger sticks down. You may also want to bring your sticky dots.
• You can bring some unwanted old jewellery but I do have a box with loads of stuff in and loads of beads.
• You may want to bring some ribbon scraps and feathers, pearls etc
• we will be doing some sewing but I have loads of needles and cotton just need to remember your reading glasses if you use them!!
• If you have any crochet cotton that you don't use you may want to bring that as I will be making a flower with that type of yarn, but I do have loads of wool.
• Bring a plastic container to put all you flowers in and perhaps a bag for the petals you don't use so you can easily find them when you need them. 
• Fimo or Sculpy or other make polymer clay if you have it ... for use with molds to create centre pieces for the flowers

We will be using a good selection of fabrics so a good pair of scissors would be a good idea if you have them but we will also be using the dies and the cuttlebug machines which make for good speedy flowers. If you want to make detachable flowers I have flower pins for sale too.

This will be a fun session of flower making...but if you want to carry on with your paper crafts you are welcome to do your own thing.

More samples are on their way so check back soon.

Looking forward to seeing you soon

Craft Club Challenge - 16th September 2013

Boxes with a difference

So....we need boxes for those little gifts but want to make it that little bit different...here are a few ideas to create that special gift.

 The box is the base of this cage which creates a stunning topper for that "something different" look. A bit hard to see the bird on the photos but he is there! This one was a project and not a 10 minute job but it is well worth trying.  On this session I will remind you how to create the size of box to match the topper and then it's up to you if you want to have a go or go for a simpler style and there will be more ideas shown here as we go through the week.

 I saw these lovely crackers on Create and Craft this week....which I don't normally get time to watch so I was chuffed to catch this one and thought this may be a great idea for gift wrapping.

I will be show you how to make the cracker but may not get time to do both...so next week will be a catch up week and we will decide on the day which you want to do...

You will need:

• Card stock, printed or plain.
• scoring tools
• ruler, pencil and scissors
• PVA glue (preferably Tacky Glue which dries quicker)
• You may bring any dies you have if you want to create a centre piece such as the poinsetta, snowflake, border dies and leaves etc but of course you can also use mine.
• Sparkly glitter, stickles, glitter glue and or gems.

There will be more ideas for box topper decorations but as most already know how to create the specific sizing of boxes technique I will do just a quick demo for those who do not know.

See you this week and look out for more photos and what we don't get done this week we can do in the catch up session next week.

New Die for Craft Cubbers to use Each week - 8th July 2013

Forgot to post this last week....this is a fabulous die (worth £16.99) is so easy to use with great results so I am pleased to now add this one onto our cutting Die shelf.  Simply cut the spiral flowers and coil using a quilling tool and glue. These 3D flowers are a great addition to any craft project and provide a pretty finishing touch. The branch is also versatile and can be used in so many different ways.

Here is a sample of a card showing the flowers and how effective they are.

This die can now be used by craft club members whenever they use the studio. Dies available to the craft club now exceed £500 in value. I hope you enjoy using them and they help your creativity.

Happy cutting!

Craft Clubbers Gallery - shabby flowers

Just thought I would post a photo of some of the flowers made by the girls in this mornings craft club.....I know they wont mind me saying but they are all fairly new to card making and were really impressed at the results especially as they were made from white printer paper!

Other Craft club sessions to come so will up-date here if we have some more unusual flowers during the week and hope to get some more photos of paper feathers too.

Craft Club Challenge - 4th February 2013

Feathers & Flowers
It is always a challenge to find a perfect flower that colour matches your project/card or a 3D element which brings paper crafting to life.  This challenge is designed to do just that....showing you how to sculpture a flat piece of low grade paper into a beautiful flower or feather.

Criteria for challenge:

Create a craft project and incorporate at least one paper flower and one paper feather which you have hand crafted....to take it one step further, if you want to tighten your criteria and be inspired by the photo below (which could be based on composition/colours etc, note the flat paper flowers ideal for scrapbooking but we are aiming for the 3D look!)

Here are my samples of what you can create and the techniques for how to craft these will be demonstrated at the craft club this week.

 

You will need:

• Paper which can be low grade, printer paper, scrapbook paper, music sheets, old maps, pages from old books etc
• Pencil
• Wire (garden wire is good....not too thick)
• PVA Tacky glue
• Flower dies for cutting each layer or hand made flower templates (differing sizes)  made from cereal packets.
• Small pointed sharp scissors.
• (Optional) Inks, rubber stamps with delicate designs such as text, flourish etc.
• Small embossing tool with smooth cylindrical handle for sculpting.

It is so enjoyable creating these and having a good supply in hand with never leave you with a dilema of not having the finishing touch!

Happy crafting and I am looking forward to catching up with you at the Coffee Morning, This morning at 10am.  (Full details on the tab along the top of the page.)

A card for a Special Friend

I have a very dear friend whose birthday is just after Christmas and so I understand how important it is to make her Birthday very special, which stands apart from the Christmas celebrations.  This is the card I sent her and the best reward for making hand crafted cards are the reflex reactions that tell you how much it was appreciated.  Priceless!

(Click once to enlarge)

Happy Birthday Kerrie (29th December 2012)