Loving our all new nifty 'Sewing Machine Lamp'

September sees the introduction of our nifty new lamp designed specifically for use with sewing machines. 

This cleverly designed accessory, simply called the ‘Sewing Machine Lamp’, (product #DN1180 - £30.00 RRP), fixes onto the sewing machine and directs light exactly where it’s needed the most.  

This new lamp has been designed to easily mount on the side of your sewing machine.  Ultra bright focused Daylight LED’s provide high contrast and accurate colour matching making it easier and less tiring to work and see detail clearly.  LED’s never need replacing and use very little energy.  Featuring an 18cm (7”) flexible arm, the lamp comes with two self-adhesive mounts, which fit most sewing machines, and can effortlessly click in and out of the mount -allowing it to be removed while stowed away if desired. The light is powered by AC adapter.

Don't forget to find out more about Daylight’s™ full range of products or for details, order online or to obtain details of your nearest stockist please visit www.daylightcompany.com or call 020 8964 1200.

Natalie O'Shea shows you how to make a light themed collage card designed exclusively for Daylight

Welcome to Natalie O’Shea, Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator

Natalie O"Shea 

In this, the first of a series of Daylight Guest Blogs, Natalie has designed a stunning light themed collage card exclusively for Daylight and shows yo, in a tutorial, 'Step by Step' how to make it.

Collage card by Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator Natalie O'Shea

Natalie is a big fan of our Foldi LED lamp #D45000 pictured here at her work station.

"The Foldi is the perfect light for step by step photo tutorials," says Natalie.  "The natural light is idea for photography." 

Stampin’ Up! is a Direct Sales company that sells co-ordinating papercrafting supplies.  Natalie has used Stampin' Up's  latest “In Colours” and the “Kinda Eclectic” stamp set together with a few techniques to design this simply stunning card.  And here's how...

1.  Use Tangelo Twist ink and swipe across the raised surface of an embossing folder.  Don’t worry if ink goes in the valleys of the design, you’ll only be using the raised area.

2.  Place a piece of Whisper White card into the embossing folder and close gently.  You’re not looking for a perfect result and you won’t be using the folder to emboss.  Inking the folder lets you create a “stamped” image.

3.  Stamp the sun image in Hello Honey ink and the distressed leaves image in Mossy Meadow as shown here.

4.  Use the dots image and Tangelo Twist ink and stamp off onto scrap paper first and then onto some Crumb Cake card to leave a lighter image, often called the second impression.

5.  Stamp over the dots with the sentiment in Blackberry Bliss ink.

6.  Stamp a butterfly image in Lost Lagoon ink and punch out.

7.  Using a sponge dauber and Crumb Cake ink, add some ink around th outside of your main panel.

8.  And around the sentiment and the butterfly.

9.  Punch out four flowers, screw them up a little and ink the edges with the dauber and the Crumb Cake ink too.

10.  Mount the main panel onto some Mossy Meadow card, some Tangelo Twist card and a Hello Honey base card.  Cut a strip of Blackberry Bliss patterned paper cut into a flag design and pub across the your central panel (see finished design).

11.  Cut your sentiment into a flag design using scissors, add Dimensions to the back and stick your twine to the back too.  Add to your card.

12.  Punch a smaller butterfly from Tangelo Twist card and colour around the edges using Crumb Cake ink and a sponge dauber.

13.  Add the orange butterfly to the centre of the blue butterfly.  Colour some rhinestones with Blendabilities© alcohol based markers.

14.  Add your smaller final embellishments to your card.

See more of Natalie's projects, link to her Blog www.natalieoshea.stampinup.net

Mention wafers in summer and I'm reminded of ice-cream - but this is even better!

Daylight's Wafer 1 has arrived!

All-new state of the art lightbox – the ‘Wafer’ (product #D35040 Wafer 1, A4, RRP £99.99 

As you pull this really cool looking piece of kit out of the box - you just know its going to inspire you to get creative.  Everyone who has had the chance couldn't wait to try it out.  The main feedback being that the Wafer is... "So easy to use and being so neat and light it makes using it an absolute pleasure!  Also, "I must admit I love technology when it makes my crafting easier!"

The technical bit...

As you would expect from Daylight, the Wafer is of a high specification for this type of new generation lightbox and more than delivers on value and quality. Just 0.8cm (3/8”) thick, it has high quality dimmable LEDs (6.0W) and provides an even spread of light from edge to edge.  The tracing area for the Wafer 1 (A4) is 32cm x 23cm – 12.5” x 9” and on Wafer 2 (A3) it is 44cm x 32cm – 17.3” x 12.6”. The unit is powered by an AC adapter and is also very low heat so practical to use for extended periods of time.  

This versatile unit also features a cleverly positioned inbuilt ruler grid making it ideal for calligraphy, stencilling, scrap-booking, embossing, quilting, embroidery, sewing and much more.

We have it on good authority that Daylight’s product research and development team know how vital tried and tested tools and templates are to creating stunning and intricate crafting projects requiring the use of a lightbox. With this in mind they have designed the Wafer to be an optimum ultra thin lightbox, the perfect accessory for creating any skill level of crafting project from beginners to the most advanced.

To check out Daylight’s™ full range of products or for details, order online or to obtain details of your nearest stockist please visit www.daylightcompany.com or call 020 8964 1200.

MAGnificent Lamp guest post by Lucy Farfort, Illustrator and Designer

Website: www.lucyshappyplace.com

Twitter: @lucyfarfort

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LucyFarfortIllustrator

Working as a freelance illustrator and designer I often find myself slaving into the night to get a project finished. Thankfully so far that’s never been past 10pm and as I love my job (for the most part) it doesn’t feel like a chore. Although working this late particularly in winter months causes a problem – light, or rather lack of it.

I decided sometime ago that I really needed to invest in a decent lamp to work by. So the timing was exceptional when I was asked if I would like to try out one of the daylight lamps. YES PLEASE!!

I’ve actually had my eye on the daylight products for a while now so I couldn’t believe my luck. Even more so when I was sent a MAGnificent lamp (great name!) as it’s built in magnifying glass would fit perfectly with my current project which i’m hoping will turn into a long term thing, so the lamp is going to be well used.

I couldn’t wait to test it out.

The reason why this is such a perfect match is because not only do I often work on a fairly small scale, mostly around A4 size, much of the work I do is quite detailed. This generally means I have to get really close up to the thing I’m working on in order to properly see what I’m doing – especially if the light is bad.

Above all I really wanted to use it in the making of some brooches I’m producing.  Here they are in their unpainted state:

The lamp was really helpful for the painting process as the details on the brooches are tiny so using the magnifier was great.

A major bonus of this product is that it can be used as a floor lamp as well as a table lamp. So if like me your desk is covered with your latest creative adventures and looking much like a bomb has gone off leaving little space for anything else, never fear just set it up as a floor lamp – et voila!

I’m so chuffed with this light as not only is it functional it looks pretty slick too, and genuinely feels like a high quality product well worth the money.

The MAGnificent is a great idea and especially beneficial for artists and designers who work traditionally on a small scale. I would definitely recommend it to people - it did wonders in helping me create my finished brooches which will soon be available from my website www.lucyshappyplace.com

Workshops, craft fairs and more

"As a jewellery designer , often working with very small beads, good light is very important to me, wherever  I may be working."

Daylight Foldi LED lamp by Angela Smith, Bespoke handmade jewellery...

Although most of the time I work by a window, during the winter months especially I often run out of daylight hours and I can see my new white ‘Foldi’ lamp from daylight will be used regularly at that time. This was proven on the day it arrived, as it was a gloomy grey day outside, it is such a compact lamp that I was able to sit the lamp on my desk in a small space amongst all my beads, next to my work mat and it provided all the light I needed.

The main reason I chose the Foldi lamp, though, was because it was portable and as I often run workshops and attend craft fairs and other sales events it will be very useful to have a lamp that is light and compact to pack and does not require to be plugged in but still provides a good light to work by, the foldi lamp runs off  3 AA batteries which provides 8 hours of bright white light.

 At events I often have a small table set up behind my stall where I can sit making new jewellery, or altering jewellery to suit the customer’s requirements , such as changing ear hooks to clips or silver plate hooks to sterling silver ones, or even altering the length of a necklace or bracelet.  The light at these events can be quite poor so to have a portable lamp that doesn’t take up much room but still provides a good light is going to be a great asset.

I have since realised that I would also be able to use it on my stall if electricity isn’t available to highlight a select few items of my jewellery.

I have also had the opportunity to use it on a demonstration table during the birthday celebrations of Gallery at 12 in Eccleshall this month, the table was outside the gallery in a small arcade with no access to a power point and again the weather was grey and wet; the foldi lamp provided me with a much needed good  bright light to make up several wire and bead necklaces.

As you can see the light really is bright.

I can imagine that it will also be useful when it comes to photographing my jewellery on dull days as good natural light is needed to help show the true colour of the jewellery.

No doubt over the coming months I will find plenty more uses for it, I haven’t even explored how I can make the most of it when it is plugged into my lap top as it can also be USB powered and I also have the option of buying a USB power adaptor too.

Angela Smith

Bespoke handmade jewellery

www.angelasmithjewellery.blogspot.co.uk

You're my favourite!

We couldn't resist asking some seriously talented designers and crafters which one of our lamps is their absolute favourite.  All struggled to nominate one lamp as those we asked said that they had more than one favourite!  After some deliberation, each managed to nominate one and gave their reasons why...

Ruth Singer, Textile artist, writer and tutor

"I love the Foldi lamp (#D45001). I can take it camping, canal boating or even to dimly lit youth hostels and holiday cottages, and always have brilliant light to sew by. It is also great for bat watching; shine it out over a dark canal and it lights up both the insects and the bats as they swoop in to eat them!"

www.ruthsinger.com
Twitter: @ruthsinger
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Gail Wharmby, Audrey's Adventures

“My chosen lamp is the artist clip-on studio lamp (# D31475). The flexible manoeuvrability of this lamp gives fantastic light over a wide area enabling me to work for longer periods of time. I will be looking to purchase its companion the easel lamp (# D31075) for my draughtsman's easel for optimum Daylight coverage."

Gail's profile
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Penny Graham-Jones, Planet Penny

"I would pick (#D21038) as my favourite.  Living in a small house without a designated craft area this lamp is perfect because it combines all its functionality with classic good looks which fit comfortably into a living room without looking utilitarian."

www.planetpenny.co.uk
Twitter: @woolyplanet
Facebook

Michelle Fallon, Michelle made this

"For me it would have to be the twist portable lamp (#D33707) as I am a multi-crafter.  I live in a cottage in the West of Ireland and we get a lot of rain, therefore a lot of grey days, not helped by small cottage windows so a daylight lamp is a life saver!  This twist portable lamp is perfect as I flit between my kitchen table sewing, to my desk where I sketch my ideas and by my sofa crocheting so I can simply take it with me.  Not only that but I travel a lot to craft fairs so it's fantastic that it folds up so I can take it with me."

www.michellemadethis.com
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