NEC Birmingham - Hobby Crafts March 2017 – Bitterly Disappointed–Never Again!

Oh dear, what can I say ……. except that I am so glad I managed to get my ticket for half price, got a lift from Tom The Scientist to get there, and went on to spend the weekend with Lu in Wolverhampton because if I had made the effort to solely go to Hobby Crafts at the NEC on Thursday I would have been even more disappointed than I already am, and I can honestly say that I will never to go again.

Two extra large Hobby Craft punches for just £1 each. It was plain that punches are definitely out in the craft world, but I still prefer them every time to getting out my Big Shot for a couple of shapes when I am playing with an idea. The square one will be perfect for making larger size nine square patchwork cards and an idea I have for festive memory frames, and a tag punch always come in useful for so many projects.

I got into the show when the doors opened at 9.30am and had seen everything by about 10.15am, and in that time had only been tempted to spend the grand total of £1.50 for 6 tiny spiders for some future Halloween Bottles!!!!! This was once a trip that Lisa (Craft Fairy) and I used to plan with military operation, with a list of what we wanted to see and/or buy. We would be there all day and still think we had missed something. We would return home with throbbing feet, but bursting with inspiration, with bags of swag we couldn’t wait to go through and start working with.  Sadly, on Thursday I was on the train to Lu’s by 12.30 ……. with only the thought of hitting the poundshops of Wolverhampton over the weekend  to lift my spirits !!  Oh pleazzzzzzzze ….. get the violins out!!!!

I don’t do a lot of die cutting, but I do love mistletoe, so I couldn’t resist this die….. I have an idea already for a very less is more Christmas card.

There were only a handful of stands that I recognised from shows past, but all the big names were gone!

I couldn’t resist these wooden houses for just £2 each, but no plans as of yet, but I think Bertie and Iris will be getting one at Christmas for their bedrooms reflecting their little likes, perhaps including small framed photos (?), if I can find suitable bits, however the size gives me a lot more depth and scope than my usual mini printer display trays.

From memory I can still reel off a list of all the stands that used to sell the quality branded stuff, I wonder, with internet shopping now, it isn’t worth companies coming to sell at this type of show anymore, or is the price of a stand over four days too prohibitive?  Is there less demand now in the craft market, have tastes changed, with everyone (except me) obsessed by dies?  Money is tight I know and that has to have some affect.  In the past I would see ranges of paper and embellishments etc. that I would go home and research and perhaps then purchase ……. zilch!  All I have done was see if K & Company were still going!These Santoro Gorjus metal name plates cost £1 for a packet of six, I got four packs, with the idea of making Christmas tree decorations hung lengthways, fancy gift tags or, possibly, displaying several stamped/decorated/embellished ones in a memory box frame.

If you are into your dies or stamping you would have probably been happy, but there were very few, if any die cutters being demonstrated (Silhouette were there).  I may have been in the market for a mini die cutter to keep on my desk …… if I had seen one!A plentiful supply of wooden beads (£1 each) for tags etc, two paper pads, Belle and Boo and Good Old Days for £1 each, fancy gem strips (£1) and some brooch backs for some button brooches I am planning to make for Iris’s nursery staff as a thank you for Easter. I also got a few other bits and pieces but are too boring to feature like glue, 3D pearl effects and some white glitter card.

I bought my Cuttlebug and Bind It All from Hobby Crafts when there used to be such a buzz …..I remembered the days of popular embossing folders flying out left right and centre and going from stand to stand to find that what you wanted was sold out everywhere, and having to go home to order them, and then have to wait some more!

Where were all the beautiful papers, paper pads and embellishments, it was obvious that scrapbooking has all but disappeared and Tim Holtz? I only saw a few of his dies here and here …… but that was it, no embellishments, papers etc. I  also think that perhaps stamps of cutesy doe eyed poppets have had their day (????).  Every other stall used to have the oooooohhhh, ahhhhhhhh factor for me and Lisa, this show just seemed old and tired.  Lisa and I were never into decoupage, but those stands were always rammed several people deep, you really couldn’t get anywhere near them ……. this year I hardly saw a decoupage sheet! There were no tempting goody bags, magazine offers, no stands of wonderful pens, not a Promarker pen in sight  …… I am still using my box of 50 Whisper Pens from at least 8 years ago ……. I could have been persuaded to let Iris “inherit” them and treat myself to some new ones ……. not a chance!

This year the “Everything for £1” stalls and £1/reduced bins seemed to draw in the crafters they were really busy, crammed and slow moving, with friends, clutching baskets, having long discussions about every single item they picked up and there was much elbowing, so in some respect, nothing had changed as far as a popular stand was concerned, only it was same old, same old stuff, nothing I thought  ……oh wow that’s worth joining the scrumage for!

I am not sure what it was like for the rest of the week, but on Thursday the aisles were clear, no shoulder to shoulder shuffling, only being able to move forward and impossible to move over to look at a stands ……. BUT the one constant were the trolleys, the thing that  finally did it for me six years ago, although if I’d been able to fill half a trolley this year I would have been chuffed. I also have to say the rudeness of some of the people attending hasn’t changed either ….. looking back at other peoples blog posts from the  past this has always been a bug bear, why does reaching over for  a reel of ribbon, a bottle of glue, a metal die, or a clear stamp provoke such an unpleasant, aggressive behaviour in some people, especially on the few busy stands?

So, was this grumpy old woman inspired at all?  Well, yes …… but more in an objects of desire way, as I can’t crochet

…….. stunning, stunning shawls and blankets spotted when in my disappointed state I left  the Crafts Hall to detour into the Sewing Hall ……. Sorry to be on a downer today …… but tomorrow is another day!

Guest Crafter – The Lovely Laura

To answer a couple of questions on how Laura made this ........ when asked she said she just used comic and PVA glue and nothing else, no varnish ...... etc.  hope that helps!

Today, I bring you The Lovely Laura ……..

……. and her Beano covered lampshade now hanging proudly in young Master Bertram’s bedroom.

I just love the way she has even covered the inside of the shade, with the black and white pages  ….. a brilliant touch for a totally unique one off.

Today …… A Goodness Only Knows What!!

I really don’t know what this is, I was playing around with the idea of making some small flower button wreaths to, perhaps, hang on some decorative Easter Branches

 

What I really needed was a dainty, flattish, child's size  bangle, not an walloping great adult size one, that was also too deep!

However, it was a good exercise to see how the buttons would balance and stick on the narrow edge of a bangle, even though I was pretty confident that E6000 would do it. 

Adding the clear, flat backed gems looks a bit clunky, so I don’t think they really work that well, perhaps smaller contrasting buttons?  But what to do with “the creation” once finished, having already decided that it was just to big and heavy to hang on a festive branch?

…….. well, it does look rather cute round the bottom of my glass votive holder, so looks like I have really made a small centrepiece for my Easter lunch dining table, I wonder if I should make another one to match now?

Buttons from The Works

Felt Flower Hairclips

Two hairclips for a certain little Madam today.

The self adhesive felt flowers came from The Works, I had assumed, wrongly, that there would be at least two flowers the same in a pack of eight, (£1)…..

 

…… so that I could make a matching pair of clips, alas, there wasn’t, so a return journey to the shop had to be made.

I stuck the felt flowers onto some self adhesive fabric, however cutting round the flower with the fabric was fiddly and time consuming ……..

……. so I have to work out another way  if I can, to stop my scissors getting all gummed up while cutting.

However the backs do look much better (professional!!!!!!) when covered.

I glued the flowers onto the clips using E6000 as I wanted to be certain that they wouldn’t fall apart during wear.

I was in two minds as to whether or not to add a button or two to the centre of the flower, but in the end decided that they added a little something else, no less is more approach as far as Iris’s coiffure in concerned!!

Button Pin Brooches

Every post here seems like an experiment just lately, and today is no exception, I was inspired by some button “SWAPS” I found on Pinterest http://pen-grunt.livejournal.com/202546.html and decided to have a try myself.  Button wise, all I have at the moment is a jar of red buttons and a few mother of pearl ones, the rest fell foul of my moving house craft cull, doh!

I started by cutting some small card circles on which to glue the buttons, to act as a base/anchor.

I used E6000 glue as I didn’t want to risk anything coming unstuck, and this is glue is one of the best.

Once the centre red button with a mother of pearl one on top was added I knew I had to just leave them, without touching, for at least 24hrs, to allow them to stick good and proper.  Close up photos of gluey small objects are so unforgiving.

A completed flower measured approximately 3cm x 3cms.

Once set, I didn’t want the white card showing on the reverse, under the fastener, so cut some self adhesive fabric to go over it, far more professional looking!

The final job was to add the fastening pins, again using E6000, so that I could be confident that they wouldn’t come off.

The brooches were really simple to make. They could be used on hair slides/clips or without the pins as embellishments on cards, anyway, I am off now to search Evesham for some more small buttons to play with!

Taking My Life In My Hands …… And a Heads Up

I have been beavering away like mad to make sure I have enough posts in the bag to cover the next few days so that I can go off on my travels   ……….

……. because after 6 years in recovery, I have decided to take my life in my hands, after vowing never ever, ever again by going to the NEC tomorrow for The Hobby Crafts Show! As some of you might remember, this used to be a regular jaunt for me and my friend Lisa (Bird) now to be seen on Create and Craft demonstrating the Silhouette Cameo ……… that was until we couldn’t take the pushing, shoving and bruised shins anymore!  I am hoping that by going on a Thursday it might be a bit quieter??????

However, as I don’t have a clue what’s in and what’s out in the Craft World anymore I thought it was about time I went and had a look around, hoping that Evesham has had a mellowing affect on my patience. There is nothing I particularly want or need, but I expect that will all change when I get there.  I will also try to remember to dress as lightly as possible, as from memory once it starts to get crowded it will also get hot, and a lady of my age doesn’t need to get any hotter than she does at present!!

…… And, being very mean when it come to buying tickets of any description, I didn’t want to pay the full £12 for my ticket, so managed to get my ticket from Groupon for the Thursday for £7 (Sunday also available for the same price), plus as a new customer to Groupon I got a further 15% off using a new customer voucher code, so in the end my ticket has cost me just £5.95.

https://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/gl-ichf-ltd-20 – offer expires 16th March 2017

I am hoping to come back inspired, rather than sore and bad tempered.  I will then  go on to spend a day or so in W-ton catching up with family and, of course, the pound shops! I shall report back sometime next week, with hopefully lots of pictures and ideas.

Altered Domino Christmas Light Tag -Tree Decoration

This project uses a 7cm x 3.5cms children's picture domino as it’s base and was again very much a FiddleFart experiment.

I covered the picture side of the domino with a scrap of white paper.  I’ve had the thread of tiny Christmas lights forever and wondered if they would work on a domino tag/tree decoration. 

Getting the lights and parts of the thread to lie down was a nightmare, in the end I flooded the area with a very generous dose of Aleene’s Pendant Gel, and sat for quite a while holding the parts of thread and lights that wouldn’t lie down with a cocktail stick. The background looked a little plain so I added a sprinkling of tiny gold stars. That done I then had to leave the gel to set for 24 hours, so much no poking restraint was required.

Once the gel had hardened I covered the sides with silver ( Inkssentials Memory Foil (possibly no longer available in UK)  and smoothed it down with a crease mouse.

I screwed a tiny silver eye hook in the top of the “domino”, using a teal coloured jewellery wire and  a large silver bead to make the hanger.  It is finished, but something isn’t quite right, I think the white background isn’t right, but what do I use instead that still makes the colours of the lights stand out and remain the focal point …. I am thinking silver or gold?  Any suggestions would be welcome.

Monday Mooch – And ……How Thick Can I Be?

I thought it might be nice to have a regular weekly or perhaps fortnightly post about my Evesham Moochings ….. objects of desire, charity shop finds, inspiration and bargains etc., so here’s this Monday Moochings ……

The first item, perhaps is not a “object of great desire”, it’s more of an instant hate it or love it piece, and to be honest the chairs plonked in front hinder my illustration a bit …… It’s a bit of an ugly beast I know, but I sort of like it!  It’s the mirrored panels and the clock that drew me in (I forgot to look at the price tag, sorry).  I have decided I really need two residences, my bijoux flat and another old and rambling place with nooks and crannies to indulge my furniture fetishes ….. this would definitely go in my breakfast room, (get my delusions of granduer), untouched  …….. one shelf would be filled with odd china breakfast tableware, another with jars of homemade jam and honey, and in the morning the top would have a lacy runner on and lots of muesli in jars and odd ornate silver spoons  ….. I really need to get a life!

From my favourite charity shop, a box of unopened glass coasters for 80p, a project for me and Iris, the pack split up and her drawings inserted to make personalised gifts for dotting relatives or perhaps I might keep them, changing the pictures to suit the occasion?

And, from the same shop, this little curio for £1.50, I admit to umming and ahhhing and putting it back a couple of times as I wasn’t sure what it was or what I could do with the sticky up things at the top, wondering if I could saw them off ……… DOH …..

It wasn’t until I actually got it home, after paying my money but still thinking about what it was, when I realised that it had been upside down in the shop but I was too thick to realise it …….  now, I am thinking a Cabinet of Christmas Curiosities like I have seen on Pinterest (below)  ….. adding shelves to the side cupboards, if I can. I just need to keep my eyes peeled for little bits and pieces, I already have a couple of bog brush Christmas Trees, so there’s a starting point.

And finally some felt cards found in a basket on the floor in The Works …..

You couldn’t even make them for 50p, they are now put safely put away for when I don’t have time to make a card or for a fancy gift tag on a present.