WOW – I can’t believe we got nearly 350 comments for the blog candy- thank you to all who participated and good luck to you all. We will be picking a random number using www.random.org and be announcing the winner really soon. A huge thank you again to Craft Superstore.co.uk for making this competition possible.
And now, on with the post for today!…
It’s no secret that we are in a time of recession, and even within the wonderful world of crafting, we have seen our fair share of companies struggle through this difficult time. Even well established craft magazines such as Simple Scrapbooks and Memory Makers have announced that they will be soon closing their doors. It is certainly sad, but as they say, life goes on. As jobs get tougher, budgets get tighter and it’s no surprise that people aren’t spending as much money on the little luxuries in life.
A couple of years ago, I probably wouldn’t have blinked twice at a rubber stamp priced over £10. Even background stamps can reach up to twice that price depending on the style and the make. But nowadays I feel that I have to think through and fully justify every craft purchase to myself before I make the final decision to buy.
So I was delighted to find these great Prima Background stamps which sell for a bargain £1.95 – now there is the justification right there! Who would have thought that you could buy background stamps for that kind of price? Admittedly, the problem is that I always seem to want them all, but i’m certain that i’m not the only one who thinks like that!
I ordered a couple of these great stamps online from a website which was new to me, but would definitely recommend if you haven’t used it before. Found via the wonders of a google search, I wanted to find a shop that sold each of the stamps that I wanted, as although some of my usual craft shops online had this range, they were sold out of some of the designs that appealed to me (one of these situations where I didn’t want to wait for them to come back in stock and also I didn’t want to spend double on P&P). It didn’t take long until I found what I was after at www.thatscraftyonline.com.
‘That’s Crafty’ online craft store offers a great range of products which definitely caught my attention : from those Colourbox Queue Ink Pads which I have heard great things about, Stampbord– which you can ink and then scrape away the top layer to reveal white underneath which creates interesting images and is a really fun technique, and they also have a great selection or masks and mists – which are very hot sellers on the market right now. Check out their store here .
Stretch Those Pennies – Repurpose Your Packaging
It’s absolutely great that you can get a stamp for less than £2, as it would cost at least this much to buy a card from a high street shop – and this way you have a stamp that will last for years to come. But how about making your money stretch even further? I did! When I was coo-ing over my new stamps, I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful packaged these stamps were. There was a lovely teal coloured cardstock with decorative die cut edges – with just one look I was inspired. So why not try what I have done and repurpose the packaging that your craft supplies come in, so that you are use them as embellishments to decorate your cards and scrapbook layouts.
Bon Voyage
This card is a bon voyage card for Siobhan who is lucky enough to have been placed in South Africa for six weeks by her work. Siobhan has always been a great laugh, and has joined us on many a night out in Guildford, so we will definitely miss her for the next month and a half. This cute little card was the perfect way to wish her all the best in her adventure abroad.
Products Used
Cardstock from Prima Stamps
Heidi Swapp adhesive paper strip
Circle punch and scalloped circle punch
Aeroplane chipboard embellishment from Bisous
Some scraps of paper from the Grace collection by Bisous
Black doodling pen
Marvy Le Plume light blue pigment marker
Walnut stain distress ink pad
X-cut perforator
Bon Voyage Rubber stamp
and the staple food of my crafting life – ribbon!
I hope you like it – leave me a comment here.!
