Nearly Happy New Year

Christmas is nearly over, unfortunately for me it has passed in a haze of the flu. I have coughed, spluttered, sneezed and slept through most of it. Needless to say I have not been very merry or crafty. Santa did see fit to ignore my grumpiness and I received lots of crafting goodies. As yet I have been unable to use as I have had to move back in with my lovely Mum & Dad because my boiler has decided to stop working again so we have no heating or hot water! Great way to start the new year.

Oh well, being poorly has given me a chance to read lots of blogs & come up with a great idea for my friends birthday. I can write about it on here as she is a very busy lady & I know that she doesn't get a spare five minutes. My friend is an amazing lady & I am very lucky to have her as a friend, so for this years birthday I am going to make her a bag. I have pouring through my Mum's books looking for ideas but as always it looks like the internet is going to be successful. I found a blog http://www.creativequiltgirl.com/2009/11/new-bag-is-done/ that directed me to a free bag pattern
http://artsycraftybabe.typepad.com/tutorials/phoebe_bag.pdf

I think that this is a great bag pattern & will leave me lots of scope to decorate the bag.  So I have a new crafty project for the new year. Just need to start feeling better so I can go out shopping for fabric.

No Christmas Cards!!!

I am on a roll, I have completed, yes fully completed five scrapbook pages this week! Admittedly the homemade christmas cards have not been made this year, but the only people who would probably notice that is my Mum and Ella. So for the first time in six years I will be sending out shop bought cards, shock horror. Since Ella's first Christmas I have either used her handprint, footprint or a photo of her on our cards. She is a little upset, especially as it was her idea as to what she dress up in this year, but I just wasn't going to get them done in time. Never mind, there is always next year.

So here is what I have managed to find time for, my first completed double page layout. Again I have used a sketch from the Let's Scrap forum.

Challenge79

I have just submitted my first entry to a Let's Scrap Challenge. The challenge is to use an old book or newspaper on a layout. It would be easy to go back to what I learnt at the crop the other month & make some pretty flowers but as I mentioned before, we had no newspapers. So even though I went & bought one, I went down a different route. We had a magazine come through the door with some double page adverts in it. They are all bright adverts for Christmas, so I thought that they would be great to use.

But how to use them? Well I tore them up & made a background paper with them.

Different is the word that comes to mind, but it was fun to do, like being a little kid doing paper mache.

I have also completed another page using another Let's Scrap Sketch, this one is much more toned down. For a change it was my husband taking the photos & I think that this one is my favourite of Ella taken this year.

You can find all the lovely ladies at
http://letsscrap.ning.com/

A Girls gotta scrap.

This weekend we had a shuffle round, we are planning to have a fire installed in our front room, so we have moved a piece of furniture out so that we have room. I have now gained some new storage in my craft room, as a girl can never have too much storage.

Can't wait to fill it with some crafty goodies :)

Also this weekend I got some scrapping time, my lovely husband took my daughter to the zoo to see Santa.  So I got to scrap a sketch from the Let's Scrap forum http://letsscrap.ning.com/ 

My first sketch & I am pretty pleased with myself. I used Ella's coat & wellies as the colour scheme. I was hoping to use it to do my first Let's Scrap challenge, but the challenge requires newspaper & all of ours had been recycled, so I am off to the shops after school pickup to purchase a newspaper.

Snow is still my favourite

Even though I have been snowed in for a couple of days, I'm feeling rather cheerful. My husband has managed to get home which is great. He is much braver than me, he has dug our car out & gone food shopping. The cupboards will hopefully be a bit fuller when he gets back.

Ella & I have been busy together, last year in the sales I bought a ceramic bauble kit, you paint the baubles. This was a great success & I now have three lovely baubles that Ella painted on our tree. In fact she liked it so much I have ordered some more, they will come out in the week before Christmas when she breaks up from school. We also ventured outside, I took Ella sledging which was great fun, I took loads of photos which means I will be able to do lots of wintry scrapbook pages. We also used my lovely new oven & baked some christmas biscuits.

The snow has also given me an oppportunity to do some reading of other blogs & also some internet searching & I think that I have come up trumps. I have found a lovely lady who has just released a scrapbooking app, have a look at http://www.sketches2scrapbook.com/ I am finding this very handy as I love my iphone. I have also found a scrapbooking forum called Let's Scrap, you can find it at http://letsscrap.ning.com/ again it is another great source of scrapbooking ideas. A bonus, the ladies on the forum seem very friendly.

Snow is my favourite & my best

Snow is my favourite & my best, is the title of a book by Lauren Child. I am guessing anybody who has a child aged six or under would of heard of Charlie & Lola the main characters in this book.My daughter loves these books, they don't get read as much as they used too, but with the snow, out came this book.

I am agreeing with the title, snow is my favourite & my best for several reasons -
1. It has made my little girl very happy
2. No school, which means no school run (has made me very happy)
3. Sledging is great fun
4. No table top sale, which has saved me the shame of not selling any cards
5. We finished decorating our three christmas trees
6. I have taken plenty of photos to scrap
7. It has given me plenty of inspiration

Don't get me wrong it does also bring it's problems, my better half is stuck in the US unable to get back & the crop that I was so looking forward too has been cancelled, but on the whole it is all good :)

Snow

It has snowed! So I am looking out of my window at a very white garden. The snow is helping my craft block. Yes I have craft block, I am meant to be doing a table top sale on Friday, where I am going to attempt to sale my cards.

I am meant to be making cards & gift tags but I am having trouble, I haven't made cards for over a year & have been focusing more on scrapbooking. If I am totally honest I would much rather being doing some scrapping.

Monday Morning.

Children in Need on Friday last week was a success.

 Ella as Paddington Bear. I made her a travel label to put round her neck & painted her nose using eyeliner (which stays on much better than face paints).

                                                 

I made a suitcase & label too.
I wrapped a cereal box in brown paper.

I made a handle using brown card & attached it to the box using gold brads.

I added some corners & wrote P. B. on the front. On the back I made a label which said "needed on journey."

I was really pleased with the end results & I am sure that the school will have raised lots of money for Children in Need.

Hat Update

Well the search for a blue duffle coat has drawn a blank, I did find some on Ebay but they went well past what I was prepared to spend. Never mind Ella has brown leggings & a brown top & she has asked for her hair to be made into bear ears! The hat is still a work in progress this is how it going so far.

I measured round Ella's head for the main part of the hat, I then joined it together & then measured the hole that was created. I then cut out a circle of felt to feel that hole.

I then pinned it altogether & then sewed it together. When the hat is finished it will be turned inside out.

I made the brim of the hat by doing the same size circle & then measuring out the depth of the main hat. So I ended with another big circle. I cut across the middle circle, so that there is a hole for Ella to put her head in, but you need to leave some so that you have enough to attach it to the rest of the hat.

Here is Ella in the hat, I finished sewing last night, but I am still not happy. I think that the brim needs to be smaller. 

So I have repinned the brim & made it smaller. I just need Ella to come from school to try it on to see if it looks better. Will add a picture of the finished item when done, hopefully before next friday. 

Paddington Bear

Children in Need is happening on the 19th November & Ella's school like to do there bit, which means that Mum's have to do their bit too. This year Ella has been asked to dress as her favourite bear, she has chosen Paddington Bear. I have had a quick look on ebay & have found some potential duffle coats & thankfully she already has red wellies. The dilemma is the hat, yes a new craft project has sneaked in, in front of all the others on my list.

Again I have turned to the usual suspects, ebay & google, unfortunately I have drawn up a blank. So it looks like I am going to have to start from scratch.



I am thinking red felt, measuring Ella's head round, once I have the size of the band I then know what size to make the circle for the top. Then the brim is going to be one big circle. Will do it in paper over the weekend & let you know how it goes.

The start

My daughter loves American Girl, she has two  girls, Poppy & Lily. Whenever my husband goes to New York for work (which is a lot) he brings back an American Girl catalogue. Ella will sit for ages going through the catalogue, I have taught her to mark what she likes & turns the corner of the page. Yes I am a catalogue lover too, especially christmas ones. Now Ella understands that she can't have everything from the catalogue, but let's just say that these girls have a better wardrobe than me.

At the beginning of this year I found some dress patterns that would fit Lily & Poppy, Ella was very excited & I was looking forward to starting a new project. How hard could it be? I took Ella & she picked the material & the lace. We went home I laid it all out on the dining room table. I placed the material down & pinned the pattern on to it & then began to cut. I had all the pieces & was sat very proudly at the table when my Mum came over for dinner. She politely explained to me that I had not cut enough material for the seams. My answer to this was "but I followed the pattern". Apparently patterns have a code all of their own & if you are new to it, there is no way that you will know this. So a funny little arrow pointing in one direction, was not a cut here arrow, but something entirely different.

My Mum patiently gave me some pattern cutting lessons, while recutting some of that pattern (thankfully I had bought plenty of material). She managed to salvage some other bits. She then looked at me & asked if I would like her to finish it. Let's just say the dress came back a couple of days later, perfectly finished.

Now I am not going to let this first attempt put me off, Ella has been through a new catalogue & has found an American Girl apron for Lily & Poppy. Now my lovely husband has said that he would buy it on his next trip, but I have said,"how hard can it be to make an apron?" So my new project is to make Lily & Poppy an apron each. So the search begins now to find a pattern & if I can't find a pattern I am going to have to make one. So it begins!

Lists

I am a complete list maker, I make lists of my jobs for the day, lists of things to take on holiday, lists for shopping. I would be lost without my lists, they help organise me which is great because I use to be a really organised person & now I actually am not sure how I make it through the week if I am totally honest. With Christmas on the way the list making will take on a life of it's own, christmas card list, present list, santa list, food list.

Most of all I have craft lists, multiple craft lists, they grow like they weeds.

I have a to do list which consists of :- find a theme for christmas cards this year
                                                           make the christmas cards
                                                           make a knight tunic for Ella
                                                           organise myself for a table sale (needs it's own list)
Wow that is short for me, am sure that I have missed plenty off it.

I have a scrapbooking list which currently consists of :- Florida holiday
                                                                                        Sister's hen party
                                                                                        Sister's wedding
                                                                                        Half term holiday

I have a list of new crafts to try, a list of craft goodies to buy, as I said it is never ending.

Crop

Anybody who scraps knows what a crop is, I have read about them lots but had never actually been to one. I have been looking for a crop to go to for ages, finding one proved harder than I thought. Many of the crops in my old scrapbook magazines that are around my area no longer exist.

Then I got lucky I found the ladies at http://eclectickeepsakes.blogspot.com/

So as well as being totally excited I was very nervous. I persuaded my lovely Dad to give me a lift so that Steve & Ella could have the car. We finally found the place & there was one lovely lady called Karen setting up. More ladies kept arriving & this is when I got bag/stash envy. I had packed light as it was my first time & I had no idea what to expect. I was sat at a table watching all these like minded ladies coming in, with bags, boxes & crates on wheels. You name it they probably brought it.

The first half of the day, you do your own pages, then in the afternoon you have the choice to do an item organised by eclectic keepsakes. Well once I had seen what Karen had planned for us, there was no saying no. She taught us some new techniques with paper flowers, which I great & will be used on future pages.

Here's my completed project.

As well as projects they have a template that you can take home to use. I have completed a couple of pages using this template.

A halloween one, this photo has been on my kitchen noticeboard for a year, seeing as I am taking the noticeboard down in preparation for the revamp in the kitchen, thought I would scrap it.

This is my little Sister Liz. I took this photo while we were on her hen party, down in Brighton. She was so relaxed & happy, which was really good to see, as the planning of the wedding has been a little stressful.

Ongoing Project

We went on a family holiday to Florida at the beginning of this year. I told myself that I would scrap a whole album on our holiday as I took loads of photos. It is now October & I am still scrapping! I think that this might be a long term goal.

I did manage to complete a couple of pages this week though :)

This is from a kit that I found in TK Max, not the usual place to find craft stuff you might think. My local store is a great place to rummage around, I have grown quite a large stash from there in the last few months.

The papers below are K&Co. I bought them while I was in America. I am trying to be bolder in my designs & these colours add real warmth, it reminds me of being on the beach in the sunshine.

My practice layout, always good to try before you stick.

I have added my title, not sure if I am totally happy, but I never seem to have the right thing in my stash, so I am trying to learn to make do.

The finished page, again my journalling needs to works but I am still only a wannabe :)

Blog newbie

Today I am wondering if I have done the right thing by starting a blog. Is it just another project that I won't finish or that seemed amazing in my head but on screen is not so great?

This blog is a way of me to document all my projects successful or not. I am hoping that it will spur me on to finish things. I might even learn something.

So here's to the next project & yes I do have something in mind.

A completed project!

Two rolls of double sided sticky tape, three rolls of ribbon, a box of navy, pink & white card, a new ink cartridge & a very patient husband.

Having a go.

I have always dabbled in crafty stuff, I like to think that I get that from my Mum & Dad. I used to make my Cindy dresses from toilet tissue & pinch the left over wool from my Mum's knitting machine to make pom poms. My lovely Mum bought me a quilling set for a birthday & I think that is probably where my love of paper started.

I have attemped many crafty things over the years, cross stitch, quilling, sewing, crochet, cake making & knitting, but the two that have stuck around the longest are card making & scrapbooking. I will have a go at anything, whether it will ever get finished is another thing. I have half knitted scarves, one petal crochet flowers, dolls dresses that are pinned together & had to go to Mum's to be sewed together.

To defend myself I have finished some projects, my daughter has had some pretty good (I like to think) birthday cakes & I did finish the play curtains that made a playhouse under her bed. Most recently I made the stationery for my Little Sister's wedding.