My Second Sunshine Award

Oh my God - I have just been awarded my second Sunshine Award this week!   I can't believe it - I am so honoured.   Thank you so much to Nicole at Spellbound Charms

The rules for accepting the award are -

• Place the logo within your blog or post
• Pass the award on to 12 bloggers
• Link the nominees within the post
• Let the nominees know they have received the award by commenting on their blog
• Share the love and link to the person from whom you received the award

I need to nominate another 12 blogs now so here we go....

1. My Cosmic Blog
2. ..:: El-Jay ::..
3. Charlotte Hupfield Ceramics
4. Crafty Storage
5. Gail Burton Art
6. Glamglass Gifts
7. MissSearles
8. One a Day
9. Raspberry Cupcake
10. Rhyme or Reason
11. The Pinkshop Blog
12. Vintage Inspired Lovelies

I'm off now to post some comments and pass on the love!

Thanks guys xx

Diddy Designs and Thank You

Firstly, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Harriet at the wonderful The Children's Jewellery Company for including me in her 'Featured Crafter' series on her blog

Now, what have I been up to lately...

Well, as my decorations are extremely popular with people of all ages, I have been creating a series of fun, small designs which are sold at pocket money affordable prices (£2 - £2.50).   I have named these my 'Diddy Designs' and so far the series consists of four designs (plus one honorary Diddy!)  I would love to introduce you to them here:

1. Cute Bumblebee

2. Cute Ladybird

3. Peas in a Pod

4. Cute Kitty

 

And, for the honorary Diddy:

5. Tiny Butterfly (available in five different colours)

So why is the butterfly an 'honorary Diddy'?  Well, all the other Diddies are available in one colour option only however, as this is an existing design which is available in other colour schemes - blue, gold, red, burgundy, silver and copper, it doesn't really fit in with this rule but the size and price does so it seems unfair to leave it out!  

I plan to have more designs in this series and hopefully people will want to start collecting all of them!  

For these and lots of other choices of decorations for your windows, mirrors and tiles ranging from classic to quirky, please go to my website at www.studiocrafts.net

I have also been making more keyrings including some great Union Flags in bright colours or mega-bling glitter!   But I still need to take photos of these and some of these Diddies still need to be added to the website so I guess the keyrings will have to wait for another post and I should go and update the website shop!

Hope you like these - I would love to hear what you think so please leave me a comment and I will be back again soon with keyrings and more designs!

Keep crafting and thanks for reading!

I've been awarded the Sunshine Award!

I am feeling very happy tonight as I am absolutely delighted to have received a Sunshine Award for my blog from Faeryatrix News

I have only been blogging since the beginning of February so am honoured to have received this.  Thank you so much!

The sunshine award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspires others in the blogging world.



The rules for accepting the award are -

• Place the logo within your blog or post
• Pass the award on to 12 bloggers
• Link the nominees within the post
• Let the nominees know they have received the award by commenting on their blog
• Share the love and link to the person from whom you received the award

So, on to my nominations (wow, this is so difficult to choose just 12 as there are so many great blogs out there which I love to read!).  I have decided to pass this award along to these blogs -
in alphabetic order:

• Aviya Glass
• CarLisa Crafts
• Craftee Cardz
• Dreamstar Diary
• Gallimaufry
• My World
• OOAK Fairy Fae Sculpture
• Owl Loves Panda
• Pukka Pinnies
• Spellbound Charms
• Sunrise Cards
• The Children's Jewellery Company

Thank you to all of the above for your great blogs!  Please remember to pass on the love!

Craft Day and a test of willpower..

Today has been 'Craft Day' on the popular shopping channel QVC.  It is a day for all creative types to enjoy seeing new products, techniques and inspirations.   It is also a day for hiding your wallet and exercising your willpower!

I am pleased to say that having had 'Craft Day' playing all day whilst I work, I have given myself a huge pat on the back for resisting the shiny new products so wonderfully demonstrated by some wonderful crafters who are at the top of their fields.  

I am fortunate that I no longer have cardmaking as one of my crafts - as the shopping channels tend to focus on papercrafts, to show such wonderful items at reduced prices to those involved in cardmaking and scrapbooking, etc. is like waving a red rag in front of a bull.

Watching craft presentations and entering craft stores I feel like a magpie being offered a table full of shiny goodies - with temptation around every corner!  

There were a few iffy moments today when I saw bits and pieces that I thought may work in my new acrylic keyrings but I managed to scrape through after taking a few deep breaths, making yet another cup of tea and hiding anything I could place an order with (not quite but you know what I mean!)

Scrapbooking is something I would love to do but I don't want to start.  I would not be able to resist on days like today and my bank manager would definitely not be impressed!  However, I can placate myself with the fact that I probably would never have the time to finish any pages so I think I will leave this craft to others and carry on with my peelable decorations and keyrings - after all, I have enough design ideas to keep me going for now and the future!   

That is my excuse and I am sticking to it....

On the edge of my seat...

So, have you been watching the Winter Olympics?  It has been required viewing here as are all major sporting events (Summer Olympics, Four Hills Skiing Championships, World Cup, etc.)

Sadly, the time difference in Canada means it has either been watching highlights (with much of the lower-ranking but still impressive players missing) or staying up very late to watch some of the events live.

How thrilled we were that our late night viewing (until 1.40am last night/this morning ) culminated in the first (and so far only) Gold Medal for Great Britain!   Amy Williams winning the Women's Skeleton Bobsleigh was absolutely amazing!  Both my husband and I were literally sitting on the edge of our seats as she began her final run, after leading from the very first run, it was hers to lose and all she needed to do was to get down safely and not make major mistakes. 

Fortunately for our neighbours, we managed to curb the desire to scream when she crossed the line!

I have also been keeping busy building up stock and creating more new designs for my peelable stained glass and more photos will be posted on my website (http://www.studiocrafts.net/) and here shortly.

Branching Out into Keyrings

I have decided that the time had come to expand the range of things I have for sale at fairs and on my website.   After much thought, I finally settled on simple keyrings - everyone uses and needs keyrings, right?

I have made a range of simple, handpainted designs using popular Japanese Kanji designs with a simple English translation in a range of colours.

Here are a few examples:

Each one shows a different  Kanji symbol in black with the English translation below in one of nine colour options

All the keyrings are available now on my website - www.studiocrafts.net   I hope to have more designs and styles on there soon - but you can be sure I will let you know here first. 

Hope you like them!

Oh no, the snow is back!

Just when I thought the weather was warming up, the snow is back and it is FREEZING!   Whilst there hasn't been a huge amount of coverage on the ground, the surfaces are absolutely trecherous.

Whilst I love the snow and how pretty it makes everything, it is so disruptive and causes major problems with my husband's work as a black cab driver.

Ironically, our road is never gritted but during the last batch of bad weather, we had gritting done two days in a row - the last one being the day before it all melted.  The result was a gritty road due to the large amounts dumped in a short time but the salt element has gone so the new snow is sitting on top of it!   Yeah, icy grit!

Fortunately, I don't have any fairs to go to at the moment so I won't have a repeat of my last show of the year in 2009 which I couldn't get to because we were snowed in!   Thankfully, crafting has a great way of giving you something else to think about and the time just flies!

So here we are again, indoors with two grumpy cats and the heating on permanently to keep warm!  Bring on the summer and the sunburnt shoulders from outdoor events....

First Batch of New Designs Completed

I have completed my first batch of new designs for 2010 and updated the Ali's Craft Studio website so they are available for everyone as well as myself to see and buy!

Just a small selection of the new designs are shown below....  

I just love this floral design - it is perfect for a plain glass door!

And for the girls this really cute fairy

or a Noah's Ark with a variety of animals....

Sadly, the colours really don't show up as brightly here as they do in real life and the fun and games I had with those animals!!  You definitely need a steady hand!

I am so pleased that I have got some new designs together - the busy times towards the end of the year make it very difficult to create something new when I spend all my time keeping on top of the most popular designs which sell out during busy shows.

I just love craft fairs, meeting new people and getting loads of ideas for new projects.  Now all I need to do is put them into practice....

My First Time....

I don't mind admitting, today was my first time! Now, get your minds out of the gutter... I have never created a blog before but decided that I can't put it off any more so here I am.

The beginning of the year can be a bit of an anti-climax for us crafters - the lead up to Christmas is so frantic, it feels a bit like you have been run over by a steamroller so the post-Christmas period is a time to catch your breath. To be honest, it can take some time to get the momentum back again but it is a good time to do all those horrible little admin jobs that I make excuses not to do at other times of the year!

I have been making some long-needed changes to my website - http://www.studiocrafts.net/ - and sourcing some new patterns for 2010. I make static cling decorations which look like stained glass but will adhere to any shiny surface - windows, doors, mirrors, etc. so it is important to keep the design list moving on. Please do go and have a look - I am sure you will find something you like (or I am not doing my job properly!!)