Update

 It's been a rough time lately which is why I haven't been around so some of these are quite old.  I'm hoping to get back to card making again now but my body and my mind both need some time to heal.

I started a project for a friend who has been admiring my fabric projects and who loves Harry Potter.  Eventually it is going to be a cushion made of several small blocks.  I managed to take an 'in progress' shot too :)

 In my own positivity patchwork project I have actually done a 'proper' traditional patchwork block.  Learning new skills and making it up as I go along as usual!

Stamps

When I was younger I used to collect stamps - following in the footsteps of my Dad and Grandad.  After a long time away I'm starting to come back round to the idea again.  Getting the monthly stamps (but only the ones I actually like or find interesting) is just the sort of little positivity thing that I need.  It has to be something small and not too demanding or require too much concentration but pretty and holding some interest for me.

I bought the Portraits of the Queen stamps in a presentation pack: http://shop.royalmail.com/her-majesty-the-queen-six-decades-of-royal-portraits-/royal-portraits-presentation-pack/invt/sku20130502/

I'm a monarchist and patriotic and thought it was a nice commemorative item.  I enjoyed reading (in stages) the little bits of information about each portrait and it is on my to-do list to go and see the one in Colchester Town Hall, maybe even to have my photo taken.

This month the stamps are beautiful butterflies: http://shop.royalmail.com/issue-by-issue/butterflies/icat/butterflies

I just bought the individual stamps in their strips and managed to walk away with the card from the inside of the first day cover as well which shows each butterfly with it's wings closed.  It also gives the details of the issue and artist etc so I was pretty chuffed!  I did see a Comma in the garden today and took a photo of it settled on a leaf (wings closed) but it didn't come out very well and I didn't manage to see it with wings open.  Something for me to look out for though and keep a bit of interest in something nice going.

Back home again

I haven't done anything crafty today as I've been travelling but do have photos of cards from the other day to share.  I've been settling back into my room and my own space and trying to organise the clutter around me and file and sort everything.  I do get frustrated about living with my parents and having a small bedroom with all my stuff in.  It's a constant struggle to have the space to do the crafts I enjoy and store all the different bits and pieces.  I currently have some of my filing and folders on my little sister's desk (as well as a few piles of stuff that are waiting to go elsewhere) but I need to move it all as she is due back from France quite soon.  There are also a couple of large cardboard boxes of knick-knacks and cuddly toys at my parents' bungalow and most of my pretty dresses - perhaps five - that just don't fit in my wardrobe along with the rest of my clothes and shoes etc etc.  Of course up the loft there is also some of my kitchen stuff and probably some boxes of paperwork as well as a bookshelf on the landing because I don't have room for it in my room and another box of books downstairs and both my bowling balls hidden under the stairs.  I need a house.... Come on Mim, get better, get back to work and put down a deposit on a house so you can spread to your heart's content.  In the meantime - make cards and stop ranting!

 Decoupage from the same 'Home to Nest' range again.  The image is quite dark and needed lifting so it has been given a silver backing and a lilac card.

 Some more of the FF pack from a while ago: the sheets of die-cut images.  I've trimmed the card and used a corner rounder as well.  The main image is mounted on sticky fixers and I quite like it even though it isn't really me.

This card was trickier as the decoupage is actually quite large and the colours limited the choice of card blanks I could use.  I'm not sure whether I really like the decorative edge on this card but it was already there and I couldn't be bothered to chop it off.  It adds some extra interest anyway.

Inspiration

I have made a few more cards and done a little bit of cross-stitch but having travelled down to spend the weekend with my boyfriend I have been so very tired so haven't done much.  I've also been trying to do a bit of CPD which has taken up time/concnetration instead.

I've felt much more like myself today and have been on Pinterest today getting some inspiration - beautiful hand drawnings/paints, brambly hedge style drawings, amazing ribbon flower embroidery, sewing bits and pieces..... so many beautiful things out there.  For one of my next positivity blocks I need to do a garden scene with lots of gorgeous ribbon flowers.

http://catherinestudio.blogspot.co.uk/
http://pinterest.com/craftyjenny70/

Wednesday

Well I went out and saw some more giraffes today colchester-zoo.com/standtall

 
There was one in McDonalds and I noticed that their current happy meal toys are from Despicable Me 2 - so I bought one for my boyfriend as we really like that film.  It's nice to let him know that I'm thinking of him without buying him something edible!

I haven't actually made any cards as yet but have a couple of decoupage made up waiting that just need to be made into cards.

And I have just made oat and raisin cookies from this recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/7655/oaty-raisin-cookies

 

 Those are the happy things from my day and that is what we're concentrating on.

Flowery cards

It seems to be becoming a bit of a routine this card marking.  I've made another couple today.  I wasn't feeling great but forced myself to go and do something and I thought I would sit downstairs for a change of scenery and use some old paper-punched flowers that Grandma Renfrew must have spent hours and hours creating.

 I found several sunflowers and thought I could make something with them.  There was a bit of trouble getting the polka dot paper square as Mum's wouldn't cut straight and then her metal edge ruler is a bit broken - the metal edge doesn't stay true!!  The vase is hand-drawn which is why it's a bit wonky.  I used chalk to give it a bit of definition but then decided it wasn't enough so used a promarker to add an outline.  Promarkers are like felt tip pens with a highlighter and a pointy tip, in a whole range of colours.  Mum has got a ridiculous amount of them, I have a set of twelve and do use them a fair bit, have a look: http://www.letraset.com/products/8-ProMarkers/  I've used glue dots to attach the flowers, the leaves are another paper punch and the stalks are freehand promarker; a gold border peel off completes the motif.  I can't say I'm happy with is as a card but it did serve the purpose of getting me engaged in doing something.

This one I like much more although it is quite a departure from my normal style!!  I simply stuck a circle onto the front of the card and stuck flowers and leaves round in a fairly regular arrangement until I thought there was enough on there.  All the flowers were pre-put-together by Grandma and the leaves all punched out as well.  She used to do lots of big display posters for her church notice board - a different one each month - and many years ago paper punches and this sort of card where all the rage.  It was nice to play with something that reminds me so very strongly of Grandma, and different, and actually quite speedy to make into a nice looking card as a lot of the work had already been done by her.  It feels good to be doing something with these things she made, and it's always good to use up a backlog of supplies: there are certainly plenty more flowers and leaves for me to play with before making any appreciable dent in the box.

More cards...

I'm clearly in the mood for cardmaking and have been making a few every day so there are quite a lot of pictures to go through here!

 These two are made with bits from the same Margaret Sherry calendar as before.  Very simple picture, stuck on backing, stuck on card with a greeting (handwritten/peel-off) stuck on the bottom.

 Several years ago I had a 'page a day' calendar with winnie-the-pooh pictures on.  I bought it partly because I liked the pictures (being a firm AA Milne fan) and partly because I foresaw the possibilities for cardmaking! I've used several before but I thought I would take a step towards making more by systematically going through them all and grouping them by picture.  I didn't realise quite how many different pictures there were and I very nearly ran out of room on my bedroom floor.  At the same time I trimmed off the date on each page and now have a large stock of pictures.  It's harder than you might think when you're confronted by so many possibilities but I did manage to start making a few.

 Beautiful Eeyore on two layers of purple :)

 Heading for a family picnic - mounted on shiny gold paper and stuck to card with foam pads to elevate it slightly.  Card is blue with ripped green paper stuck across it which matches up with the grass line in the picture.  And there is a lovely little peel-off gold butterfly in the corner :)

 Another beautiful motif; I carefully trimmed it so that I could get a fully dotty border around it and laid it on the stip of gold as well - very relaxing.

I'm fairly sure I've already said something about this Home to Nest range, I'm making more cards from it anyway.  These are all decoupage as you don't have to think so much when you're doing them.

 I love the border stip of eggs that came in the pack and thought it would work well with the nesting boxes.  Top tip if you are a thrifty crafter: always remember that you don't actually have to put the stip all the way across the card - no-one will be able to see it underneath the motif so you can just chop two shorter bits to stick on and save yourself the border strips (because no pack ever comes with enough of them)

 Decoupage again laid on top of handmade paper.  It needs a little something in the bottom right hand corner but I haven't yet worked out what it is.  Another top tip: to get the frayed edge on handmade paper you need to wet the paper with a thin paintbrush dipped in water.  Use a ruler for a straight line and follow it along.  When you have wet it all you can softly pull and get that lovely soft edge.  If it doesn't pull easily use a bit more water.  Don't forget to let the edges of the paper dry before you start doing anything else with it as well.

 Lovely robin card.  I had trouble with this as I did the decoupage first and then went for the backing but needed to keep the silver quite thin and then realised that I was going to squish the decoupage with my rotatrim!! A few quick adjustments and a bit of trimming later and I've ended up with something that I still think works ok.

I was starting to get a little bit bored of the normal stuff by this point and thought I would add some lace down the sides of this blue tit.  I've used two parallel lines of thin double sided stickytape.  The ends are inside - trimmed and stuck down with proper sellotape ie not magic tape.

That's all for now folks :)