Retro Rubber #99..Anything Goes..

Hey,

Welcome to another awesome Retro Rubber challenge.

It's that time again for another fantastic anything goes challenge..

I have made no secret of my love obsession with MFT flower stamps..

As I have several sets I thought it would be fun to pull a few of them out for this challenge.

I used a Paper Smooches 'Denim and Daisies' set for the pocket die, the sentiment and the small leaves. I've had this set since 2016 and it gets a ton of use. The pocket was die-cut out of felt, from a set of felt sheets that my work colleagues gave me for my birthday - so much fun to use.

I used x3 of my MFT flower sets 'Large Desert Bouquet (2016)' 'Bold Blooms (2017)' and 'Pretty Posies (2017). Everything was stamped using Tsukineko Dew Drop inks. I love the rich colour these inks give.

I have the matching dies for all the sets, so I stamped everything and then die-cut them all and stamped leaves and dots directly onto the white panel before assembling my bouquet.

I love how bright and happy it is, just what I need in this dreary dull time of year!

Looking forward to see which older stamp(s) you use, don't forget to pop over to Retro Rubber and get inspired by the things the DT have made.

Challenge ends March 9th.

Don't forget to tell us the age of your stamp, that is part of the fun of our challenge and please only enter 10 challenges including Retro Rubber.

Cx

Tim Holtz Tags of 2015...February...

Hey,

So I finally got round to starting AND finishing my February tag last weekend. And yes the photo is HUGE, but he's sooo gorgeous, I wanted to share him in full detail :)

So modge podge gave me some issues, thus it is time to invest in glue n seal!

I used all the technique's Tim used, but I substituted some of the items. My papers came from my scraps, the sentiment I stamped and then distressed.

I assembled the entire tag, following all the steps. I did not want to sew on my heart and looked at the other tags for inspiration - big thanks to Belinda Basson, her use of staples inspired me to do the same.

The die cutting felt was a new thing for me - believe it or not. Silly right!

I added some gold stars around the frame on my tag, I felt I needed sparkle! For the final touch I used a Navy mist to add splatter. I smudged some of it in, as it was a bit OTT..mists, still mystify me..

I broke my one new item rule - there are 3 here..sorry I just couldn't resist the President's Day sales.. So the arrow, heart and frames are new..sorry but I love a sale!

Here's a close-up -

I love how my tag looks, it feels feminine yet grungy - love it!

Cx

p.s Yes..'Tags' are male...

Being friendly..

Hey there!

WOYWW was fun yesterday, thanks for all the lovely comments about my cards and OWH.

JT gifted me an awesome Kenny K superhero stamp and I thought it would make a great birthday card for my friend Dave - known as Ado to most of us...Obviously the main photo today is of the card I made for him, every time I see it it cracks me up :)

It's nice to make things for your friends, especially when you know them really well.

Over the last few weeks I realised that one of my besties has been a bit out of sorts lately, so I made her this little card -

Long time to grow an old friend

Just so she knows no matter where I am, I'm always her friend.

The digital stamp is by Pink Petticoat and the ribbon is by CraftTime.

It's nice to have friends.

I miss my friends in London.

But I am happy to be making new ones here in NYC.

Cx

Starting to get my romance on...

Well, not really :) but I have started making Valentine's Day cards for our website.

I'm not a big Valentine's Day fan, but I love working with hearts so...This year I thought I would try and create some more contemporary cards.

The main photo today is of one of 4 designs I have been playing with. This one is the most time consuming, as you have to hand glue the back of the die-cut Love Birds and it is muy tedious! But on the other hand it is is so simply beautiful, I want to send one to myself so I can frame it (weird or no?)

You can also see my 'drying rack' in this photo - it's a piece of string, hung between the shelves and I drape cards across it that need to dry. This bad boy also works with pegs and can hold 20 cards - sweet. I have 2 of them.

Anyway I digress..here are the other 3 designs, I made 2 of them a couple of weeks ago and I am still happy with them - I try and start 'seasonal' cards early, makes it less stressful.

The card below has a bit of a manly feel to it I think. The Union Jack stamp is from Paperchase and I've always been a bit confused as to where I should use it. Perfect use methinks.

Valentine's Day - Spots and Hearts

Valentine's Day - Lots of Hearts

The card above is a bit of a twist on the more traditional lots of red and hearts. I went for a lot of red, but offset by a fair amount of white. The felt glittery heart mounted on the scalloped heart helps to keep it contemporary, as does the lack of 'Happy Valentine's Day'. I think it's nice to leave the sentiment off when you know the recipient will know why they are receiving the card.

The final card below is a bit of a twist on the main photo - portrait and using a pair of scalloped hearts, with one embossed with spots. This card is really quite classy and once again I want to keep one..

Grey Scalloped Hearts

A red version

What do you think?

Cx

Valentine's Day

Mini Valentine's Cards

It will soon be Valentine's Day, unfortunately for Hubby I will be in Amsterdam with my goddaughter and best friend, so no celebrations for us.

HamnMule are already on the case producing nice things for Valentine's Day!

I spent Saturday with JT making lots of cards, basically just gossiping whilst trying out new ideas and new things from our stashes. It was nice to work with someone and to use bits and bobs from their stash, makes it all feel really new!

Picture of the day (1) is a closeup of the mini heart Valentine's Cards I made yesterday - I used a scallop square 2inch punch, adhesive felt hearts from Tesco and glittery heart stickers from Paperchase.

2 - The aperture cards used the same hearts, but I put coloured papers behind the aperture and added a sentiment.

3 - The bronze cards used circle and scallop punches and stickers from Tesco, bling from local craft store. I made these with JT on Saturday.

4 - Is another picture of the mini hearts, but you can see all of them this time.

2 -Valentine's Cards made using Aperture Cards

3 - Mini bronze Valentine's

4 - Mini Hearts 

Oh and last but not least, I mentioned JT's blog yesterday, she had this great idea to start a new project every week, they may not get finished in the same week, but you'll get to see how she progress through all these great projects she has started. Check it out here - 52 Weeks of Crafting.

I am aiming for 3 posts a week - that might be more manageable - so I should be back on Weds!

Cx

Hard work pays off!

Hello - so I missed a couple of days this week - but I have been feeling quite tired, as I pulled an all nighter on Friday, so I could be ready for Saturday.

Saturday was a huge success and I am very grateful to my friend Sooze and her mum Mary for hosting the mini fair for me - it was a huge confidence boost and made all my hard work more than worth while!

Even though it was a mini fair at a house, I decided it would be good to road test some of the changes I have made to my stall / display following the Berkhamsted Market. I was pleased to see that the 3 major changes drew results / compliments.

The changes I made were -
Brooch Display - I have never really sold that many brooches and I was convinced that this was in part due to the way they were being displayed. So I bought some really beautiful boxes and put the brooches in and it worked - I sold 10 brooches on Saturday, so definite improvement - hopefully using the vintage cake stand to display them at the next 2 fairs will bring even better sales.
Price Display - I usually have my price list on one sheet, in a nice perspex holder centrally on the stall, but I realised that this is not great for everyone - so I made individual tent cards and wrote the product, price and any special deal on this and positioned them infront of the products. Once again this worked, as people didn't have to ask for prices and I think this makes them feel more comfortable.
Card Display - Normally, I display my cards in the boxes I use to transport them - they are pretty, but don't showcase the cards. I bought a decent card rack and this means you can see what the cards are like - therefore tempting you. One of the ladies on Saturday commented that this made it much easier to choose cards.

I am really pleased that I was honest enough with myself to implement changes, even though they are relatively small, they have enhanced my sales a great deal.

This is my first week of not working on a Friday - hurrah! However, there is a reason for these non-working Fridays - I need to concentrate on the next 2 craft fairs, I need to start sewing the bags for the Esher fair, finishing the painting of the Christmas Decorations and replenishing my depleted stock (cards, brooches, felt decorations, scarves) - please note I am NOT moaning, I am happy that my stock is depleted because I have sold it!

I am also busy compiling a list of what to make / buy / give people for Christmas, there have been lots of requests for cards, so once the craft fairs are out of the way, early December is going to be busy! Hubby and I have also been working on our Christmas card list - which is epic - how did it get so big?

Today's picture is from Hobbycraft - it is an advent calendar and I have modified it to make my own - which I have sold 10 of so far!! They are so cute and really easy to make and a good way of using up oddments in your stash.

Cx

November Craft Fairs

So November is going to be a busy one for me - first my friend's Mum is hosting a mini craft fair at her house (with me as the only seller), then I go on the photography course that Hubby bought me for my birthday, then on the 21st and the 28th I am doing 2 more craft fairs!

I really enjoy craft fairs, I like talking to people and it makes me feel so chuffed when people compliment me on my items - it's a lot of work to create enough stuff to sell, so it's nice to get positive feedback.

The picture today is the poster for the fair on the 28th November in Leicester, I am looking forward to that one a lot, as I will be heading to Melton Mowbray on the Friday night, so we can spend the weekend with my in-laws and Hubby's godmother - we haven't seen them in forever, so it will be nice to catch-up before a big day of selling!

I realised the other day that whilst it is nice to specialise in certain craft items, it's always nice to mix it up a bit and I have used Christmas as the perfect opportunity to try out new things and test my skills.

I have made paperweights using the stones I brought back from the beach in Cornwall, they are gorgeous - I must take a picture for you. I enjoyed making these, quick, easy and the results far outweigh the effort required! I have loved making the felt decorations, but I haven't loved painting the wooden ones, so I don't think I'll be doing that again.

All the Christmas crafting has also given me an excuse to buy new tools and I did finally buy a Sizzix Texture Boutique, which I love - it's so easy to use and you can use Cuttlebug embossing folders too - just check the size, as the Texture Boutique has a smaller apperture!

I am going to attempt not to spend any money in November on my stash, but I'm not sure if I can actually manage this! In my lunch hour today, I went to the art supply shop and spent £6 - no will power! I can't resist craft stuff!

Cx

Christmas has exploded in my room!

Ha ha, not quite, but I've attached a picture of the drying area in my craft room and I think you can see there is quite alot going on! There is also a picture of one of the cards on the shelf, close-up!

I have hit the 300 card mark with the Christmas cards - so yay for me, but there is still a long way to go - gotta hit 500 before November the 6th.

I have a reason for this. If I have 500 cards (= 50 sets) and I sell a reasonable amount on Nov 6th, then I will only have to make a small amount to cover my work sales and the Nov 28th fair! Logical right?

I am finally loving the wooden Christmas decorations, they have been a bit of trial and error to be honest and I am still not 100% in love, but I can be a bit like this about the things I make, I get a bit insecure! Especially if they have taken awhile to get right!

The felt Christmas decorations are my fave, as I get to use felt, hand sew and use my button collection.

I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I've enjoyed the Christmas crafting this year and I think that I owe that to my fellow crafters and their handy tips - start early, pace yourself, take a break - wise words indeed.

On a slightly different note I noticed last night that one of our cats is covered in glitter! She did run off with a rather expensive Magenta Stickles a couple of weeks ago, so I am assuming this is why!

Whilst I am mentioning Stickles, I have to say, I thought they were going to be an expensive waste of money, but they have brought me only joy! I love using them, they add so much to my projects and are easy to use and best of all seem to go a long way. Papermania have brought out some similar products this year for Christmas and they are a cheap alternative to Stickles and ok, but not as good.

Lastly a bit shout out to Pam at Chicks of a Feather - who left me a really sweet message a few weeks ago, I totally love her blog, it's an inspiration.

Cx

Where did September go?

Ok, so I need to up my game right?

It's been over a month since I last brought you up to speed on all that is going on in HamnMule world and that's just poor!

So, let's recap -

The new kitchen is complete and a thing of total beauty, I'm not going to show you a picture, but I will say that after 3 painful, take-away fuelled weeks, I could have cried when the builders told us they were finished (on time and slightly over-budget).

Amsterdam was fantastic as ever and I managed to buy all kinds of random craft goodies, which I have stashed for post-Christmas crafting!

Christmas crafts are progressing nicely - I'll have a pic of some of the goodies for you tomorrow (I promise), I am now in the final card making push, I have nearly painted all of the the Christmas decorations, the felt ones are all cut out and half are sewn, the rest will be done next week in Tenerife! I am just going to start putting together the advent calendars, but that's a pretty quick job, as I am creating quite basic, but pretty ones. I am slightly concerned that I haven't started the make-up bag, clutch bag sewing yet - but sewing is difficult, I have to be totally in the zone!

One of my friend's mothers is hosting a mini-craft fair for me on November the 6th - it's so lovely of her to do that and I am working hard to make sure that all my products live up to her marketing of me! I have also accepted another craft fair on the 21st of November, but that is more about my scarves and bags, good to have variety and a mini break from Christmas before the big fair in Leicester on the 28th.

I have had Laryngitis, so hubby was overjoyed to have me silent for a week! I recovered sufficiently to celebrate my birthday in style. Today's pic is of the beautiful Thank You cards I have made for all the people that gave me gifts.

I almost forgot to mention that my Ma taught me how to crochet as my birthday gift and I am busy making a scarf in the morning on the way to work, as an L-Plates project!

We have just spent the weekend in Rye at a wedding and the second pic today is of me at the wedding in the cutdown version of my wedding dress - thrifty!

So, I am pretty busy and not sure exactly how I am managing all of this, plus spending time with my friends and family, but I love it, so it makes it all worth while and this year has been a very successful one for Ham'n'Mule, so I can see my hard work paying off!

Cx