New Zoo Range

As I mentioned last week I got a lot of inspiration from Longleat Safari Park and as a result I have created a 'Zoo Range'. At the moment it is a few door plaques but I have plans and designs more and for a few clocks too.
Last week I showed you the first in the new range which I have now named 'Zazzi'.

Zazzi

This week I've been finishing off a few more,

Max the Lion

Nelly the Elephant

Fliss the Flamingo

Chris the Crocodile

So what do you think?
I've also made Manny the Monkey

Manny the Monkey

I think he needs a little something extra as he looks a bit plain,
And finally Gerty the giraffe

Gerty the Giraffe

He is the wild cousin of Marty and Matilda and although he is one of my favourites his border takes ages to paint!
Its a short post from me this week for Handmade Monday, I hope you are all having a wonderful Easter, although my creations aren't Easter-themed i'm sure there will be a fair few over on HM that are so i'm now off to have a browse. I have also discovered a linky party over at Serendipity and Spice so i'm going to link in with them too.
Until next time,
Jem
x

New Zebra Plaque

Its been a busy weekend at work and at home thanks to my new fitness plan and the lovely summer weather meaning that once again I've not had much time for finishing my crafts.

I made several posts on my blog last week about my weekend trip to Longleat. If you haven't read them already please do, you can find the link to the last post here. Not only did I have a great time here I also found inspiration for a new range of plaques. I've decided to create a 'Zoo Range' and have so many ideas on paper, several half finished plaques but only one completed. There will be several more ready to show for next weekend including an elephant, a monkey and a flamingo!
The one I have completed today is the Zebra,

This plaque took much longer to paint than I thought, that edging took ages! I'm still debating whether to add a stitched edge to the border or leave it as it is, what do you think?
It's only a short post this week for Handmade Monday, please take a trip over to see what everyone else has made.
Until next time,
Jem
x

A little treat for me!

Another week gone, Handmade Monday sure does make the days pass quick. Once you've finished here make sure you go over and take a look. Bath Bomb Creations are also beginning to host linky parties every Sunday and could really do with your support so please visit them too.

So what have the past few days held for me? A few night shifts (boring!) and i'm now on a weekend off (hooray!) I finally managed to meet up with the friend who ordered the Jessica photo frame a few weeks ago and she was delighted with it. Pretending to be 'ladies who lunch' we went out for a nice healthy-ish meal which I finished off with a big helping of black forest gateau, It didn't help my diet but it sure did taste good!

Onto the handmade stuff, an idea popped into my head for a little plaque, I make different designs for little boys and girls bedrooms but what about the adults? I decided to make one for mum and dads room

I'ts not turned out how I was hoping but after a bit of tweaking I think I can improve it.
Next is something I've made for myself. I made a couple of kitchen boards as Christmas presents but one design stuck in my head. I wasn't sure who to make it for so I decided to treat myself and i'm glad I did

I really love these kitchen boards, there are so many designs possible and I think the caption at the bottom really finishes them off (even if I did forget to dot the I's before taking the photos).

You can have it made with any persons name and the caption can say anything you wish. Even the design can be made to suit any personality.

That's all I have to show this week, next weekend will be Mothers Day so I hope you'll all be remembering it.
Until next time,
Jem
x

Unicorns altered!

Another week gone and it's almost March!  Where does the time go? I'm sure it was only Christmas a few days ago!

Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone who commented on last weeks post about my unicorn plaques, your feedback was fantastic and just goes to show that different people like different things. I've decided to keep both plaque ideas but taken your advice and made a few differences. The unicorns with rainbows are staying pretty much as they are,

I will have a go at writing the name in big colourful letters down the rainbow but if that doesn't look right then I shall just make the letters bolder so they stand out more. As for the plain unicorns they've had a bit of makeover.

I've added the dashed line border to them which I think really makes a difference to plaques and lots of people seem to like this. I might try a rainbow coloured dashed line with the rainbow plaques but I think just one colour looks better on these ones. I've also made the eye darker on the pink unicorn, she doesn't look as evil now as she did with pink eyes! Finally I've added some silver stars to the background. So what do you think now?

Now we can't forget that very soon it will be mothers day. I don't have any children but I love this time of year as I love spoiling my mum. I will do a more detailed post about Mothers day soon but I just wanted to show you a plaque I've made as a mothers day gift idea,

The big teddy will obviously have the pink bow but the little one can have a pink or blue bow depending on whether it's a gift from a girl or boy. I can also add the givers name underneath if requested. I have to admit I'm pretty pleased with these, I'm still working on facial expressions but I'm getting there, a slight change in bow colours and wording and it's a gift for fathers day too!

Enough from me, it's now time to go over to Wendy's Handmade Monday and see what everyone else has been up to.
Until next time,
Jem
x

Unicorns

Just a short post this weekend to show some plaques that i've been working on and to join in with Handmade Monday which I missed last week.

I love the idea of a magical fantasy world which is partly why I created the dragon plaques a little while ago. To carry on the fantasy theme I made some unicorn plaques in pink and purple but there was something about them that I wasn't too sure on,

So I decided to tweak them and give them a white background but again I wasn't too sure, they looked a little plain, so on went the thinking cap and after a bit of deliberation I decided to add a rainbow with little flowers.

Lola

Lily

Lucy

Just like the dragons I have named these unicorns but I'm still a little unsure of them, one of the worst things about doing crafts is that its so easy to criticise yourself so readers i'm asking for your advice, which one do you prefer? The plain ones or the ones with the rainbows? Do you think they should be altered further or done completely different? I'm open to any suggestions!

Please go see what the other crafters are up to over at Handmade Monday, I'm off to bed now as I've just finished a night shift but i'll be looking through them all this evening.
Have a great week,
Jem
x

Dragons

Its been a bit of a hectic weekend here and I'm running a bit late with my Handmade Monday post so i'm going to keep it short and sweet.
This week among other unfinished items I've been working on a mischievous trio of dragons, Boris, Glenn and Rudy:

Boris

Glenn

Rudy

I love the cheeky expression on these guys faces and really enjoyed painting them.
I've also been working on my website a bit which, despite a few setbacks, i'm still intending to get up and running before the end of January. Building a website, even a simple one, is a lot trickier than it appears especially if you are a bit technically-dumb like me. Bit by bit though it is slowly coming together but in the mean time if you want to buy anything you see on here just drop me a message either in the comments section on here or by email to jamdalory@hotmail.co.uk
Its just the dragons I have to show you this week however next week i'll be getting in the Valentines mood and showing you some lovey themed creations.
Until next time,
Jem
x

2 weeks to go...

...and Christmas will be here, where has this year gone?
Right so this week, as promised, I've done a bit more than last week. Firstly the little girls plaque that was ordered to go with the Fireman Sam plaque. I did post this a couple of days ago but I wanted to show it to the Handmade Monday crowd.

I delivered it to the lady at work this weekend and she was thrilled with them both.

My cousin who's baby was due this month gave birth a little early so I've made her a plaque too for her beautiful little girl,

I'm popping it into the post tomorrow so it should arrive sometime this week.

Now with so many houses and people to deliver presents to I always wondered how the big red man remembered where to go? In order to make sure he didn't forget my home I made a little reminder plaque for him!

I've almost finished my Christmas orders but unfortunately I can't put them up yet in case the recipients see them. I will post them after Christmas though.
Its been a bit like Christmas for me already with various parcels arriving through the door for various crafty bits and pieces but the one that got me most excited was my business cards finally arriving from Vistaprint

Ooooh its all coming together!
And finally another little decoration to add to the Christmas tree,

So what have you been up to this week? Are you ready for Christmas? Pop over to Wendy's Handmade Monday to marvel at what the others have been up to and the enormous amount of orders that poor Wendy is completing. I'm heading over there now and my mission is to leave a comment on every link!
I've also decided to join in over at Made It Myself Monday.
Until next time,
Jem
x

Wednesday Linky Parties

Ok, so now I've been bitten by the blogging bug (try saying that after a few drinks!) I'm keen to keep it up.

One of the best things about blogging is getting feedback especially when its positive and gaining followers who keep coming back because they like what you do. The best way of doing this has to be the linky parties. I've been doing the Handmade Mondays for a little while now but thanks to my normal job having a random shift pattern sometimes I don't have a lot to show on the Monday but a couple of days later I've created something that I can't wait until the next Monday to show off.
This week is one of those weeks, on Monday I only had a couple of Christmas tree decorations to show off as I'd worked 8 days in a row, after a couple of days off I now have some other bits and pieces to blog about.
In order to solve my impatience I've been hunting around and found some other linky parties 'What I Whipped Up Wednesday' and 'Made by me Wednesday'. These parties have an awful lot of people joining in and they have some fabulous creations so I thought I'd join them!
A little while ago I showed a Fireman Sam plaque that I've made as a special order, I've tweaked it a little as I want to use twine on the plaques unless someone specifically asks for ribbon.

Well here is the plaque for little Alfie's sister which I finished today.

I doodled some little mice a while ago for another design but decided to use one of them for this plaque and I think its quite sweet.
I'm now going to go a look through some of the other links, make sure you do too.
Until next time,
Jem
x

Sunday

So what have you been up to this week? I've spent most of it working the night shifts (boo) and being woken up during the day by deliveries and builders working nearby. As I work a weird shift pattern at my normal job when ordering things for delivery that I know won't fit through the letterbox I try to arrange for them to arrive when I have a day off or I'm working nights. 9 times out of 10 they arrive when i'm on nights so the postman gets greeted by me in the middle of the day in my PJs with crazy bed hair, I dread to think what they must think of me!
One good thing about this week though was that I told a lady at work about my new business venture and showed her some pictures of things I'd made. I handed her my camera then sat back bracing myself for criticism or at best a "Hmmm that's nice," instead I got "Will you make some for me for my neighbours children for Christmas?" I was so chuffed I was smiling for the rest of my shift! She asked me to make two plaques, one for a little girl and one for a little boy. She left the design up to me but asked that the girls plaque be girly (so pinks and purples) and if possible could I do a Fireman Sam for the little boy. All the things I've made have been from images that have popped into my head or from various doodles so to have a specific character to try to do was a bit of a challenge. After a search of the internet to make sure I got the colours and detail right I came up with this:

She couldn't remember the name of the little girl so I've not been able to finish that plaque just yet.

Also this week as I mentioned in my last post, I got my new logo:

I'd been trying to do it myself on the computer but with a complete lack of computer skills it was never going to happen so I sent a drawing of it to Verve Designs who not only made it a proper logo, they improved it by giving me that lovely swooshy style writing. Not to mention they did it in less than a week! As soon as I received it I got onto Vistaprint to have some business cards made up and they are (hopefully) on their way to me now. I have added it to my website too, which has taken a bit of a back seat this week, I've decided it will now go live in January to give me plenty of time to get it just how I want it.
I like this design as I can use it with or without the writing, I'm going to have some little round stickers made up too so that I can add them to the packaging.

I love money boxes and think they make lovely gifts, especially for babies so today I did a bit of a practice with a rocking horse design,

I'm not that keen on the colours for this one but I do like the shape, I think the next ones I do will be in just one colour like all pink or all blue. I do like the little heart gems though, I've used them on some baby plaques before and they're something I will make sure I've always got in my craft box!
Pop over to Handmade Monday to see how busy Wendy has been with her camper-van clocks and to see what the other crafters have been up to.
Until next time
Jem
x

Marty and Matilda

I've not been doing this blogging thing very long but there's something very addictive about it. At the moment this is mainly thanks to Handmade Monday hosted by Wendy each week. Through this I'm receiving feedback about my work and gaining a few followers, both these things are great for helping me to launch my new business so thank you.
I've not been able to do a lot this week thanks to being back at my normal job and getting a dose of the latest virus thats flying around. This has meant that as soon as I get home I've been jumping into my bed with a hot water bottle and medicine feeling sorry for myself. Fortunately though my computer is a laptop so thats been joining me and its been the perfect time to get started on building my website. Its still a work in progress at the moment but it feels good to have got a good start on it.
By yesterday I'd managed to drag myself out of bed and get the paintbrush out again. After all whats the point in building a website if I don't have anything to put on it!
On my first blog post I showed you a plaque I'd made:

I thought he was cute so I had to give him a name so I chose 'Marty'. Being the dreamer that I am I then started thinking of a whole back story about him, I won't bore you with it but the question that came out of the story was what does a little giraffe need? That's right, a friend. So yesterday I created Marty's new best friend, Matilda:

Isn't she pretty? Well she is but my camera skills are so poor the colours aren't coming across right! Any tips anyone can offer would be welcomed.
The wonderful thing about crafts and self criticism is that now I've made Matilda I want to improve Marty. Maybe that's a woman thing, always wanting to improve her man!
I have a few ideas in the pipeline for next week but haven't had time to finish them yet. I will make a big effort to get them done for next week.
Anyway, all feedback and followers are appreciated, I'm now going over to Handmade Monday to see what everyone else has been up to. Make sure you take a look too.
Until next time
Jem
x

Never Forget

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" a quote by Winston Churchill in August 1940.

I don't know about you but this week has been a thought provoking one and one which has made me realise how much we owe to those brave soldiers for their actions all those years ago.
And, whilst its important not to forget what those soldiers gave for us, its just as important to remember what our brave girls and guys are still giving for us to this day.
This week has definately made me feel quite patriotic and proud to be British, in turn this has motivated me to design my next couple of plaques,

The blue in the flag is actually a bit darker than it looks in the picture above.

I decided to do a pink and blue outline to the heart and star but after seeing it I think I might change it to a black outline. I need to neaten these plaques up a little bit but overall i'm happy with the design.

Also I have now officially registered with HMRC and would like to officially give you a warm welcome to JAM DALORY, I will be making and selling handmade gifts, many of which will appear first on this blog to get opinions and feedback. I have lots of ideas and designs bubbling away in my head and I can't wait to pour them out to you. The website will be coming along soon and the above plaques will be added to it (once I've perfected them!) along with many other gifts, I do hope you'll visit it.
I'm really quite excited now, a new adventure is looming and I can't wait to start exploring it.

Someone else with exciting news is Wendy over at Handmade Monday, she's celebrating a beautiful new granddaughter, go and have a look then see what the other crafters have been up to, I'm off to get a hot chocolate, some biscuits and have a browse of them all.
Until next time
x

Babies EVERYWHERE!

Is it just me or does there seem to be a bit of a baby boom at the moment?
At this moment in time I have one cousin pregnant, one cousin has just had a baby girl last month, at work I have one colleague who also had a baby girl last month, three colleagues who are heavily pregnant and two male colleagues have just had babies (well their partners did!)
It seems that everywhere I turn theres either a buggy or a bump. Now i'm not getting broody, i'm far too immature for that, but I am getting creative. All these babies being born deserve beautiful gifts!
I wanted to create a baby plaque that people could buy before they knew the name of the baby, or even before they knew the sex. So I came up with these:
For baby boys:

For baby girls:

And I did one very similar in cream for those who don't yet know if its a little boy or girl, unfortunately I haven't yet photographed it!
I think they're pretty cute but I'm still toying around with the facial expressions and debating whether or not to add some more embellishments, what do you think?
Now going back to my cousin and my colleague who both had baby girls last month, amazingly they were both born on the same day and their mothers share the same name, spooky! I wanted to create a little something special so for my colleague I made this:

and I made a similar one for my cousin

And then a matching money box as my mum wanted a gift to give her too

Here's the two of them together:

Myself and my mum travelled to London on Friday and delivered the gifts to the new baby, I also did a plaque and bag of sweets for her big brother and sister so they didn't feel left out, big sister had this:

And big brother had a similar plaque to the giraffe from the last post, again I stupidly forgot to photograph it (slaps hands)
The cousin who's still pregnant (due next month) had a baby shower today which myself and my mum went to, it was good fun and she had a whole table full of gifts. I haven't made her a gift yet as I'm waiting to see what she names it however my mum wanted a moneybox to give to her so I made her this:

I didn't get to see her reaction as we had to leave before the end to travel back however she did see the other moneybox and she loved it so hopefully she'll like hers too.
Anyway thats enough baby talk from me, its tired me out!
What have you been up to this week? Pop along to Wendy's Handmade Monday to see the other talented crafters and their wonderful creations. This is the second time I've entered as Jam Dalory and as well as picking up new followers i'm hoping to join in every week at least until the end of 2011.
Until next time...

Introducing...

Hello and welcome,
If you've come here from my previous blog then thank you.
Every new blog should have an introduction so here goes...
My name is Jem, i'm a good old fashioned country girl from the beautiful Westcountry.

I currently work full time however I've developed a passion for making gifts, mainly for children. It all started when my cousin announced she was expecting a little girl, a few weeks later another cousin announced the same. Whilst searching online for baby girl gifts I realised that it was easy and cheap to buy mass produced gifts but none of them sent out the message I wanted. It was at this point I decided to make something personal, handmade with love. I had a few months to spare during which other events popped up and I began thinking outside the baby box.
The first person I decided to make a gift for was my little brother and after a bit of playing around I made a nice little plaque for his bedroom door. It wasn't brilliant but it was a start and I was happy, so happy that I made a couple more for two friends little boys.
Are you wondering what it looked like? Here it is:

I have started this blog as I'm aiming to start a business very soon, some of the images you see might be a bit familiar as I did show them on a previous blog however this is to show a bit of background to Jam Dalory and I assure you there are lots of new images to come soon.
I love to look at the work of other crafters and there is no better way to do this than through Wendy's Handmade Monday. Many of the crafters who take part have given me the confidence to take the plunge and start to turn my hobby into a business so thanks a million to them.
Take care
Jem x