Quilling

Tony has gone off to play quoits and I am having a lovely quiet evening.  I am currently listening to soft music and playing around with strips of paper.  I shredded it with my paper shredder and used a comb to make some of the petals.

After the flood

Following the flood that we had two weeks ago I have taken a good hard look at what I keep in my kitchen cupboards.  I realise that I have a lot of wasted space out there so as soon as it is all sorted I will take a good hard look at what goes back in my cupboards. My cutlery drawer is full to bursting and two people do not need that many of everythng... Ditto the tea towel drawer... Crikey, how many tea towels should two people need? The 'junk drawer' will get a thorough sort and anything in the back of cupboards that has not been used in living memory is heading for the charity shop. In truth I would love an old house with a proper pantry.  I couldn't care less about a 'state of the art' fitted kitchen,. I don't have (or want) a dishwasher and the tumble dryer lives in the garage.  I seldom use it and could really live without it.  I keep it as it comes in handy for drying towels in the winter. My friend Elaine has the perfect size tiny kitchen in her cottage in France. It would suit me right down to the ground.

A few simple little cards

I have been playing with my card making stash just recently and have made a few little gift cards to add to my stash. They would be lovely to pop a fiver in as a little treat for someone.

And a Christmas card for my stash

Simple quilling

I haven't done any quilling for absolutely ages. It is the simplest of craft and requires no tools.  I simply roll strips of paper between my finnger and thumb. Official letters usually are typed on lovely quality paper and you can simply cut the unprinted areas and put them through your paper shredder if it is the sort that cuts paper into strips.

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One upcycled envelope

I have been a bit of a domestic goddess today.  A lovely tasty curry is simmering away on the stove.  I have sorted a few cupboards out and then spent the afternoon making a couple of cards.The embellishments on this one are made from an envelope and a piece of last years Christmas cards... I use the cards to practice water colour painting on.

Upcycled envelope. Die cut and then embossed

The box base ready for embellishing

Birds cut from an old Chrsitmas card

It's dying

We are currently dealing with the flood and now the darn car is dying. It feels like one thing after another now. I keep wondering what will be next.  Oh well, smile and keep going, smile and keep going.  I will pop back later and show you a couple of little craft bits that I have made.

Wedding aniversary

Thirteen years ago today I married my lovely hubby. It is one of the best decisions I have ever made

If I can offer one piece of advice for someone getting married it would be... Don't expect to agree about everything.  Accept that there will be times you drive each other to distraction.  If it is meant to be  it will be...... we were meant to be.  

Retirement card

I made this for a fellow blogger who retired this past week.  I bet he will find that he fills every second of his time with other things.

Lovely lavender and a piece of wrapping paper

Yesterday I picked a posy of lavender to stand beside my bed.  It looked really pretty in the little glass bottle (upcycled of course).  Well. for as long as I can remember I have wanted to paint my bedside cabinets but Tony has said that he will sand them down... I am talking many many years here.  I very much doubt that they will ever get sanded unless I do them myself. Unfortunately this means that they have looked really shabby and yucky.  Last night I took a roll of wrapping paper and simply cut it to size and sellotaped it to the top of the cabinets and the chest of drawers... I told Tony that he would need to be a bit careful how he places things on there or it will tear.  Guess what he said?????  That looks nice, why don't you decoupage it on and varnish over it.... grrrrrrrr... :-)   In truth I wouldn't want this particular paper as a permanent thing but it does mean that I can now look for a one that I would like to have.

Patched jeans

I have a tendency to be a bit overzealous with the bleach when I am cleaning up.  I wish I could remember to wear an apron.  Ho hum,,,, never mind.  The hems off Tony's jeans came in very useful.  I cut a few hearts and drizzled some 'Fray Stop' around the edges. They look much better than a bleach stain