The Crafty Market

This sunday I'll be paying a visit to the new crafty market in newmarket sq, Dublin 8. Looks really good. Its a market for Arts and craft stalls. Checked out there website, some of the stuff looks great.

Mosey on down and have a look
Its on 11am to 5pm.... Sunday 3rd may

www.thecraftymarket.com

Been Busy

Been quite busy last few months, Painting like a woman possessed... Was at the St.brigids car boot sale last sunday. Great day met some really nice people. There is a real need for craft classes in the northside of the city. Doing it craft party style works well bcause insurance is expensive. I'll explain concept of craft party to you.

Its like the old fashioned tupperware party or the naughty ann summers party. Someone must host it and I will bring up the contents of site, Toppers, buttons, card packs, paper and envelopes. People can browse prducts at leisure and I'll be there to demonstrate products and show you a few new techniques....

Presents for hostess and 10% discount card.

Contact me for more details....

Challenge packs

We are launching a challenge pack this week, this is a mystery pack of cards, papers and embellishments costing €4. These packs will have a theme and there will be a differant pack launched every 6 weeks. Now the challenge is that everyone receives exactly the same pack and must make up some cards with the materials. Send the photo in of your completed card, we'll post them up on the blog and its up to you the crafters to vote for the best one. The winner of the challendg recieves a prize pack of materials worth over €30.

The theme of this Challenge is Irish appropriate in the run up to St.Paddys day.
The button will be online in the next day or so so you can buy online or contact me @ info@ceriruadesigns.com for your pack


Brief recap:


Packs cost €4
Contain at least 2 cards and envelopes, mixed papers, embellishments suitable to theme.
Each pack is tthe same
send picture back to me for posting on blog
Voting is done by public.
Only materials in pack can be used for photo.
Winner recieves prize pack over €30
finall date for entrys is March 10th

Embellishments

As you all know from the craft parties and contacting me there is a lot more embellishments that I haven't yet put up online. This is due to the time involved taking photos, adding them and making sure of their stock availablity before I put them online.

If there is anything you've seen but can't find on website just drop me a line and I can let you know if we have it or where we can find it.

In the next week the baby section will be up, so let me know your thought...

That is the point of this blog after all lol...

Christmas Card Packs

Christmas is nearly upon us and I'm running a special on greeting cards for the holiday season. A pack of ten assorted christmas card is available for €25. All cards are handmade using high quality materials and provided with matching envelopes. They come in three ranges

Crystal Christmas- Pale blues, lilacs and icy white cards with frost and snowflake designs.

Hot Ice- Funky cards in hot pinks, purples and black with trees, snowflakes etc

Candy Cane- Traditional Red, Green and white christmas cards.

Example of the cards can be seen in our christmas section.

Quality Control

i just wanted to say a few words about a pet subject of mine which is the Quality of Handmade cards out there. I see a lot of beautiful designs and ideas ruined because they've been put on a poor quality card or with a cheap business envelope. Here's a few tips which will improve the look of your cards, whether your just giving them to friends and family or selling them.

1. Use a good quality base card.
Lightweight or cheap card ruins the look of a nice card. The card should feel heavy and be able to support itself. The Card I use a lot is called Rusticus 200g, I buy this from Daintree in Camden St. Its a nice textured card which feels and looks good quality. They also cut it down to a particular size if you want and they have a scoring machine instore you can use.

2. Use a good quality envelope
The same applies as before a cheap envelope ruins a card, it looks disappointing and mundane before its even opened. The worst offenses are using white business envelopes, they look cheap against a nice card so spend the extra 10c and get a nice coloured or heavy weight envelope.

3. Don't add the kitchen sink
Less is more, if you have a really nice paper or embellishment let it speak for itself, Add too much and the beautiful details get overlooked.

4. Finish it properly
make sure your cards are cut right, Clean Fold Lines, No frayed ribbons and make sure everything is stuck down properly, I recently opened a card to have the label fall off in my hand. Double check everything before you put it in an envelope.

I think that covers it, Thanks for letting me rant.

Nichola

Christmas cards

Just a note to say the Christmas card packs are back in stock. These kits contain 5 cards and envelopes, 5 gift cards and enough embellishments to make over 20 cards. I kept one for myself and I'm currently on my 21st christmas card. I'd recommend you getting extra card and envelopes because you get so many extra embellishemnts in pack. Cute little Santa's, snow men, christmas trees, ribbon and more.

The Kits cost €15 and are available on the site in the gift section.

Nichola