British Sellers on Etsy Treasury Challenge #6

Here’s my entry to the British Sellers on Etsy treasury challenge #6…

The inspiration item is the Recycled Ring Pull necklace – I chose a steel theme to my treasury :)
Please go to www.etsy.com/teams/6966/british-sellers-on-etsy/discuss/9828044/ to find out more about the challenge!

Pick of the Week

I love books and I love art and handmade - so what could be better than a handmade book?  This lovely journal is made by Renate Ikinger - she also has an Etsy shop and although this journal has been sold there are lots of other handmade journals available.

Home Sweet Home by ~kreativlink on deviantART

Ribbons and Bookmarks!

I've stocked up on ribbon so now I can finish off some more bookmarks.  With so many pretty ribbons it's hard to stop myself from buying the whole shop!  I was very good this time and only bought a few colours though :)

These bookmarks are now in my Etsy art shop...

Cupcakes and Roses – Cupcake Toppers

I’ve been torturing myself with the mouth-watering scent of cupcakes this morning :)  I can’t eat them yet though – they have to be photographed first!  I made them for the launch of my final Cupcakes and Roses product; cupcake toppers…

These printable cupcake toppers come as a high resolution 300dpi file for you to print and make yourself.  The sheet measures 8.5 x 11 inches (approx. A4) and each circle is a little over 2 inches in diameter, so you can either hand cut them or use a 2 inch circle punch without leaving a white border.

The toppers are perfect for making cakes look pretty quickly.  They are really simple to make – just cut two circles and glue them together with a cocktail stick in the middle!  These circles could also be made into gift tags or used in scrapbooking and cardmaking.

I used a 2 inch scalloped circle punch for the topper in the photograph on strawberry flavoured cupcakes.  If you would like to try baking some yourself here’s the recipe…

6oz soft butter
6oz caster sugar
3 eggs
6oz self-raising flour
pink food colouring
1tsp strawberry flavouring
makes 11 cupcakes

Cream the butter and sugar.  Beat in the eggs then stir in the flour.  Add the strawberry flavouring and enough pink food colouring to make the colour you like.

Spoon into 11 cupcake cases and bake at 180°C for 20 minutes – until golden and when a skewer is inserted it comes out clean.

I decorated the cakes by piping buttercream with a star nozzle.  To make the icing cream 3oz soft butter with 6oz icing sugar and add pink food colouring.

 

The printable cupcake toppers are available to buy from my Etsy shop and Folksy shop.

Mollie Makes sampler

Just came across this free sampler of Mollie Makes.  Looks like a compilation of different issues - makes me want to buy the latest magazine! :)

Open publication - Free publishing - More craft

British Sellers on Etsy Treasury Challenge #5

I had fun making this treasury – it’s my entry to the British Sellers on Etsy team treasury challenge :)Please go to www.etsy.com/teams/6966/british-sellers-on-etsy/discuss/9743243/pag... to find out more!

Cupcakes and Roses part 3

For day 3 of my Cupcakes and Roses launch I have 2 new printable products...


Each of these cute printable gift boxes measures 2.5 x 3.5 x 2 inches when made up.  They're really easy to make and are great for giving small gifts in a unique way!  You can customise the boxes you make too - I finished the one in the photo with some stranded cotton thread and a little paper flower.










See a tutorial on how to make the gift boxes here: http://hazelfishercreations.blogspot.com/2011/08/printable-gift-box-tutorial.html

You can purchase a set of 2 of these printable gift boxes from my Etsy shop or my Folksy shop.

These pretty labels are also new today...

The set comes as 2 printable sheets, each with 8 designs featuring roses and cupcakes.  Each label measures 2.4 x 3.5 inches.  One sheet has 'To...' and 'From...' text added and the other sheet is without text.  They can be used as gift tags, journaling spots in scrapbooking, cardmaking and more!
These labels are also available to buy from my Etsy shop and Folksy shop.

Cupcakes and Roses part 2

Day 2 of my Cupcakes and Roses release is for this set of printable scrapbooking papers...

It includes some of the designs from the cardmaking kit and some new ones too...

I have designed a mixture of detailed rose and cupcake patterns along with simple spotty ones - they would be great for cards, scrapbooks, collage and more!

The set is available to buy from my craft supplies shop here.  You will receive 8 digital files; each sheet comes as a high resolution 300dpi file and measures 12 x 12 inches.

There's still more to come - the next products will be released tomorrow! :)

Release of new Cupcakes and Roses craft supplies

My new range of Cupcakes and Roses craft supplies is now ready for release!  The first product I am launching is this cardmaking kit...

This pretty kit contains card blanks, envelopes, papers, motifs and embellishments to make at least 5 cards.  With a bright, spring feel this kit would be great for making cards for a range of occassions; birthdays, thank you, get well soon, Mother's day and more!

I have designed all of the papers and motifs in this kit using a combination of pencil, pen, watercolours and digital art.  There are 5 backing papers which feature spots, stripes, tiny flowers and a rose pattern inspired by vintage teasets and floral fabrics.  Also included are border strips and motifs with cute cupcakes and a selection of messages.

For a little inspiration on the many cards and gift tags you could make with the kit here is a simple card I made...

I used a cream linen textured card blank, 2 of the spotty backing papers layered with a 'Happy Birthday' border strip, raspberry cupcake motif and bright pink ribbon.

This kit is available to buy from my Etsy supplies shop here.

Look out for the next release tomorrow!

Colourful Cards

Yay! The craft supplies arrived today :)  I now have card blanks in lots of new colours.  Time to get my cardmaking kits finished - my new Cupcakes and Roses themed supplies will be ready for release very soon!

Handmade Buttons and Craft Supplies

I’ve added a new section to my craft supplies shop for handmade buttons: http://www.etsy.com/shop/hfcSupplies?section_id=11101007 and have just started adding these to the shop…

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I finally got around to placing my order for new supplies – so there should be more new items in the shop very soon.  I can’t wait to get my new cardmaking kit finished! :)

Snowy days…

The snow arrived over the weekend!  We had more than expected – at least 6 inches.  Here are a few of the photos I took….

Pick of the Week

This year I'm trying to be more active in the British Sellers on Etsy team, so this week's Pick of the Week is 16 items in one treasury featuring items from British Sellers on Etsy team members. Click on the picture to see the treasury in full.

Redwing

I spotted these Redwing birds in the garden yesterday - they usually only come when it snows.  We haven’t had any snow yet – maybe it will snow later today?!

Photography Tips

It’s sunny again today so I’ve been able to do some more photography :)

Since I opened my first Etsy shop I have always been trying to improve my photography and I have been helped  along the way by finding lots of great advice in forums etc.  I thought I would share some pictures of the set up I’m using at the moment (it is very low tech!!)

This is where I take photos of my products – luckily most of my things are small enough to fit here.  I’ve found daylight is the best light for taking photos so I get my items as close to the window as possible.  I have a big cardboard box on top of a fold out table, then a board on top of the box which is about the same height as the windowsill.  Unfortunately the English weather’s often too dull for taking photos but my reflective board (made of a box wrapped in foil) helps brighten up the table.  My room faces North/ East so I don’t get much direct light but that’s not too bad as bright sun directly on this would be too bright with harsh shadows and reflections from the foil.

I often use large sheets of white paper to photograph my items against but I also have a selection of coloured papers to use.

I then take the photos into Photoplus (very similar to Photoshop).  This is how the photo of my cards looked to begin with…

Often the whites can look grey/ blue, most of the time I can fix this in ‘Levels’.  There’s a little dropper tool which you can use to click on the area of the photo which should be white.  This is what the photo looks like now…

Now I crop the photo – I like the first photo of a listing to be square as I think it works better as a thumbnail.  I have also adjusted the Brightness/ Contrast…

Although my photos are better now I still have plenty to learn about photography (I would love to be able to get a decent shot of my fish tank!)

New Month - February

I've been enjoying the weather today :) Although it's much colder, the sky has been clear blue all day - which is great for taking product photos...

I've just listed this new set of postcards - 6 cards with Clockwork Birds and a set of matching stickers.  It's available to buy from my shop:

www.hazelfishercreations.etsy.com



Computer problems and a cold set me back in January so I'm hoping with the start of a new month I'll get on top of things again :)  My shops all need stocking up and I'm determined to get everything listed so I can start on some new pieces.