The new D.I.Y. Weaving Club is up and running!

Taking a ‘kind-of’ break while I moved house enabled me to think about how I could improve the formula for the D.I.Y. Weaving Club.  With the first batch of 3 month subscriptions just come to an end, this seemed like the perfect time to make the change.

In short, you don’t need to subscribe any more. Instead, you have 3 options:

• a one-off Basic Membership Pack, which includes a weave-able Membership Card & an exclusive Membership Book.  This gives you lifelong membership to the D.I.Y. Weaving Club, with email updates.

OR

• a Membership Pack which includes card & book (as above), plus an issue of Telaic Fantasy zine with accessories for a D.I.Y. weaving project, and a randomly selected mixed yarn pack.

OR

• if you don’t want to join the club but would like the latest meanderings & projects from ‘Telaic Fantasy’, you can buy any of the zines alone.

TF has grown quite dramatically!  It is now half-size (A5) rather than quarter, and includes at least one D.I.Y. weaving project inside (the old D.I.Y. club had separate kit & zine, but I decided integration was the way forward), plus random accessories.  Extra bits have been added to TF1 & TF2 so they are more chock-full than ever.

Want to know more?  Check out my Etsy Store!  You’ll find detailed info on the contents of each Membership Pack & zine.  New zines and Membership Packs will be added over the next few months, possibly at a slightly irregular schedule, but there’s definitely more to come, so please check back!

D.I.Y. Club Bundles

Just a quick update to say that I did, as promised get all club bundles into the postbox on Saturday – unfortunately, I only realised at that time that Derby doesn’t have a Saturday collection later than 3pm, and seems to no longer have Sunday collections at all (believe me, I checked a lot of post boxes)!  Anyway, everything is finally on the way, & I know my Saturday deadlines, for next time.  On the plus side, unless anything has gone horribly wrong, UK subscribers should get their bundles today.  Overseas may get lucky and have them by the weekend, but perhaps the beginning of next week would be a more realistic expectation…

Subscribers will notice that the new Telaic Fantasy zine is much bigger than previously, doubling in size as well as increasing in page length.  This is partly because I have decided to incorporate the monthly club kit into TF, which makes the zine feel much more ‘complete’ to me (don’t worry, you still get the random free accessories & extras, too!).  I’m in the process of re-formatting TF1 and TF2, to match, and adding extra bits in, into the bargain.  Future issues will also be in the new format, and looking at everything I’m trying to squeeze into the next 2 issues could get very fat indeed!

In fact, it’s all change all round for the D.I.Y. Weaving Club for future months.  I’m going to put up full details in the next couple of days (I’ve not quite got all the pics I need together yet) but I’m very excited about the new format.  There’s all sorts of fun new things to look forward to!  Watch this space – I’ll be giving more details very soon!

Mmm, coffee…

Aaaah, that’s better…  Have just returned from a very pleasant coffee run, which was actually more of a stroll, under a beautiful clear blue sky, and warm sun.  I even wore a sundress!  Yes, I still have way too much packing to do (I’m far too good at talking about it rather than actually doing it), but I’ve set myself a target of 5 boxes for the day, and there’s still plenty of time.  For now, I’m just going to unwind with my large cup of coffee, and catch up on emails.

Oh, nearly forgot – while I was procrastinating rather than packing the other day, I put together a mini-zine, ‘Small Ways to Save the World’.  It was just one of those things that really had to be done, right there and then.  It’s about saving the world by looking differently at how we use paper.  The wordsearch on the cover is the only puzzle (I was just considering ways to make a title page with just a few words on it more interesting), the rest of it is full of ideas for recycling and upcycling old paper and used stationery.  The zine itself also converts into a notebook for you to use, made from rescued graph paper!  If you buy one, it will be delivered in a self-mailer envelope which you can use as a template for making your own self-mailers.  I love the idea of writing a letter that turns into its own envelope – it’s a perfect way of reducing unnecessary paper usage.  Check out the Etsy listing for full details.

‘Small Ways to Save the World’ is currently a stand-alone zine (an absolute bargain at just £1! 😉 ), but it’s possible it will grow into a sporadic mini-zine mini-series, as more small ways to save the world come to me…

Craft Leftovers – yay!

Have I mentioned before how cool Craft Leftovers is?  I’m sure I have!  I just got my latest (April) issue of Craft Leftovers Monthly (zine + kit!) yesterday, so I’m a happy little bunny, just now :-).

This month’s goodies included a complete kit (instructions, yarn & vintage buttons) for the Snowdrop Gauntlet, a cute, random origami ‘thing’, and of course the zine, which is packed with projects, including a cool woven clutch purse.

You can only sign up for CLM once a month – check it out here, so you don’t miss out next time!  If you’re tempted by the woven purse, though, head over to the Craft Leftovers Monthly shop, as you can still by the April issue on it’s own.

Weaving frustration!

With a house-move looming on the horizon, I am really reluctant to begin any new projects.  This is just asking for trouble, of course.  I keep seeing things that inspire me!  I already have more ideas than I have time to put into practise, and putting projects on hold for a month or more just means that I’m going to accumulate even more of a backlog!

I posted a while back about a woven book cover which has given me various ideas that I’ve not had chance to explore yet.  I also recently discovered this cool project at Dollar Store Crafts for turning a rag rug into a bag.  I check this site regularly, as it frequently suggests original & unusual ways for re-purposing everyday stuff.  I have to say, I have not yet found a pound shop in the UK that sells these woven rag rugs, but I have seen them relatively cheap in the past.  Anyway, I would feel like I was cheating if I made one of these, because – well, I’m a weaver, aren’t I?!  So finding this project has inspired me to get weaving myself.  I actually have a mousemat loom (yes, just as it sounds: a mousemat with a comb glued along the top) warped and ready to weave, but I’m trying to be good, because I know it will take longer than I anticipate, and I really need to motivate myself to get packing, rather than allow more distractions… 😦  But there’s a cunning idea I’ve thought of but not tried out yet, so it’s definitely high on my list for getting around to, after the move…

I’m really itching to get weaving again.  Oh, it’s frustrating!  Maybe if I’m really good & get everything packed up within a couple of weeks I will allow myself a little project  break regardless…

In the meantime, I recently treated myself to the complete set of back issues of Croq Zine.   The political slant of craftivism scares me slightly, but I’ve not been scared by what I’ve read so far.  Well, of course, it has just given me even more ideas to store up…  But at least it only involves writing down some notes (for now) rather than getting stuck in immediately.  It would be kind of nice to just sit down for a couple of hours and read through the stack of zines in one go; but that would defeat my you’re-not-allowed-to-spend-time-on-stuff-when-you-should-be-packing rule.  Instead, I have a half hour lunch break, which is actually just right for reading through a few features; and it is also kind of nice to be able to savour it a little, and make my treat last a little longer.

Please help me not have to pack so much by checking out my Re-Housing Clearance…!

D.I.Y. Weaving update

Apologies for my recent silence – I promise that despite a lack of blog posts, TangleCrafts has been a hive of activity lately.  The Etsy store has been doing a roaring trade, and it has kept me on my toes staying on top of all the orders. If you have signed up for the D.I.Y. Weaving Club, rest assured despatch of the first month’s instalment is iminent! I have spent most of today printing and packaging, and I will be visiting the postbox no later than Saturday, so your bundles of weaving goodness will be with you very shortly.  Hurrah!

[N.B.  If you missed the deadline signing up for the March D.I.Y. Weaving Club, don’t despair!  You can still buy the first zine, Telaic Fantasy #1, or you can still sign up for April (and beyond) D.I.Y. Weaving Club, including a different mystery kit.  If you just want a taster of what you might be missing, get a one-off Bumper Bundle to try it out – you won’t get quite as many goodies as a club member, but it’s still lots of fun!)

I have also added 2 new items to the Etsy store: a Weaving Bowl, and a Postcard Recycling Kit.   If you follow my blog, you’ll know I occasionally have the girls round for a ‘Crafty Day’ (the most recent one, we all pitched in to make some ‘unique’ wedding invitation cards for Trish).  I laid out a prototype weaving bowl on my first Crafty Day, and 2 of the girls dived straight in.  It’s just a fun thing to leave out in your home.  When somebody stops round for a chat, they may or may not feel inclined to weave something, but hey, it’s nice to have the option!  I love the postcard recycling kits – just add the labels to front & back of a postcard-sized piece of card and you’re ready to begin!   It’s a great way to introduce a crafty friend to the joys of weaving…

I’ve also added some new pics to the ATC and Play Your Cards Right kit pages, as I have been playing with the packaging, and it’s all changed.  Well, the content remains the same, but I’ve re-done all the booklets, and the packaging is now pre-printed (still by me) with integral pockets, rather than using labels and envelopes.  I told you all that ‘research’ into ELF really was research!  To be honest, I’m not sure if I have decreased my workload with the new packaging or not, but I’m much happier with the way it looks, so I’ve achieved something, at least…!

Last but not least, the next issue of ‘Telaic Fantasy’ is in the final stages of preparation.  Watch this space next week for a bumper issue!

So you see, I meant it when I said I’ve been busy – and that’s not the half of it!  As soon as TF2 is ‘on the shelves’ I’ll be back with some more free projects for you, as well as notebooks (yes, notebooks!), and some more new kits which I’m really excited about.  It’s an ongoing process, and a seemingly neverending flow of new ideas.   I’ll never be able to squeeze enough extra hours  into each day to get throuigh it all, but I can have fun trying!  See you soon…

Mini Magazine Notebook (with pockets!)

I was thinking about how to present the next issue of ‘Telaic Fantasy‘ (just because I have a model that works doesn’t mean I can leave it at that – that’s just not the way I am!).  I wanted a cover with integral pockets, so I played about folding a piece of paper in various ways, and found something that worked.  It’s slightly smaller than I would have preferred, so whether it will actually be the model for the next TF remains to be seen (although I can always add extra pages, to compensate).

Front, back & inner of a readable notebook!

But I had some magazines lying around in my room, and I used them to experiment with the format rather than using up my printer paper.  I thought the combination of pretty pictures and random text worked really well – I love the idea of having a notebook with something to read on the cover, when you get bored!

Rather than have a roomful of empty prospective zine covers, I stapled some blank paper in the middle of the prototypes to make mini notebooks.  Okay, so I thus used up some of my printer paper, anyway, but now it’s in handy notebook form, so justifiable!  Notebooks are like bags (no, really!) – you can just never have too many.

Click here for the how-to & template to make your own notebook out of the page of a magazine (or whatever).

Front cover, inner & back cover of 2 more notebook prototypes