Tsu

Sorry I haven't been on this for so long. Will try to use it more. I recently joined Tsu (pronounced Sue). I really like it so far. Feel free to join me on tsū #tsunation https://www.tsu.co/KaisCards

You cam get paid to network but at the moment I just like that people can actually see my posts. Hopefully see you there x

Facebook

Hi all, if you entered my giveaway from my last post. Thanks, the winner has now received her bookmark and loves it :) I've also now had 75 sales on Etsy - yay!

Heres some of my latest listings on Etsy, hope you like and if you have facebook please like my PAGE and I might just like yours back, if you have one :)

Quirky tea pot and tea cup earrings.  Available HERE

"Have a Sweet Birthday" card with quilled sweets. Available HERE

As always all items on my Etsy are one offs. No two items are the same so each item is unique and they are all ready to be sent :)

Karen

Giveaway

Hi there, just popping by to let you know my first ever giveaway is over on my Facebook page. It's to win one of these beaded bookmarks.
See my pinned post!
Open to UK residents!
Closes Wednesday July 30th!

Karen x

Shell wind chime/suncatcher

Hi all, Sorry for not updating more regularly. I have been so busy. Hope you are all having a great Summer :)

I recently came back from holiday to Devon, It was lovely!  My favourite thing to do is look for shells or sea glass on the beach. Previously I've used these to decorate my home or garden and have also used sea glass in my jewellery, like in this piece thats on my Etsy at the moment :) I've always wanted to do a shell wind chime/suncatcher/hanging thingy lol but never had much luck with drilling the holes in the shell. However, after much reading, decided to give it another go. I was previously using a drill bit which didn't help and I also read laying the shell on folded towel is best, to stop breakages.

So I started by using a diamond head bit from my drill set. Like this one..

Then I lay the shells on an old folded towel and started drilling. I occasionally stopped to add water to the shell and I'm pleased to say most shells survived the drilling :) The best tip I can give is to be very patient and to drill in the thickest, therefore strongest, part of the shell. I also put 4 holes in the large scallop shell I found which I  used to hold the different strands.

So you will need - Beads, shells (of course) and twine/thread.

I found it best to add a knot in the thread/twine whenever I added a shell so it didn't fall down over the beads. And here it is, the finished article...

 

I absolutely love it, its currently hanging in my beach themed bathroom. I used my favourite 3 scallop shells for the bottom of each strand and I used blue, white and silver beads.Hopefully now that I'm able to drill holes in shell you will see a lot more shell inspired items on here or in my Etsy shop :)

Does anyone else have any handmade items from your holiday/s?

Karen xx

Treasury update

Hey all, I've been a bit busy lately with looking after the kids as its the Easter holidays here and enjoying the nice weather. I haven't made anything new to add to my Etsy in a wee while but I have been making things for friends and family and custom orders so I'm still crafting away.

As previously mentioned I decided to start a regular Etsy treasury idea where I would make a treasury of items from the 16 shops who had previously featured my items. I think its a lovely way of saying thanks to all those people who have featured my items, plus I do enjoy making treasuries. In case you don't know, on Etsy treasuries are a great way of promoting your shop and other shops. You basically compile a list of items you like which usually fit a theme but it can't include your own items, so you are basically promoting other peoples work. Thanks to everyone who featured my items. I still hope to do this whenever I get 16 shops featuring my items so you can still take part. However here's the latest treasury I made including 16 yellow items from those shops who previously included my items.(Click to see all 16 items)  and you can find out more about this HERE

Feel free to follow me on Facebook

Karen x

Resin and polymer clay

I love polymer clay and resin but only recently thought about using them both together.

I had a design in mind so started off by selecting blue, green and orange polymer clay. I added the blue clay first to the pendant blank and then added the green parts...can you guess what it is yet? lol

Thats right its under the sea so I just needed to add a fish and some more sea weed
.

Looking good so far, don't you think?  I then baked the polymer clay in the oven at 110c for 30 mins. Once you take it out the pendant blank is very hot so be careful. Once it was cooled down I then added the resin.

I used clear resin and then added some small seed beads to represent bubbles. Then I left it to dry overnight.

Here the final result.  I love how it looks and think the resin makes it look more like water/glass.

This one off piece of resin and polymer clay jewellery is now available in my etsy shop :)

Karen x

Seed Bead earrings

Hi all, Hope you are well.

I have A LOT of seed beads and I've never really known what to do with them. Then I noticed people use them for bead weaving, I've not got the patience for that but came up with another idea...

I decided to use the red and black beads to make earrings. I've since noticed people have used this idea to make chevron earrings but I didnt want to do what everyone else is doing, so decided on this design instead :)

I used different sized head pins to make the different lengths. I then added chains to connect them to the silver plated earwires. I think they turned out good. I love black and red as a colour combination. Don't you?

These earrings are now available on my ETSY

UPDATE ON TREASURIES - I have had a few people make treasuries of my Etsy items lately. As mentioned in my last post, once I get to 16 treasuries made by others I will then do an Etsy treasury to thank you. Still 10 treasuries to go though, so hurry if you want me to include your item in one of my future treasuries. MORE INFO HERE

Karen x

 

Etsy treasuries!

Want to get featured in a future Etsy treasury made by me? Then see HERE

The idea is simply to promote items in my shop and other shops in Etsy. Hopefully we can all help each other out. I also like making treasuries and thought this was a great way of saying thank you to those people who have featured one of my items in a treasury before.

THIS is the last treasury I made featuring the last 16 shops who made a treasury featuring one of my item.

Any questions? Just ask! :)

Karen x

Quilled cards

I love how quilled cards look, they always look so pretty. However you need the patience of a Saint to make a quilled card lol. Its easy to make the shapes or patterns but gluing the tiny bits of paper isn't always so simple. I find that cocktail sticks are definitely the best way of gluing quilled paper to card.

Here is a new quilled Mum card I made. I used pink, blue and green quilling paper with sequins to decorate. Also used chipboard MUM letters and painted them blue with butterfly brads. This pretty card can be used for a Mothers Day card or a card for your Mums birthday.

Here's another new card. Using chipboard letters again this time painted lilac. I have used yellow and purple quilling papers with green for the leaves/stem then brads/gems for decoration. The big yellow flower was a new quilling technique I was trying and I think it turned out well.

Both of these cards are now available on my Etsy 

Feel free to follow my blog and I'll be sure to return the favour, same with twitter, facebook, pinterest and etsy :-)

Karen

Sea horse Brooch

I love polymer clay, I started working with it a about 6 months ago with the help of YouTube.  I then started coming up with my own ideas. On my Etsy shop my polymer clay brooches have always been popular so I decided to make another one.

First of all I usually come up with ideas and draw them out. You can see some of the older brooch ideas as well here, which are either on Etsy or already sold. I've decided to make the sea horse...

I've chosen to use blue and silver Fimo clay.  I make a sea horse template by tracing my drawing that I did earlier. I lay the template on top of the clay and lean heavily over the lines to leave a mark on the clay. Then its time to cut it out.

Once its all been cut out using a blade. I then add the extra areas. I've used silver clay for this part. I usually then blend the sections together using a clay tool and then put a piece of paper over the clay and press gently so it all comes together. I use the clay tools to get rid of any unsightly, uneven parts.

Now its time to bake the sea horse. I put it on tinfoil in the centre of my oven for 30 mins
at 110. Once its ready I let it cool for a few mins.
Next its time to decorate, I've used some craft gems/brads for this part and I use a cocktail stick to add the glue to each gem/brad.

Now once all thats done, its time to add the brooch pin.

Now its finished, just need to varnish and polish then its ready to be added to my Etsy shop :)

You can now find this item for sale HERE 

Karen x

Intro

Hi all and welcome to my new blog!!

A little about me first. My names Karen (or Kai), I'm a married mum of 2 boys from Scotland and I LOVE being creative. I like drawing, photography, gardening and making things. I have my own Etsy where I make one of a kind handmade cards, jewellery and other items. Each item I sell is individual and unique, no two items are the same (examples of some of my items are above).

Here I aim to show off some of the new things I come up with, post some of my favourite things in the crafty world and basically talk about anything to do with creativity and craft.

Karen :)

P.S - Today my Etsy is celebrating its first year!! I've had 54 sales and sold to America, Australia, Switzerland, France and here in the UK and had lots of lovely comments and reviews. You can now get 15% off when you spend £4 or more by using code 1YR15 in my Etsy shop