All hands at the helm!

Wow!

Building the first Kay Dees was hard work, but I only had about 200 products then. With over 900 lines now this new site is hard work. I have no FTP access so everything is having to be added individually.

Dean has got the ironing board out...not to do the huge pile of ironing we have, but to package our papers and wrap ribbons for our customer orders. My son Robert is busy doing household chores, which at almost 21 you would think was no severe hardship.

The dogs are now used to getting their walk after we have dropped the mail off at the sorting office.
I however feel like the PC has become a part of me! Dean is convinced that if it wasn't for the dogs I would actually morph into the computer - bless him!

My dad emailed today (Hi dad x) and I am waiting with baited breath for his opinion on the new site. He, being the father of just one daughter, thinks it is all wonderful which is always good to hear :-)

Everyday I realise how lucky I am to have such a wonderful family. Without their help and support I would never have got this far...nor go any further.

I am currently listing our Funky Brads, not many of those thankfully. But then I have to get down to listing our craft buttons. With over 150 different designs of all shapes, colours and sizes that bit will take some time.

Thanks also to all our regular buyers for putting up with our change over - your support and encouragement keeps us all going here at Kay Dees Crafts!

So think of me whilst you are enjoying your martini's and Happy Crafting!

Karen

We are moving

The time has come to say goodbye to our first website.

Kaydees was great for a first webstore but was unfortunately hosted by a somewhat unreliable server. As business started picking up server errors became more and more regular and my limited scripting knowledge was holding us back.

So this weekend I took the plunge and have created a new store with a new fresh look. I had forgotten how time consuming listing everything was but I am getting there slowly but surely.

The change has come at a peak time for Kay Dees too. We have expanded our product range even further and now have over 300 lines.

New this month was the Smirk range from Dovecraft.

The Smirk Love and Friendship collection - for the one your love or a favourite friend. Cute characters say ‘I love you’ or simply ‘thanks for being a friend’ in an adorable way. Soft colours and meaningful words mix delightfully in this range of paper craft products.

The Smirk Naughty but Nice collection is full of mischievous characters and innocent angels which are perfect for a party princess or a little devil. Colourful characters and funny, good humoured, sentiments make up this cheeky range.

With brads, papers, decoupage, stamps and ribbon stickers there is no end to how and where to use them.

So I should be busy adding products to our new site http://www.kaydeescrafts.co.uk/. Do pop over and see us in our new home.

Using Chalks

How To Use Chalks
Using chalks is a fantastic and fun way of adding extra colour, shades, depth and shadow to your cards and scrapbook pages.

Applying chalks to your projects can be done many ways. Got any old eye make up applicators? Use them with your chalks! A great way to do the fiddly bits and detailed areas. Fingertips, cotton buds and cotton wool do the job too. Using chalks the results are always unique, I have never achieved the same look twice no matter how hard I tried!

Before you begin to add chalk to any card making idea you have always have a scrap piece of paper too so that you can experiment, work out which colours go well together and see how you want to blend or ‘smooth‘ them. Depending on how dramatic you want the effect to be will be determined by how vigorously you apply the chalk.

If you have begun to add the chalks to one of your card making ideas and have made a mistake, all is not lost! Use an artists white eraser to safely and effectively remove the chalk errors from your paper. (This type of eraser is also handy for removing any stray chalk dust.)

Once you have finished applying the chalk and are happy with the overall design you will need to use a fixative to stop the chalk from smearing. As tempting as it may be never use hairspray to set the chalk. It is particularly important if you are using the chalks for scrap booking because hairspray is not photo friendly and can react badly causing your photos to deteriorate and yellow.

Storing your chalks is important. It is recommended that you store chalks as flat as possible as banging and/or knocking the box will cause the chalks to break up…. but worse of all it will mix the colours together rendering them virtually useless. The Dovecraft Blending chalks at Kay Dees Crafts come in their own metal case which is perfect to avoid this happening.

Here are a few ideas to trigger your own creative imagination:
* Fill in - or simply outline - a stencilling template with chalk.
* Chalk will even tint ribbons and fibres for a perfect colour match.
* Create a rubbing of an embossed diecut by applying the chalk directly to paper that is placed over the diecut.
* Apply chalk to the torn edge of cardstock paper, vellum, or diecuts for a shabby chic look.
* Apply chalk to crumpled paper. The chalk will be most prominent along the ridges.

BACKGROUND TECHNIQUES - from the scrapbook specialists at Hot off the Press


Chalks make a wonderful background for stamped projects too.

For a streaked background, such as a sunset or sunrise, start near the centre of the card and streak the colours outward. Combine several colours. Pull your finger or a sponge from the centre out to the edge. Apply one colour at a time, spacing the streaks as desired and then blend colours. Stamp the scenery elements on afterwards. (You may find matte finish paper to be the best choice for blending chalk colours.) An alternative for this technique is to cut a mask, covering the centre area of the card. The streaks will appear to radiate from a centre white area.

Chalk and water can be combined for a pastel background effect. Apply chalk in one or more colours randomly to the paper. Using a wet rag or sponge, pull and blend the chalked areas as desired. This technique is an excellent way to add colour to freezer paper that will be used for gift wrap or gift bags. Once the background is dry, it can be stamped over, and it does not require spray fixative to remain in place.

Marbled background: Put about an inch of water into a pan slightly bigger than your card, With a knife, scrape chalk dust of several colours onto the surface of the water. Lower the paper flat onto the surface of the water to pick up the colour, immediately lifting the card back out of the water. Allow to dry flat. If your paper develops puckers, it can be ironed to flatten it back out.

CHALK ON DARK PAPER:
Create stunning cards using dark paper. Stamp and emboss a stamp using white or metallic embossing powder onto dark coloured cardstock. colour the inside areas with a heavy application of chalk, achieving a suede-like texture.



Happy Crafting!

Using Brads

What is a brad?
A brad is a bit like the old style of paper fasteners, often used in stationary products and as an alternative way of securing envelopes. It’s a metal pin with two prongs going down its stem and the top can be coloured or decorative. Brads come in all shapes and sizes and are great to use on your scrapbook pages or within your handmade cards. They add colour, texture and charm to layouts and cards. Brads are one of those great embellishments that are both functional and decorative.

How to use brads:
Make a small hole in which to stick the brad through. I use a paper piercer to poke the hole in the paper/card. You could also use a small hole punch, the tip of your scissors or an sharp craft knife. The piercers do make a neater job of it though. Another useful piece of equipment is an old mouse mat – the type that has a spongy underneath. Turn the mouse mat over and place on top of a cutting mat or a magazine - not on directly on your table top! Place your paper/card flat on it and push through your piercing tool. Then insert your brad whilst it is still on the mat. Put the prongs of the brad through the hole and open up the prongs on the backside of the paper.

Brad Buddies™
Brad Buddies™ are lightweight metal shapes held onto paper with brads. To attach a Brad Buddy™, simply place the metal shape on your paper and mark the holes with a pencil. Remove the metal shape and make a hole at the pencil mark. Use the included brads to attach the metal image to your paper.

That’s it!
As you can see brads are really easy to use and require no special tools. That is one of the reasons these little embellishments are gaining so much popularity. Another reason for their popularity is that they are fairly inexpensive too.

A few ideas on how to use brads on your layouts:
connectors on paper piecing for moveable parts
attaching vellum
centre of flowers
centre of letters
spell out words (outline letters)
corners of picture mat
nails in a fence
"stone" in a ring
attach elements on a page by wrapping wire or fibre
to form "bullets" for a list of things
as an accent on the tail of a letter
in the hole of a tag
M & Ms
buttons on a shirt
decorations on an Easter egg
lights on top of a police car or fire truck
the "dot" on an i or j
attach handle to a basket
use as nails on wood
use to embellish the corner of tags, borders or titles
use star brads to replicate a night sky
Buttons on a dress

Most brads are shiny and perfect looking. If you like adding a rustic touch you can sand the top of your brads with sandpaper. This will scratch the brad up and if the colour is painted on it will allow the metal to shine through giving it that great shabby chic look!

If you find yourself in a pinch without the perfect colour of brad for your layout, do not fear. I have painted the tops of brads using regular acrylic paint. You can also use your markers too on silver or gold brads for a great look.
Another trick for brads is heat embossing the tops. Dip the top of the brad into ink and then into embossing powder. Heat with a heating gun and you will have a shiny embossed brad. This is also a great tip for getting the perfect colour to go with any layout. NB Try not to over heat the brad as this can cause it to become fragile and the backs may snap.

When you’re using vellums or some types of delicate ribbons, you’ll find that certain glues show through and can look unsightly. Brads come in very handy in such cases, as they can be used to fix vellums or ribbons to a project instead.

You can also add peel offs and rub ons to the top of some brads…the list really could go on and on!

Happy Crafting!

Summer is almost over

Summer is almost over! Where has this year gone?


With all the changes coming about on Ebay I have been spending way too much time trying to refine our products for the new listing criteria. The fact that I will not be able to list items with immediate purchase that cost less than 99p was a cruel blow. I like being able to offer a choice of 1 metre of this and 1 metre of that. I will of course still be offering this choice on www.kaydees.co.uk but a huge proportion of craft buyers like to mix and match smaller quantities together for certain projects.

Anyway, enough of my moaning!

Our Destination buttons are a fantastic way of preserving memories. Did you have a holiday in New York or the Far East?

Using these themed craft buttons to highlight a page within your holiday scrapbook or memory box is a great start.

Some come with shanks, some don’t. Simply snip the shank off with wire cutters, nail clippers or sharp craft scissors for an instant flatback.

We currently have 10 different destinations to choose from as well as dragons, mermaids, fairies and pirates!

Of course our range of Creative Charms can be used to compliment your memories too as described in our earlier blog.

What a way to preserve your seaside holiday!

Karen x