Welcome to the new docrafts Design Team!

2015 sees a sad goodbye to some of our last Design Team but also a very welcome ‘Hello!’ to some fabulously creative peeps!

The lovely Katie Lamb suggested a Blog Hop as the perfect way to introduce our new team, so, here goes...

Part of my job at docrafts HQ is to talent spot inventive and original designers/crafters who can create projects to inspire members of the docrafts.com website (I love doing this!). The rest of the time I am a graphic designer, generating the FREE printable papers (my favorite task) and other marketing graphics all of which fits into part time hours, as I am also a mum of two beautiful (I am obviously biased...) daughters.

 

I also make and decorate cakes on a commission basis for the docrafts Creativity magazine – I sort of fell into this after winning a docrafts charity Bake Off and now spend a lot of time dreaming of all thing sugar (ok, not much change there then!). All in all, I have been in the craft industry for over twenty years – have been on QVC, demonstrated in-store, created new crafts brands, packaging, kits, managed a creative team of pees (before kids)...phew, it’s been a real journey and I love it!

 

I have also designed cakes for some of the Little Venice Cake Company kits which is pretty challenging. Here are a couple of my favs from last year boxed up ready to go into HQ for photography...

 

 

If you want to see our new DT’s docrafts galleries (so worth a look), then click here...

 

And please take the time to visit their blogs – we have some hugely talented ladies on the team...

 

Katie Lamb www.whatkatiedid2.blogspot.co.uk

 

Mary Johnson http://maryjdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Sarah Douglas Www.stickerkitten.co.uk

 

Michelle Gower www.scrapthology.blogspot.co.uk

  

Jill http://deliciousdesignsbyjillpryor.blogspot.co.uk/ You are here!

  

Doreen OBrien http://www.doreensdream.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Julie Wilson http://newnanny.blogspot.co.uk

  

Mags woodcock https://thetaglady.wordpress.com/

 

Plus Claire Green (Guest Designer) http://talesfromthe-craftroom.blogspot.co.uk/

 

You may also like to take a peek at the following crafty blogs (not taking part in the blog hop)...

Paula http://justforoneday11.blogspot.co.uk/

Katie Skilton http://www.katieskilton.com/category/blog

 Heather https://heathermitchelldesign.wordpress.com

Denise https://denisefletcher60.wordpress.com

Thanks for looking!

 

Jill x

Big Thanks Becky Blog hop!

Becky James is one of life’s good people. Not only is she a wonderful, caring person who always has time for you, but she is also a fabulous craft designer who has inspired me massively over the past few years.

 

So, the docrafts Design Team and a few other lovely crafty ladies, decided that we should create a Blog Hop in honour of the lovely Becky - this is the first stop (next stop at the bottom of the post!), so please grab a cuppa and join us!

 

I have had to pleasure to work with Becky at docrafts HQ where she has produced some really unique, gorgeously layered projects not only for docrafts.com but also for the docrafts Creativity Magazine and the online ‘In the Studio’ craft videos.

You can see her full docrafts gallery here which is full of stunning designs like these....

 

 

And here is her latest ‘In the Studio’ project, made with cupcake cases no less!

 

She is now spreading her wings to try out pastures new and explore her inner artist so, although I will miss her massively, I want to wish her all the best for her new venture and i hope it brings her everything she desires.

Becky – STAY IN TOUCH!

Love Jill x

Please stay with us and hop onto Louise Collins' blog post...

 

'Like' the docrafts Facebook page and grab your free printable papers!

Post by Official docrafts Page.

Frozen Olaf Birthday Cake

My house is ringing with the repeated "Let it Snow" song from the Frozen movie - my youngest daughter simply loves it, so I guess it was no surprise her brief for this year's birthday cake was for an Olaf theme! For me, this was a challenge as I have never seen the film, so, after a little online research and a lots of invested time  I came up with this...

 

I used Little Venice Cake Company 6" and 4" round tins to make the two sponges first, filled and covered them with sugarpaste then stacked them onto a deep covered board.

 

In the evenings in the lead up to this, I made a series of assorted light blue and white triangles from modelling paste and left them to dry out.

 

I also cut some large and small snowflakes, some of which I inserted white florist wire into to make the topper. I then used non-toxic PVA glue to secure some assorted Cousin crystal and pearl beads onto the wires and left them to dry.

 

 

Olaf was more challenging! Using modelling paste, I firstly made two balls, one for the body and one for the upper body and secured them together with a cocktail stick and sugar glue. The head was formed from a cone shape, the mouth modelled with Little Venice Cake Company Modelling Tools and in-filled with black modelling paste.

 

I made two indents for the eyes using the small end of the bone tool and stuck a small ball of black paste into each which I then pressed down with the bone tool. Add a ball of white onto each eye and finish with a small flattened ball of black.

 

I stuck the arms and detail on once the body and head had dried out (3 days).

 

Assembly was the best bit! The triangles are fab as they cover up any imperfections in the icing! The dark, watery effect top which Olaf is standing on was made by partially rolling together two tones of blue sugarpaste then rolling it out - it creates a lovely marble/watery effect. Always use a florist flower pick to stick your wired topped into to prevent the wire from touching the cake.

 

I can't wait for her to see it now! Thank you for looking!

 

Jill x

Dimensional Floral Birthday Card

I created this card for my Mum for her birthday using an assortment of docrafts products, focusing especially on the Xcut dies 'Flowers' (XCU 503195) and the 'Rectangular Parenthesis 2' (XCU 503045) designs. The papers used for the design are a  mix of two of the April Creativity Club printables 'Daisies' which I designed for docrafts.
 

 

You could create this card for any occasion, simply change the sentiment and lettering.

 

 

I love making dimensional, layered projects so the Xcut flower and leaf dies were perfect. I only had a Little Venice Cake Company modelling mat and ball tool to hand so I used these to curl the petals and create vein effects on the leaves.

 

 

I also adore making quilled paper roses - you can find a great tutorial for these here on

Nikki Smith's blog 'What Nikki Did Next'.

 

 

Thank you for looking!

 

Jill x

 

 

 

 

 

 

#docraftsmonday - Thank you to two special Dads

It's been a long couple of stressful weeks. My Dad has been in hospital twice, the most recent time was very serious; luckily, he is now through the worst. It puts everything in life into perspective and had made me re-focus on what is important; we should cherish every moment of every day.

 

I didn't have much time to pull together cards for Father's Day but I found a window yesterday and cobbled these together - it doesn't feel right buying cards for those special to me anymore!

 

My husband and I are each lucky enough to have great Dad's, so here are the designs I came up with using some docrafts Club printables from my stash...

The stamps were one of the free gifts from May's docrafts Creativity magazine. I used chocolate brown and dark blue ink to stamp and add a vintage effect around the edges of the Xcut die-cut shapes.

 

 I then added some buttons and string to finish off the designs.

 

Thank you for looking!

 

Jill x

 

Thrilling Quilling Sugarpaste Style

When the editor of docrafts Creativity asked me to create a cake with quilling on, I thought she was joking! Well, she certainly wasn't, so off I went to spent several evenings experimenting with different techniques to recreate a quilled design using sugarpaste - here’s the result…

 

I have to say that I LOVED the process of making this quilled hummingbird and I am now an official sugar quilling addict! Our Creative Director Katy Godbeer and Senior Photographer Jon Mackenzie made a fabulous job of taking the perfect snap of this cake – hats off to you both!

If you would like to find out how to make this cake step by step then pop down to your nearest stockists of the docrafts Creativity Magazine Issue 47 which is available now (June 2014 whilst stocks last). 

 

Find your nearest stockist and more info at www.docrafts.com

Thank you for looking!

 

Jill x