Sunday 30 May 2010

polymer clay and stamping

I've been busy experimenting with polymer clay, cutters and rubber stamps. I have been quite impressed with the outcome of these pieces. The necklace and one keyring so far has been listed in my folksy shop, and the necklace has been listed on the website.
I think I'm going to experiment with different coloured clay and stamps soon.







Thursday 27 May 2010

Folksy Friday - Apples

I made this pretty bracelet last night which I named Apple Blossom. This sparked off my Folksy Friday theme of apples.






Onestoppampershop has a lovely sounding Apples and Berries Candle votive








Klaras crafts shows off these cute buttons










Sarah Howarth sports this cute notebook cover






Last but not least, it would be difficult not to fall in love with this dress from Creme Anglaise








P.S I think I need to eat more apples rather than the chocolate muffins I keep eating.










Wednesday 26 May 2010

Kits






I have been playing around with some kits today. I need to use up some beads, so I bought some tins and put together some kits for anyone who want to make their own creations. Each tin has enough beads to create two pairs of earrings. The tin can then be used to gift some of the earrings if required.






Monday 17 May 2010

And the winner is...

The winner of my facebook 100 likes giveaway is ...


@christals_uk

Congrats, I'll contact you through twitter about your prize.

Sunday 16 May 2010

Dreamaid

After hearing a lot about Dreamaid as another selling outlet this weekend I decided to bite the bullet and join up.
There are no listing fees (you pay 10% of the final selling price) and then you can choose whether to donate an amount of your sale to charity.

"The Dreamaid charity helps people in poorer countries get their products to markets outside their normal reach" (taken from www.dreamaid.com)

For no listing fees I can get my products "out there" as well as doing my bit for another charity along the way.

I have set my products at 10% being donated to charity, but you can choose which percentage you want.

My products can be found here, and I am adding more every time.

Thursday 13 May 2010

Facebook 100 "likes" giveaway

To celebrate the Facebook page getting 100 "likes" (I preferred fans), we're going to have a giveaway.

To win a goody bag which will contain

- a personalised bookmark in your choice of letter and colour






- an owl notecard





- £10 voucher to spend on http://www.buttonsandbeadsgifts.co.uk/

all you have to do is tweet

"@bandbgifts is having a giveaway, check out http://www.buttonsandbeads.blogspot.com/ for more details"


Leave me a comment here to let me know you've tweeted, and I'll pick a random entry on Sunday 16th May at 9pm.

Wednesday 12 May 2010

Felt

I have been trying to use up some of my stash rather than keep buying more items. After making this from felt and upcycled new socks, I wasn't sure what to turn it into. A brooch and a pincushion was suggested.
In the end I left this one as it was and made a pincushion with pink felt and blue lining.
This then led me onto thinking about a keyring, so this double sided cat keyring was born.
I am pleased with how they have both turned out, so have added them both to my site, and the keyring can also be found in my Folksy shop.

Tuesday 11 May 2010

I won a giveaway


I was so pleased last week to win a giveaway by becoming Buteartism's 150's follower on facebook.






This lovely package arrived for me with a whole variety of jewellery goodies. Don't forget to check out the Folksy shop as all the proceeds are donated to Macmillan cancer support on the Isle of Bute

Thursday 6 May 2010

Bit of a sale

I'm having a bit of a sale to raise some much needed funds. There will be 20% off both in the Folksy shop and the website.

If you're buying from the website please enter the code "20percent" at checkout to get the discount.

If you're buying from Folksy please quote "Folksy20" at paypal checkout so I don't forget to refund you the difference.

I'm still donating 10% of all sales to Macmillan cancer support through May as well.

Thankyou in advance for your support.

Monday 3 May 2010

Photo tutorial

Before I start this I want to make it clear I cannot take any credit for this tutorial. It rightly goes to Onestoppampershop and LovelettersUK.


I managed to get my photos looking like this

to this.

Onestoppampershop started by improving my photos for me last night and then gave me some tips to change the brightness, sharpness and crop the images a bit more where needed.

These are some of the end results from her playing around with my photos.




LovelettersUK then gave me and some other people on a different forum some simple tips to improve your photos if you don't have photoshop etc.

In Vista you have a program called Windows Photo Gallery. You can download the latest from here if you don't have it.

- Open Windows photo gallery

- Open your photo

- Choose FIX option on top toolbar

- Choose ADJUST EXPOSURE on right hand toolbar

- Increase the brightness to a state where you are happy with the brightness.

To get the background white it's best to take your photos on a white background such as a white piece of paper or white windowsil in the first place. By adjusting the brightness you can then improve the quality of the whiteness of the paper.

The edges will probably still have grey patches at this point as you can't take the brightness to 100% without losing sight of the picture altogether. These grey patches can be removed if you want by playing with the large paint brush in PAINT program that is free on every computer.

This tutorial isn't a technical professional way to get your pictures spot on, but it has improved mine 100% and I am thankful to both ladies for giving me tips last night and helping me out. I'm hoping better photos will set me on the road to getting sales now.

Please visit their shops at



LovelettersUK (folksy)

Sunday 2 May 2010

Folksy listing club

It's the second day of May's Folksy Listing Club and I have listed these pretty Emerald cluster earrings as emerald is the birthstone for May.



Some of my favourites from today include



This lovely bag charm from Fairly Girly. If I didn't make jewellery I would so buy this it's lovely.







This lovely notebook cover from Country Home Designs








Gorgeous pendant from Londonfogg



Whilst your here don't forget to check out my website and Facebook fan page. We're having another giveaway when the Facebook page reaches 100 fans

Saturday 1 May 2010

It's the Month of May


Wow it's May and nearly half way through the year already!


Buttons and Beads Gifts has lots planned for May, and hopefully it'll be an exciting time. I'm taking part in the Folksy Listing Club for May where I will be aiming to list one item per day in my Folksy shop.


I am also going to be donating 10% of all my sales during May to Macmillan Cancer Support charity. I have wanted to do something for charity for a while now and this seems like a good way of doing it. Every little really will help to make a difference.


I've been working on some new items, and hopefully lots of new bits and pieces will be coming out over the month, as well as working on improving my photos.


Todays offering for my Folksy shop is a lovely elegance pearl bracelet.