November Special - 10% off tapestry kits

With Christmas fast approaching, why not pop one of these great tapestry starter kits into the children's stockings? And with 10% off in November they are fantastic value at £8.76 each.

With their cute animal or fun character designs these kits are a great way to get young fingers started on sewing and crafting.

A quick poll around the Cool 'n' Crafty staff revealed Cathy Cow as our favourite. Which one would you choose?

Check out the full range.

October Special - 15% off A La Mode Glitter Glues

Whoever invented Glitter Glue deserves a gold medal.

Not so long ago, getting a glittery finish meant messing about with glue, loose glitter, trays (or shoe box lids) and most of it seemed to end up on the floor, in our clothes and on one memorable occasion - on the cat. She wasn't impressed although I thought she looked rather funky!
Now with fantastic glitter glues like these a la mode collections from Hampton Art, it's just easy-peasy to add that sparkle to your cardmaking projects.

And this month we are making them even better value with 15% off. We have a choice of 3 selections available - warmth, cool and black/gunmetal.

The warm colours will be especially suitable for traditional Christmas projects and I love the irridescent for snowflakes.

Stocks are limited so make sure you don't miss out.

Our favourite crafting websites

I've just been updating our links page with some more of our favourite crafting websites and been having a wonderful time exploring new blogs and websites.

The talent of so many of the crafters blogging today is incredible.

I particularly enjoyed Polymer Clay Daily which showcases the work of some of the best polymer clay artists around. I've been dabbling in clay for a while now and just love it's versatility. However, I haven't (yet) managed to create anything remotely as good as these.

You can check out all our favourite sites here.

And if we have missed your favourite - please tell us!

September Special - 10% off craft adhesives

Using the right adhesive for your crafting projects is essential and we are pleased to stock the Stix2 range - including PVA glue, glue dots and sticky tape.






For our September offer, we have 10% off everything in our adhesives section, so it's a good time to top up your crafting stickies before Christmas.


Check out our range of craft adhesives

Orchid decoupage card

Decoupage is one of those craft techniques that I've not tried before - I was always put off by all that fiddly cutting out. But now I've discovered die cut decoupage sheets, there is no excuse!


So here is my first attempt - a very simple card using an orchid from the Small Beauties selection:

I created the decoupage on a scrap of cream pearlescent card, mounted it onto a piece of copper embossed pearl paper from my stash and attached to a card blank made from matching cream pearl card. I used 3D sticky pads to layer the decoupage elements.

The great thing about decoupage is that you get depth as well as the image so you only need a very simple card design to show it off. And with die cut designs it's a very quick way to make beautiful handmade cards.

Click here for more die cut decoupage designs.

More Christmas Crafting Goodies

The first of our Christmas themed peel off stickers have arrived and are now listed in the shop.
These include contemporary Xmas tree outline stickers by Francoise Read plus some VERY sparkly holographic stickers from Stampendous.
Unfortunately photographing peel-offs is not my strong point (and judging by many craft shops, I'm not the only one) so I will need to get started on making some Christmas cards so you can all see how good the stickers really are!

Click here to visit our Christmas Crafting shop.

Crafty Gift Packs & Bundles now reduced in price

We have just revamped the pricing on all our gift sets and made gift packaging optional - so now you can purchase coordinated product bundles at a discount to treat yourself!


All the gift selections offer savings on the full purchase price of the individual items so you can buy craft collections for less. Like this Blossoms & Butterflies bumper pack with papers, stickers and chipboards:



The gift packaging option is just £1.95 extra to receive all your items beautifully presented in a gift box or bag (depending on product type) ready to give.

View our full range of crafty gift options

Dare I mention the C word - Christmas?

Do I hear cries of "NOoooo...... the kids haven't even gone back to school yet!".


So apologies for mentioning Christmas in August, but if you are planning to attend any craft fairs during the festive season (or just want to be super organised), it's time to think about your stock for making Christmas cards.


This week sees the first arrival of Xmas stock at Cool 'n' Crafty with items from the Jolly Happy Christmas range by Dovecraft. This range uses traditional colours but gives them a twist with contemporary designs and just enough glitter to make things really sparkle.




We have papers, chipboards and decoupage sheets in stock now and will be adding more Christmassy items in the next few weeks.

August Special - 10% off Smirk Love & Friendship

For this month's special deal, we have 10% off everything from the Smirk Love & Friendship range.





And you can save even more when you purchase one of our gift bundles.



With cute personalities and sentiments, the Smirk characters will add bags of fun to your cardmaking and scrapbooking.

Get the kids started on needlework

New in are a selection of cute tapestry starter kits by Cleopatra's Needle.

Just great for introducing children to needlework - they will love the cute animal characters. I'm torn between Sammy Snail and Cathy Cow as my favourite, or perhaps I should go for Peggy Penguin.

There is also a series featuring the ever active Daisy - seen here doing ballet.

All the kits include everything you need - counted canvas, wool, needle and instructions - and are suitable for kids from 7 years old.

Paris Vintage Collage Cards

As promised, I've been playing with the gcd studios Paris Nights papers and here are the first results!

With this one I used cream acrylic paint over the torn backing papers - the stamp is from the retro women set by Tanda Stamps

The second used another stamp from the same set stamped onto vellum and embossed and I used just a little piece of pink ribbon to add colour to the design.

Finally, this card uses the flocked paper (I just couldn't stop stroking it!) layered and finished with ribbon and roses.

I got a lot of the inspiration from the Artful Card by Alison Ead - really recommended if you are into collage cards.

The Artful Card: Creating Cards and Keepsakes with Printed Papers, Embellishments and Collage Techniques

Alison

Latest - Cinnamon Cat Cross Stitch

Cross stitch remains as popular as ever and it's no wonder when you have great designers like Jane Lydia Henderson who creates the gorgeous Cinnamon Cat range.

We now have a selection of her fabulous counted cross stitch kits in stock including this patchwork christmas card kit with everything you need (including aperture cards) to make four cards with christmas tree designs.
There is also a general greetings cards kit and lots of other lovely designs to choose from.

Kits like these are great for beginners and they also make brilliant presents.

Latest Products - white and cream card blanks

While we love drooling over the latest paper collections and embellishments, we wouldn't get very far in cardmaking without card blanks.

We have now added a selection of card blanks in white and cream textured card so you can top up on essentials while treating yourself. All the cards are from good quality 250 gsm card and come complete with 100gsm white or cream envelopes.

We currently have A6, square and DL single fold card blanks plus A6 gatefold cards and A6 dual fold card blanks.

While you are checking out our basics range, why not also have a look at our shaped card blanks? We currently have handbag, tag and circle shaped blanks so you can make cards with a difference quickly and easily.

July Special - Free Glue Dots

Place an order value £10 or more (excl p&p) and we will add a FREE pack of mini glue dots to your order.

These are the Stix2 6mm dots and there are 48 in a pack.



No need to enter a code or add the item to your basket - we will automatically include your free glue dots in with your other items.

Paris Nights Papers by gcd studios

If you haven't tried the gcd studios paper collections yet for your cardmaking and scrapbooking - I'd really recommend them.

There are some great original designs and several of the collections come with special effects like flocking and foiling.

Try Zen Garden for papers with a subtle oriental feel or Planes and Trains for papers which work well for those ever tricky cards for men.

But my absolute favourite has to be this new Paris Nights collection which arrived in last week. With creams and blacks in a selection of striking designs, I'm planning on using them for my next batch of birthday cards for the family.

New in - Craft Sewing Kits for Children

If you are looking for something to keep the kids occupied over the summer holidays, these fun sewing kits are just the thing. With adorable animals, fun felt jewellery and feminine hearts there are projects to suit all tastes.





The best options for little ones are the Mouse House or the Felt Jewellery which are suitable for children of 5 and upwards. Older kids may like to try the owls, cats or elephants. And there are one or two adults in our office who are a bit tempted too......

The kits are made by Buttonbag who source as much as possible from the UK and have put together some great designs with fun fabrics and accessories. They are great quality and nicely boxed too, so would also make a good present.

Click here to check out all the kits.

June Special - 10% off Peel Off stickers

Just what it says in the title! - this month we have 10% off all our peel-off stickers.

Check them out......

My first attempt at teabag folding

Although I've been crafting for many years, I've never tried decoupage or teabag folding. So when our first order from Small Beauties arrived, I decided I had to give it a try.

So here is my first attempt at teabag folding:

A few not quite straight folds, but I hope you agree the effect is striking - mainly due to Small Beauties gorgeous designs, of course.

I found the folding straightforward - in fact, it's quite relaxing and therapeutic, but I did sometimes forget whether I was supposed to be folding out or folding in! It was a bit fiddly putting the squares together but a bit of PVA did the trick.

To make the card, I took an A6 cream gatefold card blank and stuck rose pink satin ribbon around the middle. The teabag design was mounted onto a piece of card before sticking to the left side of the gatefold. To finish I added a diamonte in the centre of the teabag design and added some peel off corners.

Alison

Welcome to the new Cool 'n' Crafty Blog

We'll be bringing you the latest product news, ideas to try and lots of crafty chit chat.

At the moment we are working hard to build up our product range - looking for the coolest crafty products and gifts and getting them added to the website. If there is something you would like us to stock - please let us know!

In the last week we have added some new woodware craft punches, 2 more paper collections from gcd studios and a range of decoupage and tea bag folding papers and kits from Small Beauties.


This decoupage cardmaking kit with sweet peas and hydrangeas is one of our favourites.