My Cards

Anyone for cupcakes?

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:53:00 +0000

Well, from looking at the last time I blogged, its been about six weeks! How very remiss of me. Work (the paid kind) has taken over of late and I've worked the last two weekends, no time for hobbies.

I have at last managed to get some mojo back and although I made these at the same time as my Christmas Cards, I haven't been able to list them on Folksy. You may think I'm crazy listing Birthday Cards in December, but I know plenty of people who have Birthdays in December and January, so others must have too?

Well now I have,

Cup Cake Birthday Cards

Christmas

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:20:00 +0000

Well with 75 days left to Christmas and the postal workers threatening to strike I decided to get a head start on my Christmas cards this year!

I already made a pack for our charity day at work and now have made 10 more for my Folksy shop.

Still need to make loads more for family and friends, so will be working hard on them for a while yet.

So far these are my favourites

Halloween

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:03:00 +0000

I have loved Halloween ever since our first visit to the USA four years ago. We went to New England in the fall, it was spectacular! Every house had decorations and pumpkins outside it.

I bought this beautiful scarecrow on my recent trip. He will be sitting somewhere in my house this Halloween.

I have also made some Halloween cards and favour boxes for my Folksy shop.

These are party invitations:

And for after the party, or for when all the little ones call trick or treating, some lovely little favour boxes:

The wanderer returns!

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:52:00 +0000

Nothing to do with cards but just had to say that I'm over the moon.

One of my two rescue cats went missing five weeks ago today. She wasn't used to being outdoors, so of course we feared the worst! We put up posters in our road and flyers in most of closest neighbours, but nothing.

Until this Monday - when we had a phone call asking if our cat was still missing. The boys went round, and there she was, a lot thinner but in pretty good shape. They tried to catch her, but she ran off again. So I though 'here we go again'. But we got some more flyers printed and delivered them this afternoon. Within an hour we got a call from someone saying that she'd been in and out of their garden all week. We went round, and there she was! At first I didn't think it was her, but it was.

We waited for about 20 mins but she wouldn't come to us. So we left some food and her box at the house and they promised to call if they managed to get her in the box. Finally at about 8:30 they called! Eureka! So we went to bring her home.

We have since taken calls from two other houses in the same row and it seems as if she's been going from house to house all week looking for food.

Can't think where she had been for the last four weeks, but so glad to get her home again.

We just want to say a huge THANK YOU! to all those who called to let us know they'd seen her!

Hampshire Open Studios

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:07:00 +0000

The boys went to Crawley to watch 22 idiots dribbling! So I decided to go out too. Read about Hampshire Open Studios on the Folksy forum, so decided to take a look. So, armed with sat nav, coke and food! Gassed up the car and despite the muggy, unpromising weather had a lovely drive up to Whitchurch.

Must admit I'd never been there before, a lovely little Hampshire village!

I watched Alice Bloor making her felt - I never realised what a simple process this was! I won't be pinching your idea though Alice! I'll stick to my cards.

The Studio is wonderful, I wish I had a little place where I could shut myself away from the world and do my thing! The pottery on display was wonderful and although I didn't buy any, both Caroline's and Penny's shops are being bookmarked for the future!

Anyway, to read a little more about The Studio, read Alice's blog raspberry

Having a Clearout!

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 08:25:00 +0000

I know its a bit late for a spring-clean but I'm having trouble getting into my little craft room these days.

I've been selling the odd thing on Ebay over the last few months but its slow going. What I've done now is to open a second shop on Folksy.com to sell on my surplus craft stash. http://www.folksy.com/shops/DestashCentral

I'll mostly be listing excess supplies from my card making but as time goes on I will be adding anything else that decides to pop out of my drawers and cupboards that hasn't seen the light of day in years!

For instance, I found a large bag of costume jewellery the other day, this found its way here when BIL finished clearing out the house, when he moved in. Its not to my taste, but like most things its too good to throw away. I know that there are lots of crafters out there who take apart old pieces of jewellery and re make them into new jewellery or sometimes completely different items. This is my current favourite:
http://www.folksy.com/items/54449-Saphire-blue-stone-earrings?shop=yes gorgeous blue earrings!

I also know I have loads of embroidery threads lying around, which I will never be able to use up, if I live to be 100! I can't even remember what else I have in my little room.

The Card

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:34:00 +0000

Aren't I stoopid! I forgot about the card! I made this from a goodie bag bought from one of my favourite craft emporiums - Craftwork Cards.

Need I mention it was a chocolate bag ;-) all lovely choccie and pink papers and treats. I've used it lots just recently.

Folksy - Gifts

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:59:00 +0000

Update on the pressies I bought. My friend loved them, her Birthday was Tuesday, so now I can let the cat out of the bag!

The main present was the Eyez pendant from Glamglass Gifts

We had to have some cake! I found this lovely trinket box from Woolly Wotnots

And to finish off I found this beautiful little bag from Dinky Daisy

I was in such a good mood after finding such lovely presents on Folksy.com that I had to treat myself as well, so I bought this beautiful pink wood pendant from Wood Jewellery

Folksy is such a lovely community and there is such a diverse range of hand crafted things on there, I'm sure I'll be buying loads more in the future.

I have loads of Birthdays coming up from September through to Christmas, and now I know exactly where to look!

Wedding Invites - Update!

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:26:00 +0000

I blogged about my first wedding invites before, but the wedding was last weekend and I'm told went really well. Congratulations to the happy couple!

The mother of the bride saw the keepsake box that I presented the invitations in and loved it!

Folksy - Gifts

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:17:00 +0000

I've just ordered some lovely gifts from my Folksy Friends. Can't say too much right now in case the recipient is reading this!

Will blog more after the Big Event ;)

Followers

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:39:00 +0000

OMG - I've got followers, where did they come from?

Does this mean I've arrived?

Go Handmade Issue 1

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:43:00 +0000

Fantastic new zine published on behalf of the Folksy community

http://issuu.com/seethewoods/docs/go_handmade_issue_1

Bottleneck Gift Tags

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 18:41:00 +0000

I've just started making these after seeing the idea in a craft magazine, can't remember which one, I read so many of them!

I did the first one for my son's GF, we bought her some champers for her 18th, so I made the tag to go over it.

Then I thought I could sell a few, so I've started to list them in my Folksy Store http://www.folksy.com/shops/melshandmadecards

Wedding Invites

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:58:00 +0000

Well just handed over my first commission for Wedding Invitations! It was quite a daunting task but I'm glad I've done it. Its certainly given me more confidence in my cards.

Above is the box I decorated to present them in. I'm really quite pleased with it, as it was an afterthought I had when trying to think how to store them. Intended for the Bride to use as a keepsake box afterwards.

These are the invitations, done in purple, although this doesn't show up too well in the photo.

And finally the Thank You cards, in silver.

Wild Rose Studio

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:04:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be picked as one of the Test Team for Wild Rose Studio's new range of stamps.

I was sent a set of border stamps and the Laundry Cat stamp pictured here.

They are very good quality stamps and they produce a very crisp image.

I stamped the image quite a few times with black ink on textured card with no problems. I then went on to colour them in using different techniques.

This watercoloured one was my favourite!

These are the rest of my samples. I used H20's, Sakura pens and coloured pencils. The borders are stamped with Chalk ink on black cards.

The Sakura's didn't turn out too well as I forgot that I could also use these as watercolours, which would have toned them down more.

Happy New Year!!

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:29:00 +0000

Its freezing and miserable here on New Year's Day, not the greatest day to start a New Year but I have decided this is going to be MY year!

I have just started my first online photo album and I will be using the link to it on all my advertising cards from now on. It looks more professional than just linking to Picassa and I can add to it more easily.

http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=dhjfnc4z_5dt3snchj&invite=ftd68vs

October - well almost!

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:51:00 +0000

I really can't believe how quickly this year has gone!

Only three short crafting months to Christmas!

Both my kids are now off my hands for a little while, so I've just got the old guy for company! Could be the ideal opportunity for some real 'me time' and get on with some much needed crafting!

Surprisingly my Ebay sales are going well right now! Look for my craft stash sales at Ed-the-hedgehog on Ebay.co.uk
I've been specialising in eyelets and gromlets since I bought my Big Bite a couple of months back.

Bank Holiday Weekend!

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Mon, 26 May 2008 08:21:00 +0000

Some Bank Holiday this has turned out to be, the weather has been in and out all weekend, now its Monday morning and its hammering down.

Haven't had a totally wasted time though; Saturday I went to the South Stamp Show in Worthing. Its held twice a year, in May & September, the next one is on 13th September 2008. I must have spent the best part of £100! Bought some nice stuff though, and saw some CM demos, which have got me watching loads of stuff on Ebay - can't really afford their stuff at full retail prices.

I bought some Little Claire wooden stamps from Hobby Art - think they ripped me off! They had them on offer, but when I got home and checked her website, I discovered that she is still selling the same designs as Acrylic Stamps and they're cheaper. Not a happy bunny.
I also got myself a real bargain on Ebay last week. Put in a bid for some bulk stamps, didn't think I'd win and had the intention of splitting them and putting them straight back onto Ebay! They are so lovely though and fantastic quality - some are Hero Arts. Think I'll be keeping them for myself instead!

Anyway, have had a little practise with my new purchases and have quite a few stamped and ready to take to work tomorrow to colour in.

Seeing CM also spurred me on to get back to my scrapbooking. My son will be 21 in 6 weeks and so far I have only managed to complete 2 pages from his scrapbook, I wanted to give it to him for his Birthday, never mind. Coffee break over, best get back to it!

Well, what a busy weekend!

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Sun, 18 May 2008 19:27:00 +0000

FA Cup final yesterday YUCK!! So I took myself off and made a whole load of cards ready for birthdays coming up next week.

I also cut loads of lttle favour boxes, they are so sweet, really handy for weddings, (although personally I wouldn't choose pink!). Anyway, they are up for sale at ArtyMiss if anyone wants to buy any. 10p each, or 10 for 75p (p&p extra)
I've also managed to take a load of pics of some surplus craft stuff - now just got to get it listed!

Cats

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:57:00 +0000

Another of my favourites is cats!
Here are some I made earlier

One stamp used three times, then coloured and layered onto gold card

A simple cat print personalised with a name

3D cat just like my kitty!

Busy month for Birthdays!

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:32:00 +0000

Just checked my calendar, loads of cards to make for this month! Lucky I started early! Here's a couple already completed.

I love this butterfly card, I have a thing about butterflies, quite a lot of my cards include them somewhere.
The design was printed onto a flecked card and then coloured with H2O's which give a lovely shimmer effect, unfortunately this doesn't show up too well when photographed.

Another card using H2O's, this time with gold peel offs.

I experimented with Letraline, not sure if I like it, not as easy to use as I thought it would be.

I love the simplicity of this one, peach on peach!

Baby Card

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Sun, 04 May 2008 19:29:00 +0000

These are two of my favourite cards right now! Two of my friends both had boys in the same week.

When I make baby cards I always think it is nice to include the baby's details as a keepsake

Hello!

hunny.nic@gmail.com (Hunny) — Sun, 04 May 2008 19:01:00 +0000

I've had this blog for over a week now so its about time I did something with it!

My name is Mel and I've been making cards for a few years and started selling them a couple of years ago.

I started selling to friends on the internet and now have my own little web shop here:
http://artymiss.co.uk/barter/shop.php?user_id=100087
I still sell privately because I prefer to make my cards to order. In fact I called in at a local craft fair yeterday to see if it was worth taking up a stall. Sadly the hall was half filled with card stalls already, so I don't think I'll be bothering. It brought home to me though the amount of stock I would need to keep!
If anyone reading my blog is interested in buying any of my cards, please drop me a line.