Valentines Giveaway

We are celebrating Valentines this week with a fabulous giveaway from Bridal Bling!

You can win yourself a personalised coat hanger, these are gorgeous and add the perfect touch to your wedding or make a great gift for someone who has everything!

To go in the draw is simple! Just sign up to the hand-made newsletter before midnight (WA time) on the 17th Feb 2013! The winner will be contacted via email on the 18th feb! Don't worry.. if you already subscribe to our newsletter your already in the draw! Yippee!

Sign up to our newsletter here.

Open to Australian residents only

Heart Garland

 What you need

* Paint samples
* Scissors
* Needle with large eye / Chanille needle
* Twine
* Extra piece of cardboard to make a love heart template



What to do
1) Draw and cut out a love heart template on your extra piece of cardboard

2) Place your template on the back of a paint samples and trace. 

3) Cut out your love heart, do steps 3 and 4 for each of your colour samples

4) Thread your needle with Twine. 

5) From the back of the paint sample stitch a large straight stitch in your love heart and move this along the thread of Twine
6) Continue to add love hearts to your twine 

7) Knot each end, evenly space the hearts and hang

Karma Rocks

What inspired you to start your business?

I have always had a love for gemstones, but found it was very difficult to get gemstone jewellery in the designs I wanted - so I started making them myself! Friends and family were asking me to make some for them too, and after awhile they pushed me to open my Facebook page. Since then I have expanded to personalised jewellery in sterling silver and gold filled.


What is your handmade business all about? 

Jewellery with a reason! Whether your reason is to show off your family, celebrate a milestone, or just to look pretty, Karma Rocks has something for every person, and every reason.

What do you enjoy most about your business?  

I love getting feedback from customers about their items - knowing I have instilled such pleasure in other people is amazing.






What is your favourite product to make?  

The SURVIVOR pendant - dedicated to celebrating the defeat of a disease or illness. Nothing is better that seeing someone beat cancer or other awful illnesses. It's a great reason to celebrate!










How did you learn your craft? 

I studied gemstones and their healing properties or many years on my own. As for the hand-created pieces... lots of time and practice!


What handy hints do you have for people who are starting up a hand-made business?


Make sure what you're doing makes you happy - you just can't fake passion. Put yourself out there but be tactful, and remember it's not about the number of fans you have, or whether you sell out in seconds - as long as you've got good quality items and great customer service, you'll go far.


What plans do you have for your business in the next year?

I'd love to get Karma Rocks items into some stores around NSW and Australia. Other than that, the plan for Karma Rocks it to keep making people happy!


Visit Karma Rock' Hand-Made shop

Rainbow Twirls Tutu Boutique

What inspired you to start your business? 

I saw a picture and made a tutu dress for my little baby girl's first birthday party. It took me ages to source the materials I needed but I really enjoyed the project and searching and figuring out how to do it. When my friends and family raved about Scarlett's little outfit, they all said I should make them and sell them. At the time I was suffering from quite severe depression, as I have done for most of my adult life, and was working with my psychologist on developing balance in my life. I was finding it hard to be interested in anything really. It took me 6 months before I opened this little business, during which time I researched and learned a lot about online selling and markets, and how to source materials at a price that would allow a profit etc. I finally got up enough courage to buy a bulk lot of tulle from overseas and put up a page and start offering my services. As I created I felt better and better, and people loved my dresses more and more. It's a hobby business, it's my sanity, my joy.

What is your handmade business all about?
I created colourful tutus and decorations to bring joy to little girls. I specialise in unique creations and working with customers on special designs. People love my design your own option, and I've built more and more options into my dresses over the year I've been in business. Recently I've branched out into making tulle pom pom decorations which are so so cute.

What do you enjoy most about your business?  
Playing with colour is a passion of mine. I love the never ending possibilities. I also love going to markets and talking to customers. The best thing is seeing girls from 0 - 90 years of age ooooing and ahhhing at the sight of all my dresses surrounding them and watching the years fall away as they delve back to childhood. Their joy is my joy. 

 
What is your favourite product to make? 
I love making my little tulle pom poms, I sit here with a big mess of tulle next to me and at the end of a session i'm left with a pile of perfect balls of colour.


How did you learn your craft?
A lot of trial and error, some reading online about how to do it.
What handy hints do you have for people who are starting up a hand-made business?
 Don't just sell products, sell a feeling, sell a lifestyle, sell something that means something else. Make things that you are passionate about and it will shine through. Try to build your range slowly and gather feedback as you go.


What plans do you have for your business in the next year?
I'm currently receiving a lot of orders and so I'm having to refine my business model to manage the increasing workload. Now that I've added tulle decorations to my range, my thoughts are also turning to what other party accessories I could make so one of my services may become a suite of party items that match.

Visit Rainbow Twirls Tutu Boutique

DIY Popcorn Tins

Popcorn tins are a great present to make with the kids. They are quick and easy to make and most of the ingredients you need will already be in your pantry. But best of all they are YUM and perfect for that hard to shop for family member.

Peanut butter and Chocolate Popcorn

Ingredients
1 cup un-popped popcorn
1 cup milk chocolate chips
½ cup smooth peanut butter
¼ cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1½ cups icing sugar


 
Method
1) Pop popcorn ( I used an air popper), remove any un-popped kernels and place aside for now.
2) Place chocolate, butter and peanut butter in a bowl and melt in the mirco-wave

3) Add in vanilla essence
4) Grab your popped popcorn, pour your chocolate mixture over the top and mix with a wooden spoon until covered.

5)  Sift icing sugar over chocolate covered popcorn, spread across a baking tray (or two) and refrigerate for 30mins to an hour.

6) Break apart and serve! or pop it into a tin as shown above ;)

If you do decide to do a half/half popcorn tin, put a piece of cardboard down the center of the tin before placing the popcorn into it. This will help keep the popcorn to one side while you add the second type of popcorn. Afterwards remove the cardboard and hey presto!

** This will keep for about a week (if you can resist it) in a sealed container and kept in your fridge

Slightly modified from original Recipe found here: A Tasty Recipe

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Sweet and Salty Popcorn

Ingredients

¼ cup butter
1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
½ cup corn kernels
4 tablespoons caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method

1. Melt butter with the oil in a large pot. Add the sugar and cook it until just very slightly golden
2. Stir in the corn kernels and salt and make sure everything is well-combined.
3. Cover with a lid and cook on medium-low heat until kernels stop popping. Be sure to shake the pot once or twice to make sure the kernels are cooking evenly.
4. Remove from heat and immediately toss with the salt and cinnamon and serve.

 *will keep in air tight container for approx 5 days depending upon weather (keep in a cool dark place) and if you can resist!

Recipe from here 

DIY Handpainted Wooden Beaded Necklace

Finished Necklace

What you need

• Natural Wooden beads
• Necklace
• Paint
• Masking Tape

Please note: we currently have some kits available which include the wooden beads and the necklace. Please visit our Hand-Made shop to purchase.

Steps:

1) Using masking tape cover a portion of the bead which will not be painted.

2) Paint the area of the bead which is not covered with masking tape, sit the beads on an even surface (so they do not roll away) to dry.

3) Once dry, slowly peel the masking tape off the bead.
4) Thread finished beads onto necklace

And there you have it, a simple but effective design on a necklace you have made yourself :) Experiment with the position of the masking tape to make different designs on your beads.

Buy a kit from our Hand-Made Shop.

Summer Lovin' on Hand-Made.com.au

This week in our newsletter we featured some great Summer finds from our sellers. There are so many wonderful products available I wanted to share a few more 'Summer Lovin' Finds with you.

Two Little Monkeys	MadebyRen	DichroicCreations
InkedbyMichanne	TeppyBDesigns	MummaWhoMakes
SydandMe	ALouyDesigns	NeckArt
CharliBearCreations	BlueWrenHandmade	BalisterDesigns