The Craft Gallery

The journey so far for The Craft Gallery !

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Fri, 08 May 2015 04:04:00 +0000

Dear friends,

I am humbled to see how my simple hobby craft blog " Miss Crafty" has now turned in to an Online Gallery showcasing 40 talented creatives from five different countries!

The Craft Gallery has also been nominated as finalist for Brilliant Biz Awards in Australia for two categories "Best Web Spaces" and "Creative Marketing on Budget"

Today, I am posting this last post for the blog, as I have not really posted on this blog for quiet sometime. But will always have a special place in my heart.

This is not a final bye my friends, you can still catch-up on our blog articles on our website www.theartandcraftgallery.com/blog

We value your friendship and support, and would love to have you on this journey! Follow Us on Social Media or Join Our Newsletter to stay in touch!

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French Vintage Beauty

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 05:36:00 +0000

French Vintage Beauty by thecraftgallery featuring a gold brooch

Lipsy patent pumps
$86 - lipsy.co.uk

Vintage black purse
$16 - amazon.co.uk

Gold brooch
rubylane.com

Blue Nile cord necklace
bluenile.com

Jon Richard pearl jewellery
$13 - debenhams.com

Are you applying the 80-20 Rule in Your Creative Business? Read to find out WHY you need it?

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 21:00:00 +0000

Every business consists of Science, Commerce & Arts components in its business process. Science is about inventions, commerce is about selling & Arts is about creativity in the products & ideas. Many Independent Artists have to swap their thinking caps throughout the day to manage all of these tasks efficiently. Artists need to stay away from their creative world & perform tasks like photographing the artworks, editing them, managing their online stores, attend art & craft events, respond their customers through emails as early as possible & promoting the product globally.

This lengthy process often ends up with no personal & social time for most of the independent artists. We understand this issue and in our endeavour of coming up with solution for solving this issue, we came across two rules which are easy to apply in creative industry!

First up is, “The 80-20 Rule”

Well, this country is pretty easy to understand. Spend a good amount of time on those 20% of business activities that brings around 80% business revenues. If we talk through artist’s perspective, an artist should deliberately focus more on creating his artwork more & more effective & photograph it commendably rather than spending time on thinking how to sell it. An artist should be more focused about adding an extra value to his artwork & getting associated with the different channels where he can sell.

Second Rule is “Focus on what you love”.

If artists are restricted by any boundaries, they can never flourish. Creativity can be expected by an artist if you let him play around his own world & not burden him with formalities like selling & promotions & strategizing. So if you are an artist & want to escape from these formalities, it is highly recommended to firstly chalk out all the activities that you are currently performing. Then you need to identify those 20% tasks that might drive in about 80% of your business revenues. Out of all these tasks, separate those particular tasks that you enjoy the most & through which you feel that you justified your day. After you find out the tasks that less excites you, try & find the ways to outsource them or maybe assign them to someone else.

It’s quite normal to feel Control Freak! while handing over the other tasks to someone else, but if you don’t do so, it will detrimental for your business. It quite understood that for an artist, managing the sales, marketing, operations & finance is an Einstein’s job. Nevertheless, to help from getting rid of these tasks you may always find a company who has an expertise in these fields & who works on project basis. You won’t need to handle anything that bothers you or that takes your time, you may simply outsource it to these proficient companies in this line of business. Indirectly it would also help you to save an amazing sum of time to do that 20% of works that brings-in an impressive 80% profit to you.

There are so many online companies who offer the virtual assistance especially to the arts & crafts industry. You might also find online handmade stores, art galleries, art dealers, PR companies, and creative websites who help you to introduce yourself to the world. Creative Business that are outstanding performers have their 80/20 rule sorted and created their support network already!

So to Sum up a simple 3 step process;

Every artist should find their creative niche which is most pleasing to their clientele.
Then, list all the tasks which are time consuming without great ROI; but someone needs to do them.
Find experts and specialists who Love to Do these time consuming tasks and delegate the process. (Your Trash can be someone else's Treasures ;)

What to do with Copycats in Creative Industry ?

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 21:00:00 +0000

There are several artists who have created their virtual presence to showcase their creativity to the world through social networks, blogs,
personal websites, e-commerce portals etc. They place their complete artworks on these sites in order to promote & generate a demand for them & make some money.

However, we constantly come across artists at various craft markets who have completely blocked themselves from Online Media (even simple product photographs on the market days are banned) to protect their creative ideas from the copycats! But this detrimental for their own growth and product reach!

"We did some research and found astonishingly about 62% artists around the globe who still fear to go online, due to the fear of CopCats! "

Being an artist myself I can understand the immense stress an artist feels when their art is copied by someone & then its value being diminished. However this doesn't happen every time you add your creativity online.

"You can never run out of originality, the more you use it; the more you gain it."

On the other hand we came across some fabulous Creative Artists who are just inhibited by such copycats in the industry. Edith JoChinkefrom Timeless Treasures just calmly brushes off these copycats by saying;

“No one can do my products as well as I do. A passionate handmade buyer will always notice the difference! So it doesn't bother me!”

Or Sam Nord White from Yarra Glen Market, just changes her Products every time she finds someone else has copied her existing products and opened stall in the same Craft Market!

Usually the imitators lack a lot of originality in their art piece. People, who make business by copying some of the most selling items, don’t have the perseverance and passion to sustain them in long run. Whereas an original artist has more passion and soul in his artwork & this keeps his work authentic. A true artist also keeps on searching for new ways to enhance his traditional creativity, however in the way that people recognize it by his name.

Imitators are always driven by the latest fashions; they keep on copying different objects from different artist & create some sort of mixtures out of it. This doesn't work for true art lovers & they catch the tricks used by the artists immediately. An original aesthetician understands that a significant factor of success lies in sticking at something for the long term. When an original artist works on his art piece, he completes it with a perfect finishing that is gained from several years of practice & experience. This doesn't happen with the copiers, they start the piece with an intention to imitate but they aren't 100% successful in finishing it with the same level of quality.

Make Copycats Irrelevant Now; Make Your Business Exclusive!

There are several ways through which you can keep your creativity away from these burglars. Go Gung Ho with Social Media Promotion to promote your products globally; don’t restrict yourself to small region and pockets of towns! Brand your products by your signature packaging, quality and personalized touch! Create Collaborations and Market your products through various avenues as discussed in our previous blog posts about “5 tips to sell handmade online”. When your products are promoted by Art Gallery, Art dealers or Online Marketplaces, it’s perceived in different light by the buyer, as it makes your product look elusive and precious.

Big Brands like Louis Vuitton, Versace, GAP etc. are often uninhibited by some ‘made in xyz’ country labels copycat products being flooded in second class markets. There’s lot to learn from the Big Businesses sometimes!

Stay ahead of your game and beat the copycats by showcasing your products on various Art Galleries & Online handmade stores sooner than later.

We can help you to promote your masterpieces on various channels, do not worry about the ‘How’ & ‘Where’ as we are here to take care of it. You just need to go embrace the change and expand your product exposure! Give justice to the artist in you!

Introducing New Artists - Sally Green creative Glass Artists

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 21:00:00 +0000

Born with a creative intention to blend art with life,our artist Sally Green is one of the soul who is obsessed of completely transforming even the simplest colours & lines into something truly artistic. Encouraged to paint and draw from a very young age, her passion made her choose the first profession as an airbrush artist. As Sally entered into this exquisite market of arts, she established her own shop where she educated & created murals extensively for public perusal. This wasn’t the only limit, in pursuit of modern art technique that combined her career and creative desire- The Glass Art was formed.

In the year 2002, Sally changed the traditional way of Glass Art & converted it into something very unique using attractive colours & Glass beads, a method known as Lampwork. She took a lot of efforts for over 8 years for creating this artpiece into something very beautiful & exceptional from other similar art. Sally wanted it to be the best of the class & thus she struggled to make her unique Handmade Jewellery & Hand-blown Glass adding her own innovative style of arts & some colourful Glass Beads. Her skills are commended worldwide & especially in the Australian Art Galleries. This doesn’t stop her from hunting & trying out new ideas to reinvent her Glass Art making it superior. She never gets tired to justify her passion & works on her Glass art in her Studio which is based out of Dandenong range, east of Melbourne.

Lampwork is a kind of art that requires a lot of dedication & endurance. If you are a true believer of this art only then you find it easy to make. These believer of arts can only be the people who are eligible to call themselves as Artists. The artists can only understand what it takes to make the Lampwork beads using the glass & torch. There is a proper technique of heating the glass & beads, giving it a required shape, adding the ornamental elements & choosing the perfect range of colours to mix-up with one another.

These Glass beads can be availed as per the choice – simple ones without any embellishments or the ones with decorative objects. Various coatings of colourful glasses are used by melting them in order to obtain the finest look of the artpiece. The practice of making hand-blown glass is very difficult and it takes years of practice to get it perfect. Our Artist Sally has reached the level where she has earned the identity of being one of the greatest artists to make the Glass Art famous & elegant to wear.

Her range of creations are available for display on her website where one can contact the artist and get the custom pieces crafted by her & completely unique from others. One thing can be definite that once you wear the Glass Artpiece made by Sally Green, you surely going to look graceful and will get beautiful compliments.

5 Tips for Selling Your Handmade Products Online!

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 20:00:00 +0000

Nowadays, it’s very fashionable, convenient and fabulous branding opportunity for artists to display and sell their products online! There are so many ways you could start your online brand presence with Social Media Shops, Websites, Online marketplaces and Online Handmade Shops.

Most artists find it daunting to start their journey with selling online and are often unsure what to look for when joining new marketplaces. Also to launch your own website and to bring huge amount of traffic to the website, takes a lot of time, effort and money! Showcasing at local galleries is also passé now, due to high commission and limitation of region.

Follow these 5 tips to Make Informed Decision and Rock Your Business Online in 2014!

Online Businesses are flourishing and with influx of new websites coming every day. So in 2014, having good SEO or SMO practices are not enough to get you wide visibility and customer base online! Co-opetitionis the new trend you need to adapt to make the most of your Online Business!!

Small handmade businesses can join hands with online marketplaces, Online Galleries and shops as part of their Co-opetition strategy to ride the online trend in 2014! These online handmade businesses are already well established and have strong implementation of marketing strategies which will give you wide online presence and it also improves the bottom line of your business.

They have established admin practices and do most of the marketing for you, so that you can concentrate much more on the making and selling, then when you have your own private website.

There are three levels of online sites to promote your handmade products:

· online directories that are often part of a membership offer, and they give short listings and direct to your own website e.g. Australia Craft Network, Creative Addiction, Handmade HQ, Craft HQ

· online market places where you create and market your own shop e.g. Etsy, Madeit, and similar many more

· online shops that sell your products e.g. HardtoFind, TheCraftGallery

Each of these levels ask for a different input from you, and charge different rates and commissions. (More info coming in next blog posts--- Watch this Space!)

So, where do you start your Online Journey?

Online selling tip 1: What’s out there for me?

There are tons of websites on the internet which allows different users to sell their products in exchange of some sort of commissions. But there are few important fundamentals that you should know before signing up with any online shop to sell your products.

What fees does the provider charge
What are the payment plans and services offered
Who is the target audience
Does your target audience matches with theirs, brand and price level
Do they sell products that you wish to sell
What are the terms & condition to sign up & terminate etc
How does the website look like? How user friendly is the site? Both for you, but also your potential clients.
Whats their website traffic?

Refer to list of more research questions here. Don’t be afraid to ask these questions to your potential Art Galleries, Handmade Shops and Marketplaces.

- Online Shop or Online Craft Galleries like us, manage marketing and administration on your behalf. We even go one step ahead and promote the artists and their passion too! So the commission for such services is bit higher than DIY sites, but it FREES up 90% of your screen time.
Online Marketplaces or Online Handmade Business Directories where you list your products and tag your photos, you will have manage the promotion and most of the admin and it’s like having an online shop

These popular sites can be a great launch pad to set up your own private website, and to link to your own website to drive more traffic to your own site.

Stay away from businesses that don’t link and promote your personal websites or portfolio!

Online selling tip 2: Images that Sell Your Products

Before you are ready to go online, make sure you have quality images of your work that will convince customer to buy your product on single glance. These images should explain the texture, colour & predictable size of the product which makes it easier for buyer to decide. At least 4 images from different angles should be submitted to the provider for display. Maintain your style of images for every single product that you capture for selling or displaying, the theme & background should have some consistency. Images speaks better than words, so make sure you win the game no matter if you need to spend some more bucks but upholding the quality of photography.

Some websites prefer clean shots against a white background, others prefer highly stylised images. Often a combination of overall shot plus a detail shot are the best. Make sure that your images and products fit with the website’s feel, brand, target market and price level.

It’s good idea to present collection of your work based on theme or category, so all products are listed in one category giving you more credibility and positioning. E.g. Newborn Baby gifts series, Fashion Print Series

Online selling tip 5: Tags your products

While having quality images, it is also necessary to code your images with the keywords that you want people to search you with. Playing with the words can really help potential clients find your work. Be very creative in framing your sentences & words. Don’t use jargons, use words that people understand & art lovers put on search engines to view & buy.

You will need to list these words when managing your own online shop, whereas listing with Online Galleries / handmade stores will do it for you as part of service, saving you heaps of experimentation time and energy

Online selling tip 4: Create Gifts!

People love gifting handmade products as they are unique and created with lots of love! So make sure that your products are perfect gifts for various occasions throughout the year like Valentine’s Day, Mothers Day, Christmas etc. This will ensure that you get more sales and repeat business throughout the year!

Personalised and eGifts which are easy to download are very popular in online retails. Also gifts for men and boys and wedding gifts categories are popular too.

Earn extra brownie points with Beautiful Packaging! Pay special attention to gift presentation and packaging; include photos of your beautiful packaging!

Online selling tip 5: Build your Repertoire

Your professional images, profile and feedback will all contribute to your credibility.

Your websites or product description should be clear and should not make your users doubt you. It is very important to maintain transparency in your business in order to win the trust of your customers. Your online profile defines your credibility so make sure you have an FAQ section or some feed backs about you. Be in good terms with the shop owners and ask for their opinions about your products. Majority of people buy these products online because they have trust on the sites, so get associated with them & their customers to expect long term returns. Be very honest & straight forward with your customer & plan carefully on how you would deal on your returns.

No matter till what extent you follow the steps, but don’t forget to be confident about your products & be positive with the online business world.

New Artist Introduction - Edith JoChinke from Queen Victoria Market!

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 21:00:00 +0000

Hello All !

We are delighted to introduce you to our new artists and her latest creations listed in our store!

Edith JoChinke is Australian Artists from Timeless Treasures – Thanks! I made it myself.

The very concept of Timeless Treasures Country Cottage Crafts is largely centred on captivating provincial designs with affordable prices, ranging from simple items like coasters, welcome signs, journals and book ends to decorative products like mirrors with fabricated floral patterns, trays, lamp shades, clocks, door hangers, prints and canvas arts. Timeless Treasures Country Cottage Crafts transforms your simple abode to artistic vintage experience.

Edith is very talented artists who paints beautiful images of bygone era to create charming provincial crafts. She also offers patterns and kits , so you can create vintage charmed crafts yourself!

Timeless Treasures is located in String Bean alley of Queen Victoria Market , Melbourne. We are very proud to offer her unique and exquisite products on The Craft Gallery Shop!

Now you can enjoy some beautiful and unique products from local Australian Artisan from comfort of your own home, by visiting our shop!

Happy shopping!
Akshaya

Enter our Blog Competition to WIN $50 Craft Supplies

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 20:00:00 +0000

Hello Readers!!

We are excited to announce our Blog competition starting from 1st February 2014 to 28th February 2014!

So here's what you have to do to Win our $50 worth Goodie Bag of Craft Supplies EACH WEEK in February !

Write an article about your Favourite Craft Hobby (between 150-500 words)

Email us the article at sales +The Craft Gallery . OR submit it at our Contact Us Page

Every Monday Morning, Winner will be announced. (10th Feb, 17Feb, 24Feb and 3 Mar) on our Facebook Page

Winner needs to message us their Postal Address to receive the $50 Craft Hamper :) (Postage Included)

See the Craft Packages to be Won every Week shown at the end of the post :)

Terms & Conditions:

1. Unlimited entries allowed

2. We will choose Winner based on articles uniqueness and presentation.

3. Blog Articles should be submitted between Monday 12am (AEST) - Sunday 5pm(AEST) will be accepted for each week.

4. Only Australian Bloggers need to take part in our competition , due to postage constraints!

Goodies for Winners:

1 Winners will receive our Craft Supplies worth $50.00, Postage Included

2. We will cross promote all our winners, So this your Chance to Promote your Skills and Business

3. We will also publish a biography of each winner on our blog :)

Stalk us on Social Media to Win our Hearts with this Competition :)

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+

Look forward to great participation from all lovely crafters!!!

Check out what you can win every week!!

$50 Craft Supplies for 1st Week Winner

$50 Craft Supplies for 2nd Week Winner

$50 Craft Supplies for 3rd Week Winner

$50 Craft Supplies For 4th Week Winner

Hand Painted Fashion Posters from 1921 - Fred Rusic

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 20:00:00 +0000

Happy New Year to all readers!!

Thank you for your loyal support for the past year :)

Since October we started offering Handmade Gifts from Local Artists in our store. Now we have Australian Artists who have joined our services and are proudly showcasing their creations in our store.

Today we are introducing our most recent artists Fred Rusic. We met Fred at local Ferntree Gully Village Artisan Market early this month.

We loved his meticulously handpainted posters. We soon invited him to showcase it on our website so many more craft lovers can view them.

Fred has collected these vintage 1921 Fashion Prints over the years and now he bleaches them and hand paints them with great detail and care. He frames these posters on light weight white boards. So they are ready to decorate your beautiful homes :)

The posters can be detached from the white boards if you need to reframe them or have some different ideas.

Please Note: No digital means have been used to produce these colour effects!

Let us know, what you think about Fred's artwork, by leaving us a comment below!

Happy crafting

Akshaya

Share Ideas : Flower Craft Project

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Hello All,

Today I am sharing craft project made by my dear friend Meena. She recently shared this beautiful photo on our Facebook Page.

I loved the simplicity of this project! I got the details from Meena to share with all our blog readers :-)

This project is made using fresh flowers arrange (glued) on white card sheet to make beautiful designs. This project is versatile and can be created using artificial flowers too.

We would love to showcase your craft projects too!! Share your projects and craft with us on our Facebook Page anytime!

3 Reasons to Shop at our Handmade Gifts Shop This Christmas !

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Hello Readers,

We recently started our Handmade Crafts Section on our Shop! Last week we invited all the local Australian Artists to Join us for selling their handmade products.

We started this service for the following reasons....

1. Convenience :

- People from all over the globe can buy handmade gifts from the comforts of their home! No more spending Weekend Mornings at local craft fairs! Shop craft market unique products 24/7

- Artists don't have to spend time in attending fairs, learning new skills for selling their crafts on ecommerce. They can spend more time doing what THEY LOVE!

2.Fair:

- Less Overheads for artists as they don't spend time in marketing and attending fairs

-Saves you money at the checkout!

-The goods are shipped by Artists direct to customers. So less carbon foot print and more savings!!

3.More Choices:

- Get variety of artworks at one place. No more web browsing or craft market hoping!!

- You will always find your favourite artists here! Never get disappointed at this Online Craft Market!! No more tracking the artists or hoping the craft markets to find your favourite artists!

Visit us and support us to help spread the Handmade Love to many and in turn support our local Artist and Craft Industry!

Happy Crafting

Akshaya

Like to get info about our artists' products? Join our Newsletter Today!

Open Invitation: For All Crafters and Artists!! Join Us in Our Handmade Gift Shop!

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 20:00:00 +0000

Who Are We?

The Craft Gallery is an Online Retail Shop specializing in Craft Supplies and Hand-Made Gifts.

We are the leading online shopping destination for Australia’s smart shoppers, and are proudly 100% Australian owned!

We believe that the internet has made the world a better place to shop, and our goal is to make the latest craft supplies more affordable for every Craft artist and Craft lover.

Together – we are a Team

We understand that you are crafters / artists and would like to spend more time on Creativity than worrying about How to sell your creations

The Craft Gallery Team brings the latest Technology including SEO, Social media networking, Online marketing experts and Brand Promotion to the table.

You bring the unique handmade products to the table.

Let’s get together and embrace a new journey to sell and purchase Craft Supplies and Hand-Made goods online to the World

Package Deal –

Upload Service charge $7.00 for every 10

Products per month plus 10%

Commission when item sold.

P.S.Free Offer is Ending on 14 Feb 2014

How can we deliver together?

We believe 3 things are important in achieving any dream. Focus, Focus and Focus.

· We ‘Focus’ on what we love –Assisting others to achieve their dreams. We do that by providing online platform to craft artists such as yourself, managing The Craft Gallery website, uploading images of your products, promoting your products and notifying you once the product is sold.

· You ‘Focus’ on what you love –Making Extraordinary Craft Items.

· Together we ‘Focus’ on taking the handmade items to the world. Contact us to register ; let’s get the journey started.

How it works

Step -1 YOU send us the pictures when your product is ready to be shipped.

Step-2 We Upload the pictures on our website

o Do the promotion and marketing on Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blog. etc

o We also have Facebook shop integrated completely to provide easy shopping experience for our followers

Step-3 When the product is sold, we notify you by email and sms

Step-4 YOU ship the product to the new owner

Step-5 WE deposit the money in your bank account before 5pm (AEST) on last working day of every month.

FAQs

1. How many products can we upload?

A: There is no limit for number of products; however The Craft Gallery reserves the right to choose the product to maintain uniqueness and quality.

2. How many pictures for each product can we upload?

A: Again no limit, however, we recommend a maximum of 5 pictures per product.

3. How is the commission calculated?

A: Commission is calculated based on the base price of the product. E.g. a 10 variety greeting card Packet is considered as 1 product. If it’s base price is $15, then we charge $1.5 as our selling commission. (In addition to the upload service charge)

Note: We DO NOT calculate our commission based on price including postage.

4. What about shipping Australia-wide?

A: We calculate postage based on weight and charge as per Australia Post policy. We advise you to do the same. Let us know the (approx.) postage for your product.

5. How about shipping overseas

A: Again, we recommend Australia Post for overseas shipping. We generally advise buyers of the shipping charges up-front.

6. I have more Questions on terms and conditions OR I need more information

A: Contact us any time…!

Get Customis Craft Packages for any Events!

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 20:00:00 +0000

Hello Dear Readers,

We have been busy introducing many new products and services in our store recently.
Now we are very excited to share the details with you all!

We created Crafty Party Favours for one of my friend's son's Birthday Party. This was customise craft packages where we collated paper craft projects for kids from 3years to 10 years age group. It was nice to create a product/service with consultation from our client (8 year old Birthday Boy)

So we decided to have two different sets of project for two age groups 3yrs - 6yrs and 6yrs n Above.
We included craft projects which are quick and easy to make. Also the end product was something that the kids can use or are proud to show others!

Crafty Party Favours - Customise Craft Package Included the following

Blank Greeting cards with matching envelope X 2
Ribbons X 3
Googly Eyes X 2
Multi coloured A4 size scrapbook papers X 6
Instructions to create 3 -4 projects
Packed in White craft paper bag. (The bag can also be decorated)
Customised and artistic Name Tags for all guests

All the guests loved to receive a very unique personalised gift bag at the end of the party. Many happy parents called us to thank for such creative projects which their kids can manage to do on their own without creating much mess.

This was very satisfying and fun project for us ! Let us know if we can help you create unique craft packages for any crafts; we love creating tailored packages :)

Sharing some pictures of kids who loved being busy with these crafty favour bags :) Love happy customers, especially when they are so sweet :-)

Happy Crafting!!

Akshaya

1st Birthday Special Announcement : Handmade Gifts Section Open

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Thu, 24 Oct 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Hello All,

We would love to thankyou all our followers on social media and all our customers for your support and feedback in our first year of Operations!.
We would like to announce opening of our new section "Handmade Gifts and Crafts" to you all! We offer Online Craft Markets to all indie lovers worldwide, saving you all the leg work of visiting local markets for unique gifts!

We sell handmade products made by our artists directly to our craft loving community. Please support us to provide more exposure to crafters/artists from Australia.

We provide the artists with all the ecommerce services like uploading products, managing social media promotion and marketing, so they can have more time for creating beautiful crafts!

If you are an artists or know a friend who would love to save time/ energy and expose their creativity to wider audience, please contact us to join our artists team :)

Happy Crafting !!

Akshaya

Quick and Easy Fabric Craft!!

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Love these out of the box ideas to use spare fabric pieces in the house. Find more information about these projects here
1: Update old frames by covering them in new fabrics straps
2: Created personalised bulletin board with cork board and fabrics spares
3: Update old folders with some fabric covering. Great way to get uniformed look. Update it every season for new look
4: Create fabulous fabric wall decals! my favorite idea!

You can find interesting fabrics and laces at our store. Hope these ideas and our affordable product ranges inspires you to start a project today!

Share ideas that inspired you! join us on Pinterest to discover more pins together!

Soda Fountain Scarf for Girls - Knitting Project

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Hello readers,

My Mum is knitting this beautiful scarf for our little girl. I loved the name ' Soda Fountain' stitch and the knitting instructions are very easy to follow.
No counting, no change of stitch and no fuss pattern.

Have you tried any new stitches recently?

Happy Knitting

Akshaya

Basket Weave Scarf - Crochet Project

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Hello Readers,

I am back from a short Maternity break! Yes we welcomed little boy in our family in MAY 2013.

I am so glad to have completed this project, so now my Father-in-law can wear it everyday for his morning walks!

I love basket weave, but knitting it takes a long time. So I was browsing some easy patterns in crochet which won't go wrong. I found this beautiful picture tutorial on Pinterest.

I used Acrylic Panda Yarn about 200gms and used 3.5mm Crochet hook

Do share your winter crafts!

Happy Crafting

Akshaya

Salt Dough Decorations - Fun Crafts for kids

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 21:00:00 +0000

I am very proud to posts some of my little girl's craft work on this blog today!
Introducing 4th Generation Crafter in our house, our daugther 3yr old Shreya.

I loved the idea of creating salt dough gift tags on Pinterest. So I thought of introducing this art to Shreya and create something unique and fun.

Materials:
Plain Flour
Salt
Water
Rangoli Colours (Coloured Limestone Powder)
Water Based Glue
String
Cookie Cutters

Step by Step process:

1. Mix the salt and flour with water to make a pliable dough.

2. Roll the dough and cut various shapes with cookie cutter.
Make whole in each shape for tying strings for hanging later.

3. Bake these shapes in microwave for 20-20 seconds at 900W.

4. Ensure it firms the dough without any discoloration

5. Apply glue to one side of the shape and dip in preferred rangoli powder and shake off any excess

6. Let it dry in sun for 30 minutes.

7. Tie fancy ribbons or strings and make a bunting for your kids room.

Shreya loved doing all the rolling , cutting and colouring process and is very proud to display it in her window.

Its a good activity to keep kids busy for 2-3 hours for quiet play time.

Do share your thoughts and views on it.

Happy Crafting

Akshaya

Crochet Baby Change Bag

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Mon, 27 May 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Crocheted Baby Change Bag - Pictorial Given Below

Dear Readers,

I am very excited to share my First Crochet Pattern YAAAY!!!
I adapted this pattern from a knitting pattern seen in Natural Knits for Babies and toddlers book by Tina Barrett.

This handy changing bag also doubles up as a changing mat. It is ideal for storing all the essential equipment and has useful front pocket too.

Knitted Baby Change Bag - Inspiration

I have tried to capture every step in pictures below, hope it makes sense to all you readers. I have also written some basic crochet pattern below. (Click to continue..for pictorial instructions..... long post)

Finished Measurements:

16in X 26in (41cm X 66cm)

Stitches Used:

hdc - half double crochet

Ch - Chain Stitch

Sl St - Slip Stitch

Materials Required:

200gm 4ply Wool

Crochet Hook 3.5mm

Tapestry Needle

14 Buttons

Yarn

Plastic mat 15in X 22in

2 wooden circular handles

Step by Step Instructions:

Basic Body of the bag:

1. Using 3.5mm crochet hook chain 80 stitches.

2. Row 1-4: Use Camel stitch which forms the border of the bag.

3. Row 5: Use hdc stitches across in the back loop

4. Row 6: Insert hdc stitches across in the front loop

5. Repeat row 5 and 6 till the piece measures 13 inches in length.(one side of the bag)

6. Mark 6 buttons space on each side of the rectangle with stitch marker

7. Repeat rows 5 and 6 till the piece measures 12 inches in length (second side of the bag)

8. Create eyeholes on both ends at every 6^throw for the coordinating buttons

9. To create eyehole at beginning of the row; insert 3 hdc and miss one stitch by taking a chain stitch. This will create an eyehole for the button.

10. To create eyehole at end of the row; when last 4 stitches are remaining, miss one stitch by taking chain stitch and hdc remaining 3 stitches.

11. Crochet Camel stitch for last four rows to match with the border on the order side. Make eyehole at second row of the camel stitch in similar pattern as mentioned above.

12. Add buttons and fold the bag in equal halves.

Adding Change mat to the bag:

1. Open the bag and lie flat on the floor

2. Place plastic / vinyl baby change mat of 15in X 22in and hold it in place with pins

3. Stitch the fabric with cotton yarn using tapestry needle

4. Ensure there are no air pockets while attaching.

Adding front pocket to the bag: Measurement 12in X 6.5 in

1. On the front side of the bag measure 12 inches length and mark the ends with stitch marker. This will give you the end row for starting the pocket

2. Measure and mark the width 6.5 inches on this base row

3. Row 1: Slip Stitch across the base row, chain 2 and turn

4. Row 2: Insert hdc stitches in both loops across the row, chain 2 and turn

5. Row 3: insert hdc stitches in back loop across the row, chain 2 and turn

6. Row4: Insert hdc stitches in front loop across the row, chain 2 and turn

7. Repeat row 3 and 4 until the work measures 5.5 inches

8. Crochet camel stitch for next 4 rows to match with the bag border

9. Insert two eyeholes at equal distance after two rows of camel stitch

10. Using tapestry needle stitch two sides of the pocket

11. Stitch the buttons and close the pocket

Attaching wooden handles

1. Mark ten stitches in the centre at both ends of the bag

2. Row 1: Slip Stitch in the 10 stitches, chain 2 and turn

3. Row 2: insert hdc in both loops across, chain 2 and turn

4. Repeat row 2 for next 6 rows

5. Wrap the woven piece around the wooden handle and slip stitch across the wrong side of the edge.

6. Repeat same to attach the second handle on other edge

Final Product is ready !!!

Finished Project - Change Bag

Milk Bottle Cover - Knitting Project

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Knitted Milk Bottle Cover, one more addition to our newborn baby's collection made by my Mum. When we saw the pattern for this project in Baby & Knits Book, we couldn't resist making one. It is simple yet elegant looking pattern. I love the edging pattern.

It will go well with the baby change bag too!! Post coming soon..

Happy Crafting !!

Baby Quilt

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Dear Readers,

I made this baby quilt from IKEA Textiles I purchased sometime ago. I made this quilt for our new baby who will join us soon.

Materials Used:

1m length Printed Cotton Fabric
Cotton Thread
Quilting Needle
Polyfill

I loved the Hummingbird Design on this fabric and decided to place it in the centre of the quilt and quilted straigth lines around it to get the fluffiness.

Method:

The fabric was folded in half and stitched on two sides from the wrong side.
Turn the fabric inside out and fill with polyfill or any quilt batting you life.
Blanket stitch to close the ends.
I quilted small stitches in straight rows at equal distances and ensured the hummingbird is not stitched over.

Its a very quick one day project for a newborn.

Alphabet Quilt for pre-schooler

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Mon, 06 May 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Dear Readers,

I couldn't resist myself from using one of the Quilt Panels from our Store when I saw this cute alphabet print.

Materials Used:

Printed Quilt Panel
Pre-Quilted Silk Backing
Black Thread
Quilting Needle

Step By Step:

Stitch the backing to the panel by folding the edges to make a border. Use hemming to get a neat finish result
I used thick cotton thread for quilting the alphabet boxes to get a puffed up effect. Use running stitch for quilting the boxes.

I am very pleased with the end result of this quilt. It's a surprise for my little girl.

Hope you will find such insipration from our fabric range too!!

Happy Crafting!

Newborn Baby Crochet Set

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Hello Readers,

The great response received for the baby turban inspired me to make a complete set for our new member. So I was back to my pinterest Crochet board to find more patterns.

I love this baby cardigan pattern from Yarny Days Blog as I wanted to learn the knack of making a continuous one piece sweater. The pattern was easy to follow, but I had to amend it as I was using very light weight yarn and also wanted ribbed pattern to match with the turban.

Materials used:

Light weight acrylic multi coloured yarn.
3.5mm Crochet Hook

Changes made to the original Pattern:

Started with 48 chains instead of 38.

The circumference of the cardigan measured 28 inches before beginning the pattern

I alternated between front loop and back loop for each row to get the ribbed pattern.

Used same colour yarn for the edging

space out the three buttons to close the cardigan completely

Baby Booties: I wanted to try this Baby Booties pattern for so long. Finally got a perfect reason to make these.

Again I made some changes to the pattern. I used 3.5mm hook for the sole and then 4mm hook for the side and top of the booties.

They seemed to be too small for newborn when I made using only 3.5mm hook as suggested in the pattern.

This was very quick project took me only 10 hours to complete the set. I hope it fits the new born perfectly.

Have you created something from Pinterest recently?

Please do share here

Happy Crafting

Akshaya

Crochet Scarf for mum

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Made this beautiful scarf for my mum. Autumn is about to start so getting ready for colder months.....

This pattern is again inspired from pinterest pins and I have not altered this pattern at all. I made this as surprise gift for my mum overnight...its really quick and can be completed in 2hours.

The weave is thick and cozy. Also I learned how to make fringe with this pattern.

Share your projects too.!!

100th Post !!Crochet Turban for newborn baby

noreply@blogger.com (thecraftgallery) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Hello Friends!!

Meet our little Sardar Teddy Singh! We are celebrating our 100th Post today!!

I made this cute turban crochet for our new member who will be arriving soon in to our world. I used the pattern from pinterest pin.

I just got this idea of adding some pearls where the four ribs are clutched together. Its very quick and easy pattern to follow. It took me only 2.5 hours from start to finish for this project.

I used baby yarn of 4ply instead of worsted, but crocheted it bit loose, so it matches the gauge required for the project .

Thank you for all your ongoing support and following......

Happy Crocheting

Akshaya