My intention when creating this blog was for it to feature news about my Etsy store, such as upcoming homemade products, and any ideas I might have which could be pin-worthy or even better, lead to commercial viability.

The latter I had no shortage of…The problem was finding the opportunity to put everything together, much less write about it. That’s not to say I haven’t had any time for my craft projects. Quite the contrary…

This collection of gift packaging and gift tags will soon be available (along with the Make-Your-Own Spa Gift Set) at my store when it reopens. I’m just waiting for my loft conversion to complete so I’ll have more room to tinker.

If you’ve noticed remarkable improvement in these photos compared to pictures in previous posts, don’t worry…there’s nothing wrong with your screen (or eyesight)! These images were taken by my photographer husband David. 😁 Unfortunately, he’s not always available when I’m in arty mode so I make do with my trusty old iPhone. 😎

Many of my recent (ish) creations have been related to the presentation of…well…presents, mainly for friends and family. The gift toppers often involved origami or kirigami since both styles are so versatile and economical.

They work great on gift-bags too…

…though sometimes I prefer a quicker route sans paper cuts. 😁

I’m light years away from matching the skill of Jo Nakashima, but I think my efforts are fairly respectable! If you’re ever in need of a tutorial, consider subscribing to Paper Kawaii which also has a pretty helpful YouTube channel.

After the success I had with my DIY Foot Scrubs, I thought I’d experiment with a few other beauty concoctions. The Spiced Sugar Body Scrub still needs perfecting, but the Whipped Coconut Mousse was a dream. It could be used in a variety of ways – moisturiser, make-up remover, and most effectively, as an overnight hair masque. I infused it with Green Tea and Grapefruit Oil which gave it such a lovely tropical smell.

When grownup colouring books became trendy, last year also saw me dabbling in an old childhood pastime, with the notion that it would serve as a form of art therapy.

The outcome was pretty enough, and creating gradients with colour pencils (instead of Photoshop) was a refreshing change, but I simply didn’t have the patience to persevere, so that little diversion didn’t last. Much the same as my attempts to pick up knitting. I did contribute a mini hat or two to The Big Knit though. I wouldn’t say I’ve totally given up on either pursuit…It’s more the case of having to put them on the back-burner for now.

By this stage, I’d amassed a stockpile of craft materials. There were cheap retail storage options available, but if you’ve got that much stuff to organise, costs do mount up. Fortunately, I had loads of cardboard boxes lying around due to online shopping and they came in handy when I wanted to make boxes for my shelves. All I needed was a roll of hessian and strong double-sided tape. I’ve tried painting boxes and sticking them with patterned paper, but I kind of like the rustic look more.

It’ll take forever to chronicle all my craft activities in one go, but here’s a little preview of the ones I favoured most – wedding presents for my brother and sister-in-law last spring (above), and a Jewellery Display Greeting Card (below) for a friend who was off to uni. Both relied quite heavily on my skills as a Graphic Designer (particularly my brother’s gifts), but I found the other aspects trickier. The Scrabble Box Frame was quite fiddly to assemble as I wanted everything to be precise, and did require a couple of cracks at it before I got things right. I shall expand on these separately with more in-depth posts at a later date, and will include photos of the process…mine sadly, not David’s. Sorry!  😜