Its been far too long ...

Its been far too long since I've posted. ... this is what has kept me busy ....

Photographs - revisited

Well, after yesterdays stresses with taking poor photos, I set to it this morning, cup of tea in hand, fuelled with poached eggs on toast ...

I moved the frame, adjusted the camera settings, wedged the daylight lamp under a box to get a jaunty angle, and this is the result. ...

Although it is not perfect, I certainly think that its a huge improvement.

This is how it looks with the close ups ready to go out online ...

The lovely Carly, who is a blogging buddie of mine and who runs the beautifully looking Crafted by Carly, suggested a book, as did fellow #irasb er Marie, who runs Marie Louise Hall Photography so its a fab recommendation especially as shes a photographer!! .. Marie says that its packed with tips on using a lighting tent.  Perhaps one for me to look at once I am more happy with my own set up, and my homemade lighting area!  

You can find it here ....

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crafters-Guide-Taking-Great-Photos/dp/1844487512/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359988286&sr=8-1

On the whole, its been a great experience in not getting a great snap first time, its really got some great dialogue going with buddies on what works for them, and has made me realise that I MUST take more time on presenting my work.  Not dissimilar to what I used to get on my school report!!!

Thanks for stopping by,

chat soon X

January ...

As promised, I am back for the end of the month for a blog post, ... My altered approach for 2013 will be to post a little less often, but to bring you more images of what my month looked like!

So for me, January has been a strange old month. Being very much a Christmas person, I have found it pretty hard to get back into the swing of work after having a few weeks off- and its not because I don't love what I do ... but somehow the start of January gets filled up with the habits left over from the Christmas holidays ... and the end of January gets filled up with undoing all those habits!

That said, I have still had some productive moments scattered though the last 27 days! So here they are!

I started work on a set of birthday cards that used the most popular theme from 2012  butterflies.  The canvas that I made last year had so many lovely comments, that I decided to continue it over to 2013.  You can find them on the website here.

I have also been working on the tabs on the Facebook Page - I had made images to cover the tabs some time ago, but this year I needed to get on and match them to my business cards! Unfortunately the colour seems to vary from lapop to phone, but its supposed to be a light mint/teal colour!

Despite the variations in colour ... I really like it. The brand is really coming together now, with the butterflies, and the matching colours.  It has been one of those jobs that you put off because there is always something else to do, but it is always well worth doing when you do!  There is something to be said for overhauling and taking another look at your image from an outsiders perspective.

Lastly, I have been putting this together ....

It is a pretty heart card that uses stitching from my vintage 1950s singer sewing machine, and I'm offering it with some handmade chocolate that is shaped like a heart, from http://www.trulychocolates.co.uk/  It is so nice to be making cards that are all representative of the company and the sort of 'feel' that I am trying to create.  Its  taken some time to get there, but it is really coming together. You can see the package here.

If you haven't visited the facebook page yet, please do ... I post fairly regularly, and link to lots of interesting things and articles, as well as sharing some new designs and inspirations   If you write on the wall that you found the FB via the blog, I'll add you to my discount list, as I'm also offering free postage on your next order if you visit via the blog, so well worth a visit!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all had a really lovely Christmas and new year,

Shelly X

my card week in pictures ...

My card week in pictures ......

As well as special orders this week I have been working on designs that are versatile for all sorts of greetings cards .....

Thanks for stopping by :)

Shelly

Butterfly frames ...

Inspired by the beautiful frames created by Belle Beau, Charlotte Ranford Designs, and the art work of Eiji Watanabe, I have had a go at making some pretty little frames.  They are smaller than the ones I have seen by these two companies, and they are also not boxed, so they are more pictures than art work, but I am really pleased with the results.

[For sale: £19.99 plus P&P - Add you own personalised text and colour for free]

I like the simplicity of the creams and whites, with a simple message.  I also love how the butterflies create their own shadows, making them change as the light changes.

[For sale: £22.99, plus P&P]

This one is my favourite of the two .... I love that the tiny gems that I put on the flowers are under glass, and that the butterflies tie into the main pattern.  I was worried that when I cut them out, the pattern would be lost.

I bought the word LOVE made out of wood, painted it with matt ivory Laura Ashley paint, and matt varnished it as well, so that the finish is really sleek but definitely hand crafted! It sits flush with the frame, and makes a nice change for me as I so often use computer printed text in my work.  I also love how the little layered butterfly turned out, sitting on the L .... you can't really see it on this picture, but it looks just like it has landed there!!

I has been really lovely to try something different, and although I think the first design needs some work, I really love the second, and its been worthwhile in doing something different to keep engaged with the trends in crafting, and to just have fun with a new project.  Not too bad for a first attempt!!

Would love to hear your thoughts on them ....

Thanks for stopping by X

Luggage tags ...

As promised yesterday, I am back with a short post to share with you some butterfly luggage tags that I have begun today.  I am no where near finished, there are 37 to do! But I have made a start!

So we left yesterday with a pile of butterflies, which have hues of pink, white and brown.  I thought that they would match the luggage labels really well, but the butterflies had a little too much white in them, so I put them to one side.  I looked at the colours within the tags ... They already come pre-printed so are very decorative already.  I decided on the same colours as the original butterflies, only more dirty.  

I sorted the tags out to size, as there were three different sizes, and printed the text onto cream card.  I used the same colour as the signs I made, and the same card.  I thought that that would tie it in well.  I also cut out some little butterflies in a matching paper, and adhered them to either side.  This should give them lots of  dimension, and compliment the existing printed images.  Once I hand these over, they will be tied to a flower stem, and handed out to the guests at the wedding.  I think the flowers will be the finishing touch that they need.

Thanks for calling by

Have a good week

Shelly X

Wedding signs ....

Hi all

As mentioned in a previous blog post, I had bought some pretty butterflies from Belle Beau ready to begin work on two wedding signs, ready for a campsite wedding!  The wedding party are having the evening event on the campsite, and are decorating the marquee with shabby chic items .... bunting & afternoon tea, serving sherry and having an overall vintage feel to the day.

My mission was to make two signs .... a favour buffet sign and one to mention the wedding party.  The other part of the brief was to make them water proof.  No mean feat when your usual medium is paper!

The butterflies were my starting point ... 

Kelly at belle beau has made some beautiful art work using butterflies, and it got me researching paper butterfly images online .... there are so many beautiful designs out there, so once I had enough inspiration I got to work.

I called my Dad to see what spare wood he had lying around ... luckily for me he had some pieces of old floor board, so he sent them over to me. 

And so the work began.

I cleaned to wood up with a little water and an old flannel.  It was mostly dust, so it didn't take long, and I made sure not to get too much water on the wood, as I didn't want it soaking in.  Dad kindly drilled a couple of holes in the top, so that they could be hung up on the campsite.  

Next, I used some watered down Laura Ashley paint in Ivory, and gave both pieces a light wash all over.  It was important that the wood had a white colour to it so that the papers would tie in, but that you could still see the wood grain through it.  After drying for a day, I used some Americana Multi-purpose sealer on it, just to protect it from water and to protect the paint itself.  Laura Ashley does such a lovely matt paint, that I didn't want it ruined with dark marks and smudges.

Once this was all dry, I got to work on the trim for the outside, which would create the frame.  I used some old white lace dress trim, that I have had knocking around for a while.  I cut the trim longer than I needed, to allow for lining up and mistakes! But I needed it to be a cream colour, so I recycled two old teabags in some hot water, soaked the trim for a minute, then got it out and squeezed the excess water, and then let them drip dry.  

Once fully dried, I had to iron them back into shape! This was pretty tricky, but flattening the trim out at this point made attaching it so much easier.  

I glued around the edge of the boards with some Hi-Tack glue- its my go to glue for most things, and I find it holds really well.

Once this was adhered, I came to the hardest part of the project.  The text.  I am not too happy about how it turned out, I think if I was doing this again I would re-think the text, and perhaps purchase some wooden lettering to go on the board itself.  But this time around I printed the text onto cream card, and distressed the edges.  The bride wanted a script style text, so this was the best option.  I used foam pads to stick them on, and coated them in Americana Duraclear matt varnish so that it would be more resistant to rain.  

Next came the most fun step- make the butterflies come to life.  I stuck them using high tack glue, and again coated them in matt varnish.  You can't see the coating that way, but they are more protected.

The last part of the project was to make the handles- I used some pewter wire, and wrapped it in lengths to create a pliable handle.   I then used a sharpie marker pen as a tool for creating twists, which would mount little butterflies to make them look like they were flying. :)

The overall effect is lovely, albeit with unsatisfactory text!!  I had lots of butterflies left over too. .... so will be using them on some luggage tags for the same wedding, as favours for the ladies ....  so come back tomorrow and check out the post about vintage luggage tags :)

Happy Sunday evening all X

paper butterflies ...

Just a super quick post to share some photos that I came across today ....

Its amazing what you can create with paper butterflies ....

I found the information from this website.  It details the installation of A Butterfly’s Eye View by artist Eiji Watanabe . The blog 'Collossal'  collated the images via a number of Flickr accounts.