Showing posts with label craft kits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label craft kits. Show all posts
Makers Month: Why Blogging is Important for your Handmade Business with The New Craft House
Crafty Creative's Birthday Box
As you may know we are big fans of a box full of crafty bits and bobs. Earlier in the year H's link for the week highlighted some of the great craft box subscriptions out there, so when we were contacted by Crafty Creatives to test drive their Birthday box we jumped at the chance!
Box 13 (the floral birthday edition) is different than the norm - usually lots of different crafty bits and one or two kits, but as it is a special box you get five kits as well as few extra goodies. The art card usually features a different artist each month with an illustration that ties in with the theme, this month it was a collage of Crafty Box fans with their boxes, so cute!. Every month there is a different theme, previous themes have been: Floral, Nautical, Oriental, Gothic, Nostaliga, Icy, Woodland, Spots and Stripes, Steampunk, Blues, Glamour, The Treat Box (sweets and cakes) - a bit gutted we missed that last one!
We were greeted by a Thank You note from Claire and Isobel with an explanation about what the box contained. Then an instruction leaflet with a guide to all the kits enclosed with great pictures of the finished products, more about that in a minute.
Now to the fun stuff... we got a crepe paper streamer, a polystyrene ball, a roll of stem tape, a roll of wire, two packs of seed beads, a small reel of coloured wire, flower stamens, a stocking, some wooden buttons, a hair clip, a hummingbird pendant, a heart shaped cabochon, some paper flowers, a felt square, two pieces of card and a birthday balloon, wowzers!
After unpacking all the goodies we got to work, can we call it work? Play, we got to play!
First we made the felt flower
Next we made the stocking flower
Then the French beaded flower
(Sammy ended up using beads from her own stash to make this one because she knew wanted to give it to her Mother-in-law as a gift so she made it in a colour she knew she would like)
After that it was the paper rose hair slide
Lastly it was the crepe paper rose ball, which Sammy made into a little tree
(The stick, bow and bucket were from her stash)
All in all we really enjoyed making these little kits, we found the instructions to be very easy to follow. The mix of projects was great, some easy and some more difficult to work up to if you are new to crafts or the particular techniques needed. If you get a little lost with the instructions or are like Sammy and love a little video, you can head over to their Youtube channel and watch how-to's to give you a helping hand.
What we liked....
Sammy: I would say that as a very experienced crafter myself, it was nice to re-visit some ideas that I haven't had a go at for a while. I made six giant rose ball trees for my friend Kelly's Barbie party last year. It was a great way to focus, by having the kit it made me sit down an craft for a good two hours. As someone who always has a lot of projects on the go it was very satisfying to sit down and finish five things in one sitting. The products in the kit were great quality, I do feel that these boxes are good value for money.
H: The kit items are really easy to do and simple instructions for mere mortals always help. They make great little projects to do after work or for a craft club perhaps. I liked that there were a few other bits included to make your own things, like the hummingbird pendant which would look lovely on a wedding card or the heart pendant which I think will become a brooch.
What we didn't like...
Sammy: Not a lot, the only thing I could pick out that wasn't my favourite was the colours of the products. We got Pinks, corals and reds, which are not my personal choices, but I can give the finished goodies away as gifts to my friends who like those colours so that not a big issue.
H: I am not a big fan of florals and so this kit was not the perfect kit for me. However, you could use your imagination and make some other fun things from the supplies. For example: you could make animal ears using the stocking flower items, by attaching them to a headband; using the crepe paper for gift wrap will always be a winner or perhaps customise a top with some of the beads left over from the beaded flower kit.
It's difficult for us to say, not having tried one, how fun the regular non-kit heavy boxes would be, but who doesn't love a box of delicious crafty goodies delivered to your door, right? From the quality and presentation of this box we can tell that trying it out for a few months would be fun, whether you are a new crafter or a more experienced one. As a new crafter it would be a great way to build up your stash. As an experienced crafter there is a great Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest community to share your projects with like-minded creatives.
What do you think? Fancy giving it a try?
The lovely girls at Crafty Creatives have offered our readers an exclusive discount code
CRAFTYLLM
the first 10 of you to sign up will get 25% off your first box!
How sweet is that? Head over to their website now and sign up before we beat you to it!
Info:
The cost: boxes are £10 + £2.95 p&p per month
Gift options available - 3/6/12 months - great for Christmas!
No contract - cancel when you want
At the moment subscriptions are only open to UK residents, but they are looking to ship within EU countries soon and if you are in the States or Canada you can add your info to their mailing list for updates http://www.
H and Sammy xxx
Disclaimer: We were sent this box for free as a blogger promotion, but we did not (and never do) guarantee a positive review in exchange for a product sample.
Who's Who: The Craft Closet
After a bit of a Hiatus, our Who's Who interview is back, so if you would like to be featured in the future, please do send us an email us at liveit.loveit.makei@gmail.com
So, to kick off the new season it's the turn of the Craft Closet. I had the privilege of work with both of these lovely girls when I did my stint at The Make Lounge in London.
They have started up their own business and have managed to get themselves in a book and plenty of magazines since they got going, so they are definitely doing something right!
So let's see what they have to say ...
What is Craft Closet?
We are The Craft Closet and our aim is to inspire and encourage that crafty side in you! The Craft Closet provide the finest materials in each of our unique craft kits so that you can make a beautifully designed gift for yourself, friend or loved one. The designs and instructions are simple, easy to follow and most importantly the kits are great fun!
The business is run by myself (Nicola) and Rebecca. We both have a creative background and a multitude of experience. I have a degree in Fashion and Textiles specialising in Knitwear design and have worked within the Retail Buying Industry since graduation. Rebecca has a degree in Contemporary Decorative Crafts and experience of working for the V&A and various Artist Studios.
I had always dreamt of starting my own business, using my design and buying skills to create my own brand. Rebecca similarly wanted to create her own niche business in the creative world incorporating her experience, skills and passion for crafts, so after far too many tea and cake catch ups we decided to join forces and take the plunge!
Where do you sell your work?
We have a busy Christmas planned with a string of market dates around London
Upcoming Market Dates:
Saturday 10th November - We Make London
Friday 16th November - Greenwich
Saturday 17th November - Designer/Makers Market at Spitalfields.
Saturday 24th November - Greenwich
Sunday 2nd December - Greenwich
Sunday 9th December - Designers/Makers Market at Rotary Walk, Clapton
Saturday 15th December - Designers/Makers Market at Spitalfields
Sunday 16th December - BUST Craftacular at Bethnal Green
We are also currently stocked in 3 London
Or find us in the following shops:
The Make Lounge, Islington
Love 13, Enfield
Creative Biscuit Cafe, South Woodford
What do you sell?
We have a range of 10 Craft Kits which currently include Knitting, Sewing and Cross Stitch.
We are busy working on Crochet and Embroidery Kits for our Spring range which we're really excited about!
Anything coming up that we should know about?
We're really excited about the launch of the new book; Inspired:London which has been created by We Make London to showcase over 150 handpicked London designers and includes a feature on The Craft Closet. The public launch event was on Saturday 10th November at Spitalfields Market where we also had a stall, so you may have seen us there!
What does the future have in store for Craft Closet?
Lots! We have a long list of new Craft Kits we would love to create, so we'll gradually be working on these and bringing our a few new one's in the New Year.
We would also love to reach a few more people out side of London
We both love London
Find us online:
Facebook - The Craft Closet
Twitter - @CraftCloset
Or drop us an email! hello@thecraftcloset.co.uk
So, please do go check them out, they have plenty of stock for fun Christmas presents, I particularly like the knitted purses, but I think I am going to have to get my knitting skills up first!
Live it. Love it. Make it
H
Make it: Kits
We have been busy bees this last week down at the Craft Coop shop in Maidenhead and we wanted to shout about our wonderful kits that are available in the shop until it closes on the 24th June - check out the lovely picture above, don't they look good in a vintage suitcase! So be quick and pick up a kit to try your hand at something new. And if you want to send us a picture once you have done it we would love to see your work!
So back to this last week, we had our Bunting workshop on Friday which was a hive of activity due to children being on half term and so there were fabrics chosen, sewing learnt and letters cut to make all 8 of our particpants their own name bunting to take home with them.
Then on Sunday, we linked up with Little Pickles for a Hand Puppet workshop where we made Batman, Pirates, Four arms from Ben 10 and an Octopus. Phew!
We thought it only fair to let you know that our kits are still available at the Craft Coop shop, meaning that you can take home your own little piece of Live it. Love it. Make it. You can have a go at making something really unique in the comfort of your own home and have the choice of:
Name Bunting
Sewing Machine Cover
Rosette
Mobile Phone Case
Shopper Bag
Oh yes, and we have Fabric Bundles too
Don't forget this Friday we are doing the Mobile phone case workshops, from 1-4pm and on Friday 22nd June we will be doing our final session and it will be to help you with your Maidenhead quilt squares from 11am -5pm.
So for now, we are back to the day jobs, but hope that you will pick up a little bit of us at the shop. This week also promises to have a new cafe as part of the shop. So we are both looking forward to having some cake with our workshop on Friday! It just wasn't the same without it last week.
Make it
H
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