Spring Brings New Inspiration

Spring is here and we have been inspired to develop some new kits at The Craft Pack Company featured below and some beautiful new handmade items at Lorraine Miniatures. We are also running a new prize draw at The Craft Pack Company, this time two lucky winners will each receive a £5 gift voucher to use against any order from our web site or our sister web site: Lorraine Miniatures. All you have to do is place an order at Craft Pack (does not include free downloads) between Easter Sunday and 30th May 2011 to qualify. The winners will be announced on the news page on or after the 28th May. The gift voucher will give details of how to use it against the next order you place after winning.

Here are some of our new kits for Spring 2011 at The Craft Pack Company

Thank Goodness it's Friday Tomorrow!

Phew, what a week it's been!
Not wanting to wish away precious time but I am so glad it's Friday tomorrow!
I have a relatively free day after 11.45 when my supervisee leaves.
I intend to photograph and list several dozen items on my web site. I really need to get organised and up to date, my office and work room looks like Steptoes' back yard at the moment!!
I have porcelain doll kits, furniture, flooring and lots of accessories of all kinds handmade to photograph and list. It's all good but time consuming.....oh I wish I could do this all the time for a living.....tiring as it is, it's what I love doing the most and soooo rewarding.
I have had some lovely messages of encouragement and feedback this week from both collectors and other miniaturist artisans, it really does make it all feel worthwhile doesn't it?!
Though I haven't had a lot of free time I have managed to explore some of the miniatures blogs out there and I am mesmerised, inspired and humbled by people's creative ability. As a creative arts therapist by profession (in my other life that pays the bills!) it makes me realise how, at time, our creativity can be surpressed when we get a little burnt out by the pressures of life.....thank you everyone for inspiring my own creativity again!! :))
I made a couple of little things in between all of my other jobs, just to chill out and refocus my energies, here they are, two of mine and i've also included one made for me by Gary because it's really cool ;)

Castle and Knights for Dolls House Nursery by Gary Spencer exclusively for Lorraine Miniatures

Woody Nursery Toy

Wedding Cake by Lorraine Cooper

                                                     Miniature Tutu by Lorraine Cooper

New Prize Draw

We have a new prize draw to win a choice of one of our lovely new kits. This time there will be two winners drawn at random from all customers making a purchase between 22nd February and 22nd March 2011. To find out more CLICK HERE to take you to our News and Competitons page at The Craft Pack Company
Why not have a go, you have nothing to lose but may win a lovely kit for your miniatures scene, remember this time there will be two winners so your chance is increased and you can choose from a choice of four kits as the prize!

The Winner of the Valentines Day Competition......

I am delighted to announce that the winner of the Valentines Day Competition to win one of the new Lavender Ladies Memory Trunks as seen below is:

Barbara Colson of Savannah, Georgia, USA

Well Done Barbara!!!

Why Not Have a Go!

At both Lorraine Miniatures and The Craft Pack Company we have added lots of new items to tempt you this past two weeks.

At Craft Pack for instance, Emma and I have been working on the design and production of at least 15 new kits. I have already made up and listed 6 of them along with another 20 by makers from around the world this weekend. More will be added over the next two weeks along with new craft and creative materials to tempt even the most die hard miniaturists amongst us! 

Emma had kept some kits 'for a rainy day' that I inherited when I took over The Craft Pack Company in November. I am working on these at the moment, a sample kit has to be made first to photograph for the pack front and web image, this gives us the opportunity to iron out any glitches and see how the finished product looks before we launch it. It's time consuming but rewarding as we see our kits made up for ourselves. After all we need to be sure that what we are offering to customers is something we can be proud of and know works in reality, not just our imaginations! 

These are some of the new kits available. Some bought or created with Valentines day in mind, and there will be more!

Exciting News!

Sorry I haven't updated for a while. I have been rather busy! I am very excited to announce that I am the new owner of   The Craft Pack Company
I recently bought the company from my dear friend Emma Eilbeck who decided to step down for personal reasons, those of you who know Emma will know why. Emma's husband John has kidney failure and has to have dialysis 3 times per week. Emma is about to donate one of her own kidneys to John....what a woman....now that is cimmittment and love for your husband. Emma didn't think it was good for the company to close for 3 months prior to and following the operation. It wouldn't be good for her health either to try to get back to work too soon. So after lots of deliberation and discussion between us about the future of Craft Pack I offered to buy it and Emma agreed because she wanted to sell to someone she knew would take it forward in the way she always intended. I am so excited. I hope you all tell friends in the miniatures world as I could do with a little support as I re-open the web site for business tomorrow!!!! The Craft Pack Company has a trade section so those of you in the business can register for trade discount, there is a huge product range, from miniatures kits to craft materials. I will also be adding new ones over the comming weeks when I get to grips with a new web site admin system.
There is a Craft Pack Company Blog but I don't have access to it at the moment, once I do I will update it and you might want to follow me there too as I will be letting people know about new developments and new kits etc as they are produced.
Bye for now xx

What a mild and sunny day it's been here in Cheltenham. I've had a busy day today, though don't feel as though I've achieved much....
I did manage to list quite a few of my Porcelain Doll Molds on my eBay account though, I have around 400 and have decided to sell quite a few of them in order to make space for some new ones.
I'm just updating my blog before I watch my weekly TV programme 'The Apprentice' that and period drama's are about all I get to watch on TV these days. I'm enjoying Downton Abbey at the moment and love the costumes.....I am so looking forward to Larkrise to Candleford returning in the New Year....for many of us miniaturists period drama's are food for the soul and offer oodles of inspiration to set the creative juices flowing!
Check out my listings on eBay here: The Dolls House Store - eBay
These are just a couple of the molds I am selling: