Busy but not posted

I wanted to increase the number of posts, not decrease!  but I have been busy of the last 2 weeks, I have made a birthday card for a friend, it was made from a goody bag that was given to me by another lovely friend with whom I do an advent swap each year.  The set is made by a company call Craftwork cards and I was really pleased, the photo was not so great, but I was in a rush to get it in the envelope and delivered!!  The dress in the card reminded my of my friends stylish way of dressing :)

I have also been carrying on with the quilts, I have done 4 asterisk stars in total now, and really need to move on to the next 4 wonky pound signs, but I like the asterisk's and want to play with making them a bit more union jacky so that I can use them to make some patriotic flags!!!!


I need to go a get myself some lovely seville oranges, so that I can make marmalade, we ate the last jar of last years making last week, and I really hate the idea of buying it from a shop!! now that reminds me of a bit in the film "Gosford Park" when Helen Mirrens character asks one of the visiting maids, "will she mind shop bought?" to which the maid shrugs!!  I want to have a go a a couple of challenges this week, I have enjoyed Jingles Bells challenges, and was thrilled to see that  Linda's cards won :) and I want to have a go at a valentine themed challenge, now depending on how quick I am I will try out  the Just Tracy's challenge!!

Jingle Belles again

I have completed my card for the Jingle Belles challenge this week, here is the
sketch that we were given

And here is my take, I used some old papers, and a couple of stamps that i have had for years, so no extra purchasing required!! it was fun to follow and inspiring to see what the other ladies had done.  I am working on the premise that the more I do the better I will get, in this picture the sentiment looks wonky......... hmmmm and I used my stampamajig..... back to have another go ;)

What a good weekend.

I must have been feeling super creative this weekend, when I got home on Friday evening Georgie and I were looking through a load of Country Living magazines, cutting out what we felt we would like to keep. whist doing this I had a sudden urge to make a coffee cake, so, I just did, and it was so quick, it did make me wonder why I didn't do spontaneous things more often!!

Saturday I lite some yankee candle wax tarts that I had already been using over christmas, and used the wax to make some small smelly candles.



I then went on to do a job I had been wanting to do for ages.  Our sofa is a very old sofa that my brother gave me about 5 years ago.  The feather cushions had become so flat, I wanted to make them smaller but firmer, so I made new ticking bags for them, and then made new covers from some fabric I bought about 10 years ago to cover the old sofa.....hoarder me? don't know what you mean!  anyway the end result was quite good!

Finally I thought I would treat myself to do something that I wanted to do.  Now I can sew but have never made a quilt, even though I love them, really because I want instant gratification, and I couldn't see a way to have that with a quilt.  however I saw a block of the month class which is free on craftsy, so I thought I would give it a go.  The first one is call a slashed asterix, and here is my first attempt, now there are faults and if you are a quilter it may be awful, but to me I felt quite proud of how it turned out.

Well it's only January!

I thought that I would try to do some crafting every night, well okay three times a week, well I am busy, so best be at the weekend.  Procrastinate, me what do you mean?

I was bought a book for Christmas called where women create, and the continuing theme is that your craft space should be somewhere that inspires you, so really it's hardly my fault, I mean if I could redecorate the room, then refurnish it, then I could create fantastic stuff..............

Ok so I confess, I just hadn't got around to it, but I knew what I wanted to do.  I was reading Linda's blog and saw her christmas cards, I followed the link   and decided to have a go!

The brief was to use wrapping paper, so I stuck the wrapping paper to card, cut it out sanded the edges a bit to disguise my slightly wobbly cutting!  I then punched the snow flake from the wrapping paper, then 3d stuck both to paper from DCWV christmas printed paper pack which is really old, so I should get a bonus point for using up stash!! :) finally good old SU sentiment

I do feel good,  it was worth making the time.

Happy new year

Well what happened! I managed to do some crafting in Nov and Dec, but didn't post, and I was thinking about why that was, I think it was taking the photos and uploading, I pop online every day, so I really have not excuse.   I think that I will perhaps try keeping the usb and lead plugged in the computer all the time, that way I can use my phone to take a snap an post!

I managed to make about 30 cards to give and then a further 20 which I sold, some Paul's mum took to a craft fayre and some at my Macmillan event in December.

I also made Jam, pickle, marmalade, fabric bags and bunting. 

Yesterday I wanted to do something crafty, and made these

Lauren and Paul prefer the empty pickup, but I like the one with the dogs!!