Apology from CraftyWhippet

Hi Everyone,

I apologise for taking so long keeping you up to date. There have been so many changes taking place recently as well as holidays for each of us so the time has disappeared. I would like to say it won’t happen again but it probably will!!

MaryNSC, DebbieAC68, Ninajeanette2 and Beccapaul. We are about to make some more craft videos. Is there anything in particular you would like demonstrated. Please do not be too adventurous and remember we are amateur crafters. Mary NSC...that will give you something to get really excited about. LOL

I would also like to thank all our new subscribers and apologise for not being as up to date as we would like. Alice you really must do better. LOL We so enjoy our subscribers' comments even if it is a reminder to hurry up and do something. We will I promise.

We have now finished our Praise Gathering concerts which took place after ten weeks of rehearsals. It was over three nights in the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow. There were 420 in the choir not the four in the picture!!!

We visited a Daycare Centre again last week and 8 Silver Crafters had a really good time and made a simple but effective 'thank you' card. One of the care team received two as a gift and she was so touched by the kindness. Our older crafters have a super sense of humour, especially 96-year old Nan.

We are also going to a Day centre tomorrow in the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow to offer some craft time to those who visit. This is a new venture and we would hope to be able to commit to it once a month.

Our learning of British Sign Language has slipped a bit over the holidays but we intend to get back to the online course and also go to a local church where we can learn from deaf people. I have a deaf friend in church and he is encouraging me so much. It is amazing the “conversations" we have and yet I know very little. In fact what I don’t know I make up...now that is fun.

Alice and I visited a new craft shop which Jane had told us about. It is within a beautiful Garden Centre so the surroundings are lovely. There are many of these throughout Britain that now have Craft Central so they are well worth a visit. I bought the Celebrations board by the Glitter Girls (not forgetting that Alice and I are Crafty Chums) and I also have the waistcoat board (Media & Pastimes) which makes a great card for men. Perhaps that would be something of interest for us to run as a video if you have not already tried it? Alice bought the new Eazi-Box board and can't wait to try out all the interestingly-shaped boxes that it makes, while I am having fun with the Illusion box-making board which makes rectangular boxes.

What I really need to do now is STAY IN and do it.

I am not long back from Malta where I actually found...a craft shop but it was general craft including tapestry and knitting so I was a little disappointed as there was only a small corner with card craft.

I have tried to have a set time in the month for the blog but I feel a number of you are like friends now so I will just blog when I feel like it and hopefully keep you up to date with what is coming in the next week or so.

Please remember to keep in touch.

Crafty Whippet

Get Box-making and Create

Hi Everyone,

Our new video is now on YouTube, demonstrating Bookatrix Box-making. We started preparing early on Wednesday morning so that everything would be to hand. It was fun filming the clips and we decided not to delete the mistakes we made. This was a really busy time as we were also preparing the next two videos demonstrating a C6 box and the final one demonstrating the motto mini boxes. The craft area was covered with boxes of all different sizes and colours.

Craft & Chat (formerly Get Creative) 

In the process of filming, at one point the camera was switched off "by mistake". This, I may say was after only one minute of running, so all the “filming” was for nothing. This was to set the tone of the morning:-
I wasn’t far wrong. The next time, the phone rang just as we were completing the movie. We thought that we could pick up where we left off but the phone rang again. It was back to the beginning as I couldn’t remember what I had said. I think I had a few 'senior moments' aka 'intellectual incidents'.


The yellow scorer caused me some confusion as I called it a ‘grease mouse’. Alice corrected me, saying it was a ‘creaser mouse’, which wasn’t right either. It is in fact called a ‘crease mouse’ and I finally got it right. I will call it ‘banana’ in the future.

I thought it might be helpful to remind you of the template measurements mentioned in the videos that were made. I hope it will help you with your box-making.
Always remember that the base of all boxes have to be trimmed a ‘smidgen’ or, as Alice would say, 2mm.

BOOKATRIX BOX A4 card x2
C6 BOX 21x16 cm Border 2.5 cm
MINI BOX 13.5 x 9.5 cm Border 3 cm

The C6 Box-making Video will be our next one on YouTube so remember to look out soon for these.
You will also notice that the canary yellow polo shirts have gone and these have been replaced with blue. The polo shirt is a warmer one but we have a cooler top for the summer.
Until next time.
Bye for now

CraftyWhippet

Taster for the new-look Genius Hands

Welcome to Ruth's Blog Post! (formerly known as Ruth's Report)

Hi Crafters

I suppose first of all I should be wishing you a Happy New Year as this is the first Blog Post of 2008. I was on holiday in January and I am now catching up.

We are so pleased with the way crafters from other countries have subscribed to the website videos and we welcome all your feedback on what is of interest to you. Please feel free to contact us with your comments. Alice has created this blog from scratch and has faithfully updated it, as well as crafting and various other commitments. She is not called WebMom for nothing. Nobody else in Craft & Chat (formerly Get Creative) can do this and the work spent on the website is very much appreciated. The comments we have had from subscribers have been so encouraging so please continue.

The Report aka Blog Post at the end of the month is now going to include what we have been crafting, letting you know of any changes with Craft & Chat and keeping you up to date with YouTube instructional videos.

We would like you to feel involved with our craft by letting us know if there is anything you would want to see demonstrated on video - you can comment on YouTube or e-mail us. Can I remind you at this point that we are not professionals -- "Dawn Bibby I am not" (see our first Video Outtake #1: CraftyWhippet I am not) so don't be too ambitious with your ideas or we will be having panic attacks.

The new Keepsake boards are on sale now and the demo by the Glitter Girls on Ideal World last week was good. There is also a new board reaching the shops in March (available on eBay) and then again in July. I am hoping to try the Illusion board for box-making and in particular the size that fits the Bookatrix. I use the EasiScore board at present but this new board looks very good. I have not forgotten that I said in the Bookatrix Videos that we would demonstrate making a box for the Bookatrix to go in. Hopefully I will be able to link with Alice to arrange a time when we will both be free. It is our intention that by the time this post goes on the blog we will have demonstrated Box-making and have it on YouTube for you to view. We might even change our tops from canary yellow to a colour we actually like!!

We also like the Cuttlebug folders and a new range is now available. I have been looking for a Thinking of you or a Sympathy Cuttlebug folder and so far as I know we do not have any here in Glasgow. Maybe our American crafters can let us know if they have them.

We have been busy making mini boxes and it might be the case of sixth time successful... I like to use a template and Alice (an ex-maths teacher) likes to calculate and use a ruler for all her measurements. I compromised and left her to calculate...and then give me a template!! I think that was a good deal.

I am busy making some little cards for the ladies in my church for [UK] Mother's Day, which has been fun. As you know, sometimes it takes longer to think out the idea than to actually make it!!

I hope this has been of interest to you so...until next time.

Bye for now

Ruth aka CraftyWhippet

Foggy Christmas

So that was Christmas and what have we done?
Another year older, a new one just begun?

Are our resolutions in threads?
Never mind, join in crafting, and weave some new creations.

It was very foggy over the festive season and now it's stormy.
The craft team met yesterday for the first time in 2008 in Mary's new conservatory.
Well, you know that type of ridged translucent roof? The hailstones hit so heavily and so hard that it all but drowned out our voices - and believe you me, we can talk very loudly when we are all together.

Jane is in gainful employment so couldn't be with us. Mary fed us with chocolates and chocolate biscuits and we put our diets on hold.
Val was in pain from dental treatment and the misery of a cold but brave crafter that she is, with Mary, she steadily made exploding boxes for Scottish wedding 'favours' (small gifts for the ladies at the close of the reception) while Lynn was heat embossing them with Celtic patterns.
Rosemary used the new Glitter Girls board to outline emboss baby suits and wedding gowns while I completed a baby card.
Reporter Ruth aka CraftyWhippet was absent so our mistooks were not noted with such relish.
Visit our YouTube crafty instructional videos for a refresher.  CraftyAlice

Welcome to Genius Hands on the Web

Hi!

Welcome to the new Genius Hands Blog.

We are card-crafters, making them for friends/charities and to sell. Our latest project is making YouTube instructional videos. As we are not experts, you will learn much better from our videos - we show how, complete with non-deliberate mistakes.

We used to have our own Reports on our old GeniusHands.com website which Reporter Ruth happily wrote up on our crazy gatherings of fun, but it's much quicker just to use Blogspot and YouTube! Subscribe to our Videos.

Happy crafting!

CraftyAlice