Snow Day

It's been a long winter, and this page reminds me of the start of it.

We had rare heavy snow back in early December that led to a couple of Snow Days off school.

The papers are by Basic Grey and Snow and Cocoa by Crate paper.  I like the pink and blue together for a snowy page. 

I found an old Martha Stewart snowflake punch to make embellishments, along with a few irridescent sequins.  Wonder if winter is over, now we are in March.

Happy New Year!

A set of 3x4" pockets for my New Year's Day page, but only one photo.

We had brunch after a long lie in, I used the rest of the page for the journalling and date.

The 'hello' die is by Pete Hughes for Sizzix; I used a gold striped card inside another pocket and added striped Thickers on the outside for a change.

Just 5 days to go!

Yankee Candles

Every year, Yankee candles bring out a new range of Christmas candles.  I love the beginning of December when I can bring out the candles and light them, filling the house with festive smells.

Thickers for the title and date, and sword strips embellish the page, along with a cute gingerbread man and bauble die cut.

Sizzix New Home Card

I know I'm getting old...a former colleague of mine has five children, her eldest is just a little older than my Hannah and we first met her when she was around 8 years old. Now she has joined the property owning masses!

She invited us to a housewarming party for a lovely flat she bought in the city, so I made her a special card as a gift (along with a bottle or two!)  The card is a clean and simple design.  The background is stamped with Altenew splats in the lightest of shades.  I die cut a cross-stitched circle, and my Sizzix elements from the My Life: Home set.  I backed the house with blue card, and added die cut house, trees and sentiment to the circle.

April already, the year seems to be flying by!

A Kitchen Tour

You may recall that last Autumn I stopped posting here for a couple of months as I was not crafting.  This hiatus was because all of my stash had been packed away for the refurbishment of our kitchen.  This mammoth job was completed just before Christmas (just in time!) but as I have been posting my journal, I had not had time to show you the new room.

I foolishly took few photos before we began, but here is one (above) just after starting ;

and one of Harry and Kev taking up the old floor...that job was a nightmare as we not only removed the kitchen floor, but the utility and downstairs loo, so the flooring is now the same throughout.

So to the finished kitchen...We did keep most of our large electrical items (fridge, cooker and dishwasher) as they matched the new room and were still in good working order. This wine rack that supports the cupboard on top of the fridge freezer has been popular with visitors!

Our wonderful kitchen fitters recommended a reasonably priced granite company, so we fitted worktops, a window sill and the cooker splash-back in granite.  We chose a microwave fitted into cupboards as one of the things that annoyed me about my old kitchen was the lack of worktop space..now we have more room to prepare food,  cook, dish up and unload the shopping.

The gap between the main part of the kitchen and the dining/crafting area is a little narrower than before, but it did allow us to fit in more cupboards.

Most of these are filled with my crafty stash...before, it was all visible making the dining area look really untidy; now there is a space for everything.

 One of the tall cupboards has space for our china set and some larger plates and platters, the rest are filled with crafty stash.

We have retained our old welsh dresser and pine table, both over 25 years old now as we bought them (or they were gifts) early in our marriage.

 I chose a wood-look Amtico style floor to go with the kitchen and our old furniture, it is wonderfully warm underfoot and was beautifully laid by another contact of our kitchen fitter.

Most of the kitchen is neutral in colour, this was a deliberate choice as we can change it up by simply altering accessories and the wallpaper.

I chose a cheery mustard and grey to give a hit of colour to the space, love the wallpaper that Kev chose (from a shortlist given to him by me!!) to go just in the dining area.  It looks especially nice with these daffodils.

...and the inspiration for my choice of colours?  This set of 3 storage pots I had picked up from Aldi a while back.

I will try to post later in the month about how I have organised my crafty stash... it took a while to organise it all, but I can now find most of it!

A hand made gift

My lovely mother in law made me a patchwork table runner for our very long table in the dining room a couple of years ago. Being a little contrary, I decided to change the decor in there this year, so the old table runner no longer matched too well.

Luckily, Kathleen didn't feel put out; instead she collected some pieces of suitable cotton to patch together a new runner.  (The fabric came from my another family member running a fabric business in France; always good to keep it in the family!)

The new runner is so beautiful I made a card to thank Kathleen.  Hope she likes it.

And for those worrying that I am being wasteful with a hand made item it will reappear during the festive season as the runner will go perfectly with our Christmas tree!

Loving William Morris

This spring, we spent time decorating our dining room, and I chose a lovely charcoal and gold William Morris paper, along with a new stone rug for the floor (also with a William Morris design.)
The rug was not in stock when I ordered it, and I was warned that I might have to wait until April for it to arrive.

 I loved it so much that I thought that I thought the wait worthwhile, so I was delighted when it arrived on the 24th of March; just in time for Easter. Sadly, on Good Friday as I opened the rug up to complete the room, I discovered a large tear in the underside, so it will have to be replaced. My photo below shows the finished room but with my old rug.

 I hope the replacement doesn't take 6 weeks to come as the original did.

Oddly enough, as I was online on the 24th I discovered (thanks to Google) that it is the anniversary of Morris's birth.

 I wonder if Morris realised that his designs would still be popular 182 years after his birth.

Easter bags

I spent Sunday at the NEC with Hannah looking at the spring craft shows and taking part in a few classes.  We attended a Tonic class where we both made really cute little Kensington handbags using Tonic dies.

I was pleased that the background to mine was in orange as my lounge is retro-decorated in cream and orange wallpapers, so the little bag looked perfect on the windowsill.

Earlier in the day, we signed up for a \Fiskars class, and used punches and stamps to make another little bag, this time with an Easter theme.

Although the class was identical, we both ended up with slight differences to our bags. I'm really pleased with mine, and it goes well with the other Easter decorations I have.

I Am...

...Creative.

Remember this post? I loved my little milk bottle crates so much, I thought they deserved a page to themselves!

Papers are Simple Stories 'I Am' (hence the title), enamel dots are faux dots made using Tonic self levelling Nuvo Crystal Drops.

The doily is gold foiled after die cutting using a Minc machine, ideal to go with the foiling on the papers.

Vintage Milk Bottles

At the end of the summer holidays I went out for afternoon tea with Hannah, and the pub we visited served the milk in the cutest 1/3 pint milk bottle; the ones we used to get our school milk in (until Maggie took it away). I loved them so much that I determined to have a few at home.

 Onto eBay and I picked up 8 vintage bottles for a bargain price. As Kev is very handy I convinced him to make two little made-to-measure crates for my bottles.

I then finished them off using paper straws, drink me stickers (both picked up at Primark would you believe!) and a bit of stamping.

I love them on my kitchen windowsill.

Home decor decoupage.

Decoupage means to cut out. I decided to make use of this old craft to decorate a set of drawers I use as a jewellery box using things cut out from the wallpaper that has been newly hung in my bedroom.

The drawers are old ones from Ikea, I painted over the previous design in eggshell paint.

Once this was dry, I cut images from the wallpaper, they curled a little, so I flattened them in a heavy book.

I then used wallpaper paste to stick them to the drawers, cutting the bird in places so it would stretch over the front  of  the  drawers but still allow me to open them.

A coat of satin varnish to make sure the papers will be hard-wearing enough, job done.

Garden photos

On such a miserable July day when it has rained from ten until tea time I had a look back through some of the photos I took of the garden earlier in the month, you remember?  When it was really hot and we didn't stop moaning?!

 First of all, we have had an amazing gooseberry harvest this year, not done anything with these yet, they are in the freezer.

This is a little rose that came from my Grandma's garden.  It can be a little temperamental, some years it flowers, others not, but this year it has been worth the wait as the blooms are gorgeous.

So pretty, even the cat likes them!

And finally, the hanging baskets.  Spring was cold and dull, so I didn't feel like planting them, but looking at how they turned out I am so glad I did!

When I look back at a page with these photos on in the dead of winter, they are certain to cheer me up.

A Milestone

My eldest  daughter, who graduated with a science degree two years ago, has finally secured a permanent job in her field of choice, environmental work. Just over week ago, she and her boyfriend moved to a little rented  house in Birmingham and she is so excited about it.  Both families helped them move, it really did remind me of when we had our first house. Only difference being, we could buy and they are having to rent.

The lack of affordable housing for young people in this country is a total scandal, as is the fact that it is so difficult to get a mortgage that when a low cost house comes onto the market, it is hoovered up by a private landlord who can charge whatever rent he or she likes. Hannah is paying more in rent per month than we do for our mortgage, and this takes into account the remortgage we took out for an extension.

Hopefully it won't  take them too long to save a deposit for a house, but as rents as very high ( in comparison to mortgages) it is a great burden to many young couples just setting out.
I made them a card (which is sitting on the mantelpiece Hànnah tells me) to celebrate their new home.
And it is very odd (and a bit sad) going into her old bedroom, to find that this time, everything has gone with her. She really has moved out.

Good intentions...

So far have led to nothing when it comes to sorting out the house, although I have done a bit of gardening, and some scrapbooking, so it's not all bad.

Harry is busy this week in school most days as the teachers are running revision classes, meaning I have to get up early to drop him off, so maybe tomorrow I will get some sorting out done.

Some scrapbooking to share: this month's challenge on UKS is weather related, so I made a page using a pair of photos that have been floating around in my 'to scrap' pile for ages; so long in fact, I can't remember when I took them!

The papers are from the £2.99 TKMaxx set bought last week, and the title is die cut with a Sizzlit die I have had for an age! Simple page, but the photos are no longer in the pile.

Time for a Blitz

Half term is here, and as we will be staying at home I am going to use the opportunity to sort both my crafty stash, and my bedroom.
I ordered two sets of shelves for my 12x12 papers today and was pleased to find they were reduced by 10%! Kev was going to make me a set, but when he looked at the price of these, he said he couldn't get the timber for the price, so just to order them.

 These are similar to the set I ordered, but are far less to buy, and made in the UK. My thinking about getting them is that if I can see my papers i will use them (and maybe stop buying more...!) The drawers can also be decorated-if I have time- to look amazing.  More stash being used sounds good to me.

Second on the list for the holiday is to sort our bedroom and clear a lot of clothes/shoes etc, ready for decorating in the summer. Maybe if I empty my wardrobe I will be able to put away some of the things I am currently having to store under the bed!

 Think I will be busy next week.

Flowers

..for Valentine's Day?

Maybe, this page was about the everyday things I like, and I chose the fresh flowers I love to have in the house every week.
The page appeared in Docrafts Creativity January edition, I used the Capsule Jewel selection of papers.