Last guest post over at MelJen's Designs

Today MelJen's Designs Team & Challenge Blog are sharing the last post from me.  It's been wonderful having a guest spot with the team and I hope to have one again in the future, but right now I have my baby girl and 3 year old boy to think about. 

Why not pop on over to the shop to get some gorgeous images for yourself and join in the challenge? www.meljensdesigns.com

News!

Well I won't be creating cards and blogging very much now due to giving birth to a gorgeous baby girl on Tuesday!
I'm really going to miss my days of crafting, but being a mum is a very demanding and I'll look forward to creating again in the near future. 

Thanks for following my blog and for all the lovely comments you have left,

More from me over at MelJen's Designs...

Today MelJen's Designs Team and Challenge Blog are sharing another card I made especially for them. 
Why not pop over for a look and join in the latest challenge while you're there?
You can also find some gorgeous digital images, including freebies, over at MelJen's Designs shop

Guest Spot at MelJen's Designs

Please pop over to MelJen's Designs Challenge Blog where I have another guest spot today. 
You can also join in with the latest challenge 'Buttons' and be in with a chance to be their next Guest Designer!

Celebrate Today

It's nearly American Independence Day and although I'm in England and won't be celebrating, our theme at The Crafter's Café Challenge Blog this week is Red, White & Blue which is perfect for this occasion. 

Our sponsor this week is:

I have chosen the image 'Twinkles Boo' as the stars and stripes on her onesie fit the theme perfectly.  I've gone with really bold and bright colours for the background paper, and added just a bit more colour with yellow stars.

I've used the following materials to create this card:

• Card and button from my stash
• Dovecraft twine
• 'Perfectly Penned' sentiment from Stampin' Up! 
• Big Bloomer and patterned papers from the Papermania Spots & Stripes Brights collections
• ProMarkers - Oatmeal, Soft Peach, Tulip Yellow, Mustard, Sandstone, Caramel, Burnt Sienna, Berry Red, True Blue, Arctic Blue

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

1. 613 Avenue Create - #78 Anything Goes

2. Crafting By Designs - Anything Goes

3. Crafting From The Heart - #25 Anything Goes

4. Crafts Galore - Use a Stamp/Digistamp

5. Crafty Catz - #237 Anything Goes

6. Crafty Girls - #21 Anything Goes

7. Cute Card Thursday - #327 Circles

8. I love Promarkers - #226 Anything Goes

9. Lacy Sunshine - #36 Anything Goes

10. Paper Creator's Crafts - #26 Anything Goes

11. Papertake - Anything Goes

12. Sister Act - #63 Anything Goes

13. Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - #35 Anything Goes

Etsy Treasuries

I have my own Etsy shop, so from time to time I create treasuries. I'm doing them quite a bit at the moment as Craft Hour networking page host #TreasuryTuesday.  

Treasuries are lists of items on Etsy which people usually create to a certain theme, e.g. a particular colour or items for weddings. They consist of a maximum of 16 items. 

I always message people to tell them their item is in my list and often get asked how to create one from people who are new to Etsy, or have never created a treasury before.
Bearing this in mind, I thought I'd write a tutorial that I can point people to rather than writing it all out in conversations several times!

Step-By-Step

1. Go to Etsy front page and scroll down. On the left-hand side you will see 'More Ways to Shop' - click 'Treasury' 
   
2. On the next page, go to the top right-hand side and you will see 'Curator Tools' - click 'Create a List' 
   
3. This brings you to the page where you will actually create your treasury. Think of a Title and a Description which explain the theme of your items. You will also need to add Tags to help people in finding your treasury. Once you have done all this, copy and paste the URLs for each item and click 'OK'. 
   
4. Once all the spaces are filled, click 'Save' at the bottom. Your treasury is now ready to share. 
   

It is a good idea to send a message to the shop owners to tell them you've included their items. That way it gets exposure and you get more 'Favorites'. The more items are included in treasuries, the more likely they are to be on the first page when searching.

I hope you have found this tutorial useful. 

Many thanks,