Melus Makes

Its September and it's not only just my Birthday month but it's also Crafting at Ally Pally Month. Well one month out of two! I used to go to this event fair every single year, sometimes twice a year if I was super lucky to have the funds to do so - let's face it, Crafting is a very expensive game! But I had the opportunity to go this year because I had saved up to go this time round and I was super excited. Ally Pally holds what used to be the Big Scrapbook and Stamp Show (BSSBS) twice a year - April and September, it probably been going from what I remember for the last 5 or so years (please correct me if I'm wrong!) and the amount of companies has definitely expanded over the years, and the variety and diversity of materials, tools, products and bargains are now wide and very vast. I personally use this event especially in September to stock up on Christmas Craft supplies, things like dies, stamps, embellishments, paper and card stock and it's always grea...

Seven Hills Crafts, formerly 'Make A Day Special' is a craft website dedicated to all your crafting needs based in Sheffield, UK. They sell US imported stamps from well known brands such as Lawn Fawn, Mama Elephant, Concord and 9th, Paper Smooches, Waffle Flower, My Favorite Things, Neat and Tangled and various other worldwide stamps, dies, and papercrafts to the UK market. This site is a God send. I make at least one order a week to these guys and if I had more money I would gladly give it to them! To be able to obtain and buy US stamps, dies and craft materials in the UK without having to pay overseas shipping is ama-zing - I only have to pay one price and no other price additional to what I am already paying in postage. The site used to be called 'Make a Day Special' before the name change which happened at the start of this year (2016) They rebranded from the previous UK based colours of red, white and blue, and the site and logos now have a bright and fre...

What do you do when you have way too many sequins, possibly have too many duplicates and you can’t find what you’re looking for? Well don’t do what I did and forget about it – get some storage for them! In the last 12 months, I’ve been fascinated by shaker cards and pockets letters, shaker cards possibly more, but the array of colours, the variety of sizes and combinations of mixes brings out a great interaction and specialty to a card and project and like me, I had never considered a new element papercrafting. With a few a packets bought over the first 4 months and then the increased escalation of buying more over the last 3 months, I decided to invest in sequin storage – but had no idea where to start. I looked to YouTube first, searched through my favourite crafters, cardmakers, scrapbookers and jewellers and they had invested in various storage solutions – mainly the Darice Storage Container Tray below, but for myself having 72 boxes was a little excessive – I do know ...

I heard about Simon Says Stamp many years ago through Kristina Werner and Jennifer McGuire, both of whom worked, designed or were (and still are) affiliated to the brand - they've designed stamp sets for them, done projects for them, created videos with them and their products and they were always a brand that I thought I would never be able to get hold of because of where I was based location wise - which is in the UK. I took the plunge in making my first order with them back in December 2014 and ordered nearly $60 worth of merchandise, which probably doesn't seem that much based on the US dollar but for me it definitely was - the shipping for the item total exceeding $50 was $20 and this hadn't been added to the total yet! Since that order, I have not looked back, I buy products from Simon when they have flash sales, as the shipping is worth it, or once maybe every 6 months as I can't really afford to buy from them more than 3 or 4 times a year. When I do...

If you do not follow me on Instagram already - please do - it's where I put up latest hauls, latest products I'm using, cards I'm creating, projects I'm undertaking - anything paper related, anything crafty related - I've got you COVERED! My Instagram is: melusmakes - please do come and follow me! Now, in recent months, I've been hauling, buying a lot of crafty related things, mostly papercraft while I've been out and about and also while being inspired by others - YouTube, Facebook, new releases by various stamping / dies companies and with Christmas in four months - I mean, how? It's a good time to be getting into the mix. Though, I do not do any Christmas crafting until the end of September! (that seems early doesn't it?) Anyways, I've been hauling, while being out about in the city (UK based) and on a recent trip to Bath, the craft buying didn't stop (even If I'm on a little break!) So here's one of my IG posts with the haulag...

Hi there guys! I have a mini craft haul in this blog post - the items I bought from Tiger and Paperchase - both stores based in the UK. Tiger Paper Tapes - £2 for a set of 3. They are several designs available in the store Coral and Green Paper Bows - £1 for two sets (50p each) Paperchase Paperchase have a few new ranges out at the moment, but they also have a great sale of which I purchased most of the items in this haul All Occasion Wide Wrap Tape - £3.50 (was £7.00) for approx. what looks like 15m+ Paper Tape (Blue) 10m - 50p (was £3.00) Medium Pink Jewels - 50p (was £2.75) Light Blue Small Jewels - 50p (was £2.75) A5 40 Foam Sheets (not pictured) £2.00 (was £4.00) in Natural Colours: White, Peach, Brown, Ivory, Black, White, Dark Brown and Grey So make sure if you're nearby to these stores that you pop in and have look at their new ranges!

Simon Says Stamp are having a huge 25% flash sale on all Simon Says branded products for THIS WEEKEND ONLY! So make sure that if you love their own branded dies, stamps, stencils, inks and so that you bag yourself a bargain this weekend with a few items. If you live in the US or Canada, shipping will be significantly cheaper then the UK and Europe, so do make sure you try and get your shipping's worth in products! UK shipping is $15 if you spend under $50 on the website (which includes the discount) Enter 'SSSFLASH' on the website where you can add a 'Promo Code' and 25% will taken off the main total. Bag yourself some wafer dies, stamps. inks and other Simon products to evolve and expand your craft collection! Happy Craft Shopping!