Sneak Peek Christmas Scrapbook Album

Today I had the chance to spend a few hours on my new Christmas mini scrapbook album...so I thought I'd show you a sneak peek of what I've been doing.

I used two 6x6ins chipboard covers for the front & back, and used slightly smaller card stock pages for the inside. I covered the pages with some lovely vintage scrapbook papers - the name eludes me at the moment, but they were bought on ebay at a very cheap price.

I wanted to make sure this album has lots of pages for photo's and journaling, so I'm making lots of tags and pockets. I sanded the edges and lightly inked them using Tim Holtz Distress ink in Walnut...I just love this colour!

Hopefully this album will be on sale soon in my Etsy shop!

CRAFTfest week is still going on, if you haven't had a chance yet to drop in, and have a look at all the wonderful handmade products, just click here!

My stall also has lots of goodies - Christmas cards, Birthday cards, gift bags & tags and mini scrapbook albums. Click here to visit my stall. Enjoy!

Visit CRAFTFEST This Week

CRAFTFEST

Come along and visit CRAFTfest this week, which is running from 24th Nov - 1st Dec. Craftfest which is hosted by Creative Connections is an online extravaganza of all things handmade. You're sure to find some lovely Christmas gifts for all your family and friends.

My stall has lots of goodies including Christmas cards, scrapbook albums, tags & gift bags. If you buy an item through my Etsy shop, you'll get 20% discount, which ends tomorrow at midnight (26th Nov).

CRAFTfest Christmas Gifts Mini Treasury

CRAFTFEST VIRTUAL ONLINE CRAFT FAIR.

Not long left now to book for CRAFTFEST which runs from 24th Nov-1st Dec, with an extra preview day on 23rd Nov (Black Friday). If you'd like to book a stall, just click on the link above. It should be a fantastic week with lots of opportunities to promote each others work, make lots of new friends...and hopefully sell lots too!

MINI TREASURY - GIFTS.

If you're looking for some nice handmade gifts for Christmas presents, have a look at some of the lovely websites below, in my mini treasury.

Pencil Case by Lynsey Loves xxx

Reindeer Tree Hanging by BadEricBoutique

Mini Hessian Gift Bag by BerryNiceCushions

 

Christmas & Craftseller Magazine

This week I've had a few orders from my family for Christmas and Birthday cards. But the best news this week was receiving an email from Steve at Craftseller magazine.... He was looking for someone to send in some tips about cardmaking. They are doing a small piece with the top 5 tips, and hopefully a photo of me and a couple of photo's of my cards and details. I was so excited about this, as I've never had anything published in a magazine before. I'm not sure when it will be published yet, but I'll keep you posted on that!

I'm signed up for my first Craftfest in Nov, so I'm getting more involved with that, and trying to do more promotional stuff. If you fancy having a virtual craft stall, then click on the link above to book your stall.

I'm still busy making Christmas cards, gift bags & tags to sell on Etsy. I'm always trying to think of new ideas, so this week I made a Christmas gift tag kit, for those people who like to have a go at making their own. Don't know if this will work, as Etsy seems to be saturated with almost every idea I have at the moment.

Sorry! I couldn't add the pic of my Gift Tag Kit, as blogger seems to be doing something silly with my photo's & won't let me upload it.

Hope you have a great week :0) I'm off to Handmade Monday to have a look at all the crafty makes over there.

Melanie x.

Autumn Glow - Folksy Friday Treasury

I love Autumn - I think it's all the gorgeous rich colours of the trees, that inspire my crafting. My two favourite things to do in the Autumn, when I was little, were to collect shiny conkers and pretty leaves to press in my books.

So, for my first blog treasury, I'm celebrating Autumn, and showcasing some wonderful craft goodies over on Folksy.

Orange Fox Brooch from OddSox

Sewing Purse from Handmade By Edwina

Yellow Cable Tea Cosy from The Cosy Daisy

Yellow Felt Flower Brooch from Whimberrypie

Red Button Bracelet from Mrs Gibson

Lavender Bags from Chris Made This 

Hope you enjoy this selection. Comments welcome :0)

Vintage Ribbon Flower Christmas Card

My plan last week was to get a lot of Christmas cards made, so that I could make some packs up for my Etsy shop. But as life often gets in the way, plans don't always work. So, this week I've written down what I'd like to achieve in the next few weeks with getting prepared for Christmas, and the November Craftfest.

When I was on YouTube the other day, I saw a video on how to make a flower from ribbon. The finished look was very pretty and could be made to give a vintage feel to Christmas cards.

 

The red ribbon flower takes longer to make. You start with a circle piece of scrap card, about 1 1/2ins in diameter, a circle punch is good for this. Then stick the end of approx 16ins piece of ribbon to the middle of the card, and knot it to make the ribbon center. You then keep twisting the ribbon around in a circle until you get to the end of the card, sticking the ribbon down with a glue gun as you go. Wrap the ribbon over the back of the card and stick down to secure. The flower can then be embellished with buttons, brads or any gems from old jewellery add a nice touch.

The second ribbon is quicker to make, you just put a running stitch through the top edge of approx 15ins ribbon, then pull the cotton to gather it together tightly, and knot at the bag. I then added a brad from the Dovecraft vintage range.

Another website I found this week for promoting your blog is the blog Guidebook. You can submit your blog to their directory, as yet I haven't had any views through from them.

That's it for this week, I'm now popping over to Handmade Monday to see what everyone else has been making this week.

I'm also linking up to  Clares Craftroom.

Melanie x.

 

Promoting My Blog & Mini Makes!

Promoting My Blog

This week I've spent some time looking at different ways to promote my blog. I submitted my blog to blognation a while ago, and then forgot about visiting their website - but recently I've noticed that I'm getting quite a lot of views from them. They also have a blog called craftblogs.org where you can find loads of interesting blogs and vote for them.

Another good site is ukcraftblog which has lots of articles about what to write on your blog, and how to get more traffic on to your blog, plus lots more helpful tips about blogging.

Mini Makes

On to what I've made this week.

Mini post-it Note Holder

I thought this mini post-it note holder would make great stocking fillers for my Mum & Sister.

Small Decorated Notebook

I had some stickers and new washi tape that I wanted to use on this notebook. This was a cheap notebook I bought and covered with scrapbook papers. I was very pleased with how it turned out.

Mini Christmas Gift Bag

I wanted to try some gift bags in my Etsy shop, so I bought some plain brown bags with handles to decorate, but I just couldn't come up with any ideas to decorate them. So, I decided that maybe something small would be easier to start with. These little bags are tiny & would only hold chocolates or jewellery. I'm now going to make the bags bigger, possibly so they would hold a cd.






Hope you all have a good week.

I'm going to settle down with a cup of tea, and see what everyone else has been making this week over at Handmade Monday. Why not check it out too!

Melanie x.