Cards win a Prize.

During the heavy snow in December, my young niece called to see if I could help her make something for her school charity fund raising project. I was up to my eyes making advent calendar tins, covering notebooks for my own fairs and cooking lunch so I told her to look in my craft room and see what she liked.  My tip was to think of a gimmick.to get the kids and teachers  to  buy the cards !  Shamelessly we decided on candy canes. She pulled out all the bits and pieces came up with a very simple idea and got to work. It paid off. She sold all of her cards and won a school prize too.

Note to myself - Keep things simple !

Altered Tin

Sometimes when I am chucking tins or containers into the  recycle bin I stop and think what else could I make with them. It was fun making this little project and I was very happy with the finished result. It  will be used  as a saving box for something special later this year. 

Check out this site for my original inspiration.

http://notimetostamp.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2009/12/03/altered-cookie-tins/

January Mission - craft room organization

I like to jump straight into the new year and get rid of any clutter around the house. To be honest there is n't much clutter in the house but the craft room, well that's another matter. When I am busy preparing for the winter craft fairs I seem to go from one project to another and I end up with baskets of left over ends of ribbon, patterned paper, card stock, stickers, embellishments. To start the year afresh and renew my mojo I decided to start with my ribbon collection.

It was a great idea in the beginning and a great idea at the end but well right in the middle I thought I must be cracked in the head. But now I have a beautifully organized drawer of ribbon ( one more to go, I'll post photos in a week or so ........)

I just love my Alex set of drawers from Ikea. They are perfect. They open smoothly, move so easily on my wooden floor. They are just perfect for crafting.

Bookmarks

Everyone loves Bookmarks.  Last winter I came across this posting on the Mish Mash Blog.  I loved it. A wonderful way to use up scraps of favourite patterned papers.

http://michellewooderson.blogspot.com/2010/01/one-sheet-wonder-valentine-bookmarks.html

What a brilliant tutorial ! 
I jiggled it a bit to work with European A4 paper.  I made about 100 of these and they all sold last year. Some I laminated and some I left plain depending on whether or not I had embellishments on them.  For this year I will make lots more variations and also some kids orientated ones. Customers love to give books as Christmas presents. So these bookmarks were a little novelty.

Snowman Kisses

I came across this idea on Splitcoaststampers Forum Craft Fair Ideas.  I had a little difficulty in downloading picture of snowman so I used another  free clip art image, re sized it to suit my tic tacs. Then I typed up poem on my PC set it with smaller image of snowman, framed it and printed it on white card stock. I used a small circle punch for hole. They were quite reasonable to put together and sold for approx 1.50  euro each. 

You can also see another version on the following blog.  Kerry is a very dedicated and experienced craft fair exhibitor. You will enjoy her website.

http://www.kerryspapercrafts.com/?p=1640

Altered Clothespins

So simple and so cute !

These little packages were a great hit.  The basic supplies cost so little and yet were a great little money spinner for the craft fairs.  I cannot remember where I first came across this idea. But you can see more examples on the Mish Mash Blog
http://michellewooderson.blogspot.com/

A definite repeat item for this years fairs ! If I can source a good supplier for the Jumbo Pegs I plan to include those too.

Post-it note holder with mini gel pen

Another great link for you  today.
http://dawnsstampingthoughts.typepad.com/dawns_stampin_studio/2008/05/post-it-note-pe.html

I made more than I could count last year. They were so addictive to make and a great hit at the craft fairs. They were cute packaged but I found it was important to have one open so customers could see the inside.  They cost approx 35 cent each to make excluding card stock, paper and packaging.  Multi pack  of post-it pads and mini gel pens I got in discount stores. I divided the large post-it pads into 4. I sold them for approx 3 euro each or 4 for ten euro.

Last year most of the packs had thank you teacher toppers. This year I will keep them non specific and package them in Christmas colours. Again I did not use stamps but chose font and size, printed and punched them out.

My craft fair table got a little untidy while customers picked over items.  I did n't really mind as sales were very good.  All funds raised went to charity.

Halloween Trick or Treats

Another of my favourite lady designers.  Check out this link. You are gonna LOVE it.

http://www.mychicnscratch.com/2010/10/fangtastic-treat-bag.html

I love the name of this site.  Angie regularly streams online live.  I enjoy her videos. She is so funny.

It's a bit tricky to get the hang of the corners but stick with it cause it is worth it. I love these. They went down a treat at Halloween with my nieces pals.

Gift Cards and Matching Envelopes

At the last craft fair I attended I was asked by customers a number of times for gift cards. I found this example on Dawns Stamping Studio http://dawnsstampingthoughts.typepad.com/dawns_stampin_studio/2010/12/gift-card-holder-with-matching-envelope-video-.html

Having a little crafting free time over the holidays I made a number to put away for next year. I have set myself a little challenge this year to make at least 20 items a month so avoid the rush next autumn. So this is a good start !

 Instead of cutting a straight cut in the centre for the card I used  one end of a die with my big shot.

Patterned paper used :
Basic Grey Jovial Coal , Snowball fight.
Webster pages Waiting on Santa
Pink Paislee Father Christmas around the world

Notebooks

I love altering notebooks. Particularly the long skinny ones. I first came across them on  the Mish Mash Blog
http://michellewooderson.blogspot.com/
about 18months ago. Since then I have made at least 200 for charity.  They look lovely together with a matching pen tied up with a nice ribbon and I find it very hard to resist adding a little sparkly gem !

I don't use stamps for the toppers. I type them up and adjust the font or size to choice, then print and punch.
They sell for approx 4 euro each.  Originally I bought the plain notebooks for 24 cent each  in Tesco but the price has been increased to 66 cent each. Making the base cost of a double notebook  1.32 euro. I was lucky to have been donated many by crafting pals for my last fundraising fair.  Thank you girls !

Purse Gift Cards

I came across a great video last summer and could n't wait to try out my new big shot with new dies.  The purses were a  cinch to make and I adapted the methods to suit the tools I had. It was not so easy to find medium strength  velcro  but eventually I did. The strong strength velcro tore the paper when you tried to open the purse.

You will find the video here

http://www.dawnsstampingthoughts.net/2009/08/dawns-convention-2009-swap-2-video-.html

I love Dawn's Stamping Thoughts Blog. I have learnt so much from watching her videos.

Grinch Pills

Grinch Pills were a big hit at the Christmas Fair in 2010.  They cost approx 25 cent to make and sold for between 1 and 2 euro depending on the time of the day. Towards the end of the sale I reduced the cost rather than take them home. I plan to make more for 2011. I will probably prepare packaging well in advance and buy tic tacs near the time.

I found a link for the download on Splitcoaststampers Craft Fair Forum.

The stand I was given as a present for craft fair displays. It was bought in Ikea in the Christmas decorations department for approx  3 euro.

My little daily treasures

Two years ago on holiday in Boston at Christmas we decided to travel by car to Montreal to visit my hubands' aunt as a new year surprise. We planned to travel north one town at a time in case the weather was too difficult.
I had a brilliant time as I searched online each morning for craft or scrap booking shops along the way. My hubby was very grateful to me for giving up my holidays to spend time with his aunt ( I was happy too as she is really a lovely lady) but also as the navigator I held in my hand the scrap booking route to Montreal. I had a ball. We arrived with no bother even if the car was a little heavier with crafting goodies.  On the return journey we stopped in a little coffee shop for a little break.  I discovered Green Mountain Coffee. My life has n't been the same since.
 I LOVE COFFEE although I only have one cup a day normally at eleven am  it has to be NICE coffee.  I brought some home and have since become a regular shopper online.

http://www.greenmountaincoffee.com/

My young son bought me some for Christmas and my husband bought me this brilliant cup at Starbucks, in Shanghai, China in November.  The perfect combination for a papercrafter ! 

I tried to unscrew the two layers thinking I could perhaps change the paper for different seasons but no it is glued tight. So I will pack up the cup on Tuesday and put  it away with all of the holiday decorations to treasure next year.

Buttons and Ribbons and cosy stuff

Last year I came across a post on this blog
http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2009/09/introducing-tree-trimming-trio.html
about making your own christmas gifts. I tried the microwave warmers and they were a great success.
This year I made some new ones and made little cushion covers to keep the actual cushions clean.

They were a little boring until I got an idea from this beautiful blanket which was given to me from my oldest son for christmas. I think he knows me very well. I love cosy blankets and am addicted to buttons and ribbons...
I have n't taken the tag off yet because I think it is lovely too !

He bought my present in one of my very very favourite shops.  Avoca Handweavers. Here is a link to them.
http://avoca.ie/home/
I filled my warmer with rice and made it long and not too heavy so I can drape it across my shoulders. It is great for soothing away shoulder tension from sitting over the computer ! Ha Ha,  I need that sometimes.

I used rub-ons on the buttons and the stamped tag is made from a stamp set from Papertrey Ink.
http://www.papertreyink.com/
Is n't is just lovely !