You Can't Have too many Bags.

Today is the last day of the Spring Craftfest.
Spring. And here we are with a blanket of snow and more falling.
I was hoping to have made it to the NEC for the Craft show there, but it was not to be. My daughter has made it from Stoke however and she has promised to bring me something to make. She is under instructions to get something from a small British business. I like to show my support for real craft businesses when I can.

I've made lots of new friends at this Craftfest, and lots of new connections. It was my first attempt and I probably wasn't as prepared as I could have been. A lot more variety on my website is needed I think, and much better photography. It wasn't until I saw all the products side by side that I realised the variability. I knew some of them weren't great due to a lack of natural light, most of them being taken in mid winter!

It has been a great experience though, and one I can recommend. Now I need to concentrate on shows and fairs. If anyone knows any good ones in Staffordshire or neighbouring counties please let me know :)

Here's a last few pics to whet your appetite, you just can't have enough bags:)






The first one is from Kwur-kee, a lovely little clutch bag using a textured black silk fabric with handmade flowers in bright colours - lovely spring like design.





Bring the sunshine in with this hot bright patchwork number from Gert Lush
















And finally a cute little clutch in Poppy red leather with a fab matching ruffle flower. This one is from
caramel designs.







I hope you've all enjoyed my little expose of some of the fantastic crafts around the show. I've certainly enjoyed looking through everything and grabbing a couple of things myself.

Whatever you are doing have a great weekend






Janice x

Message in a Bubble

What a Week!

Today is the penultimate day at Craftfest. It has been amazing.

I would firstly like to say a huge thank you to the organisers at Creative Connections for hosting such a fab event. A second massive thank you goes to those who have tirelessly tweeted, pinned, shared and blogged the event quite selflessly. Crafters are such giving people, both of their time, skills and energy. So if you haven't yet, please share the love with all the fab stallholders.

Creative Connections does more than host Craftfest of course, come and have a look at their free online magazine, join in the Monthly Challenge and if you have a spare five minutes why not pop in the chatroom.
My advice though, is to join in the very next craftfest and see what it does for you. Even if you don't have much to sell, you will make hundreds of new connections and learn so much about social marketing alone that you will wonder, as I do, if it wasn't the best £5 ever spent :) Just one statistic, the number of visitors to my blog each day is 5 times the average before Craftfest!

Here are a few more items from this Craftfest, things to make you go awww.

This first one is from Silent Companions who make all sorts of gorgeous teddies. Isn't that a great name for a teddy stall?



The next one, from Pepperpots, reminds me of the little toys my girls Grandma made for them, so it brings back fond memories of when my now twentysomethings were just coming up to school age :)



This tiny needle felted bunny from Blue Shed Crafts has caught my eye right from day one. I could just see this sitting in my craft room, watching the world go by outside my window.



So why not pop along and peruse the shops. If your weather is anything like ours, it certainly isn't a day for venturing outside!
Do any of the items evoke special memories for you? I'd love to hear about it if they do.

I love reading all your comments, so thank you very much for taking the time to leave them,
Happy Crafting,





Janice x

Get what you need :)

You don't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes, you might just find, you get what you need.

Keep it in a Frame

I was talking yesterday about inspiration and how Craftfest had suddenly got me bubbling over with fresh ideas. I mentioned one of them in the post - testing out craft kits and writing reviews on them. Straight away I got a very kind offer of having them published in a craft magazine if I took the idea on. So my first project is on it's way to me as I write. It's a great opportunity to bring more people to my blog and to my website. Hence the quote from the Rolling Stones above - I was looking for sales but got a whole new direction to explore instead :)

Today I'm showing a few things from Craftfest with my favourite theme - Dragonflies and Butterflies.
This first one is from Keep it in a Frame, a beautifully elegant wedding album design personalised for the Bride and Groom.

Fairy Elephant Design

Back to Jewellery again Fairy Elephant Design have this fabulous Dragonfly pendant. I love the mixture of colours in that water with the hints of rushes and sparkles of light. It reminds me of a late afternoon in summer, taking a walk with nothing in the world to worry about. Talking about inspiration, I could just see myself doing an encaustic background with those colours and scraping back to get the highlights ...mmmmm



I really wanted to put another picture here from The Very Small Company, but there pictures aren't accessible so a link will have to suffice. Here they have a lovely Steampunk Dragonfly pendant piece, along with lots more steampunky goodies for all sorts of projects. Bookmarking this one :)


Just in case you have missed it so far, Craftfest can be found here

and my own stall is here.

Come back and let me know what you think :)

Happy Crafting or Happy Shopping,



Janice x

Inspiration and Ideas

It's day 5 at Craftfest and the site is buzzing. There has been a huge number of visitors looking at a vast collection of work.
Most of my readers will be crafts people themselves, maybe just starting or maybe crafting for many years. We all get a little isolated at times or stuck for inspiration. Craftfest has been an eye opener for me in that respect. In the world of Art, great masters stood on the shoulders of other great masters as painting progressed through the centuries. In the same way we shouldn't be afraid to take inspiration from fellow crafters - not copying of course but weaving something into our own work which gave us pleasure in another's.

This is the work of Joy at Beaded Bazaar. It is totally different from my own jewellery. I love the fun she injects into her pieces and somewhere in my crafting I want to emulate that feeling too.
Find more photos like this on Creative Connections

She also works tirelessly to promote everyone on Craftfest - if she gets as good as she gives she will have a great response :)


This particular stall Perfect Patchwork on Craftfest also inspired me. I took one look at this craft kit and thought of loads of directions I wanted my Blog to go in. More than just wanting the kit because of those awesome colours (regulars will know my love of Purples especially combined with blue and green :) ) I thought it would be great to do a regular feature testing out craft kits - how comprehensive are the instructions, material quality, enough materials provided, skill level required etc. What do you guys think? Is it something you would like to read about? Does anyone do this already? Are there any small businesses out there who would like the exposure or their kits tested out?



I'm off to see if the bank balance can stand a little more investment - all in a good cause of course :)

Happy Crafting everyone,





Janice x

Craftfest Slideshow

This is a great slideshow showing an item from all the participants in Craftfest. Why not sit back and get a taste of the what's happening :)





Find more photos like this on Creative Connections

Janice x

Bunch of Grapes earrings tutorial.

Welcome back to Tuesday Tutorial. That's as much a message for me as for you, I keep getting caught up in things to do on a Tuesday. Today I should have been off to visit my Mum, but she phoned to say the weather was bad so here I am instead :)

This set of earrings looks really complicated, but it is very straight forward, needing just one technique - turning a loop on a headpin. This item will give you lots of practice at that :)



You will need

30 beads, 10 each of 3 sizes eg 3mm,4mm,5mm
2 x 2.5" chain. Make sure the loops are big enough to thread 2 head pins into and have at least 9 links in 2.5 inches.
30 x Headpins
2 x 5mm jump rings
2 x ear hooks.

1. Thread all your beads onto individual headpins, bend the headpin to a right angle and turn a loop. Instructions on this are here,
Separate your beads into 2 sets with 5small, 5medium and 5 of your largest beads in each.

2. Starting with one set of beads take a small bead, open the loop slightly, thread on to the last link of your chain and close the loop.

3. In the same way thread the next TWO beads, both small onto the next link in the chain.

4. Add two more of the small beads to the next link. You now have the five small beads added

5. Continue in the same way, adding first the medium then the large beads. Note that you will have a link with one large and one medium bead.

6. Add a jump ring to the last link in your chain and an ear hook to the jump ring. Close the ring.

7. Repeat to make your second earring.

These are a great design that is so easy to alter to your own style. Use spikey beads for a punky look, lots of colours for a Mardi Gras style, or soften up with dusky pinks and greens for a vintage feel.  Once you have made these, why not try bracelets or necklaces (start in the middle of your chain with these for graduated sizes) adding a clasp at one end of the chain and a jump ring at the other (7.5" approx for bracelet, 20" approx for necklace)


Hope you enjoy trying this and I would love to see what you make. If you send me a picture I would be happy to add it here :)

Happy Crafting

Janice

PS My website could do with some love here