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Sunday, 20 January 2013

Valentines Day Jewellery

I've just realised that my blog has reached over 1000 views - a great milestone to reach.

It's been snowing for over 4 hours now and doesn't look like it's going to stop any time soon so a perfect chance to make some lovely necklaces and write a blog post about them.

With valentines day just around the corner, why not buy a lovely unique handmade necklace for your loved one. You won't find anything similar as they are all one of a kind.

This leaf necklace is currently my favourite - I really love these unusual beads.

 
 
And my next favourite are these pearl necklace and earing sets. There is one with dark purple beads and another with mint green beads interspersed with pale pink crystals.





They are all reasonably priced and would make any girl happy! Why not visit my Etsy shop and have a look for yourself:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ClairesCrafts1

Thursday, 10 January 2013

New Year and Christmas Crafting

I know, I am probably the last person to write their New Year's blog post, but it's been quite a busy few weeks getting back into the swing of things.

Over Christmas I was very busy making presents for people.

The main present was a recipe book for my Mum, which I forgot to take pictures of so I can't post anything. I will need to try and take some next time I see her to show you. It featured 10 recipes from my childhood which me and my sister dug out of her recipe box and compiled into a fancy, decorated recipe book. She loved it.

I also made my mum a small cross stitch featuring a country cottage. It was a kit that she bought me to make, but I framed it in one of my Grandma's old embroidery hoops with some co-ordinating ribbon:

I also had to make a special Christmas card for my crafty friend and had seen an idea using Clarity stamps and shrink plastic.

My previous experience with shrink plastic wasn't great but it actually worked first time for this card. I die-cut the shrink plastic before I stamped it and then added a bit of colour. Instead of putting it in the oven, I heated it with my heat tool in a baking tray. This didn't work brilliantly and I think putting it in the oven would have been better.

For the background I had a brainwave as I couldn't find any backing paper that would match.

I stamped my snowflake stamp with versamark and embossed it with tinsel embossing powder. I then coloured the card with purple distress stain, leaving the embossed areas clear and visible.

I then layed purple ribbon across the card, segmenting it into 4. I layered up each bit of plastic onto gold card and stuck one in each segment. On the fourth segment I put a sentiment onto the gold card.

I have also listed all my jewellery on my Etsy shop. None of it has sold so far but lots of people have looked so fingers crossed someone will buy it soon!

That's all for now, time to get on with my projects for January. More posts soon.