Categories
Books Craft Notebooks Paper

Folksy treats – new batch of mini book necklaces

Get yours here!

Mini book necklaces

Categories
Art Books Craft Origami Paper Tutorial

Creative book folding

First proper attempt at creating art/sculpture through book folding! Quite pleased with the result. I just did a very basic one, folding the top and bottom edges back to align with the spine, creating a point. I left a few pages free and simply tucked the pages round. Will be more adventurous next time.

Book folding

Categories
Craft Notebooks Paper Stationery

Handmade stock for sale – small coptic bound notebooks

Hey all! I have some odds and end of stock that don’t really go together in a nice group to sell on Folksy, so I thought I’d advertise them on here 🙂

First up, I have just two of these lovely little coptic bound notebooks with paisley covers and purple binding. They’re filled with durable sketchbook paper and are ideal for slipping in your bag or pocket. £4 each and £1 for postage:

Mini copitic 3 Mini coptic 1 Mini coptic 2

They’re roughly half the size of A5.

Please email me if you’re interested: ahoythere@thecraftfantastic.co.uk

More to follow soon!

Categories
Craft Inspiration Origami Paper

Weekly inspiration- Paper Kawaii

I’ve been doing a lot of origami recently and having pretty much exhausted my current instruction books, am feeling a bit unsatisfied. Don’t get me wrong, I still love folding paper, I just feel like I’ve been stuck in an origami rut; I’m confident doing my existing models (my craft space is full of paper cranes, butterflies and flowers!), but now it’s time to improve.

Paper Kawaii is an amazing resource for anyone interested in origami – at any level. There’s a fantastic array of models to make, from beginner to advanced, all with clear instructions and/or video tutorials. The site is beautifully designed and easy to navigate to boot!

It’s my mum’s birthday soon and I’ll be boxing her up some handmade chocolates in a beautiful box (attempt to be made this evening!):

Origami candy box tutorial from Paper Kawaii
Origami candy box tutorial from Paper Kawaii

Check out the tutorial here. Happy folding x

 

Categories
Craft Notebooks

Bargain charms

My mum stumbled across these lovely charms being sold off at a local craft fair and thankfully snapped them up for me!
Mini metal charms

They’re perfect for decorating my miniature book necklaces, and there are some bigger ones which will look great on my hard bound notebooks. I love the little heart padlocks! So cute.

Categories
Craft Notebooks Paper Stationery

New Coptic bound books

Handmade A6 notebooks, sewn with sturdy thick waxed thread, purple to compliment the cover paper. Insides are a lovely thick sketchbook paper, perfect for writing or drawing.
Small Coptic bound book
Only two made with this design, both can be found in Made In Northamptonshire.

More designs to follow, back up for sale on Folksy soon! Alternatively you can email me for custom orders ahoythere@thecraftfantastic.co.uk

Categories
Books General Inspiration

Happy World Book Day!

Book lovers of the world, rejoice! For today is World Book Day.

world-book-day-2014

But what does it actually mean? Surely every day is World Book Day? Well, according to their site “It’s a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading.”  Take a look here to find out the full story.

It’s a fantastic incentive to get kids all over the world reading. Children can get £1 books via special book tokens and there are plenty of events on so head on over to worldbookday.com and check it out!

Categories
Craft Notebooks Paper

Made In Northamptonshire – shop stock

The Craft Fantastic is please to have a small range of products in stock over at Made In Northamptonshire. A new colour for the miniature book/notebook necklaces, lovely soft grey leather:

Grey mini books

Plus, some unisex suede cord bracelets incorporating old French coins:

Cord bracelets

A couple of items sold already, get down there before they’re gone!

Categories
Craft

A bleated happy 2014!!

Mini book press - homemade

Despite the fact that this is my first post this year, I have been doing quite a bit of crafting; mainly mini notebook necklaces! I got my DIY on and made a mini book press out of old shelves (pictured above), which has really helped make the process a bit easier.

The mini journals are now being stocked in ‘Made In Northamptonshire’, a local shop for local makers, I’ve had orders for  via friends, friends of friends and through work, and have just restocked on supplies so I can make more.

 

All in all, a good start to the year!

Categories
Craft General Notebooks Paper Stationery

Weekly inspiration- A Handmade Christmas

Right about now is the time you may want to think about panicking if you haven’t yet bought all your Christmas presents. It’s 2 weeks to Christmas! Just 2 weeks! Quick! Get the things! Order the stuff!

Whatever stress you may or may not be feeling about finishing your Christmas shopping, rest assured there’s still some time. And if you don’t relish the thought of fighting your way through crowded high streets and shops, but you still want to feel like you’ve taken the time to seek out a unique gift, then have no fear: the internet will save you.

While under normal circumstances I don’t condone buying gifts online instead of supporting wonderful local and independent shops, there are several fantastic and well-established websites that specialise in peddling the homemade, hand crafted wares of creative individuals. Here are my favourites:

  • Etsy was where it all started for me. The realization that you could buy things that had been made by other people from around the world – and indeed sell your own things – was a very exciting prospect. They’ve been going for a good while now and their online shop of “all things handmade, vintage, and supplies” is chock full of unique gifts to browse- like these mini kaleidoscopes:

Mini Kaleidoscope - Etsy

  • Folksy is similar to Etsy; it hasn’t been going as long, but is really making a name for itself now as the online home of modern British craft. You can buy some really amazing crafted products on here!

Laser cut night light - Folksy

  • Not On The High Street is basically what it says on the tin. It was founded in 2006, their ideal being “to hunt out the most original items from the best creative small businesses, and bring them together in one place, making it easy for people to browse and buy.” Huzzah!
  • Hannah Zakari is a beautiful boutique full of the cute, the quirky and the unusual from independent designers. If you’re after something a bit different then head here for pretty jewellery, bags, accessories and more.
  • Bottle Green Homes. This London-based company sells only things made 100% in Britain. Well done chaps! This should be your first port of call for great homeware gifts.

Throw - Bottle Green Home

So there you go- now you’ve no excuse! Handmade gifts all round! Happy shopping 🙂