Archive for the Category »Inspiration «

Pinterest Love – how to get started.

15 Feb 2012 by

It being the week of Love and all, I decided that this would be a perfect time to blog about Pinterest. For those of you that know what I’m talking about, I’m sure you’ll agree that this might be one of the greatest things in Social Media since sliced bread. Pinterest is basically an online pin board where you can pin images from all over the Internet for your own inspiration and also to share with other pinners… Trust me on this one, if you have one millimeter of creativity in you you’ll want to check out Pinterest. (The site registered 7 million unique visitors in December 2011).

How to get started.

1) To get an account on Pinterest you need an invite. You can either do this via the site (and they should get back to you in a day or so) or you can email me and I’ll be more than happy to send you an invite.

2) Once you’ve got your account you’re ready to start pinning (make sure your username is as close to any of your other Social Media names to make it easy for people to find you) – our username is simply ‘jamtin’

3) In the simple steps that you’re given when opening your account, you’re given the option to add a ‘Pin It’ button to your tool bar – this is an important step and will allow you to ‘pin’ any images you come across while surfing the net and allows you to pin the image to one of your pinboards (and most importantly saves the link to the original site you’ve pinned from to enable you to revisit the original page just by clicking through the image on your pinboard).

4) Next you should create various ‘boards’ for ways to categorize your pins – ie, ‘handmade tutorials‘, ‘home inspiration‘, and ‘handmade gift ideas‘ to name a few of mine.  People who follow you can either follow you in your entirety or they may choose just to follow some of your individual boards, depending where their interests lie.

5) Now the fun starts – start finding people already on Pinterest to follow – this can range from friends that are already here (you can do a search via your Twitter or Facebook account), to also your favourite creatives – so many of your favourite bloggers will already be on Pinterest, and probably have a ‘follow me on Pinterest’ link on their blog or website. Alternatively, you can just browse the site and you’ll soon find people who have the same taste as you and you can follow their boards as you go. (and you’ll find people follow you back when they see and like what you are pinning. With all Social Media tools, the more social you are, the more followers you’ll have, and that’s just good for business!)

6) You can also like and comment on pins or boards – and as I was saying – since Pinterest is a Social Media tool, it’s always important to be social for it to be effective. Everyone likes to get a comment now and then :)

You may be asking why I’m telling you all about this – well, it’s two fold really. First, knowing that most of the readers here are super duper talented and creative people, I just know that you’ll find truck loads of inspiration, but Pinterest is also fast becoming a really important Social Media tool for businesses that you really shouldn’t ignore. Think of it as a “visual- word of mouth- viral” tool which shares images and products from your site. ie – it takes one person to pin an image from your site for literally 100′s or 1000′s of people to start repinning the image – all directing visitors back to your site (depending on the popularity of the image, or article, and also how many followers you have)…. think about it…

For a really great article that any creative from a small business should read, here’s the link to : “How Pinterest is Becoming the Next Big Thing in Social Media for Business” from the Entrepreneur.

Please shout if you have any questions on Pinterest. I’m still learning, but have been using it for a couple of months now on another account and just love what it’s done for my inspiration as well as the traffic that it’s driving to my site)

ps – here’s what one of my boards looks like…

 

 

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Category: Handmade Business 101, Inspiration  Tags: ,  Leave a Comment

A handmade Valentine’s Day – make the love!

07 Feb 2012 by

There’s just no getting away from the fact that this time next week it will be Valentine’s Day… The day with so many expectations, so much money thrown at red roses and chocolates, and so much pressure – pressure for singles, pressure for couples, old and new, yes, I get it, it can be romantic, and it’s good to be reminded each year that every (surely every) girl loves getting roses and being spoilt, but seriously, I’m just a little over the pressure to splash out and spend your hard earned money, spoiling your someone special with something made in China… Let’s put some real love back into Valentines day and make something for your special Valentine…. I’ve no doubt that it’ll score more brownie points and loving on the day :)

Here are some suggestions that I could find… there must be about a million more though with a little bit of imagination…

Imagine presenting a treat like this for your love…. YUM how delicious does this strawberry jelly cheesecake look. (Follow the link for the recipe)

I don’t have the recipe for this one, but I’m sure the foodies out there will do it justice! Such a cute idea from Amy Atlas’s blog

Myself personally, would fall head over heals in love with this ribbon heart… seriously – you can’t go wrong with beautiful ribbons now can you! You can find some more creative heart ideas over at A Creative Mint

And perhaps my favourite (followed closely by those yummy Jelly Cheesecake things above!) would be to create your own Valentine’s Day Date night box – beat the packed restuarants, filled with every couple gazing into each other’s eyes, but staying at home and making sure you’ve got all her favourite treats near by and cuddle up on the coach with your favourite romantic movie, or with a board game or pack of cards, some good music in the background and high fives, happy valentine’s day all around :)

And for those who are running out of time I’ll try and get a post up in the next day or so for handmade gifts that you can buy from one of the many creative Jamtin listers!

 

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Category: Food, gifts, Inspiration  Tags: ,  Leave a Comment

DIY Handmade Napkin

23 Nov 2011 by

 

I have no doubt that there will be plenty of entertaining in the upcoming month as we lead up to Christmas, and I’m sure many of you are looking for different ways to decorate. How’s this for a beautiful place setting, and the best part is that the napkins have been handmade using a stencil and fabric paint. You can check the original post out here for more details.

Happy entertaining!

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Hosting a Craft Party

31 Oct 2011 by

A few of us friends get together every couple of months on a Saturday for a crafting day… Babies and kids are left behind with the Dads, craft bags are packed with scissors, double sided tape, glue guns and any other crafting accessories we need. Cupcakes are made, we’ve even had home made lemonade and biscuits brought as sustenance for the day, and it’s a full day spent chatting, creating and gathering inspiration from each other. Seriously, I’m such the novice amongst the group of creative ladies I’ve been clever enough to surround myself with – that’s my talent I bring to the group – choosing the right people to hang out with!

Now how cool is this invite for our next craft day!!!

 

(Image and idea from Lefrufru Blog)

And then I could use these craft party printables from Etsy, as seen on  Green Lily Designs

And anyone looking for some tips on how to host a craft part here are some from Living the Swell Life.. (Don’t be intimated by this list – this would be a uber uber craft party). In my opinion all you really need is a group of like minded crafting chicks, whatever you each want to bring from your craft cupboards, some inspiration from each other, some basic food & drinks and that should be more than enough for an amazing day that you’ll wish you did more often (hint hint to our craft club, it’s been a while!)

I’d love to know more about craft days that you host or attend?

 

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Kamersvol Geskenke

28 Oct 2011 by

I first heard about Kamersvol Geskenke probably 2 years ago now and have been in awe of the event from the first moment I lay my eyes on their website… So many talented and creative people, all selling handmade products; in a setting that is just too beautiful, with an attention to detail second to none.

The day finally arrived – bidding farewell to children and husbands, we  left our homes for Durban airport at 4.30am on Tuesday morning… (a 4am wake up for me should be some indication of my extreme excitement for our ‘Kamers Tour’). I’ll jump to the important stuff… we arrived at Lourensford Wine Estate bright eyed and bushy tailed, 9am sharp on Wednesday morning, not quite sure what to expect, but all three of us bursting with nervous excitement – we just knew what we were about to experience was going to be special – I’m happy to report that the reality of it certainly didn’t disappoint.

Our day was spent wandering through the tents, looking, touching, chatting to the stall owners, and of course buying!!! Leisurely cups of coffee in the tent, listening to toe tapping live music, adding to the ambiance of the occasion. Lunch with the backdrop of the mountains in the distance and then the attention to detail of the actual event. Bunting marking off the parking to welcome you, actually, bunting everywhere, ribbon strung from the roof of the tent, vendor caravans, roses, food stalls, oh, the list could go on. I can’t do it justice trying to explain our experience – it was exactly that – just the most amazing experience that I shall savour for a long long while… perhaps until Kamers 2012!

It brings such excitement to my heart to see such beautiful handmade products, such creativity, such beauty and the best part of it all – all handmade in our beautiful country.

Anyone in Cape Town or the surrounds would be crazy not to visit tomorrow (Saturday 29th October is the last day).

The good news for any Joburg and Pretoria people is that Kamersvol will be in Irene, at the The Open Window School of Visual Communication. 29th Nov – 3rd December 2011

Please visit the Kamersvol Geskenke website for more details.

Photos all from the Kamersvol Facebook page

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Loving Chalkboard Paint

17 Oct 2011 by

Chalkboard paint could possibly be one of the most underrated product for some DIY fun I reckon!

So… to start off with, I found this ‘recipe’ from The CSI Project to make your own chalk board paint – the great thing is that by doing so you can create chalk board paint in any colour…. (I haven’t tried this yet but am hoping it works as well as it looks!)

And once you’ve made your paint (or brought some of the standard stuff from the store), you could do something like this at your entrance hall…. imagine being able to create a personalised  welcome to your family or visitors when ever you wanted to create one! This inspiration comes from The Four McGarveys

And here’s some more inspiration from Chic Cheap Nursery

 

Have you seen those cool glass jars with the chalk board labels on them where you can write on what ever is in the jar (like the one in the picture above).. uber trendy at the moment I think…. I’ve even labelled the pasta in my kitchen with them… you know… it’s important to label such things in case you get confused :)

But… don’t you think this idea is such a great one to make your own chalk board labels – all you need is some plain white label stickers, chalk board paint and there you go -your very own labels…

You can see how it’s done at A Little Learning for Two

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Lister Love – YUMMI

19 Sep 2011 by

Maybe it’s because I’m a new(ish) mom, or because I love handmade,  or probably mostly because their products are just so beautiful, that I’ve fallen in love with Yummi. Not only are their products stunning, but the story behind Yummi is also one that is inspiring! Sam, a mom to 3 years had the courage to leave the corporate world behind her to focus on starting her own business – not only to allow herself more time with her kids, but in the process, she also uses her business to uplift members of their community. So there – how could you not love Yummi – on so many levels.

Here are some of their products that are my favourite…

Crocheted Baby blanket

Stunning Baby Bunting

An entire linen range – this picture from their “Surf’s Up” range.

And as for how cute their mobiles are…

How cute are these crazy monster toys..

As well as these crochet rattle balls

All these, and a bunch more gorgeous products are available at www.yummi.co.za

Pop over to www.jamtin.co.za to view a selection of more stunning handmade South African wares, or to become a lister yourself

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Category: gifts, Inspiration, Jamtin Listers  Tags: , ,  Leave a Comment

Handmade gift: Apron in a jar

15 Sep 2011 by

Ok, so either you could actually make an apron and put it in the jar or you could just use this idea (from pleasant home) for the gift wrapping for the next time you give someone an apron that you’ve brought of course. Oh well, either way, I think it’s a cute idea and always up for different ways to give a gift in!

Pop over to www.jamtin.co.za to view a selection of stunning handmade South African wares, or to become a lister yourself

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Scrabble Fridge Magnets

12 Sep 2011 by

When ever there is a fridge with alphabet magnets on it I find it difficult not to try and quickly put a word together… not sure if that’s just me!! I’m thinking these scrabble magnets (tutorial available here from Oh Crafts)  might be a great project for the top half of our fridge and keeping the bright plastic alphabet magnets for the bottom half :)

Pop over to www.jamtin.co.za to view a selection of stunning handmade South African wares, or to become a lister yourself

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33 ways to get creative

09 Sep 2011 by

We’ve all been there – a little under the ‘creative’ weather – Lucky for me, I’m not there at the moment, but I did love this list I found on the Roar Events blog – I’ve selected a few of my best pieces of advice from the list of 33 – you can see the full list here…

1. make lists

2. carry a notebook everywhere

4. get away from the computer (And the smart phone!)

6. quit beating yourself up (ie… drop the guilt?)

7. take breaks

8. sing in the shower (hmm, good luck husband)

9. drink coffee/tea (No problem here!)

13. surround yourself with creative people (If I say so myself, sometimes I think I’m a genius at this.. I really do have some very creative and special friends who certainly get the creative juices flowing – whether it’s a conversation over coffee or a morning crafting together!)

19. go somewhere new

21. count your blessings

22. get lots of rest (even with a little one that’s got teeth coming out?)

23. take risks

24. break the rules

25. do more of what makes you happy

29. stop trying to be someone else’s perfect

30. got an idea? write it down

31. clean your workspace (hmmm, I NEED to do this)

32. have fun

33. finish (so difficult, but true – too easy to jump from one project to the next)

Pop over to www.jamtin.co.za to view a selection of stunning handmade South African wares, or to become a lister yourself

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