Wednesday Words

Two cards, two challenges and two posts today.

First up is my entry for Less Is More. This week it's a sketch and my card is a very literal interpretation. No prizes for guessing the colour scheme!

I used a cuttlebug die to cut the circular ring and then cut a second set in white and embossed the centre circle. I stamped the leaves on the base card before adding my current favourite flowers on foam squares for dimension. A simple sentiment just to finish it off.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Pretty Petals Plus, leaves from Design A Tree

Inks: Memento, grape jelly, rose bud, pear tart

Die: Cuttlebug circles; Clearly Besotted, Pretty Petals Plus

Embossing: Xcut quilting

Embellishments:Kuretake, Wink of Stella clear

Scroll on down for my second post.

Wednesday Words 2

Next card for today uses Sketch Saturday's new sketch.

I love this sketch and went straight to my washi tape box to create the vertical blocks.  Then out came the large sentiment from Uniko Studio and a few sprinkles and my card was done. Such a simple card to make but I find it so satisfyingly striking I know I'll make it again in different colour combos.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, All Occasion Sentiments #1

Inks: Memento, grape jelly

Washi tape from my stash

Embellishments:doodlebug sprinkles, cupcake assortment
Punch: ek success, bracket border punch

Thank you for dropping by today.

Jane

 *** 

Tuesday Talk

Time for a scrapbook page today. I used the layout from the current challenge at Unscripted Sketches - one of my favourite places to play - and some photos from when my boys were 11, 9 & 6 years old.

These photos jumped out at me when I was browsing through my albums - well if I'm honest really a shoebox full of pics.  Something about the vivid flourescent colours the boys were wearing coupled with the image of them posing theatrically in the stocks that just caught my eye.

So the photo packet was labelled 1990, but absolutely no clue as to where.  I could remember stopping to buy drinks at the village shop, I imagine much whingeing because it was a hot day, but no way could I place the village.  Google let me down too. Then, would you believe it my oldest remembered the day and that we'd been to see a watermill and that solved the problem.  This time google came up trumps and confirmed the location.

Learn from my experience - label your photos, so easy nowadays with everything stored and dated digitally to forget to note where a photo was taken.

Supplies:
Paper: Collage Press, Grayson Hall; plus scraps from my stash
Stamps: Technique Tuesday, Life in Pictures & Summer Rocks by Ali Edwards
Ink: StazOn, Jet Black
Embellishments: Stickers & banner from my stash

Did I say Unscripted Sketches was a favourite place to play? Well here's a WOW - I've just been asked to guest design for them in May.  So it's looking very exciting for me next month, can't wait!!!!

Your visit today is greatly appreciated, hope you'll come back another day!

Jane
 *** 

Monday Moments

Only one week to go and then the first challenge at Triple A Cards will be launched.  Victoria has been working so hard getting everything ready and sourcing sponsors for future games.

Everyone who plays along with the first challenge will get freebie digital images of a sunflower - so what's not to like about that! Go check out the blog to see what's on offer. I'm super excited and so looking forward to seeing my first ever DT card on show.

So this weekend I've been busy crafting and have made a few cards to share this week.  Today's card is for the new challenge at Time Out - CASE with your own twist. And what a brilliant card to CASE, such wonderfully vibrant colours that just grab your eyes and have you mesmerised.

For my card I've picked up on the colours, the patterned paper, the twine, the single flower and the button.  For my twist I've rotated the layout and made a stack of circular layers to place my feature flower, which of course just had to be one of Uniko Studio's Beautiful Blooms. This was such a rewarding card to make as it used so many dies which sometimes get a bit neglected in my stash.

Here's my card:

And the card from Time Out:

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, Beautiful Blooms 1; Clearly Besotted, Say It In Style

Inks: SU, calypso coral; Memento, teal zeal

Dies: Xcut, spiro circle; Uniko Studio, Graphic Flowers Time; Spellbinders, standard circles small

Paper: Paper Cellar, Floral 2; Bazzill Basics cardstock

Embellishments: twine & button from my stash

Thanks for all your lovely comments about previous posts. I'm happy that you found time to drop by  and look at my blog today.

Jane

 ***

Friday Focus

Two cards to share today before the weekend arrives.

Just brilliant colours at Color Q this week - so yes of course that means it includes purple!

I combined these colours with the layout from Freshly Made Sketches and made this card:

First I masked off the background circle and used my inkylicious dusters to randomly shade it in. Then I cut and pricked the kraft banner.

For the square I used an embossing folder, again randomly inked and pressed the pattern onto the card by hand.  I then stamped over the lattice pattern with the sentiment and tiny butterflies before mounting it onto pads to give dimension.

Finally I added some Wink of Stella clear sparkle to the butterflies.  This is my new toy and I love the delicate touch of sparkle this brush gives and its ability to be applied with such precision - just a shame it doesn't really show up on photographs.

Supplies:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Good Times & Say It In Style
Inks: Memento, dandelion, grape jelly, bamboo leaves
Embossing: Xcut quilting folder
Embellishments: Kuretake, Wink of Stella clear

Focus 2

My next card has more dreamy colours - in my opinion - so yes again purple is in there! I used the layout from CAS Colours & Sketches, the colours from Colour Throwdown and those new vine background stamps I mentioned here from Uniko Studio.

 

I'm just loving this set of stamps and the way different combinations of them produce so many new images, not to mention the prettiest of pretty colours in this combo, the amazing stitched dies from Lil'inker and the precision of the Wink of Stella sparkle brush.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko Studio, Background Builders Vines; Inkylicious, Twinchies sentiment
Inks: Memento, sweet plum, angel pink; Adirondack, meadow
Paper: Bazzill Basics cardstock
Die: Lil' inker, stitched mats, rectangles
Embellishments: Kuretake, Wink of Stella, clear

Well that's me finished for today, thanks so much for looking.  Best wishes for a great, and maybe crafty, weekend. 

Jane
 ***

Wednesday Words

A gloomy rainy day yesterday - just perfect for crafting! So here's what I got up to.....

First I made a scrap book page using the new sketch from The Memory Nest.  It looks a little busy at first glance, but the DT have made some amazing pages which really helped me to focus down on the elements I wanted to include - be sure to check them out!

I also planned to make a page for Shimelle's weekly challenge, but quickly realised I could combine the two quite easily as her theme is to use a subtly patterned background paper.

So I remembered this photo of me and my boys looking all squeaky clean and dressed in our best for my husband's niece's wedding.  This seemed to fit the one of the phrases quite nicely from The Memory Nest's twist.

Of course I had to include some stamping and managed to not only use my go to journalling block stamps, but also some circles and hearts from Uniko Studio. I liked the clean understated look of this page so I just finished it off with a few triangles of nailheads to help the eye travel over the page.

 

Supplies:

Paper: Kaisercraft, Up Up & Away collection; doodlebug, kraft in color

Stamps: Collage Press, Tell Your Story; Uniko Studio, Round In Circles & Flower Power #3 ; Inkylicious Twinches sentiment

Inks: Memento, Espresso Truffle, Summer Sky

Alphas: ep, tis the season & country drive

Embellishments: Mark Richards, nailheads

The next few hours were spent making my patchwork square for this month's Sugar Block Club.  The personal challenge this month was to be present and think about how you use your mobile phone.  

Now me, I love my mobile phone.  It's become my best friend.  I use it to take photos, to share photos, to plan my time, to check emails, to keep in touch, to play games, to write lists, to help me remember birthdays, anniversaries & appointments, to share quotes and inspirational sayings - the list is endless.  

But having said all this I am very aware of not using it when I should be giving someone my undivided attention.  If they're busy watching tv or reading or working, then I think it's ok to get my phone out. But apart from a quick check if it rings - my dad uses it to contact me when he needs help - I'm sure, I hope this is correct, I never ignore who I'm with.

So that made me think.  And become more aware.  And more present! 

Here's my presence block:

 

And here are all the four blocks I've completed so far:

Thanks for spending your time looking at my blog today.

Jane

 ***

More Talk

A bit of an extra late post for today to share a card for CAS Colours & Sketches.

I have to say when I first saw their colour choices for this challenge I panicked. Something to do with only having one grey ink pad I think.  But when I'd mulled it over a bit I realised one colour was black and I could create a grey by a second stamping, so that gave me the three colours.

I always admire cards and images in monochromatic colours - they always look so classy and ageless. And this is what I came up with:

 

 

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko Studio, Background Builders Vines; Clearly Besotted, Say It In Style
Inks: Memento, tuxedo black, London fog
Die: Clearly Besotted, Tag Along
Embellishments: Ppaermania, adhesive pearls; washi tape from my stash

And YAY!! When I was over at CAS Colours & Sketches to copy their link for this post I spotted they've kindly chosen my entry for last week's challenge as one of their top three - Thank you so much!
 
Thanks for looking at my extra post today - much appreciated.

Jane
 *** 

Tuesday Talk

I'm still experimenting with the combination of the colours purple and red - really think they clash quite strikingly. Today I'm using them for a card using the Unscripted Sketches layout for this week.

First I rotated the sketch and added a strip of patterned paper to the bottom of a rectangle of white card. Then I tied the twine round to help me get an idea of the proportions.

I stamped the stems and leaves of the tulips next, then stamped and die cut the flower heads - check out this tutorial for a brilliant way to line up a stamped image with a die.

I used my new Stampin Up ink pad for the flower heads - quite amazing how much better the ink coverage is with this pad, will definitely be investing in some more colours soon.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Pretty Petals Plus

Inks: Memento, grape jelly, cottage ivy; SU, Calypso Coral

Die: Clearly Besotted, Pretty Petals Plus

Paper: doodlebug, kraft in color

Twine from my stash 

Thank you for taking the time to drop by today, I do appreciate it.

Jane

 ***

Monday Moment

My focus for today is the new challenge at Less is More - something that makes you smile.

So my first thought was purple - no surprise there! Then I remembered a dress I had seen that had red flowers on a purple background and what a stunning colour combination it was. And that was where I began.

Sometime later - totally lost track of the time - three cards were made and I was definitely smiling.

First of all I made this card which made me smile because I love this bicycle and the idea of flowers floating out of the basket and of course the colours are purple and red.

Then I made this card which includes butterflies - they always make me smile when they appear with the sunshine in my garden. And I just love the curly letters in the sentiment.

Lastly I made this card with a stamp of a very contented and smug looking cat - his smile makes me smile.

An entire afternoon completely lost playing in my craft room using lots of favourites things. So what's not to smile about?

Supplies:
Card 1:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Good Times & Design A Tree
Inks: Memento, lady bug, grape jelly
Washi tape from my stash
Card 2:
Stamps: SU, Papillon Potpourri; Uniko Studio, All Occasion Sentiments #3
Inks: Memento, grape jelly
Die: SU butterfly
Embellishments: Mei Flower gems & washi tape from my stash
Card 3:
Stamps: Penny Black, Purrfect Day
Inks: Memento, tuxedo black
Promarkers: violet, marsh green, meadow green, crimson
Washi tape from my stash

So now to pick which card to enter for the challenge ...

Thanks for dropping by today.

Jane
 ***  

Saturday Scribbles

So how's your Easter been so far?  I'm still trying to catch up with posting all the cards I made last week before settling down to some more crafty time with today's new challenge releases.

Oh and talking about new releases have you discovered this new challenge blog yet? Triple A Cards is a brand new clean and simple challenge blog with prizes to be won.  Its first game is on Monday 5th May and I might just be mentioning it quite a lot from now on BECAUSE.....

I've been asked to be part of the Design Team - how absolutely AMAZING is that!!!

                                                                                              .....it's still sinking in, but I'm THRILLED!

Time to put my feet back down on the ground and share today's card.  I used the stunningly simple layout from Freshly Made Sketches and the summery colours from ColorQ.  I'm loving the contrast of the orange and yellow with the turquoise.

   

Supplies:

Stamps: Uniko Studio, Beautiful Blooms 1 & sentiment fromFlower Power 1 

Inks: Memento, dandelion, tangelo, London fog

Die: Clearly Besotted, Tag along

Paper: doodlebug, take note

Embellishments: doodlebug sprinkles, bumblebee assortment; white hemp

 Thank you for looking today.  Enjoy your long weekend and maybe it won't rain here in the UK after all!

Jane

 ***

Friday Focus

I'm having a busy crafting week and can't believe I've posted every day! And found time for a lovely lunch with ex-workmates too!

Well today I've a card and a scrapbook page to share.

I'll start with the card.  The new challenge at The Male Room is a card which includes man's best friend/pet.  So that sent me straight to my LOTV stamps and I chose this one with the guitar - a much used favourite.

I stitched round the bottom and right hand side of the background card to add texture and used sprinkles to draw your eye towards the sentiment and image.

Sorry about the picture quality, a bit gloomy round here today.

Supplies:
Stamp: LOTV
Inks: Memento, tuxedo black, London fog
Promarkers: buttercup, tulip yellow, mustard, caramel, terracotta, cocoa, coll grey 1, 4, & 5, tea green
Flexmarkers: cobalt blue, cloud blue
Embellishments: doodlebug sprinkles, blue jean assortment

Focus 2

Now the turn of my scrapbook page.

I loved Melody's page, a DT member at Color Throwdown, so much I knew immediately I wanted to make a page and use a black and white photo for this week's challenge.  So I looked through my old photos and found this one of me at primary school way back when ....

I had such fun stamping and using pinks and adding butterflies, pearls and twisty twine for this nostalgic feminine page. I was really pleased with how it turned out. Hope you like it too.

What do you think of the hairdo?  My mum used to cut it herself, using a pudding basin by the look of it, and usually not particularly straight.  But it is just so typical of that era and I seem to remember multiple plastic hair slides too.

Supplies: 
Paper: SU, background paper; Collage Press, Margot; Craft Creations, grey weave + scraps from my stash
Stamps: SU, Papillon Potpourri; Paula Pascal, journalling spots, Technique Tuesday, Life in Pictures by Ali Edwards; Kaisercraft, Botanical
Inks: Memento, London fog, bamboo leaves
Die: Clearly Besotted, Tag Along
Punch: SU, butterfly
Alphas: Websters Storytellers & Bella BLVD Sophisticates
Embellishments: twine & pearls from my stash

Thanks for looking and hope today is a good start to the Easter weekend for you.

Jane
 ***

Thursday Thoughts

So who can guess which brand of stamps I'm using today? If you've been following my blog you'll know, but for those of you who have just popped by the answer is - Clearly Besotted.  I'm obviously besotted - clearly!

Today's card is for Less is More and it has to be a one layer card - so stamping straight onto the card, scary! They've also got a twist to use shadow stamping.  I had a little practice with yesterday's card and really like the effect that stamping the same image a second time, but a little to the side, gives. I used to do a lot of second and even third stamping, but usually spaced out to give depth and not up close to create shadows.

So here's my very simple little card:

We have another 

ONE LAYER CARD

challenge for you this week!

The proviso for your cards this week is to have evidence of

Shadow Stamping. 

Supplies:
Stamps: Clearly Besottef, Pretty Petals, sentiment from Pretty Petals Plus

Inks: Memento, bamboo leaves, lilac posies, grape jelly

Way back in February we visited a garden full - and I mean seriously full - of snowdrops.  It was one of those bright chilly winter days when you begin to hope Spring might be on its way.  You could even kid yourself it was warm enough to sit outside a while, provided you got the exact spot out of the wind, but in full sunshine - then when you try you realise it's still a bit of a jump too far to actually do it.

Well I finally got round to scrapping this visit.  It was a weekly challenge over at Shimelle's blog that got me going.  the theme is to journal about a place and use the layouts shown as a starting point.  So that's what I did and here's my much simpler, more me page:

And I used the new Background Builders Vines stamps from Uniko Studio.  Never thought my first play with them would be on a scrap book page, but they just seemed so right. such a very very pretty and very very versatile set.

Supplies:
Paper: Collage Press, Grayson Hall
Stamps: Uniko Studio, Background Builders Vines#Inks: Memento, rhubardb stalk, summer sky, peanut brittle, cottage ivy
Alphas: Simple Stories, Handmade Hoilday
Punch: ek success, notebook border

So that's all from me today, thanks for looking.

Jane
 *** 

 

Wednesday Words

Can't seem to stop using my newly acquired Clearly Besotted stamps at the moment.

Today's card was made using the sketch from Sketch Saturday and a bit of an experiment with shadow stamping in preparation for a card I'm sharing tomorrow.

I wanted to keep my card clean, so chose to emboss white card for the background part of the sketch and the circle.  I then went for two good strong contrasting colours to give the flower a little pizzazz and used the sentiment tag in place of the star.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Pretty Petals Plus

Inks: Memento, lilac posies, bahama blue, bamboo leaves

Dies: Clearly Besotted, Tag Along; Spellbinders, standard circles small

Embossing: Crafts Too, fancy lattice

Punch: Xcut, corner rounder

Embellishments: doodlebug sprinkles, blue jean assortment

Just discovered that I've made the top three at CAS Colours & Sketches. Yay!! Big, big thank you!

 

Thank you for visiting my blog today, hope you enjoyed what I created.

Jane

 ***

Tuesday Talk

Just one little card to share today, but it does use my fabulous new Clearly Besotted stamps, my all time bestest colours and a pretty sketch from Unscripted Sketches.

Unscripted have a 5 year blog-iversary on at the moment, with links to all the DT's blogs, so a great time to pop over and check them out. (Even more reason if you're in the US as there are prizes to be won!)

 

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Pretty Petals Plus & Pretty Petals

Inks: Memento, lilac posies, grape jelly

Die: Clearly Besotted, Tag Along

Embellishments: doodlebug sprinkles, cupcake assortment & spring assortment; white hemp twine from my stash

Short and sweet today, but comes with a big thank you for looking.

Jane

 *** 

Another Monday Moment

Whoops! Published today's two posts the wrong way round. Scroll down for the first post.

Finally today I'd like to share my take on the April Challenge No. 1 from The Memory Nest.

The twist here was to do something you have never done before or out of your comfort zone. Well I can't begin to tell you how much this sketch was out of my comfort zone.  Just way too much going on and all those different angles.  For ages I couldn't even see where to begin, but I persevered and think I've made it in a compromise between my usual style and the sketch.

Although I do occasionally feature my husband on my scrapbook pages it's not something I do very often, so it's an almost match for the 'something you've have never done'  bit of the twist too.

 

Supplies:

Paper: AC, kraft cardstock

Stamps: Technique Tuesday, Beautiful bu ali Edwards; Bo Bunny, Oh Snap

Inks: Memento, rich cocoa; Mister Huey's Color Mist, dark calico, opaque white, plum thumb

Alphas: ep, country drive & little boy; Websters, little story tellers

Journalling cards from my stash

Thanks so much for stopping by today and if you have time to comment I'd be thrilled.

Jane

 *** 

Monday Moment

The weather was kind over the weekend, so my garden is looking a little tidier now.  But I still found time to do some crafting once the sun had gone down.

So a card and a scrapbook page to share today.

First up the card.  I used the layout from CAS(E) this sketch and the theme from Time Out - a birthday card with men in mind.

Out came my box of Clearly Besotted stamps and my favourite blues and green  male colour inks and in no time at all the card was done.  I just popped the 'happy' sentiment up onto pads and outlined the 'birthday' with sprinkles to focus the eye.

  

TIME OUT - Challenge 3

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

with the optional twist of a Masculine Birthday.

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Superstar & happy sentiment from Fresh Flowers; Uniko Studio, birthday sentiment from All Occasion Sentiments #2

Inks: Memento, Danube blue, bahama blue, pear tart

Embellishments: doodlebug, sprinkles blue jean assortment

I've been taking my photographs with a different background, trying to emulate all the blogs I visit that have much clearer sharper photos. I've also been experimenting with the watermark I put on my cards and this is its first showing. Think I'm liking both, what's your view?

 

Saturday Scribbles

Hi everyone.  Just a quick post today before I get settled in for a weekend of sorting out the garden.

The card I'm sharing today was made using the CAS Colours & Sketches layout and my new Clearly Besotted stamps - beginning to be a bit of a favourite among favourites!

I took a bit of artistic licence with the sketch and turned the three squares down the side into circles.  I tried several variations on squares, but maybe because of the roundness of the flowers on the tree none of them looked right.  So after several attempts finding their way to the bin I settled on the embossed circles.

So here's my card:

Supplies:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Design A Tree
Ink: Memento, pistachio, rhubarb stalk
Embossing: Cuttlebug, swiss dots
Punches: Woodware circle, Xcut corner
Embellishments: Stickle, star dust; button & twine from my stash

Thanks for calling in today.  Have a fun filled weekend!

Jane
 ***

Friday Focus

A trio of Easter cards to share today.

The new Spring challenge over at Clearly Besotted gave me the perfect excuse to break open one of my newly purchased stamp sets from their April release.  Then I found these yummy colours at Color Throwdown - reminds me of sugared almonds.

 

So that's where I started with my new stamps and those gorgeous pastel colours.

The main image of the stamp came together really quickly and I knew I wanted to use the banner for the sentiment.  But the Easter stamp was too large and I really liked the font, so a way had to be found. At first I tried a circle punch that fit nicely around the stamp, but it slipped when I was pressing down and one edge turned out straight.  That gave me the idea to straighten the other side too and as I liked the result I stuck with this happy accident.

A very simple and CAS card which I found quite appealing.  So I made another in a different colourway:

And then, as I often do, I made another:

Supplies:
Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Pretty Petals, Fresh Flowers
Die: Clearly Besotted, Tag Along
Inks: Card 1 - Memento, cantaloupe; Ranger Distress, bundled sage
         Card 2 - Memento, rhubarb stalk, pistachio
         Card 3 - Memento, dandelion, tangelo, bamboo leaves

Wonder which is your favourite colour combo?

Thanks for dropping by today, your visit to my blog is greatly appreciated.

Jane
 ***

Thursday Thoughts and Ten on the Tenth

One card for two challenges to share today. And a big thank you to The Memory Nest for featuring one of my scrapbook pages on their blog.

So it seems very appropriate that my card says Many Thanks.  I used the layout from Unscripted Sketches and the colour theme from Less is More.  I've tried very hard to keep this card CAS - only two layers and plenty of white space - a look I think I'm getting the hang of.  In fact I struggle a bit now to add layers and no longer find complicated sketches so appealing.

I found three versions of turquoise ink in my stash and stamped the bottom half of the card in a repeating pattern.  A strip of washi tape separated the bottom from the top and a simple butterfly tag finished it all off.  I chose a butterfly stamp and a rounded tag to soften the very straight lines of the rest of the card.

 

Less is More

The colour challenge this month is

A Touch Of Turquoise
Please remember to keep your submissions 
CLEAN AND SIMPLE
Rather a lot of layers have been creeping into submissions... so please don't forget to leave that 
WHITE SPACE 

in evidence.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, Say It In Style; Stampin Up, Papillon Potpourri; Uniko Studio, Background Builders SQUARED & Christmas

Ink: Adirondack, pool; Memento, teal zeal, tuxedo black; Versa Color, 20 turquoise

Embellishments: twine

And now for my ten on the tenth.  This month I've gone with ten crafts that are part of my life at the moment.

1.  Has to be making cards, of course! This is an older favourite when I was just starting out on my  CAS journey. 

2. My absolute love - scrapbooking. This is a favourite page about a very favourite visit from last year.  Can't wait to revisit again this year.

3.  A variation on the above - a digital scrapbook page all about two of my best boys. I tend to go digital when I'm pushed for time or my workspace is covered with card making goodies.  I've now put all my digital supplies onto my laptop I keep at my Dad's, so I'll be able to scrap and keep him company at the same time.

4. My newest love and skill - crochet.  Just look how my blanket is growing.  I'm loving doing this so much I know I'll start another immediately this one is complete.

 

5.  A craft I've been doing all my life - knitting. This is a baby blanket I finished a while ago.  I've got another on the go at Dad's, but it's just beginning to get a bit too warm to knit.  I'm definitely a Winter cold weather knitter.

 

6.  Another craft I've been doing for years - cross stitch.  This is nearly finished, just needs the rest of the outlining to be stitched.  I was given this kit by my Aunt's foster daughter when she was over from USA visiting February 2013.  Cross stitch tends to be my Summer alternative to knitting.  I need the better light now my eyes are getting older!

 

7.  A craft I've dabbled in over the years, but am now becoming a bit addicted to - patchwork.  This is my recently finished throw and a cushion which live on one of my bargain yard sale chairs. Both chairs for £9:00!!! As you can imagine the throw fabrics cost so much more!

8.  A very new and still much to be learnt and practised craft - quilting.  This is actually the back of the throw and shows the quilting - and all its imperfections - really clearly.

 

9.  Another craft I've been doing for ever - dressmaking.  I'm not sure which came first sewing or knitting, but both date back to my childhood and owe much to the patience and encouragement of my Nana.  This top was made last Summer and I wore it so much that I'm probably going to have to make a new version for this year.

 

10.  And finally taking photos.  I'm not sure if this qualifies for a craft, but is so much a part of who I am and what I love to do I couldn't not include it. 

Well this has turned out to be a mega long post.  If you've made it this far you've earned a golden star and I'm very grateful for your interest.

If you've just flicked to the bottom, I'm still grateful that you dropped by today and I do understand!

Thanks for looking.

Jane

 ***