Midweek Papercraft Party (31)

Hello!  It's time for another papercraft party!

This week our theme is Spring or Easter!

We've had some gorgeous spring weather here in Cheshire, UK, although it's a bit grey again today!  I love spring when everything starts to grow again - blossom on the trees and daffodils lining the roads!  So I'd love to see some cards with a spring feel!

Last week's winner is:

Laura Le

Well done!  Please email wendy@handmadeharbour.co.uk with your choice of three digis from the Handmade Harbour shop.

As always, I love seeing what the design team has been making.  Let's take a peek...

Teresa made a gorgeous Easter gift bag.  I love this - so pretty!  Teresa used the cute bunny with flowers digi for this (the sentiment with lots of love at the top of the gift bag comes with the image).

Elina went outside the box with this project! She used the Cute Easter Chick image and mod podged it onto a plain puzzle base. She thought this would make a cute Easter gift to put in her daughter's basket this year. She loves doing puzzles! The two pics to show the puzzle before it was completed and the finished product.

Emma at The Sparkly Fairy used the stripey chicken stamp to make a lovely Easter card! 

Josie has wowed me again with her digital stamps turned into super cute little egg cosies!  These egg cosies will be perfect for Easter celebrations and gifts - I know Josie has made a lot of these! Josie adapted the owl waiting for Santa digi (one of the great things about digital stamps is how you can alter details quite easily) and the flower is from the flowers on the hill stamp.  The butterfly is from the butterflies and hearts stamp.  If you love raw edge applique, you'll love Josie's blog!  Aren't they adorable?

  

Frezja's card makes me think of spring - lovely bright flowers and sunshiney colours!  This is a card that would brighten anyone's day!

Have you had spring or Easter in mind with your papercrafting projects?  We'd love you to join in the party if you have!  Just leave your link below, and enjoy browsing the other links!  There are digital stamps of your choice to be won every week!

An InLinkz Link-up

Midweek Papercraft Party (28)

Welcome to this week's papercraft challenge - the theme is Lots of Love.

Before we peek at what the design team has been making, I want to announce last week's winners:

Hazel and Katie

Yay! Both of you win 3 digistamps of your choice from the Handmade Harbour store.  Please email wendy@handmadeharbour.co.uk with your choices.  You also get to grab the winner's badge for your blog - you'll find it in the left hand sidebar (you may have to scroll down a little).

Back to this week's cards and the Lots of Love challenge theme...

Look at the super cute card Aleksandra made... just adorable!  The cute bunny digital stamp she used is one of the new releases (perfect for Easter and spring-themed cards).

Lynne made this gorgeous card with a heartwarming quote about family love... this owl and baby digital stamp is already proving popular - it's a great one for Mother's Day!

Rachel's pretty pastel pink card uses the new Do What You Love digital stamp - I love that lovely hand-knitted embellishment!

If you'd like to join in this week, it's simple - just leave a link to your blog post by clicking below.  We'd love to see what you've been making and you could become next week's winner!

An InLinkz Link-up

Meet the Design Team: Mary

Today I'm interviewing Mary, one of the Handmade Harbour design team members - come on in and join us while we chat and find out more about her papercrafting experiences!

Who are you? Whereabouts in the world are you based and what is it like there? 

Howdy! My name is Mary Driggs and I’m from Austin, Texas. For the most part we get to experience summer weather all year round which can be considered both good and bad - it means we don’t really have a need for winter clothes but the few weeks of the year we do get winter weather none of us (who grew up here) know how to drive. LOL.  Fortunately for me I married someone who grew up in the northern parts of the country so he does the majority of the driving.

Why did you start cardmaking?  What (or who) got you started?

I started making cards by way of doing my wedding invitations. You see my mother-in-law owned the local scrapbook store and so I had card making supplies literally at my fingertips.

What do you enjoy most about designing and making a card?

For me the best part about designing and making cards is the joy that it brings to others. You see right now I teach craft classes and make cards for the Relief Society at Church.

What do you love about digital stamps?

I love digital stamps because they are so flexible, as you are not limited by size, they are beautiful,  and they are easy to store.

How many cards do you make in an average week?

My card making varies but I tend to make anywhere from one card per day to twenty. It depends on when inspiration strikes me.

Where do you do your crafting?  Do you have a dedicated craft room or do you take over the kitchen table?

My crafting is done in my craft room. Although, I have been known to expand into the living room.

Do you ever sell the cards you make? If so, where?
Currently, I am paid to create birthday cards for my Church. Although, I did use to have an Etsy shop.

Do you do other forms of craft too?  If so, what?

Currently I don’t do any other forms of crafts. Although, I will occasionally create a scrapbook or 3D project.

As a teen I used to enjoy needle point and during college I did learn how to knit. Right now I’m incorporating those skills into my paper crafting.

Who are your favourite craft bloggers? 

Some of my favorite craft bloggers are Sandy Allnock, Kristina Werner, and Lydia Fiedler.

Finally, have you got a favourite Handmade Harbour image?

Currently, my favorite image is 034 digital stamp- hedgehogs on armchair. Although I think they’re all super cute.

Find out more about Mary on her blog Cr8ive ME

Midweek Papercraft Party (8)

Welcome to another papercraft challenge!  Come on in and make yourself at home!

Last week's challenge winners are:  Monique and Kay

Congratulations ladies - please pop over to the Handmade Harbour digistamps store and choose 3 digistamps as your prize.  Email wendy@handmadeharbour.co.uk with your choice and I'll whizz your images over as soon as I can!

This week's challenge is men and boys (ha! For some of us, men and boys are a continual challenge!). Joking aside, I was thrilled to see what the design team made for this week's theme.  They all chose images from the digital stamps for men section - so if you're inspired by them you know where to find the images!

Want a peek at what they made?

Lynne made a shed!  Don't you love the 3D effect she created with this image?

 Lynne not only popped the shovel and flowers,
but also cut out the door and popped the house
so you really are looking into the shed... I love the effect!

Laura at Crafty Lawyer Creates says she's not used to colouring vehicles but I think she did superbly well on this campervan - makes me want to hop in and drive it somewhere sunny (I think maybe I'd have to drive an awful long way - and I'd probably need my passport!)

Rachel has a silver theme going on here with the Beetle.  It makes a super 21st card, doesn't it? Don't you love the card shape too?

And Zoe is going for all-out British with her campervan - I love this van against the Union Jack backing.

 (there have been a lot of vehicles this week, which I guess might be predictable given the theme!).

If you've made anything papercraft this week with a male-oriented theme, we'd love to see it!  Do add your blog link below and we'll pop by!  Don't forget, by entering in the challenge you have the chance to win some free digistamps!

Meet the Design team: Deanne

Today I'm interviewing another of the design team - today it's Deanne.  Come and find out more...

Who are you? Whereabouts in the world are you based? 
My name is Deanne Stewart-Mills. I live in Sydney, Australia. I love where I live in Western Sydney – it is near where I grew up so it is familiar to me. I haven’t always lived here – I moved back and forth between Canberra and Sydney for many years, finally settling here about 12 years ago.

Deanne

When and why did you start cardmaking?  

I started cardmaking when my son, who is nearly 21 now, was only little. I had left work to be with him when he was 4 and started cardmaking as a way to fill in some time. I was really into 3D decoupage at the time, but moved on to rubber stamping from there. I really got into cardmaking when I moved back to Sydney for the last time (that 12 years ago). I joined a cardmaking class, and eventually took over the class. I have been teaching there now for over 8 years.

What do you enjoy most about designing and making a card?

Hmm, that’s a tricky question... I think I enjoy the whole creation process. I sometimes start with a particular colour scheme, but more often than not, I begin with the image and go from there. It all depends what mood I am in or what requirements the card has to fulfil – whether it is for a class, creating for a specific blog or Design team etc.

Deanne's card: cat on the armchair (with patchwork cushions) - find the digi here

What do you love about digital stamps?

Digi stamps are great! I love that there are so many varieties of images available in the digital format. I love that you can print them in any size, you can alter the colour of the outline and, if you have the skills (which I don’t) you can colour them with programs like photoshop and print them in colour. Also, they take up much less storage space in my craft room.

Deanne made this gorgeous card using the cat on cushions digi - 

there's a definite feline theme going on here!

How many cards do you make in an average week?

I used to make 3-4 cards a week. I used to be on a design team for an online scrapbooking shop, so there were lots of things I had to make and lots of deadlines. I was also teaching 3-4 times a week, so I had to have lots of cards ready to go. Since I resigned from the design team nearly 2 years ago, and dropped all but one class, I have been much more relaxed with my cardmaking. At the moment, I am only making 1-2 cards a week. This also has a lot to do with my craft space being totally overwhelmed by ‘stuff’. Which leads me to your next question...

Where do you do your crafting?  Do you have a dedicated craft room or do you take over the kitchen table?

I have a dedicated craft room, but I do tend to take over the dining area too. I have lots of hobbies, but cardmaking/stamping and crocheting are my babies at the moment. I also own 4 sewing machines (1 of which is nearly 50 years old) and more yarn than I have space to keep it. I like to spread out, so my cardmaking supplies tend to cover both desks I have set up in my craft room. I love it, because it is a very creative space.

Birthdays are good for you - statistics prove the people who have the most live the longest

Do you ever sell the cards you make? If so, where?

I used to sell lots of cards, but haven’t really been trying. My parents tend to buy lots of cards. I gave them a decorated tin full of cards for lots of occasions several years ago and they often purchase more (or ask me to make more) to fill in the various occasions that have been used up.

Do you do other forms of craft too?  If so, what?

As I mentioned above, I also do other crafts. I have dabbled in almost anything, including: cross stitch, long stitch, quilting, sewing, folk art painting, silk flower making, knitting, crochet, scrapbooking. My favourites though are cardmaking and crochet (which I teach one day a week at a community group). I also collect tea pots and tea cups. I have several lovely Royal Albert sets from my parents. Although I guess that’s more of a hobby than a craft.

Who are your favourite craft bloggers? 

Handmade Harbour (of course), The Graphics Fairy (lots of beautiful free vintage images), Lucy at Attic24 (fabbo crochet blog) and Sarah London (another great crochet blog). I follow quite a few blogs; too many to name them all here. I tend to follow blogs with inspiring images and crafts. Bloggers who use bright, cheerful colours and images are usually the ones that catch my eye, and is one of the reasons I love Handmade Harbour and Lucy’s blog so much. They are also fun and interesting to read.

Finally, have you got a favourite Handmade Harbour image?
Another tough question. I don’t have one particular favourite, but I do really like bird images, the sewing machines and the humorous images.

the humorous birthday digital stamp Deanne used in her card (above).

Thanks so much Deanne for a great interview!  I always love reading about where people find their inspiration, which blogs they like reading and how they like working creatively - thanks for sharing with us!

Announcing the New Design Team!

I'm very excited to announce the first-ever design team for Handmade Harbour.

I was planning a team of just six, but I became overwhelmed by the really high standard of applications, and felt that some of those applicants just could not be turned down!  So I decided to make the team bigger than I'd originally planned.

So, eleven lovely and very creative ladies from around the world have joined together with me to bring you inspiration, cardmaking techniques, scrapbooking ideas, papercrafting tutorials - and lots of fun and colour - using Handmade Harbour's digi stamps.  They'll be creating things like this...

Zoe's poppy card - Zoe blogs at Handmade With Lots of Love

from images like this

poppies digital stamp

I've been amazed by what seems a bit of a magical transformation of my images so far!

How will it work?

Well, next week we are starting a weekly challenge right here on the Handmade Harbour blog.  The design team will be joining in every week (although each DT member will be contributing fortnightly, unless they feel the urge to jump in on their week off!).  If you are into papercrafting, we'd love to have you link up with us - you don't have to be part of the design team and you don't have to have an invitation.  You don't even need to use a Handmade Harbour digi stamp (although there will be a prize up for grabs if you do!).

Watch out for it next week - there will be no real theme for the first couple of weeks (an "anything goes" theme, if you like!) but there are challenge themes on the way!

Meanwhile, would you like to read more about the design team in their own words?  Pop over and have a nosy - from that page you can also visit their blogs and get a flavour of crafting in Canada, Australia and various parts of the United States as well as here in the not-so-sunny-at-the-moment-even-though-it's-summer United Kingdom.

Design Team Call

I'm excited to announce Handmade Harbour's very first design team call!

I'm looking for six papercrafters/cardmakers/digistampers who would like the opportunity to be part of a small but enthusiastic (and hopefully international) team, blogging and making from around the world!

OK, this is the kind of person I'm looking for:

• you have your own craft or personal blog and like to blog about your creations (essential)
• you enjoy using digi stamps (essential)
• you can take reasonably good photos to show off your work (essential)
• you'd be willing to create two cards (or other digistamp projects) per calendar month (essential) and blog about them
• you could be based anywhere in the world, but you blog in English (essential - a dual language blog is OK though)
• you're happy to be part of the team for at least 6 months (although you can opt out earlier if your circumstances change - I understand life can get in the way of crafting!)
• you probably take part in challenges, linky parties or blog hops (desirable)
• you might also post images on public galleries or forums (optional)
• you probably have some social media presence: maybe Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram (optional)
• you might sometimes post blog tutorials related to card making and/or digi stamps (optional)
• you might submit designs to magazines (optional)
• you're OK with me using your images on my blog or website (essential)

And this is what I'm offering:

• at least four free stamps per month, usually with an element of free choice
• Angel policy on all stamps including your free ones
• mentions and links on the Handmade Harbour blog and website
• mentions and links on social media - helping to publicise your own blog
• friendly and supportive approach

If you are interested, please email me: wendy@handmadeharbour.co.uk, attaching 2-4 images of your work using digi stamps.  I'd love to see you using some Handmade Harbour images, but it's not essential.  Please tell me the following info in your email:

• your name, home address and preferred email address

• your blog URL

• Any other URLs where I might see more if I'm interested: your website or online shop, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, SCS gallery, etc.

• Why would you like to join Handmade Harbour's design team?

• How would you describe your style?

• Are you (or have you been) on any other design teams?  If so, please tell me more! (it's not essential to have design team experience, but I'd love it if at least one team member did).

You have until 31st July to get your application in.  You may not hear back immediately (but that doesn't mean anything either way!).  I hope to announce the new design team here on this blog around mid-August.

Good luck!  I can't wait to see your applications!

Handmade Monday 117

Welcome to another Handmade Monday!

This week I've been mostly glued to my laptop, uploading image after image onto my new Handmade Harbour website!  I've set myself targets of how many I need to upload per day and I'm slightly ahead (for now, anyway!) which makes me happy!

OK, so it's posed by someone younger than me 

(my youngest daughter, who doesn't mind the odd modelling assignment for me)

I've also gathered together some fabrics but not done much else anything else with them yet.  These are in readiness for a project for Sewing World.  Hopefully I'll find some time this week for sewing because time is marching rather quickly towards my deadline! It's something I'm looking forward to making, because it's got beach huts in it (and I'm a sucker for beach hut imagery!).

just waiting to be cut and sewn

I've kind of tried to restrain myself from doing too many beach huts on my digital stamp images, but there are  a few in there...

Now I have a range of images, I need to get more organised and concentrate on specific occasions for card sending because I've noticed some of my categories are much emptier than others!  Still, that's something I can keep building on after the site is launched.

It's over to you now.  What's your handmade week been like?

Handmade Monday 116

Welcome to Handmade Monday.  Click the link to find out how to join in!

Well, the big news from me this week is that the Handmade Harbour website is now live on the internet!  At the moment it's just a holding page, while I work away behind the scenes to create a proper, functioning website where people can browse and maybe, just maybe, even buy things...

one of my digi stamps, inspired my my daughter's cat!

You can visit the holding page at HandmadeHarbour.com or HandmadeHarbour.co.uk -  both addresses should take you to the same place.

For now, I'm using the same banner as on my blog - but I think maybe I need a banner that reflects more what I'm planning to do.  Something that includes my hand-drawn images and card making (as well as sewing).   I have an idea in my head of how I'd like it to look, but it may be some time before I find the time to bring that idea into the real (or online) world!

cat at the rough sketch stage

I'm busy creating printable images for the website, as well as building the actual website, but it feels like I can't create fast enough at the moment.  It's a lot of fun though!

I'm still working hard on the personalised gifts too, which - as always - does take up a lot of my time.  I can't complain though, as it's rather a nice way to earn a living - just a little tying when you make everything to order!

making art hangers

It's time to hand over to you, now - I'm looking forward to seeing what's going on in your handmade world!