Secret Crafter Challenge, brother's birthday & a couple of books....

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I haven't done much crafty stuff lately. Strange, but since clearing and organising a special craft area I seem to have ground to bit of a halt! I hope this inertia doesn't last!
I think the much shorter days are part of it. It's pitch black before 4.30pm here. I hate hate hate that! It also means there is no natural light during the times I have normally carfted and drawn, painted, etc. I need to re-schedule myself!

Hey ho! Here are a couple of things I HAVE managed this last week or so....

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The Secret Crafter's Challenge this week is the theme "CUTE AS A BUTTON".

I did an ATC, using:

• my latest stamp, a cute kitten photo-like portrait;
• strips of paper left over from other projects;
• buttons from a pot sent to me by Julie :)
• gold heat-embossed scribble;
• and white 'Fluffy Stuff' as a touchy-feely frame to mimic a kitten's soft tummy :)

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Here is the birthday card I made for my brother, Roy. The strips of paper underneath the image are from Julie's parcel again :) :

The above photo was taken in artificial light, the one below in daylight- not sure that either shows the card very well!!!

I coloured loose stripes in water-colour pencil then washed over it with a water-pencil.
The forground is the same, but with less water, to leave more of a textured look. I added small gold stars from a strip of outline stickers to the sky to suggest the night sky coming through.

The tree stamp- I used one stamp twice and a smaller one once. They were freebies from Crafty Individuals.

I put a smaller picture, made the same way but darker, inside the card. The pine cones are rub-on transfers.

I also made a wee book for him as well.
The white square on the front is some shrunk plastic. It was going to be a keyring but wasn't quite up to it :)

Recipe:

• I bought a small wiro-bound note book for 50p.
• I took the wire out and covered the covers with paper (by Laura Ashley).
• Then I reassembled it inserting a patterned first page to show through the window in the cover. The letters are freebie stickers that came with a magazine this month.
• I laced it all together with gold cord that came free in the same pack :)

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I love the idea of making books, and must get round to doing more. Here's one I did last week. I don't know WHY it turned out so girly. I'm not a girly girl ;)This was really just an excuse to try out a certain birthday present:
Thanks, Luvbug :)

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Update on sales:

1. The table at the Indoor Craft Market isn't doing very well. I think I've made about £10 so far, and it cost that much to have the table there! I think this is partly because all the cards are upstairs so not all the shoppers see them- the staircase is slim and spiral, so no pushchairs, walking sticks or heavy shopping!
2. The shop in Ireland that asked for some cards to sell has had more luck- they only arrived there this week and already they have sold three!
3. I am nearly ready to launch my online store. I have to finish developing my banner and logo and getting all the cards photographed better. I had planned to go my mum's this weekend but given the weather (blowy and snowy!), I might stay in and work on this, instead!

Bad news, good news...

... I have four bits of good news and two of bad.... which shall I do first?

Bad, I think is traditional... so I'll get these ones over with quickly!

BAD NEWS-

1. the other card shop in Colchester said no to my cards. Actually, I don't think they really looked at them, as they were still done up the same way as when I handed them in. SO unless they fold paper and tie ribbon EXACTLY the same wayI do, they didn't look. And that would be a mean feat, as even I can't tie a bow the same way twice :)
2. have only just found out that I shouldn't take Ibuprofen with Duloxetine (antidepressant). The mixture can interfere with your blood clotting. WOW thanks for telling me, doc! (She didn't, I had to read it somewhere.) Hmmm..... now, wasn't the doc who prescribed the Duloxetine the very same doc who precribed me Ibuprofen for joint pain??? Good job I can read!

OK.

GOOD NEWS-

1. when my partner was in Ireland he talked to his brother about my cards. His brother is a pharmacist (hmmm.....maybe I should quiz him on the above!) and knows the people in the next shop along.... an art shop! SO he passed my blog address on to them... now I've had an email asking for a couple of dozen cards for their shop. HURRAY!
   
2. I've set up the stall in the indoor Craft Market in town. I have cards, notelets (in photo) and notecards, handmade little notebooks, gift tags and needle-felted brooches. The woman who runs it rang me last night and said that she wanted to double the price on my notelets as she thought I had under-priced them terribly. She reckons she could get double. I told her to try for the weekend ;)
3. I made some little business cards for the stall and mentioned pet portraits on them- and immediately I have 2 commissions. One is for a picture of a border collie, and the other I don't even know what animal that one is for yet. They are willing to pay £35 per picture. (GULP!) And now I'm worried as it is so long since I drew an animal that wasn't cartoony and posing with holly or a Santa hat. Hey ho! I shall have to get practicing this weekend.
4. Last but not least- my Xray came back normal. I am still having trouble with my back but it has calmed down a lot. I suppose it is good news, yet I know that something isn't right and I'd rather have found out what it was. I know my mum's spondylolisthesis didn't come up on an Xray, only on an MRI. But I don't think I'll be able to push for one of those with a normal Xray. If the pain comes back as bad as it was, we're going to go to Emergency and lie- we're going to say I fell down the stairs or something! This way I'll get an Xray when it's at its worst, and not 5 weeks later!

Sorry for lack of posts. Didn't get to do this week's card challenges either! Been busy, and been starting to get sorted- craftwise and headwise, I hope.

Bookfair- bargains and a surprise!

The book fair was great fun. We got there at the opening, 9.30am., and joined an already quite long queue! I think we stayed about 2 hours.

We were restrained this year. In previous years we have had to go out and buy new shelves to put the books on, sort of negating the bargain effect :) Ha! This year we had 4 carrier bags' full, which I sorted into one box when we got home.

My Luvbug is away for a few days, and I've set myself the challenge of finding a new place for this lot by the time he gets back. I need to be able to see them in order to remember them and actually read them. On the other hand, I want them tidied away. Hmmm. Not. That. Easy.

If you're interested, click on the photo and you might be able to see some titles...., I think a few are missing... I have a couple next to my bed already.... anyway, I fess up to the history and art books. Luvbug chose the accounting and puzzles. We both wanted the language books and erm, guess who wanted the cat book? :)HA! Look at all the pencil sharpenings on this carpet! I promise I will vacuum, ok? I promise. Soon. Hahaha.

OK. We went through to a smaller hall to pay, and had to pass through the children's section on the way. Look what I spotted on the games table....

"Anita's Art Stamps: Rubber Stamping Starter Kit"

The box is in a bit of a state, yes? Looks ancient. So, I wasn't expecting too much on the inside. In fact, if a crowd of people coming through hadn't blocked my path I might not have stopped to investigate further.... glad I did! Look....Everything on the inside is in pristine condition! 3 unused stamps (including a cat! Hurray!), an unused stamp pad (on its own this would have cost more than the kit), stickers, pencils, cards and envelopes. All for £3. Oh! And that booklet is really good, too.

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I haven't heard back from the second card shop yet re the ones I handed in on Friday:

Cards batched up with some all new, singing, dancing, letter-headed paper and business card, all thanks to a free Print Shop cover CD, and a patient partner who lost me to playing on it for hours.

BUT! I have acquired a spot in a new indoor craft market in town. They have only a short lease. They will be there till Christmas, definitely, and possibly Easter.

Anyway, I've paid £10 for my spot- that's a one-off payment- and after that they take 20% of what I make.

Now I have to supply a small table, take it in there and set it all up.
It has to be only about 2ft x 2ft. Is that 2ft square or 2 square foot? I can never remember. Me and Luvbug had this conversation a few weeks ago and both confused each other. And he has A level Maths, but still couldn't remember. This is what talking to me about anything mathematical does to your brain. And I used to work in stockbroking. Aren't you glad I got out before the current problems? You think it's bad now, but you have no idea what the world escaped from at my last redundancy...

There are already quite a few cards there, but I shall put some of mine on the stall. I am also doing notecard sets and needle-felting.

I want to try out those new stamps, too, and get into the book on colour-pencil drawings. Oh! And my two weekly challenges.... and I have two appointments in town this week... and the washing is building up.... oh yes. And vacuuming. LOL!

Whilst my other half is away (till Wednesday night) I'm going to be busy busy!!!




(if you want to get a free signature like this, click on it and it should take you to the website that does them- try it! Even if you decide not to in the end, it's quite fun to see them do your name in about 100 different fonts- on screen in just a minute or two!!!)