Number 4 Privet Drive

Well hello there, how are you today?

I've been off work this week for half term and my goodness has it been a busy one, I've cleaned the house from top to bottom, sorted through my wardrobe (and H's) 8 bags of clothes later... we've crafted, baked, carved pumpkins. Then I launched the new Crafty Alchemy website and some new felt packs (you can check them out here), on top of that I'm preparing for The Best Little Network Christmas Market in a couple of weeks.... I think I need another week off to recover :)

I've been slightly hampered by a rather fetching pair of wrist splints which I now have to wear as I've been diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - oh what fun! 

I've got another layout from our Summer break to St Albans today, as I'm sure you know, we went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, and the picture on this layout was kind of a "must take" photo, the very famous Number 4 Privet Drive....

The Dursley's weren't home, just in case you were wondering :) We realised after we'd left that we hadn't had our photo taken next to the Privet Drive road sign - Fail! 

I bet Petunia Dursley wouldn't be too happy about the the shabby chic wallpaper patterned paper that I used for the background.

I also added a random scattering of sequins (anyone who has ever added a random scattering of sequins will know that I really sat there positioning every sequin then gluing them down one by one).

Well that's all from me for today, H and I have decided to watch a Harry Potter film this afternoon (no surprise there then) then I'll probably be working on Crafty Alchemy things until the wee small hours, I just don't seem to be able to stop, I'm absolutely loving it, I've got so many things planned for next year that I don't know if I can fit it all in yet, but no worries, there's always 2016 :D

Have a lovely afternoon.

Claire xx

CSI Challenge 144

Hello there, how are you?

After the all the excitement over the last few weeks (launching new Christmas products and our very own website) I've decided to spend this weekend crafting instead. I was a bit stuck for inspiration though so I wandered over to CSI: Colour, Stories, Inspiration, I find their weekly challenges a great kickstarter when my mojo is lacking and it's a great way to use up your stash.

I was shocked when I realised I hadn't played along since challenge 97 - it's 144 now, that's nearly a year, it doesn't seem that long, it really doesn't.

So I had a go at challenge 144 last night, and here's what I came up with...

For the scene I used all 5 colours - Bright Yellow, Warm Grey, Black, White and Turquoise.

I used 5 things off the evidence list: Polka Dot, Stripes, Triangles, Tickets and a Ribbon.

My journaling is written in 2 journaling spots and is about Bailey's curiousity: "You are one nosey dog Bailey boy, the second anyone moves you want to be involved".

I added a rub-on to the Instagram Print and made a dog tag embellishment using a Tim Holtz Fragment, some Turquoise Paper, a Rub-on "B" and some ribbon.

I enjoyed myself so much I'm going to make time to play along every week. Challenge 145 is up over on CSI: Colour, Stories, Inspiration, I'll be attempting this one this afternoon.

Hope you have fun, whatever you may be doing today.

Claire xx

The BIG Announcement - Ta Dah!

Well hello there, how's it going?

It's been a busy few weeks here, I've been working on something that I've wanted to do for ages now. And I'm so pleased to be able to share it today.

After many late nights, taking lots and lots of photos and general fiddling about with this and that, I'm absolutely thrilled (and a little bit proud) to announce that....

Crafty Alchemy now has it's very own, brand new, shiny website...

www.craftyalchemy.com is now live - Whoop!! You can check it out here. (It may take a few days for it to show up in search engines, so please bear with me on that score, it's out of my control I'm afraid, you can still access it via the links whilst it's working it's way through the search engines)

I'm thrilled to bits with how it looks and still can't quite believe I've done it.

We've got lots of new products planned for over the next few months and lots of exciting things planned here on the blog too, I'm looking forward to sharing everything with you all.

I really hope you like our new website and I'd love to know what you think too.

Thanks for stopping by today, it's been lovely to see you.

Hope to see you soon.

Claire xx

You and Me (not looking at the camera)

Hello there! How are you? How quickly has the weather turned? Winter seems to be settling in. The gales in our little seaside town were shocking yesterday, there's nothing like the left over bits of a hurricane to blow away the cobwebs (and the fence panels). 

However, you know me well enough by now to know that I always find the silver lining, no mater how small, there has to be a silver lining, my "Winter's here" silver lining is... We can stay inside watching DVDs and crafting, it's like hibernation, but, it's in the craft room.

I've made a start on the photos from our little trip to St Albans and the Harry Potter Studios, this is one of my favourite photos of H and I in the grounds surrounding St Albans Cathedral (which is truly stunning and well worth visiting if you're in the area - fascinating history) I have however noticed a ... shall we say a "thing" in all the photos of H and I, not once, not in one single photo are we both looking at the camera, with our eyes open, smiling, one of us is always mid-blink or looking in another direction, oh well that's life I guess.

I used patterned papers and Heidi Swapp Colour Shine Spray ink (Peach) , stickers, rub-ons and little wooden hearts from my collection of Quirky Kits (I love mixing and matching). All of the papers have been inked around the edges with Pumice Stone Distress Ink.

I'm a big fan of embellishment clusters on layouts, especially chunky ones, so for this one I've used a sticker label, again from Quirky Kits and a few embellishments from my Crafty Alchemy Elements & Embellishments kits, I've used a resin frame and added the cardstock and rub-ons to the middle of the frame, a Smile badge from my range of button badges and a chunky little handmade felt flower for extra dimension. 

It's still a shame we haven't got a photo of all 3 of us, I think the only one we have was taken inside the Weasley's Flying Ford Anglia in the green screen area at the studios (you can have a mini movie made of you flying a broomstick). 

I hope you like today's scrapbook layout and I'd love to see how you extra texture and dimension to your scrapbook pages and projects, please feel free to leave a link to your project in the comments and I'll be sure to come and check it out.

I'm going to scoot off now and get the last few things done so that I can share my big news on Friday, I'm so excited and can't wait to show you. I hope you'll pop back to find out what I've been up to.

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you soon.

Claire xx

Gingerbread, Reindeer and Hearts... Oh My

Hello there, Happy Sunday, come on in and have a cuppa.

The new Christmas products have launched in the Crafty Alchemy Etsy Shop, Yay! I'm actually all excited for Christmas already, I can't wait for December this year. In fact I don't think I've ever had so much good stuff planned in my calendar before now, I've got so much to look forward to and there's another big Crafty Alchemy announcement coming next week, I really can't wait to share that one with you all, so be sure to pop back in next week, you don't want to miss the news :)

As for the new Christmas products, we've got Sew Your Own Reindeer Decorations....

These adorable reindeer are available in a single pack or pack of 3.

We've also got "Sew your Own Gingerbread Men" Kits, again available in single packs or a pack of 3.

They look lovely hanging on the Christmas tree.

We've got Hanging Heart Decorations....

... in two colour schemes, traditional (red, white & biscuit) and Pastel...

Pastel Pink, Cream and Pastel Blue.

All of these kits are available for purchase in the Crafty Alchemy Etsy Shop, you may even find a gift or two for the crafty person in your life, or maybe a little treat for yourself, go on, you know you deserve it :) Click here to have a look around

Well that's all from me for today, I've got lots of things to finish off in preparation for next week.

Thanks for stopping by, it's been lovely to see you, hope to see you again soon.

Claire xx

Halloween Challenge - Bookmark

Hello there, oh dear, it's a bit cobwebby and dusty in here isn't it? ***wanders round with feather duster and hoover having a quick clean*** It really doesn't seem like a whole month since I posted last but apparently it is, I've been busy as usual which is always good and there's the odd major change too.

The first major change is Crafty Alchemy now has a brand new logo, one that's been properly designed by someone who knows what they're doing and I can look at it proudly instead of knowing it's not right. I have to say I love it lots.

The second huge change is that after 3 years and 8 months of great chat, fun and craftiness I have stepped down from Sarah Hurley's Design Team. The time had come where I really need to spend more time on Crafty Alchemy in order to keep moving forward, however it's not goodbye forever, I'm still going to be doing the occasional guest spot for Sarah and we're still in touch so all is good with the world there.

I do have quite a few projects left from my time on the team so I've still got some bits and bobs to share with you (along with a huge pile of my own crafty projects).

So I'll start with my last ever Sarah Hurley 365 Challenge piece....

The challenge is to create something on a Halloween theme so I knew it was going to involve my Zombie Girl Doodle Doll stamp, I was struggling what to do though until one night I went to bed at 2.30am (on a work night) as I was unable to put down the book I was reading, I find that if I don't read before bed, I can't sleep, so it helps me switch off, well that's the theory anyway, I randomly thought "I feel like a zombie" whilst yawning uncontrollably and the idea hit me, a bookmark. I used a strip of Grungeboard covered in Dusty Concorde Distress Ink then stamped a text background using one of Sarah's mini background stamps. The doodle doll Zombie Girl was coloured in with pale pink, lilac, grey & blush Promarkers, then I covered her dress in pale pink Stickles, even a Zombie needs some sparkle in her life. My bookmark was looking quite nice at this point, but Zombie's don't do nice and I wanted to scruff it up a bit so I decided to heat emboss the words Zombie Girl's Book, I chose to heat emboss it because it's something I never fail at doing messily, no matter how hard I try. I used Sarah's Block Alpha Stamps to create the wording.

And there you have it,one rather grungy Halloween bookmark. You can enter the challenge here on the Sarah Hurley 365 blog.

Well that's almost everything from me, can I ask a little favour please? Please can we all do an anti-rain dance on Friday morning, I desperately need to photograph my new Christmas sewing kits and so far rain and bad lighting is stopping play, so please pray for sun, do a little dance, whatever works for you and if all goes well I'll be back on Friday with some lovely new Christmassy goodies to share.

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again soon.

Claire xx

Getting Back to Normality

Hello there, how are you today?

Can you hear that? It's a lack of noise, H is back at school, Hubs is back at work and I'm alone here in the Crafty Alchemy Lab, well not quite alone, Bailey Dog is curled up on my chair snoring loudly, it's nice to be back working hard in the peace & quiet, I've achieved a lot over the Summer, new products, new connections and a new plan, a big one. I'm rather excited. 2015 is going to be one busy year for Crafty Alchemy.

My personal crafting time has all but evaporated at the moment but I'm confident things will even out over time.

I've got a little layout to share that I made a while back, H has often sat watching me knit, both Mum and I have tried to teach her, but she was never that interested, but back in June she showed an interest again so out came the little knitting needles and a bag full of yarn, and off she went, she seems to have picked it up, she talks herself through each stitch - "in through the back, wrap yarn around, pull it through & off" - it's quite amusing to listen to, but she's doing really well, she's keeping it easy at the moment and knitting a blanket for the bears. 

It was one of these Sunday mornings when we were at Mum's when I snapped this photo of her concentrating really hard on her knitting...

I used an assortment of paper from a Quirky kit, I love the yellow and pink colour combination. I've doodled around the edge of the cardstock and coloured my doodly border in with a Rose Pink Promarker, I also doodled stitching around the scalloped edges of the pink paper. The little cork hearts are actually cork stickers. The journaling is in a pink 3d frame and says " Hermione at Nana's house, concentrating very hard on learning how to knit"

I wanted a knitting style embellishment but would you believe I had nothing knittingish in my stash - I know shocking isn't it! So I got some yarn and wrapped into a teeny little skein of yarn and stuck 2 heart topped pins through it to look like knitting needles, I used a blob of glue to attach it to the page. I also used a few little stickers attached with 3d foam pads for a bit of dimension, such as Staying Focused, Let's do something amazing today and Happiness is Homemade.

Well that's all from me for today, I'm tackling the To Do List (It does deserve capital letters) continuing plans and trying to remember who I was meant to email.... It's really bugging me, I can't for the life of me remember who I said I'd get back to despite going through my inbox, oh well, I'm sure I'll sort it out.

I'll be back later in the week when it's my turn over on  the Sarah Hurley 365 Blog.

Take care & hope to see you soon.

Claire xx

Making a 3d Framed Layout

Morning, morning, morning, how are you today, the sun is shining, H is back at school and my week off is coming to an end.

I've been finishing up the Christmas products ready for launching next week hopefully, my desk is full of felt squares at the moment, but I've had a good re-organise so I still have room to work.

I'm trying to use up as much scrapbooking stash as possible at the moment, as I really need the space and there is no point just hanging on to papers that are too pretty to use, so once again I'm on a mission to use it up.

So for this layout I delved into the forgotten corners of my paper rack to see what I could find....

First I grabbed some blue cardstock to make my frame, I used a template cut from yellow cardstock for the frame, so I drew around it, cut the scalloped edges then cut out the centre of the cardstock using a craft knife

So that it looked like this, I also popped some brads around the edges and doodled a border around the edges

I trimmed the patterned paper a bit so that it didn't stick out from behind the cardstock frame, then attached the frame using 3d foam tape...

Ta Dah!

I created a faux Polaroid photo with a photo & some white cardstock and used 3d foam pads to attach this to the page. I love this picture of H, she was only about 2 at the time. I've used  foam & chipboard Thickers for the title

The journaling reads "Hmm...let me see, today me & my bears are going to take over the world and cause all kinds of mischief. Then we'll have sandwiches, cake & juice for lunch! Bwahaha!

I hope you've enjoyed stopping  by today and hope to see you soon.

Claire xx

Sarah Hurley 365 - Dogstagram Part 2

Hello there, how are you today?

It's my turn over on the Sarah Hurley 365 Blog today and I'm back with the second part of my mini book featuring Bailey the dog....

You can check it out here... #Dogstagram Part 2

Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you soon.

Claire xx

Sarah Hurley 365 Blog

Hello there, how are you?

It's my turn over on the Sarah Hurley 365 blog today, I'm up with a little book of #Dogstagram, featuring the furbulous Mr B aka Bailey...

You can check it out here

See you soon.

Claire xx

The Unfinishables

Well it's official, the Back to School shop is done, finished, over, well, we still need a pair of black pumps, but other than that.... it's all done  ***big sigh of relief*** 

I was then lucky enough to find myself with half an hour or so to myself so I sat in the conservatory listening to The Best Little Network ladies on BBC Radio Lancashire this afternoon, a very pleasant way to spend a bit of time today I must say.

I've been doing a lot of thinking, planning and working things out over these last few weeks whilst H has been off school, we've been able to spend some quality time as a family, which has been lovely, we've had a few adventures and I know exactly what my plans are for when H goes back to school in a couple of weeks, The Crafty Alchemy Lab is going to be a busy place to be for a few months... I'm oh so excited!

Meanwhile I have managed to get in some crafty time here and there but I seem to have a lot of unfinished projects kicking about, well these 3 actually...

They're quite large and quite detailed, which is probably why they're taking me so long. From left to right we have a Tando Creative top hat kit that has just been started, a large half altered dress form, it was a bargain from TK Maxx but I started it in February 2013, and finally the Tim Holtz Configurations box that I'm altering on a Christmas theme and started last August. It's not that I don't want to finish them, it's just I cannot decide on the absolutely perfect way to finish them.

So why, you ask, am I showing you my half finished projects? Well, quite simply, I want to get them finished and I'm hoping this will encourage me to get on with it rather than keep looking at them with feelings of crafty guilt. Now that you all know I feel I have to get them done.

Have you guys got any unfinished projects lying about? half done journal pages? unfinished knitted jumpers? Have you got lots of things you feel that you need to finish and never quite get around to it or have you lost the love for the thing you started? (this has happened to me so many times lol) Go on, you can tell me, maybe we can support each other in our desire to complete The Unfinishables (this is my new name for unfinished projects) In fact I've probably got enough to create a blog series out of this, I think I need to go and write this down, I'm having an idea. 

I'd really love to know what unfinished projects you've got lurking in your craft room :)

Thanks for stopping by today, hope to see you again soon.

Claire xx

Nana's Birthday Card

Hello there, happy Sunday to you all.

I've been trying to get back into some sort of routine this week, not long now and H will be back to school and all normality (well as normal as it ever is around here) will be resumed.

I've been reorganising the studio a bit this week too, and already I've been quite productive, here's what I was making yesterday....

It's Nana's birthday tomorrow so I thought I'd make her a card, it's not a special birthday as such but when you get to a certain age every birthday becomes a bit more special than usual. I used papers from an assortment of Sarah Hurley kits, along with a heart stamp and rose stamp from the kits. I stamped the heart in grey ink all over the pink paper and used a scalloped border punch with the vanilla coloured paper. The roses were coloured using Marsh Green, Pear Green, Dusky Rose and Antique Pink Promarkers. I then used a scalloped circle punch and stamped Happy Birthday using Sarah' Sentiments stamps.

All of the edges have been inked with Pumice Stone Distress Ink and I used 3d foam pads to attach them all to the card.

Well that's all from me I've got loads to get through today and I'm feeling a little tired after going to see Mamma Mia at the Winter Gardens last night (it seriously rocked) H is feeling it too, she's asked if she can spend the rest of the day in her pjs on the sofa with my blanket watching DVD's, I said yes :D

Thanks for stopping  by and hope to see you soon.

Claire xx

An Amazing Adventure

Well hello there, how are you today? The sun has disappeared here today and it's raining so H and I have an afternoon of crafting and DVD watching planned, good times!

It's all been about family this week, it's the one week of the year we're all off together no work for me and Hubs and no school for H, it was lovely to spend some time together. We also went away for a couple of days, it's been 5 years since we last had a holiday, how it's been that long I really don't know.

So Monday we set off on a 4 and a half hour drive to St Albans in Hertfordshire where we were staying in a 600 year old haunted hotel that used to be a coach house. 

But it was the next day that totally rocked, DD had been so excited about this from the moment I told her and I have to admit I was pretty darn excited myself. We spent the Tuesday here...

Yep, the Harry Potter Studio Tour in Leavesden, Oh my goodness it was so amazing, there aren't really words to describe it, it's definitely a must for every Harry Potter fan.

We took so many photos (335 to be exact, not including photos on our phones).  I can guarantee you'll be seeing a fair few Harry Potter scrapbook pages from H and I, I may even do a whole album, there's certainly enough photos. So grab a cup of tea and a slice of cake and sit back and enjoy all 335 of my photos....Just kidding, There's only 11 in this post.

Here's H stood at the gates into Hogwarts...

The props from the films were fantastic...

This is Slughorn's Potions classroom... look at all the bottles, there's hundreds!

H and I at the Ministry of Magic...

The Hogwarts Bridge...

Me outside Ollivander's in Diagon Alley (getting photo bombed by H)

Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes, we loved the huge Fred/George Weasley in the window

Now I actually cried a little when we went into this room, there really were no words at all for this....

And this next photo just sums it up for me...

H grinning from ear to ear. 

It was a truly fantastic day, H loved it, I loved it and even Hubs secretly enjoyed it, I heard him on the phone to a friend saying it was brilliant, until I looked over and he added "if you like Harry Potter that is, the girls loved it" Although I think his highlight was bumping in to Peter Crouch in the petrol station at the services on the way home, he even had a chat and got a photo, which is on his phone.

We came home on Wednesday and I spent most of the afternoon unpacking and trying to figure out how it's possible that 3 people go away for 2 days and nights and manage to generate 5 piles of washing, I guess it's one of life's unsolved mysteries.

Well I suppose I should go and empty the washing machine again, and if I don't order the photos of our trip today I think H may fall out with me as she's desperate to start scrapping them. 

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a lovely day.

Claire xx

Sarah Hurley 365 Challenge - My Favourite Things

Hello there, how are you?

We have a new challenge over on the Sarah Hurley 365 Blog today set by the lovely Jaine, the theme for this months challenge is...

My Favourite Things.

Here's what I made....

So here's my explanation of how this fits with the theme, I've used one of my favourite colours - hot pink, a photo of my favourite Summer shoes - super comfy navy and white striped canvas wedges that tie with a red and white spotty ribbon and I've used the Walking on Sunshine card as the title as it's the title of one of my favourite Summer songs (Please note Crafty Alchemy accepts no responsibility for you humming this song to yourself or singing it loudly for the rest of the day :D).

All of the papers used come from Sarah's A Few Of My Favourite Things kits, I added lots of yellow brads from my own stash.

You have until Midnight 27th August to enter and winners will be announced on 28th August. All you have to do is create something within the theme of My Favourite Things and link it up to the challenge post on the 365 blog, don't forget there is a special extra prize for one entry using Sarah Hurley products.

Have fun and good luck.

Claire xx

Scrapbook Layouts - Picking Cherries

Well hello there, how are you today?

It really wasn't my plan to leave it a whole week before blogging but I've been a  bit preoccupied with Crafty Alchemy stuff this week, it's all good though, the kettle has been brewing none stop when I've been at home and the last 2 nights I've been working through lots of paperwork, notebooks and notes until the wee small hours.

Now this is where I need your help, I have a few ideas for the blog, sharing more from Crafty Alchemy Labs and a new blog series is amongst them but here's what I'd really like to know....

What do you guys want to see on here? I really really would like to know so please share your thoughts, would you like to see more crafting, less chatter, more techniques, tutorials? You suggest it and I'll do my best to make it happen, there are lots of things going on in the background here now and things will be changing considerably for the next 12 months and I would like you all to be a part of it... my amazing readers! If you'd like to suggest something you can leave a comment below or you can email me if you'd like just use the "contact us" button in the side bar, I'd love to hear from you.

Now then, I believe I mentioned a scrapbook layout about picking cherries, well here it is...

We have a huge cherry tree in the back garden at Mum and Dad's house and picking the cherries each year to make jam is a family affair, this year we happened to have some scaffolding up at the bottom of the garden  (which is an entirely different story) so we used that to get the cherries from the top of the tree that we wouldn't usually be able to reach... extra cherry jam ... yum!

To create this layout I cut 2 large scalloped circles out of 2 pieces of 12 by 12 cardstock, I used a template I'd made from a shaped piece of cardstock to do this, then I used the lid from a tin of Roses chocolates to draw the circle in the centre of the pink cardstock then I carefully cut it out starting off with a craft knife then finishing up with scissors, the pink cardstock is attached to the white cardstock using 3d foam pads so it's more like a frame. All of the paper used are from Quirky Kits and I also added some stickers and Thickers for the title and 3 large American Crafts Rose brads.

Well that's all from me for today, I've already crosses several things off my to do list but have several more to go, wish me luck and productivity (and cake, always wish me cake :D)

Take Care & see you soon.

Claire xx

And the Winner is....

Hello there, happy Sunday!!

A big thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway to win one of our new Crafty Alchemy sewing kits through this blog and the Crafty Alchemy Facebook page, we have a winner folks!

As promised little Miss H will be drawing the winner from my ever so stylish vintage hat...

(please excuse the mess in the Crafty Alchemy folding office - aka the folding table in the corner)

Drum roll please.....

And the winner is....

Sam Wheeler

Congrats Sam, just ping me an email (craftyalchemy@gmail.com) letting me know which of the kits you would like (there's Daddy Bunny, Mummy Bunny, Baby Bunny, Mr Owl, Mrs Owl or Baby Owl) and I'll get it posted out to you later this week.

Once again thank you to all of you who took part.

See you soon.

Claire xx

Scrapbooking - Happy Pooch

Oh my goodness, just how hot is it? I feel like the Wicked Witch of the West only without the lovely cold bucket of water. Both H and I have been hiding out in the shade as much as possible today but it's still too warm despite having all of the windows wide open, I do love the sunshine but I love it more when it has a breeze to go with it.

Anyhow, I should really stop waffling and get on with it otherwise I may turn into a Crafty Alchemy shaped puddle, which would not be good ,I have too much to do to turn into a puddle.

Since Sarah Hurley announced that the AFOMFT kits were being discontinued I've been working  my way through all of the left over bits (I still have one untouched kit and one more to arrive) and trying to get all of the layouts I've made blogged.

This one was made from an AFOMFT kit from a couple of months back...

I loved  the lemons and greys in this kit, one of my favourite colour combinations.
As you can see the photo is of Bailey (who incidentally is enjoying this weather a lot more since I filled the paddling pool for him to dive into and cool off) chewing on a bone.

I used one piece of 12x12 paper trimmed down a bit for the background and used the journaling cards as my other patterned papers, I added the  grey and yellow cardstock for the photo mat, base card and banner and the yellow brads from my own stash. The Kraft arrows were made by cutting down the self adhesive photo corners and added some Thickers for the title. The journaling reads "It's mine, nom nom nom, all mine" Bailey 2013.
As a finishing touch I added some doodled stitching here and there.

I'm going to miss these kits when they're gone.

Just a little reminder we have a little giveaway running here at Crafty Alchemy, just scroll down to the post below this one (or click here) for the details.

Take care, see you soon, try not to melt too much ;0D

Claire xx

It's Giveaway Time

Well hello there, it's nice to see you. Come on in.

It's Sunday morning, the sun is shining and all is good in the Crafty Alchemy Lab.

We've had a great few weeks around here, last week we launched our new look blog ***Ta Dah! Twirls around a bit*** and on Friday we launched our latest felt sewing kits in our Notonthehighstreet.com shop and our Etsy shop.

Here are the three bunnies, Daddy Bunny, Mummy Bunny and Baby Bunny...

And the super cute owls, Mr Owl, Mrs Owl and Baby Owl...

Each kit has everything you need (except scissors) to make your very own individual Owl or Bunny, this is the Daddy Bunny kit... 

And this is the Mrs Owl kit...

In addition to this, I was also up until 2am this morning working on new products, I can honestly say that, although I am being kept awake by large cups of Yorkshire Tea right now, that I'm extremely happy and excited for the future of Crafty Alchemy at the moment.

Now then , what else did I want to say?... hmmm... ah yes! That's right... who fancies a giveaway?

For all of the reasons I've mentioned in this post I want to share the love & spread a little happiness so I'm giving away one of the individual owl or bunny kits... you can choose whichever one you like... to one of you lovely people out there.

So here's what you need to do to enter...

There are two ways to enter, you can do either or both, if you do one you get one entry, both gets you two entries.

1, Become a follower of this blog and leave a comment on this post about which kit you'd like to win and why.

2, Like our Facebook page and leave a comment on the giveaway post about which kit you'd like to win and why. 

Please feel free to share on Facebook, Twitter (using @craftyalchemy) etc, but it is not a requirement for entry into the giveaway.

You can view all of the kits and their full contents here.

The giveaway will remain open until Midnight Saturday 26th July. Winners will be drawn by the very technical method of having my daughter H pick the winning name from a hat and the winner will be announced on Sunday 27th July.

Good luck, Thanks for stopping by & hope to see you soon.

Claire xx

Sarah Hurley 365 Challenge - Celebrate

Well hello there, how are you on this sunny Tuesday evening?

We have a new challenge over on the Sarah Hurley 365 blog this month and you still have time to enter. The theme for this month is ...

CELEBRATE 

There's a really great reason this theme was picked for this month, it was 4 years ago in July when Sarah started the original Sarah Hurley Challenges Blog, I joined the team 6 months later and Sarah's never been able to get rid of me since Bwahahaha!

I decided what better way to celebrate than to throw a party, and how do you announce a party? Why, invitations of course....

First thing I did was cut a piece of yellow cardstock to 6x4 inches and doodled a border around the edge, next I cut a piece of turquoise paper from one of Sarah's AFOMFT kit slightly smaller than 6x4 inches, I also doodled a stitched border around the edge. I made some bunting by folding small pieces of neon pink tape around pink and white bakers twine and then cutting out a little triangle from each to get the banner shape, I attached the bakers twine to the back of the turquoise paper using tape and then stuck this to the yellow card using double sided tape.

I stamped the Princess Girl Doodle Doll and coloured her in with Promarkers (Blush, Dusky Pink, Vanilla, Pastel Lemon, Mustard, Rose Pink & Orchid) I then used 3d foam pads to attach her to the card. 

I used the Block Alpha Stamp set to stamp "you are invited" onto scraps of paper from the AFOMFT kits, as a  finishing touch I sprinkled some silver stars over the top & glued them down where they landed.

All you need to do to enter is create something on a Celebration theme - remember there's an extra prize for using Sarah's products on your entry - and link up to this post here before midnight on 28th July. You can see all of the DT creations here too.

Thanks for stopping by & hope to see you soon.

Claire xx

Welcome to the Start of a New Adventure

Well hello there and a very warm welcome to the new Crafty Alchemy blog. Come on in, don't be shy, pull up a chair, the kettle's on and there's cake in the kitchen - feel free to help yourself :)

I'm Claire, the founder of Crafty Alchemy.

I guess I'd better start by explaining to my fabby followers old and new what is going on here...

I started blogging as Curlylocks Pics and Pieces back in 2009 so that I could share my crafty creations and ideas with other crafty people, things have changed a fair bit over the years since then.

In 2011 my blog had a name change and a facelift and became The Crafty Alchemist and in 2012 I decided blogging wasn't enough, I wanted more craftiness in my life, after much thinking, planning, making notes and muttering wildly to myself The Crafty Alchemist became a business, starting with an Etsy shop selling embellishment kits for all kinds of crafty projects

And more recently clear stamps and hand stamped notebooks

  I then opened my Notonthehighstreet.com shop in 2013 and it was this that brought about the change from The Crafty Alchemist to Crafty Alchemy, partly because it trips off the tongue a little easier and is easier to remember for all of my lovely customers too.

Whilst quietly working behind the scenes on all this I decided it was time to say goodbye to my original blog, I was struggling to get out of the habit of just posting my crafty creations rather than sharing all of the good stuff that goes on here in the Crafty Alchemy Labs (this is what my studio space is known as by my friends and family) so rather than trying to make the old blog fit in to this new era I decided to start again from scratch.

And here we are, a shiny new beginning on a shiny new blog.

I'll still be sharing my crafty stuff, hopefully in a little more detail than previously along with exciting developments and new products from the Crafty Alchemy Labs and this time it's not just me, Jennie aka Mum has joined the Crafty Alchemy Team and will be contributing on the blog from time to time. We may also have one or two guest bloggers in the future as well (please ping me an email to craftyalchemy@gmail.com or you can us the contact section in the sidebar if you're interested, we'd love to hear from you)

Thanks so much for stopping by to say hello, I really hope you come back again and join us on this exciting new adventure with Crafty Alchemy, I'm really looking forward to sharing all of the things we've been working on and are planning for the future.

Take care & hope to see you soon

Claire xxx

p.s I'd be thrilled if you followed me... just so you know ;-)