What's Coming Up...

What's Coming Up...

Tuesday 18 June 2013

How to make paper flowers

You will need a 2" Six Petal Punch, Tacky PVA Glue and a cocktail stick.





Punch out 3 flowers from your chosen paper.













With the first flower, cut in between 2 of the petals to the centre of the flower.











With the second flower, cut either side of one petal and set both aside for later.











With the third flower, remove 2 petals as shown and set both aside.












You should now have five separate flower elements, as shown here.

















Apply tacky glue to one petal of the first flower and stick together.

















Glue one petal on the second flower and stick together.











Glue one petal on the third flower and stick together.













You should now have three flower cups as shown - one 5 petal, one 4 petal and one 3 petal.

















With the remaining 2 petal piece, roll the lefthand petal backwards using the cocktail stick.
























Roll the right petal forwards from the centre.....











....and keep rolling around the cocktail stick until the second petal is wrapped around too.






















With the single petal, roll around the cocktail stick to make a cone shape.

















On the 5, 4 and 3 petal flowers, roll all the petals backwards using a cocktail stick.




Your three flowers should now look like this.


















Cut the bottoms off of the 4, 3, 2 and 1 petal flowers





















Apply glue to the base of the 4 petal flower and place inside the 5 petal flower.  Repeat with the 3 petal flower.

















Place the 2 petal flower in the centre of the flower....




....and the one petal flower in the very centre of the previous 2 petal flower.











Try mixing different coloured papers and patterns for interesting effects!

Wednesday 29 May 2013

We've Moved!!

Yes, after a very long weekend of moving, we're finally in our new premises.

We had our grand reopening yesterday and were thrilled to see so many of our lovely customers turning up to have a nose around the new place!  It was a great day and it was good to get so many positive comments.  I'm sure we'll be very happy in our new home :o)

If you weren't able to pop in yesterday, panic not!  We're continuing the special offers for the rest of the week including discounts of up to 50% and a FREE goodie bag worth over £30.00 when you spend £20.00 in one transaction (one per customer, while stocks last).

Oh, and I almost forgot the best bit, we're also giving away free balloons!!!!

Our new address is:

Unit 1
St Margaret's Park
Pengam Road
Aberbargoed
CF81 9FW

and we're open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and Saturday from 10am to 2pm.

Hope to see you soon!




Sunday 21 April 2013

How to make a box

We often get asked about how to make a box to fit a wide range of different size cards so here are the instructions.  They can be adapted for an unlimited number of sizes and shapes!

For this tutorial, we will make a box to fit a 6x6" card


You will need:

2 sheet of A4 card
Paper Trimmer or Guillotine
Hougie Board
Scissors
Wet Glue
Clothes Pegs
1" Circle Punch






1. Cut one sheet of A4 card to 8⅛" x 8⅛" - this is for the base of the box and will allow for a 1" depth.











2. Cut the second sheet of A4 card to 8¼" x 8¼" - this is for the lid of the box, again with a 1" depth.
















3. Score both sheets on the Hougie Board at 1" on all four sides




4. Use a pair of scissors to cut wedges out of each of the four corners of the lid and base.












5. Use a 1" Circle Punch to punch semi-circles on opposite sides of the lid only - this will allow for easier opening of the lid once the box has been finished.











6. Fold all of the creased lines on the lid and base and use a wet glue on each of the flaps to stick them together.






















7. Secure with clothes pegs until completely dry.










That's all there is to it!  This technique can be used for any size box - just remember to add 2⅛" to the size of your card to make the box base, and 2¼" to the size of your card for the box lid.

For example, an 8" x 8" card would need a base of 10⅛" x 10⅛" and a lid of 10¼" x 10¼".


Feel free to ask any questions you have next time you pay us a visit.


Thursday 11 April 2013

New XCut Alphabet Dies

After a long wait, XCut have finally released some new Alphabet Dies!

There are three to chose from and they are at a great price point of just £12.95 each.

Keep an eye out on the website for their arrival here.


Tuesday 26 March 2013

Easter treat!

Check out our Facebook page for a little Easter treat, and don't forget to Like us so you don't miss out!!


Sunday 24 March 2013

Parchment Classes

Just a quick reminder that there are still spaces available on the parchment class which is held once a fortnight on a Tuesday from 10am to 12pm.  Please let us know if you would like to join as the next class is this Tuesday 26th March.

Saturday 23 March 2013

Making Cards for Men 2013

The latest special edition Making Cards magazine is due out on 24th April so if you would like to pre-order your copy, please let us know by Monday 8th April.

If you find it hard to locate craft papers and card ideas for the chaps in your life, look no further!

This issue has over 60 cards, all based on the 32 free craft papers inside - a collection of 15 themes, each with a topper sheet and a backing paper...and there's something for all ages too!


The retail price is £4.95.

Thursday 14 March 2013

Jewellery Classes

Due to popular demand, we've added a second date to the woven whip braided bracelet jewellery class - Wednesday 10th April from 4.30pm to 6.30pm.  We've only got 4 spaces left so if you'd like a space, let us know soon!

Thursday 7 March 2013

Jewellery Classes

Our first jewellery class will be on Wednesday 27th March from 4.30pm to 6.30pm (approx.)

There will be a total of 6 spaces available although I already have 2 names pencilled in so if you would like to book a place, please let me know as soon as possible.

The price of each class is £5.00 per person plus you will need to purchase a kit of materials to make whichever item we are working on in the class.

This month's class is a beautiful woven whip bracelet with bead detail.  The kits will retail at £2.65 but class members will get a 25% discount so will only have to pay £1.99 at the class.

Basic tools will also be required although for the first class, you will only need two pairs of jewellery pliers - one of which should be round nose.  If you don't have any pliers, I have a few pairs that can be shared out.

Here's a picture of the finished bracelet in various colours:


Friday 1 March 2013


Lots of new Wedding Stationery samples now in store, together with some lovely new products - check out our new Wedding Stationery section on the website for more information.

Saturday 2 February 2013

Wedding Stationery

We often get customers visiting the shop who would like to make their own wedding stationery and although we do have a selection of products, they're scattered around the shop rather randomly!

So we've decided to have a special display area in the shop just for wedding stationery products including card blanks, embellishments and sample cards with loads of ideas on different styles to provide you with inspiration.

Our first selection of products will be arriving very soon and shortly after, we'll have some sample cards made up together with a lovely display to show them off.

Check out the Coming Soon section of our website for a sneak peak of what's to come!


Thursday 24 January 2013

Snow Update

Well we managed to dig ourselves out of Caerphilly and have just about managed to dig ourselves into work today so good news, WE'RE OPEN!!

Ian is in the process of clearing the front of the unit to make it safe and the main roads are all clear and slip-free!

Anyone who visits the craft shop today gets a 5% discount off EVERYTHING in store - just quote 'GO AWAY SNOW' at checkout and we'll apply the discount as a thank you for your visit!

Hope to see you soon.

Tuesday 22 January 2013

Deja vu?!

Sorry to say we're snowed in again so won't be able to open the shop again today.  Just when we thought it was all over too!
Will keep you all posted on when we're open again.

UPDATE: Unfortunately we're still going to be closed today (Wednesday 23rd January) but are definitely planning on opening as usual from tomorrow.

Monday 21 January 2013

We're Open!

The snow is slowly clearing and the main roads are all clear so we've managed to get into work today for the class.  We've also cleared a lot of the snow from the front of the unit to make it less treacherous for our lovely customers.

Hope to see you soon!

Friday 18 January 2013

Surprise, Surprise!

Well, no surprise actually - we're snowed in!

Here's a pic of the view from the front of our house:


I'm afraid, if you were hoping to panic buy your peeloffs today, you're going to be out of luck!

I'll keep you posted on when we'll be reopening but in the meantime, enjoy the snow!!

Thursday 17 January 2013

Snow Update!


Yes, it's that time of the year again when the snow starts to fall at just the wrong moment and we find ourselves wondering if we're going to be able to open the shop or not.

Keep an eye on the blog over the next few days and I'll make sure I keep you all up-to-date on the current situation.  Or just give us a quick call to check if we're in: 01443 758002.

Monday 14 January 2013

Jewellery, Jewellery!

We've just had some stunning new jewellery items in store that I simply must tell you about!

They're from a new supplier that we've recently been introduced to who stock an extremely wide range of crafting supplies including a great selection of jewellery as well as loads of really "crafty" things that I'm sure loads of you would be interested in!!

We have a catalogue in the shop that you're more than welcome to browse through and we'll soon be placing another order so you won't have long to wait if there's anything that catches your eye.

Please click here to view all the lovely new jewellery items we've received.  We've already sold out of a few items as they are proving really popular, and the prices are extremely reasonable for the quality.

We also have some stunning pendants due to arrive in the next day or two so check them out in our Coming Soon section here.