Merry Christmas!

Hello,

Just dropping in to wish you a safe and happy Christmas.  Hope you get to spend the festive season with friends and family and that Santa is good to you.

We're spending time at home for the first time in a few years, so, very happy about that.  We'll have friends with us, which is great.  The weather is a bit changeable at the moment but I'm thinking it'll be WARM!!

The house is decorated, menus organised with the last few bits of shopping to be picked up Friday. Yep and gifts wrapped, under the tree....not bad ah!

I have to own up to only making a few Christmas cards this year, some place cards and a couple of gift packages.  Just can't seem to get back into my papercraft........maybe next year.

I'll leave you with a peek at the bits I did manage...........

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

🎄🎅 🎉

 Some Bon Bons using the Envelope Punch Board. The little pouch and all these place cards were cut using the Silhouette.

Some therapeutic colouring (mostly Sassy Cheryl's digital images) using Copics and (below) Prisma Pencils.

ODDS AND ENDS.......

It's been an age I know, but I've had little to share.  Time to sit and play has been limited and I've missed my little craft space.  The boss and I have been enjoying all kinds of different outings as well as sorting a few things in the house and garden.

Walshie and I are off to Sydney for a few days so I thought I'd better get a few treats ready for Halloween.  The shops are full of everything Halloween, never used to be like this :)
Anyway here's a selection I have ready after a bit of Pinterest research. :-)

Walshie likes the lollies on sticks with a tissue wrapped around to form ghosts. I had fun printing the faces and using my Cameo to cut the ghost and bat chocolate wrappers.  I managed to use up a few more googly eyes too ......I have so many :)

I've managed a little sewing, nothing too exciting but I thought I'd share them with you here.

I've taken to walking around the house with my phone. Nothing to do with calls but more to do with the health app which counts my steps!!  I added a pocket to the front as well as a pen loop so this little purse comes shopping too. 

My next little sewing project is a pen roll.

I have a growing collection of pens, so to keep them all together this was the perfect project.

I've grouped the pens I use for journalling in this roll. Fountain pens, brush pens and fine liners.  It's great to have them all together.

I've added a couple of new journals/notebooks to my stationary collection ready for next year.  The first is a great size to carry around in a handbag at 6 x 4 inches.  

 Just enough space to jot down quick notes each day, before writing up my Journal.

 The second is a Leuchtturn 1917 that I plan to use as my Bullet Journal.  I've been using a normal notebook to date,  but this one is gridded and the quality of the paper is great.   

Since I started using a BJ I keep everything here, notes, birthdays, appointments, recipes you name it!

No more scribbled notes on scraps of paper or individual notebooks for sewing, computer stuff etc. everything goes in here. I keep an index so I can find everything though next year I plan to colour code my pages too.

Do you keep a Journal? What about note keeping? Have you heard of the Bullet Journal System?

Read about it here or if you use Instagram you'll find many different ideas for keeping a Bullet Journal.  From very simple (like the original) to inspirational crafters versions, with drawings, painting, stickers, etc.

That's it, time for bed here.  Till next time.....

Hearts anyone?

Hello all,

first things first, thanks so much for all your comments to my last blog post.  I appreciate your thoughts and for the time being,  will leave things as they are :-).  

This last week has been quite busy in our house, how about you?  Spring is in the air so the boss and I are doing a little more work outside.  The weather has been perfect for it too.

I've managed a few blog visits, not always leaving comments (sorry) but always great to see what people are doing.  How about THESE envelopes from Maritza.  Therese,  always inspires (amazes) me with the amount of work she shares both on her blog and with YouTube videos.  Over at Instagram Kylie shared beautiful cards HERE. I also love checking out Aina  who is a Planner..........I love her style.  Brush lettering is one of my interests and Sharisse from Pieces Calligraphy is another inspiring spot on the Internet

Now my crafting for this week:

It's all about HEARTS for me this week. 

 I got the sewing machine out to complete a sewing project I started a  year ago in the UK!

 I'd taken a couple of cross stitch patterns with me,  always good to have when travelling.    Whilst over there I found the pretty heart fabric and thinking about our new bedroom (it was all about the new house last year) thought a cushion for the very white chaise would be great.  So I worked the cross stitch to match the fabric.......and it's been waiting!

Better late than never right?

It didn't take too long to complete  but I had to be in the right frame of mind.

The cushion looks pretty against the all white chaise with the smaller heart, a piece I embroidered a few years back.

A closer look at the cross stitch design.

I used some matching buttons for the closure at the back of my cushion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whilst I had my machine out I made  this  'mug rug' which was inspired by a Pinterest Pin.

It was a fun little project using fabric and ric rac from my stash. I think this will sit on my desk.

I have quite a stash of fabric that I must try and use before I buy anything new!

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I did spend some time with card and colouring pencils this week too.   Joanne Fink's Zenspirations  

is 'new to me' and I really like her pretty style.  She loves hearts too :).

 I think I need more practise but here was my first try.

This is such a relaxing style of doodling (if you like) and I'm keen to add it to more projects.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beverley at Uniko Studio Stamps shared that Uniko was featured in Simply Cards and Papercrafts,   with some of her lovely images available for download.   Lovely images, one of which was a heart wreath which I couldn't resist adding to my weeks work.

 I used my Silhouette to print and cut these seed folder gift packs. 

I printed a design from Creative Market to make this folder, the design is free to download this week.

I cut away one of Beverley's floral designs  and added her sentiment over for this gift tag. Easy to do on the Silhouette using the Print & Cut feature.  Just a little twine to add the tag to the folder folder.

My seed packs are attached with a glue dot under the bottom flap.

So that was my week......are you still with me?  Well done, this was a huge post :)

The weekend is here and we're hoping to buy some plants and pots for the newly finished front step!

Have a great week end, thanks for dropping by.  Til next time.......

Greetings.......

Hello,

It's been a couple of weeks or three since I last posted to my blog. The Boss and I offered to 'dog sit' our friends Golden Retriever whilst they spent 3 weeks in China.  To lessen the stress on the dog we agreed to stay at their place for the duration, which has worked quite well except that I didn't bother to take any craft bits with me.   We've spent lots of time walking the beach, enjoying the late winter weather here,  it's been really lovely.

Last weekend we spent a day in our house, Walshie took the dog out for a couple of hours so I could sit and play....... It was nice to make a card and guess what.....It's my first Christmas card this year.  Yeah I know, but September tomorrow.....four months to go!!!!!

I hope you can just see the sparkle from Wink Of Stella added to the flower and holly.

Three different dies where used to cut the Wreath, Holly and Poinsettia with a corner die cut in red card stock.

 To finish off some pretty red Sprinkles from Sprinkleberry.

_________________________

Now I'm interested to know what people think about changing Blog names against starting out fresh!

Things have changed so much here since Ian retired.  We spend much more time together which means I'm not posting to my blog as often as I used to in the early days.  

I must admit when we moved house (the second time) I was horrified at how much stuff I'd accumulated.  I gave away heaps and vowed to think before I bought in future.  As for my cards, I had quite a few boxes, more than I would use... so they went to Lifeline.  Since moving I don't think I've bought one new stamp! I'll always make cards, just not so many :).

My Blog name seems all wrong now..........my interests are slightly different.  I've been doing a bit more sewing and cardmakers  don't really want to see that!   

My Blog followers number 202 but I think it's probably more like 10.......so why not start again!

Wha do you think?  Has anyone done this?  

Friendship........

Hello again,

In our part of the world we've had a mixed bag weather wise.  Four days of almost non stop rain before the sun eventually came out at the weekend. 

 We've been planting in the garden ready for the growing season so for us the rain was well received, though for many it meant soggy conditions with trees down and leaves everywhere.  

I took advantage of staying inside to catch up on snail mail.   I have a few friends who  prefer  a letter over an email, do you?

  Todays card is one I popped in the envelope with my letter. It uses a sweet image from LOTV . I coloured the image with Copic Markers then went back over it using my Prisma pencils to add some shading detail.

Is there anything nicer than catching up with friends over a cup of tea?   

Sadly the friend receiving this card is in the UK so that's not an option but a long newsy letter is the next best thing :)

This card is my entry to the Crafty Sentiments Anything goes Challenge.


Thanks for taking the time to call past, till next time................. x

More Sharpie Fun this time with fabric.....

Hello, I mentioned whilst in the US I bought a stack of Sharpies. 

When I arrived home I found a small set of  Stained Sharpies in our local Office Works. These are designed to colour fabric...how could I resist!

I had a small piece of Homespun fabric sitting around so started playing.  I used the markers to draw around star shapes, filling the shapes with colour.  A simple colouring job, nothing too fancy. These Stained Sharpies are almost fluorescent (quite bright).  I added dots and a striped border before carefully ironing to set the colours.  I put some scrap paper over the inked area just incase the colour transferred. It didn't.

The piece was sitting on my desk for a few days so I thought to use it in a zipped bag, big enough to carry all my Sharpies.   A quick, easy project adding some leather tabs as well as a small timber star. 

Now all my Sharpies are together and stored as recommended 'in a horizontal position'.

Didn't wash the piece but don't expect any problems.

Thanks for dropping by, till next time.......

Cheerio!

I needed a card for friends flying off on holiday very soon,  so with that in mind.......

Tools:

I have this cute little Biplane  image from We R Memory Keepers. 

The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse.

Annabelle Stamps Clear Sprinkles.

Memento Inks -  Summer Sky, Lady Bug.  Versafine Onyx Black

Method:

A little cloud masking and sponging for the sky background. 

Stamping then hand cutting the Biplane before popping up over the  cloudy sky background using foam dots.  

Once the sentiment was stamped the completed panel was added to my white top fold card.
A few clear Sprinkles to complete.

Every time I use this image I think of a pin on my Pinterest board here. It has to be one of the most re-pinned items I have :)

Thanks for dropping by today, see you soon.......

To Plan or not to Plan

Hello,

My day wouldn't be complete without a visit to Pinterest.  I'm sure I'm not alone.  I have so many collections over there...... of all kinds!

I've been thinking of late that perhaps it's time to cull some, maybe discard the ones I've no further interest in, or those I've tried and added to my repertoire. Time consuming but for this 'neat freak' the idea appeals . Does anyone else do this?

Recently I've been fascinated by folded book art, I'm not sure  about the words but I've seen some amazing hearts.  Don't be surprised to see something here one day :)

For a while too, I've been following Planners, Filofax and Journal 'keepers'......is that what you'd call them?  I really admire those people who keep a diary and make it a thing of beauty.   I always had a Filofax in my handbag when I was working. It's lounging on a shelf these days. I couldn't have managed without one, but it's something I've let slip.  I do have a stack of notebooks around the place thought, keeping different ones for household stuff like window sizes, paint colours, that kind of thing.  Sewing notebooks with lists of all my different thread colours, needles and sewing machine feet. I always take a notebook away with me when we travel too, but it would be great to have a system that keeps everything together or at least that is inter-changeable.

Can you guess where this is leading?  I thought a Midori Travellers Notebook might be just the thing for me. A compact folder I could switch around depending what I needed at any given time.

If you don't know, the Midori is  a leather folder with elastic running down the spine to enable notebooks to be  inserted.  The original  inserts come in various designs, lined, grids plain etc.

Faux Midori's are everywhere around the web, and to be honest if you can get hold of some reasonably stiff leather it's not hard to make your own.  Notebook/Diary printable pages are available through etsy as well as quite a few very generous people offering their versions to download for free.

Search Pinterest, you'll see the favourites popping up often.  You can add pen holders, book marks and all kinds of charms and decoration to personalise your notebook.

I thought before I purchase a Travellers Notebook I'd have a go at making a 'Card Dori' using some heavy weight brown card. Mine measures 8.75 inches x 5.5 inches wide (wider than the real leather ones).

I dyed my elastic using a pink Copic marker adding a small heart charm.

I also downloaded a free insert to print, just to see if I'd use the Daily Planner. 
A couple of sites offering free downloads are  Here and Here .

I found Ray Blake's fabulous blog and his youtube site  with so many great tutorials.

 Ray designed the file pocket I added to my  Card Dori :)

I snagged some great images HERE to cut as stickers for my  Planner.  Easy to do with a Silhouette Cameo :)  Small stamps are perfect for page decoration along with Washi Tape, if this is your style.

Browsing Instagram I've seen so many creative planners that also include beautiful calligraphy.  How cool to see beautiful penmanship becoming so fashionable again.

What about a 'Fabric Dori"  I made this one on a wet afternoon and this time I got the lacing right for the spine elastic.

It looks much better and....... fancy..... I got to use some eyelets and my self setter! It's been a while since they've seen the light of day!

Adding a pocket along the bottom of the inside lining seemed like a good idea. Then (of course) once it  was sewn up I thought I should have added a pen loop :(.
Now, just need to add a couple of notebooks.

I also read that LG make a pocket printer....gasp!  It connects to your mobile phone enabling you to print off a photo straight away. Now you can add photos directly to your travel journal.  So cool and definatley on my wish list!

So thank you once again Pinterest, I've enjoyed jogging around seeing everyone's ideas and as always am amazed at how many crafty people are super generous, sharing !

Oh yes, in case you're wondering,  after mulling over all the different options (and there really are lots) I finally ordered one. The genuine Midori Travellers Notebook all the way from HERE in the UK.      It has some travelling to do before arriving in my mail box LOL!

Thanks so much for your visit today :-), till next time..........