My Favorite Craft Supply Shops

I always have people asking where I buy my craft supplies and what brand they are etc. Now, my craft collection has kind of just evolved and grown bigger over the years and I also get quite a lot of craft supplies as gifts - it might take a wee while to get started but I thought I would share with any of you who are interested about some cool places to buy craft supplies and grow your collection

The first and most obvious place I can think of is the craft isles in The Warehouse, there is Washi tape stickers and paper plus lots of tools and adhesives you can add to your collection. 

click here to check out their website

If you are looking for even more Washi tape take a look in Warehouse stationary they also have a lot of awesome stickers there too.

click here to check out their website

If you prefer online shopping I would definitely recommend Etsy because they have just about anything and its quite affordable.

click here to check out their website

Sometimes Whitcoulls has some stuff but it usually sells out pretty quickly.

click here to check out their website

That is the main places I know that sell craft supplies but you should keep your eye out because lots of places stock items but they are usually hard to find or they sell out quickly. You could also look at online shops and things like that because they can sometimes have really unique things, another idea is to reuse old things like packaging or wrapping paper or even the ribbons on presents.

Thank you for reading this post, if you have any questions or any other suggestions please ask in the comments section below.

bbyyyee!

What I use to Draw

When I draw I like to use good quality stationary because it is easier and it makes the finished product look better. Here is a a photo which shows the things I generally use to draw my drawings.

Here are the brand websites if you would like to check them out Faber-Castell and Reeves

These things I find work well for what I use them for and they are very good quality for the price that they are.

I really like the Faber-Castell pencils because they sharpen easily and the pencil led does not break, I also really like the quality of the Faber-Castell erasers as they rub out pencil so well and they also don't leave any smudge marks or discoloration on the paper after you have rubbed something out. I also really like the quality of the Reeves pencils and the variety of shades they come in and I really enjoy using the Reeves pencil sharpeners as they are nice and sharp and they don't break the pencil led.

Thankyou for visiting my blog and I hope this helped you or gave you ideas on any brands you could take into consideration when shopping for drawing tools and accessories.

Bye Bye :)

DIY Cute Paperclips

 Here is a really simple and quick way to make super cute paperclips to put in your planner or diary or really anywhere.

Here is what you will need:

To start of our first paperclip take your embellishments, here I am using these cute roses that have an adhesive backing on them, and you will also need a paperclip.

Simply peel off your embellishment and stick it onto your paperclip

To finish off you may want to take a small piece of Washi Tape and cut it into a circle and stick it on the back to make a nice clean finish, and you're done.

The next clip is a little bit trickier but I think you'll manage.

Take a medium sized strip of Washi Tape and also a small strip cut in half down the center.

Fold the longer strip in half so it is double sided and not sticky, then fold both the ends into the center and take one of the smaller pieces of Washi Tape and while pinching the center of the Washi Tape to form a bow shape, start wrapping it around to secure it.

Once it is wrapped like this put the paperclip in and feed the tape through the center of the paper clip and continue wrapping until you reach the end of the tape.

They should end up looking like this:

Here is the completed paperclips, you can use all kinds of coloured Washi Tape or different embellishments to make lots of different variations.

I hope you enjoyed this DIY and also I hope you didn't find it to confusing.

If you have any questions please leave them in a comment below and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible.

Bye Bye

My latest Drawings

I have really been getting into my artwork and drawing lately. These are some of my favorite pieces that I have done in the last year, if you like them please let me know by leaving a comment and I could possibly share more drawings in the future.

This piece was done using regular led pencils, I was not copying any picture so I kinda just made it up as I went. This probably took around an hour and a half  or so to finish the drawing. 

This piece probably took around 25 to 30 minutes for a small picture using colouring pencils.

This drawing is very small and was very quick to draw 15 to 20 minutes, I really like the light that shines on the hair making it a lot more realistic, I do this by using an eraser to erase the areas that the light would hit and then I usually go in and touch up any areas that don't look quite right and then I am finished.

I hope you enjoyed this and thank you for visiting my blog, if you have any questions please leave them in the comments below and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible.

Bye Bye

My New Planner DIY

My planner will end in July so I have started to make my new one for August through to December 2016. My inspiration was bright pastel colours and kikki k personal planners. If you didn't already know kikki k planners are on the pricey side so I decided that I would create my own.

Here is what you will need to create a planner like mine or even completely different.

also you will need a lot of different coloured paper in all different patterns and textures.

This was the book that I used, it is a Typo notebook with plain lined pages and three dividers spread through the book.

The book cover is layers of card paper glued together and shaped how I liked it. I planned to make the book with a clip closure and this is how, once I had made the cover I cut a hole in the cover where I wanted the clip and then inserted the clip closure and taped it on the inside cover before covering the taped areas with patterned paper.

This is the inside cover of my planner it has some pockets and spaces to put various stickers and inserts. I then covered the front cover of the book itself in paper and added a label with my name on it and some other cute stickers.

I then started to draw in the planner pages. although this takes a long time and it is pretty frustrating it is totally worth it in the end, and you can make each page to suit you.

I then added tabs for each month so the page was easy to find. To attach the book to the cover I wrapped a piece of card paper around the back cover of the book and then glued the paper to the cover, the book can come out if I need it to but it is still very stable and it won't go anywhere.

This is all I have done so far but I will update you when I do more work on it,

thank you for reading and I hope I gave you ideas or inspiration to create your own planner.

If you have any questions on how I made something please ask in the comments section and I will try to get back to you.

Bye Bye.

My Planner

One of my favourite ways to keep organised is to use a planner. I wanted it to be completely personalised so it would work for all the things that I would use it for, so I decided to make my own and I would like to share it with you and maybe inspire you to make your own.

This is the cover page of my planner, it is made of card covered in scrapbook paper and it is held closed with and elastic string and a button. The cover is not attached to the actual planner book but I made it to keep my planner protected and clean.

On the inside cover is a pocket for sticky notes or things like that and on the right is where the actual planner book starts and as you can see it has my name on it.

This is a page where I can put things like pictures or drawings or other things to keep me motivated and happy. To the right of this which I haven't shown is some of my personal information just in case I lose my planner.

I have a pocket to keep things like stickers and inserts, stuff like that. This way it keeps things from always falling out and I know exactly where to find them.

For each month I have a title page with a tab so I can find my place easily. 

This is my month overview, I drew it up using a black pen and a ruler then I wrote all the dates in. This part does take a while but I think its totally worth the effort.

I do only use a monthly overview because it works best for me but if you decide to make a planner you can choose how you want yours to be laid out.

After the month overview is a to do list and a notes section.

I also have other tabs such as a today tab for any reminders or sticky notes for that day.

and a recipe tab where I write down recipe ideas or recipes that I tried.

On the last page of the book I have some more pockets to put even more things.

and the back cover with my name on it and on the right another pocket for receipts and stuff like that.

That is what my planner looks like. I have really enjoyed making it and I hope you are inspired to make your own also. If you have any questions about anything such as where things are from or how I made something please comment below and I will try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Thank you

My Blog

"Hi guys my name is Helena, I really enjoy crafting and I thought I might start a blog to share my ideas and teach other people what I enjoy doing and that I am passionate about. It got me thinking and I realized why not just share all the things I am passionate about. I would like to also post recipes and things to do with running or just sport in general. So that is what I will be posting on my blog. 
bye bye." :)

Helena