Christmas Baubles

Punch Needle Bag Charm Making Process

Sun, 02 Jul 2023 11:50:39 GMT

Punch Needle Chubby Initial - Making Process

Check out my latest video showing how to make a punch needle bag charm - this one is a navy "W" featuring vibrant white and yellow flowers. Available on Tik Tok

www.tiktok.com/@sarahbolt00

Origami Hearts - Featured centrepiece of Dragonfly Acrylics' Floral Garland Greetings Cards

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 13:56:14 GMT

Origami Hearts

Origami paper hearts are more than just cute and colourful decorations, and Dragonfly Acrylics knows it!

I have taken the ancient paper heart and added an extra touch of love to my card creations with a hand-folded origami heart as the centrepiece of a floral dot art garland.

The art of paper folding, known as origami, originated in Japan in the 17th century, but it was not until the 19th century that the folded paper heart became a popular expression of love and affection.

The heart shape itself has been a symbol of love and emotion since ancient times, and the origami paper heart added a unique and personalized touch to the expression of those feelings. Nowadays, origami paper hearts are a favourite among crafters and DIY enthusiasts worldwide, and they continue to bring joy and love to people's lives in a fun and creative way.

At Dragonfly Acrylics I have brought the origami paper heart tradition into the 21st century with my unique and personalised touch. My floral garland greetings cards are a testament to the creativity and love that goes into each hand-folded origami heart.

So, whether you're celebrating a special occasion or just want to brighten someone's day, these cards will surely do the trick!

Show someone how much you care with a stunning floral garland greetings card, with a hand-folded origami heart at its centre, available now in Dragonfly Acrylics' Etsy shop, DragonflyAcrylics.Etsy.com

Christmas Bauble Blog - Bauble origin story, & how I make my baubles

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 11:47:26 GMT

Christmas Bauble Blog

Christmas Bauble Blog!

Ummm, what to say about making Christmas Baubles?

They are the most glorious thing to make because they are about joy, colour, bling, fun and luxury.

There’s nothing bad about baubles.

A bit of history curtesy of Christmas Website.com

Baubles are used around Christmas time as a reflection of the Roman tradition that involved hanging fruit on trees throughout the holiday season. Rather than hang fruit anymore, these ornaments are a reminder of that tradition and have become a typical decoration many people celebrate.

More recently, the original bauble comes from sixteenth-century Germany, where the alpine town of Lausche had a particular skill in glassblowing and Christmas ornament production.

However, it was in the 19th century when baubles truly began to take off.

Hans Greiner was the first manufacturer of baubles and is responsible for why they became so popular throughout the world.

The original baubles were fruit and nut-shaped, before how they are now as a more spherical appearance.

So, my interpretation of the Christmas Bauble is based on my layered dots. Using this technique, I can add all sorts of colour combinations to a basic ceramic or glass bauble.

Each layer of dots is unique, and each bauble is truly a one-off.

Once I’ve layered the dots on a vibrant base colour, and allowed time for everything to dry, I seal the bauble with a few coats of gloss varnish. This gives a beautiful shine to the bauble as well as providing a more practical UV protection so the colours will last.

Each bauble is then adorned with contrasting and complementary shimmer gems to add a sparkle when they catch the Christmas tree lights. Further embellishment is added with a mini garland of beads, set off with a tassel, pinecone and mini bow.

Finally, I tie a satin ribbon hanger with a simple macrame knot and finish with a bow fastening.

The bauble is ready to hang on a tree, garland, window display for Christmas.

I’ve given my Christmas Baubles to family and friends as early Christmas gifts and for them to keep and bring out of the decorations box every year. They seem delighted with them, and it felt wonderful to give a gift that can be used for years to come.

It’s wonderful to make something unique and to share it with special people at Christmas time.

Happy Christmas to all my lovely Customers, followers, and Blog readers!

Sarah x

The First One...This is the first of hopefully many blogs from Dragonfly Acrylics!

Tue, 11 Oct 2022 11:00:38 GMT

The Story of Viola's Bookmark

I love people who have no idea how wonderful they are, and just wander around making the world a better place.

The strongest people are the ones who are still kind after the world tore them apart".

Having printed them off on my fabulous little HP printer using the ‘best’ quality print setting, I glued the quotations onto each side of a rectangular piece of scrap black card – I say scrap, it was one of the end pieces of the card I’d used to make some elegant envelopes to send my gift tags to customers in yesterday, so it’s ‘nice’ quality.

Taking my trusty sponge padded stamper, I burnished the black card with sparkling gold ink followed by embellishments of dinky coloured paper flowers and shimmer gems from Hobbycraft (my temple of craft).

To add some pizzazz, I made a tassel from a gorgeous aqua satin ribbon and poked it through the punched hole in the top of the bookmark. It looked good against the gold burnished black card.

Finally, and not to guild the lily, I sprayed the finished bookmark with clear acrylic gloss varnish. Mainly to seal the print and ink, but also to add a tinge of professional quality to it.

The bookmark was then lovingly wrapped in some aqua tissue paper to match the tassel. I added one of my little handmade blue and white floral “to/from” cards, so she wouldn’t need to ponder too long on who it was from!

I popped it into one of the black card envelopes I made yesterday and sealed it with an aqua wax and my gorgeous dandelion seal which looked stunning against the stark black background. I like to embellish my seals with some gold paint to make the dandelion imprint pop.

Finally, I wrote “Viola” with a flourish using a gold acrylic pen on the front of the card and hot-wheeled it in my Super-Scooper Mini down to Felixstowe to deliver it ‘by hand’.

Just as an aside – it was a full moon this evening (apparently called a “Hunter Moon” ) and as I drove along the seafront, the shimmering light across the calm sea was the stuff of famous paintings - it made me smile.

I stealthily delivered the package through the letterbox, and I hope it makes her smile too…

Make the most of the season by following these simple guidelines

PAR002_123@heg.com — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 10:00:24 GMT

The new season is a great reason to make and keep resolutions. Whether it’s eating right or cleaning out the garage, here are some tips for making and keeping resolutions.

Make a list

Lists are great ways to stay on track. Write down some big things you want to accomplish and some smaller things, too.

Check the list regularly

Don’t forget to check in and see how you’re doing. Just because you don’t achieve the big goals right away doesn’t mean you’re not making progress.

Reward yourself

When you succeed in achieving a goal, be it a big one or a small one, make sure to pat yourself on the back.

Think positively

Positive thinking is a major factor in success. So instead of mulling over things that didn’t go quite right, remind yourself of things that did.

Keep in touch with site visitors and boost loyalty

PAR002_123@heg.com — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 10:00:24 GMT

There are so many good reasons to communicate with site visitors. Tell them about sales and new products or update them with tips and information.

Here are some reasons to make blogging part of your regular routine.

Blogging is an easy way to engage with site visitors

Writing a blog post is easy once you get the hang of it. Posts don’t need to be long or complicated. Just write about what you know, and do your best to write well.

Show customers your personality

When you write a blog post, you can really let your personality shine through. This can be a great tool for showing your distinct personality.

Blogging is a terrific form of communication

Blogs are a great communication tool. They tend to be longer than social media posts, which gives you plenty of space for sharing insights, handy tips and more.

It’s a great way to support and boost SEO

Search engines like sites that regularly post fresh content, and a blog is a great way of doing this. With relevant metadata for every post so search engines can find your content.

Drive traffic to your site

Every time you add a new post, people who have subscribed to it will have a reason to come back to your site. If the post is a good read, they’ll share it with others, bringing even more traffic!

Blogging is free

Maintaining a blog on your site is absolutely free. You can hire bloggers if you like or assign regularly blogging tasks to everyone in your company.

A natural way to build your brand

A blog is a wonderful way to build your brand’s distinct voice. Write about issues that are related to your industry and your customers.

Tips for writing great posts that increase your site traffic

PAR002_123@heg.com — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 10:00:24 GMT

Write about something you know. If you don’t know much about a specific topic that will interest your readers, invite an expert to write about it.

Speak to your audience

You know your audience better than anyone else, so keep them in mind as you write your blog posts. Write about things they care about. If you have a company Facebook page, look here to find topics to write about

Take a few moments to plan your post

Once you have a great idea for a post, write the first draft. Some people like to start with the title and then work on the paragraphs. Other people like to start with subtitles and go from there. Choose the method that works for you.

Don’t forget to add images

Be sure to include a few high-quality images in your blog. Images break up the text and make it more readable. They can also convey emotions or ideas that are hard to put into words.

Edit carefully before posting

Once you’re happy with the text, put it aside for a day or two, and then re-read it. You’ll probably find a few things you want to add, and a couple more that you want to remove. Have a friend or colleague look it over to make sure there are no mistakes. When your post is error-free, set it up in your blog and publish.