Showing some love for local crafting :)

Feeling the love today for local crafting. I discovered 'Sparkle Dreams' paper crafting shop and workshop at Studley Grange. Having lived in Wiltshire for 4 years, I have long bemoaned the fact that we have quite limited sources for good crafting materials - often having to resort to online shopping or my weekly pilgrimage to the crafting giant Hobbycraft.

 

 

How wonderful to discover an intimate little shop, around the corner with animated and passionate staff, offering a more personal service. It was a joy to be able to browse the racks, see and touch products I'd only seen photos of online. I was like a kid in a candy shop, with cries of "Tim Holtz!" and "I've not seen this MME paper before!" it was a revelation ... and probably a bit embarrassing to everyone I was with.

 

Don't get me wrong, I am a bargain hunter and will always shop around for my crafting needs, but for the joy and shear satisfaction of being able to touch and see what I'm buying might be worth overlooking a little price comparison now and then ;) Not to mention showing support for our local businesses.

 

NB:- Sparkle Dreams can be located at Studley Grange 16, M4 Motorway near Wroughton. The shop also offers regular crafting workshops. [Photo credit Sparkle Dreams]

Wedding craft: Lace tea light holders

The problem with finishing all of your wedding crafts early, is you start looking for new ones...

Mr S sensibly suggested we finished all the wedding projects before my hen-do (which was last weekend), so my heirloom bouquet, stationary, and several other little surpizes for the guests have all been finished  ... but now I'm seriously twiddling my thumbs with 10 days to go.

After 2 years of planning the only thing I felt we were seriosuly lacking were table centers for the evening do, as our day reception centers are too big for the evening tables. Mr S wasn't convinced we needed any, but it's been playing on my mind a lot lately and was thinking maybe a simple tea light. A while ago I saw THIS cool jam-jar idea by annaboo's house, loved it and filed it away on pinterest for another day. Fast forward to today, searching bargin basement shops for candle holders, and instead I found packs of four glasses or 99p and decided to get creative.

This is such a simple craft I did it in one afternoon (including time to go and get the lace). It doesn't really need instructions, but here is my technique:

All you need is:

Glass jars, cups or vases

 A selection of lace

PVA glue

A paint brush

Tea lights

1. Simply lay out your lace on your glass to work out position and spacings, cut your lace to size (allow a little overlap).

2. Paint the outside of the glass where you want the lace to go.

3. Wrap the lace around, patting it down as you go.

4. Trim away lace if there is a large overlap.

5. Dap more PVA between and ontop of any overlaping lace.

6. Finish your pattern and leave to dry.

7. Put a tea light inside, light and enjoy.

 Above are mine, drying on the windowsil. I've not told Mr S about them yet, verdict when he gets home from work, but hopefully the fact that it only cost £7 for all 12 will win him over ;)

Obviously I can't post many of my finished wedding projects, without spoiling our guests reaction, and I've been dieing to share, but this quick project was soo simple and effective I just had to post!

Easter Tree Decorations made from Cookie Cutters

I braved the evil step ladders to venture into the loft and retrieve the Easter decorations today. I rediscovered these Easter Tree decorations I made several years ago from cookie cutters I found in a cook shop and lengths of gingham ribbon and as its such a simple idea I thought I'd share.

 In these times of recession it seems rather a pity to waste such good quality cutters, but you can pick up simple stainless steel cutters from discount shops at this time of year and either spray paint them in beautiful pastel colours or keep them simple and slightly most 'rustic' by leaving them silver and maybe using string or raffia bows.

 I reclaimed the powder sprayed cutters today (as I'm having a cutter clear out and slowly replacing plain steel with colour for quick access) and swapped them for stainless steel recyling the gingham ribbon from the original set.

Kids placesmats, made out of scrapbook papers

I was setting the kids places out for dinner and thought I'd blog about about an old craft: their cool individual placemats - a quick crafty project with endless possibilities and that should keep everyone happy about their personal space at the dinner table. 

Basically all they are is 12x12 scrapbook paper, laminated. No tutorial required really, it is that simple. You just need access to an A3 sized laminator, and make sure the laminating sheet can get a good seal at all four edges. Given the wide range of papers available you are sure to find something to suit every child's personality or interests, you could even add some decoupage (although I do find the smooth surface of the papers makes for a more hygienic 'wipe clean' finish).

These are the kids place mats we made last year, I particularly love the double sided papers for these. And of course this idea isn't limited to just the kids, you can make some great 'grown up' placemats too. And why limit yourself to scrapbook paper why not make a whole set of placemats for your table using wallpaper samples or card mounted gift wrap? Happy crafting!