St. Valentines Day

Just stopping by with a quick update on my first Valentines cards .....

I made the heart pegs as planned, and placed them on very CAS (Clean and simple)  cards!  All they needed were a stamped image!

I think that they really worked well- I found them a challenge, but am please with the simplicity of them!

What do you think? ...

Bye for now X

Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.  I hope that you managed to have some time off during December and enjoyed yourselves, however you chose to spend it.

It has taken me good half a day to tidy the workshop, ready to get back to crafting! It is Sunday night, the 8th of January, and I haven't made anything since the week before Christmas!  It has however given me a really good reflective break, and time to look at how I do my crafting.

The winter has seen a leak appear right above my desk, so first things first, we are sorting that out! I only realised we had a problem when there were brown water marks over four cards! Luckily they were unfinished, so no harm done!  But it saw me move half the office furniture out the way, which then became covered in bows and wrapping paper, so it was no mean feat to get it back to a workable space!

Christmas brought highs and lows for our family, but I have made the best of the holidays, seeing lots of family and just spending time with them.  It has been really lovely to see so much of them over a short space of time.  Normally throughout the year things can get so rushed seeing friends and family, that some good quality time with them was just what we needed.  it was especially nice that my Brother, Mum and Dad came to stay, and we got to go walking on Margate beach, and hang out.  Happy days!

So, January has arrived, and no imminent card orders! I have some wedding signs to make for my Aunty who is getting married this year, but no other orders, so I can now get back to creating cards just because. I can't tell you how lovely that feeling is after having such a busy December!!!

Have a happy week

See you soon

Shelly

Handbags ...

Handbags ....

Hello all. I am just stopping by to share this card with you that was a custom card made at the end of October. My brief was handbags, purple, and stylish. So I came up with this ...

I used an existing pre-cut shaped card as a template, and made this one much larger. I am happy with how this worked out- I would recommend you giving it a go, especially when it is covered in patterned papers, you cannot tell that it is not die cut.

I used 12x12 patterned papers, a  vintage button that my Auntie Sharon had found for me, some tags made with the PTI mat stack 4, and some gems.

Inside I kept to the same level of detail ...

I made a simple pocket so that the personal messages could be placed inside, and finished it off with a pin.

All in all, I think a good attempt at a card that is somewhat out of my comfort zone!  If anyone has any tips to help me out with sort of card, do let me know!

Thanks for stopping by,

Shelly X

(p.s. can I say sorry for the picture quality here- I was using my new phone and hadn't quite got to grips with it!!)

Belle Beau

Hi all,

Sorry it has been a while since I have popped by. Firstly, I have been poorly, and only managing to do the bare minimum around the house and work, and secondly, I am pretty busy with orders for the next few weeks.  Needless to say, my blogging has slipped somewhat!

I wanted to share with your a couple of things today .... A very good friend of mine has a new company 'Belle Beau', and also I wanted to share a little about the web platform she is using for it compared with my own.

The website is belle beau and is owned by Kelly Harmer.  Kelly and I went to school together, and she was always brilliant at art and being creative.  She has recently had a little girl, so how she has managed to set up her business along with having a baby I don't know ... ( I suspect she has a little super girl in there somewhere!!)  but she has finally found an outlet for all her creativity.  Sound familiar? .... There are so many for whom their job does just not fulfil that inner need to make a mess with glue and glitter!

Kelly makes picture frames filled with paper art.  For any occasion, and so easy for her to change with the tides of fashion.  I love the butterfly designs that she has done.  As you all know, I have been using a lot of butterflies over the last few months!

If you have a spare moment, please take a look.  Her designs are CAS and really inspirational ... I know for me, I have had a million ideas on different cards I could make!  She also is on facebook, so if you feel like following the goings on of Belle beau, here is the link.

Belle beau's website is hosted by a company called moonfruit, and I must say, I am really impressed with it.  As some of you may know, I have not been happy with my website for a while.  I find that it is not sleek enough, and I haven't found a way to link in my blog and facebook site easily. Not so long ago half my day was spent online updating the site, blog, facebook and folksy.  And well, it was too much, with little return.  What I like about moonfruit is that is enables, as far as I can see, to allow you to blog and have a website in the same place.  BRILLIANT!! It allows you to publish your shop with paypal easily, and it also does all the hard work in making it readable from all sorts of places whether its chrome or mozilla.  This for me has been one of the hardest parts of using my website, is that it just doesn't look right in all forms of medium.

So for me, I will definitely be looking more closely at websites and blogs that I like, and seeing who they are using ........  Change is a coming!  In the meantime, over the Christmas break I will be working on my website- I have been meaning too for the last few months, and trying to tie things in a little.  

How have you all got on with your blogging platforms and with your website builders? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Well, I'd better dash, I have four cards to make today, and time is a ticking!!

Thanks for stopping by ....

See you soon

Shelly X

cake blogs? ....

Today I am thinking about baking. A lot.  

So I thought that some of you might be able to help me with a little mission I have undertaken ....

I am wondering if anyone can suggest some great cake baking/ cupcake blogs that I could read ..... Any suggestions of baking blogs you all follow would be lovely!!

Thanks all XX

cupcakes galore!

It seems to me that there is nothing better than a cup of tea with a cupcake.  I do not need any excuse to have either, and I love to bake them.  There is something about having an individual cake wrapped just for me - I am a sucker for them!!! 

After some positive feedback about my baking from the card party guests, and the customers of the coffee shop I am working in, I have been full steam ahead this week with practising  my baking skills. 

I have beenmaking little lemon cakes ... I have basically been adapting a Victoria sponge mixture- I find that they not too dry, and with a little pinch of baking powder they rise well too.  These three were my first testers making a lemon cake, so I used 2oz of ingredients, and one lemon.  If I made this on a larger scale you could decrease the amount of lemons.  I also use vanilla in all my cakes, I find that this really helps the overall flavour.

I have taken a while to get used to the oven! It certainly isn't like ours at home, and takes a good 15-20 minutes longer of cooking time.  I found this out when the first batch of vanilla cakes sank!!  I tried to disguise it with icing, but I am sure the more practised bakers would have been able to tell!!! It really is surprising how you get on so differently with a different set of utensils and equipment, does anyone else find this? ...

I also had a go at some mini rich chocolate cupcakes. I used petit four cases, and winged it with the cooking time, but I was happy with them. They remained moist which can be so tricky with little cakes.

Instead  of butter icing, I used chocolate ganache this time. It requires equal measures of cream of chocolate, and once heated and combined, gently whisked if you need a stiffer topping.

I could eat this stuff on its own, but with the mini cakes it was lovely.  This was batch number two, and they worked well, so I am really happy with this.  

Along with some scones, the cupcakes looked lovely, and the feedback was positive.  I wish I could get more domes though .... the presentation is so much better in a glass cover rather than cling film!!

If anybody lives near Margate, it would be really really lovely to see you.  The coffee shop is in Holy Trinity Church, and is currently open 9-2 Monday to Friday.  You can find all the details about the location, and all the Church and Centre have to offer here.  

Also this week I have been making a little gift box.  My friend has just had a little baby boy, and I wanted to give her a baby grow for him, so I made something to present it.

Inside was the little baby grow tied with ribbon ....

The photo doesn't really show it to its best, but I think that you should be able to see how it is constructed, and how the ribbon ties in with the box itself.  I like the little flowers!

It has been somewhat of a crazy week, and I am looking forward to a more ordered one next week. Perhaps I will have some time in the evenings next week to get out for an evening walk wrapped up snug in hats and scarves.  We shall see!!!

Thanks for stopping by

Shelly X

card party and beyond ...

Firstly, can I say sorry .... I only managed to take one picture from last nights card party, and I didn't remember to ask the ladies permission to publish it, so I am sharing the event without pictures of the evening I am afraid.

So, a Tupperware party with greetings cards ... turned out to be a really lovely evening.  I had a hallway full of cards which was a daunting sight. I know I had been preparing for this for a while, but I didn't realise quite how much stuff I had to take!!

I had been prepared and in hopes of making some sales gone to the bank to get some change, but what I hadn't properly prepared for was suitable boxes to display the cards in.  Sadly it ended up being a whole mixture of boxes, and in future, I will be purchasing some decent uniformed display boxes! To be honest, just to have the same boxes for each set of cards would have been a whole lot better, so lesson one learned!

Once I arrived at my hosts house, she prepared light snacks and drinks, and I set up the table. I was surprised how much space I needed.  Guests started to arrive, and some people took their goodie bags, and some didn't, and we all stood around the table, chatting and having a peek at the boxes.  In future, I think I might suggest that people use another room to chat in as well, I think the added space would have been good- and although my hostess had made the space, I should have directed everyone into it myself.  Equally, I should have been more proactive in giving out the goodie bags, not everyone took one, which made the give-away harder.

 Overall, it was lovely to hear some positive comments, and also some constructive criticism.  One interesting comment that caused much discussion was one guest did not like the term 'with sympathy' on a card, and she will always try and find a different sentiment which she found difficult.  I hadn't considered using anything other than that or a bible verse, so that's given me a lot to think about.  Also the guests commented on my mini coffee cupcakes that I made to take for my host, and they suggested that I sell them.  Funnily enough this was something I considered last year when I moved to Margate, but chickened out because there are two local companies that already do such a wonderful job at cupcakes.  But it is something I may go back to considering, especially now I am baking for the coffee shop too!

The prize went down well, especially the box of cupcakes generously given by Lindsey of Lexilou's cupcakes.  If you live in the Thanet area you should really check these lovely lovely cupcakes out!  She is often out and about at craft fayres and events, so if you see her, please stop by to say hello, and check out the amazing things she makes!

Lastly, the guests all seemed to like the bottle tag that I made for the give-away (see the previous blog here) so I think for my next card party that I will make some, and definitely will be making more for Christmas. They really do make a bottle of wine that little bit more.

I have had a few orders come in from the event, so I will be sharing these with you after the birthdays and anniversaries have passed, and in the meantime, I will be cupcake making and also making a baby boy and baby girl card, so I will catch you sometime during the week to let you know the progress I have made!

Thanks for stopping by

Shelly X