Cardmakers Block

I decided to make a card as a late entry for CPS #228 and the sketch was perfect for using my little paper-pieced house on a New Home card!

I really enjoyed making this one, it took no time at all!

However, I am really struggling with a particular commissioned card at the moment. You know when you just get that mental block with a certain card and you feel as if you're never ever going to be able to make anything? I can't say what the card is in case the person who's asked for it is reading, but I'm desperately hoping for a spark of inspiration.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!!!

Lunchbox Scoffing

In a further attempt to improve my eating habits, I undertook to create one of the recipes from The Lunchbox Diet today, the idea being that you "graze" from the box throughout the day, which supposedly keeps your cravings for unhealthy snacks under control.

Only problem, when I had this box of absolutely delish salad (mixed leaves, beetroot, roast butternut squash, mushrooms, peas, Quorn ham and a cider vinegar and basil dressing) in front of me, I was going back every 5 minutes to eat it and it lasted no time. And I'm still hungry!!!

I think it will take a lot of work to wean my body off the naughty snacks!!

Meanwhile, despite the wet, miserable weather, a "flock" (?) of dragonflies has landed...

They will get their antennae later!!

Fruity Frenzy!

I don't know if it's anything to do with the fact that I'm consciously trying to eat more fruit and veg whilst cutting out sugary stuff, but I've been in a crafting frenzy this evening!! I normally wind down about 9.00 and go and watch telly, but I've got some commissioned cards to work on, so I'm hoping my craft energy will hang around a bit longer!

Having said that, there's not much I can show here at the moment, but I have been playing around, making little houses out of the tiniest bits of paper imaginable:

I adapted them from my birdhouse design and I think they have a certain charm! I'll be using them on New Home cards and gift tags.


I mentioned earlier that I'm trying to cut down on sugary stuff. One way I'm doing that is by ordering myself not to buy anything sweet - if I want something yummy I have to make it myself! So this week's delicacy is Chocolatey Pistachio balls - slurp!

Lovely Days

With the news headlines being nothing but utter grimness over the past few days, it was at least nice that the weather was kind, and we did our best to make the most of it. On Saturday Himself and I sat outside a cafe in Morningside (how terribly posh we are!), drank cappucinos and ate deliciously huge truffles in the sunshine. Later on we attended a barbecue thrown by friends who are an old "hand" at it so there was a great spread laid on, picnic blankets on the lawn and much cute kids-and-dogs antics to keep us entertained.

Yesterday, H and I took a picnic up into the Pentland hills and sat in a grassy meadow (which didn't do much for his hayfever - oops!) where the simple pleasure of eating fresh raspberries in the sunshine made me glad to exist. Wibble.

Now it's another week and I have a plethora (that is one of my fave words!) of male cards to make over the next wee while. To say I'm worried about it would be putting it a bit strongly. More like "mildly anxious"!! The only "boy" themed cards I've made lately are my dinosaur ones and I think the males in question are a bit old for those....

*All these designs can be personalised with names and ages. Oh, the technology!!!*

Folksy Friday - Bookmarks

It's been a while since I did a Folksy Friday, so, to mark the overhaul of my little shop, I've decided to blog some faves in the theme of "Bookmarks". I love reading and am never without a book in the bath or in bed last thing at night. Despite the fact that I make bookmarks myself, I only ever seem to use a scruffy old bit of card to mark the page! So here are a selection of my personal faves from the wide variety of bookmarks that Folksy sellers have produced!

This embroidered cat by Helen Jane's Designs:

This Bunny bookmark from Original Art by Clare:




This encaustic art bookmark by Wax Art:





This denim and dots fabric bookmark by mollyjump:




Yummy liquorice allsorts on this bookmark by pyroangel's sweet trinkets:






and this felt cupcake page marker from LovefromCarrieb:

Happy reading!!!

Gently Does It!

I'm taking it easy this afternoon, after another visit to the dentist this morning. I still possess the offending molar at the moment - he's doing his best to save it - but the procedure seemed to go on for ever and, while I'm not too scared of the dentist, I was glad when it was all over!

So I thought a nice way to spend the afternoon would be planning the tidying -up of my Folksy and Etsy shops, which have been a little neglected of late.

With some gentle crafting in between.

I say "gentle", because whenever I plan a session of "intensive" crafting I always put myself off!

So far, so good!!

It's Been a While...

...since I entered any challenges, and because I liked the look of the sketch for CPS #227, I thought I'd give it a go:

The papers are by My Mind's Eye. The colours are inspired by the latest selection from Colour Throwdown but I was too late to enter that challenge! There are lots of busy patterns going on in this card, don't you think??!

Glue Gurnings

Oh, poop! Once again, I have committed the cardinal crafting sin of allowing myself to run out of double-sided tape!!!!! Aaargh! This has severely curtailed my ability to create; at the moment, something that is supposed to look roughly like this...

...has ended up getting no further than this....

I was severely tempted to throw in the "towel" at various points this afternoon, but I eventually persuaded myself to be patient - I will be able to stick things again eventually!!

Meantime I have busied myself making various "props":

They aren't stuck yet either (I am also lacking a glue pen!!) but I dream of the glorious day when I will be "with adhesive" once again!!!!

The Early Bird Catches the, er Mojo!!

My mojo was MIA yesterday, much to my frustration, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. I didn't even have much to take with me to the craft group, but I'm glad I put my grumpiness to one side and went because it was worth it for the entertaining chat!!

Anyway I was up bright and early this morning, with a positive attitude and applied myself to sketching out a plan for a Golden Wedding card order:

And the finished card:

Normally I don't tend to use gold or glitter card in my creations but I guess when you've got a Golden Anniversary card to make, there's no getting away from it!!

Owy Owy Ooyah Ow!

Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I developed toothache and I have to say it was deeply unpleasant! It got worse as the day wore on and I was almost at the point of wanting to remove my own head to make it go away! Luckily the dentist managed to fit me in this morning; I've had a dodgy filling for a while now and he thinks the tooth may need to be removed :( Luckily it's at the back but it's still a traumatic thought!! To cheer myself up I'm making a batch of cherry chocolate brownies; er, possibly not the best thing to eat when your teeth are already being dissolved by sugar, but what the heck!!!

The baby bear toppers I made recently have been very well received so I've created some more:

Baby bears wearing bibs! I'm hoping they look ok!

I've also just discovered that I've received a blog award from the lovely Toni . Thank you, missus! In order to accept it properly I have to share 7 facts about myself and pass the award onto 8 other people, so I'm off to have a think about that and to put my brownies in the oven! Watch this space!!

Chinese, County Park and Cats!

Well, that was a pleasant weekend, beginning with an evening of Crafting ' n Chinese at Julie's on Friday night. This is an annual event and a delightful one which I think should become a regular; say, once a week???!!! Not that we actually, aherm, did any crafting!! Once we'd stuffed our faces we settled down for an evening of girly chat and before we knew it, it was nearly midnight! Rock 'n roll!!!! The mushroom chow mein was to die for and tasted even better the next day - mmmmmmm!!!!

Saturday and Sunday were punctuated by some of the heaviest downpours of rain I've ever seen! Luckily our outing to Muiravonside Country Park yesterday was almost monsoon-free, although we had to eat our picnic in the car! Whilst we followed a riverside-path in sweltering humidity, akin to that of a Bolivian rainforest, we were bitten by large flies and today my bites have come up like saucers! And they itch like mad. Pass the Calamine Lotion!!

A card I've made for someone who has got themselves not one, but three black kittens!

I hope the recipient likes it!!

Topper-tastic!

At the moment I seem to be going through a phase where all I want to do is make card toppers. A few years ago I spent all day, every day making hundreds of toppers for other people to use - they're great for those that want to create quick and easy cards, and it's a good way to share my wee designs with others.

I don't know if there is such a market for toppers these days and I'm certainly not going to pursue it to the exclusion of my other creations, but for the moment, that's what I'm focussing on. So, to start, I've revamped some of my old animal characters and here they are in the first stages, ready to be assigned to toppers of various themes:

Don't worry, they come with rather plump bodies too!!

Owl Be Monkeying Around!

I've had some spare owls and monkeys hanging around on my craft desk for ages, so today I thought I'd make them into toppers.

At least they have a purpose now!!

Mushroom Cottage Bird Sanctuary

Yesterday the weather was so lovely that when my friend came round in the evening we were able to sit outside comfortably until 9.30pm! It was almost like being on holiday again! And because she's bird-knowledgeable, she pointed out various types that appeared while we were sitting there - swifts, whitethroats and a heron! I've never before been able to appreciate the wildlife that exists in the vicinity of my home; now, thanks to her, I can!!

Card-wise, a creation to celebrate my cousin's graduation:

My day job has kept me largely out of the craft room so far this week; blah. I've got a list of crafty projects on my desk and I want to start ticking them off!!!

Day of Doing Nothing!

Well, I'm doing absolutely nowt crafty today because the sun is shining and I feel like being lazy!!

I had a lovely day yesterday at the Midlothian Crafters summer fair. It was sadly rather quiet but that's not surprising; most people were out taking advantage of the sunshine and who can blame them!

But my stuff generated some interest, I had a few wee sales and found lots of lovely crafters to chat to!

The jewellery isn't mine; it was the work of the nice lady from Strawberry Fountain Jewellery who I was sharing a table with!

And to my right was the lovely Iona from Exceptional Cakes. I couldn't resist her cute iced biscuits:

Almost too cute to eat!!!

Many thanks to my Parents for all their help and to Himself for popping along to support me!

I have lots of projects planned for next week so I think a day off the crafting is allowed!!

Oh Andy!

I'm not, and never will be, a big sports fan. I can take and leave most things. But my mum does love a bit of Wimbledon so, as I was visiting the Parents this afternoon, it was pertinent that I should join her in supporting Mr Murray in his semi-final. I don't think I've ever stayed sitting in one place for so long (since the Royal Wedding, ahem!), especially not for a sports event, but one does have a degree of National Pride. It would have been nice to see him get through to the Final.......I'm saying no more in case some of you haven't seen it yet, but I'm sure you can guess!!!! Suffice to say, I haven't done much crafting, but at least the sun has been shining.

And yesterday I made these Happy Sun toppers hoping they would chase away the clouds (it worked):

And I finished my paper-clipped bookmarks:

It's the Craft Fair tomorrow and I'm as ready as I'll ever be, so I think for the rest of this evening I'll plonk myself back in front of the telly and have a big bit of cake!! :)