Back in the Game!

I was going to write about this weekend, well, once the weekend had finished but I decided that today's event needed a post all to itself. Besides, tomorrow's a pretty big day as well!

As you who are on my Facebook page will know (and those of you who aren't, why aren't you??), today was the first Manchester Maker's Market down in Fallowfield. I had high hopes for today, especially as the majority of the students at the universities live in or very near Fallowfield, hell, nearly all my friends live closer to the venue than I do! So I was looking forward to a good day.

It was a slow start. A very slow start. But being a Saturday morning/early afternoon it's not really that surprising when the average age of the local area is probably something like 25?? It soon picked up though and I even made a few sales! I think I've come the conclusion that it was probably my best fair yet (Victoria Baths was so incredible that non could compete so I've had to take it out the running!).

This is hopefully going to be a monthly or every-other-monthly event so I will definitely be signing up to the next one - it can only get better once word about it gets out!

I had a go at some different things on my stall today. The first of these was adding some height to my table. I did this by taking along boxes and with the spare fabric on my table cloth, to cover them up. It was an improvement but I really think I need a set of shelves or something similar. And bunting! Bunting looks so good around a stall . . . I might have to look into it. Where was I?
Right, different levels. Having this box on my table meant that I had a special place to put some of my products. 

Which leads me onto my next change. I had a revelation. What if I displayed all my Alice in Wonderland items together! Had the cards next to the frame! Why I never thought of this sooner I don't know but it looked good and caught people's attention. Although now I'm left with four Queen of Hearts and one Dormouse card as all the others have gone. Note to self: Make more. Especially Cheshire Cats.

The other thing I tried today was having some of my cards on display. Not in their plastic wrappers. I created mini displays on my table by using gift bags I had lying around my room. Trying to get them to co-ordinate was fun though! This, like the Alice in Wonderland display, looked quite good and it didn't deter buyers so I think this is something I am going to stick with as well. 

I mentioned tomorrow at the start of this entry. Tomorrow is the St Gabriel's Hall Fundraiser which, as some of you know, is the reason I am here today. But I will save all this for tomorrow evening - yes, I am spoiling you with two posts this weekend!

Paper Pieced Pictures: Past, Present, Future

In this post, I wanted to write about my paper pictures. I realise that I have mentioned them several times before but wanted to give them a proper entry seeing as I am making quite a few of them these days.


So, first up was of course, the best Doctor ever to travel through time and space. I think I was actually watching the most recent Weeping Angels episode when I was putting this one together! I really do love this one and the black pen makes it look as if he's just stepped out of the glossy pages of a comic book. I now have several jealous friends but I feel it is my duty to keep the first - and tester - one. I tried to layer everything in this one so each part of the suit is on a different layer to really make it stand out from the frame.










My second was a birthday present for my room mate who would probably be Mrs Jack Skellington, if only he was real! I took ages drawing him out in my sketchbook - not because it was laborious, just because I didn't know when to stop shading! I remember I messed up slightly with his tie - I think I got the layers mixed up a bit - and I could have done more to stick it down firmly but I am happy with him. White pencil on black card will always be something that I enjoy doing and the look is so effective. I probably should have done him a little bit smaller so I didn't have to squash Zero into the top corner.











Iron Man was on my list nearly from the beginning. This one was based on the comic book character although the original inspiration came from the films (Who wouldn't be inspired by RDJ!). Honestly, I'm not overly happy with it. I just couldn't get his shape right but, again, love the black pen detail. I remember this one being quite fiddly to do because of the yellow parts fitting in to the red but the starry paper background really finishes it off. This frame was one of the four that were made for the Victoria Baths craft fair and one of the two that were sold. I may have to make this one again and, now that I have seen The Avengers and Iron Man 3 and The Avengers 2 coming out in the new year, I will have to have a go at some of the other characters . . . . 

Alice in Wonderland has been a running theme throughout my crafts this year, possibly because it being Jubilee year and Alice and Tea Parties being quintessentially British or because of the amount of artistic licence, either way, it is probably one of my favourite themes. These two frames, like Iron Man, were made for the Victoria Baths craft fair. I was inspired by the original illustrations from the book but I didn't want to just copy them. A few years back, I got some Kate Knight papers which were absolutely perfect for this project. The bright and almost garish colours and patterns were definitely Wonderland-esque while I was able to use some more toned down colours for Alice herself. Again, my black pen makes an appearance to add the final details.
I used a bit of recycling in the Cheshire Cat picture; the tree was made out of the paper that filled the frame when I first bought it - fun fact #1!
Fun fact #2: For the Caterpillar's shisha pipe, I used thread, wrapping it all around the picture. It was a bit of a pain to do but the best way to do it and it gives a nice finishing touch I think.
My sister, who funnily enough is also named Alice (all the jokes have already been done!), was eyeing up the Cheshire Cat picture before it was sold at the fair. Sorry, Alice!














I couldn't very well leave my guitar silhouettes out of the picture - no pun intended - so I picked myself up a smaller frame and had a go. Using silver with the black and white works so well and maybe once I manage to sell this one, I'll make another!

My Jane Austen designs are my most recent and I hope to make some more of these. The first one I made featured a quote, which just happens to be one of my favourites, from Pride and Prejudice. These were a bit different from my original frames as they aren't layers as such, just decorated. I felt that I couldn't really do any novel for my second one other than Emma and I admit I did have to look up the quote on-line - but only because I don't have my books with me! (excuses, excuses, I hear you say) My next step with these is to work on my font, maybe even get out the ol' calligraphy set, and get a list of suitable quotes written down.

The last one I want to talk about can't really be talked about so shhhh! This one is my first commissioned piece so it's all very exciting but I can't really say more than that. Here's a picture though to get you thinking, but if you know what it is, don't say anything!







I still have plenty of ideas to be put down into paper and I think I will be having a go at some of these in the new year but because I'm such an awesome person, I am going to give you some ideas of what you'll be seeing soon.

More period costumes. Computer game heroes. Pie makers. Paranoid Androids. Steam-punk  Nerdy roommates.

There's Good Days and Bad Days . . .

Reflecting on the last couple of weeks bought to mind this Kaiser Chiefs song. I have had not one but two craft fairs in the last fortnight and as you can probably guess, one good and one not so good.


 Victoria Baths was my first fair and it was amazing. No, more than amazing. Words cannot describe how  awesome it was. 
I arrived at about 10:45am which gave me more than enough time to set up and meant I didn't have to hang around longer than I needed to in the cold cold baths (6 feet of cold air underneath you + glass roof + old victorian building - heating = absolutely freezing my tights off!) The fair officially started at 12pm and it got busy very quickly. My parents came all the way from home to visit the fair and they had to queue to get in. At 12:30!!!!
They found me as I was making a sale and I never really stopped making sales. My brother, who had been on a Young Enterprise team at school helped me to re-arrange my stall and to help draw customers in. He seemed to be taking over a bit although he denied everything but it did help so much as I had never really done this kind of thing before.
So, Jamie's top tips for running a stall:
1. Scatter business cards on the table, not just in a box - people are more likely to pick them up.
2. (For card makers) Don't leave all your cards in the box, spread a few out on the table. Apparently boxes scare people!
3. (Again for card makers) Put you best designs at the front of the box - this draws people in if they see something they like and would encourage them to delve deeper.
4. ENGAGE!!!! Jamie couldn't stress this one enough and if I didn't get in there quick and say hello to everyone that came within 5 ft of my stall, he would! Not only was I instructed to greet everyone, when every someone looked at my card-lympics, either me or him explained the story behind them.
5. Don't display all your stock at once. I had a lot of repeats so they went back in my bag for the time being. This reduced the number of cards on my stall and made it a bit less daunting to those having a browse.

Baring all these things in mind - and repeating myself quite a lot - I had a very successful day. I even sold a couple of my paper pieced pictures - Iron Man went to one of my fellow stall holders and Alice and the Cheshire Cat was sold so quickly! A man just came up and asked how much it was and bought it just like that. Then he bought half a dozen cards as well! Probably my best customer of the day.

So that was the good, and here is the bad.

If you have been on my Facebook page recently, you may have seen that I have been supporting a project called Tube Cubed. This is my university project at the moment and it's a pavilion that we are building for Dunham Massey's winter garden. We have been working on this for the last couple of weeks (hence why I haven't had much time to post). I offered my services as a card maker to try and raise some funds. This leads us onto my next craft fair. I was told about it on Monday and was umming and ahhing over it until it was suggested that we could sell the off-cuts if we sanded them down to a good finish and decorated them with sketches, illustrations and, courtesy of one of our group members, names written in Chinese. After a very stressful week of cutting, sanding and varnishing tubes (Check out our blog if you want to find out more) it was nice to sit down and doodle. 
It was an early start on Saturday to get the the fair in Prestwich but we managed it in plenty of time and got our stall set up. I would share the photos but for some reason, my laptop isn't reading my card at the moment so they may have to wait. 
It was looking good apart from our part of the table being a little bit in the corner. And then it opened.

And nothing happened.

Nobody came.

Well that's not strictly true but there weren't very many people there at all. We sold a few cards and a few more wooden decorations. It was a bit of a flop of a day really. Later, we found out that the conservative club up the road was holding their Christmas fair that day, which probably explains the poor turn out. It was worth a try though, better luck next time I guess.

I already have my next craft fair lined up. It's in Chorlton on 1st December. So watch this space!

Craft Fair

This post is unbelievably over due and for that I apologise. Everything had been so chaotic that sleep has had to be put on hold. I hope that this isn't a pattern for the future - I'm not sure I'll be able to cope!
This week, university-wise has been chaotic! I have had to work full hours during the day and sometimes into the evening which means I have very limited time to get on with my craft fair preparation. And the fair is this Sunday! I have been able to get on with most of the thins that need doing but still have so so much to get ready.

I spent the Halloween packing my cards into bags and wrapping shoe boxes in wrapping paper while watching scary movies with my room-mates. It was only then that I realised I had ran out of A6 sized bags with still over 50 cards to pack! So tomorrow morning I am off into town to get more along with the float for my stall. 

It doesn't sound like I have much left: two paper pictures, about 20 cards to make and the rest to pack. But it's the time remaining that's the problem. I have tonight and tomorrow morning to get everything done as I am, surprise surprise, busy again Saturday evening although I can see myself getting very little sleep as I make last minute arrangements. Despite all of this, I am so really really excited about the fair. My first fair, in an architecturally stunning building to raise money to restore it back to its former glory.

But for now, I am going to share some of my goodies:

















First up are my Christmas cards. This are obviously a major item for this fair as it it less that two months until C-Day. I made a similar card to these a couple of years ago and decided to re-introduce them at the fair. I created cards following the same theme. These I have also made before, I found the template in one of my magazines but this time I added a message and some hand drawn stars to finish them.

Item(s) number 2:
My card-lympics cards. My heart is screaming NOOOOOO at this but all they are doing is sitting in my big card box looking pretty. So they are going to be sold - but I will be making it known what they are! I have the photos for them but it will be sad to see them go :(

My last items are my paper-pieced pictures. This still need to be done, well, two of them anyway - this is what I shall be spending my Friday evening doing! I have currently done Iron Man and one of my favourite designs - my silhouette guitar. The other two that I am planning on doing are Alice in Wonderland themed. Yesterday, I made sketches of the original illustrations and I am going to paper-piece the scenes of Alice and the Cheshire Cat and Alice and the Caterpillar. These are going to be slightly different to the originals and I wanted to avoid Disney. 



I must go now but I hope this has convinced you that I haven't fallen of the face of the Earth! I shall write after my craft fair to let you know how it goes! Wish me luck

Green and Purple

As I am now home from university for the summer, last night I went around to my friend, Carole's for a second evening of card making. Overall, the evening could have been more productive: I made four cards in total, two of which we're made for the sake of making, while trying to think up what to make next. 




My first card was, finally, my Cheshire Cat card.
For this I decided to use really 'out there' colours to show how crazy this cat is. The face was made with purple paper, yellow paper for the eyes and some thin white card for the mouth. The detail was drawn in black pen. Like my previous Alice in Wonderland cards, I used the same font to write a suitable message.




The purple and green on this card gave me an idea for my next project . .

The Joker
This card took much longer to make than other cards but I think it was definitely worth it. I created a template and cut out the pieces on various pieces of coloured paper.  When cutting out his tie, I used black pen to define the edges and then ended up shading it in as well. To make it match, I added outlines and shading to his waist coat and jacket lapels. I like the way it makes it look like it's just come out of the comic books. I tried to use brads for the buttons but it didn't let the paper lie flat so I used more orange paper and black pen. I used foam pads for the tie and lapels to make them stand out from the front. This would definitely be a card worth making again, I can think of a few Batman fans among my friends, and with the new Batman film coming out soon . . . 
I may even had a closer look at other comic book heroes for more inspiration. 

A couple years ago, I made a birthday card for a comic book fan. For this, I simply found a suitable image, carefully cut it out and stuck it onto bright red card. I printed of a message and did the same. For the background, I found a section of a Batman comic, faded it slightly and printed it out. I tore of a corner and stuck it to the card front.
I then finished it off by decorating the envelope to match using more red card and the remaining comic book paper.

Jubilee Fever

It wouldn't be right for me, being British, to not write something about the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Yes, the bank holiday buzz hit my halls up in Manchester and as I write this I am sat watching the Jubilee concert after a day of making fairy cakes for our street party tomorrow. But enough of the festivities and more about the cards.
As it is the jubilee weekend, I felt the need to make some cards with a British flavour. However, I think I went off at a tangent slightly. From British to tea parties to Alice in Wonderland.


I began with the obvious one for a tea party: the Mad Hatter. Really simple, just a black card top hat with ribbon and that trademark label. You can't tell by the photo but I raised the embellishment using the usual foam sticky pads.
For the text, I cheat and open up a Word document. I have used this for a few of my cards. I write the message, choose the font I want to use and copy it on to my card. It's worked in the past and I'm sure it'll work in the future.

 After that card, the creative juices were really flowing, so much so that I had to jot my ideas down before I forgot them! Next up was the Queen of Hearts. This was done in much the same way: black card, red card, raised on foam pads and a greeting from Word. (The font used on these cards was Galeforce BTN). I was struggling with the dormouse card. I knew what I wanted but was totally lost for the message. In the end I went for a quote. Twinkle, twinkle,
little bat. . . .
I owe the tea cup template to the magazine I read, Papercraft Inspirations (I think I'm ok to mention them on my blog). 
I couldn't create a set of Alice in Wonderland without including the White Rabbit and as always, he was running late so what better message that one for a belated birthday? I used a brad and a bit of thread for his pocket watch flying out behind him. Feel the need to work my template for the next time. And yes, there will be a next time, hopefully with more characters - I'm still thinking of a way to do that cheeky Cheshire Cat . . . . . watch this space.