Christmas delivery deadlines - don't miss out!!

Don't miss the Christmas deadlines - prints for Baby footprint mugs, mousemats, clocks & tiles must be with us by 11th December if you need the personalised gift before Christmas.

Deadlines have already passed for Crystal Footprint Gifts & Silver Fingerprint & Baby Print Jewellery but do call us if you're desperate & we'll see if we can help!

This weeks top gift idea - a Photo Name Frame

Any standard letter can be cut & you can mount your own 6"x4" photo behind each letter to make a great personalised gift.

Perfect not just for Daddy from the kids, but Granny, Grandad & many other difficult to buy for relatives!

Prices start from £10 for a small photo name mount.

View the Photo Name Frame Range now....

Silver fingerprint jewellery - updated at last.....

So we  have finally updated the silver fingerprint & baby hand/footprint jewellery pages with our new images & product range.

Do have a look & get your orders in now for Christmas so you don't run out of time!!

Prices start from £35 for a silver fingerprint charm but our favourite for this Christmas is the Baby Footprints Christmas Bell.

You can do handprint or fingerprints & add any word you like to the front of the bell.  You can also add a necklace, keyring or ribbon to hang it on the tree.

Prices start from £65 for the Baby Print version shown here.

See the full silver fingerprint & Baby Print Range

Yet another plaster casting injury - why life casting should not be done directly into plaster

A school has been ordered to pay £19,000 after a pupil had most of her fingers burned off in an horrific classroom incident. 

The 16-year-old girl lost all but two fingers after her hands became fixed in a bucket of plaster of Paris during an art lesson in January 2007.  She had not received proper warning while attempting to make a sculpture of her own hands during the lesson at Giles School in Boston.

Neither classmates, staff, nor paramedics could remove her hands as they began to cook from inside the mould at temperatures of up to 60C.

So be warned - NEVER PLACE ANY PART OF THE BODY DIRECTLY INTO PLASTER.  Alginate is a skin safe moulding compound that will give beautiful detail & does not give off any heat.

See this new item in full on Sky News...

The Mumpreneur Conference - an inspiring day in the company of like-minded business ladies.

So this week is Mums in Business Week in the UK & so off I went to the inaugural Mumpreneur Conference in Birmingham to meet some of the Mums I chat to on Twitter, Facebook & the like in person.

We all had a great day & the prize winners were all delighted with the recognition they deserved for all their hard work.  There were some great seminars on PR, website developent, SEO & personal management as well two very inspirational speakers.

All in all the day reminded me how much I enjoy being a Mumpreneur & why I chose this route after having children.  Sharing experiences & opinions with others who have often worked harder than me was inspiring & has revitalised me in my work developing Creative Casting.

There's a write up of the event by Antonia Chitty - winner of 'The Most Inspirational Mum in Business' award - on her blog & later this week I'll mention a few of the websites of the winners as well as some of the great ladies I met that day. 

Read about The Mumpreneur Conference on Antonia's Blog - Family Friendly Working.

Book your baby's 3D foot casting session before The Baby Show for a £10 discount!!

We have a limited number of appoinments at the Earls Court Baby Show in a couple of weeks so be sure to book early if you're hoping to have your little ones hands or feet cast by us.

Not only do you guarantee your sitting but you get £10 discount - visit the website's online booking form to secure your casting session now:

http://www.creative-casting.co.uk/the-baby-shows.htm

The castings are all done by either myself or Julie with prices starting from £65 for 2 feet when pre-booked.  Box frames can be purchased & extra limbs can be done, just let us know when you book. 

A £10 deposit is payable in advance - we will call you to confirm your casting appointment & take your deposit before the show.

We look forward to seeing all you new parents at The Baby Show, Earls Court.  We'll be on stand B46!

See us at The Baby Show, Earls Court next month.

This is always a great show so come along & see all the latest baby products as well as ourselves on stand B46.

We have some great offers, including a limited number of £8 Recession Buster Casting Kits!  You can also buy these in advance of the show on the website:

http://www.creative-casting.co.uk/special-offers.htm


Get yourself some baby casting materrials for a bargain price!

My favourite Twitterers!

We haven't been blogging but our tweeting has continued these last couple of months & what fun it is!

Most enjoyable has been making links with new, like minded business mums with some great products.

I would recommend taking a look at these guys websites - here's a couple to get started but more will follow.




Sophie 4 Sophie Designer Clothes Range

Funky clothing that is still functional and fun to wear. Longer lasting than traditional clothing this is a fun range made by a fun lady. Follow Sophie 4 Sophie on Twitter or take a look at her range on her site or through her UK stockists:

Baby Not Included
Wee Punk
Juicy Tots
The Hedgepig




TishTashToys - Quality Wooden Toys & Gifts

I really like Sharon's range of wooden toys & think they are worth a look with Christmas coming up.

I would personally have killed for the new wooden kitchen she has in her shop! Take a look yourself at www.tishtashtoys.com.

Sharon is a very active Mumpreneur - follow her on Twitter - @tishtashtoys

Ben Ainslie cast for the 2012 Olympics

Another National Lottery casting for us, this time in Weymouth with Ben Ainslie!

See the BBC news piece with Jo's favourite Crocs on show!!

Click to view the clip on the BBC website...

Postal Strikes threaten deliveries this weekend & into next week

Once again there is a postal strike on the horizon.

We recommend any urgent UK & Ireland orders should be placed as soon as possible & to pay for the courier option at checkout.

Any orders that use Royal Mail including international orders & any deliveries where the charge is less than £5.50 are likely to take an additional week to arrive.

Interlink Couriers are not striking thank goodness so do call us if you wish check your parcel is being couriered or to pay the additional cost of upgrading your delivery to the Interlin Courier service.

10% off Large Baby Casting Kit offer ends tonight!!

A lovely baby casting kit complete with a solid wood frame - grab one before the end of the day if you want a bargain.

The kit makes a lovely new baby gift or Christening/Baptism present & includes everything needed to make 3D replicas of baby's cut little feet & hands.

View the large frame casting kit on our website before it's too late!

A New Week of Casting!

Having taken hand & feet casts of Olympic Gold Medallist Tim Brabants on Friday of last week it's back to the office for a busy week of baby casting kits & post.

Once we have his casts Tim wanted to see them so I'll maybe put up a picture on the blog for him!

A Very Happy Customer....Personalised Baby Signature Plates a real hit!

It's always a pleasure to get positive comment from your customers & Mrs Game has this week sent us some lovely feedback on our service & Baby Signature Plates that we sent last week.

'We ordered two Personalised Baby Signature Plates on Tuesday - we were in a rush as the christening was on the Sunday so I called up to make sure it was possible. The items came, all packaged really well, also the plates were in beautiful white boxes which I did not expect.

The parents were so pleased and after everyone had written their comments on they put plate in oven to seal. Thank you so much for such a great service - I wil definitely use you again and also mention you to all my friends.

Thank you again from a very happy customer.' (Mrs Game, July 2009)

It's made our day :-) If you have bought a product from us & have any feedback or images or the keepsakes you created we'd love to hear from you & we will be giving away an Inkless Print Kit worth £10.95 each month to one lucky customer who sends us feedback!

To send us your comments fill in the form on the Contact Us page.

Mary Peters cast by Creative Casting as part of the 2012 National Lottery Campaign

Northern Ireland’s most famous Olympian was today preparing to return to the track to celebrate her 70th birthday. But Dame Mary Peters will be walking for charity rather than running for gold medals when she puts on her training shoes next month.

Dame Mary began her birthday celebrations early this week by casting her place in Olympic history. The Gold medallist — best known for her glittering athletics career — was at the Mary Peters Track in Belfast yesterday to have her hands and feet cast as part of a National Lottery campaign (above).

The Summer Olympic gold medallist, Dame Mary said she was privileged to be involved in a campaign which recognises the sporting achievements of the UK’s Olympic and Paralympic gold medallists.

She said: “It’s an honour to be part of this wonderful campaign, especially in the run up to the London Olympics. It’s such an exciting time.”

The casting marked the start of Dame Mary’s 70th birthday celebrations and already, plans are in action for the big day on July 6.

Fathers Day is coming: Daddy Name Frame is a top gift!!

Need a Great Personalised Gift for Fathers Day?

Here's our top selling gift so far this year - the Daddy Name Frame.

For just £25 you get this great framed mount for you to add your own 6"x4" photo's behind to make a totally cute gift for Dad from the kids. Get one now before time runs out! Buy a Daddy Name Frame here.

You can even add a personalised message to the back of the frame if you like - what more would a Dad who has everything need.

European shoppers welcome back!

This week we have added European shopping rates to the online shop having had to let down so many customers since taking it off last year.

A new relationship with Interlink couriers has given us a service we can trust both in the UK as well as EU countries.

As a customer you can now get a signed for, trackable delivery to most of Europe - something we have wanted to offer all along.

The UK rates have also been improved giving us a competitive guaranteed next working day price of £6.95 whatever you buy.

Royal Mail continues to be a cheap alternative for lower value items but I'm sure all our customers will agree that ensuring safe delivery of your baby casting kit & bespoke frame is worth the courier costs!

Why not let your European friends know they can now confidently buy from Creative Casting & if your a returning customer from abroad - welcome back!

Special offer baby casting kits

We still have a few of the large baby casting kits left from before the show so take a look at them on our special offers page & grab the last few!

The NEC Baby Show is over - back to the grindstone!

A quick blog before I update the site to take off all The Baby Show Offers from the weekend.

The show went well at the NEC & as ever it was great to meet so many of our customers both old & new. If you have any feedback for us on our products or pictures of casts that you have done, do let us know as it's great to hear from you all.

Keep you eyes peeled this week for a potential TV appearance for the Creative Casting team - more later in the week on that but don't forget to watch The Apprentice this week ;-)

Pre Baby Show Casting Kit Offers - last few remaining !!

Baby Casting Kit with Frame - 10% off

Take advantage of this pre-Baby Show offer as this size of frame will not be at The Baby Show nor be available once this stock has gone!!

At just £49.95 plus P &P this kit makes a great New Baby Gift or Christening/Baptism present.

The offer will end next week before the NEC show gets underway so be quick!!

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW

Easter, chocolate & life casting

Hope all our UK readers had a nice Easter break. Now you're looking at all that chocolate & thinking 'I can't face any more', just imagine if your Easter chocolate wasn't egg shaped but body shaped!

Oh yes, it has been done by many but only a few have achieved something approaching tasteful. These are my favourite chocolate body parts:

Grace Jones

Famously had bits of herself cast using standard lifecasting techniques for the cover of her album 'Hurricane'.

Read more about this on Creative Review's blog: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/grace-jones-in-chocolate/

Toefood.com
Just what the name says but only if America - fancy that!

This 10oz chocolate foot would be weird to eat especially if there were any bunions or dodgy toenails.....

http://www.toefood.com/



Finger Food
As done by Foodisart.co.uk these are exact replicas of peoples fingers done in chocolate!

Complete with a police evidence bag to turn your stomach this is lifecasting the chocolate way and available to UK shoppers too.

Of course, you could have a go at this yourself with a life casting kit from Creative Casting & some melted down Easter eggs......

www.creative-casting.co.uk/life-casting-kits.htm

Special Offer - baby casting kit with frame!

On offer until the end of this week - contemporary large frame baby casting kit in two wood finishes.

• Two frame styles - light or dark wood
• Materials to make eight 3D hand or foot casts of a baby
• Bronze, silver & gold paint included
• Full instructions with photos & tips on getting the best casts

The kit is reduced to £49.95 (plus p&p) until the end of this week so check out the special offers page now & buy securely on our online shop!

Yet another busy week for castings big and small

It's ages since I blogged - too much work & too much twittering! Add that on top of a busy family and there's the reason why the blog looks bare.

Still, just time this afternoon to post a quick update for our readers.

Firstly, check out Creative Casting on Twitter. I love it & hope any fellow twitterers follow us for regular tweets from Creative HQ. Folow us at http://twitter.com/creativejo.

Secondly, on Friday we are taking hand and feet casts of some of the Olympic gold medal cyclists, including Chris Hoy & Rebecca Romero. We'll let you know how that went on the blog as soon as possible but if you are in the north of England keep your eyes on the local BBC news on Friday evening!

Finally, we have updated our special offers page with a great deal on the large contemporary baby casting kit with frame. This popular frame style will go fast so be quick.

Baby Casts - a lot of 3D hands & feet this week!

Casts from The Baby Show, Excel

This lovely set of casts have been collected today by a very happy customer from The Baby Show.

This lady was particularly pleased as she also collected another full set of casts from last year which she thought had been lost forever!



All outstanding casts from The Baby Show will be despatched this week & all customers will be notified individually.

We hope everyone will be as happy with their keepsakes as this lady was today!

Last Minute Mothers Day Gift Ideas from Creative Castings Online Shop

Left it a bit late? It seems that many have this year as we have had a spate of orders for Mummy's over the weekend!

So, what can you get from Creative Casting's great casting kit collection to help a new Mum capture a treasured memory of their child? See our Mothers Day Gift Page for gift ideas that can be posted to you this week.

Our top selling gifts ready to ship today are:


Clay Hand/Foot Imprint Kit with Photo Frame - £29.95

Quick & easy to do & makes a lovely keepsake af baby's cute hand or footprints.

Air drying super soft clay means you may even be able to get it done before Sunday if you're quick, otherwise let Mummy do it with baby on the day. View the clay footprint kit....


3D Baby Casting Kits with Frame - from £44.95

Great range of frame sizes & colours all in stock.

Create a unique, detailed cast of babys feet or hands & frame as an everlasting memory. What better gift could you get a Mum on Mothers Day.

View the baby hand/foot casting kit range.



I Love My Mummy Mug - £4.95

Instant smile from any Mum who get one of these!

Great value so why not fill it with chocolates - that's what I'd like to get if my boys were giving it to me........!

View the 'I Love Mummy' Mug.

Back to blogging.....

After an excellent Excel Baby Show & a weeks skiing I realised I had neglected the blog for nearly a month so here I am.

As you can imagine we have been very busy as a result of the show & I am paying the price now of having a week away as I am still catching my tail with castings, potential new wholesalers & agent enquiries.

Whilst at The Baby Show the BBC filmed us doing a casting for a documentary this Spring - more details on that when we have them.

Still, can't complain & I'll get an update on some Mother's Day gift ideas as soon as possible :-)

Excel Baby Show round the corner...

It's nearly that time again & the website is being bashed by Baby Show visitors looking for our free inkless footprint voucher!

For those who subscribe here & haven't found it, just print it out direct from here & bring with you to the show.

We also have great offers on kits with discounted frames & starter kits so you can have a go at casting your baby's hands & feet for ust £10.


Special Offers on Baby Casting Kits

We will have a show special square silver frame casting kit for just £35 - this is a great price & saves £15 off the RRP as well as £5.50 postage.

The larger photo baby casting kit in the silver frame finish will also be available for a reduced price of £40 but stocks will be limited so be quick!


The square dark framed baby casting kit shown in the News of the World magazine a couple of weeks ago will also be available to take away on the day as well - don't miss the chance to get this kit with no delivery charges!

All in all The Baby Show will be a great day out & for those who got to the end of this blog I have 2 tickets for The Baby Show left to give away - email us through the contacts page of the website by midnight on Thursday 19th Feb & I'll draw a winner on the Friday (20th).

Can't make it to the show?
Then take a look at our Special Offers page for our best online deals at the moment.

A busy week for Creative Castings.....

This post comes on Tuesday as Monday flew by - no recession here at Creative Casting!

Just an update on the first of several new services is launched on the website this week.

Make a Mould Service

A half-way house service where you take the moulds & we finish the casts for you. Take away some of the hassle by returning your moulds to us & we will send back casts that are finished & oainted, ready to display.

Price start from £65 - why not take a look!
View the Make a Mould Service.......

Giant Thumb Lifecast!!

I'm sure I am showing my cultural ignorance but I have just come across 'Le Pouce' courtesy of Google & just had to post it here.

I reckon this has to be one of the biggest bronze lifecasts of a finger there is & isn't it cool!

Located in the La Defence area of Paris it really does stand out. The artist, Cesar was experimenting with new moulding techniques at the time & this is his own thumb impression.

Hope you like it too! Have a good weekend.

Jerry O'Connell shows off his twins cute footprints!

American actor Jerry O'Connell was seen outside the hospital showing off the footprints of his new twins Charlie & Dolly last week.

Why not make sure you capture this cute moment by taking prints of your brand new baby using one of Creative Castings inkless print kits.

Quick , easy & mess free the kit can be taken into hospital with you & done at the first opportunity. Not many UK hospitals will do this for you so why not be prepared.

The inkless print kit is safe to use & simple to do. Creative Casting currently supply many still birth charities with these kits so they can help support bereaved parents.




Once you have your baby's footprints or handprints you can have an array of keepsakes created from them.

Silver charms & pendants with the prints reduced on are a beautiful gift. Available in several shapes & as necklaces, keyrings or bracelet, silver print jewellery is a lovely gift for a new Mum. View the silver print jewellery range onthe Creative Casting website.


Other gift ideas include making footprint/handprint mugs, mouse mats & clocks. All these gifts have personalisation options to make the item a great keepsake gift for Grandparents, Godparents, Aunties & uncles to name but a few.

Take a look at our great range of personalised hand & footprint gifts on the website today!

A New Year for Creative Casting & it's already busy!

So, back after a prolonged absence due to a huge number of Christmas sales. We now have things fairly straight on the stock front so thought it was time to have a New Year Update!

Creative Casting has big plans for 2009 so keep an eye on the website. We are having to extend our workshop & increase output despite the general downturn many companies are experiencing. Improved working & packing areas will allow us to keep up the great service we already offer. We have grouped a few of our most recent testimonials together on the website as we are proud of our levels of service & think it's important for new customers to know what they can expect when they order from Creative Casting.

We will be attending all 4 of the national Baby Show's again this year, the first of 2009 being at London ExCel at the end of February. More info to follow soon.

You can now buy one of our best selling casting kits through the Interflora website. This new relationship is a sign of the growth in baby casting as a keepsake & gift idea over the last couple of years. We hope customers recognise the business strength of Creative Casting Ltd in it's ability to work in partnership with Interflora.

Our product range will be continually updated & improved over the course of 2009 & we will be adding an extended casting service as well as a new selection of baby gifts on a new gift website.

Solid bronze, sterling silver & cold cast metal options will be available for many 3D casts alongside a new range of miniatures.

Keep an eye out on the Baby magazines & websites for the latest press on these new products as well as this blog of course! Remember, you can also follow Creative Casting on Youtube, Facebook & Twitter. We will be using these online tools to give you helpful videos on using our kits, updates on our work with Camelot & the 2012 Olympics & information for wholesalers as a starting point.

So, we at Creative Casting HQ look forward to you visiting our online baby casting & imprint shop very soon!