Let Me Introduce...Crafty Lil' Lel

Well, wedding fever is riding high at the moment (no, not my own); as my Best Friend is due to get wed next year and the planning HAS commenced!  I take my role as chief bridesmaid very seriously - so it was lovely to come across a small business, which has grown from the owner's own creativity, when it came to putting her wedding together.  Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce...Crafty Lil' Lel.

Crafty Lil' Lel, or Lesley Pamphilon Fox as she is known to her friends, dreamt up her card business after planning her own DIY wedding.  As Lesley and her beau were paying for their big day themselves, Lesley handmade as much as she could to make the day as affordable as she could. 

This set off her brainwave of creating beautiful, unique and affordable handmade cards, bags and gift tags for the masses.  Not one to be deterred from her already busy workload (Lesley helps to run the family business by day), she very much endorses her tagline 'where every card has its day', by creating designs for more unusual occasions from Twin Birthdays to Thank Yous for Teachers, something she feels we don't see enough of in the the commercial card market.

Taking her inspiration from magazines as well as ideas from her younger siblings, Lesley creates individual designs and never makes the same design twice.  She says whilst it is hard to pick out a best seller, her butterfly designs (much like the button butterfly opposite) are hugely popular, as everyone of any age loves to receive butterflies!  The most important ethos that she has built her business by, is ensuring that she creates cards that she would buy, therefore, appealing to a like-minded customer base.  Her latest collection, named 'Lel's Buttoned It', features a collection of designs with buttons.  Like this lovely card for a teacher.  After the success of her button-themed Christmas cards, this new collection revives her button designs in a new, colourful and unique way.

 

Whilst she enjoys running her card business and is proud to have seen it grow from its humble beginnings, Lesley says life as a small business owner can be challenging, often she works full weekends at craft fairs and this can leave little time for her social life.  Things don't seem to be slowing down though, as Lesley's cards have just been accepted to be sold in Realitas, a shop in Peterborough and she has plans to have her lovely creations sold in more independent retailers too!  No rest for the wicked, indeed!

If you are in need of cards, why not pop over to Lesley's site here --> http://www.craftylillel.co.uk/ and why not head over and give her Facebook page a like too, to be kept up to date with her latest designs and events, here -->  https://www.facebook.com/CraftyLilLel

Crafty Lil' Lel can also be found on Twitter https://twitter.com/craftylillel

The Handmade Home: Papercut Writer

I've always admired the work of Rob Ryan and the likes.  The intricacies of Papercutting really interest me, I've seen such beautiful artwork in this form and have really wanted to give it a try.  I love the depths that Papercut artwork creates and, particularly with Rob Ryan's work, there is a certain 'life' to the flimsy and magical world he creates with his laser-cutting techniques.

The delicious and quirky world of Rob Ryan

Father's Day was in fear of coming and going this year.  I've been so busy writing, blogging, raising Daisy and planning ahead to post-Mat Leave work that trips to town are becoming scarcer by the week.  This year, to mark Mr Peachy's first Father's Day, not to mention avoid the Paperchase queues like the plaque, I decided I would try my hand at some simple Papercutting to make a card for Mr Peachy.

John Lewis stocked a very handy and inexpensive pack, which consisted of a self-healing craft mat and craft knife and I bought some black card and pastel paper to practice free hand writing on. It didn't take too long to get to grips with the amount of pressure the craft knife needed and the results, two hours and several feeds later, was quite accidentally a Kid Acne inspired piece of writing!
To help enhance the words, I placed some pastel peach paper on the inside of the cardand added Daisy's painted footprints (I had only had the stamina to do one set with her - the hands will have to wait); accompanied by the message 'thank you for helping me to find my feet'.

Overall, I was impressed with how quickly I felt confident in gliding that craft knife across the paper, there was a certain ease to it, though I now feel I want to try my hand at some more intricate images and challenging italics (never satisfied).  

I might not be quite up to scratch just yet, but this simple technique has definitely given me the bug for paper cutting.  Watch this space for more papercut 'masterpieces' to come!

Have you ever wanted to try a craft?  What was it and how did you get started?