Bubbly Duck Handmade Jewellery

So for the past few months I have been toying with the potential of becoming a demonstrator for Stampin' Up! Last year, I was given some stamps and other craft things by a family friend - they had been her late mum's. Last December  I'd used a couple of the stamps to make some Christmas cards and loved them - they are the old school type on wood blocks which (thankfully) have a company logo on - which just happened to be Stampin Up! Now being a lover of all things stampy for many years, I'd remembered hearing about Stampin' Up! put simply, it is a crafty version of Avon or Tupperware (if you're old enough to remember the popular parties). So I looked into it, going onto other blogs and You Tube videos to see who was doing it still in the UK and came across loads of people who seem to do really well (orders from customers do give each demonstrator commission as either income or towards products). So I took the plunge and bought my starter kit...yikes!! I...

I originally set out to write this post about my experience of booking onto craft fairs when on a small, tight budget. However, at the time of writing this post, I have completed two craft fairs, both very different and with differing results, so the scope of this post has widened and hopefully you can pick up a few tips for future reference. September is turning out to be a particularly busy month for me. Somehow I managed to book myself onto three craft fairs across three weekends on the run. I’ve managed to get myself confused, unconfused and confused again.  Two fairs I’ve had my eye on for ages and couldn’t get on an earlier fair either because it was fully booked or I was simply booked for something else. Signing up to email lists has been both a great help and a bit annoying. It has helped me stay ahead of the curve and book onto fairs early but for the weekends I am already booked up or simply skint I’m annoyed I can’t book on. So what happens when that does happen...

Sorry for my delay in this post, I'd had a plan for it but then Life got in the way and I found myself distracted and a month has gone by. So here it is. It's not so much as a "how to" but more my experience of trying to make creative designs on paper for my jewellery when I left Art as a subject behind when I completed my GSCE's and took a more science-based path (that's for another time though). When I started bead weaving and bead embroidery, I used printed patterns by other people, and I still do, but there is nothing like making something from your own design. But where to start... For me, I usually look at what beads I have and simply make it up as I go along as inspiration takes me, but that can give varying results and not always good! Beads!! Shapes, Sizes, Colour! A vague pattern in my head did not come out anything like how it should! I write poetry every now and then and I've got into the habit of keeping a notebook in almos...

Weeks ago I ordered the rather lovely Illustrated Faith "Heart that Receives" bible journal kit from Ellie Beth Designs. I was following the devotional for a while, doing a few bible-art-journaling, but then my church began a short series of 1 John and I studied this quite deeply and instead I used parts of the kit - plus some Illustrated Faith "Fruit Punch" alpha stickers for this. My church is currently doing a series in Matthew and this week's teaching was surrounding the three accounts of healing at the beginning of Matthew 8. I was inspired by bible journaling process videos I have been watching to do a journal using elements from the "Heart that Receives" kit which I thought would fit quite well with my notes. Colours: Primary Red, Cadmium Orange Hue,  Dioxazine Purple, Phthalocyanine Green, Titanium White  So to start with, I picked some colours from my Liquitex Basics acrylic paint set and added the white because these colours can ...