Crafty Cards

Weekend News

2009-03-09T03:25:00.000-07:00

Good morning Crafters and I hope you are feeling great this Monday morning.

It was the Hobbycrafts exhibition in Glasgow this weekend and, although I was not an exhibitor myself, I popped along to see some of my friends.

I found the show quite quiet and there seemed to be a sameness in what was on offer but the retailers I spoke with were optimistic.

My main reason for going was to catch up with my friend Amanda Bateman. Many of you will know the name and the face if you watch the Craft Channel. Amanda and I have been friends for many years and although we don't see each other as often as we would like we had a good natter yesterday. Both she and Lorraine (another crafting friend of mine who demonstrates for Fiskars) have agreed to join my Design Team to bring you some great designs so watch this space.

Lorraine is a great blogger and we have a meeting set up so that she can help me get better with blogging...watch out!!

Have a great day
Love
Sheonagh x

Better Late than never

2009-03-06T04:09:00.000-08:00

Hi crafters, hope you are all feeling great today!

What do they say about the best intentions - well time has just vanished here and I have not had a minute to update the blog - so apologies if you have been eagerly waiting the next installment!

So, what has been happening since I last spoke to you?

Well, we (as a family) went to Euro Disney for mid term. Struan enjoyed it greatly - as for Alasdair and myself - we found it fun but very expensive! What is it about a captive audience - but quite frankly £6 for a sandwich was just a little steep!

Struan had a birthday last week and had asked for a chicken house - which is to be built this weekend - weather permitting! Watch this space ....when the chickens arrive I will post a photo!

Back to work though.....the ladies have been busy in the classroom.

This week we were working with acetate and shrink plastic. The thing that the ladies noticed most of all was the different technique invovled in stamping on something which was slippy. You have to almost tease the stamp to stop it smudging.

The look on their faces when they used the shrink plastic for the first time was quite a picture and they had to chase their work all round the room! However, the result was really good.

Send my your attempts at shrink plastic and I will pick one and put something in the post to you!!

Happy crafting

See you soon

Sheonagh

Scrapbook - Obama's Day

2009-01-21T06:40:00.000-08:00

Mark yesterday as a day in history by creating a scrapbook page. Our 'declaration' scrapbook sheet is ideal for this.

If anyone out there knows how to scan a complete scrapbook page - please get in touch!

Sheonagh

Coffee Time

2009-01-21T05:25:00.000-08:00

Hi all, weekly slot again as to how the ladies got on today.

We continued the theme of punches from last week but this time using them as apertures.

Firstly, punch out a circle in the top corner of your card. Be careful here to leave enough space to put double sided tape between the opening and the edge of the card. Taking another piece of card trim it so that when the cards edges are equal the backing card does not reach the centre fold. (If you take it to the centre there is a chance that the card won't shut properly). Carefully trace the circle through to the backing card and then using the punch upside down you will see where to punch out. Suspend a charm to the front card. - we used the teacup from the Charm B pack - using thin guage wire. The easiest way we found to attach the wire was with sellotape.

Run double sided tape round the outside of the backing card and peel back just a little until you are sure that you have the circles identical.

Finish off by using the coffee time decoupage from the 'no scissors required' set.

Enjoy!

Card Making Classes

2009-01-14T01:30:00.000-08:00

Good morning all, I thought you might be interested in what we are doing at the class today.

My 'Ladies' are all excited as today is the first day they are no longer in the beginners section but termed 'advanced' so goodness knows what will happen!

Today, we are looking at Punches and what we can do with them.

In this Size 4 Woodland card, I have used the large circle punch to create 3 cut out circles on the front of the card and then used the daisy punch to punch out three daisys in pink and fixed them to the inner card. It is best to do this when the card is closed! Taking one of the woodland circles and then cutting out two more in pink I have attached these to the side and punched out a woodland and pink daisy. The addition of some crystal gems and a peel off makes this a very quite attractive card.

Have fun!

Chinese New Year

2009-01-13T05:37:00.000-08:00

How many of you know that it is Chinese New Year on 26th January - quite early this year - but we are now going into the year of the ox!

Did you know that in Chinese terms it is unlucky to buy a pair of shoes during the New Year celebrations! Don't worry it only lasts one day.

To help you on your way to celebrate the year of the ox why not send a simple card - red is seen to be very lucky and symbolises money - so any touch of red would be most welcome.

Here I have chosen a simple black large square card and the main card and then used versamark ink to bring out the rice bowl and teapot on a peice of red card. Using the same teapot stamp I have embossed this in gold to give a dramatic effect. Using a piece of black ribbon just breaks up the card.

Hope you enjoy!

New Year Resolution

2009-01-08T12:15:00.000-08:00

My New Years Resolution is to try and get to grips with the blogging lark!

Hope you all had a great time over the festive period. Everyone here enjoyed the break and Santa was his usual generous self.

We started doing our annual stock take over New Year and it is really surprising what has been going off the shelf and what has not - it never ceases to amaze me - things that I like other people don't. Perhaps I should be saying nothing about the new products and that way you will make up your own minds.

Anyway, some new items came into the office today. I am not a huge fan of decoupage, but this new range is branded as 'no scissors required'. I have taken in 5 different sheets - from DIY through to floral. A couple of them are pearlised and this matches our pearl cards perfectly.

They make a quick, simple card which is sure to delight anyone.

Happy crafting

Sheonagh

2008-12-05T01:44:00.000-08:00

What a hectic few weeks this has been. I have been rushed of my feet with all your orders. Now I know how Santa feels! Apologies to those of you who follow my diary.....it has been rather erratic to say the least......that is my first new year resolution......I estimate that it will last 2/3 weeks....any takers?

I hope that all your cards are now made and your friends appreciate all the hard work that you have put in to make them! Hopefully we won't be too busy here over the next few days and I will get a chance to do all mine..........

Happy crafting
Sheonagh x

My Friend

2008-10-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

Last year I was introduced to a fellow crafter, Lorraine, through a mutal friend and together we worked on Telfords exhibit for the Hobby show at the NEC. Lorraine helped me enormously by making up sample cards to put into the card stands and I am not sure that I thanked her enough but the look of pride on both our faces that night in Birmingham last year when we saw the model coming down the catwalk with the card stands filled with the beautiful cards was memorable.

Anyway, Lorraine has not been well and has gone through some unpleasant surgery - she is now home and I went to visit her today armed with some crafting magazines. We spent the afternoon chatting away and having a laugh - well that is me and not her as she had already burst some stitches earlier on in the week!

Do you know something, we all moan and complain about little things that get on our nerves but to have spent an afternoon with Lorraine is a real tonic. Go to her blog www.craftycoo.blogspot.com to see what she is up to.

Lorraine you are a true friend!

Happy crafting to you all
Sheonagh

2008-10-23T07:06:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, thank goodness that is the half term over with. It has been a bit of a struggle over the last week with Struan at home and trying to get the orders out. Thank you for understanding and not getting on at me when your order wasn't there within a day!

My class have been getting to grips with embossing powders and to say that they could all have auditioned for position of the twinkle fairy would be an understatement. We had embossing powder all over the place. If anyone can tell me why we had a problem with the red embossing powder I would be very grateful. The gold, silver, black and clear all worked fine but the red just didn't seem to want to work at all.

I found it quite hard to do examples that weren't Christmas themed as I always think that embossing and Christmas go hand to hand. I ended up using the dragon from the 'Woodware clear stamp collection' http://www.telfordsdirect.co.uk/catalog/admin/categories.php?cPath=131&pID=832.

If you have any other ideas then please share it with us.

Hope you have a lovely week.

Happy Crafting

Sheonagh

Stamping

2008-10-13T06:42:00.000-07:00

Last weeks class was all about stamping.

It was a really good class and my ladies all enjoyed it but I think I was expecting too much of them for the 2 hours as we ran over by quite a lot - but they had fun and that was the main thing!

This card took the longest as we were experimenting with the watermark inks and acetate.

The stamp http://www.telfordsdirect.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=131&products_id=768 is supposed to be a sunflower however I think that the colours we have used here are rather nice.

Give it a try and see what happens.

Have a good week - we have half term this week so apologies if you call and you here Scooby Doo in the background!

Sheonagh

Cardmaking Classes

2008-10-03T03:03:00.000-07:00

Our fist class went really well, if I don't say so myself!

My class were complete beginners so we started by exploring the opportunities given by peel offs. We did some colouring in of the peel off and like the above gave the ladies some stunning cards. In the example above I have used the Christmas Accent peel off in gold http://www.telfordsdirect.co.uk/catalog/admin/categories.php?cPath=134&pID=837 by peeling off the image and placing it on the card and then colouring in the remaining image on the peel off and 'filling in' the gaps you can create a well made card. Here I have added some Christmas tree brads http://www.telfordsdirect.co.uk/catalog/admin/categories.php?cPath=60&pID=841 and used a scrap of handmade paper.

Have a go - why not send one in for our Christmas Competition - see the web site for details.

Happy crafting

Sheonagh

Cardmaking Classes

2008-09-14T06:05:00.000-07:00

Our first beginners card makers class starts this Wednesday. Okay so I am a bit unsure as to how it will go but as they say nothing vetured nothing gained.

My 'class' seems eager and that is half the battle.

Each session we are going to look at different techniques rather than specific cards and the first week it is peel offs and stickers. So watch this space and I will report back with the results.

Have a nice week
Sheonagh

Wedding Fever

2008-09-05T06:32:00.000-07:00

I am going to a wedding next week so hopefully it will have stopped raining by then! Wedding cards can be so over the top but this one strikes a happy balance. The Glasgow Rose peel off http://www.telfordsdirect.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=134&products_id=839 lends itself so well to classic cards. Gently ease the peel off from the backing paper and place it onto a piece of cream card. Trim down to size. Using marker pens colour in sections of the rose and carefully with a sharp tool lift them from the backing paper and onto your piece of work. Layer this onto a piece of gold card. Using a sharp knife make a slit in the spine of the card half way down and then thread a piece of gold ribbon through, joining it at the front of the card. Put some foam pads of the back of your topper and place over the joined ribbon.

Summer is Over

2008-08-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

What summer I hear you ask. It has poured in Glasgow most of the holidays so it was quite a relief last week when the schools went back.

To keep with the summer theme, or at least the holiday theme, we have managed to find some fantastic scrapbook paper which will allow you to creat a stunning scrapbook page http://www.telfordsdirect.co.uk/catalog/admin/categories.php?cPath=135&pID=795. Along with the range of papers there is also a range of matching rub offs which are great fun http://www.telfordsdirect.co.uk/catalog/admin/categories.php?cPath=135&pID=779 as you can see you don't have to limit yourself to scrapbooks - the possibilities are endless.

Schools Out

2008-06-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

My little boy finished school this week and that got me thinking how many of the same cards the teachers get at the end of term.

This card is great and what is more the children can help.

Using one of the 'stars' sheet from the Tim Coffey 6x6 school pad ttp://http://www.telfordsdirect.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=37&products_id=625 trim to fit one of our large square cards. I used a cream card. There is a great sheet in Tim's pad which has books, pencils rulers etc. By using your decoupage skills, carefully cut out the books, globe, crayon and apple and place them on the front of the card using foam pads. Highlight the words on the books with Sakura pens ttp://http://www.telfordsdirect.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=741 when you apply them first you will think that nothing is going to happen and that you have wasted your time but wait until they have dried and you will see how it works. Add a 'thank you' peel off to the apple.

I am sure that 'teacher' will be delighted with her card.

See you soon

Sheonagh

Telfords are moving with the times!

2008-03-31T15:25:00.000-07:00

Hi folks,

Welcome to the new Crafty Cards blog from Telfords Direct. You will need to excuse me if I am not up to speed with this as it is a whole new ball game to me. The people at the craft magazines all laugh at me because I am such a 'technophobe' and will be amazed that I have managed to get my head round the blog! Only time will tell.

I see the blog as a chance for me to share my ideas with you but also I am always interested in what you create so please feel free to join in. Hopefully you will be motivated to join in.

As if the blog wasn't enough, I have also created an online newsletter, mainly because some of you were feeling a wee bit left out. So, if you have registered and ordered from us then look in your mailbox and you should have something from the Telfords Team. I need your feedback to know if this is something you like.

You may or may not know that, due to the increased demand in the card stands, we have negotiated a better deal from our suppliers and so we have passed this onto you. Take a look http://http://www.telfordsdirect.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=66&osCsid=c3100e88eaefd5c574166c765641a3ed

they have been reduced, starting price is only £6.45!

Speak to you soon

Sheonagh

Test Post

2008-03-28T02:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a link