Alis Craft Studio

A Review - Zazu Jewellery Cards

2012-02-11T13:04:00.000Z

This post is a little different to my normal ones. It infact isn't about my work or company at all. As you will know, I joined the social networking set recently and through this I saw a request from Chloe of Zazu Jewellery for a review of her cards. One of the things I love about the crafting community is there is a real comraderie and I was more than happy to help. I used to make cards

Customer Requests & Happy Birthday Handmade Monday

2012-02-06T18:50:00.001Z

Firstly, my congratulations to Wendy at 1st Unique Gifts who, despite having a year in 2011 which was so busy it would have killed many of us off (or at the very least put us into a mild coma during the run up to Christmas!), has managed every week to host Handmade Monday which is a year old! If you haven't seen this before, it has links to blogs of some of the most amazingly talented crafters

Handmade Monday : Year of the Dragon

2012-01-23T11:47:00.001Z

Happy Chinese New Year everyone. OK, OK, I realise that the majority of us probably don't celebrate this but any excuse for a party right!? Well, maybe not but as it is the Year of the Dragon I am wondering if my Chinese Dragon design will become a best seller this year... They are already very popular but it will be interesting to see if sales go up It never ceases to amaze me what

Hey! Who you calling a technophobe?

2012-01-22T17:48:00.000Z

Well I have finally succumbed to the pressure to drag myself into the 21st Century and have joined the Twitter Revolution. Already I can see that I am going to have to schedule my time carefully as it is pretty addictive and before you know it an hour has whipped by. I am still finding my feet and working out what everything does, what all the shortcuts and initials mean and getting the

Ali's Craft Studio

2012-01-16T21:18:00.001Z

I often get asked where my studio is. Well, it is at my home and is part of the converted extension space where the garage used to be. The garage was, to be quite honest, a little less than useless - it was too narrow to fit the car in and ended up being a junk space! So, a decision was made some years ago (actually before Ali's Craft Studio was born) to knock it down (before it fell down)

Happy New Year - Its January: Time for a Sale!

2012-01-06T18:28:00.001Z

Well, I thought I should write something as we are now in 2012 so here I am ... Firstly, can I wish you all a very Happy New Year. Be honest now, have you all taken down your decorations like good boys and girls? You don't want to start the year with bad luck by leaving them up for too long, do you!! I hate this part of the festive season as I really love all the lights and sparkly stuff!

Whooosh!

2011-12-29T13:24:00.000Z

Well, there goes Christmas for another year. We spend so long building up to Christmas Day and the big family dinner and then in a blink of an eye, whooosh it is all over! Next up is the passing of one year and the start of a fresh, new one. So, hands up - who is still eating turkey in various guises?? I have to confess that I always get a turkey which is way bigger than it really needs

And So This is Christmas...

2011-12-19T10:29:00.000Z

... And what have you done? Well, I have finally finished the craft fair and markets for the year and after just about thawing out now from being on a very cold Bromley High Street last Friday and Saturday, I am happy that the cold hasn't brought on a relapse of my Winter cold! Christmas is fast approaching and I am now feeling a little more relaxed now that the tree is up and glistening and

Silence is Golden...

2011-11-27T10:21:00.001Z

Hubby and I have had our usual November colds - we seem to get the same colds at the same time each year (possibly linked to a couple of cold and damp fair venues in close succession??) and, as usual, this means that hubby has had a little peace and quiet over the last couple of days when my voice took a brief sabbatical! Not too much of a problem when I am on my own creating (apart from not

Mid November - Already?!

2011-11-14T08:20:00.001Z

Can you believe it, it is mid-November already! It only seems five minutes since we were all talking about the summer and outdoor events. The weather is still being kind and I am seriously praying that the Snow Gods have booked their holidays somewhere else this year as hubby and I are still trying to catch up after all the snow-related disruption at the end of 2010/beginning of 2011!

Happy Halloween - now whats next?

2011-10-31T08:14:00.002Z

Today is Halloween but I suspect that we managed to miss most of the 'trick or treaters' who may have ventured out in slightly damp, drizzly weather on Saturday and Sunday evening when we were travelling back from shows. I have, however, got my pumpkin bag stocked with sweeties by the door just incase (I'm sure we'll find a good use for any left overs....!) We are fortunate where we live that

Great Weekend

2011-10-10T09:39:00.000+01:00

Wow how lucky were we this past weekend! The Autumn Countryside show at the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum in Singleton, near Chichester was fantastic. Alongside displays by birds of prey, gundogs and plenty of stalls offering everything from clothing to the best stained glass window clings (tee hee) many exhibitors were demonstrating the countryside crafts which are at risk of dying out and

Batton Down The Hatches!

2011-10-07T09:49:00.000+01:00

Its here - the last outdoor show of our increasingly long season is upon us this weekend. We will be at the Autumn Countryside Show at the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum in Singleton, near Chichester on both Saturday and Sunday. We always look forward to this show - firstly because it is a great venue and always seems to be well attended and secondly because it is the last time this year

Time Traveller?

2011-10-02T21:57:00.000+01:00

I love Doctor Who - from childhood memories of hiding behind cushions (if I can't see the monsters then they can't see me) in the Tom Baker/Jon Pertwee era and, now I am a little older and braver, chuckling at the 'grown ups jokes' in the newer Christopher Ecclestone/David Tennant/Matt Smith era this show is a great 'lose yourself for an hour' time in front of the TV on a Saturday evening (or

Boring? I think so...

2011-09-18T19:12:00.001+01:00

You may be sad (or possibly thrilled) to hear that this is going to be a short (and therefore probably a pretty boring) blog post today... Due to 'unforseen circumstances' this weekend ended up being without me being at a fair so I am in 'mega create' mode. With orders to finish and some big fairs coming up the extra time is actually quite helpful as I am not only trying to make up lots of my

Lock, Stock and Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel! (OK, not really but it sounded good!!)

2011-09-17T10:21:00.000+01:00

Hi Folks Eek! I'm almost out of the oh-so-popular Butterfly Sets! Yes, I know... I said I would blog more and I have been very lax! However, I have a good excuse... Last weekend was absolutely manic and now my stock is ridiculously low on many of my 'bread and butter' items. So I have been frantically making up new stuff but with a stack of orders to complete too, there are only so

M.I.A?? I'm Back...

2011-09-05T10:43:00.000+01:00

Good morning blogging family Yes I am still on this planet after being missing in action for a couple of weeks (although a quick look at the date of my last blog post shows that it has infact been almost a month - eek!) I would love to say that I have been travelling the globe on a relaxing Summer holiday but if I did, I would be lying - August is quite simply a chaotic month for me with some

Letter to the Weather Gods - part 2!

2011-08-08T12:36:00.000+01:00

Dear Weather Gods (again) Oh Ha Ha Ha - you do make me laugh!! What part of the five-days-yours-two-days-mine deal did you not understand?? This weekend we had a wonderful corner position in our gazebo - lots of wonderful exposure from two sides to the visitors to the show and what did you do?? You blew and pee'd on us!! Today, when I am tucked up in my cosy studio working on orders, I

Handmade Monday #27 - Glowing in the Dark...

2011-08-01T11:57:00.003+01:00

Handmade Monday rolls around again and I am pleased to say that hubby and I survived the 'Greenhouse' yesterday and came out unscathed! It was very, very hot still but there were more clouds around so this helped it to not be quite as unbearable as it was there last month. I am fully booked for all the weekends in August (plus Bank Holiday Monday) so I won't be back there until the end of

I heard the words...

2011-07-30T20:39:00.000+01:00

I have been basking in sunlight today at Bromley Market - unusually there was very little wind so it was a lovely day without any heart stopping moments. But... today I heard the six dreaded words.... (Brace yourselves) "When we get back from holiday..." Oh those words are awful for a stallholder to hear and enough to make the hardiest of souls sob quietly into their thermos. Sadly I have a

I won! Yay me!!

2011-07-29T16:27:00.000+01:00

Well this week has been full of surprises... On Monday I received an e-mail saying that I had won a blog jewellery giveaway being held by Frances at Polly Polkadot - I was really thrilled as her jewellery is so beautiful. I had to choose from three colour options (which was the hardest part!!) and decided upon lilac. Today's postie brought my gift and it is even more beautiful in real life

Handmade Monday & A Weekend Off (Almost!)

2011-07-24T22:31:00.000+01:00

Good morning everyone - another week crossed off the calendar and therefore another chance to visit Handmade Monday and see what everyone has been busying themselves with this past week. Do make sure you go and check the links on Wendy's Blog. As I mentioned in my last post, this weekend was a rare thing - a whole weekend without fairs. This only happens a couple of times a year apart from

Huh? An open letter to the Weather Gods

2011-07-18T11:29:00.000+01:00

OK, I'm confused. Please can we just take a moment and check our calendars.... mine says July... now, I know that I'm not always successful and flipping the calendar over on the first day of the month but either I have been asleep for longer than I thought and we are actually now experiencing that wonderfully colourful of seasons - autumn - or something has gone terribly wrong. Can I just

Trying a new way to blog

2011-07-14T17:55:00.000+01:00

Technology moves so quickly - it is hard to keep up but here I am writing a blog on my mobile phone! Hopefully all will work properly and it won't just be me who ever sees this! Anyway this is a very short post to test it out... Fingers crossed!

Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice...

2011-07-10T21:33:00.000+01:00

Well, that is what girls are supposed to like which is a dream for a crafter who is trying to get into other people's heads and make things they will want to buy, but boys can be so difficult. Fairies, butterflies, flowers and glittery things just don't cut it! I could make decorations til the cows come home for females of all ages (including a decoration of a cow for that matter!) but for