If only..............

Why is it that as you get older the time just runs away with you?  If only I had more time at the moment, I would be a very happy bunny.  Life has been just SO busy and we have had lots of visitors, my niece's wedding and my Mum being ill.  Now that those things have been and gone, we are into another chapter of busy times starting with a trip to Cornwall to visit friends and then on to Brighton to visit our son, future DIL and grandson.  The request I have had from all parties is to take my sewing machine with me!  For me that means my overlocker too as well as threads, various scissors, pins etc etc but I prefer to be totally prepared.  Apparently i will be making curtains and 2 bridesmaid dresses as well as shortening 3 dresses.  Oh well, no rest for the wicked!!   I promised a couple of photos of the wedding stationery I made and have included photos of other bits i also made for the wedding.  Enjoy!  

 I always make stationery to the happy couple's colours and designs.  I prefer not to offer a standard format and this makes every set interesting.  My niece had 2 main specs., one was the colour (Cadbury purple) and the other was the shape of the invite.  I made a few prototypes and this is what they chose.

 I made this horseshoe for my 2 year old granddaughter to give to the bride.  The bride loved it.

 These are just 2 of the many flowers I made to decorate a card collection box for them. I added one to the horseshoe above too!

One of the cards I was asked to make for a family member to give them

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I'm still here!

I'm sure anyone who looks at my blog (is there anyone?) will think that I have given up after 2 months of silence but no, I am still here, busier than ever these past couple of months but hopefully  things are calming down a little. I have a niece getting married tomorrow and I have made her wedding stationery as well as altering two of the bridesmaid dresses that she bought online.  The adult dress was a pain as it arrived with a broken zip but now, one new zip, alterations under the arm, to the back, extra fabric put into the lining and the hem taken up, it finally fits!  I will post photos next week but here is one of the stationery.

I can't remember if I ever mentioned it but we have had a friend living with us for 6 month spells for the past 3 years while she spends the other 6 months of each year in Canada with a family that she used to live with before they emigrated.  She returned at the beginning of May and on the 4th of July we ventured to London to present her immigration papers which had to be delivered in person!!  Now we wait the 8 weeks or so until we hear if she can go to Canada on a permanent basis.  If they decline her then we will have to start the process of finding a home for her over here.     For now thoughI will leave you with an array of some of the crafty things I have been creating.

A commissioned box card

 Both of these cards were done making use of My Digital Studio which is a Stampin Up digital program.

 Done for a Christening gift.

And of course, the end of year cards to accompany end of year matching gift boxes I made but forgot to photograph!

If you want something done - ask a busy person!

I feel so bad that I have missed so much time in blogging but the title of today's post is explanation enough I think!  There has been birthdays, baby showers, baby arrivals, Christenings and a wedding coming up not to mention all the usual things that fill my life.   The family has taken a lot more of my time recently as our middle daughter had her 3rd op for a pilonidal sinus removal which has left her with an 8" scar.  She is very uncomfortable still and I have been needing to take our grandson to school each morning as she is not yet able to sit and a bus journey would be pure torture. Shopping has also been long as she is so slow with walking but she has been glad to get out and about a bit, especially as her 3 children seem to have had boundless energy just when she could do without it.   I am almost finished the wedding stationery for my niece and I have made several occasion word art gifts for new babies and one for a Christening gift.     As I plan to sell these personalised to specific orders I thought I would make one up so that people could see the kind of things they could have.  I think every new baby in the family will now be getting one of these as I so love doing them. We are off to see my brother in Germany next week and are looking forward to a week of rest and relaxation although I think my brother has other plans for us!  

Spring has sprung.

Don't you just love the Spring?  I feel so much better and have more energy when the sun shines more and the nights are lighter.  We have been decorating recently, well I should say my dearly beloved has been decorating while I have been masterminding the re vamp of our dining room.  Not that there's a lot you can do in there but I wanted to change pictures on the walls, move photographs and weed out those unwanted bits and pieces that seem to hang around.  I was also hoping to persuade the man to agree to changing our dining room table for an extending one so that we didn't have to have a huge full size table taking up a lot of room in there but apparently he's very attached to the table and won't even consider it.  I feel sure it has more to do with money (or the lack thereof) that has caused this attachment though.  Never mind, good job I like the table too! I am loving finding the seeds sprouting and the bulbs appearing and am so thrilled that the lily of the valley is still thriving and about to blossom.   While in the spring cleaning mode I decided to tidy up my craft space and make some cards rather than list ideas!!     This one is a digital background that I made myself with one of the same flower printed out much larger then coloured and mounted.  The leaves are sponge inked on with a template I made myself with SCAL and cut on the Cricut.

  I have been gathering lots of cutting files and thought I should use some so dug out this one that cut the card totally for me and all I needed to do was find suitable papers to put behind and add a sentiment.  

Hope you like them!  

Winding down and speeding up.

What a week, I have been frantically trying to finish off some bits and pieces for craft fairs as Saturday will see my last for a while.  The last 3 I have done have netted my zero and in fact have cost me money so I am feeling a little disillusioned to say the least.  Christmas fairs in November and December are always great so I am sticking to them.  I have also been finishing wedding invitations for my niece who gets married in July.  I have made them as a wedding gift for them which has been a financial help to us  and them.  I am glad to say that they love them.  Now that those things are out of the way I can concentrate on catching up with the birthday cards on my ever growing list.  My aim is to get all of May, June, July and August cards made by the end of this month.  Now that I've looked at the list I see there are only 21 to make as most of May has been completed.  Of course there is a new baby due and a wedding so they will be extra and I have a couple of orders for special box cards.  Mm, maybe I should start now!  I have made a few cards this week and two of them are now in envelopes and ready to post.  I love the jar card and have made another one that I have filled with hearts and added a tag saying 'sending love just for you'.

  

A day in the life of......

I have had a really busy week and am feeling a bit tired this morning.  Yesterday was quite a day and it went like this 5am - Up, computer on, downstairs to make tea for me and my daughter, feed cats, put on kettle, empty and refill dishwasher, put on washer. 5.45-8am - take hubby a cup of tea and encourage him to get up, read emails, peek at Facebook, take my Scrabble turns, respond to emails, browse ebay for various bits, start work on tooth fairy pots letters and have a shower & dress. 8am - Go to our middle daughters (involves climbing up 6 flights of stairs to get to her flat) and I wait with the 2yr old & 4yr old while my husband takes her and 6yr old to his new school for his first day.  He has been home schooled for the past year and was so looking forward to going.   8.45 am - leave daughters and return home.  Decide what dinner will be this evening and get mince out of freezer.  Make bed, empty washer and put clothes on airer.  Tidy in lounge. 10 am - make coffee then iron.  Put clothes away.  Go into loft to look for green material to make a Robin Hood costume for grandson for his Beavers weekend sleepover extravaganza.   11.30 am - Prepare dinner for the evening, finish tooth fairy letters, make toppers for 30 tooth fairy pots, glue toppers on and print off letters.

 2.50 pm - Collect middle daughter and go to hospital for her appointment while hubby collects youngest granddaughter then goes to school to pick up 6 yr old, then to nursery to collect 4 yr old, then up to hospital to pick us up. 4.15 pm - make dinner for hungry hordes.  Dinner then tidy up and fill dishwasher.  5.45 pm - Pile all into car and drop 6 yr old at Beavers, take daughter and 2 youngest children home, help get them ready for bed then all go to Beavers for a meeting regarding weekend sleepover.  Take them all back home and return home myself. 8.15 pm - Home and empty dishwasher and refill.  Put wash load on and make a cuppa.  Get ready for bed and catch up with Holby City.   9.15 pm - Tidy up and put cats to bed then fall into bed at 10.30 pm (early for me). No wonder I felt tired when I got up at 5 am this morning!

I must catch up, I must catch up!

My mantra for this week is 'I must catch up'.  I have failed a lot of our March birthday family members this year and have had to send belated cards to them, a first for me.  As soon as I have completed the mountain of jobs that are already in the process of being done I am determined to get ahead and make all the family cards to take me through to August! Our eldest granddaughter in Australia, Katarina, is turning 13 next week and the card is sitting on our table waiting to post.  I took inspiration from something I spotted when searching for belated cards ideas but have no idea where I saw it.  It seemed to fit the bill for her perfectly as she is an owl and Harry Potter lover.  I hope the originators don't mind my using their idea.

Well today is the third Saturday in a row that I have done a craft fair and I am about to get myself into gear and set off.  One more next weekend then a week off before the last for a few weeks.  I will need to restock after that, crumbs I'll never catch up!!!!!