Elegance on Etsy

I made a couple of pairs of earrings yesterday and got them uploaded to Etsy. I am really pleased with them, as they look elegant and catch the light beautifully - I almost want to keep them for myself!

Click HERE to see one pair and click HERE to view the other.

I love these gunmetal pearly beads and combined with luxury Swarovski crystals they already seem popular.

London Calling!

I've added a new creation to my Etsy page. This card was inspired by a recent day out in London and the ever-decreasing red London telephone boxes. Click HERE to view.

A very simple card, with lots of impact.
I love London!

Pretty In Pink!

It was a very girlie day of pink today - I made a necklace and earring set from my 90 year old gran - she was delighted and had many comments from friends when she went to a coffee morning with the other elderly residents in her apartment block. I used very striking beads that caught the light beautifully and of course, Swarovski crystals (my favourites!)

Plus, I also sold another pair of square duo drop earrings, which are also proving popular - they are pictured above.

Silver Anniversary Card

I was recently commissioned to make a Silver Wedding Anniversary card for a couple celebrating 25 years of marriage, in a contemporary style.

Here are the results!

Bank Holiday Monday - Is it?

So did you all have a nice Easter? How has Bank Holiday Monday been for you?
I had the chance to create a couple of custom orders and projects for clients today, so I haven't really noticed that it's a public holiday here in the UK.

Sadly, I'm unable to post my latest projects here as they are a commission for a publication, but as soon as I get back to some personal crafting, I'll have some more photos to show.

Please keep checking back!

An Egg-stra Colourful Easter Card!

Tall Easter Card
Designed By Jep

Create this colourful Easter card (or a version of it) quickly and simply using a few basic Fiskars products and coloured cardstock.

Level: Beginner
Time Taken To Make: approximately 45 minutes (so there’s just enough time before Easter Sunday!)

You Will Need:
Various Coloured Cardstock - bright colours.
Fiskars Shape Cutter Plus 294806
Fiskars Shape Templates – Ovals 294851, Circles 294850, Squares 294852
Fiskars Paper Edgers
Fiskars Hand Punch – any design
Fine Nib Marker Pen – Purple, Green, Yellow
Cutting Mat
Scissors
Tall Lilac Card (approx. 21cm x 10.5cm)
Sticky Foam Pads
Paper Glue Stick

Instructions:

1. Line the inside of the card with pale green cardstock.
2. Open the card out flat and cut three square apertures in the centre down the middle, using the Fiskars Shape Cutter Plus and the 2.50” square template.
3. Cut a 2” square from dark green, purple and yellow card and repeat from the same colours cutting a 1.50” square from each.
4. Layer up the squares accordingly (see photo) and attach through the apertures to the back inside of the card with sticky foam pads.
5. Cut three 1.25” x 1.50” ovals from matching coloured card and layer onto the squares with more sticky foam pads. Decorate each of the oval ‘eggs’ with hand punched shapes and a border strip cut from card with Fiskars paper edgers. Glue all the decoration into place on each ‘egg’ with paper glue.
6. Cut two scalloped edge strips, using the edge of the oval shape template, from purple card. These are approximately 0.5” (or 1.5cm) wide. Glue down the sides of the card.
7. Decorate the edges of the scalloped strips and the larger square frames with doodled lines of dots and dashes down the scallops in purple pen and dashed lines and crosses around the square frames in co-ordinating coloured pen.
8. Write your own messages on the reverse of the card.
   

All Fiskars products can be found at www.fiskars.com. Try searching there for your nearest stockist or if in the UK visit John Lewis stores for the products.

*Please note this design is copyrighted. Please do not recreate this card to sell or enter into competitions, send to magazines or pass off as your own. You are welcome to adapt this card to use for your own personal card giving for friends and family. Thank you for respecting the laws of copyright. For other permissions, please contact me.*

If you wish to purchase this card or any of the others seen here, please contact me.
Note: Purchasing the card does not give you copyright of the design, copyright remains with the designer.

All Spent Out!

I have just returned from a day in London and I'm really exhausted - I shopped hard!
I found so many wonderful bead shops that I just couldn't resist and spent a bit too much money, but found some beautiful items - some way beyond my budget!

I just love Swarovski Crystals and I made a point of visiting the new Swarovski shop in Great Marlborough Street (close to Liberty's) it is a stunning shop and has every Swarovski component you could want.
If you're a jewellery artist, it's certainly worth a visit if ever you're nearby. As too, is the wonderful bead shop at 20 Beak Street. The staff are very helpful and they have just about every bead imaginable. If you item is not on display, it's also worth asking, as they have lots of stock not on show.

Above is a photo of some of my purchases - I can't wait to get started making more jewellery from these gorgeous items.

Chicks and Bunnies Already?

Well a whole week has almost gone by and I cannot believe where the time has gone yet again.
I hope you've all made your Easter Cards (following my example below for some inspiration and hot tips.)

I've been really busy all this week and over the weekend with work for clients, so sadly I have not had time for any personal projects this week. However, I've been using some really lovely products*...I wish I could mention them here. All I can say is watch this space!



* If you would like your crafting tools or your crafting products reviewed and featured here on Creative Crafter UK please drop me a line. *

Egg-citing Easter’s Coming!

With Easter almost upon us, as it falls so early this year, I thought it about time to start making a few Easter cards. According to my poll (on the right of my blog – you may have to scroll down to view) it appears projects are your most popular choices so far, for what I should feature here on Creative Crafter UK Do please keep your votes coming in!

So here’s my egg-stra special Easter card making a bold, eye-catching statement.
Try making this is various colour schemes or patterned papers for different results.

This card has been created using the following:

Fiskars Oval Shape Template 294851
Fiskars Shape Cutter Plus 294806
Fiskars Hand Punch – Oval 5/16” 23595068
Corner Rounding Punch
Computer and Printer
Assorted Cardstock – Dark Green, Light Green, White
White Sheer Decorative Ribbon
Didi Glue Dots (www.gluedotsuk.co.uk)
Green Fine Nib Pen
Tall Yellow Card (approx. 21cm x 10cm)
Sticky Pads
Paper Glue
Scissors
Craft Knife
Cutting Mat

Instructions:

1. Line the inside of the card with light green card. Round the two outer corners with the punch.
2. Open the card flat and cut three evenly spaced ovals in the front layer of the card. The ovals are the 2” x 1.50” size on the Fiskars shape template. Cut around using the Fiskars shape cutter plus.
3. Cut three smaller ovals from dark green card using the 1.50” x 1” oval. Hand punch lots of white card ovals and decorate each green egg. Attach these to the card through the three oval apertures with sticky pads.
4. Cut a strip of green card approximately 3cm wide and scallop the edges using the edge of the Fiskars shape template and shape cutter plus. Gluhe srip to the card.
5. Hand draw a dashed line all around the edge of the card, apertures and scalloped strip in green pen.
6. Tie three small bows and cut the ends to 45 degree angles for a neat finish. Attach the bows to the eggs with a glue dot.
7. Using your computer and printer, print Happy Easter in a suitable font onto spare white card. Cut out with a craft knife and glue hand cut words to the green strip.

Tip of the Month: For a professional finish it is best to print the wording in reverse onto the reverse of the white card and then cut out. This ensures no printed lines are visible from the front after hand cutting!

All Fiskars products (including the punches as seen in yesterday’s posting) can be found at www.fiskars.com. Try searching there for your nearest stockist or if in the UK visit John Lewis stores for the products.

*Please note this design is copyrighted. Please do not recreate this card to sell or enter into competitions, send to magazines or pass off as your own. You are welcome to adapt this card to use for your own personal card giving for friends and family. Thank you for respecting the laws of copyright. For other permissions, please contact me.*

All Punched Out!

It's been a stressful day today with many projects to complete in too little time. Working on crafting projects, diagrams. Illustrator and articles, at least it was varied!

Too much punching for my liking (that's paper punching...I wasn't hitting anyone!) and now I've got arm ache! Lever punches are all very nice until you need to punch in bulk quantities. However, I love these Fiskars designs, especially the rope border - they create beautiful effects, especially down the edge of a project.

On the subject of punching - what is your favourite punch? What do you find you use most often from your crafting tools? I find stars, hearts and corner punches the most useful, but I would be interested to hear your thoughts.

So unfortunately no personal projects to show here, but there is sure to be more soon.
Do keep checking back.

Waterlogged!

Didn't it rain heavy today? The gales were blowing, the water and tides were rising and it was storming. One of the heaviest rainfall's I can remember in the UK!

I was working on Summer projects, so in my own little world - it was sunny today!
Perhaps there are some benefits to working ahead of time in a different season! It doesn't work so well though when in the Summer and the sun is shining (hopefully!) and people are wearing bikini's and flip flops and I'm designing for Christmas!

It's a tough life in the creative industry!

Ruby Anniversary

So it's my parent's 40th wedding anniversary this year and to mark the Ruby celebration, here is the personalised card I made for them.

It's a 'wardrobe style' card which opens from the centre. Inside is personalised with a photograph of them on their wedding day.

I hope they will like it! I also rubber stamped the background with pearlised ink and stamped a pattern onto the large plain pink heart.

Sold again!

I just had to share my excitement...I had another item sell on Etsy. This time, it was a custom order. Etsy rules!

So, whilst posting, I thought I would take this opportunity to add another picture of one of my other jewellery items for sale in my Etsy shop. These might be suitable for a special occasion, wedding or simply as a gift for a friend or loved one.

Click HERE to view.

Monochromatic Fascinating Rhythm

So I finally got round to some scrapbooking for myself today. It's been quite some time since I had the chance to do some personal layouts. Here are my results!

I purchased a shiny new pair of tap dancing shoes yesterday and they sound great! They're already very comfortable. I just need to learn a few more steps now. I've only been learning a few weeks and there is so much to learn. I love the rhythms you can acheive. I doubt I'll ever be the next Ginger Rogers (although I wouldn't mind finding a dancing, modern day Fred Astaire!)

My monochrome layout includes a delicate metal musical note charm, patterned papers from Die Cuts With a View Mat Stack and a simply white handcut title with hand-drawn stitching and doodling. The photo has been desaturated with the taps, lightly coloured to draw your attention to them.

Ohhhh, how I love monochromatic colour schemes!

Gap in the Market?

Following my posting yesterday showing the fabulous Fancy Pants stamps and sharing my love of Flourishes with the world, I have a question for all you lovely creative people out there...

We see most themes of crafting products have already been covered by all the product manufacturers from floral to vintage, distressed to bold, flourishes to doodles and geometric to realistic designs, but is there anything you would dearly love to see on a patterned paper. Is there a design you are constantly searching for that you can never find? If you had the amazing opportunity of designing your own crafting products what would you design and why?

Until recently, I wanted to see the use of swirls more often within design and an elegant patterned paper and crafting products on the theme of 'dance'. My wishes have since been granted and I see a manufacturer has now produced crafting stickers, papers and embellishments on the theme of dance when I attended the latest trade show, which will be perfect for my scrapbook pages and swirls are all the rage right now.

So leave you comments and share your thoughts on themes or styles for crafting products you would like to see. Who knows if a manufacturer happens to read my crafty ramblings here on Creative Crafter UK, you may just get your wishes answered!

With a Flourish

I'm loving anything with a flourish or swirl right now - any rubber stamps, patterned papers, rub-ons, stickers or embellishments. I'm so into swirls!

The Autumn Leaves range of crafting products are one of my favourites and I can't stop drooling over these lovely 'In My Words' designs by Fancy Pants. This is from their 12" x 12" range of self-cling stamps (suitable for mounting onto an acrylic block for stamping). They are available from the many stockists of Fancy Pants products. Check out their beautiful range of papers, tags and ribbons to match. So scrummy!

If you've seen or know of any pretty flourish or swirly patterns, rubber stamp designs, ribbons, rub-ons etc please share by commenting here.

Love the Sparkle!

I love anything sparkly and this is no exception!

I made this bracelet and earring set today for myself - I just love the colours of these beautiful Swarovski Crystals and the way they catch the light.


Happy to take orders, but please bear in mind - Swarovski Crystals are the best and therefore my prices would reflect this. Please comment or email me, if interested.

Mum - On Your Special Day

Did you remember Mother's Day this year? Did you craft anything to give to her?
Please leave your comments.

Here's a quick country-style card I created with Mother's in mind. This could be used for Mother's Day or perhaps her birthday. Or try altering the title for a Sister or Auntie or even Grandma.


Instructions:

1. Simply tear a piece of patterned cardstock and glue to the right side of the card. Ink the edges all round the card. Add a length of co-ordinating ribbon.

2. Draw on stitch marks and flourishes free-hand in pen. Punch flower shapes and attach to card. Layer various sized punched shapes for the largest flower. Add gem stones to the centres and three in a line on the ribbon.

3. Stamp the word 'Mum' (or Sister, Auntie, Grandma or the recepient's name) and 'On Your Special Day' below.

I would love to see your designs, if you make this card. Please email me your photos of your creations.

Tip of the Month: Layer various shapes to created a 3D object on your card.

Design and photograph Copyright Jep 2008.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mum's out there - especially my own!

February Hearts Challenge

So it's the 1st March (already) and how was February for you? Ladies - did you propose to a loved one yesterday for leap year? It must have been the day men dread when their girlfriends can pop the question.

Continuing with the romantic theme, the fun February Challenge has now ended. Thank you to everyone who entered. Here is one of the entries I selected from Leslieanne at www.kookyboutique.etsy.com
Her heart earrings are very pretty. Go and check out her Etsy shop HERE.

Another pretty submission was Soloartworks Filigree Heart ring. Click HERE to view.

Watch this space for more crafting challenges coming soon. Remember these are open to all types of crafts, so long as they link in with the theme.