now on facebook

Finally we signed up for a facebook account! We thought this might be even a faster way of keeping you informed about what is new in the shop!

You can find us under Freshly Crafted Hout Bay

looking forward to meet you there!

Short note on classes: During the school holidays (23rd September and 30 September ) no Thursday Morning Scrapbooking Classes!

However the ladies will meet for a social scrap´n chat on thursday 30th September from 9am to 12 at the shop!

Melissa and Doug - new stock just arrived!!!

Our very popular DYO (decorate your own) Craft Packs of Melissa & Doug just arrived and are back in stock again!
They always make a nice birthday present at good value. We have the butterfly and heart boxes, the treasure chests are back and new are the "petite purses".

For those indoor winter days we also stock a nice selection of their wooden jigsaw puzzles, cardboard puzzles and other crafty activity kits.

NEW TCHIBO TCM RANGE from Germany in stock

Some of you might have already discovered that we have another addition in our shop: The german Tchibo TCM range!

I am really happy that I can offer you those products. From "back home" I know that they have really nice quality products at great value.

What is it all about?
The Tchibo Company started out as a Coffee Roasting Company in 1949 and became very well known for their good quality.
"In the early 1970s, Tchibo started expanding its offerings to include a few choice consumer goods. Today, each week Tchibo offers its customers a new selection of roughly 30 products based on a common theme, under the heading “A new experience every week.”  Their own label TCM (Tchibo Certified Merchandise) was born and proofed to be very successful and nowadays Tchibo sells its quality goods through over a thousand branches throughout Europe. Besides their brick and mortar shops they also offer their items in their very attractive online-shop.


We at freshly crafted are not an official franchise but we are lucky that we can now order the TCM products once a month.
 
I am fully aware that we yet do not stock the full range but be assured that we will add and grow continually with your feedback!
As those products are very different to our existing portfolio we launched on a small scale and we would like to hear your feedback!

Also what you would like us to focus on e.g. kitchen, kids, ladies, men or ???

To keep you informed about new arrivals we have got a list in the shop for you to leave your name and contact details and we will keep you informed once we receive new stock.

You can find us at the Oakhurst Farm Park. For all of you outside Hout Bay: this is the little shopping Center with KWIK Spar and Scarecrows family restaurant on MainRoad Hout Bay -heading towards Constantia Nek on the right hand side.

Our opening hours are daily 9am - 5pm

We are looking forward to welcome you soon!

South Africa has won the Cup !!!!!!!!

Local is Lekker

It is hard to believe these days BUT beside the SOCCER other great competitions are taking place and South Africa has won the HANDMADE WORLDCUP !!!

        photo copyright of  

www.rikrakstudio.blogspot.com

 If you want to learn more about this Competition and our stunning South African Crafters head over to the vibrant and ever inspiring blog of rikrak studio!


And last but not least: one of the creative designers who has been voted stocks in our shop! It is Jezze with her lovely handprinted bags, purses and broches! 
Here you can read about her work and art!

Scrapbook Classes during Winter Holidays

Due to the "loooong" winter holidays we will also have a break for the Scrapbooking lessons.
Kim will be back on the 8th of July !!!!

If you want to come and join for a casual Scrap and Chat, meet the ladies for a creative morning: feel free to pop in at regular "Scrapbook-Hours" on Thursdays between 9am and 12:30.
Even though no teacher is around you are most welcome and of course we´ll have a cuppa coffee for those cold winter days!

See you soon!

Scrapbooking Evening Class Starting TODAY

Hi there everybody!

It has been some time since the last post and there is a reason for it - I had a little break and visited family in Namibia. It was great to be there, meeting family I haven´t known before and spending some quality time with my little one...

...well I hope those recharged Batteries of mine will last again for a long time and off we go starting our

NEW EVENING SCRAPBOOKING CLASS TODAY

Thursday 7th May at 7pm at the shop

Directions to get there: Travel outside Hout Bay towards Constantia Nek. We are at the little Shopping Center called Oakhurst Farmpart - next to Kwikspar and Scarcrows Family Coffeeshop!

Hope to see you there!

Classes next week: Dates and Time

For the upcoming week the following classes are planned:

THURSDAY 8th of April 2010:

Morning 9h - 12h: regular Scrapbooking with Karen (for Kim)
Bring your own theme of photos and scrap together in a relaxed atmosphere under guidance of a teacher

NEW EVENING: 7pm (beginner) / 7.30pm (advanced) till 10pm with Mandy
This is a new class starting out now this week for all who cannot make it in the mornings.
Mandy will help you to get started into scrapbooking and teaches you the basics as well as supports the more advanced scrapbookers with ideas and inspiration!

Mandy will bring along a layout for the evening which can be used for all kinds of themes (mothersday - family  - children). She calls it her P.O.Box - Page.... 
As it is the very first class with her please bring some photos of your loved ones and Mandy will explain and show you the idea behind this page - I am sure you will like it!

As this class will run not during regular shop opening hours BOOKING is ESSENTIAL. Please book in the shop for this class and leave your contact details in order for us to confirm the class on the day (as we need a minimum of participants).
Costs will be R 100 for advanced and R 150 for beginners (as they will also have more time for some extra introduction).

GET CRAFTY FOR MOTHERS DAY on Saturday 10th of April

We will offer 2 workshops on this saturday - in the mornings one workshop aimed for teenager and the afternoon for adults or moms and daughters.


Teenager 10am - 12pm:
Children / Teenager  (9yrs and older) will make a "scrapped" photo holder which makes also a nice gift for Mothers Day. It is a cute project with a nice product at the end of the class.
Costs for Material R 70 plus teacher

Adults or Moms and daughters 2 pm - 4pm:

With a printers tray blank as your starting point you will make and scrap a "memory box" which makes a nice gift especially now maybe for mothersday (what to give moms who have got EVERYTHING - think handmade!)

If you want to use it for a mothers day present we recommend to bring along:

- photographs of your mother  / family
- memorabilias (small items that have a meaning for you. This could be little things like i.e. an entrance ticket, a piece of fabric, a broche, hair pin, poem or whatever will show a link between you and your mother)


In case mothers day is not your piece of cake you can alternatively make a beach scene tray. Here is some inspiration... - bring some shells, sand, cord - whatever you want to have in your personal piece of art!

photo from http://www.art.com/

                                                               photo from http://seabreezes.typepad.com

We certainly will provide you with a printers tray blank, paint, nice paper, material, hot glue gun and stamps you can use.....

FOR BOTH WORKSHOPS WE NEED YOUR PRE-BOOKING BY THURSDAY 8th of APRIL !

62 ways to decorate an Easter Egg.....

...if you need some more inspiration for your last minute egg decorating...

 

all photographs from www.MarthaStewart.com

I thought I will share with you this link to the 62 Easter egg decorating ideas from Martha.  Many ideas - many different styles...there will certainly be something for you, too....!

                                                    photo from www.marthastewart.com

Some nice ideas for Easter Holiday Crafts with children you will find here!

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL OUR CUSTOMERS AND FRIENDS !!!

Upcoming Classes...

Now with the Easter holidays I wanted to let you know about the current classes and those we plan to run!

Tuesday Morning Scrapbooking Group:

During the holidays there will be no classes on tuesday mornings as Kim is in Australia

Thursday Morning Scrapbooking Group:

Even though Kim is in Australia sourcing the latest Kaisercraft goodies for us :-) we will run the classes as normal.

Kim organised that Karen will run the classes on thursday for her.

Karen has got years of scrapbooking experience herself and she knows Kim and her style for a long time. 

I am sure she will enjoy it as much with you "regular" ladies :-) to meet all of you from 9 to 12 and create more stunning pages!!!

!!! NEW !!! NEW !!! NEW !!!

EVENING CLASSES STARTING ON THURSDAY 8th of APRIL with MANDY

We are happy to offer now also evening scrapbooking classes on thursday evening from 7 pm / 7.30pm till 10pm !!!

Mandy - our new teacher -  is originally from Jo´burg but lived for some time in Dubai. She recently returned back home to South Africa and is now in Hout Bay - ready to light your creative fire...

Mandy has got a lot of experience in teaching papercrafts as she did so in Jo´burg as well as in Dubai and even participated successfully in Scrapbook-Competitions! 

No matter if you are a beginner or advanced Scrapbooker - 

you can all sign up for the evening class!

For beginners the class will start at 7pm and for the advanced of you at 7.30pm. 

This will give Mandy some time to introduce you as a beginner to some necessary basics....

Costs for the class are R 100 for advanced and R 150 for beginners.

As the evening class requires more planning BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL !!!

Please send me an e-mail to freshlycrafted(at)mweb.co.za or sign up in the shop and please leave us your telephone number that we can confirm if the class has got the required minimum participants.

We have also 2 weekend - holiday classes up the sleeve....more about it here within the next days.....so make sure you check back!!!

New "crafty" stock arrived !!!

Finally we received the long awaited order for new stock in the kiddies section ......

As for the children gifts we try to have always a nice selection of little gifts that have an artsy or crafty touch.

Something for them to introduce them to MAKE things.....

So I am totally happy with the new stock from Melissa & Doug!

Here is a preview of some of the new more crafty products we have got now on stock- decorate your own heart box, race car bank, suncatchers, beadsets and much more...

Also from Melissa & Doug we got again the popular wooden peg puzzles as well as some of the classic wooden toys like the take along toolkit, wooden stackers, fruit play etc. ...

If you are not familiar yet with the Melissa & Doug brand you can look up more about the company and their values on their website  http://www.melissaanddoug.com

We like this brand especially because they take the safety aspects of their products really serious. They might be a bit more pricey then some other wooden toys on the market but after all we have a good feeling about their products especially for the younger ones.

They regularly test their products and have an audit, inspect and test routine at various phases of their production process implemented.

Additionally, they specifically test their paints and coatings very frequently, to be sure that their toys meet or exceed government recommendations limiting heavy metals and lead in children’s items.  To be on the safe side they also get their results verified by 3rd party independently accredited testing laboratories, considered by many to be the best scientific laboratories in the world.
Statements and more can be looked up on their website, too.

BRAND NEW and never in the shop before are

the Bambury Sticky Mosaics from the Orb Factory!
Those craft sets are ideal for children (as the mosaics are made of a foam like material) and they come in all sorts of different themes - single packets and full sets (ideal also for entertaining the kids at parties)....

The products of the Orb Factory also comply to the CPSIA standards for child safety. These standards are generally considered the most rigorous in the world and are recognized by toy industries and government agencies globally. If you want to learn more about the CPSIA standards click here for more info.

We hope you like our new products as much as we do!

All feedback, ideas and recommendations are highly appreciated - let us know what you like!

Ideas for Easter (1)

Easter is approaching fast and we had customers looking for ideas for Easter Crafts and others were looking for inspiration for a Easter Hat.....

For the Easter Hat we came up with the following idea:

The hat our customer has got is made of straw in a turquoise color....we thought about ideas that would be easy to do and also wouldn´t break the bank. So we came up with a handful of pretty colorful paper flowers (from the scrapbooking section), a pretty ribbon (1m) and a little wooden cutout duck shape.

The duck shape will be painted in yellow (just use regular craft paint), the flowers can either be glued on the hat or sewn (if you would like to use the hat afterwards without the flowers) and the pretty ribbon tied around. The duckling goes on top of the petals.

As the work is for sure in progress at the moment :-) I haven´t got a photo yet.

For more ideas on Easter Bonnets I searched the web and in case you look for a similar hat idea here is a tutorial I found at 

http://www.makingfriends.com

 You can look up at their website or use the following supplies:

-  a hat that you have got at home (it could be any summer hat)

-  pipe cleaners

-  felt in pink and white (or chose brown and white for the ears)

-  eyes

-  and some pompoms

-  project glue

All the crafty supplies you can find in our craft section - want to give it a try?

in love with felt...

...as some of our customers might have realized - one of my personal favorite materials to work with is felt.

We had already quite a lot of books about felt craft for sale and it seems as some Hout Bay´ers seem to share this love...

I see a lot of school market days these days and often moms come to the shop looking for ideas and supplies. A great source for ideas is indeed the web. Many really talented crafters out there generously share ideas and often provide free tutorials (but check out if they are allowed for selling the items!).

Today I wanted to share with you an easy but very cute BUTTERFLY BROOCHES tutorial from Laura which I found on her blog and feltshop:  www.lupinhandmade.com .

I think it is a lovely project you could also do at home with your girls, at birthday parties etc. !!!

You will need:

- two pairs of buttons, one pair slightly larger than the other

- some colourful felt. Any felt will do for the decorative detail but thicker/stiffer felt is better for the main butterfly shape - eg acrylic felt is also available at our shop in the crafty area.

Laura used acrylic felt. If you're worried about your felt not being sturdy enough, just add an extra layer between the front and back piece.

- matching sewing thread

- a brooch back or safety pin

First cut out your pattern pieces - if you print the pattern sheet (see end of Laura´s post) at 100% your brooches will be the same as Laura´s, approx 6cms across, just print it larger to get larger butterflies and to be able to use bigger buttons. You need one body piece in black or brown, and two colourful wing shapes. 

All the pieces she has cut out for her "in progress" shots are brown as she decided to use the pattern to make some moths.Next choose your buttons to match - again, hers are brown to suit the moth but you can have lots of fun playing around with colours.

Curious to give it a try? You can get felt and buttons at our little place and read the complete tutorial in Laura´s original blogpost!

Photos and Tutorials copyright by Laura www.lupinhandmade.com

Paper Goodies Tuesday!

Just as a reminder and info for all new here on this blog:

TUESDAY is not just another tuesday - in November last year we introduced the freshly crafted PAPERGOODIES TUESDAY !!!

What does it mean?

Every tuesday we will have new paper or new stock for the Scrapbooker / Cardmaker Community!

And now NEW: 
Kim - our new scrapbook teacher - will now supply a new layout together with the new paper and accessories!

So come in and have a look... :-)

The People behind our products: Jezze B.

Now that I am setting up this blog I wanted to share with you how I found one of the talented Cape Town designers who stocks her goodies in our shop: goog-ling through the web - hopping from one craft blog to the next with oh´s and ah´s and "I really want to try that, too!!!"

Jezze is a Cape Town Illustrator and I would say by now a great hand printer, too!

To learn more about the things she makes hop over to her blog or her website: www.http://jessebreytenbach.withtank.com and see how she developed her style and technique.
Here are a few samples of her fabrics and purses (which are available in our shop, too!)

We stock also a few of her bags as well as broches in the shop.

 More variety of her work you can see and also buy online at her Etsy Shop: Jezze Prints

All photos are copyrighted by Jezze B.!!!

Let´s get started!

Fascinated by the overwhelming ideas on all those craft blogs in cyberspace I always wanted to start blogging from our little shop.... It took me now much longer then expected as always time was running but now there is a VERY GOOD REASON to start today!!!

We are going to have a huge Scrapbooking Sale from this coming Saturday 27th of February 2010 running for 1 week !!!

All cardstock, paper, embellishments etc. will be off 25 % - some goodies are even marked off 40%

Don´t miss out this opportunity and get your supplies for all those holiday pages to make!!!

More exciting news from the Scrapbooking Corner will follow within the next days - please come back to check!