Even Storm Doris Didn't stop the Show!

A little update on last weeks adventures, it's been quite a whirlwind....literally!

All set for the 'Make It' show in Farnborough, an early ferry at the crack of dawn with forecasts of storm Doris heading our way but the boat trip across the Solent was calm.... I guess you could say the calm before the storm!

We arrived nice and early for a steady set up day, an extra pair of hands with us as my back is playing up big time but we had plenty of time, or so we thought!  Let me put you in the picture, the show is held in a temporary structure that has been in place for years but it's like an enormous marquee that is made to move when the wind blows ( it's a bit like being on a boat)

The wind howled, the girders creaked and the lights swayed....no kidding.... and then the powers that be, had a conflab and decided to evacuate the building until the wind had calmed down with the instructions 'no entry until at least 3pm'. Great! Okay, let's go for a pizza! But oh no! all the restaurants are in a complex with a multi-storey car park and the entrance too low for the van so we ended up eating chips and baked beans in Tesco.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we were back in by 5pm and out again by 10pm all set up and ready to go!

             

               ......and a few hours later........

What a fabulous show too! 

Lovely to see so many customers and friends and so many birthday wishes too....I feel very blessed.  Then I saw Mags with Dawn and Ellie, and even though she felt so poorly she'd even stayed up late to make me a birthday card. Of course, we had to take a selfie so here we all are (even though I think I look a bit the worse for wear after the previous days fiasco!) 

It was so good to see everyone.

For those of you who didn't make it to the show, for all orders over £20 we'll include a FREE Pergamano 'M' Pattern (worth £6.50) - Enter Code 'MakeIt2017'

(this applies until the weekend midnight Sunday)

Don't forget to take a look www.wightcat.com to place your order

All for now

Hilary x

Stamping Resist Techniques

I love being able to do so many different crafts, and really enjoy stamping.  This week we were playing with resist techniques and came up with a few different cards......this is one of them.  So I thought I would jot down a step by step for you to follow if you have never done this technique before.

 

You will need:

A butterfly stamp - I used IndigoBlu

A mask/stencil of your choice......we have lots of different ones in the shop and on the website

Versamark ink pad

Stazon Ink pad

WOW clear gloss embossing powder

Quickie Glue pen

UltraFine Glitter

Distress Ink Pads

Also, IndigoBlu Stamp Cleaner, which I think is brilliant and used to clean my stamps and stencils

Start by taping the mask/stencil onto a piece of white card

Cover the card with Versamark through the mask.  Keep the ink pad flat and press hard to make sure you get a nice coverage, if you miss some areas it won't matter.  Remove the mask.

Cover the area with WOW clear gloss embossing powder, and melt it using the heat gun. 

 Trim off the outer edges.

Colour the card with the Distress Ink Pads, using the mini ink blending tool, these are great little tools and the little ink blending foam fits into the bottom of the mini distress inks so you can have one for each colour.

Run the Quickie Glue pen around the lines and circles and add some UltraFine Glitter

Next, you will need another piece of white card, approx 10.5cm x 15m .  Trim your resist piece of card to fit over half of it.  Colour half of the white piece with the mustard seed distress ink.

Attach the resist piece of card to the coloured white card, stamp the butterflies with the Stazon Ink pad (Rusty Brown) and then cover the join with some ribbon.  Mount this onto a slightly larger piece of green card 

Take your folded base card and colour around the edges with your distress inks, fold the card and colour the folded edge as well.

Mount the cards together, add a bow and a sentiment

I like to stamp the insert to match the  design on the front

Finally, don't forget to add your name on the back.....your artwork should always be signed :)

I hope you enjoy this mini tutorial, let me know how you get on

Happy Crafting

Creative Stamping Issue 24 April 2015

How thrilling to see my Window Box card published on the front page of the latest Creative Stamping Magazine.

If you haven't bought this magazine before, it comes with a wonderful set of stamps and lots of ideas on how to use the stamps

We hold regular craft workshops at the shop, please pop in and see us or give us a call if you would like to join us.

Happy Crafting!

All things Christmassy!

Are you ready for Christmas?

Everyone is so busy in our household, Steve put up most of the decorations in the shop a while ago and Amanda decorated the tree at home last night so its all beginning to look very festive :)

Most of the presents are wrapped but if anyone has tried looking to see what is theirs, then they will be disappointed because none of them are labelled yet. I just hope I remember which is which when I attach all the labels otherwise it will be like a lucky dip!

I've finally made the labels and here they are just in case you still need a little inspiration ..... you could use any stamp that you have in your stash.

Make a background of your choice, I love using distress inks for backgrounds and using the little ink blending tool makes it so easy

Then flick a few water drops over the ink, you can just about see the water on the next picture, I used my fingers to flick the water, but you could use a spritzer bottle or old toothbrush

Place a paper tissue over the whole piece and dab the excess water off and wait for it to dry or use a heat gun to help it dry if you are in a hurry. I love this effect!

Next, take any Christmassy stamp, I used a lovely Christmas Tree by IndigoBlu. Stamp the image with Versamark and using Wow! Embossing powder, Opaque Bright White and a heat gun, emboss the image.

Then I ran lines of glitter around the image with Stickles, I used Diamond but Fruit Punch looks nice on the red too. I hope you can see the glitter on the picture it looks so effective.

Finally, punch a hole if you haven't already and thread some ribbon........Ta Dah! .....all done! 

Have a lovely Christmas

New Die Cut Decoupage

Hello,

I’ve been putting the first of the new products for the year up on our website today.

We have 2 new Die Cut Decoupage series. They are in stock & available right now in the shop.

There is the Art Deco Series & the Polka Dot Flowers Series….with a special offer to buy the complete set in each range.

Art Deco Die Cut Decoupage

Polka Dot Flower Die Cut Decoupage


Hope you like them

Playing with paper

When you own a craft shop, sometimes it's hard just to create because you love it. There are always deadlines, samples, displays to create, and sometimes it can all be a bit too much like actual work. And that's no fun. So, to combat those post-Christmas blues and kickstart our 2012 creativity, Mum and I got together with some paper, paint and glue.

I'd forgotten how much fun it is to craft with someone else. Especially someone who gets it when you squeal with glee and clap your hands because something looks amazing (we may both have done this).

I especially love it when you get useful tips. See that little dish with my glue in it? It's a milk bottle lid. Top tip, thanks Mum.

In between having fun and endless cups of tea, we have also been planning workshops for the shop in 2012. I'll let you know more once we've finalised the details.

The next time I post, it will be 2012. Happy New Year, everyone.

Inspiration:: Amy Powers

If you want to get in the mood for Christmas, may I suggest:



I can't believe I have only just found this blog. The Christmas ideas e-zine is a work of art in its own right, but is also a fabulous source of inspiration for all things Christmassy. 170+ pages of beautiful projects with photographs, instructions and patterns. I love it!

New Polar White from Flowersoft

Ever since Flower Soft® was launched in 2004, crafters have yearned for a pure white colour. The Flower Soft® Ivory created fabulous results in their vintage snow scenes, but they all knew that white would be even more spectacular, particularly in more modern Christmas scenes. Well at long last, after 3 years of exhaustive research Katy Sue Designs Ltd are delighted to announce the launch of POLAR WHITE, the first new product in our premium Diamond Range

This is a speciality colour with unique properties. Crafters will be amazed at the semi translucent and frosted effects of Polar White, which has been specifically created to work on white areas within designs. Polar White is set to be the season’s sensation by giving the most realistic snow effects ever seen in paper crafts

http://www.wightcat.com/crafts/flowersoft.htm

Pergamano Multigrids 1 & 2

The new shipment of Pergamano Multigrids is due in this week.

To find the grids on our website Click Here

Craft Workshop

New Craft Workshops for Autumn

This week a new schedule of workshops for September through to December has come out.
The list is going up on the web in the next couple of days. Make sure you pick up a leaflet when you come into the shop.

Cardmaking is now twice a month on the 1st and 4th Saturday of the month. This months theme is Unusual Shaped cards....

Scrapbooking with Kate is back with September's theme of Mini Books and Picture Frames.

There is also a display in the shop of some of Kate's Scrapbooking pages, which are absolutely gorgeous.

Have you seen the cards Hilary has made from Martha Ospina's new book My Passion My Parchment, they are stunning. If you want to learn to do Parchment Craft ask about the New Beginners Parchment Workshop is starting in September.

Keep Crafting!