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