Remember how I said five minute crafts don’t exist?
This project comes pretty close to proving me wrong.
Paper has always been my favourite crafting material, and paper cuts and silhouettes are my favourite way of putting it to use. It’s affordable, fun to experiment with, and there’s so much you can make with paper.
And now, I’ve been playing with a new tool to cut through my paper stash. (Literally.) This Cricut Mini is a new addition to my craft office:
Disclosure: I was given this Circut Mini to review. Opinions are my own.
If I’m honest, I’ve always been a simple hobby knife and craft scissors type of girl. An automatic cutting tool was foreign to me. (I hadn’t even used a friend’s.)
Even without any experience, I got the Mini unboxed and set up within a few minutes.
Hop Into Spring Tutorial
But what to make first? This bright and easy project uses the paper that comes in the box, so you can make it right away and pick whatever silhouette you’d like. I’m feeling seasonal with the nice weather we’ve been having!
(And if you don’t have a Cricut, you can still follow this tutorial too!) 
It’s an amazing and fun new way to buy British design.
Last November I was invited to the Two Ducks launch party. Claire Leigh is on a mission to share her love for British designed goods, and it was so much fun to experience her shop launch. I’m so excited to share the story of that night with you and a quick interview with Claire about how this crazy little idea came to life!
[divider top=”0″]Wine and a browse
Photography below courtesy of the lovely Jo de Magneval.
Wading through the crowd in Woking’s Jubilee Square is tricky with heels in late November. There’s a brisk wind but the excitement for the lighting of the Christmas tree is tangible. Yet the festivities aren’t the attraction I’m heading for tonight. Down a little alley and just a few steps from Woking’s train station lies the Cellar Magneval Wine Bar.
Claire Leigh loves crafts and British design. She dreamed about a fun, low-pressure way to share her passion. Tonight, that dream is about to come to life.
There’s no such thing as five minute crafting.
It’s an illusion that is becoming a bit of a craft blog epidemic. (And yes, even I’ve fallen into the trap of saying it.) The truth is, just reading that craft tutorial is going to take you longer than five minutes. Can I be brutally honest? I usually take more than five minutes just to choose colours, let alone make anything.
After sourcing materials, designing something, putting it all together, correcting errors, making the better design from scratch, photographing and writing a tutorial, the “5 minute” claim is so far out of the water we could wave at the guys in the International Space Station.
Let’s not even think about the hours of practise that got us to the point where we could tackle the project in the first place. Or the time it takes just to clean up.
Is following someone else’s tutorial really that time saving? I always like to put my own twist on things: my own fabric choices, or buttons, or colours. Or, on the occasions when I do follow a tutorial to the letter, finding the exact materials always ends up being a pain. (Don’t even get me started on embroidery floss.)
It‘s okay to craft for longer than five minutes. The third or fourth try might be as quick as five minutes, but that’s not the point. If you love crafting, doesn’t it deserve the time? Let yourself sneak in an hour or two. (Sans cleaning time.) You deserve it.
Joanna of Adventures & Tea Parties shared her crafty tips and journey with us earlier this week, and I’m so pleased to say that this month I’m featured as her Blog Gem. If you’d like to know more about what gears are grinding to make Crafting Fingers happen, read the Q&A.
I’ve shared my top tip (ok, tips! as in multiple!) for bloggers. And if you want to know what my craft space is really like, don’t miss out.
Adventure is in the air! Joanna Yeoman is a wonderful blogger, crafter, and burgeoning business woman. On her blog Adventures & Tea Parties Joanna shares a whirlwind of ideas, crafts, and news about her hand-crafted accessories and jewellery business.
But what goes on behind the scenes? Jo’s here to tell us all about it in her own words!
I’ve given a quick introduction, but could you tell us a bit about yourself and your business?
By day, I’m a 30 something Librarian who can live without chocolate but not cheese or avocados. I have an absolute addiction to both. By night, I’m the face behind Adventures & Tea Parties, a crafty blog and online shop selling my handmade accessories. When I’m not stitching or blogging, I can usually be found either knitting one of the many projects I’ve got on the go (I’m terrible for starting yet another knitting pattern!), playing geeky board games with my hubby, dancing round the house to my latest favourite song and experimenting in the kitchen with new recipes. On warmer days, I can easily spend whole weekends in the garden planting seeds or out looking for birds in the trees.
I like to think that in another life I would have been a backing dancer for Tina Turner or a drummer in a rock and roll band.
