Good evening Crafters. My die collection is starting to overflow its current little box, so I've invested in a die storage case from Art Bin.

Its a robust plastic case that comes with three magnetic boards which are a little over A5 size. The case can hold up to 21 of these boards, which as far as I can see is this cases downfall. I picked this up from Hobbycraft for £7 and thought I'd buy a couple of packs of extra boards while I was there. They were out of stock, so I've searched the net for some and the best price is £6 for 3 boards. It would be just as cheap to buy another box, take the boards out and use the box for storage of something else.

Good Morning All, Well what a sporting weekend, first Lewis Hamilton storms the British GP, then Andy Murray wins Wimbledon.
If you're one of the many Hunkydory fans out there, you may have heard of their new box pop sets, on the farm and safari. On their website they are £14:99 each. Ever on the search for bargains I headed over to Katies Kabin where you can pick up both sets for the much more agreeable £17:99.

http://www.katieskabin.co.uk

Good morning to all you crafters out there. I'm in a quandry today, Andy Murray at Wimbledon, or Lewis Hamilton at the British Grand Prix. Choices, choices, its just the same at Printable Heaven, the new website I blogged about yesterday. The site is so huge you can spend hours flicking through all the crafty stash on the virtual shelves. I've been looking at their DVDs which seem really good value at £9:99, until I stumbled on this deal.

You get a pack of fifty 7 x 5 cards and envelopes and a FREE DVD worth £9:99 for £8:99, it's an absolute steal of a deal. There are 10 different DVDs available, so if you like the look of the DVDs then why not pick up a free pack of cards and put a pound back in your pocket!
If you like your cards a little smaller you can buy a pack of 50 A6 cards with a DVD for just £6:99, and at that price it would be rude not to pop them into your basket.

Just found an awesome new site for all you Scrimpy Crafters. Printable Heaven are a site that has pretty much everything for the digital crafter. Want a huge range of DVDs - check. Prefer to download them as individual packs - check. Want some free downloads to check out the quality - check again. There's even a pound store for crafting essentials, a huge list of step by step projects for inspiration, card kits, Debbie Moore Cds, dies, embossing folders, the list goes on and on. I've been trawling through the site for two hours and I'm still discovering new things,
Head over to
                       http://www.printableheaven.com
                                                                              to find out more.

Good morning Crafters,
                                       Just thought I'd remind you all that the latest issue of Crafters Companion magazine (Issue 10) has been out a little while and seems to be selling out fast. Of all of the plethora of craft magazines out there, Crafters Companion is the one I keep coming back to.

This new summer edition as well as the magazine, contains a DVD with paper kits from Verity Rose, Together Forever, Just for Men, Sugar & Spice and A Taste of India, plus a sneak peek at soon to be released English Country Garden.
Also on the DVD are loads of Sheena's Digi Stamps.
There's also a second DVD with 12 instructional step by step videos.
You also get 8 hexagon dies, an embossing folder, and a stamp set as well!
All in all you get over £50 of value.
Widely available on the web for £9:99, I picked it up on Ebay for £8:99 P&P included - Bargain!

The Weekend is looming again, so that must mean it's time for some more free downloads, so here are 10 bright and breezy papers for your stash. Enjoy!

Good morning Crafters, Just to let you know there is free P&P on everything at Create & Craft all this weekend.

Just picked up the latest issue of Hunkydory Magazine (issue 30) which comes from C&C with two free paper kits worth £15. With free p&p it would have been rude not to!

Good evening to all the scrimpy crafters out there.

Create & Craft have the the super cute Do Crafts Forever Friends paper pack at a lovely 56% off list price at just £12:99.

It includes 12 cards, 48 A4 die cut sheets, borders, 60 gems, and a stamp set. There is no excuse to make some of those cards that were all the rage in the 80's. With a beautiful gold and teal colour scheme with a splash of red, this kit is super value for money.

createandcraft.tv

Those crafty bargains just keep on coming! This set of dies are not in a sale as they are new out, but I'm a great fan of these Marianne design sets as they are so adaptable allowing you to build so many different characters. These little bears are also so cute too. There are 19 dies in the set in signature pink, so you won't lose them!

Available from https://buddlycrafts.com

Good Morning everyone, hope you are all well and enjoying crafting.
Colemans have a big summer sale on offering up to 50% off a huge range of craft supplies, and the Mr Mister range caught my crafty eye.

There is 25% off this range which as the name suggests is brilliant for all your male cards.

Visit  https://www.colemans-online.co.uk

Good evening to all my scrimpy crafters out there! I've found another super deal for your stash.
Fast becoming my favourite website, Every Crafts A Pound have a great range of paper punches from Tonic Studios. They usually retail between £4:99 to £10:99,  but you can pick them up for that magic price of just a pound.

Afternoon everyone, for the start of July it sure is breezy and damp! Good job I'm tucked up in the warm scouring the web for bargains. If your in the market for some matting and layering dies then I've found a fantastic bundle for you.

Visit Craft Stash at : https://www.craftstash.co.uk/creative-dies-big-bundle.html

This bundle from Craftstash gives you a total of 30 dies for just £23:99 in six different shapes.

Doorplate - largest die 6.5" x 4" - smallest die 2.25" x 1.25"

Scalloped Oval - largest die 6" x 4.25" - smallest die 1.75" x 1.25"

Ornate Frame - largest die 4.25" x 4.25" - smallest die 1.25" x 1.25"

Scalloped Circles - largest die 4.5" x 4.5" - smallest die 2" x 2"

Scalloped Squares - largest die 4.25" x 4.25" - smallest die 1.25" x 1.25"

Spiro Circle - largest die 4.5" x 4.5" - smallest die 1" x 1"

Hello Everyone, hope you are well.The nights are drawing in and Christmas will be here sooner than you think! So get your creative juices starting to flow here are some images that will be great for cards and scrapbooking. So break out those mince pies, put the sprouts on a low heat and start crafting!

Hello Everyone, hope you are all well and your crafty mojo is in fine form. Trawling the oceans of the internet I hauled up a cheerful little site by the name of Sunrise Crafts. I popped into their very tempting bargain corner and the dies below piqued my interest.

 As you can see there are some pretty big discounts on offer, and there is free postage and packaging on orders over £10.

Sunrise Crafts is a huge site and sells large ranges of paper, dies, stamps, embellishments, pens etc.
You name it they sell it and at very good prices .

Well worth a look.

http://www.sunrisecrafts.co.uk/

Spellbinders Prizm Die Cutting Machine

Spellbinders have re joined the market for small die cutters, so now sitting alongside the Tattered Laces Baby Blue and the Diamond Press is the new nattily titled Prizm.

Sitting alongside is not quite right as at least on price it sits in between the two. With the Diamond Press aiming at the budget market with a measly £15 price point and the Baby Blue easing in at just under£40, Spellbinders have launched the Prizm with a mid price of £25.

First impressions are good with a natty blue and white design, with a square functional design that stands away from the cuddly curves of the Baby Blue. Unlike the Baby Blue it has a max die size cut of about 2 1/2 inches compared to the Blues 3 1/4. 

Its held down by a large suction foot on the bottom and is supplied with mini versions of the standard A + B plates, embossing plate, and embossing matt.

It does seem a little strange launching the Prizm as they only launched their Sapphire Mini Die Cutter just over a year ago in direct competition to the offering from Tattered Lace. With its squarer, block like design the production costs are obviously cheaper, and so it seems the Prizm is leaner more toned version of the Sapphire with a funky makeover and a price point aimed to carve it's own niche in the market. 

Reviews out on the web are generally favourable. As ever the question is are these aimed at the existing die cutters who would like a smaller handier machine for those little jobs, or those crafters who have never used dies and would like to try it out at a low cost.

Available from Hobby Craft for £25

Hello Everyone, As usual on the hunt for more crafty bargains from the depths of the internet, I found these handy little embellishment packs for plainly ridiculous prices as you can see. You can never have enough die cut words, shapes and alphabets to finish off your cards or scrapbook pages and these look so good I threw several of them into my basket. There's a £2:99 p&p charge for orders under £25 so as with most sites it's always cost effective to browse the rest of the store and fill your basket while you're there.

http://www.craftclearance.co.uk/

 REVIEW - CRAFTERS COMPANION DIAMOND PRESS CUTTING MACHINE

Hello everyone,

The Diamond Press is a mini (and I really mean mini!) die cutting and embossing machine. It’s so small it can practically fit into your pocket - well almost and it’s super easy to use! It doesn’t have any ‘plates’ like a regular die cutting machine does, instead you cut inside a folder (like an embossing folder) so you literally pop your card/paper over the die and into the folder and in just 3 simple turns of the handle it’s cut! The cutting size is quite small, about the size of a credit card. That said it amazed me just how many dies I own would fit through it. 

For anyone new to the world of die cutting, then this is absolutely the most affordable way to give it a go. I was quite surprised just how much I used it compared to my big die cutting machine. I don't have a dedicated craft room, so have to lug everything out onto the dining room table to craft, but I found myself batch crafting on a tray in front of the TV with a box of scrap paper and a selection of dies  

I’ve had one now for about 6 weeks and it's proved very useful and I've used it a lot more than I thought it would.

There are a couple of drawbacks. You need a very smooth surface for the suction cup to work, in mid use it has become detached on a number of occasions. Not a deal breaker, but a mild annoyance. You also have to cut all your scrap paper into credit sized bits to fit into the cutting folder, so you find yourself batch cutting, so you can do batch die cutting! The final downside is the little cutting folder, I have mine six weeks and its looking the worse for wear. The seam is a little split, and the material is so thin you can start to feel the cut marks on the outside of it, I'm not sure how long it will last before needing replacement.

6 standard and 6 long replacement folders are available from Crafters Companion  for £9:99 but seem permanently out of stock.

The most affordable option is from HobbyCraft who at the moment have it on offer with three dies for £15. It's also available as a set with 16 dies, stamp set and six embossing folders for £59:99 from Crafters Companion. To me if you already own a die cutting machine and a collection of dies then the basic version represents the best value by a long way.

To sum up I'd give it 7/10. It's not a machine that can replace your main die cutter, but as an additional machine, or low cost introduction to die cutting it is a very useful machine. It's light, portable, and would be ideal to take to a craft club or on holiday etc. However the cutting folders may have a limited life and unless replacements are more readily available then it could be collecting an awful lot of dust!

Buddly Crafts have these these new cut-ies dies in stock and you'll have to agree that they are just so cute. They can combine together in lots of different themes, I particularly love the boat, whale and fish dies.

 Prices are from just £1:70 to £4:79.

https://buddlycrafts.com

 Another bunch of free papers for your crafty stash. Spots , gingham and even a splash of bold tartan.