Creative Moments

Archive for January, 2010

Well, we’re all packed up and ready to go to Craft For Crafters! Just one more thing to do: Let you guys know the opening times for the shop this week!!!

Tuesday 26th January 2010 - 9:30am till 5:30pm

Wednesday 27th January 2010 - 10am to 4pm

Thursday 28th January 2010 – 10am to 4pm

Friday 29th January 2010 – 1pm to 5pm

Saturday 30th January 2010 – 9:30am to 2pm

Sunday 31st January 2010 – CLOSED

Monday 1st February 2010 – 9:30am to 5:30pm (back to normal)

The shop will be in the capable hands of Christine and Colin whilst myself and Margaret are away.

We will try our best to post out any internet orders that we receive from today until next monday, however 80% off our stock is on it’s way to Exeter. Therefore please be aware that there could be delays on shipping and we cannot guarentee any order will be sent before Monday 1st February 2010. As many of you know, craft shows are often very busy and items literally FLY off the shelves, therefore it may take us a few days after the show to update the internet store of exactly what we still have left in stock!

Picture from Natalie ’s Blog : http://ngcards.blogspot.com/

Wow!!! 

There was no official blog post today until I stumbled upon a post from Natalie of our design team and I couldn’t wait to share it with you! Hop on over to her blog now at  http://ngcards.blogspot.com/everybody-art-sketch.html to see more about this fantastic project.

As well as Natalie’s great blog(which is also fantastic for sketch inspiration)  why not visit the blogs of Sandra http://annettesartypassion.blogspot.com and Kate http://noseycritters.blogspot.com who are also both treasured members of our design team! 

We LOVE reading these blogs as they have some great ideas such as the fab book Sandra has just created this weekend and Kate’s rather teasing peeks at the recent design team projects she has been working on for us! We can’t wait for the postman to drop it through the door!!!!

 Sandra’s Fabulous Book. Picture from http://annettesartypassion.blogspot.com

Kates sneak peaks from her blog: http://noseycritters.blogspot.com

One last thing before I forget!!! We are the featured sponser of the week over at UKScrappers  so why not check out this FANTASTIC site too!! It is a fountain of knowledge for scrappers everywhere!

Happy blog hopping!!!!

To wind up the recent posts on canvases created with Hamblys products, we have two to show you here in different styles:

This ‘Pretty in Pink’ canvas is made in much the same way as the first which was shown on Saturday, as you can see their is lots of the Hambly rub-ons and the PINK COUTURE ACETATE, which was stuck with Claudines Multi-Medium as it dries clear.

This second features the beautiful Lace paper in light blue which has been adhered across the centre of the canvas. The photo has been adhered in the middle and the Wings acetate layered over the left hand. Transparent stickers have been used to add detail to the bottom right of the canvas.

If you have been creating this weekend, why not show us what you have created. We have lots more inspiration for you over this coming week from Jewellery to Scrapbook pages and more!!! Keep your eyes peeled, as you never know there might even be an exciting delivery winging it’s way to us!

We thought today, been a day of rest, we would keep the inspiration easy – Simple Sunday – we like to call it! Check out this fun canvas which was created using Claudine Hellmuth Paints and Hambly Screenprints!

It really is soooo simple that anyone who can take a photo can create this piece of art which is great for Home Decor! Okay, here goes:

1. Paint your canvas in a co-ordinating color to your photo using Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints. Leave to dry.
2. Adhere the Bird Cage Acetate onto the painted canvas using Claudine Hellmuth Multi-Medium. Leave to dry.
3. Adhere your photo into the centre of the canvas using Claudines Multi-medium.
4. Decorate as desired with Transparent Stickers from Hamblys (I have used just two small branches at the bottom of the photograph, but you could get very adventurous and add as many as you like! You could even add a title!)

See how easy was that?!? And I bet it took you no longer than 20mins (excluding drying time ofcourse!).

You know what, I don’t even think you NEED a photo! The screenprints speak volumes and are so effective just by themselves over a painted background.  Just think, you could create a collection of co-ordinating ones to hang in your living room or bedroom.  Your very own works of art! Oooh – too many ideas!

I’m off to dig out some more of these great products and have another play now – see you tomorrow!!

Today, we bring to you more inspiration from the fantastic Hambly products which arrived this week. This canvas was created using lots of these new products and is great for the altered artist, scrapbooker and cardmaker (oohh yes, we will be showcasing some hambly cards soon – we have some great yummy papers to showcase to you as well!)

Heres how you can create your own fantastic masterpiece:

1. Paint the canvas with your favorite color from Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint. Leave to dry.
2. Tear a  horizontal strip of the Hambly’s Couture Kraft Paper (approx 3″ in height) and adhered to the canvas in the bottom 2/3 of the canvas as per the picture above.
3. Adhere a small square of Birdcage Acetate to the canvas in the top right hand corner, using Claudine Hellmuth Multi Medium, ensuring it slightly overlaps the Brown Couture Kraft paper
4. Paint a stripe of a co-ordinating  color using Claudine Hellmuth paint, vertically down the right hand side of the canvas. Ensuring you continue moving down onto the acetate and the kraft paper
5. Use the Hambly Screenprints Metallic gold doilie rub-on to add detailing to the painted background. Overlapping onto the Kraft paper and acetate.
6. Add a picture to the middle of the canvas. Use Claudine Hellmuth Multi Medium to secure.
7. Take the birdcage from the transparent Hambly stickers and stick down the left hand side of the photo, overlapping onto your canvas. This will help focus the eye towards the photo.
8. Cut out one of the  mannequins from the Metallic Gold Couture Rub-on from Hamblys and rub onto the canvas, positioning on the right hand side of the photo and overlapping on the dark paint stripe you created earlier.

You don’t have to use the same colors as we have, or evening the same positioning. Don’t forget to check out the official Hambly Screenprints blog which has some fantastic project ideas inspiration! Definatly great reading for this weekend!!! Why not have a go and e-mail us your creations with the Hambly products, we would LOVE to see them!

Oh my!!! Have you seen the beautiful doilie rub-ons which have arrived from Hambly Studios? They are just fab! Tuesday was spent playing all day with these great NEW products. Check out these FAB bracelets we have created using the doilie rub-ons.

This bracelets was inspired by the ‘Official Hambly Studios Blog’. How cool is this!?!

They are REALLY REALLY easy to make! All you need to do is buy a cheap bracelet (Claires, Primark, New Look, Matalan etc) and some of the doilie rubons. If you can’t find a color bracelet that you LOVE, then why not paint it with one of the beautiful colors from the Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints, which is great for wood, fabric, canvas & paper.

Once your bracelet is prepped, you need to cut the different doilies from the sheet of rub-ons, (I have used three different colors) place as desired and RUB! These Screen Printed rub-ons are VERY VERY sticky, so do not place onto a surface where you do not want them to adhere! I accidentally turned the sheet of rub-ons over, so that the sticky bit was face down on my table and soon I have a very pretty doilie covered work space!!! (Luckily it did scratch off before the Husband came home!)You will also find that, unlike other rub-ons, they need little rubbing! Once your bracelet is complete, you could also coat it with Claudine Hellmuth’s Multi Medium in Gloss or Matte  to protect the surface and safeguard your design.

 We absolutly love the idea of been able to customise things so easily to make them uber chic & unique! I have made a couple more too, which I am sure will be posted soon-or you might just catch me wearing it as these are 100% my FAVORITE  jewellery of the moment!

You can find these incredible rub-ons here. I have a few other ideas of things to decorate with my favorite new rub-ons this week, what are you going to use yours for – we’d love to hear your comments below!

…I love this photo and have been trying to scrap it for ages. When the new origins paper came in it was perfect! So I got to work!

I wanted an earthy distressed feel, as the photo was taken outside next to a tree. I trimmed the paper so that it was smaller than the brown background paper and randomly tore the edges. I folded these edges over to show the underside of the paper – this is a fun technique to do when you have double sided paper to show off both sides!

Lace cardstock has been used on the edge of the photo and acetate layered over the top (from the ‘Take Note’ journaling block) to soften & highlight the photo. The chipboard scallop frame for the journaling and layered bird embellishment adds a little fun and reminds us that this journaling is about a wonderful little boy.

We really are beginning to fall in love with this GREAT paper from Basic Grey, I have only had one sheet of paper and one pack of ohh….urm..everything (not all for me, I have shared some bits with our DT & Margaret of course)! 

 But…I must say 3 Scrapbook pages and 4 cards later – I still have LOADS of embellishments, paper &rub-ons left! I reckon, I could do another few pages and cards…….LOVE IT!!!

Following on from yesterday’s blog post, we are showcasing a new scrapbook page which is 8.5″ x 11″. This is a great size (A4)  to work with. Using papers from the new Origins collection from Basic Grey, I have cut circles of brown cardstock which have been layered over the yellow to create a fun background which leads your eye down to the photo at the bottom of the page.

There is a small bit of journaling at the bottom, which has been created using one of the embellishments from the same collection. I have cut 6 strips of co-ordinating paper approx 1cm wide in various lengths and positioned  these (3 horizontally & 3 vertically) to frame the photo and draw the eye inwards.

 There is one thing missing from this page though. Can you spot it?

On Saturday, we showed you a couple of beautiful cards which were created with the new Origins collection from Basic Grey. Well, over the weekend we have been working hard to create THREE different scrapbook pages using the new Basic Grey collections. Although each uses elements from either one of the two new collections, each are very different as we have changed one key element for each…THE SIZE!

Yes, thats right! We think 2010, will see a slight step away from the usual 12″ x12″ as more people begin experimenting with other sizes. 12″ x 12″, we are sure will always be the traditional size that will be maintained and people will come back to time and time again.

However, HOT for 2010, we are sure will be 12″x6″ and 8.5″ x  11″ (A4). Over the next 3 days you will see one of each size, so why not have fun with us and create your own scrapbook pages experimenting with the various sizes available.

This page is 6″ x 12″ and has used the new Sugar Rush Collection. 6″ x 12″ is easy to make as it is just a 12″ x12″ standard page cut into two! You could make this page either Landscape or Portrait, this page has been completed landscape, so that is is wider than it is tall. Simple and easy to do, 6″ x 12″ really does have an advantage when you are short of time!

Check out the brilliant new ‘Take Note’ journaling blocks. They are pieces of cardstock printed in full color, which come with a co-ordinating piece of acetate. On this example, I have created a shadow effect by overlapping it slightly to just one side.  I have used the Take Note blocks on another page, which we will post later this week to show you a different way they can be layered.

Kathey is the latest edition to our elite design team – she  is sure to bring you lots of great inspiration. Here are a few words from Kathey:

Hi, my name is Kathey, I’m married and a very proud mother of three. I also have two lovely grandchildren and two cats. About three and a half years ago I started making cards and quickly progressed on to making jewellery too. At first I couldn’t understand the appeal of scrapbooking, but I’ve now been doing it for six months and I’m absolutely addicted. “Cards may come and go, but scrapbook pages can be treasured forever!” I couldn’t be without my Cuttlebug and Cricut, and I’m very excited about all the new products that are cropping up in the crafting world (no pun intended). My favourite products at the moment are shimmer sprays and masks, no two projects are exactly the same and you can really stretch your imagination.  I’m also a paper hoarder, I have to have at least two sheets of each – one to use and one to keep and look at!

I am really thrilled to be joining the Creative Moments Design Team and can’t wait to start using their products and hopefully bring you lots of new ideas and inspiration!

Kathey will sit on both the Jewellery Makers & Scrapbookers Design Team as she is very talented in both aspects! Kathey has just recieved her first design team project, which is full of lots of lovely beads and chain from our new arrivals! We can’t wait to see what she makes!