2014 in Review Part 2....

Hey,

Hope you enjoyed part 1 of my 2014 year in review.

Today I am showing you the second half of the year (with another bonus main photo)..

July

OWH make..I learnt how to mask

Hello Shaker Card....

August

Cards for Card Swap...

Pop-up birthday card for Ma...

September

Stamptember use a stencil card..

October

SSS Challenge entry - Transport...

November

Pinterest Calendar idea..brought to life

Christmas Card for JT

December

Playdate make - heat embossed background..

Monochrome loveliness...

Once again a variety of techniques and styles. Cool to review my own work and I have some notes about things to retry, etc

I've updated my 'Fave Makes' page - there are only 12, so sadly, some of my review faves didn't make the cut.

Cx

2014 in review....

Hey,

So 2014 has been a fun craft year for me.

I managed to learn a few new techniques:
- how to use watercolours
- how to heat emboss
- how to work with texture pastes
- how to stencil PROPERLY

There are a few more, but those felt like the most important and 'craft life changing' .

Generally I have improved my card making and craft output overall. I have also tackled a lot more heavy duty sewing projects...remember the queen sized quilt!

I have had a lot of fun learning and trying new things and remembering to not be scared of the odd oops moment!

2014 was also the year that I set myself the heady goal of posting 200 times..no mean feat. I actually posted 251 times in the end! A lot of work went into achieving this and I am so pleased with myself for keeping up the momentum.

In part because of the frequency of my posting, I made a lot of new craft / blogland friends, which is really lovely and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

I wanted to share my fave makes of 2014 - so here is the first 6 months (and a bonus main photo) and I'll share the next 6 months tomorrow.

January 2014

Silhouette Pinwheels and Bows

February 2014

One of the x2 Queen Quilts I made

March 2014

Mother's Day card for my Ma - which I recreated for sale over 30 times....

April 2014

Watercoloured word

May 2014

ATC's for the WOYWW 5th Anniversary Swap

OWH cards, made from scraps

June 2014

SSS Challenge entry - stencil and texture paste

Side view, so you can see the paste

It was so much fun to review 2014 like this - it made me realise how much I have made and how far I have come! If you have a blog, you should totally do this!

2014 would have been even better if I had, had my beloved JT with me - but Skype playdates have been a lot of fun too.

See you tomorrow for the second half..

Cx

WOYWW #241...Making it yourself!

Happy WOYWW everyone!!

This is my last day of freedom before I go back to work - boo! I have had such fun!

But before we get on to that, let's talk about WOYWW...hosted by the lovely Julia over at Stamping Ground, you can find out more about the weekly desk nose if you go over to her blog.

So I've been busy during my week off, I have been sewing, popped to Atlantic City for one night of madness, made some cards and made the beauty you see on my desk this week! My parents kindly sent me LOTS of new shiny Promarkers for Christmas and I need more storage than what I have. I looked around for something ready made but the $60 - $70 dollars to fit them all made my eyes water.

Then I saw this idea on Pinterest -

Cue x2 trips to Target for $1 pen pots and a rifle through my stuff to find the hot glue gun and voila! Promarker storage....
Best bit about it is that I got to choose how wide / high I make it and if I need more space, well I just buy more pots and glue them on! It cost me $25 to make and about 45 minutes. I did have a more uniform design in mind, but I got carried away after the first trip and had to glue what I'd found together..hence the random pattern, but I love it, as it's unique and mine.

On my travels I also stumbled across this set of lovely notecards ($4 for 12) in TJMaxx and I couldn't resist them, I am about to modify one of the innards to use as a Thank You card.

Notecards

Today I am going to continue sewing together my quilts, I am aiming to have both tops complete by next week (ambitious or stupid?)

Cx

WOYWW 195 - Thank You bloggers...

As usual, I can't believe a week has passed and its Wednesday already?! Time to pop along and join Julia at Stamping Ground for the weekly desk nose.

I am heading back to work next week it seems (already?!) and I felt it was appropriate that I thank Julia for WOYWW. Why? I hear you ask...well the blogging craft community has kept me and my little blog company for the last month or so and I've made some new virtual friends (Alison, Ria, Sandee, Darnell to name a few) they have provided tips, feedback and affirmation that I am not mad (hmm, well not fully).

So thank you to everyone that visits my blog on a regular basis and not just on a Weds.

Back to business before we get all weepy..my desk is exactly as I left it last night.

What can you see?

At the front and centre is a nearly finished card (needs to have the button stuck down), to the left of the card is the rejected Candi from the main card..they sparked an idea and I quickly laid it out before going to bed, so I didn't forget :) to the right is the next card waiting to be made - in the same layout as the main card. I keep the 'sister' card makings nearby, so I can change it up as I am making the first card...is that weird?! It makes sense to me, as I make 2 of everything. Right at the back on the right you can just see my WIP Mother's Day card. My watch seems to be there - I am assuming I got frustrated at having it on and took it off?! My glasses, a trusty pencil, some birthday sentiments and the usual bits and bobs lying around. You can also see a very small part of my well organised collection of flowers (there are more, many, many more..)

So as I've given you a small glimpse of it, here is  the card I finally settled on for my Ma, it's not finished yet it's a WIP, but I thought I'd share it, as you can see it on my desk..

I like it, I had to return JT's butterfly punch, but will be borrowing it again following our Saturday playdate. It might be time to invest in the same one.

Anyway Happy WOYWW, I'm off to have a nose about, before spending the rest of the day getting Mother's Day ready to upload to the website.

Cx

New ideas

Hello! We have been having a wonderfully sunny week here in London, which makes me all cheery and positive, as I get to wear all my new summer gear!

I've been experimenting with new ideas and thought I'd share them with you. I have also been naughty and purchased a few new tools and bits and bobs, which I wanted to play with, but I also thought it would be fun to try some new things.

Today's main picture is based on a Pinterest idea I saw and I thought it would be a great use of scraps, of the new candle stamp and the new tags / labels. I'm pleased with the colour contrast, I think it works well, I don't normally work with orange, as I think it can be a bit in your face. I'll be making more of these and this one is winging it's way to a customer in a batch of samples.

The card below came about because I was playing the new Martha Stewart punch that JT bought me and I saw an idea in a card magazine this month using a similar punch and a bird. Using the Stampin' Up bird builder punch always makes me happy and I like the vintage feel of this card.It will be going in my personal stash, I might make more for sale, but I am undecided about that right now.

The next two cards were made because I wanted to try out my new flowerpot die (which I am not sure if I like it or not yet!). It's a good way to use my millions of flowers, but the pots are really not doing it for me - what do you think? These are going to be a gift for a friend, as I think she might like them more than I do!

It gets difficult to keep the card making fresh, so I am pleased I've found a few new things to add to my repertoire.

Cx

Making to give..part 1

I love making things that are going to be given to friends / family as gifts, it means I take extra special care, use my favourite things and dig out parts of my stash that I have been saving as 'special' - why do we crafter's do that? I guess it's a bit like saving shoes for 'best'?

As well as trying out new things this weekend, I also started making some things to give to friends / family - for no particular reason. I am just hooking up with lots of people I haven't seen in a while and I like to give gifts, even more than I like receiving them. Also the bonus of handmaking stuff for people is no matter how much they hate it, they don't have the heart to tell you :)

First up is today's main picture, which is of a set of 6 cards, that I made for my friend Lucy (not my Sister-in-Law). She quite likes earthy tones and so I wanted to make something for her that reflected that. When I was re-arranging the craft room, I stumbled upon a box of embellishments that I had bought about 5 years ago when I started crafting! I love them, but they have always been difficult to work with.

I decided that what the embellishments needed was a bit of a fussy background which I felt would tone them down a bit. I used my Martha Stewart punch around the page loopy border set and some over elaborate V&A papers and I think the results are simple but impressive. Below are a few more photos for you.

Tomorrow, I'll be posting part 2 of my making to give activities - using an old favourite - the Martha Stewart Crab punch - yay!

Cx