A 'Thank You' from a Silver Jewellery Print Customer

A happy customer phone call on this very cold & wet afternoon was just what we needed in the office today.

"I just can't believe the quality & finish. The detail is amazing"

So, what had this lady bought you are all asking.........


...a Baby Prints charm on a silver bracelet, RRP £75

It was lovely I have to say. The detail was great, the print having been created from one of our inkless print kits, and of course the jewellery was sent in a lovely gift box making it a perfect gift. I suspect this lady was planning to keep the bracelet for herself though!

This personalised range makes a lovely gift. We have made pieces as Wedding gifts from Bride to Groom, hundreds of cufflinks for lucky Dads and many necklaces for Mums & Grandma's.

If you are now thinking "this would a great Christmas Gift for ..... " you need to place your orders as soon as possible as the last order date is Friday 26th November & all prints must be returned to us by Friday 3rd December, 1 week later.

Click here to see the Silver Fingerprint & Baby Prints Range in full......

Have you bought from us & been a happy customer too?

If so, why not let us know. We always like to hear from our customers & consider all comments to be constructive. Contact us via the website or become a fan of ours on Facebook. We look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Manchester Baby Show is just round the corner....

Quick post tonight as I have been so busy & need my bed!

Just an update on what we're up to over the next couple of weeks:

The Baby Show, Manchester - come & see us next weekend on stand H30. There are some great pre-show offers on the website if you can't make it.

Postage increases on the website - costs keep going up so we will have to increase delivery charges next month. Orders over £60 will continue to get free postage but we will be introducing a charge of £5.50 for UK mainland deliveries over £30.

Fingerprint & Baby Prints Jewellery Christmas Deadline - the last order date is 26th November & prints returned by 3rd December will be made in time for Christmas. Get your orders in soon if you want to give your jewellery as a Christmas Gift!

Jo

The Baby Show, Earls Court is over - we're shattered!!

Yes, after a manic week last week I can start to recover from the weekend of constant standing & baby hands/feet casting!

Thanks to all who came to the show & stopped to talk to us. We hope you got yourself a bargain & found both the Creative Casting team & our kits worth visiting.

Just a couple of show moments worth reporting....


Another set of footprints tattooed from an inkless kit

Having bought an inkless hand/footprints kit in February at the Excel show, this chap has had his little girls footprints done as a tattoo!

He came back to show us the artwork. He has his son's hands on the other arm so let's hope he doesn't have many more children....


How many moulds can you do at once?

Julie & I taking moulds in a 'two-pronged attack'.

Speed is of the essence sometimes & although this chap looks cheerful enough he really didn't want to co-operate so we decided to double up!


So, once again a successful show with casting sessions almost fully booked all weekend & great sales on kits.

Didn't make it?

Well, come along to The Baby Show at Manchester Central from 14th-16th November & catch up with us then! See our show offers on the special offers page of the website.

The Baby Show, Earls Court - see us on stand B46!

Once again I've slipped behind on my posts and before you know it another Baby Show is looming!

We'll be there from 17-19th October & this week I'll be working to get our offers & discount vouchers online so you can download them ready to bring along to the show.


This year we will continue to offer a free inkless footprint per family to customers with a voucher & there may be a couple of other offers in the pipeline. Discounts on pre-booking a 3D casting session for your baby along with a BOGOF on our hand/footprint canvases are both likely.

Come back later in the week to find out!

Todays framing job - 60th birthday celebation signature frame

Framing is something we do at Creative Casting all the time for our baby casting kits & whilst we do not advertise, we have a lot of customers who hear by word of mouth that we can custom mount & frame pretty much anything.

We have a great machine that cuts mounts in all shapes & sizes which gave us the ability to launch our range of name frames - see the website for details as they will be great Christmas gifts this year!

Another area we have moved into is Signature/Celebration frames & where all your guests sign your photo mount as a fun alternative to a guest book.

Shown here is one we did for a 60th birthday party & today we have started one for a 40th Halloween Party.
The lady had 'heard' of us & knew she would get something special & unique by coming to Creative Casting. She want a 'spooky' theme with 5 photos for her 60 or so guests to sign around. The finished frame will be almost 1m square!

Like the idea? Why not have a look at the Signature Frame we have on Amazon & if you want something a bit more personalised, give us a call :-)

Creative Casting on Facebook

What better than a wet weekend to make some headway into the many little projects you have thought about doing.

For some of you it may be decorating but not me! I prefer to sit & fiddle about on the Internet & here's the fruits of the last 24 hours labours:




A page for Creative Casting on my Facebook profile.





A lovely new shop on Amazon marketplace: Creativecastings Amazon shop

Need to keep at it I know but let me know what you think!

Jo :-)

Olympic Athlete Castings continue with Chris Boardman MBE

Now some of our Olympic athletes are back in the UK, The National Lottery castings to promote the Go for Gold scratchcard were back on the Creative Casting agenda.

This week we visited the Manchester Velodrome to take casts of Chris Boardman, gold medal winner in the 1992 Olympics in the individual pursuit.

Chris was very laid back about having the casts done & commented on the amazing detail produced in the alginate mould. He did say it was a very weird feeling having your feet dunked in cold gloop though!

Chris has his own performance bike company: Boardman Bikes & one of his cycles was ridden to victory in the road race by Nicole Cooke in Beijing.

The Olympics are over...

....so added a little game to the left to keep you from having to return to full time work!!

Alternatively, have a look at the latest baby gift sale items on our website.

Have fun,

Jo

Summer Holidays & the kids are at home....it's tough on single parents as BBC3's 'Young Mum's Mansion' shows! Interested in joining the next series?

The summer break makes it tough for Julie & I to keep on top of things & I'm sure we're not alone! Julie's away until after the August bank holiday & I think we'll only get back to normal once the kids are back at school & nursery!

Both of us have the support of our partners when it comes to childcare, house stuff & bills but Love Productions contacted us a week or so ago regarding a new series of their 'social experiment' on BBC3 - Young Mum's Mansion.

Are you a single parent? Finding it tough juggling work, childcare, domestic chores and a social life? Would you like to meet and talk to others in similar situations?

Could you be a great role model for other single mums and are you passionate about getting your voice heard?

If you are interested in trying out a radically different support network that could enhance both your and your child’s life, this could be for you.

TO APPLY OR FIND OUT MORE:

email: singleparents@lovewest.co.uk OR CALL: 0207 067 4860 Standard Call Charges Apply

Please leave us either by phone or email your name, address and telephone number so that we can contact you to send you an application form.

Baby Prints Jewellery

Trying to catch up on the website & we have started adding our new range of Baby Prints jewellery this evening to complement our existing fingerprint range.

Have a look for yourself on the fingerprint jewellery page. The prints can be taken from a set you already have or for a guaranteed high detail hand or footprint, use our excellent inkless footprint kit specially discounted for use with the jewellery.

All items of jewellery can be hallmarked & personalised with a limited number of letters & they are sent to you within 28 days of us receiving your prints. Presented in a lovely jewellery box this is something every new Mum will want!

More Olympic Castings...

Not much time for baby casting at the moment!

Both Julie & I have been out taking impressions for Camelot & The National Lotteryof various athletes these last few days:

Lynn Davies MBE - 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Gold Medallist, Long Jump



What a lovely man! It was a busy day at the National Indoor Athletics Centre & he took it all in his stride!!!

Karen Pickering MBE - Commonwealth Games & World Championships Gold Medallist, freestyle swimming.





With more medals than I've ever seen in her hand, Karen had her hands & feet cast & spoke to the local radio & press about supporting the 2012 Olympics.

Karen has her own swim school & works to raise moeny for many good causes, such as the British Olympic Foundation.





Gregor Tait

Ahead of going out to compete in the Beijing Olympics, Gregor added his support to The National Lottery 'Go for Gold' Scratchcard promotion by having his hands & feet cast by us. Once again he was great to work with despite never having had an impression done before.


After all this excitement Julie & I had better get some proper work done before the next Olympic casting next week!

3D Castings for Nick Gillingham, Olympic swimmer

Had some fun this week! As part of some work with Camelot we took casts of two Olympic medallists this week, the first being Nick Gillingham MBE.

The press call was to highlight the role of The National Lottery Scratchcards in raising funds for the 2012 London Olympics & we were on BBC Midlands Today that evening doing our thing!

Nick was a great guy & put up with having both his hands & feet cast several times. I even got to hold his beautiful bronze & silver medals!

Thursday saw us in Cardiff creating casts for Lynn Davies Olympic Gold medallist in 1963 & President of UK Athletics. More on that very soon!

See the other pictures of the casting on our news page or go get yourself a lottery scratchcard - I never knew there were so many till this week....

Name Frames - New from Creative Casting

Just a quick post today but I know a few people have been waiting for these to go live on the site & finally they are here!



Look great don't they!




Proving to be very popular as gifts for first birthdays, bridesmaids & pageboys these lovely name frames allow you to personalise the cut out letters by mounting a 6"x4" photo behind each one.

There are 3 sizes depending on the length of your name & many mount colour options. With beech or silver effect frames to choose from there's something to suit most tastes so why not treat some one today! Take a closer look at the name frames on our website.

New casting kit frames - new contemporary style.

Having neglected the blog for some weeks it's time to tell you a few of the things we have been up to apart from sunbathing!

New Deep Rebate Frames

Adding a sleek, modern box frame to the collection has been a goal for us for many months & we have finally found a frame which we feel is perfect for our product range.

This one piece solid wood frame has a deep rebate allowing the depth needed for mounting hand & feet casts but maintaining a clean contemporary look when hung on the wall.

All our casting kits are available in this frame with two colour finishes - natural or dark wood.



The clay imprint kits are also being moved into this frame from the beech & silver effect frames currently used allowing a greater depth for your clay footprints. All the clay photo kits now have a fold out stand on the back meaning they can also be displayed as freestanding desktop gifts as well as hung on a wall.

The silver & beech effect frames will still be available in some styles for a few weeks yet but so far the new frames have proved very popular!

We have a few other lovely new ideas on their way so do take a look at our gift range on the website where some of these new baby gifts will be popping up.

Fathers Day is coming: gift ideas from us with next day delivery

It's not long now & have you got something for them yet? Take a look at our bestsellers so far & our ideas for personalised gifts that any Dad would love.

Silver Fingerprint Cufflinks


The deadline has passed for fingerprint cufflinks but we can still send a gift voucher for this lovely gift idea.

These are my husbands & with my boys prints on. He gets plenty of comments about them at work!

Get a gift voucher by calling us on 01252 715700






I Love Daddy Mug


Quick & easy gift which is sent by next day courier.

At just £4.95 (+p&p) you can't beat it!

Buy an 'I love Daddy' gift mug






There are plenty more gift ideas on the site so take a look!

The Baby Show, NEC 16th - 19th May

Having been on a lovely holiday to see Mickey I thought it time to get on with some work before Julie expires!

Whilst away the world of baby gifts & keepsakes has been mighty busy & we are off to the NEC once again next week to offer visitors to The Baby Show some great discounts. Do visit us on stand H14 where we will be doing 3D castings & a Fathers Day Hand/Footprint Mug Offer in conjunction with Marabu Ceramic paints.

There are a few online special offers for those of you who can't make it to the show - take a look!

So, off to make some sample pieces with our new mouldings for the stand out on the deck. Who says you can't get a tan & work at the same time!




This is one of the new styles we are introducing in the next couple of months. Like it? Let us know if you do....

Baby's First Year Inkless Footprint Kit

New in our online shop this week is this lovely gift idea for recording baby's footprints for their first year.

Available in a beech or silver effect frame the kit was so popular at The Baby Show, Excel we decided to add it to the range!

The hand or foot prints are created using the amazing inkless print technology used to create mess free prints in black on the specially treated paper. Easy to do & clean as well! There are 3 inkless wipes & 6 sheets of A4 paper included in the kit so you have plenty of materials to work with.

Priced at £34.95 this makes an unusual baby gift idea & we are offering it at a discounted price of £29.95 until the end of May as an introductory special offer. Take a closer look or order through the Creative Casting online shop: Inkless Prints First Year Frame Kit.

Not tempted? Then take a look at the rest of our great range of unusual personalised baby gifts, all centred on baby's handprints & footprints.

Pouring plaster - techniques & advice

Pouring plaster into your impression mould is something I have been busy doing all week so I thought I'd pass on a few helpful hints while I'm still in 'casting mode'!

The first thing to remember is this is not an exact science. Many professional sculptors & craftsmen never measure quantities of plaster & water & rely on experience to get the mix they want. It doesn't matter if you add slightly too much powder/water when mixing your casting mix - it should still work out ok. What may vary is the amount of time you have before the mix sets & how strong the final piece is.

Secondly, plaster sets quicker the older it is. If you have a kit which has not been used within 6 months of purchase the plaster is likely to set quicker than stated in the instructions, giving you less working time!

Now for some real advice:

Plaster types: there are many & they vary in coarseness of the powder, hardness & setting time. Our kits use a plaster with a total working time of 5/6 minutes at room temperature. It is a form of dental plaster that gives excellent detail & good hardness whilst not being too hard to carve & sand once dry. There are many other plasters available & if using them you should obtain a data sheet with mixing ratios & setting times & experiment before pouring a mix into your precious baby foot mould!

Adding plaster to water: As a rule, you need 1 part water to 2 parts plaster. You should always add the water to the plaster & not the other way round. Pour the plaster into the water & make a little mountain in the middle of the water. This should be left to soak up the water for 1-2 minutes before you start mixing. This allows the water to be absorbed by the plaster in a nice, even manner & you are less likely to get lumps.

Mixing techniques: Mix from the bottom of the container in smooth circles. You are trying to mix without putting bubbles into the mixture. Mix for a minute or so - the more you mix the faster & harder the plaster will set so don't overdo it! As soon as you have a mix which is smooth like single cream you're almost ready to pour.

Removing bubbles: they are your enemy as they will catch in fingers & toes leaving your cast digitless. Tap the tub of plaster on a hard surface to 'knock out' as many bubbles as possible before pouring into the mould. If pouring a foot, half fill & using the bristle end of a paintbrush, 'paint' around the inside of the mould into every toe & as much of the inside surface as possible. Tap the mould to dislodge any more bubbles & then top the mould right up.

If pouring a hand, fill the mould once, empty the plaster back into the tub & then refill slowly. Clamp a cloth over the open end of the mould & shake well, tipping the mould upside down & shaking it in all planes to give bubbles a chance to escape. Then, remove the cloth, top up the mould & leave to set.


Lots of words here I know but it's all good advice! I think I need a video of these tips - watch this space!!

Unusual baby names make for a lucky future!

Children who have been given strange names by their celebrity parents tend to do better in life.

New research suggests that odd names such as Princess Tiaamii or Peaches can be an advantage.

Certain sounds in a name or links with royalty can make people seem more successful, lucky or attractive, according to psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman.

His team polled more than 6,000 people to determine their perception of certain names, as part of a study to launch Edinburgh International Science Festival.

People called James and Elizabeth are seen as the most successful, Jack and Lucy the luckiest and Sophie and Ryan the most attractive.

But Lisa and Brian are the most likely to fail, Helen and John are the unluckiest and Ann and George are the least attractive.

Mr Wiseman said: "Traditional names with royal associations are viewed as highly successful and intelligent.

"Attractive female names tended to be soft-sounding and end with the 'ee' sound, whereas the sexiest males names are short and much harder sounding."

During the study, 6,686 people were given a list of 10 male and 10 female names and asked to rank them in terms of success, attractiveness and luck. Mr Wiseman also analysed some unusual names celebrities have given to their children.

Princess Tiaamii, Jordan and Peter Andre's daughter, should have a lucky life because her name has royal associations and ends with a double 'e' sound, according to Mr Wiseman.

Peaches Geldof, Bob Geldof and Paul Yates' second child, has a soft sounding name with positive connotations which make it attractive.

Kal-el, the son of Nicolas Cage, has a short, hard-sounding name which is also the original moniker of Superman, making it sexy and attractive.

Article taken from: Sky News

Baby Footprint Tattoos - a bizarre use of the inkless print kit!

It’s amazing what people plan to do with our inkless imprint kits. We met a chap at the Excel baby show who had a tattoo made of his daughters hands – something like those shown left.

He created the copy by placing her hands on a scanner – no easy task as she wiggled a lot and it was difficult to keep her hands still. Remarkably the tattoo is fantastic. He saw a real advantage with the inkless imprint kit as it was much quicker and a lot less stressful and easier for his tattoo artist to use. He planned to use the baby’s footprints going up his back this time.

If you have any other stories of how you are using the inkless kits we’d love to hear from you!

Click here to see the great mess free inkless print range on our website.

The Baby Show - baby gifts & bargains for all new parents & parents to be!

Off we go again this wek as we get ready for The Baby Show at Excel on the East side of London near the Dome.

We have a number of new baby gift ideas which will be available at special introductory prices & we look forward to meeting our customers & giving some demonstrations of taking baby feet casts.

You can book to have your baby cast at the show & we are giving away a free inkless footrpint to all of you with a copy of the voucher from our website. I've pasted it in this post too:
Bring a copy of the voucher along & we will take one amazing inkless print of your baby's foot & offer you a discount on our great range of other inkless footprint gift range from mugs to clocks, mouse mats to framed tiles.

We hope to see you there - it's well worth the trip. However, if you can't make it have a look at our special baby show offers on our website but remeber: we're away until Sinday living the high life at Excel so we won't send it until Monday the 3rd March if you order after 10am on Thursday this week.

Baby Shower Fun!

I hosted my first baby shower this weekend & what a laugh we had! We played some great games - some of which were made up & others bought from Shower My Baby.

After a few glases of wine 'Pin the dummy on the Baby' can become rather risky - I suggest you make it the first game of the evening if you ever have a baby shower!

The BBC was discussing baby showers on Breakfast TV this morning, saying they can mean forking out on expensive gifts but we all had great fun at little or no cost to anyone! We felt it was bad luck to buy for baby in advance of the birth so we put in for a Debenhams voucher to treat the Mum-to-be & we all decorated a white babygro as a joke present for baby. The decorations were really funny: some with pictures on & others with jokes. All in all good clean(ish) fun!

Just the one photo - can't give too much away can I........

Baby baby baby!!

Like him? Here's a sneak preview of our new baby logo for a great new range of baby gifts we will be launching very soon!

He was designed for us by Lee Healey who has illustrated for a number of publications such as The Dandy & Viz as well as CBBC.

As yet nameless, baby will be featuring on the website very soon so keep an eye out for him!

If you need a caricature or any other freelance cartoon work done, take a look at Lee's website:

www.leehealey-cartoonist.com

Being a Mum & Running a Business - why???

Julie & I have done this for a while now. Creative Casting grew entirely from the change in our work situations, new arrivals & the need to remain sane.

It can be hard though. Don't kid yourself if your thinking of setting up your own business.

Despite that, I wouldn't change a thing & we both thoroughly enjoy our work. Providing people with the change to create such amazing keepsakes of their children is a very rewarding job. All kits have been created by us & we are proud of our kits.

The flexibility of the business means time for the children & we can always be around for schoolpick ups or illnesses & because we are both in the same position we work around problems together.

So, I'm now going to start my paperwork as the kids are both asleep & the house is all quiet.
You should go look at the website & buy a kit for someone you know needs a little memory making :-)

www.creative-casting.co.uk

Jo

Inkless Handprints and Footprints - A Great Way to Create a Unique Baby Memory

Latest article on www.ezinearticles.com:

Inkless Handprints and Footprints - a great way to create a unique baby memory.

Inkless prints can be made using a great inkless paper & wipe technology which was introduced in the US for fingerprinting. It then became widely used in hospitals for identifying baby's by taking a print of their foot & so began a great idea. Hospitals started to send Mum home with a copy of these prints & now you can do them yourselves at home using an inkless print kit available from many US & UK online stores.

So how does it work?

That's a secret! You just wipe baby's foot or hand with the inkless wipe & then gently press the foot onto the coated paper. Within seconds a black footprint develops with an amazing amount of detail - every wrinkle & fold can often be seen. The wipe has no visible ink on it so no messy black marks are left on the hand or foot - amazing!

What can I do with my prints?

It is recommended to keep your original prints in a safe place away from sunlight as with all inks the print may eventually fade. Scan or copy the prints & they can be shown off in a huge number of ways:

• Create your New Baby cards with them & send everyone a very personal announcement card.
• Frame the prints alongside baby's scan picture or photo to create a timeline for baby.
• Give to grandparents having had the prints transferred onto a mug or clock.
• Have the prints put onto a mouse mat along with baby's date of birth & give to Daddy as a Father's Day gift.
• Take baby's prints just ahead of their christening & place them on a christening candle. This makes a memorable gift for god parents.

All in all taking baby's hand or footprints with an inexpensive inkless printing kit is a rewarding activity that can be used in many ways. This makes them a great gift idea & a joy to receive!

Jo Bale runs Creative Casting Ltd. See the full range ofwith something for all occasions on their secure online UK shop.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jo_Bale

http://EzineArticles.com/?Inkless-Handprints-and-Footprints---A-Great-Way-to-Create-a-Unique-Baby-Memory&id=904898

Use of plaster in moulding children & babies hands & feet .

Julie found an article this week regarding the use of plaster as a moulding material for hands & feet.

This should not be done for several reasons, one of which is highlighted in the articles . A water & plaster mixture is exothermic - that is, heat is given off when the two are mixed together & this CAN cause burns if the mixture is in contact with the skin. Plaster bandage is usually kept slightly off the skin with a layer of vaseline & dues to being applied in thin layers tends not to give rise to the same issues as a tub of plaster mix does.

Have a read & you'll see why we only recommend taking moulds of children's hands & feet with aliginate - an inert, non toxic mixture which is fully biodegradeable. Plus, you'll get much more detail with alginate!

Plaster of Paris Hazard Alert
In an incident a girl was mixing Plaster of Paris with
water by hand, intending to make a plaster cast of
her hand. The mix became very hot, the girl suffered
serious burns and her hands had to be amputated.
The safety Data Sheet supplied with the product did
warn against making casts of the hand.
Although Plaster of Paris is used for setting bones,
in such cases it is never put in direct contact with the
skin and, in addition, it is used in relatively thin layer
so the heat can dissipate. In bulk the temperature can
reach 60°C or so.
Before using plaster of paris to make casts of the
children’s hands or feet, please check with the
product manufacturer that it is safe to do so.

Taken from the Northern Devon District Early Years and Childcare Newsletter, Summer 2007
Link to the original pdf document

Want to buy some alginate for your castign needs? We sell alginate in heat sealed bags on their own or in packs with casting powder & full instruction. Click here to see our alginate & plaster supplies. Data sheets are available for all our materials on request.

Fingerprint jewellery - a new area for Creative Casting

We are busy putting together our images for some new products & first up will be a range of silver fingerprint jewellery.

We will add pieces to the collection over the coming weeks but we are making the silver charm necklace below our first item as it has already been requested as a Valentine's gift by a few of our customers.This lovely personalised piece of jewellery comes complete with the snake necklace & ispresented in a gift box. Suitable for prints of children form 6 months old this idea has been growing in popularity all year. Fingerprint jewellery has been seen round the necks of a number of celebrities so why not take a look. Although there is no legal requirement to do so, all pieces can be hallmarked (at additional cost) if required as the are of the highest quality.

We look forward to showing you some of our own pieces when we get the photo's back!