If you don’t know all ready then what have you been up to ?
Yep.. Over at craft juice the most popular crafts tagged with the words “crafts competiton” when a prize..
Top 3 most voted items share a prize fund of £40 / $80…
To find out how to win just click below:
Remember that little ditty said for weddings
“something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue”
This is a piece of jewellery I have created for my sister who got married at the weekend. I made it a couple of weeks ago, but kept it under wraps until the night before the wedding.
This necklace is called “something old, something new”
Both our grandma’s couldn’t be there. My gran passed away 8 years ago and my other grandma is 93 and in a home. The wedding was in sheffield so it was too far to take her. I knew Philippa would have wanted them there if they could have been so her necklace contained a clasp from my gran’s jewellery and beads and an earring that I formed into a drop from my Grandmas jewellery.
I have offered this service for sometime and have incorporated brooches into tiaras. It can be quite an emotional task!
I’ve been asked to make an Anniversary Card and I wanted to do something a little bit different. I’d bought some gold rose printed vellum a short time ago (really only to justify postage and packing on something I REALLY needed!) and had not had any ideas on how to use it.
Anyway, copied the centre tie template onto ivory hammered card and then creased (using my wonderful card creaser!) at the appropriate points. I used pritt stick to glue the vellum to the card as I’ve found this one of the easiest ways to stick large areas of vellum and you can’t see the glue. The holes to tie the ribbon through were punched using an ordinary hole punch (but I marked where the holes needed to go – just in case!) I’ve had a recent splurge on buying ribbon (I can’t resist) and used some wide gold organza ribbon to tie the card together. A hand cut tag with ‘Happy Anniversary’ is also attached to the ribbon. Inside are banners top and bottom with the words ‘Happy Anniversary’ running across. I hope the commissioner and recipients like it!
I have made these little candles for a craft fair at Halloween. They are scented with pumpkin fragrance and were the very devil to make!!! (no pun intended). The shell of the candle is made with orange wax scented with pumpkin and the inside wax is made using blood red wax scented pumpkin so will look pretty freaky when they melt!
Rainbow disks are a publishers of craft books on CD. covering wide range of subjects from beading and card making to quilting and stained glass.
Disk include:
Rainbow Disks was started in 2006 by Barbara Case (Thornton) and Vivienne Wells, who between them have extensive experience of writing and publishing practical books.
Barbara Case is an internationally successful author of books on bead jewellery including:
A World of Beads/Making Bead Jewellery (1995)
It’s all about the beads! (2006)
Making Jewellery with Gemstone Beads (2007)
To find out more please check out rainbowdisks.com
For other craft workshops and courses try http://www.ukcraftwebsites.co.uk/workshops.php
Well, I’ve spent the last couple of days making watchbands out of lots of swarovski crystals. It would have been fine had it just been a design for one of our ladies on the forum, but then came the request from the US……………..I now have to keep making them until I hit on the right styles, colours, and watchfaces for what is looking like Christmas present time! Here’s a few - the one with all the hematite donuts is sold.
I am currently in the middle of putting together all sorts of wedding items for my sister and other clients. I’ve got very, very sore fingers from all the wire work.
It seems that burgundy tones are very much the in colour for bridesmaids so much of my latest work has been with this in mind.
These are three bridesmaid tiaras created with swarovski ruby and Swarovski crystal AB.
The next two photo’s are smaple tiaras. they are half worked from the centre to the back. the finishing hasn’t been done. The client views them and then they can be altered or tweaked as required.
More to come in the next few days! (fingers allowing!)
So I was up to my eyes in it trying to get a very long Russian spiral necklace finished for a friend, when I get a piece of mother of pearl given to me by Nina, with the words ‘can you do anything with that?’ following close behind. I had been practising making beaded cabouchons - badly - and the intimation seemed to be that I should do the same with this very thin and slippery shell. Did it in the end, and guess who got it back as a birthday present?
I came across this site yesterday and find it will be very useful especially if your mojo has taken a hike. It’s got great templates for both cards and scrap pages alike so thought i’d share it with you. Here’s a card i’ve made using one of their card maps. Can you guess which one i’ve used?
The link to page maps is: www.pagemaps.com hope you find it useful.
This article appeared in the Bath Evening Chronicle on 29th August
======================================================
Small businesses in the Bath area have been urged to do more to promote themselves.
Jane Silk, chairwoman of the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s (CIM) Bristol and West branch, said many Bath firms were losing out because they were treating marketing as a luxury which only big companies with household names can afford.
“Numerous studies have proved that nothing contributes more to bottom-line success than marketing,” she said.
“Many local businesses rely on the power of their reputation to secure business.”They do a good job and think that the only marketing they need is waiting for the phone to ring, or rely on instinct and word of mouth for their leads. But a more scientific approach will be successful in the long run.
“They must make their business decisions on a sound understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses, those of their competitors and the prevailing state of the market.
“This understanding can only be achieved by solid marketing research and not by listening to hearsay and speculation.”
She has come up with ten top tips to help people running small businesses in the region boost their reputations and profits.
The tips are:
Focus on what you want to tell your customers and what they want to hear.
Generate personal contact and keep in close contact with clients.
Stick to what you are good at. Leading brands stand out because they do one or two things better than anyone else.
Branding is important so guard your reputation with care.
Advertising. Remember that your campaign must attract attention, generate interest, provoke the desire to use your services and it must prompt action.
Use the power of the press. Public relations is a powerful marketing tool and if you have anything interesting to say, make sure the relevant press knows about it.
Be flexible. If one promotional technique does not work, try a different one until you find the right mix.
Measure the results. There is little point in launching a marketing campaign if you do not understand what it has achieved for your business.
Consider getting professional help. A couple of days’ assistance from a well-qualified and experienced consultant may not be expensive and should quickly pay back more than the initial outlay.
Spend time learning the theory. Invest in a good book on the subject of marketing, or consider taking a course that covers the basics. This will help you feel more confident about the marketing decisions you need to make.
For information on the CIM, visit www.cim.co.uk .
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