Cardmaking for 2017

I often have a flurry of card making at the start of the year. I can sometimes make enormous batches which seem like more than I would ever use but they always seem to be gone by the end of the year. 

This month I decided to try out some paper crafting materials from Minerva my sponsor. I received a paper card pad by Tilda, some large white blank cards and a couple of good quality gel pens.

I really enjoy making cards. They are an instant creative hit. I have made them for so long now I have absolutely no idea how much it costs to buy a card from the shop! 

The kind of paper crafting I like to do does not involve lots of bought products but a happy mix of recycled and found objects. This one is a combination of layered squares of paper and card with a doodle border. Simple but I like it.

This patchwork design is useful to use up the little strips that get cut off the end of the main piece. I use this method a lot in many different guises. This one is finished with found buttons and another doodle border.

Squares are my thing when I make cards. They seem to always balance well. This one is a good example of the rule of three. Three squares vertically and then three features horizontally. A card for a sewing friend I think...

I love this design too. I sometimes teach it at a craft class because people are amazed how easy it is to do for such a complicated effect. I also like that you only need paper, scissors and glue. You can find a tutorial for it here because it is not my design, it is by Melissa Samuels.

I start to get super creative by the time I am ready to pack away. I try and use up all the bits off the table rather than throwing them all back into the drawer. Can you spot the last little square of the ditsy floral print? Another stitchy themed card.

Here they all are ready to be stored away in my card organiser. 

I have plenty more tilda card and ideas to make many more. I think sometimes people over think cards - you just needs scissors, card pens and glue really.

Do you make cards?

Jo xx

Cards

I don't want to alarm you... I made these cards last February in case you think I have made them recently! The craft section was closing down at our local Garden Centre and I bought up some Victorian ephemera card kits for stupid money.

I was so excited by the kits I made them up straight after I bought them way back in February and then packed them neatly in a box ready for Advent, smarmy I know.

Even the smallest bits made it onto a card towards the end. I hate keeping itty bitty things to clutter the table and never get used so I fell back on my favorite card layout - squares in a square - works for me every time.

I made 46 cards. These are the unopened kits I haven't used yet. Pence people, they were pence...

I will reveal to you now why these kits appealed to me so much in the first place. I collect old postcards. Not any kind but embroidered ones, Victorian 3D ones, especially cards with flowers and feminine model imagery on. They are my favourites. My nan started me off when I was little giving me a stash from our family history and I have added to the album whenever I see more.

This one is my ultimate showstopper. A postcard that lights up when you hold it up to the window. So simple but so incredible. 

Hope you enjoyed a bit of crafting with some history thrown in. 
I just have to actually write in mine now!

Jo xxx

Smelling of roses

My mum says I always come up smelling of roses, I am a positive kind of person. This post is all about roses and is especially for Nicole from My Garden Diaries. She photographed her rose bush from David Austin roses which is only 8 miles from where I live she however lives in the US so I felt a little theme coming on.

I have two David Austin Roses. This one is called Strawberry Hill and has the sweetest fragrance with of course, a hint of strawberry. It is a blousy climber and has grown really well this year.

It is currently covered in little black beetles but they are OK not laying eggs or eating anything just roaming around. With these roses being out a the moment, my mind turned to some rose themed paper crafting. My Auntie had a sort out of her card making stuff and gave me a box of stash with rose inspired bits and pieces included.

Then I made one for my friend who is leaving work.

It made me think about a tea cosy I made a while back so I went to my 'present drawer' and wrapped it up for her using the key ring I made in my last post as a gift tag. The pink roses matched the card perfectly.

My other David Austin Rose is called Raubritter. It has the sweetest, small, ball-shaped flowers in groups and is also a climber but more of a rambling variety. It has grown confidently over four years and mixes well with a blue ceanothus that comes in late May then the roses come next in late June.

 Do you have a favourite rose? 

Thanks for popping by and don't forget to stop and smell the roses.

 1. (idiom) To relax; to take time out of one's busy schedule to enjoy or appreciate the beauty of life.

Tilda Giveaway

We all wish we had more time, right? But sometimes we waste time. I waste endless time waiting for photos to upload to my blog posts or waiting for PDF patterns to print out in their multiple pages etc.

This week I did a little cutting out every time I was sat at the computer 'waiting' for it to do it's thing. It felt very productive.

I then had a selection of beautiful Tilda dolls to choose from every time I was 'waiting'. The two sheets were 10p each in a garden centre craft sale where some stock had been a bit damaged (hence no legs on this one!) 

Every download waiting session, I created a card.

Do you like them?

Would you like to choose one? I will send a blank one for you to use - you can choose by using the greeting message as an indicator when you leave a comment. I will draw a winner on the 20th March. Maybe today, Friday the 13th, will be your lucky day?

Summer is here, Enjoy your day, Hip Hip Hurray, With Love or Someone Special. 

Good Luck Everyone. Jo x

Just a Little Something Everyday

Morning Folks...You may have noticed that my tag line is 'I make something everyday' and indeed I truly do. Sometimes it is a completed project and other days, when parenting and work are my priority, I might just add a few more rows to a cardigan or another square to a blanket. The thing is I just can't go to bed unless I have made something.

Some days I grow something, cook something, fix or mend something, make a card or a present, finish some big project or just make a start on a new one. The key for me is just to enjoy 'making' 'tis what I do best! So here is my little make from February which I did not show before because it was a secret and my bloke reads my blog at lunchtime! 

Just a little something. Jo xxxx

Trash and Treasure

My favourite type of crafting will always be making something out of nothing. I can get real satisfaction from that. Although I must say that having a job over the last four months has made me think a little more about how I use my craft time. It has also brought home the feeling that my frugal crafting of the last five years was fun but it is also great to have a few pounds to spend on good materials. You know what I am pondering; Ying or yang, time or money.

So when I needed to clear my desk to work. I got a bit excited about all the tat on it.

Mostly bits of interesting packaging from my birthday presents that I didn't want to throw in the bin. I made some cards for my card storage box and cleared my desk at the same time all in about an hour.

I like it when trash turns to treasure. I

 did get some lesson plans written, honestly!

Have a happy week whatever you are making. Jo x

Craft cards

My mum follows my blog so thank you for all your kind comments about her knitting expertise, she was thrilled.

I treated myself to a paper craft kit. I had really got down to the paper scraps and the children had been diving in and taking all the good bits!

I bought a kit called 'Sew Lovely' by Do Crafts. This weekend, in little snippets of time, I have enjoyed making cards for my crafty family members: my aunts, my mum, my next door neighbour and crafty friends.

I used the insert picture as inspiration and loved this craft pocket format. I repeated it in various different guises.

Of course, making cards creates scraps so I finished off my weekend of card making with a little card using the bits left on the table.

All stocked up for the ladies, now I need some cards for men - a much trickier affair.

Happy Crafting Jo xxxx

mid week stuff

Who would have thought that so many of you would love a bit of oven glove action! That was a really popular make, thanks for all of your comments. Other makes on the go this week include:

A small collection of homegrown Strawberries and the promise of lots more(I put down organic slug pellets today)

Few fiddly bits of fun crochet to use up left overs. I have a craft stall coming up so it is good to use up stash and not spend money on materials.

 

Making cards for the craft fair too.

Enjoying the monotony of this throw over top. Easy to relax with.

Messing about crocheting with embroidery threads and a 2.5 hook.

Got another Elise shawl started. I take it to the girls ballet lessons on Saturdays, it is my current portable project. 

What are you 'messing' about doing today?

Jo xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx