Dovercourt Swans and Royal Mail Price Increase

Last week I went to Dovercourt - it was a lovely day (although not quite so warm on the coast!).  I thought I'd share these pictures of the swans from the boating lake and a photo of the beach.  I've hardly ever been to the beach so early in the year but enjoyed my walk collecting sea glass - I'm sure I'll find a use for all the pieces I found!

If you haven't heard the news already, Royal Mail announced yesterday that they will be increasing their prices on 30th April - here's a link with more information...

http://www.royalmail.com/prices2012
Unfortunately the increase will be quite substantial (1st class stamps for UK letters go up from 46p to 60p and a small packet weighing up to 100g to the USA goes up from £2.07 to £3.30!) - therefore I will have to look at my shipping prices and make sure that I'm covering my costs.  If you are thinking of buying something from one of my shops and want to avoid the increase in shipping please make sure you place your order before 30th April.

Letters

Last week I booked the hall for the Creations Christmas Craft Fayre (I know - Christmas planning already!).  I decided that the blog for the fayre needs a revamp, which includes designing a new logo.  I wanted the 'Creations' logo to be handmade and look fun, so tried making letters out of different materials (paper, pen, pencil, stitching, felt, wire) to represent different crafts...

Although I liked individual letters it wasn't quite what I wanted.  Eventually I've come up with stitching the letters with stranded cotton...

Now I need to finalise the details for the fayre, update the blog with the new logo and I can start booking stalls!

Sunny Spring

What a difference a few hours make!  When I got up yesterday it was so foggy that I could hardly see across the road!  A few hours later there wasn't a cloud in the sky - lovely weather for photographing the flowers in my garden...

I think my guinea pig Basil enjoyed being outside too :)



21st Birthday Makes

It was my sister's 21st birthday recently and I thought I would share some pictures of things I made for her...

I made a card using some of my Cupcakes and Roses papers along with some other papers and embellishments from my crafty stash.

I also made a little brooch (my sister loves cupcakes!) from felt.

Printable Easter Gift Boxes

The daffodils are coming out in my garden and blossom is appearing on the trees... it won't be long until Easter now!  So today I am releasing two new printable gift boxes perfect for little Easter eggs and other small gifts :)

One of the boxes has a pastel egg pattern and the other features a design with tulips and daffodils (this one would also be great for other Spring occassions like Mother's Day and birthdays).

 

Each of these boxes prints onto 8x10 inch (A4) paper and measures 2.5 x 3.5 x 2 inches when made up.  I decorated the box photographed using eyelash yarn and a little flower tag made from layering punched paper flowers and a gem centre.
You can buy the templates to print and make yourself from my Etsy shop or Folksy shop.

Steampunk Printables Part 3

Here's the next product from my new set of Steampunk themed printables... a pair of gift boxes :)

As well as being great for Steampunk fans I think they would be a good way to wrap gifts for men.  I have designed two templates; one has clock hands, cogs and stripes on and the other has clock hands and a grey spotty pattern.

Each box measures 2.5 x 3.5 x 2 inches when made up.  You can embellish your boxes any way you like - I have decorated the box photographed using a brown silky yarn, a letter tag, photograph of an old key, tiny cog and some wire.

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

The printable templates are available from my Etsy shop and Folksy shop.

Folksy Friday–Twit Twoo!

I have recently been spending more time on Folksy which has led to me discovering some lovely new shops.  So today I thought I would try making my first Folksy Friday – hope you like it! :)

Buttercup Boutique / Artisan Silver Jewellery and Keepsakes

Snowdon / Eastwitching

 Lime in the Coconut / Needles and Buttons

Printable Steampunk Labels

Here's the second product in my new set of Steampunk printables - a sheet of labels which you could use in scrapbooking, cardmaking, as gift tags, book plates....

The sheet comes as a high resolution 300dpi jpg file and measures 8.5 x 11 inches (A4).  There are 8 different labels; each measures 2.4 x 3.5 inches.  These labels are available to buy from my Etsy shop and Folksy shop.

PS. Remember the Treasury Challenge #6 I posted about last week? My 'Steel' entry was one of the runners up! :)  Congratulations to Jane who won with this treasury!

Steampunk Printables

I have something new for fans of Steampunk today... a set of printable Scrapbooking papers :)

This set was inspired by my collection of cogs, old keys and vintage clock hands (it's amazing how many different ones there are!).  I designed these papers from my pen drawings layered with scanned textures.  You could use them in scrapbooking projects, cardmaking etc...  They would go really well with this set of card blanks too :)

The set is available to buy from my craft supplies shop on Etsy and from my Folksy shop.  You will receive 8 high quality 300dpi jpg files, each measuring 12x12 inches (they can be printed on A4 paper too).

I have more Steampunk printables which will be released later this week!

New card for Mother's Day

Yes, it's the cupcakes and roses designs back again!  This time I have used the roses pattern and green spots to make a Mother's Day card (Mothering Sunday is on 18th March this year)...

I have printed my design onto lovely linen textured card and finished it with a little flower gem embellishment.

This card is now available to buy from my Folksy shop :)