Mothers Day

I'm sure you've all remembered it's Mothering Sunday on 2 March!
Sadly my own mum passed away many years ago but I do have a lovely stepmum and thought I'd show you the card I've made for her today.
I've mounted the main photo (her dancing with my very suave-looking dad, what an attractive couple they make, doncha think?) onto some nice textured coordinating paper and the background paper is a striking repeat close up of my stepmum Margaret. It's finished with a handmade Happy Mothers Day greeting tag secured with a lovely gold brad. The card insert is personalised and printed in the same typeface to match the greeting tag
...now I KNOW she isnt going to receive another card quite like it!

Orders for your own personalised photograph greetings cards, announcements or invitations can be made by just giving me a call! As I like to say - handmade is special - adding a name makes it personal - using their photo makes it UNIQUE!

...until next time, please treasure your mum!

Focus on Crystal Velvet Weddings

How lovely to hear my Wedding Special has been featured on another great Blogsite, check it out here http://crystalvelvetweddings.blogspot.com/

Karen designs beautiful bespoke tiaras and jewellery and her Crystal Velvet Weddings blog features not only her own designs but a wonderful selection of all things weddingy - a perfect place for the bride to be or her friends & family to visit for inspiration and suppliers

Karen's work can also be found here http://www.crystalvelvet.co.uk/ and here http://www.beadsbydesign.co.uk/ so I hope you'll pay her a visit and enjoy looking at her beautiful things

...until next time, thanks for featuring Focus Karen!

Perfect Kaleidescope Designs

Kaleidescope effects can be used to create all sorts of innovative gifts - from unusual double sided hanging baubles like the one shown here - to multi layered baubles giving a more 3D effect - to framed Kaleidescoped pictures - or as a striking and uniquely personal feature on a handmade greetings card, invitation or announcement for a special person or occasion


Some tips for selecting the perfect photo to submit for your Focus Kaleidescope gift are:

* most subjects can be used - people, animals or perhaps a child's drawing to create an unusual keepsake

* I can re-size your photograph when making the Kaleidescope so dont worry too much if you think the image is too small, you'll be amazed at what can be achieved

* similarly, if there are items in the foreground or background of your photo that you don't like, fear not! The Kaleidescopic nature of the design often makes a lovely pattern from the most mundane everyday items within a photograph!

....so until next time, see your photos with a new eye...then give me a ring to discuss your order!

Perfect 3D Photographs

Just thought I'd post some tips and ideas for selecting the perfect photos to submit for your Focus on Life 3D design!

* group photos are always good and 3D techniques give them a whole new life & dimension
* not just weddings - school photos, sports teams, stag/hen groups, family events, club groups...
* having other items in the foreground/background is even better - eg trophy presentations
* if the group looks great but your background is poor, dont worry - I can change it!
* so just think, you could be outside the off licence...but I can put you outside a manor house!
* 3D techniques can still be used in a photo with just one or two people in, we have the power!

I hope this begins to show you why each design & quotation is personal to you. Your photograph will dictate the number of "layers" that can be used - and of course, more layers gives an even greater 3D effect. Your own taste dictates the materials that can be used in the design, you may like simple, modern lines or simple embellishments - or you may like a touch more detail or glamour with gemstones, sequins, ribbons, glitter, Flowersoft etc

....until next time (when I'll share some Kaleidescope design tips!), subscribe for your regular email update from Shaz! Thanks for dropping by x

Foolish Friends

Here I am with just some of my samples at the Craft Fair organised by Foolish Friends in Lostock Hall, Preston yesterday. Big thanks to Lindsey & Geoff for organising such a lovely event, not only were there lots of wonderful and innovative craft stalls but we had live entertainment no less! Folk musicians, clog dancers, first aid demonstrations from St John's Ambulance - there was no end of interesting things to look at (not least my stall!)
















I certainly hope they organise another but, until next time, a big hello to everyone who took part and visited us on the day...who knows, you might be reading this Blog right now, you know who you are! Thanks, Shaz x

Cats

As I'm busy getting ready for tomorrow's Craft Fair, I'll just leave you with a couple of funny photos of my cats - Missy doing her ET impression amongst the cuddly toys! - and Bonny trying his best to get the last poppodom out of the bag!
...until next time, enjoy your weekend

Wedding Special

I try to be a girl of my word so, here it is, a photo of the Keepsake Kollection Wedding Special I promised you.

I love these frames, theyre a nice big size (A3) with a deep enough recess to make a striking feature of the memories from any special event.

Here the bride's garter has been put under glass (instead of in her knicker drawer!) and a real box of confetti is raining down on the happy group!...

...and I hope this close up side-view of the wedding party gives you just an idea of how the photograph can be brought to life using careful cutting and layering techniques - believe me, with this many people in the shot, it takes some doing! But its a labour of love and the finished effect is well worth the effort.

...until next time, make your life a labour of love! x Hippy Chick!

Traditions Craft Fair, Preston - 23 February 10am-4pm

Just a reminder that we'll be appearing at the Traditions Craft Fair this Saturday 23 February at the Lostock Hall Community High School, Todd Lane North, Lostock Hall, Preston (PR5 5UR if you're entrusting your journey to a sat nav!). Thank you to Lindsay from Foolish Friends who's organised the crafters for this event, I'm really looking forward to it!

I'll be bringing along my first Keepsake Kollection Wedding Special to show everyone on Saturday. These are the BIG recessed frames (imagine A3 size and you're pretty much there) which can take not only my multi-layered 3D photograph designs but real keepsakes from the day, making them an extra-special gift for the bride & groom - or their attendants - or their parents - after the big day

....if the lighting's right tomorrow, I'll post a photo of this first sample so you can see it, just in case you can't get to Preston to see it in the flesh. If you havent already, please register for your FREE email subscription, then I'll email you as soon as it's here

...until next time, make today your special day!
Shaz x

Grandparents Memory Box

Well here it is, the first Focus Memory Box finished! I currently have the boxes available in this silver colour and a bronzey/gold finish. Theyre lovely, deep, substantial boxes with opening fronts and a nice clasp with the word MEMORY in big letters on the glass

On this sample, the old black & white photo (of my grandparents!) has been decoupaged to 5 layers and mounted onto bright pink card and embellished with a bright pink brad. The colour photo of them in their later years has been turned into a background effect and mounted onto silver mirror card to match the box. As a final embellishment, I mounted a small version of the colour photo onto stampboard which had first been inked in coordinating colours

I'm SO looking forward to making these for babies with their first little shoe or dummy or another keepsake inside, how sweet would THAT be?...

...and for weddings with the garter featured and any other mementos from the day

...until next time, remember its important to remember...oh, I've forgot what I was gonna say now!

Memory Boxes

I've started work on my first Memory Box piece this week so watch this space for a photo as soon as its done (subscribe for a FREE email update so you get to see it first!)

I'm really pleased with the boxes and cant wait to see how they look made up. They're not only great for my "3D" photo designs but, with a particularly deep recess and opening front, they're perfect for holding keepsakes and mementos that are fairly bulky - like a baby's first shoe or dummy or a christening gift or a wedding horseshoe or 21st keys, the opportunities are endless! - and theyre going to be perfect for veterans designs where hard-earned medals can remain accessible for anyone who wants to take them out to examine up close

...until next time, preserve your memories, they're priceless

Craft Fair Sat 23 Feb!

Oh my giddy aunt, I have a craft fair THIS Saturday, I really need to knuckle down and get some new samples made! All my work is made to order so I like to try and display different ideas of how I can use your OWN lovely photos in a new and interesting way. Or better still, how you can give other people's photos back to them in the form of a card or gift unlike any other they'll ever receive, the look on their faces is amazing and well worth that extra effort!

So, until I get some brand new things made up, here's a sample I'll be taking along to Preston on Saturday - a multi layered hanging bauble of my little neice when she was a tiny person with a matching card - the card has its own mini bauble attached along with a tea-bag embellishment that matches its background design and card-insert

...until next time, cherish your tiny-people, they wont stay tiny for long!

(except for me of course, I'm only 4' 11")

Vera

Ooh it looks like Spring is springing, we have yet another beautiful weekend here in the Rossendale Valley!
Just thought I'd share this lovely image of my mum Vera in her wartime uniform. Sadly she passed away many years ago but I just love this modern twist on a classic war-years photo, the kind we all have of our parents & grandparents - for me it evokes memories of the old and new in one glance
...until next time, remember there are lots of ways to keep your loved ones around you x

Rossendale Radio

I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day but, if you're smarting from a lack of love tokens in your house, remember there are 364 other days you can give & receive love!

I want to say a big THANK YOU to Tony Nixon of A1 Creative here in Rossendale who graciously spared me hours of his own time yesterday to demonstrate just how a high-tech radio advert is produced!

Having never seen the inside of a production studio before, I now have a new-found respect for the work and skill that goes into producing even the shortest of jingles and advertisements we hear everyday - not only on our radios but in all sorts of other places - even entertaining us whilst we're hanging on the phone!

Tony is spearheading efforts to secure a local radio station for the Rossendale area and I'm sure you'll join me in wishing him every success, he can be found at http://www.a1creative.net/ if you'd like to ask him about the new station, advertising opportunities or your production needs

...until next time, have a lovely weekend x

It's almost Valentine's Day!

Besides trawling through lists of craft fairs trying to decide where else to go & when, I managed to make my babe's Valentine's card today. It's a star-shaped card in bright colours tied open with a coordinating ribbon with 3 little kaleidescoped pop-out photos of yours truly inside so he can gaze at me lovingly whenever the fancy takes him! I know he's gonna like it, I hope you do too!
...until next time, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
Shaz x

Sample photos

Well I've spent the whole of this lovely sunny day photographing some of my samples for you to have a look at, I really hope you like them. Just click on the Flickr link below. They're in no particular order but you'll see a range of framed "3d" multi layered pictures, Kaleidescoped designs in pictures and on 3d hanging baubles, layered Pyramid effects - but ALL made using real photographs of real people (and animals!) - this could be YOUR family, friends & pets!
...until next time, dont snap at your friends, SNAP them with your camera! x

Flickr: Photos from focusonlife42

TUP Parties

Did you have a 70's flashback to Tupperware Parties when you read that?!
New for 2008, Focus on Life are about to launch our Truly Unique & Personalised Parties
Why give the special people in your life a card or gift that's mass-produced when there are so many talented crafters out there who can design and make a truly unique personalised item for you?
If you're within a (reasonable) travelling distance from Rossendale in Lancashire and would like to host your own TUP Party in the comfort of your home and receive a FREE personalised gift as a Thank You, please give me a ring on 01706 870379. We'll even provide you with personalised Invitations to send out before the event.
Over the coming weeks, I'll be posting pictures of not only my own designs but those of guest crafters from around the country, just to show how special a hand-crafted item truly is. Subscribe for email updates to make sure you dont miss them.
...until next time, make your life a party!
Shaz x

Jet Li

...and just to round this gorgeous weekend off nicely, here's a photo of my darling's beautiful playful loving Siberian Husky Jet...

For a snow dog, he does love his creature comforts!
...until next time, MUSH!

Filing Cat

It's a beautiful, trying-to-be-spring, morning here in the Rossendale Valley. The birds are singing and the sun's shining throwing all manner of lovely shades and hues on the hills.
I hope you like this picture of one of my cats, Bonny, who decided he'd help me out filing my paperwork...


...needless to say, this was a perfect memory for a 3d picture and, when my samples are back (soon), I'll post a photo of the finished picture for you to see. Click onto "get email updates" and pop your email address in so you don't have to remember, I'll email you whenever there's something new to see, and it's FREE!
...until next time, remember, cats leave paw prints on your heart x
(WHY NOT LEAVE YOUR PAW PRINT? ADD YOUR COMMENT ABOUT THIS POST BELOW)

Day Two

Well here we are again!
Just to keep you posted, all my samples are currently "on loan" to a customer who's asked me to produce a framed memory piece for her hubby's Birthday in August. We'll be incorporating his war medals alongside some carefully selected photos so I'm looking forward to designing something really special for him! Once all my samples are back at Focus HQ, I'll start getting some photos on here for you to have a look at.
Why not subscribe to my Blog and receive an email to let you know when a new post has been added? It's FREE and you'll be the first to hear of new designs, SPECIAL OFFERS, updates etc. Just type your email address in the box on the right, click on "get email updates", and everything else will be taken care of automatically, it couldnt be simpler!
Last thing for today, I want to thank the Valley at Work network group at http://valleyatwork.co.uk/ who're working hard to bring as many Rossendale business folk together as possible. Co-ordinated by PEER (People Encouraging Enterprise in Rossendale) we meet monthly to share knowledge, experience and a few laughs along the way. Special thank you to Diane & Sheila who invited me to participate in my first ever craft fair and have asked me to join the Easter Fair on 22 March. More news on that in future posts.
...until next time, laugh long & loud
Shaz x

Welcome!

...to my first Blog, I'm so pleased you've called! Settle in with a virtual cuppa & a biscuit and take a look around...
...now as this is the first entry, there may not be much to look at YET but please stick around & call again. I'll be adding photos of my samples very soon so you can get a glimpse of the type of work I produce. There's bound to be several photos of my cats Missy & Bonny creeping in, likely as not, more often than they should! I'll also show you some views of this beautiful Valley I'm privileged to live in and any other random sights (and sites) I hope you might like to share with me.
I'll also let you know the very latest Focus on Life news as it happens and tell you which Craft Fairs I'll be at as it'd be lovely to see you in real life. The majority of my pieces are "3d'd" in one way or another so the very best way to view them is with your eyes AND hands!
I just want to end (and start!) with a big thanks to the boss & all the guys at http://www.craftsforum.co.uk/index.php?referrerid=9261 for their ongoing advice & support to every Crafter who's lucky enough to find them. If you havent met them before, use this link and they'll know Shaz sent you, I can highly recommend a visit and it's FREE to become a member. As I figure the technology out, I'll share some of their work with you, you're right to be on tenterhooks!
...until next time, be happy
Thanks, Shaz x