A fine mess

DH has a cold, unfortunately for me it means he sometimes snores.  Last night was one of those nights and unfortunatley due to leaving the craft room/spare bedroom in a mess over the past couple of weeks it meant I ended up sleeping (or not) in the reclining chair in the conservatory. 

Now just in case he snores again tonight it meant I finally had to get round to sorting out some of that mess.   Some items finally got put back where they belonged, some items got put in the other spare bedroom ready to take to Colette on Friday and some actually got thrown away.  I tipped out my card scrap box.

I think will Chris will be proud of me as I threw quite a lot of the scraps away   (although I'm sure it would have all been thrown out if she had been helping me) but it was not an easy task,  I hate throwing any of it out, but needs must.  it now looks like this.

The shaped brown pieces of cardstock on top are actually gift boxes waiting to be assembled.  My bedroom floor now looks like this....

.... which means I can now pull the bed sofa out if required tonight.  Now I  know in the background there is more to sort out but there is only so much decluttering I can cope with in one evening!

Mixed media meddlings

What a fabulous weekend of Mixed Media creativity with Fran Westmoreland at Margaret's shop Scrapbook Magic.  I have had so much fun learning about new techniques, new products and learning just to let go of creative inhibitions.  Mixed Media can be quite scary but you have to believe all will turn out well in the end.  Fran was a great tutor and it was fabulous that she travelled down from Derbyshire to teach us about this exciting art form.

On the Saturday we made two Christmas themed decorations.  A Christmas Bauble using gesso,crackle paint, gel mediums, gems, flowers, micro beads, sprays and mica powders.

The second Christmas decorations is a hanging plaque, again using a variety of mediums and materials all adding texture and dimension . 

Today we worked on art journal covers and pages whilst enjoying gorgeous cakes made by Margaret.  Lunch was also provided on both days, homemade soup yesterday and quiche, baked new potatoes and salad today - yum!

Today we used stencils and gel paste to create texture and dimension as well as lots of other products which we had been introduced to over the course of the two days.  The cover of the journal.

One of the two pages of the journal with a photo of my brother and myself which was taken quite a few years back when my hair was much longer and I was a bit slimmer.

There was a second page which the other ladies completed but I was feeling too tired to do mine but watched how it was put together so maybe when I have recovered from this memorable and enjoyable weekend I will try to put it together . 

After my drive home I am exhausted but full of inspiration   -  a full on but great value for money weekend.

If I can I will

I am hoping that later today I will be able to post some photos of the Christmas Bauble workshop we are doing today at Scrapbook Magic  - fingers crossed.  if not you will have to wait until tomorrow when I get back home and I will post photos of both days workshops instead.

Have a great weekend.

On my way

I'm not sure there will be much peace but there will be plenty of laughter with a group of crafty ladies .  I'm heading off to Mullion in a few minutes after a morning of looking after dear Harlee.  it was dry enough to spend some time in the park and then we came back and watched Walt Disney's Robin Hood.

Crafting chaos

It's certainly the case this week as I've been trying to make a wide variety of Christmas cards.  Yesterday evening and this morning I have been playing with a Christmas wreath design.  I didn't get chance to finish a card before having to go into work so this will be on my craft space probably until Sunday evening as I'm away crafting at Scrapbook Magic this weekend. 

I'm so looking forward to learning new techniques with Fran Westmoreland of Purple Peanuts Crafty blog

Pre Halloween fun

Not much to report today but Max and I had great fun hanging out with friends today in our Halloween outfits . 

While at Vintage Brew I dropped off some more Christmas cards and while I was there they sold another four cards for Dog's Trust -  total so far £39.90.

Star of Light

Not much productivity today, a busy day at work and my mind was a little tired this evening.  I did manage to get two coffin treat boxes made to give to Nathan and Mitch tomorrow as Halloween treats.

I also managed to make one more Christmas card to take down tomorrow.  I made a list of the cards I took with me on Sunday so tomorrow I will be able to see which ones sold.  I may be able to replicate them depending on which materials were used.  Tonight's card used the SU stamp set Star of Light along with matching dies.  A couple of different stamps and embossing powders were used for the background and sentiment and then I used the dies for the focal point.

It's hard to capture the irridiscent ice embossing powder but it does give a lovely shimmer.

Replenishing

Yesterday  and just before I went into work I made a start on replenishing the Christmas cards for sale at Vintage Brew.   I came across a cute Christmas paper pad while sortingmout over the weekend and have used some of them to make six new cards to take in with me on Wednesday. 

6

 A shift change today meant I haven't been able to add to the collection but tomorrow evening I hope to put some more together.   My aim is to use up the paper pad first and then make some quick and simple ones with the sentiments as a focal point.

Feeling happy

I took my first set of cards into Vintage Brew today and sought the boys advice on pricing.  I was amazed at their suggested prices (I greatly underestimated their potential worth).  We agreed on prices and I also left them with a picture of one of the four dogs we sponsor so potential customers could see where the money would be going.  I left them with the cards at midday and got a message from Nathan at 2 in the afternoon to say they had managed to sell 9 of my cards and so my first day sales came to £20.40  -  to say I'm feeling pleased is an understatement.  I just hope more of them sell.

Another positive from my morning there is that they have suggested we have a craft sale there the first weekend in December.   I will certainly have to get busy making more items.

This is one of the Christmas cards I have made today.

I think my problem now is having so many ideas buzzing around in my head - I must learn to calm down and concentrate on one set of cards at a time.

Lawn Fawn stamps

After yesterday's stash sort out it would appear the above quote is correct.  I did a bit more sorting out this morning by making a start on taking out charts from my stiching magazines and ideas from the craft magazines I have acquired over the years.  This should then empty some space at the bottom of my wardrobes.

With some sorting done I managed to make a couple of cards today.   I inked up the new stamps I acquired from Simon Says recently.  They're a cute set from Lawn Fawn and have matching dies which always make life easy when you want to cut the images out.

One of the cards I did as a shaker card and the other one I kept a little simpler, but same layout.  I also used some SU stamps to create the backgrounds and also a die from SUs swirly scribbles set to try and represent snow drifts.  It was nice to sit and colour in some images for a change - I still need to work on my colouring more but I'm fairly happy with these.

Why?

My real why is why do I hold onto so much?  I've been a crafter (and a hoarder) for years and have collected so much stash it really does leave me feeling incredibly guilty at times.  Thankfully our daughter is a mother herself now and wants to start scrapbooking.  This means I can go through all my stash and give her a good start to her hobby which will hopefully save her a fortune but help relieve some of my guilt.

This evening I went through the boxes which used to be under our bed, we have a different bed since last weekend which doesn't allow me to hide anything anymore!  Its meant that I have sorted out lots of paper, cardstock, embellishments and some SU retired ink pads that Colette can make use of and our bedroom floor is now clear again.  I also parted with lots of small punches which I haven't used in years as I tend only to use SU punches now.  I even put some bits which I didn't think good enough for either of us in the bin - shock horror - I can do it sometimes Chris.

Hubby is away for the weekend so it gives me a good opportunity to do lots more sorting.

An outlet for my cards

I finally plucked up the courage to ask the guys who own Vintage Brew if they would allow me to leave some of my cards at their cafe/Bistro to try and sell. Proceeds from any sales I get will go to charity which for the next twelve months is one close to my heart - The Dogs Trust.  I was so pleased they are going to help me with this but of course now I'm anxious as to whether I will get any sales.  I also now need to price them and I'm not very good at putting a price on what I make - any tips?

One step closer

It's amazing how different you can feel from one day to the next.  I've managed to make two lemon cakes as requested by a couple of work colleagues this afternoon.  This evening I've all but completed another of the Christmas SAL motifs, just the back stitch and a couple of French knots to be added.  It was great to meet up and see my crafting buddies, it seems way too long since we last got together.

Hooray for little steps.

Apologies

Huge apologies for those of you that regularly visit my blog.  There has been little creativity going on at the moment so I apologise for the lack of more interesting blog content.

Today's blog post is only to tell you what my latest reading material is and many may have guessed that it is another Agatha Raisin mystery.  Mum had five more books waiting for me when we got back from our holiday.

I am hoping that crafting will resume again soon so that I can have something more productive to share.  Thank you for sticking with me though x

Too tired

One day back at work and the leisurely holiday we enjoyed seems so long ago already!  I am shattered once more so all I shall be doing this evening is catching up with Strictly and browsing through the latest Cross Stitcher magazine which has a really sweet Christmas hanger as it's free gift.

Sunday stitching update

I didn't add anymore stitches to the Christmas SAL while on holiday so still have a little bit to do before I've caught up.  I will be picking the next magazine up tomorrow after I have finished work.   This is how far I did get though.

Max had a great time at Honey's birthday.  He made some new friends and enjoyed eating the specially made dog birthday cake.  He was the best dressed dog there in his bow tie.

We seem to have done nothing but eat out today as we were invited to Sunday roast at our daughter's.   We had a nice surprise when we got there as our eldest son was also there visiting so we got to see six out of our seven grandchildren today.

Can't say I'm looking forward to having to set the alarm to get up tomorrow but its back to work we go.

Birthday party outfit

Max has been invited to his first ever party.  Honey at Vintage Brew is celebrating her 10th birthday tomorrow.  While I  was in Next this afternoon I saw this and couldn't resist buying it for Max to wear tomorrow.

He is going to look so smart.  We bought some small presents for him to take and give to Honey - should be a fun time.

All too quickly

All too quickly our holiday is over.  Back home, washing machine has been on and clothes not worn being returned to the wardrobe, it doesn't  take long for real life to take over again.

While on holiday I did manage to read two more of the Agatha Raisin mysteries.  I am sure when I return these to mum tomorrow there will be more waiting for me to read.

Max has a birthday party to go to on Sunday so I need to pop to the pet store some time tomorrow to pick up a birthday present for his friend Honey who will be 10.  While he was on holiday he sent her a postcard.