Tuesday 30 July 2013

Coming my way.....

Exciting news.... although our plan for the extension has evaporated, thanks to a builder who left us in the lurch, we still have a plan to gain more room. Most especially to move my craft supplies out of the spare bedroom into its own little "home" --- ta da.....


This is what my new craft cabin will look like when it's delivered in about six weeks. It's 4m x 5m in size, with insulated roof and floor, laminated floor, double-glazing, combo air conditioner-heater, fully electric, and a 1m veranda the width of the building. Now this may look a bit plain, but I have plans for painting and landscaping. I've been combing the Internet to find some inspiration and have come up with LOTS. Just take a look at these:





To say I'm excited is an understatement. Maybe "obsessed" is even a fair statement: I've been looking at furniture (cabinets, shelves, islands, desks, etc.) for days, playing around with a name for my new playhouse, thinking up ideas for decorating, and more.

As for actual crafting.... well, lately I've not done a lot. I have lots of photos from a recent US holiday to see grandchildren, a holiday here in the UK, and lots more. I need to scrapbook as it's been ages since I've done any. Cards are so much easier and quicker to do, but I've got a new empty scrapbook album and some empty pages in other nearly-full albums. I'd also like to find some ideas for making some nice wall art for my new cabin. I've got several blank canvases, mostly smallish sizes.

All I can say right now is "watch this space"!

Wednesday 17 July 2013

She's baaaaack. . . .

Yessiree, she is indeed back. I’m feeling my mojo returning. I just hope it’s back to stay. Just when I think I’m ready to call it quits on crafting and sell up, the urge hits again. 

First of all, it’s Wednesday. That means the What’s On Your Work Desk Wednesday, or WOYWW. I used to use Google Reader to keep up with all the WOYWW posts but that little gadget is no longer available. If anyone reading this has some advice about what to use instead, PLEASE let me know!!! Anyway, here’s my Wednesday Workdesk:



As you can see, I’ve actually been working!!!!! I made a birthday card for a friend:

The card isn’t wonky, but the photo is! Anyway, this is a “card lift” from the July issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine. The stamp was free with the magazine and the card I used was originally designed by Caroline Knott. Hers must be an 8x8” as I couldn’t get everything to fit – she had two patterned papers and . She had some beautiful designs in this issue and I highly recommend them! For the large scallops and circles I used Spellbinders Nestabilities dies. For the sentiment, I used my Stampin’ Up punches. The patterned paper is an older one (can’t remember the name) and the solid cardstock is Stampin’ Up. To color the image I used my ProMarkers. The Promarker colors actually are identical to those in the paper, but don’t look like it in the photo.

Now a word about cards. I recently purchased a huge supply of card blanks with envelopes. The manufacturer is Craft UK Limited.I bought white and cream, 6x6” and 8x8”. Well, WARNING… the sizes are very much OFF the sizes as sold. The 6x6” are just 5.75” if that! Now that little quarter-inch may not seem like much until you are trying to measure and cut your paper for layers before adhering it to the card. As you can imagine, there was a bit of wailing and gnashing of teeth when I realized (using American spelling here, folks, as I’m in a hurry to get this done) I’d have to re-cut everything!

A quick word about craftrooms. I’ve been working on getting a new craftroom for some time. We even had an architect and got planning permission and a bank loan for a large extension on our house and a couple of other projects, then as we were about to start, the builder suddenly decided he couldn’t do it until next year. To say we were gutted is an understatement. We got a couple more quotes but they were much, much higher so we’re now down to a garden studio for about 1/4 the price, even completely kitted out with electricity, floors, insulation, heating and airconditioner, etc. I found a couple of ideas on the Internet. I dream big:



Actually the one I think I want is much larger than this (about 16 x 10 ft) and has bigger windows, but this is the general idea. And…. drum roll…. it won’t need planning permission, either. What do you think?