Material Malarkey

The lovely women at Material Malarkey (Julie and Ali) got in touch with me last week to tell me all about the wonderful craft classes they do in Edinburgh and as luck has it they had an open evening coming up so I popped along to find out more about what they do...

The girls were celebrating the end of their 6 week Dress making course which had just finished the week before! Those who took part in the course turned up in their dresses and the rest of us admired their skills while drinking wine and eating lovely cakes!

You have to admit these dresses are gorgeous and look completely different but both are made from the same pattern. It just shows that from doing this one course you can learn the skills you need to make those few extra summer dresses you wanted this year but without the worry that you'll end up in the same one as your friend!

However if you are a newbie to using a sewing machine they have lots of beginners classes you can take as well and the girls I spoke to which did that one explained to me that as well as getting lots of support in the class, once you have learned the basics, you are all encouraged to do your own thing! I love this - there is nothing worse that coming out of a class with the exact same thing as everyone else as it's no longer one of a kind so it's great they give you that bit of extra freedom.

The venue itself is a nice location if you are toward the Leith end of town. It's at Johns Place so close to some bars if you want a wee drink with your friends after or if you are lucky enough to have the day off work, you can nip in to Mimi's bakery for some great sweet treats or dinner before hand.

The room inside of the building was a tight fit for the number of people we had in that night but most classes hold around 6 people so plenty of room to get that material spread out and get creative. They had pushed all the tables to the side so we had room to walk around but normally the are in the centre of the room with a sewing machine area as well. I have been to some free sewing classes in Edinburgh but you had to bring your own machine, so if you are just starting out and not sure if you want to buy a machine or not, then this is a good option to try before you buy!

So check out their website and see if one of their classes works for you! Also both Julie and Ali are lovely so if you have any question or would like some one on one classes then get in touch as I'm sure they would love to hear from you.

http://www.materialmalarkey.co.uk/ 

I'll be back,

Cricut Mini Review

This month I bought a Cricut Mini and I've been having so much fun coming up with things to cut out. There are definite pros and cons to this little beauty though so I'm going to walk you through what I like and don't like before you go buy your own.

What is a Cricut?

Cricut's are die cutting machines which let you create an image on your computer and then the machine cut's it out for you. This is great for when you want to cut out the same designs multiple times or when you are looking to cut something too intricate for your craft knife cutting skills.

Software

Cricut's Craft Room software is the worst part of this machine for me. Not only do you not get to draw your own designs from scratch, but I've also found it slow and clunky to use. Don't get me wrong  - if you buy templates from Cricut and use those as is then it works perfectly but when you start getting arty this is where the problems lie.

As I mentioned you can't draw from scratch but you can weld shapes together to make designs. The Cricut mini comes with a basic font and geometric shapes - I've played around with these shapes and you can make your own designs from them but it can be quite time consuming and sometimes frustrating when it doesn't weld the way you want or freezes. So far I've manged to make a wedding cake, 3d paper flower templates, and a bicycle from the shapes supplied so it's not impossible to do your own images and save a bit of cash.

Cutting Mat

The mat used to feed the paper into the machine becomes unsticky very quickly and this can lead to problems when cutting out your deign. you can buy more mats at about £5 each but this will get costly over time. I've also seen tutorials on refurbishing your mat but I am yet to try this and apparently it can void your warranty.

Cutting Ability

I have tried cutting out different materials with the Cricut -some are easier than others and it's not always obvious about what cutting settings should be set. The machine will guide you at a high level of what settings should be used but sometimes this guide still means you end up with cuts in your mat or gaps in your design. On the whole I've been able to cut out some pretty intricate designs and as long as the paper is stuck well to the mat then it does a good job at cutting it out but I have had a few disasters already.

Size

The mini is the "light weight" version of the more advanced cutters in the range. I was able to pack it in my small suitcase and travel with it down to London but it isn't what I would call light. However looking at the other machines available there are not many you would be able to travel with so it isn't all that bad.

Price

The Cricut mini is one of the lowest price die cutters you will find at roughly £99. I found a trick to make it even cheaper for those bargain hunters out there (For those in the UK)

• Go to www.quidco.com and search for Hobbycraft
• Currently you get 10% off anything from Hobbycraft when you go through Quidco
• On the Hobbycraft website, scroll down to the bottom of the page and sign up for their Craft Club which will email you a 15% off code

• Go back to the Hobbycraft site and then put the Cricut machine in your basket
• At checkout enter the promo code to get 15% off your first order
• You will end up getting both  the money off vouchers applied giving you a total of £25 off the price ( although it will be £15 at the time and £10 cash back at a later date)

Overall

I think you get what you pay for with the Cricut Mini. It is not the best die cutter on the market but for the price and the size I think it makes a great first machine to play around with before splashing out on a more costly device.

The major downside is the fact that you can't draw images free hand and need to pay extra for each set of templates you buy. This is probably good for people who don't want to spend a lot of time drawing themselves but I don't like to be so restricted. However I have liked the challenge of making my own templates from the free shapes they give you and I will export my designs to this blog so that you guys can use them as well. You can download them from this page

Overall I would give it 3/5

I'll be back,

Edinburgh Contemporary Crafts

Today my boyfriend and I battled the festival crowds on our way to a lino carving course with Edinburgh Contemporary Crafts on Blair St.

Lino carving?!? I hear you say...

Well it's a way to make print stamps that you can use again and again for cards, bags, clothes and more!

Our instructors were great - we were greeted with a warm welcome as we were shown to our seats and then they supplied us with the tools we needed to get started. They gave us paper to practice on and showed us how to carve the lino, making sure you know to carve the background so that you are left with your stamp image,  ready for painting. They also have a range of pattern books for you to look through and get inspiration.

You are then left to your own devices and there is no rush to get finished. They were open from 1pm - 9pm and you can bring your own booze so great for a girly day out. The girls were still about to give you a helping hand if you needed it.

Once you are finished making your printing stamp, you go over to the painting section.  There are a range of coloured paints to use and a choice of white or brown card to print on. We had fun experimenting with the different colours and even tried out some layering.

It was great to see how different everyone's designs were and you get to take everything you have made home with you - I'll definitely be checking out what other courses they have on!

Check out www.edinburghcontemporarycrafts.co.uk for more info