Our New Ambassador

We are pleased to welcome our new Ambassador Marie Guest-McAllister of Dolly Dimples Keepsake, she will be primarily looking after the Paper Crafters but in a couple of weeks she will be running her own events on the page.

Here is a little background information about Marie and how she started Dolly Dimples:

"Dolly Dimples was founded after doing a fingerprint jewellery making course at Clarise jewellery courses. I bought fingerprint jewellery for my husband & wasn't happy with the quality & thought I'm going to do that but give a much better product, stunning packaging & all round better service! 
I networked really well on twitter & Facebook & got in touch with Dannii  Minogue  who then asked me to make a lot if pieces of fingerprint & handprint jewellery for her family! She even contacted me to ask if she could recommend my gifts in her Mothers Day My Daily Blog! 
I then made the 'I love you to the moon & back' necklace which proved to be a massive hit with lots of celebrities wearing it Kerry Katona, Michelle Heaton, Kym marsh, Lorraine Kelly to name a few. It's definitely my favourite to make!
While looking for a word art picture I realised I had a passion to do again, a more complex gift but completely different. In October 2012 I started doing stunning personalised 2000 word art pictures with any design even portraits & believe I am the only person to do this type of work. The interest has been incredible to say the least! It's now progressed into mugs, coasters, placemats, teddies, cushions all with your words & colours! I'm now also putting together Wedding Personalised Stationery & gift sets. Also on the horizon are wooden keepsake plaques & gifts! 
My love for all keepsakes inspires me to make quality pieces at the best possible price!
Working from home if fantastic as my husband is away a lot & it means I can do it around my 2 children. 
Success doesn't happen overnight & takes a lot of work but 1 day I'm hoping to take Dolly Dimples to another level!"

For more information about Marie's work visit www.facebook.com/DollyDimplesKeepsakes or www.dollydimples.co.uk

Networking Night

Libby, Ambassasdor of Textiles will be hosting the second No Rules Networking night tonight from 8pm. Any of our Guild members are welcome to participate, it is a great way to get to know the other members of the community and hopefully get some new fans along the way!

Be there tonight on the facebook page from 8pm www.facebook.com/KeepsakeArtists

Our First Newsletter....

Our New Year's Resolution at the Guild was to kee our members update with news by updating the blog more regularly and starting an old school style Newsletter so here it is Issue 1...are you in it?

CLICK TO ENLARGE- PLEASE NOTE THERE ARE 2 PAGES

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas....

On behalf of the Guild and the Ambassadors who have worked so hard this year we wanted to say thank you to every member and every fan of The Guild of Keepsake Artists. We have lots of exciting to secret projects planned for the next year but we will be keeping some of our favourite things ticking over. Here are some of things we hope to continue with:

• Keepsake Artist of the Month and feature their interview and work on our blog. We have the next couple of artists lined up already and they are good-un's!
• Give members the opportunity to be featured artists for the day as we have in the past and promote them through our facebook page www.facebook.com/KeepsakeArtists
• Lots of fun games and activities that everyone can get involved in and get to know each other, after all we are a community and we have seen some strong online friendships formed though our work!
• Themed days run by our ambassadors, the format may be changed slightly but we still need to fine tune it!

Our Main New Year Resolution is to UPDATE THE BLOG more regularly! So make sure you bookmark us or google+ us or whatever we do these days to keep on being notified of new posts!

I will be back soon with some more updates but for now I will leave you with our completed 

Secret Santa Advent Calender featuring some wonderful keepsake artists.

Keepsake secret Santa advent

We will be launching our keepsake advent tomorrow... Don't know what it is? All will be revealed. Keep up to date with the latest news and events on our Facebook page. Www.facebook.com/keepsakeartists

Featured Artist: Buttons & Butterflies

Introduce yourself, who are you and what sort of keepsakes do you create?

Hello!  I'm Laura Galloway – mother of two tinies, ex-Probation Officer, and general lover of all things made.  I create keepsakes such as my 'brought to life' decorative keepsakes of children's drawings, as well as an awful lot of wedding and Christening canvasses :)

How and when did you start creating what you do?

After making for my family and friends over the years, I first went public in March 2012 and was then nagged by my early customers to start a Facebook business page.  Buttons & Butterflies was 'born' on 4^th April 2012 and at least half of my creations are simply down to my regulars asking if I can make a certain item.  But I never make the same thing twice – everything has a unique tweak!

What are your most popular/ best selling items?

My best selling items are undoubtedly my wedding canvasses, as I think people understand that not only are they beautiful due to featuring vintage buttons, but they truly are a keepsake from an unforgettable day.

What is your favourite item to make?

I adore making my canvasses, as it means I can work with a huge amount of buttons!  But I also really enjoy anything involving fabrics, as I love to combine colours and patterns that shouldn't really go together.

What is the story behind the winning item in the competition?

The winning item was a Christening gift from one friend to another, and I remember making a butterfly headband to go with it.  It was the first time I'd been asked to create a Christening canvas featuring a butterfly, but as with most of my commissions, I was given relative free rein and so was able to really play with the colours and the detail.  That's my favourite kind of commission – one where the customer has a rough idea of what they want but tells you that they're leaving it up to you.  That's when I think the end result can be really magical.

Do you have any plans to introduce any new products to your range?

I am FOREVER introducing new products as I'm FOREVER being asked by customers if I would be able to make such and such an item!  It's fantastic as it stops me getting restless or bored.  My business has been almost 100% commissioned work up until now, but I will very shortly be creating items that will be released into a 'Ready To Buy' album.  This will mean that not only will people be able to bypass my usual 3-4 week very friendly queue ;) but that I will be able to continue scratching my creative itch and creating the makes that pop into my head when I wake at 2am!

Do you have an online shop/Facebook page/Etsy shop? Where do you think most of your sales are generated?

I have the rights to a website but have been too busy recently to get it up and running – it's on my To Do list!!  But I generate most of my sales through my page at www.facebook.com/ButtonsButterflies and the rest has been through local selling sites on Facebook also.  Although it would be wonderful to go bigger, I love the charm involved in it being homemade, handcrafted and created with love and care.  As long as I can sustain this principle then I will be happy, and hopefully my customers will be too.

Summer Competition

We are pleased to announce the winners of our SUMMER themed voting competition which took place on our facebook page www.facebook.com/KeepsakeArtists and ended at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games!

In BRONZE medal position with a gorgously sunny personalised cushion is Ragz2Riches

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ragz2riches/252169048145019

In SILVER position was Tiny Treasures with her 'August' Christening Pendant

https://www.facebook.com/TinyTreasuresKeepsakes

And coming in first taking the GOLD medal is Buttons & Butterflies with her Butterfly Canvas

https://www.facebook.com/ButtonsButterflies

Keep an eye on the blog as an interview with Buttons & Butterflies will follow very soon.....