Half Term

Well it's the last day of half term and my sanity is just about intact.

Child number 3 had a nasty accident at school on the last day; face making contact with concrete! He has done a lot of damage to his bottom lip and broken the root of a tooth. The dentist has put a 'splint' on the back of the teeth to see if it will mend, if not, it's a false tooth needed.

So my week of outings has resulted in a week at home, making soft food. 

What has surprised me most though, is how long the after effects of shock last! He's still getting tired and aching by the afternoons.

On a crafting note, I have a friend turning 40 today so I dug out the card making materials. 

I haven't made a card for a couple of years at least! But it's amazing how quick you pick up the bug again.

I'm going to make a couple of Mothers Day cards later and birthday cards for my nieces.

Always a fan of giving lovely gifts that don't cost a fortune, I made this a part of her gift.

That cost me less than £5 to make.

You don't have to be hugely creative to create personal gifts. A little bit of imagination is all you need!

Just Because

I took a class today at the fabulous Birds In The Barn, which luckily, is 10 mins drive from home.

Whilst, I didn't actually learn anything new and was already fairly well versed in all we did, I loved every second of it!!

Sometimes doing something just for the love of it gives us the greatest pleasure.

It was a small group, only 4 of us and Sue the teacher, but that made it laid back and relaxed. Way less stressful than keeping up with a big class doing things for the first time.

I think, I will treat myself to 1 class a month just for pleasure. Sometimes I will learn new things, sometimes I won't, but even in classes you think you know there can be tips and tricks to be picked up.  Never think there is nothing left to discover and remember to do things just because you love doing them!

Cake flop

So today is hubbies birthday. He surprised me by taking the morning off work, which was lovely. Did a bit of food shopping, then popped into town for some errands. But on the way back to the car, we found a lovely little tea shop which had a great atmosphere- very relaxed and bohemian.

Nothing like Earl Grey and cake!

Then we found an old fashioned sweet shop and spent a quarter of an hour wrapped up in distant, sugar dipped memories.

So , he returned to work this afternoon and I set to work on the obligatory birthday cake. I had this great chocolate indulgence picture in my head. - Well let's just say, I won't be appearing on Bake Off any time soon lol.

I didn't put both tins flat so the mixture in 1 all moved to one side. By the time I realised it was too late 🙄

So I text a friend who cheered me up by saying if I made perfect cakes as well as hand made gifts (previous post), it just wouldn't be fair! I think she was gently telling me to stay out of the kitchen lol.

I'm sure I can sort of rescue it with icing later - I hope - but it tastes good at least xxxx

New Year, New Focus

Hello out there!

To be fair, over a year since my last post means it's highly unlikely anyone is ready this, but hey ho, you have to (re)-start somewhere.

So 2016 sees me filled with renewed passion for craft, which after the installation of my new studio at home a year ago, has become a full time thing. Last year was exceptional for me, making a lifelong crafty friend and undertaking new business ventures. But if there's 1 thing a busy year teaches you, it's where to prioritise the following year. So this year my promise to myself is to make time to craft for joy and to share that joy as much as possible.

So to kick off, here are a couple of  projects I have started the year with.

First is this sweet little hanging icon. It's not overly intricate or detailed but I love it.

It was made for a friends daughter who very recently lost her Grandad and was having nightmares. She loves crafting and has spent time making things with me in the past. I hoped this would cheer her up and help her sleep at the same time. 

Next up is this extra large frame I have made for my husbands upcoming birthday. As usual, the January budget is very tight so extravagant privet gifts are out of the question this year. But the old cliché is true, handmade gifts do mean more. So this year I had each of our 4 kids write down 3 top reasons why they love their dad and used them to create this frame. Obviously for a 50cm frame you can't make a backing from 1 sheet of paper. So I decoupaged pieces of text, map and other paper together onto the backboard of the frame. I then knocked it back with some dry brushed Paper Artsy Nougat paint. I then sprayed black and red sprays with gold perfect pearls spray.

I used a clear embossing dauber  and silver powder randomly to enchant the tatty, workshop manual, industrial look.

The wooden words cost £1 and were sponged in black. I typed up my kids answers with an tatty typewriter font, mounted them on craft card and lightly sponged the edges with paints to match the ink sprays. Then just put it all together 😊

Hope to be back with more work next week. Take care xx

Disney Distraction

My little girl is off school poorly today and is laid on the sofa watching the obligatory Disney movies. Now much as I love Disney, she is the youngest of my 4 children so they don't quote hold the appeal they once did lol.

So here's a few pictures of the pieces of jewellery I've made today to tune out 'let it go' and 'bipity bopity boo'.

Escape into Crafting Heaven

This is always a really busy time of year, 2nd only to Christmas. I was starting  to teach the point where I was no longer feeling the love. So I decided to take a couple of days to create something just for me. I will post a tutorial in the week or 2 xxx

Catch up

Hello. Lots happening since my last blog post. Lots of orders coming through from Crafty Mums shop in Colchester and lots of workshops coming up in their fab workshop space. Here's a few pics of what I've been up to.