For the Love of Crafts

It's First Monday for Designer Crafts Connection bloggers and our theme this month is "Love is Handmade".  Instead of a project, I thought I'd share a little about me and my love of crafts.

Decorative painting, sewing, card making, knitting, cake decorating, gardening, scrapbooking and jewelry making. These are just a few of the many creative things people do; not to be creative necessarily, but simply for the pure enjoyment of the process and the great feeling of accomplishment when, whatever you have made, is finished.

I have always loved making things. My father taught me to draw and paint and my mum taught me how to sew, tat (with a shuttle), smock, bake and decorate cakes. I learned to knit and crochet from my grandmothers and the importance of fallen leaves and manure for the roses my grandfather lovingly tended in his garden.  One of my earliest crafting memories is sitting at a card table with my mum in front of a roaring fire making Christmas cards with old brown stencils and only 3 colors of paint. I also remember helping my parents make the most beautiful crêpe paper flowers, but most of all I remember the FUN we used to have together.

The best thing about crafting is that there are no rules. There are tools to master and techniques to learn, to be sure, but creativity is a very personal thing and there is always something very special about anything that someone has made themselves – it’s all about the main ingredient – the LOVE that went into it.  If you’re already a mother, or grandmother, you’ll know how special it is when you’re presented with something your children have lovingly created, just for you, no matter what it may be.  My daughter made this dish from clay when she was about 8 yrs old.  For the past 30 years it has had a special place on either my kitchen desk or the windowsill, where I can see it every day.  The most special thing about the dish, other than the fact that she made it, is the way she created the roses.  We had watched a TV program a few weeks earlier about the artists who made exquisite china flowers for Royal Dalton.  Later we made some bread dough and tried the techniques ourselves.  Jennie had obviously remembered these techniques when she fashioned the clay roses that decorate the top of the dish.

Mum passed away a few years ago so my sister and I went home to England to take care of the house, etc.  Mum treasured everything, but we were still surprised to find a virtual treasure trove of the gifts we had made for her over the years.  I keep everything my children and grand children have made me too......   the love and thoughtfulness that comes with each and every piece is PRICELESS.  Take time to be creative with family and friends; you'll be glad you did. Y'all come back now!

Yours truly,
Julie  :)

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!

Dallas Market 2013

Seriously, can life get any busier - rhetorical question, of course......    Last Monday I made my bi-annual trip to the Dallas Gift market.  It's good to see what will be coming to the gift stores in a few months and to check to see if there's anything new.  Soft vintage, naturals, retro and collegiate were pretty much everywhere and traditional Christmas colors of red, green, white and silver & gold still prevail.  I may be wrong, but it seems like there's a yearning for the "good old days" when life wasn't quite so complicated and definitely less stressful.

Here are photos of displays in some of the larger, popular showrooms, so grab a cuppa tea, put your feet up, sit back and enjoy!

Not sure what's going on with blogger, but the rest of my photos are vertical and they keep loading sideways...  I'll try loading again, so y'all come back now!

Yours truly,
Julie :)

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!

CHA Winter 2013

I'm back from CHA with a flash card full of photos from the show!  Hopefully they'll give you a taste of what it was like to be there.  First of all here are the big CHA winners!

Katy Sue designs won the CHA New Product Innovation award for 2013

and Spellbinders Paper Arts won the Attendees Choice award for best new product.

There is so much creativity and innovation at the show, voting for the best is not an easy task.  We're not allowed to photograph all the new products displayed in the Innovations showcase, but the "Hot 20" are shown in my previous post.

Now let's get to the show floor.  This is what you see when you first walk in: 

First stop was where the crowd gathering to see Cathy & Steve's new product, Mod Melts at the Plaid booth.

After that I headed to the far end of the hall and started to walk, taking photos of displays and friends I met along the way.  There's a bunch to see, so grab a cup of tea, coffee, or whatever, sit back, put your feet up and enjoy your visit to CHA!

 

Holly Simone at Spellbinders demonstrating their new mixed media line using Ice Resin.  Check out Holly's ring shown below.

Here's Beth Watson demonstrating at one of the exhibitor booths.

 

 

Jan Mollett Evans shows how to use a new hot tool and encaustic paint, one of the new "Hot 20" products.

Cindi Bisson demoing Ice Resin.

Believe it or not, this heart was made from a glue stick!  One of those "oldie but goodie" techniques seen in more than one booth on the show floor. 

 

 

 

 

Here's Johanthan Fong browsing one of the booths and here's Ana Araujo (Where Creativity Knocks) signing copies of her new book for fans.

 

Theresa Cifali was demoing for Impress Arts and here she's seen with Johanthan Fong and Gail Green.

 

This is the new Artisan Xplorer, a small, high pressure die cutting machine for Spellbinders' mixed media program.

Love these trinkets by Darcie Hunter, a shrink art program.

Tim Holtz, always busy, always creative.... in the Ranger booth.  Below is one of his shadow box projects and below that, a fun new surface to play with when you have "time"....

Here's Julie Fei Fan Balzer demoing her stencils for Crafters' Workshop.

Here's Sue at the Flower Soft booth proudly displaying her new Innovations award.  (Katy Sue designs also founded Flower Soft.)

Ken Oliver in action above and that's me with Michelle Frae Cummins.

The glamorous Cindy Farneth Alexander - Stacey Caron's sister and me posing for a photo op with Ken.

Spellbinders was definitely the gathering place for lots of friends.  Here's Candice Windham.

and me and Stacey.

Here's Heidi Borchers, Starr, Julianna Hudgins and Tiffany Windsor checking out Julianna's beading loom at the Beadalon booth.

By the time Tuesday came around I was definitely "dragon".  The flight home was cancelled due, believe it or not,  to ice and snow in Dallas so my friend, Jean Kievlan and I took a quick side visit to Downtown Disney before heading to the airport to catch a later flight back home.

Got home last night a little after midnight and it was good to sleep in my own bed.  Today I'm being totally lazy....   I enjoyed a good cuppa tea this morning, but haven't even started to unpack.  Tomorrow will be soon enough.

Hope you enjoyed your quick visit to CHA.  Y'all come back now.........

Yours truly,
Julie :)

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!