Making our own stamps

Hello again crafters, if you know me at all you'll know that I am slightly addicted to stamps, well ok then very addicted to stamps. I have so many it's ridiculous but I love each and every one of them and couldn't bear to part with a single one.

 

As you may know Tom is the boss, he does all the driving and deliveries, does the adding up and signs all the necessary paperwork. I get to do all the fun stuff like designing, making, buying stock and chatting to all our lovely customers (a.k.a. Downland Crafters) online.

 

We both had the same vision for how we wanted Downland Crafts to be when we started, nearly six years ago now, which was to be able to provide affordable card making, paper craft and jewellery making supplies alongside our own handmade cards, wedding stationery and jewellery, which are still a big part of our daily lives and business. As well providing those things my ultimate dream was always to one day have my very own stamp range and to my delight last year I did just that when we launched DC's very first photopolymer sets. I can't tell you how excited I was! 

 

The artwork for the stamps came together fairly easily, especially as I had in mind the essence of what I wanted them to be like, but it still took quite a while to finalise the designs, organise packaging and get them made. After longer than you might imagine I finally had 8 x A6 stamp sets to unveil. That's when I got really nervous. What if you didn't like them? I needn't have worried, the comments, well wishes and support I got from my fellow crafters was fantastic, so much so that I decided to do it all again this year with brand new designs. I have so many more ideas for everyday and Christmas designs to come.

 

Practice makes perfect as they say and I learnt what did and didn't work so well with the first set of stamps, whilst they were all fantastic quality I was not entirely happy with the packaging side of things, so this year we've had a bit of a makeover. The stamps are still top quality clear photopolymer which means you can use them with any inks and they will last a lifetime as long as you look after them. Don't put them in sunlight, they don't like that and obviously keep them away from sharp objects which could damage them. Other than that you can pretty much do all the things you can do with rubber stamps with our photopolymer ones, with the added advantage that you can see through them making positioning that much easier.

 

As well as more A6 stamp sets we have introduced A7 packs this year containing either a single stamp or a couple of stamps, depending on the size. We launched them recently in our Facebook customer group Downland Crafters and the response was fabulous. Especially popular were our puppy stamps, this cute little chap has been named Downie and this particular stamp was described by the lovely Sarah as 'adorabubble'. I love that description! There are 3 different Downie stamps, plus all the bits to go with him, dog bowl, paw prints, bone, ball and more so you can make backgrounds to go with the main image.

 

Don't worry if you're not a dog person there are lots of other designs to choose from including a princess, monsters and even wedding words. If you want to see the whole range just pop over to our website or check out our Facebook page.

 

It's been lovely sharing a little bit of the behind the scenes stamp making process that goes on here at DC and I've hope you've enjoyed reading.

 

Until next time

Happy Crafting

Trish x

Any New Years Resolutions?

So who is making New Year's resolutions? Just the one or a few? I think my own should be the same as it was last year to blog more often. Ah well, they say God loves a tryer and I do try....honest!

We have lots of plans for 2015 and it's going to be a very exciting year for us with lots of new product launches including our very own range of stamps.

Yep, it's been busy at DC designing and having samples made and if you are a member of our new Facebook group you will already know that our first set of stamps has been produced and is now in the testing stage. I can't tell you how exciting it is to see your very own designs actually made into physical stamps and my heart was beating faster when the delivery man arrived and the big smile stayed on my face all day.

Of course we want to make sure that the quality and price is right for our customers so are testing stamps from different companies and using different mediums to ensure we only get the best. You can join our Facebook group by clicking this link and keep up do date with the latest news plus take advantage of special offers especially for our Facebook followers only. This group was set up especially so that we could get to know our customers better and see what you are making with your purchases from us. Many people told us that with all the recent changes to Facebook they were not always receiving notifications from our page so we thought this would be the perfect solution. When you join us be sure to say hello and tell us what your favourite craft is. www.facebook.com/groups/DownlandCrafters

Following customer feedback we are also expanding our 925 sterling silver range of findings. These new items will be available to purchase on our website very soon and will include ear wires, head pins, eye pins and split rings which offer extra protection and are the perfect solution if you find your beading wire can sometimes slip through the cut on a regular jump ring.

For those of you who are interested in our 2015 craft & gift fair events we will have new dates for you at the end of January. The new calendar will be available as always on our website via the events section and anyone already on the list, which currently has over 500 names on it, will be emailed with details. If you are not already on our mailing list you can join by simply adding your details to our online form and then click submit. Once your details have been successfully added we will send you a confirmation email. http://www.downland-crafts.com/mailing-list.html

Our January sale will be starting on Friday 2nd January and will run for the whole month, stock permitting. New items may be added as we do a bit of a clearance on low stock end of line items so keep checking back so you don't miss a bargain. We will also be offering extra special offers to our Downland Crafters group on Facebook so don't forget to join in the chat.

Until next time....happy crafting!
Trish (& Tom)

What's new

We are well into 2014 now and I am wondering if anyone has managed to keep their new years resolutions? As you can see my own resolution to blog at least once a month has been an epic fail. Oh well apart from the fact that I could possibly be the worst blogger in history a lot has been happening at Downland Crafts and it's been a very exciting time for myself and Tom.

Anyone who knows me will probably know that I am a huge fan of Kanban and was very sad to see them go and ecstatic to hear they were coming back. What fun I had going through their product list and doing a bit of retail therapy, for you all of course, and ok for myself as well. I hope you like the toppers I chose for our first lot of stock, if you have any favourites let me know and I'll see if we can get them for you.

 

Check out our current range by clicking here

 

 

As in previous years we are planning to host some craft & gift fairs and our first is at the end of the month. There will be over 30 exhibitors at the spring craft & gift fair on Mother's Day in the beautiful Cavan Crystal Hotel offering handmade items and giftware including wood crafts, greeting cards, artwork, jewellery, glassware, knitting & crochet, soaps, candles, furniture, skincare, craft supplies, incense, fabric crafts and face painting. Pick up a last minute gift for your Mum or bring her along for a great day out and perhaps treat her to something special. There will also be lots of items suitable for first communion and confirmation, plus many exhibitors will happily take commissions. Admittance is FREE and the Cavan Crystal are also offering a fantastic four course lunch including a glass of wine for only €25 per adult in their award winning restaurant Opus One.



 

Full details and exhibitor list available on our website by clicking here

 

There are lots of plans for this year to add some projects both card making and jewellery making to this blog and so far I have the menu done...well at least that's a start. I am always impressed by the fantastic blogs that seem to have no end of inspiration on a regular basis and I promise I will try to make this one a great place to visit. We've done a lot of work on the website improving and upgrading, now we need to focus our attention on the blog. I will admit to spending far more time on Facebook than I should but it is great to chat to all the lovely crafters and share ideas and tips, the problem is when I start chatting I find it hard to stop. If you fancy a chat it's the best place to find me so why not stop by our page and say hi.

 

Until next time...and I promise it won't be so long...happy crafting!

Trish

 

 



Craft & Gift Fair this Sunday!

Hi everyone, its been a while since we've updated this blog, there just never seems to be enough hours in the day to do it all! The most important thing to remind everyone about is our Craft & Gift Fair happening this Sunday in the Farnham Arms Hotel, Main Street, Cavan. The fair runs from 11.00am until 6.00pm and the admittance is free. There will be an impressive line-up of crafters and small businesses with a mixture of regular exhibitors and some new faces joining us for the first time displaying all kinds of handcrafted items, food, gifts and we even have a face painter which is a new addition for us but one that we plan to repeat for the remainder of our events this year. If you would like to see a full list please visit our dedicated facebook event page via our Irish Craft Fairs page. For a taster I can tell you that you will find jewellery, greeting cards, sewn, knitted and crocheted items, candles, skincare, glassware, cakes, chocolates, chutneys, wood crafts, face painting and more so definately something for everyone.

If you haven't visited our website lately it is well worth a visit to www.downland-crafts.com due to popular demand from our valued customers our range of papercrafting supplies has encountered quite a surge in new products and now includes a vaste range of die cuts to cover all kinds of occasions from birth to wedding to new home to those sad times when sympathy cards are needed, plus everything in between. Some new stock has just arrived to widen our choice of flower embellishments and even googly eyes.

We are pleased to announce that we are now stockists for Crafter's Companion products and can offer you spray adhesives and all purpose glue (often referred to as the best glue in the world) it offers both the flexibility of photo glue with the permanency of pva and won't warp your card or paper. You will also find the new epiphany tool with matching bubble caps and two choices of settings. If the demand is there we plan to add additional tools and accessories in the future. If you haven't come across this system it is both a fantastic embellishment maker as well as a jewellery maker, we made this phone charm out of a photograph.
 

Centura Pearl card is also another favourite of many crafters and yes we now have this in stock too! One comment we received was that is was a shame that usually centura pearl was only available to buy in 60 sheet packs, too large a purchase for some who had to make a choice on one of the colours as to buy all 3 would mean 180 sheets. Well we listened and are offering packs containing 10 single colour sheets or mixed packs, take a look and pick the one that suits you best. And last but certainly not least we are now stocking Pebeo paints, these have many uses and go on may surfaces including card and wood and are a thick acrylic paint that come in packs of 5 x 45ml bottles.

Most of this new stock has been uploaded to the website already and you can find them by clicking the links provided, this is an ongoing process and we are still uploading so check back regularly. You can also sign up for our free newsletter club and by doing so you will gain access to our members only specials and get reduced prices on featured items, just fill in your details on our website so you never miss a thing, and if you happen to have just stumbled upon this blog make sure you hit the subscribe button.

Right must go and complete the preparations for this Sunday's Fair we will also be at the Tullyvin fair in Cootehill, Cavan on Monday so we hope to see you at either if not both, please come over and say hi. Until next time HAPPY CRAFTING XX

Stock Update

2 Available

3 Available

1 Available

4 Available

7 Available

3 Available

2 Available

1 Available

1 Available

Christmas Stock

Okay so I planned to post pictures of the new Christmas die cuts but they were just to popular at the Craft fair yesterday that stocks are very low so I better order some more. We have a dozen of these mixed packs still in stock, a few packs of the trees on their own, only 2 packs of each of the text in either red or green. Delivery is usually fast so they should be available again very soon...watch this space for updates.