Friends bringing gifts..what more could you want?

Some of you may not know but I used to have a proper job, before I started Funky Hand ! Infact I've had a number of 'proper' jobs over the years! One of my favourite times was working in the centre of Newcastle in the late nineties for a recruitment agency as a consultant, recruiting permanent members of staff for various businesses around the area.  I don't really remember it that fondly for the actual job but for the fantastic group of girls I worked with.  We were friends much more than just work colleagues.  Anyway, you know how things go, you leave, everyone moves on..you lose touch and before you know it, it's been years since you have seen them.  I'm sure you can all understand and have experienced that in your lives.

Anyway, through the joy that is FaceBook I have got back in touch after about six years with my old Manager from those days Heather.  On Friday she popped into Teapot Studios to see our little set up and catch up on what I'm actually up to.  Heather is running her own marketing business called Marketing Geni now and as a little fun sideline she also makes cup cakes!  Thankfully she brought a sample of them for me with her!!

It was so wonderful to meet up with an old friend and even though the years had gone by and so much had happened in those years to us both, it was just like we had seen each other yesterday!  I know this post isn't about crafting today but I just wanted to share with you how pleased I was to see Heather again and how much it made me realise that true friends are always there for you, even if you don't see them everyday.  So, this week think about someone who was special to you in the past and you haven't seen for ages and make the decision to get intouch with them again.  I have to say I really think it's true that you can't have too many friends..expecially if they make really yummy sparkly cupcakes!!

I'm working on new paper designs for another CD release in the new year and Corrina and I are getting very excited about a number of other crafty projects that we have coming together at the moment.  So, as usual, it's all go in Teapot Studios!


I hope your weekend has been great fun and I'll speak to you again very soon.
Anice xx

Come on join our Funky Hand gang!

We are getting all excited here in Teapot Studios as we have realised that we are approaching 100 fans on the Facebook Funky Hand Fans page.  So, to celebrate we thought that once we hit that fab 100 fans we would offer all the fan members a discount code to use on the Funky Hand website just for them!

So, if you are registered on Facebook but you are not yet one of our fans, join up now and help everyone who is a member get that discount code!  If you are already a member firstly..thank you, and secondly..do you know anyone who hasn't joined up and would like the discount code?  Get them joining up and help give everyone a little discount which we all like to get now and then!!

Woohoo!  We did it if you are a FaceBook fan go on to the Funky Hand fan page and grab your 10% discount code!  Thanks everyone you are all stars! 

As our fan base grows on Facebook we will be offering competitions, demonstration videos and loads of other stuff so hopefully it will be a fun fan page to be involved with.  Don't worry though I wont forget my lovely bloggy friends you'll be getting your share of fun as well.  Just keep your eyes peeled here and see what we have in store for you in the near future!

Before I go we are fast heading to the end of the month so don't forget that there is still time to take part in our Get Funky Challenge blog challenge for September.  There's a £20.00 voucher for the winning entry to spend on our website.  Go on join in you never know you might just get lucky!!

Speak again very soon.
Anice xx

Lots of news here at Funky Hand..

Hello!  It's been a week since my last post and what a week I've had.  I'd promised myself that I wouldn't get behind with my blogging but this week has just flown by so I'm going to have an extra long post full of news today to make up for it!  Are you ready? Then I shall begin...

I'm pleased to let you know that we have launched two new word book downloads on the website today.  After the recent release of my Christmas paper download All I want for Xmas I had alot of you contacting me asking if you could have matching word books so..that's what you have got!!  There are two word book collections one made up from the more traditional coloured papers from the collection and the other from the more trendy colours.  Each collection includes letters A-Z, numbers 0-9 and I've included '? ! &' characters as well..but that's not all, also included in each collection are three sets of small alphabet letters which I have called Funky Alpha -Bits.  They were created with the same font as the word book pages so they match perfectly and will help you to create some fun sentiments on your word books or other cards creations!  So, thats 42 printable items in each collection take a look at them here..  Trad Xmas Word Book  and Trendy Xmas Word Book. 

I'm also pleased to be able to tell you that the very popular Word Book Envelopes are now back in stock, they sold out very quickly when they were launched but hopefully I've stocked enough this time to make sure everyone who wants to give them a try will get a chance!Fingers crossed!

Now for something that I need to let you know.  Since Funky Hand was launched we have always tried our very best to offer the best possible products and service to all of our customers.  I've always been proud that I was able to offer free postage and packing on all our products to my customers and I know you have all appreciated it.  Unfortunately, times are getting harder for us all and after much pulling of hair, I've had to make the difficult decision to change our postage and packing policy on the website. Please don't throw your arms up just yet..I've tried very hard to make this change as painless as possible for everyone so it's just a small change.  In the UK, if your order from our website totals less than £10.00 then there will be a £1.50 postage and packing charge added to your order but, if you order is for over £10.00 then your postage and packing will be FREE as it always has been.  Of course if your order is just made up only of downloads then there will be no added P&P charges, but downloads will be included in your order totals.  This £10.00 limit means that if you are purchasing a Funky Hand CD you will not pay anything for delivery.  If you live in Europe or anywhere else in the world please take a look at our P&P info on the website ,but don't worry you've got the same deal, orders over £10.00 will still be FREE p&p.

I told you it was going to be a long post today..and I was right!  We have had a very busy week and have lots of interesting things ahead of us over the next few months.  I'm very excited about everything that is going on here in Teapot Studios and really looking forward to sharing all the details with you soon.  Infact keeping quiet about everything is nearly killing me!!

Enjoy your week and I'll speak again with you very soon.
Anice xx

Happy New Home!

Corrina, my business manager has been preparing for what seems like years to move into her new house. She and her lovely family are finally all moved in and settled.  I thought I'd better make them a card to congratulate them on their move so I made this card using papers from my CD Colour Me Happy and a Sizzix Original die that I've had for years and think I've used about once before!!

I had fun making the little house up and making the back ground. Of course I had to add a few buttons and jewels to give it a little bit of bling.  The Celebrate sentiment is a stamp I bought whilst in the US many, many years ago and I thought it would be perfect for this card.
I wish Corrina and her family many happy years in their new home.

Speak again very soon
Anice xx

Happy Birthday Vic!

I'm a bit late with sharing this birthday card with you as it was Vics birthday at the end of last month but she's been on holiday so I couldn't give it to her until she was back!

I decided to use one of my Bella stamps that I haven't had out of their box for ages! I bought a set of Promarkers recently so I thought I'd have a go at colouring in an image for the first time..I think I need to have a bit more practice but I'll keep trying!  The backing papers are a new set that I have started designing for my next CD release so this is a little peek of what I've been working on..I'm pretty pleased with how they look actually even if I say so myself!!

I hope Vic had a lovely birthday on holiday, I know they were having much better weather than we are in Newcastle so that has to be a big plus!!

Speak again very soon.
Anice xx

I had the Festival spirit..well most of the time!

I was digging through the photos on my digital camera yesterday when I found these pictures of Ian and I when we had a sneaky weekend away a few weeks ago to attend then V Festival in Chelmsford.

Here I am with our friends. Andy, Vic, Lisa and Ivor on the first day of the festival..yes those are a ring of flowers in my hair if you are wondering, I wasn't just drinking coke on it's own (!)..and as we were going to be watching Florence and the Machine, Vic and I thought it would be a good idea to get ourselves some flowers for our hair and really get into the festival mood.  I think maybe we were wrong!!

Here we are a little later the same day..still thinking the flowers were a good idea at this time I think!!
 The second day of the festival was a little 'damper' than the first and my festival spirit was well and truely gone by the time the next picture was taken..though I can always force that TV smile when needed!!

I can't say I'm a big fan of festivals but it was great to spend time with our friends as we just never have time to do it as often as we should with the business etc.. probably wont be going next year, just leave it to Ian and Andy as they go every year. Pity there isn't a card making festival I could go to for a weekend now that would be fun!!

Speak again soon.
Anice xx

We have a Facebook Fan Page..

Hello again everyone, I hope you all had a good weekend.  We had our usual '100 mile an hour' weekend releasing a new download collection All I want for Xmas and word book envelopes that sold out the same day! I will have more stock of them very soon so they will be available again..just wasn't expecting them to be quite as popular as they were!

You may have noticed on the side bar of this blog that we now have a Funky Hand Fan page on Facebook.  I thought I'd mention it to you as Corrina and I are planning to offer special discount codes and other freebies on there in the future to our joined members.  If you have a facebook account why not join our fan page by clicking the link below and join in with the discussions we have started..or even start some of your own!  We'd love to see you and chat over there so don't be shy, join our fan page and see how it grows... 



I've also been active on Twitter for sometime as well..you may have noticed that my Twitter comments show on the side bar here everyday. If you have a Twitter account I'd love it if you started following me..then I can follow you back and see what fun things you are getting up to..you know what a nosey parker I am, I just love hearing what other people are doing! Here's the link to twitter..



Well that's it for today, I'm hopefully going to get a chance to fit in some crafting this week as there are birthdays and house moves to celebrate with a card to be created. I'll be back to share what I make with you later in the week.

Speak again soon
Anice xx

New Xmas download available NOW!

I'm pleased to tell you that we have a new download collection available on my website www.funkyhand.com with a Christmas theme called All I want for Xmas.  It is made up of sixteen A4 high resolution backing papers. Eight each of two different colour combinations, one more traditional and one a little more contemporary, also included by demand from you, my customers, I have included eight Xmas themed digi stamp images. My fab Design Team have had a ball with this download and they have made some amazing card creations to inspire you, take a look at the gallery on the All I want for Xmas page on my website and get into the Christmas card making mood!

Also, I have launched something a little different and hopefully interesting to you today on the website as well.  Word Book Envelopes.  These envelopes are 310mm x 115mm (12 1/4" x 4 1/2") perfect for your word book card creations.  They come in packs of 10 envelopes with five white and five ivory coloured envelopes included in each one. I know this is something that my customers have been really interested in seeing available for a while so, we are trying them out.  I think they may prove pretty popular so grab some while they are still in stock! **Oops I was right about you liking the word book envelopes, they went out of stock in just one day..I'll have more in stock very soon so keep you eyes peeled here and I'll let you know when they are available again.

That's it for today but I'll be back very soon.
Anice xx

I'm so lucky..

..to have such wonderful customers.  Imagine how surprised Corrina and I were to receive this beautiful card, made with papers and digi stamps from our Colour Me Happy CD Rom, in the post earlier this week from May Brechany just to thank us for the wonderful service she felt we had given to her...

Well, it's a pleasure to deal with all our customers as you are all a fab lot but, it's a real honour to receive such a lovely card just to say thank you.  Thank you very much May you made our day! Your card has pride of place in Teapot Studios so all our visitors can admire it.

Speak again very soon
Anice xx

It's Get Funky! challenge time again!

Has another month gone by again?!  Thank you to everyone who joined in with our pocket challenge last month on the Get Funky! Challenge blog.  Now it's time for a new challenge and it's been brought to us by Kathy.  Now, Kathy didn't want just any old flowers on our cards this month she wants them to be extra special flowers with a bit of 3D about them! So, I had to get my thinking cap on and here is what I came up with..

I just used some scraps of card that I had left over from when I made my 'No1 Boss, word book for a Create and Craft TV demo last month.  The papers are from my Colour Me Happy CD. I used every flower punch that I could find in my stash and added a bit of interest to the flowers with a bit of doodling with different colour Sakura glaze pens.  You may notice that I have done a little stitching on the card as well..I'd love to say it was free hand but it wasn't..I can't sew to save my life, I used Bazzil templates for the swirls and just followed the holes with my stitches!!

If you want to see some really impressive creations go over to the Get Funky! Challenge blog now and see what all the Funky Hand Design Team members have created..once you've been inspired by all their works of art how about having a go yourselves and maybe being the winner of a £20.00 voucher to spend on my website www.funkyhand.com.

Anyway best get back to work, hope to see you on Get Funky! Speak again very soon.
Anice xx