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!!

happy sad times

Paul had his birthday, and that was another highlight of this season for us, we usually then look forward to our wedding anniversary, followed by the run up to christmas.  Sadly this year Paul's grandad died and we have attended his burial this week.  Whilst it was a very sad time it was lovely to spend time with the family.  Paul and his brother here at the wake happy in the knowledge that there is a wedding to be excited about in June of next year.

So now my mind has turned to christmas and the preparation ahead, this year is to be a frugal affair with home made gifts as tokens rather that the vast sums of money that have been spent in previous years, I will be posting my makes as I go to remind me next year of what can be achieved with a little planning.

I am actually quite pleased

I made my pumpkin, and actually it went quite well, or at least I thought so!  Halloween was fantatsic this year, lots of our neighbours made an effort, and the people a couple of doors up who have an icecream van opened it, dressed in fancy dress giving free icecream to the children who wanted it, how lovely was that. There are some new people in the street who are renting a house, they decorated really well, and it turns out they are American, so no wonder they did a good job!

Here is a picture of the pumpkin, I am ashamed to say I didn't let Logan share at all!