Easter Swap

On a parenting site that I visit most days, we have an Arts & Craft forum. Several of us have signed up to do an Easter swap. This got me all excited about Easter, although it is a subject I usually avoid. I find chicks a bit twee! Anyway, I decided to try and make a hanging decoration in the shape of an Easter egg, and here is the result...

It was very quick to make, which I hope is not too obvious! I seem to be moving in the whole 'hanging decoration' direction, but I will go with it for a while and see what develops. I find that felt works really well in my Sizzix machine, and you might be able to tell that I love flowers!

Ongoing...

I am currently making another cat cross-stitch (from the same book as my sister's) for my Mum, for Mother's Day. It should hopefully look like her torty and white cat, Holly. I also made another heart for a friend's baby, but my camera has gone kaput, so no pictures for the time being. Mark is luckily such a techno-geek that he has already been googling for the best bargains, so I should not be picture-free for long!


There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day for work, family and crafting. My family are missing me .

Hanging Heart Decorations

Making the baubles recently made me fancy trying something similar with felt. I haven't worked with felt before, but found it a really nice medium to work with - simple to stitch and easy to cut. The results are here...

I decided to give the red one to my sister as a little extra birthday present. She seemed to like it, and also the cat cross-stitch picture. The red one is stuffed with a cotton wool ball, but the blue and white one is just flat. They are not really intended as baubles, but I do have more red and some dark green, so might get my holly Sizzix die out and have a go at something slightly more festive - well, at some point. I am all Christmassed out at the moment!

Oops - Spent Again...

I treated myself to some new Sizzix stuff today - a small alphabet, 4 Sizzlet flowers and a Thin Cuts present. Oops! Oh well, at least I put about 5 other items back on the shelves! I have already made a card this morning, but I am not totally happy with it. It needs some tweaking...or I might give it to my husband for Valentine's Day!!! Well, a crafter can't waste a perfectly good card now can she?

Another Christmas Bauble...

I thought of this design while doing the tartan heart baubles a couple of weeks ago. I think it will look lovely on a Christmas tree. It is backed with red and white gingham, which gives it a festive look. I almost can't wait for NEXT Christmas now!

This is a picture of the lovely bracelets that http://meridianariel.blogspot.com/ (Meridian Ariel) made me - One is for my mum for a present and I am currently wearing the other one! The quality of the work is excellent and I would recommend her to anyone.

Another example of a card I made a while ago...

I have a commission from a school-mum/friend - she wants a large birthday card for her friend. I am currently mulling ideas over, and have the weekend to make it as Max is going to Mum & Dad's for the night. Mark and I are hopefully going to the cinema, but that doesn't mean that crafting won't happen!

Always time to make a card...

An example of a card made for a friend's birthday, about three years ago. I thought I had better post some cards - seeing as the name of my blog implies that I am mainly a card maker!

Here are a couple of photos of the final birthday picture for my sister. I am really pleased with it as I deviated from the original chart in quite a few ways, and the result is a lot like my sister's cat. Hopefully she will like it, and will appreciate the effort involved! The frame was a bargian from T K Maxx at £4.99. I think it is really funky too...

Birthday present for sister

At the moment I am making a cross-stitch picture for my sister. It is of a cartoon cat which happens to look a lot like her real cat, Fizz. My sister and I don't normally give presents to each other, but I have to get rid of all the stitching I am doing somehow!

The card-making has been a bit neglected recently - I seem to be addicted to sewing at the moment. I did make a commission two weeks ago but forgot to take a picture of it! The person who ordered it seemed very happy with it though...

So, here are the baubles I made from a pattern in a cross-stich magazine...

I am not as impressed as I hoped with them, but I have got some ideas on some other designs to make Xmas tree decorations, so it is not a complete loss! They will look fairly nice on a tree too, they are just not what I was hoping.

And then here is my first Valentine card of the year. It is not a very clear photgraph but the letters spell 'me' and 'you'. It looks better in real life...

A present for a friend's daughter

This is a cross-stitch of 'Hello Kitty' that I did from a magazine. I thought it might look nice made into a picture, with the name of the recipient stamped on the border.

Thank you cards for the family

Well, Max did get some very generous presents this year. So, I thought a little effort on the cards was in order! I used my 'Lily Kate' and 'Blush' papers from Basic Grey. They are FAB! Plus, I had two cut and emboss dies from Sizzix, which I am also in love with. It is always amazing to me how new craft stuff is so inspiring. There are some really talented designers out there and it really humbles me. My only talent is in using their work, but I do like to think I have an eye for colour at least...

I feel like a child in a chocolate shop!

Today, I received two parcels of cross-stitch things that I ordered. I had seen a shop on ebay where I could get 100 DMC skeins for £22.99 with only £2 postage. This saved me approximately 50p per skein, and I asked the seller to select me a range of colours. Imagine how much fun I had sorting through them! I know I'm a saddo! The site was 'Westbbc' on ebay. Delivery was very quick.

I also ordered two kits from www.superstitcher.co.uk The prices were really cheap and the service was excellent. Delivery was well within a week, which I though was excellent, considering that I ordered on the Sunday before New Year!

So, now I have more than enough to keep me going for the next few months - will that stop me ordering more? Well, as a crafter, I think it is unlikely!

And finally for today, a picture of a cushion I made for the nursery of a very close friend's baby. I designed the centre in cross-stitch, and then made the cushion around it. My friend seemed delighted with it.

Here is a cross-stitch card that my dad asked me to make for my mum. He always asks me to make cards for her, and gets the bonus of not being charged - family rates!!!

This is a cross-stitch that I did for a friend.

This is a cross stitch that I designed on some software, from a sepia photo of my grandmother. I sewed it in 3 months, for my mum's birthday, as a surprise. It took 90 hours of stitching but was worth it as it gets lots of praise and my mum loves it.

This is a photo of a scrapbook picture I made Max. It was my first (and nearly last) attempt at scrap-booking...I loved the result but didn't take to the craft as much as sewing, cross-stitch and card-making.

Here is a picture of some curtains and a blind I made for my son's room. Both were made in a Soft Furnishing course I took at the local college. I was lucky enough to have Amanda Walker (a published designer and very talented lady!) as my tutor. The course was fantastic and I made a lot of friends with similar craft hobbies.

Having totally stuffed my lounge with cushions, I felt confident enough to make more challenging items. I intend to make Max a duvet set in the same fabrics eventually but that has taken a back seat for now!

New Year, New Blog

So, it is 2008 and I thought I should fit in with the blogging community. I am not sure exactly what to do but hope to learn! I have managed to load some recent photos, so let's see what happens...

Here is a link to a site that I found really quick and reliable recently http://www.cuttingedgecrafts.co.uk/cart.php I really recommend them.