Arty surprises

A great surprise arrived in the post this week! This is from Andrea and Beanie at Found Art; a selection of their Art Cards, for the hedgehog charity stall. Brilliant!

Thanks Andrea!!!!

Meanwhile a church in south Colchester had its annual exhibition of amateur art. We went a few years ago, saw a lovely mixed media picture, didn't buy it, and talked about it ever since. D'oh! So this time when we went I went prepared; change for cake and tea, and cheque book for just-in-case.

Here's the church, All Saints, Shrub End:

Inside.....the walls were covered with pictures. I was quite tempted by this one on the far left; it's of a tabby cat on a bed!

Mum enjoyed it!

This was one of mum's favourites-

...but she wouldn't let us buy her any of the pictures; even though this one was available as a £1.20 card, she said no. Oh well! She had a nice cake and cup of tea though ;)

One of my favourites. It was just called 'Ireland'; a pen and ink wash for £20. Lovely!

Lots of people-

View to the back of the church- those two paintings either side were lovely, but were £650 each!!

 Luvbug was keen on a couple. Then it struck me that it's his birthday next month and I had no idea what to get him. Ding! Little light bulb went on. I asked him to pick one of his favourites for his birthday present (I offered this after consulting the catalogue to make sure I could afford them though! LOL!) In this end he chose this; 'Country Lane';

 

-this is it hanging in our living room! I can't do anything in pastel at all, so I was very impressed to read that this is pastel!!

It gets even nicer the more you look at it!

By the evening I was regretting not snapping up that pen and ink wash of the Irish castle :(

Well, the next day, Luvbug dashed off to the exhibition, convinced them to open early, bought one of the pictures and nipped back home again.

By about 3 in the afternoon he couldn't stand it anymore and said to me, "I do love you, even though you're very unobservant!"

Huh? Unobservant? I started to look around.... eventually I spotted it! Here is that Irish castle on our wall, under my pawtrait of Bob T Bear;

Isn't Luvbug sweet?????

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Well blogger has been playing up this week I know, but now it seems to have swallowed my signature as well! 

TTFN!!

The comfort of craftiness.... and colds, and a sprained ankle ;)

A horrible combination of things conspired together to bring me quite a nice day today, despite the rain, and Scooter's sulkiness at not being able to sunbathe!

-First, I racked my bad ankle.
Remember I sprained it last week? Well I've had it strapped up during the day, but not at night. So this morning, when someone was banging on the door really loudly and urgently, I didn't think, I just jumped out of bed and ran downstairs- without any strap on my bad foot!!! AAAAARGH!

Turned out to be a strange looking wee Greek fella in purple dungarees;

"Come to do your carpets?"

"Er... no thanks!"

"Yeah, I've come to do yer carpets, love!"

"Um, no, no thank you!" (confused!)

"Well yeah, I've come to do yer new carpets. Fit 'em?"

"Oh, well, er, I think you may have the wrong address?"

"Nah, it says number 2. This is [says name of this road] innit?"

"Yes."

"Well that's what it says 'ere."

"Sorry! Not us!"

"Can I talk to your husband?"

OK now I'm confused, in pain AND LIVID!

"Sorry, don't have one! Bye!"

BLOODY CHEEK!!!!! Oh, my other half has ordered new carpets but why should I, with my little female brain know anything about it? WTF????!!!! I mean, apologies to Luvbug if he has suddenly ordered new carpets for the house as a weird surprise present or something, but WTF??????!!!!!

ANYWAY so now, although tired (still not sleeping) I am also wide awake so I make tea, make a fuss of Scooter and sit down with the radio on. Foot is throbbing. But I soon doze. Mum rings, sounds like she has a cold suddenly- was ok yesterday, now croaky. Then the heavens open and the rain pours..... so it's decided that instead of going to mum's this afternoon as arranged, we both need to stay indoors and rest.

Horray!!! I ache, I'm wound up, my foot is killing me, but I have some free time! Horray!!!  :)

So I decided to make my fox.....

Issue 2 of Mollie Makes arrived last week:

With it, you get a free kit for making a felt flower....

Made mine, but not sure what I shall do with it........

I'm still sorting out my craft space and I'm thinking of having a noticeboard for displaying card that people send me, so I could pin it up there :)

Inside the mag is an article about making a felty fox:

The designer, Lori, has a blog, here......Pretty Little Things - have a look!

So anyway I made my fox. I made him 2/3rd the size of the pattern as I didn't want a big toy one, I wanted a little lavender one.

I gave him a little fish instead of a flower....

Spot the deliberate mistake!
I sewed his tail on back to front!!!! LOL!!!

Oh well!!!



Here's what I stuffed him with- some merino wool tops left over from my needle felting the other year (oooo now there's an idea...) plus some dried lavender.

 

The lavender is really strongly scented. I bought it from Land Cuckoo, which I think was recommended to me by Mrs Nesbitt. Mr Scooter can also recommend her their handmade Catnip Sacks, btw.

I wonder if, as a lavender sack, Foxy might be better with his tail curled round and fixed with a stitch in front?-

I'm also wondering if to make half a dozen and sell them at the fairs I'll have a stall for, in aid of the hedgehogs. Maybe I should try to make a hedgehog design. Any ideas?! Maybe a felty nose and tummy and something like hessian for the prickly bit....

This is a scrap I bought from the 15p remnant basket at my local haberdashery: CATS!!!!

I like to rummage in that shop. Foxy's belly is from a 15p scrap of soft suedette.

I had to hand-sew Foxy, as I still can't work out the sewing machine. But I've invested in this:
 
LOL! So I shall soon, hopefully, be fully mechanised!!!!

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It was so lovely to sit and sew, with Craft TV on low in the background, and only having to get up for more tea or to dry Scooter after he'd been out in the rain *AGAIN* just to see if it were still wet.

Mum and Luvbug got here half an hour ago, so I just have time to add my photo's to this blog, then it's back to the kitchen...... ready made chicken pie this evening, I think will do though ;)

Hope you're all ok. Thanks for all the support and hugs........

Coming out of the haze

Gosh, sorry. I don't remember writing that last post. If I had remembered it, I'd have done an update on it sooner, in case people were worrying about me. THANK YOU ALL for all your loving support and messages.....

I don't remember much of last week, apart from Friday.

I went to my GP Thursday morning. It was an appointment booked in advance to ask for a cholesterol test (mine's always high; whole family's is high, so have a check every 18 months or so...) ANYWAY I got in there and I burst into tears, and I remember telling her about hallucinating rabbits and being so desperately low, but I don't think it was a very long appointment. Or maybe it was, but to me it seemed like 5 minutes. It just flew by.

She gave me a form for a blood test. Hmmm. They are usually green. This was white and in small writing it said something about 'psychotropic elements' -wha?? Does she think I'm high? I mean high from illegal stuff and s**t??

Outside, I fell over. Searing pain through my right ankle. I heard people behind me saying something - it was pre 9am so still the 'school run'. I actually remember thinking, "Is anyone going to help me down here?" (!!!) A woman came and asked if I was OK, took my arm, but I said I was ok, thanks, I thanked her over and over.

Don't recall getting home. Don't remember the rest of Thursday at all, except taking a razor to my left forearm and, being surprised by how much blood came out, covering it up with a large white dressing.

Friday- I tried to get out of bed and AAAAAAAARGH! I looked down and saw that my right ankle was twice the width of my left one. Luvbug drove me to A & E. I had my blood test whilst there. An X-Ray said all ok, just a sprain. So I have an elasticky thing on it. My arm was in a bad way. I told them it was all part of falling in gravel. They cleaned it up and redressed it. Today I've just put a new one on.

No driving till I can 'hop on the bad foot 20 times' and no cycling. Actually, I quit my driving lessons last Monday. Just the start of a bad week......

I'm meant to be sitting with my foot 'higher than my bum' and then draw the alphabet with my toes. But I'm afraid I'm not being a very good patient as habitual seating positions are just too hard to give up ;)



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A smile:- Scooter has again taken to sleeping upstairs on our bed. He comes in all meows & chortles, and snuggles in between us, sometimes under the duvet, in which case he leans on me. The other night he came in soaking wet form the rain and gained access to the bed via a climb over Luvbug's neck LOL

Nosedive

NIght wanderings...then nightmares,then wanderings, then nightmares, then rock bottom, can't control the tears but must; mustn't let mum see them. Sneak into garden, into loo, into magazine, cook onions. Anything to hide them.

Today, or was it yesterday first, yes, yesterday, awoke on sofa. Luvbug off to work. This morning; awoke on floor in front of fire with Scooter. I am still in MOnday's clothes. But as I can't seem to remember what day it is....

Excuses excused me from appoinments. I fed my dinner to the birds.

Angry today, angry angry, couldn't find something. WHy is everywhere in this house such a mess? Understair cupboard; why so many boxes? So much packaging? OUT OUT OUT.

Luvbug and mother arrive mid cardboard exile. I overhear him guide my mother through the storm.

I stop for cups of tea. And Lorazepam. My friend today. I forget how many I've had. And a pregabalin. What the hell. Luvbug leans over me and strokes my arm. I tell him, sorry,sorry Im not normal. Just as he is saying I'm fine and that he loves me, that word 'sorry' turns into a rabbit, I mean a real, live, rabbit, and it runs along his arm and I smile. It's tiny and long and slim. Grey. I've seen a few of them since.

Blog candy for Cancer Research....

Sarpreet over at World Of Sarpreet is offering blog candy valued at around £70. I rarely put blog candy in a post, although I do sometimes put a link in my sidebar, but this offer has a twist; if you also buy one of her cards from Etsy or Ebay, she will give you lots of extra entries PLUS she will give the money raised to Cancer Research.

Blog Candy Includes:

• Papermania Embossing Folders - Stars (worth £2.99)
• Wild Rose Studio Printable Papers On CD Spring (worth £14.99)
• Wild Rose Studio Printable Papers On CD Christmas (worth £14.99)
• Basic Grey Paper Pad - Oliver (worth £4.99)
• Basic Grey Paper Pad - Olivia (worth £4.99)
• Basic Grey Paper Pad - Lime Rickey (worth £4.99)
• Penny Black Stamp - Owl Be Yours (worth £6.65)
• Fizzy Moon Stamp - Bunch (worth £3.99)
• Wild Rose Studio -  Molly In The Snow (worth £4.99)
• Memento Ink Pad - London Fogg (worth £4.75)

So, if you have a mo, do pay Sarpreet a visit!!!!

The muse may be sneaking back....

 I bought two extra craft mags this month (gulps; feels slightly guilty).
The first is 'Simply Homemade', which is only in its 4th issue. I'm afraid I bought it solely for the free stamps!!!!
I uhmed and erred about it, put it back, then went back to WH Smith a few days later and bought it anyway... because as well as a tree and a bird, one of the stamps is a large ladybird, and I know someone who LOVES ladybirds...... so I made these for her-

 instead of attaching the toppers to blank cards, I folded some cotton paper in 4 to make a 'notelet' and attached them to these;

(Some of these photo's are a tad blurred- sorry about that, the light was poor, that's my excuse- )

 the stamp included the antennae but I used chain stitch in double cotton thread instead :)

I packed them up with envelopes and a homemade label:

 and a notecard:

and off they went to the Netherlands. Ssshhh! I think it's ok to say. She doesn't really pop in to this blog, she's usually around Bob's place ;)

OK next!!!!

This is a new magazine, called Mollie Makes.

You can look inside the first issue here.

I signed up for the first three issues for £5. The advert for this offer was in my papercraft magazine-

....so in the absence of a detailed contents list, I assumed it would have lots of papercraft in it. Not so! It is very inspiring, though, with interviews with crafters and lots of photo's etc., but mostly for sewing, knitting and crochet, home design, that sort of thing. So I've cancelled any further issues after my initial 3. I would recommend you have a look at it though, if you spot it. It really is something different, and very lovely. But for me it would be a sort of coffee table book- inspirational but not entirely useful!

Anyway, enough waffle.
This mag comes with a kit each issue. This first one comes with a kit to make a mobile phone holder:

 Here is the holder I made with the kit, and my phone.

Incidentally, it isn't as flash as it looks, my phone. Although I do enjoy it. It's newish, see, I've only had it a month or so. It comes with a built in pointy stick for you to type with on that touch screen. Cute ;) No, it's not an I phone! It was £34.99 at Tesco (no affiliation blah blah blah though my Bear loves Tesco cos he gets to ride in the trolley, which you can't do in Waitrose, as they give you funny looks in there if you let your Bear ride in the trolley.)

 

 The other side.

Now, that brown felt was my own. All the other felt came in the kit. The felt they supplied was VERY thin and stiff, more like a kind of handmade paper. I took the grey felt that they supplied for the main part of the case and used for a lining:

Next month's issue comes with a kit to make a felt flower. Hmmm. I wonder if the felt will be of any better quality. Never mind, you still get the pattern!

I really enjoyed making this as it was something I needed. It works well and my phone doesn't slip out of it at all so the screen is protected at last from all the junk in my bag.

Hope you enjoyed browsing!

NEXT I need to clear out the 'craft room'
For 'craft room', read-

'Small room between the kitchen and the back door, near the piles of recyclable plastic and paper that are awaiting the right collection day. Listed as bedroom 4 by the estate agent but used as an office by previous owner. Now contains 2 large shelf units, 1 small bookcase, 2 computer desks, 3 shelves filled to bursting. And boxes. Boxes in stacks. '

I thought if I spend just 15 minutes a day trying to clear it out, that's nearly 2 hours after a week. It HAS to look different after then, doesn't it? Bought this in The Range today. It's a 'Really Useful' tray. It wasn't too pricey (just under a fiver). I thought I'd have it on a desk, with pens in one bit, then scissors in another, then paper scaps, then stapler, etc etc. Then when I want more room I can just lift it all off in one go. We'll see!