Magnet Expert/First4Magnets

I have a thing about magnets (along with a great many other things) so when Jonathan from Magnet Expert Ltd e-mailed asking if I would be interested in him sending me a sample pack of his wares, there was no way I was going to say "no"!

And what a little parcel of goodies it turned out to be …. These circular 20mm dia. self-adhesive magnets are capable of holding up  a sheet of A4 paper and as soon as I saw them I thought fridge magnets! They cost £4.22 (inc VAT) for an A4 sheet of 88 magnetic dots – which works out at just under 5p each. 

http://www.first4magnets.com/flexible-magnetic-dots-43-c.asp

Then there are these 8mm dia. magnets which are really powerful considering their size and I just love that they are self adhesive, as I am never sure what glue to use on a magnet.  They are  made from a material called “Neodymium” and are, it says in the blurb, the strongest commercial magnet you can buy. They are a little more expensive at £6 for 20, not cheap, but they work out cheaper if bought in bulk.

http://www.first4magnets.com/8mm-dia-x-1mm-disc---02kg-pull-with-3m-self-adhesive-233-c.asp

Finally the pull on these babies is absolutely unbelievable, believe me, you really have to pull to get them to budge.

They work out at £10.20 for 10, a little expensive but for holding up a heavy calendar fridge magnet, these would be perfect, as there would be no worries about piling on heavy embellishments etc. because believe me these wouldn’t move even if a hurricane swept through your kitchen!

To test them out I put one on the back of this birdhouse that I am planning to decorate over the Easter holiday and stuck it on my fridge  ….. it didn’t budge

http://www.first4magnets.com/f301n---10mm-dia-x-5mm-thick-x-32mm-csink--neodymium-magnet---2kg-pull-north-x10-b17y-25-p.asp

Jonathan also included some tiny weeny weeny magnets which I couldn’t think of a use for but he explained that Printers often use and conceal them in restaurant menus and stationary folders to create a firm gentle clasp when closed……. so now I am thinking special cards (for adults, as I wouldn't put them on a childs card for health and safety reasons) and clasps on handbag favours …….

But, with all reviews, the proof of the product is in the crafting, so I decided to test some out on  a set of fridge magnets, using a few of the Jenga blocks I found in a charity shop the other week.

My magnet of choice would undoubtedly be the flexible dots as I am familiar with them already, but I decided to use the 8mm self adhesive ones for this project as I had never used anything like them before and see how they coped with a small but bulky block.

For the lettering I used my Brother P-Touch 1005 label maker, a Christmas present from Marc, which I adore ….. it can produce so many wonderful different styles of label, it’s a cardmakers dream!

Et voila …. dead chuffed!  I’ll admit to being a little dubious of the stickability factor of the adhesive on the back of the magnets, but once stuck they did not budge.

It’s really worth having a look at the first4magnets website, it’s fascinating especially the Applications Page ….. where there are some brilliant ideas, especially……..

http://www.first4magnets.com/ceramic-fridge-magnets-222-c.asp

http://www.first4magnets.com/craft-fridge-magnets--make-your-own-249-c.asp

http://www.first4magnets.com/is-it-time-to-use-some-magnets-220-c.asp

http://www.first4magnets.com/photo-fridge-magnets-228-c.asp

Magnets should always be used and stored sensibly away from children. These magnets can be extremely small and powerful. If swallowed, some magnets can be very harmful to someone’s health

The opinions on this review are my own.

Easter Egg/Lunch Bag

As I am being very careful with money this year I begrudge paying more than a pound for a bag just to put an Easter Egg or small present in, no matter how lovely.

So these are two I have made using paper sandwich/lunch bags from Home Bargains. They only cost £1 for a pack of 10, bargaintastic! I’ve just added die cut flowers with a flat backed pearl centre and a bit of doodling. Each bag has probably cost me no more than 35p, which means I have more money to spend on Easter goodies.

It would also be a cute bag for a child to take their last packed lunch in before they break up for the Easter holidays. The Poundshops have some lovely large puffy Easter sticker at the moment which could easily be used instead of the flowers.

E Type Jag 70th Birthday Newspaper Card

This card is A5 in size using a hand cut card blank in white linen card.

Linda asked me if I could run through how I make one of my newspaper cards again, as she was under the impression that I printed the whole thing out on an A5 card…. so here goes ……

I create the newspaper image on an A4 Portrait page in Publisher …. and then when I am happy with it, I save it as a jpeg so that I can print it to any size I want while keeping the proportions right.

I then create a new page in Publisher in A4 Landscape, inserting the card front jpeg and sizing it slightly short of A5.  Extra decoupage layers are made by copying and pasting  and then cropping the resized card image, until I am left with just the parts I need.

I cut the card front out , leaving a slight edge all the way round.

And then mat and layer it on silver or another matching card, before sticking it on the card blank with double sided tape.

The decoupage layers are then cut out and stuck down with adhesive foam pads.

Finishing touches can then be added like Ranger Glossy Accents to give dimension and accentuate, in this case the speech bubbles.

That’s all there is to it, perhaps a little long winded and fiddle farty but it works for me.

The brief for this card was that it was for a gentleman called Bill, who always told his wife Anne, when questioned, that all the parts and work on his E-type Jag that he went hill climbing in only ever cost 50 quid! Pull the other one!!

Doodled New Home Card

This card measures 12.5 cm x 12.5cm.

I’m not a very good drawer, but I needed a “New Home” card in a hurry and this is what I came up with! 

At least you can say it’s an absolute original!

Quick Thank You Card For A Sewer

This was a quick card to say Thank You to the PE Lady’s Mum who had mended a lot of netball bibs for us.

The t-shirts are buttons bought for no more than a pound a packet years ago from somewhere like Home Bargains. I’ve then stuck a letter on each using my old fashioned Dymo label maker. I found the plastic needle in my old pin box, long forgotten, but perfect for this idea. A bit of faux stitching and a button in each corner …. and it’s another card done and dusted!

Diamond Jubilee Crafts - Union Jack Cup Cake Flags/Picks

I have been pricing up Union Jack flag picks for the Diamond Jubilee, either to use at a tea party or as small decorations or embellishments, but it  turned me into a bit of a Scrooge! Then, I remembered the paper chains I bought last year for the Royal Wedding, and wondered if I could I do something with them?

I cut the chains down to just two flags, using a toning Promarker pen to colour the white part of them down the middle.

I then gave the flags a quick flick of double sided tape across them with my tape gun  and placed a cocktail stick in the middle. All that was left to do then was to fold the flag over and trim the end with a pair of wavy line scissors. Done and dusted!!

Food Police - Naturally, if I were making these for a real tea party I would make them in much more suitable and hygienic surroundings than my craft room and would wear latex gloves while handling the cocktail stick during the making and when putting into a cupcake or sandwich etc.

Easter Ladybird Favour Box

My obsession with ladybirds continues …..

I’ve made a matchbox using my Stampin’Up/Sizzix Die my son ordered me from the USA a couple of years ago, using black and red card.

I then filled it with ten of the Tesco chocolate love bugs that I stockpiled during their Valentines Day promotion, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to find them in the shops after for other projects.

Ladybird Tags

I was clearing out some cupboards and I found this box of small branch cut offs left over from when Mr FiddleFart, aka the Duke, made us all pocket sundials a year or so ago.

It seemed such a waste to just throw them away and then it dawned on me that they would make brilliant tags ….

So I kept it simple and just added a handwritten sentiment and a wooden ladybird to each circle.  The final part was drilling the hole for the string, this proved a little tougher than I anticipated with my little drill  but I got there in the end.  I am dead chuffed with the result and think these would look great on a present for a gardener or attached to a plant pot.

But now my dilemma… because I am really trying to use as much stuff as I can this year, collected over years, do I replace what I have used, like the ladybirds … I had to scrabble about for these last few, hence the mix of colours …. do I stop having ideas of a ladybird type nature …. or do I just buy a couple more packets for when another idea springs to mind?????? Aghhh  I just can’t win!!

Park Your Yarn–Wolverhampton

Yesterday I went to one of the Park Your Yarn events that have been going on in Wolverhampton over the past month (and which come to an end on 5th April). I am quite shy and quiet in new company and was relieved to be able to just slip in unobtrusively under the canopy, popping the knitted strips I had already completed on the table and sit down to knit in the glorious sunshine, listening to the others as they either taught or learnt how to knit and crochet

After a while a lovely lady called Mandy sat beside me and “recognised “ me from this blog ….. it felt so weird and I was a little embarrassed, but it broke the ice. She even remembered the old pictures of me in what I used to affectionately call my shopping lifting coat and handbag!!!!!

Then, Mandy offered to show me how to crochet, something I have never attempted before.  All I can say is she is a VERY patient teacher ….. I admit that I am a very slow learner and just couldn’t get my head (or fingers) around holding the yarn, ….. so we didn’t progress further than making a chain BUT something did sink in because when I got home I was still able to add some more links to my chain!!!!! So I will keep on practising chains as Mandy advised  and then when I am confident I will get my daughter Lucy to show me the next step., so perhaps in a little while I will  be able to make a square.

Mandy also knew all about the Monkeys, so even more ice was broken as we both took lots of pictures of them getting stuck into the crocheting too, although they hardly took their eyes off the custard creams!!

I bought home a couple more balls of wool.  I was sort of tempted to use some of my own, but thank goodness I didn’t because the installation is only going to be in pinks/white and creams, so my efforts would have been wasted.  I can’t wait until it is completed to see where my strips will end up!

Mandy has a blog http://6ichthusfish.typepad.com/ 

and is also a designer for http://itsacreativeworld.typepad.com/
xxx THANK YOU MANDY for making my afternoon so enjoyable xxx

http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/wolves/whats_on/004851.html

As Featured In The National Badminton Museum……

As you know my sister and I try to come up with an idea for little token/fairing gifts for her to give to the various people she meets at some the sporting events she works at as a volunteer.

Well ……. a couple of weeks ago she was at the 102nd Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships for which she made these packets of recovered Cadbury miniatures with the event logo on (I merely put them in the cello bags and tied the ribbons).

….. Anyway to cut a long story short, a gentleman there was so impressed that one of these chocolates has now found a place in the National Badminton Museum, along with an Elizabeth Shaw mint version she made for the year before!!!!

We are already planning for next year ……. a shuttlecock with blue and green toffees in ….. watch this space!!!

http://www.badmintonengland.co.uk/text.asp?section=41

Cadbury Chocolate Miniature Ladybirds

I love ladybirds …. so I thought I would try and decorate some Cadbury Chocolate Miniatures to look like them.

I’ve used a wrapper as a template and cut rectangles measuring 1.25cm x 2.5cm to make new ones,  drawing a thick black line approximately 1cm deep for the head along the longest edge.

After re-wrapping the chocolate, I’ve drawn a line down the centre with a small triangle at the end to look like wings, followed by a few black spots, wibbly wobbly eyes finish the whole effect.

Easter Penny Bags

My “Penny Bags” usually go down well, so I have made a few for Easter.

They are nothing really special but with money being tight for a lot of people at the moment I think they offer reasonable value for money and the person who gives them knows that they are giving something a bit different as I will only be making about 20 of them.

I’ve punched the tags from a small blue gingham print card, added a wooden bunny embellishment, a bit of doodling and a handwritten “Happy Easter”

This is the first time I have used gusseted bags for my sweets which measure 7” x 3” x 1.5” which I found on e-bay from  http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Wrappings-and-Bows?_trksid=p4340.l2563 and I am quite impressed.

I put an assortment of 12 chocolate ladybirds (Tesco) 8 small easter eggs (The Range) and two chocolate bunnies from the Aldi pack above (£1.79) in each bag, tied with a pastel coloured ribbon.

The Apprentice 2012

He’s back ….. and my obsession with Lord Alan (although he will always be Sir Alan to me) continues …….

I cannot tell you how much I ADORE this man and the programme!  For the next thirteen weeks I shall be mostly using my two Apprentice mugs (Helen Geddes you are fired/hired depending on my mood) and NO crafting will be done on Wednesdays for a while.  I will be in my pj’s, with a coffee (in one of the aforementioned mugs), a family bag of Maltesers and wooooo betide anyone who disturbs me!  And if Lord Alan just happens to see this post ……. PLEASE can I come and work for you …… I could be your Frances when Frances has a day off ….. I have been told that I “do” have a very professional telephone manner!!

I can hear Lord Alan saying now “Helen, can you send them in now” …… it sends shivers down my spine!!