Make It Show, Farnborough

Hi everyone,

What a lovely sunny day it is here in Surrey today! Sadly I won't be seeing much of it as I am snowed under with jobs to do inside. I'm still busily working to finish the first batch of 100 cards for the order I blogged about last week - they are nearly there! Plus I've had a load of orders on Etsy, despite the fact that I've not had time to do any marketing/promotion recently. And I have a 7000 word assignment due in to Kingston Uni as I'm doing the second module of a Masters degree at the moment. Phew, feel tired just talking about it!

Just a quick post today to show you all the goodies I bought on my visit to the Make It Show in Farnborough on Friday.

There's over £120 worth in that little pile! My favourite purchases were these Memory Box dies:

I can't wait to have a play with these but have had to put them away until my essay is written!

 I also bought a set of Spellbinder dies called "Fleur de Lis" which I think will be good to use as a base on some quilled cards, as will the decorative Marianne oblong die. And I couldn't resist this EK Success punch.

As well as these exciting purchases I took the chance to stock up on more mundane items - coloured A4 card, white card, sticky pads, double sided tape, ribbon, gems etc.

These rolls of ribbon were a bargain - 23 metres for £3.00 - sorry its a dreadful photo - took the photos last night in artificial light.

Have a great week. I'll try and pop in next week for a very quick post. Don't forget to spread the news about my Mother's Day card giveaway (scroll down).

Jill

3420 quilled petals!!

Hello again everyone,

Hope you are enjoying the weekend. For me today is the last day before going back to work tomorrow. I can't believe how quickly this half term week has gone. I've been busily quilling away as I have an order for 190 cards! They are for a US company who will be sending them to their female employees over the course of the year. This is the design they have chosen.

As there are 3 flowers, with six petals on each card, I have worked out I need to make 3420 petals!! And that does not include the flower centres or the leaves! However some of the profit from the order will go towards a new laptop for me, which is badly needed, so I'm keeping that in mind as I quill late into the night. Once again, JJQuilling have come to my rescue - an order for more quilling papers I made on Friday morning arrived in the post on Saturday morning - can't beat that service.

Well, have a good week and don't forget to leave a comment on yesterday's post for a chance to win the quilled Mother's Day card featured.

Jill

Mother's Day card giveaway

Hello everyone,

Well here I am, a bit later than I anticipated, with a Mother's Day giveaway for you. 

I am offering to send this pretty  Mother's Day card, with quilled daisy flowers, to the winner of this giveaway, completely free of charge.

For your chance to win, just leave me a comment on this post. All names will go in the hat on March 4th and the winner will be announced here on my blog.

Looking forward to reading your comments.

Jill

Happy Valentine's Day

Just came across this short video on Twitter today. It's very apporopriate for today which is, of course, Valentine's Day. Just thought I'd share!!

http://etsy.me/every-piece

Quilled birthday card

Hello again,

How are you today? I'm having a very relaxed weekend for a change as I have next week off work as it's half term. Lots of time for quilling hopefully!

The card I want to show you today is one that I made for my sister's birthday last June. I had to borrow it back to take these photos!

I made this card at a workshop run by Diane Boden Crane in East London. Diane is the most incredible quiller - so neat and precise. She has the most fantastic ideas for quilling designs. Some of you might know of the books she has published: "Quilled Greetings Cards" and "Miniature Quilling", both by Diane Crane. If you ever have a chance to do one of her workshops, I don't think you'd be disappointed.  Diane and her husband now run JJQuilling supplying anything to do with quilling, including a huge range of colours and widths of papers, with a very personal service.

This card was one of Diane's designs - quite a contemporary twist on a traditional craft I think!

Well, that's it from me today. As it's half term this week, I am hoping to be posting more often than usual - and I will be back with the Mother's Day giveaway I promised last week. Til then, happy crafting!

Jill

Another Valentine's card

Good morning everyone. Did you all wake up to a blanket of snow this morning? I don't think we have as much snow as other places here in Surrey, but it's still very pretty. I'm just glad it's at the weekend, so that I don't need to get in the car - I hate driving in snowy or icy conditions. My children, despite being teenagers, are still excited each time it snows. The youngest one, Annie, who's 14, has wrapped herself up and gone off to "play" with her friends. I'm just making the most of the quiet to stay warm and get some crafting done. I'll just be on standby with hot chocolate when Annie returns!

Today's card is another one I made for a special order. One of my very best customers on my Folksy site asked if I could make a Valentine's card featuring a fish! Here is the card I came up with:

And from other angles:

What do you think? I had not considered using fish on a Valentine's card, but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I'd really like to play with the design a bit more. Maybe a more "Valentine-y" colour scheme (reds, pinks etc). And I might try making one with two fish with their lips meeting.

Let me know what you think.

I'll be back next week with another card and a Mother's Day giveaway I think. So be sure to come back then.

Til then, have a great week and stay warm!

Jill