Monday 5 September 2016

Facebook Giveaway to Celebrate the Reopening of Clare Curd Crafts!

Hi there everyone!


Did you know that Clare Curd Crafts is having a fantastic relaunch and is re-opening on the 

9th September at 10am!

to celebrate this, I am having a Facebook giveaway. 

Over £58.00 of goodies to be won!

New Crystallised Berry Stamens from Clare Curd Crafts!

Paper Roses, New Sparkle Organza Ribbon and Dew Drops from Clare Curd Crafts!

Beautiful NEW Pearl Strings and Buttons from Clare Curd Crafts

Beautiful Glittery and glossed papers from Best Creations and stamps from Kanban

Foiled Messages from Craftwork Cards!

Journal and Snippets from BasicGrey!

Angelica CD Rom from Crafter's Companion!

Decoupage from Anita's!

To be in with a chance to win, visit Clare Curd Crafts Facebook page and follow the instructions!

Good Luck!



Tuesday 9 August 2016

My Sneeky Peeky post for My Mum's Craft Shop

Hi there,

It's my turn again today for my card to be featured on the blog for My Mum's Craft Shop, Using the Beautiful day stamp set from Altenew. I love this stamp set, I can't remember the last time I used a stamp set so often and got a different look every time.



Anyway, why not pop over to the My Mum's craft shop blog to have a full frontal look and see what else is going on there!



Thursday 4 August 2016

Sneaky peak of Tomorrow's Card for the Craftwork Cards Blog!

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to take a few minutes to share a sneaky peek of the card I've made to share with you over on the Craftwork Cards blog tomorrow at 10am. Yes, it's Christmas!!!



And by the magic of the internet and the ability to schedule posts, I'll be live on Create and Craft at the same time at 10am and then again at 4pm with two brand new kits from Craftwork Cards. These are called 'Antiqued' and 'Chinoiserie' and are the first collections designed by Chloe who joined Craftwork cards in March of this year. They are absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to share them with you, along with the cards and projects created by myself and our wonderful design team!




News about my online shop!

Hi there!

I haven't been on here for a while, and I have no excuse other than I've been very busy. I usually wish and wish that I could post on here more, but it always seem to end up at the bottom of my list of priorities, under 'sleep' and so usually I never get around to it, such my need and drive for sleep!

Anyhoo, at the moment I'm in the process of stocking taking my online craft shop Clare Curd Crafts, which is closed at the moment, and that's involved finding loads of things that hadn't even made it onto the website. So I'm in the process of uploading those as well as sourcing new products from overseas, and also revamping the look of the online shop too! A change is as good as a rest so they say! I do hope you'll pop along to have a look when it re-opens with a brand new look, I don't exactly know when this will be as it's just little old me having to do everything (and I'm no IT whizz), but if you sign up for our newsletter I'm sure to send one out a few days before we re-open. And you don't want to miss out on 30% off everything in store for a limited time do you?!




Tuesday 5 July 2016

Another Beautiful Day and Exciting News!

Hi there,

It's my turn again on the My Mum's Craft Shop DT! I would love you to go and have a look at what I've made! Here's a sneaky peek. Why not go and have a look at the whole thing here!



On another note, my online shop - Clare Curd Crafts will hopefully be re-opening on the

16th July!

so if you would like to be kept up to date with what's happening there, please click here to sign up for our newsletter!




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Tuesday 21 June 2016

My Mum's Craft Shop - I Wish You a Beautiful Day!

Hi there everyone! Clare here again with my DT card for My Mum's Craft Shop! It would be great if you could visit the My Mum's craft shop blog and leave a comment there too if you have the time! 

I really hope you don't mind but again I have used the Fantastic Beautiful Day Stamp Set from Altenew, along with Kuretake Gansi Tambi Watercolours. I have the full 36 colour set, as I always regret it if I go for the smaller packs of anything and wish I had just gone for them all. 

This card was so easy and enjoyable to do! I cut watercolour paper to fit a 5 x 5 card blank with a border, stamped around the edge in white using the rose outline stamp and heat embossed using white embossing powder ( I use WOW! bright white opaque regular. Then I took colour from the Gansi watercolouring using a water brush and added colour to the flowers. I wanted a sketched result so wasn't too careful where the paint went. I added shading by just using less water. Then I used the silver watercolour to add a pearlescent effect to the petals. 


Finally I stamped the greeting from the set with Versafine onyx black ink to the centre of the square. i matted this onto black cardstock and fixed to my card blank using 3D foam pads. I added black pearls to the corners and there we have it!

Supplies Used:
Waterbrush
White Pigment Ink (I used Hero arts Unicorn)
White embossing powder (WOW! bright white opaque regular)

Watercolour Paper
Versafine Onyx Black Ink
black cardstock
5 x 5in white card blank
Black pearls.






Tuesday 7 June 2016

Altemew Beautiful Day Stamps from My Mum's Craft Shop!

Hi Everyone,

Today is the day of my First post on the DT for My Mum's Craft Shop! I'm super excited to share with you a card I made with Altenew's Beautiful Day stamp set and red cosmos inks. I need to get my hands on the green cubes too but for now I had to do with Distress inks and a Stampin' up dye ink. They are both GREAT but with the Altenew inks you just know that are going to work so well together and compliment one another.

Here's a Sneaky peek of the card I made and I would LOVE you to go and have a closer look at it on the MMCS blog! 


Thanks for coming to see me today! xx




Wednesday 25 May 2016

Exciting News!

Hi Everyone!

Where does the time go? It was the end of April that I last posted on my blog and it feels as though it was just yesterday. It really is scary where the days go.

I have some great news! In addition to working with Craftwork Cards, designing and presenting for them on Create and Craft, I will now be joining the 'My Mum's Craft shop' DT. I just love their range of stamps and dies so I'm looking forward to it so much.
My first post for them will be on their blog on the 7th June, so look out for some sneaky peeks around that time on here soon.

In the meantime, I'm trying to get our house sorted tidy and decluttered so wish me luck, I'm going to need it!



Friday 29 April 2016

My First Craftwork Cards Online Craft Class is Live Tonight!

Hi there everyone!

How are things with you? The weather here is so changeable! One minute it's sunny and the next it's blowing a gale and hailing!

Tonight is the first Online Craft Class with Clare on the Craftworks Card blog! This will start at 7pm and there will be posts every 30 minutes with the last post at 9pm. There will be step by step photographs along the way and we would love to see what you make!

Here's a sneaky peek of what you will be creating!



If you would like to know more about the class, click here and there's also details of what you will need so you can get everything gathered, and instructions on how to shut the world out and give you two hours of peace and quiet. Sorry, only joking, I'm not a miracle worker!

Hope to see you there!


Wednesday 27 April 2016

Desk Tidy Bin and Pin Cushion

Hi Everyone!

Today I thought I'd share something completely different with you! I had a day off prepping for shows on Monday so thought I would do some sewing. I haven't done any for ages so I had to scrabble around to find everything, particularly material!

I had wanted to make a desk tidy bin for ages, but never had the time to get around to it, so this was my opportunity. Because I'm not experienced at sewing I had a look on the internet for a pattern to use and I found this one from Etsy.

It was really easy to make once I got used to the way the pattern was written, and surprisingly it used only a small amount of material. I decided to make two at the same time as I had my machine out, so why not!


The material is from Ikea (you see, good for furniture, storage AND material!) and it was a small piece I had so I must've got from the off cuts section. I used a neutral colour for the lining, and I used ribbon for the strips that hold the bag to the pin cushion. 


The pin cushion is filled with rice (pudding rice) to be exact, and is a good weight to hold it on my desk. 



I'll use it for scraps of paper and my backings from double sided tape etc for when I can't be bothered to turn around and throw bits in the bin on an ad hoc basis. 

I can see me making many of these :) when I have time of course!




Tuesday 26 April 2016

My New Craft Room - Part 2.

Hi there everyone,

I hope you enjoyed seeing part 1 of my craft room tour yesterday. Here's the rest.


Underneath the worktop height area are my expedite shelving and I used two of the spaces for A4 paper separators. These are from...you guessed it...Ikea. Here is have my watercolour and linen cardstock, coloured A4 cardstock,  kraft cardstock, white and black cardstock. 


Just underneath my worktop I have three paper trays, one is for copy paper, one for craftwork cards digital paper and one for stamping cardstock. 


This is my stamping and circuit cartridge area. I hardly use the circuit cartridges as I tend to just use the cuts digitally available on the Cricut design studio, but they are there like a comfort blanket if ever I need them. The next shelf up is some of my clear stamps. they are rammed in like a good 'un. I have tried to classify these and not done too badly. next shelf up is my very small collection of wood mounted stamps. At one time I had over 600 of this type of stamp but no where to store them, and they were very rarely used as they couldn't be seen. So they had to have a cull, and I just kept my most versatile and favourite ones. I also use a two tier cake stand to store my colour sprays and distress stains. Top shelf is masks (in a recipe flip book), my stampin'up stamps, and again more clear stamps!




These four shelves house my collection of more ribbon, paper pads, 12 x 12 paper and cardstock, stickers (alphabet etc) in the green spined book, stationery, and miscellaneous stuff. There is also my jewellery making goodies on here too. 


Finally, there is the last shelving unit. In the drawers is my stash of wool, and then there's my stash of biscuits, most haunted DVD's four red folders with even more stamps, notebooks, magazines and various books. I also have a masshouive collection of 12 x 12 patterned papers and cardstock down the side, which I'm thinking of moving as it's very hard to get to, probably to the centre of the run. Down the side of these are boxes in numerous sizes in case I ever need a box to send samples etc anywhere. On the stand is some of my sizzix big dies, embossing folders and some of my less used metal dies.

Well I really hope you have enjoyed the tour of my craft studio. I now it will probably change numerous times ad infinitum but I love it up there. My crafty haven!


Monday 25 April 2016

My New Craft Studio - Part 1!

Hi there everyone!

Today I thought I would share with you my new craft studio. This was built May/June of last year and I have been working in it since probably October/November of 2015 and I LOVE IT! It is my own little haven of craftiness that I can take myself to on a daily basis and get away from people, mess and just be at one with my inkiness.

In a previous post I wrote about having the craft studio built and you can read more about this here. At the end of that post I was waiting for the interior to be insulated, plasterboarded and painted and Peter was in the process of putting the internet up there. We also still had a bit of painting to do on the balustrades. Well not much has changed on the outside re: the painting, but wow! has it changed on the inside like you wouldn't believe!


As you can see I still need to paint the veranda balustrades but I just knew that once I got the inside to the point that I could actually start getting my stuff into there I wouldn't be interested in painting! Having said that I promise that the first good few days of weather I'll be doing this then the painting is finished. We have also planted a few roses and bedding plants to the front of the craft studio to make it look pretty.


 Mr. P has also put up my 'We Can do it' metal sign. it's a bit chilly for it at present but it's a lovely place to sit out of an evening and enjoy the garden and sun set.


My bunny planter doubles as a door stop on the entrance to the studio. The double doors are great for when I have lots to get in and out.


The first thing you get to as you walk through the doors is this view. Yes! Mr. P has finished the lighting and all the plastering and painting has been completed. We might paint the end eaves white but the middle ceiling beam will be yacht varnished. I had a worktop fitted as a desk and then stepped up to worktop height (which you will see better on later photos. I got the higher shelves with the jars on for my buttons and flowers from Ikea. And don't you just love the light shade? Also from Ikea. 


On the back wall is the main bulk of my crafty stuff. Nuff said 


Underneath the worktop height area is the classic crafter's friend - the expedit shelving unit, now renames as Kalax. I also have the new favourite for Crafters - the Raskog trolley, in my fave colour. I have two of these as I couldn't resist. More on these later.


This is to the left of the door. Again I have Expedit shelving. the top boxes in these are turquoise material and the bottom are white plastic - very sturdy. Here I keep my kettle, coffee. You know -the  essentials. I have no running water so I fill my kettle each morning and refill whenever needed. I do have a mini fridge to keep my milk cold though. I have my sewing machine on here (in the centre).


The two boards either side of the window are my magnetic boards for the main dies I use regularly. There is also a couple of ribbon holders on the side of the cupboard to the left of the picture which is just the tip of the iceberg. I love ribbon. 


Here is the first of my Raskog Trolleys. This one is my stamping trolley. The top tier has my acrylic blocks, misti, stamp scrubbers, baby wipes and also holds pots for my brushes brayers, pens, scissors etc. The second tier holds various inks and embossing powders, and the bottom tier holds my gilding flakes, acrylic paints, masking fluids. It's brilliant, I can just wheel it to my desk when I need it. 


This is the raised worktp height area. I just love how Darren (the carpenter I used to fit it for me) has managed to step up from the desk to the worktop so neatly. To the left of the picture are my Stampin' up inks and distress inks, then theres my pro markers next to that. This is where I keep my A4 guillotine too. 



This is on the other side of the craft studio. On top of the unit (again Ikea) is my Minc machine and my laser printer. Underneath this is my Cricut Explore and Silhouette Cameo. I have drilled holes into the back of the unit to allow me to put my leads etc through to keep everything neat. And yes there is room for 2 electronic die cutting machines in my life! 

Underneath these are just some of my stamps. I love stamps. Can't get enough of stamps.  There are 4 drawers of stamps all in CD cases in these drawers. I think there's about 350 CD cases in these drawers. My other stamps are stored in other areas. More on that later.

Then I have my collection of bins These are labelled (I used vinyl with my Silhouette Machine) as general waste, cardboard and plastic. I'm going to change the plastic one to paper, as where we live the cardboard and plastic go in the same recycling bin. Duh! On top of that is my ink jet printer I use the laser jet for my Minc machine (which I've only really just got) and the ink jet for my Craftwork Cards USB printing). 


Here is the second Raskog trolley. I don't use this to the best of my ability but I like my 'hack'. I fitted the top tier upside-down so I could use it to hold my Big Shot Plus. The next tier has cardstock in a rainbow of colours cut to A5 size and my Craftwork Cards Candi, and the bottom tier has numerous tools. hot glue gun, corner chomper, crop a dile etc.

The drawers to the left hold my glues, foam pads and less used tools, adhesive gems, circle cutter, rulers, ribbon (yes more ribbon), and the bottom drawer is batteries, cameras chargers etc etc.I use those removeable hooks for my heat tool and hot glue gun so they are always to hand.  


This is the 'flight deck' of the whole room. My lovely desk! e had a satellite dish fitted to the studio so I could get TV as an ariel wouldn't work due to the trees that surround the studio. I also had a freesat box too so it made use of that. The TV also has a DVD player so I can have films on in the background when I'm crafting. hen there's my computer. In the end we didn't use ethernet cable (Peter accidentally cut it short by about 5 metres, the studio is 100 metres from the house!), we got a contraption that you plug into your router in the house and an electric socket, then another plug goes in a electric socket where you want the internet. This then plugs into your computer and hey presto! It's great - fast enough to watch videos and most importantly speak to Sheila Halliwell, my best friend on Whatsapp! What more could a girl ask for! 

Next to that is my stand I got from Ebay. Still a lot of space for things! I use this for my stickles glue, re-inkers and alcohol inks.

The drawers to the left hold my glues, foam pads and less used tools, adhesive gems, circle cutter, rulers, ribbon (yes more ribbon), and the bottom drawer is batteries, cameras chargers etc etc.I use those removeable hooks for my heat tool and hot glue gun so they are always to hand.  



I have two A3 craft mats. One on the black side (inches) and one on the white side (Cm's) this allows me have both forms of measurement to hand. If I'm working with white card I work on the black mat and if I'm working on black card or dark colours I use the white mat. it works really well. under this is a plastic clear mat from ikea. It's meant to be a desk protector, but I use it to put inks on and it protects my surfaces. 

  
I have a shelf (Ikea, are you noticing a pattern here?) that stores my nice things including photos of me and Peter, my teddy my son Joe bought for me with his hard earned money for Mother's Day, my alien from Disney World, My mini me Michael Jackson . I also use the removable hooks for my scissors. I have a different pair for paper and ribbon. 

Wow! This is a long post! I will show you part two tomorrow!