Crafting Live and a Poppy Tutorial for The Royal British Legion

Last weekend I had an Artisan Stall at the Crafting Live Event in Peterborough, that offered two days of Crafting with all proceeds from door entry, going to The Royal British Legion. 

The idea of the Artisan Stall was to share ready made up items for sale, so I'd spent the past week solidly making up things to share and sell on my Stall. 

I hadn't even had time to unpack from Onstage and go through my swaps to share with you, which I will do this week.

The day started early and I was positioned with some very talented crafters sat at their stalls. At 9.30am when the doors opened to the public, I started to meet some wonderful people ... two of which were members of my own fabulous Team, The Stampin' STYlettes. 

Allison and Fiona don't live far away, so popped in to see me and offer a friendly smile. Mind you ... the day didn't go without plenty more smiles and lots of chat with some lovely crafting ladies ... and gents. I so love the interaction with others, meeting people from all over the country, who had travelled far and wide to visit. Some were new to crafting, others well established, but all very friendly and complimentary of my stall. 

Be it that the event was supporting The Royal British Legion, I had decided to make up more of these Table Favours that I'd been giving in this month's classes. I offered them out for a small donation to the Charity. The Poppy disguised a wrapped Mint Chocolate Biscuit and were well received. 

I had posted these on my personal Facebook page and received an abundance of private messages, asking for how I made them, so decided to share some very basic instructions. 

You'd be amazed at just how simple they are to make ... just a formation of circles, ovals and a leaf. You might like to keep these instructions for next year. 

1. Cut Two Ovals of differing sizes and stamp using Kinda Eclectic sunburst image in the same Real Red as the cardstock.
2. Curl the edges using a bone folder (I have kept them flat here for the purpose of the photo). Snip into the centre where they over lap and interlock. 
3. Die cut the leaf from the Leaflets Framelits in Garden Green. 
4. Mount the poppy on a disc of Basic Black and sandwich your treat between that and another disc. Add the leaf and then the poppy head, before finishing it off with a smaller circle of Black Cardstock to the centre, which I've adhered using a single Dimensional foam pad. 

At one point in the day, I was asked if I wouldn't mind doing a presentation for the Crafting Live Team to record. Gulp! ... I hadn't gone prepared for this, but did have a spot of colouring to hand, from the previous night's class. I was expecting for the Artisan Stall to be located in a very different area, so hadn't planned my usual Make & Take, but when I found myself in the main Arena, right opposite the Make & Take station, I wish I had.    

So ... with Blender pen in hand, an Acrylic block and some Marker Pens, I set to doing a 3 minute presentation on using Blender Pens, in a rather nervous manner in front of two Cameras. Oh there was so much I felt I could/should have said afterwards, but nerves took the better of me ... 

... and these Merry little Mice were what I was colouring in. 

If I had the pleasure of meeting you at the weekend, then thank you for visiting my stall, it was a true pleasure to meet everyone that I met, to share my love for what I do. The Prize Draw I was running was drawn the next morning and the lucky winner contacted ... so Congratulations Barbara Walker ... Your goodies will be heading your way this week and I hope you will enjoy playing with them. 

I will share some more of my makes over the coming week as the build up to Christmas really kicks in.