Scooter said hello.....

Cried my eyes out today: found three black whiskers. Haven't bawled like that for a while now. 

3 precious whiskers....

Spoke to an "Animal Communicator" a while back. (Confused, don't know what to believe any more, etc.) She said some things that she could have picked up from this blog (not accusing her, it's just my head needs all loopholes closed) but she also told me stuff "from Scooter" that I hadn't told anyone. Or things that only I and Luvbug knew, and things Scoot and I did together, things I called him (loads of nicknames!) and then a few predictions.... finding black whiskers was one. 

-A BLACK one, even though they had gone grey, "because he really didn't like it when they started to go grey" she said, and "you'll find them when you're not looking for them". I HAVE looked for them. But I wasn't looking for them today, and there they were, next to the sofa.... he passed in September; how many times have I vacuumed since then.... 

Then after I'd been crying for ages, I made tea and put the tv on. I got a new box of tissues out of the cupboard, and found the outer sheaf of one of his claws.  

outer sheaf of a claw

 
So sharp! She said he had been very proud of his long, sharp claws. A black cat with long, clean white claws, you see. I loved to watch him clean them. I've put it in the little box I keep snips of his hair in, a print of his paw, and now the whiskers..... 

paw print that I took the day he passed... 

I rested his paw onto an inkpad

 

Now... this one really blows my mind... I stared and stared and stared-

Last week I came across little patches of moist muddy prints, so fresh they still had water around them. This was at 5am, in a high traffic area (door to kitchen), at least 5 hours after Luvbug had gone to bed, and after I'd been half watching tv, snoozing on the sofa for ages. No other cats in the house: catflap is covered over. I stared, got right down on the floor next to them.... in the end I took a photo:

 wet, muddy pawprints

I wasn't wearing shoes, I was wearing big fluffy socks.... I really wracked my brain, and looked all round for an explanation. I couldn't find one...

I just took the photo's, thanked Scooter and smiled, then went to bed. After I settled down, I heard a few bumps in the kitchen, but I just smiled and went to sleep...

Precious boy. I love him so much, and I miss him so badly, like part of me has been ripped away.

I'm glad for these *tangible* parts of his presence. When I'm low, or when I get that aching lump in my chest that his photo often brings, I'll know that it isn't just my crazy head that says he's still around, because I have things to hold and look at. Hallucinations can't be photographed.

At the risk of people telling me I've totally lost it, I'm posting this here, hoping that it helps anyone else who's grieving at the moment.

animal communicator: Clare Metcalf; her website: Free Spirit Animal care

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Love, tea & cake,  
Helena

Hobbycraft Heads Up

25% off at HOBBYCRAFT this week: 

order online and enter the code "HALFTERM" at the checkout (delivery is £3.95), 

or print out a voucher and use in store, exp. 24th Feb: http://vouchers.moneysavingexpert.com/vouchers/hobbycraftvoucher_p5.pdf

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Playing nursey today, as Luvbug had to have sedation this morning, to have an impacted wosdom tooth removed :o 

-he was  totally stoned for hours afterwards! He doesn't remember any of it, and he was only under for a little while- in and out in ten minutes. I couldn't believe how fast they were!

 

I am officially his 'responsible adult', as in had to see him home and look after him. Hahaha! It's almost as bad as when I was called a 'mature student'- yeah, right! LOL

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Love, tea & cake,  
Helena

Gilding fun :)

 

I am trying out my new toy, the Indigoblu Gilding Starter set :)

I saw gilding with flakes on one of the crafty tv shopping channels years ago. I think it was Dawn Bibby doing it. At the time, I couldn't afford to try it. But this is a different make of flakes etc. now,and cheaper, and I managed to get hold of a starter set to try at last.

You get a special extra-sticky glue called 'flitterglu'.

I thought, ok, this is just going to be PVA stuff with a fancy label, isn't it?

But no! This really IS sticky!!! Like, "OMG I can't separate my fingers" sticky!!! But it's ok it comes off with a good wash in water and soap.

• As well as the glue you get a spatula, 
• some felty sponge to make an 'ink pad' with, 
• a small rough almost wiry sponge called a 'scoochy', 
• a bottle of stamp cleaner (though the soapy water worked fine), 
• a strong A5 size plastic box, 
• a pot of flakes, 
• some A5 sheets of card 
• an instruction leaflet. 

 The kit was just under £20. Ok it was treat ;)

This is what you do-

1. wipe out the box with an anti-static pad/cloth
2. empty the flakes into this box and spread them out
3. cut a small square of the spongey stuff for your 'ink pad'
4. spread about a teaspoon of glue onto the pad
5. apply this to your stamp (not too much)
6. gently press stamp to card (just a 'kiss', no need to press hard)
7. dunk the card into the flakes
8. pat the flakes gently with your fingertips, make sure all glue is covered
9. tap off excess gently
10. use the 'scoochy' to scrub off the flakes back into the box- they can be reused- very little is actually 'caught' each time.
11. the result is a stamp image in gilded flake.....

Here's quite a detailed image, but it still worked...

in the background you can see the pots of glue etc., and the flakes in the A5 box:

The gilded imagestays intact i.e. dosen't rub off easily like glitter. I was able to put the card under the guard of a paper timmer without it marking the image. Here it is trimmed, ready for using on a card:

Cool, yeah?

Looking forward to using it to edge cards and ATCs too, and trying other coloured flakes. They do a nice coppery one, which would be nice on my cat stamps, I think :)

Starter kit & more info available here (no affiliation blah blah blah..! )

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Love, tea & cake,  
Helena

WOODEN STAMPS for sale

These are the wood-backed stamps I want to sell. 
The clear ones will follow! 

I have looked up the postage on these by weighing them and going to the Royal Mail website. Link for the page is here. 

I was stunned by the prices, but these have to be sent as a "packet" rather than "large letter" as the wood makes them more than 25mm thick.  
The postage shown here is just what Royal Mail charge. I haven't added anything for the bubble wrap etc. as I recycle this!

So, I'm sorry for the postage rates but it isn't me!
**Because the rates go up in 'bands' it means that several items can be sent together with one postage rate, though**

All prices UK pounds sterling

UK - 2nd class packet, proof of postage but no tracking:
any number of stamps weighing 
up to 750 grams = £2.20
heavier than this = £3.50

Europe - Airmail small packet, proof of postage, no tracking:
any number of stamps weighing 
     up to100g = £2.70
101g to 150g = £2.93
151g to 175g = £3.16
176g to 250g = £3.39
251g to 500g = £4.82

USA - Airmail small packet, proof of postage, no tracking:
any number of stamps weighing  
  up to 150 g  = £3.86
151g to 200g = £4.42
201g to 250g = £4.98
251g to 349g = £5.54
350g to 400g = £6.76
400g to 500g = £7.98 
    
AUSTRALIA - airmail packet, proof of postage, no tracking:
any number of stamps weighing 
up to 100grams = £3.30
 101  to 150g = £3.90
150g to 249g = £4.50 
250g to 274g = £5.10
275g to 499g = £5.70
500g              = £8.26!!

Because of the astonishingly high postage, I haven't put prices on the stamps. If you are interested, just make an offer for the stamp!

Payment- UK cheque or PayPal. 
(You don't need a PayPal a/c to pay through PayPal I just need to know an email to send a PayPal invoice to, then you pay via secure site using a card. It will convert it into your local currency if you want it to.) 

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  Right! At last! Here are the stamps!!

*SOLD* thank you!!
1: CELTIC DRAGON

made by Dovecraft 

weight 50grams

2. CELTIC CROSS

made by Dovecraft

weight 40grams

 3. "Forget me not" TEXT

made by Rubber Stampede

weight 30grams 

   4. Large SPRING SCENE

made by Personal Impressions

weight 180grams

this stamps really well and is great water-coloured for Easter cards :)

  5. *SOLD* thank you!
Large MEDALLION ref pma1039

made by Papermania

weight 135 grams

makes a great background stamp- make patterned paper by repeat patterns in pale ink, or embossing.  I've also made 3D decoupage cards and tags with this.

 **nb: the wood is NOT cracked, the lines are bubbles in the clear film on top of the stamp**

stamps really clearly!

 

 6. Large MEDALLION stamp ref pma1038

made by Papremania

weight 125 grams

-I've made 3D decoupage with this one, too :)

try putting little gems in the circles

 **nb. stamp is NOT cracked, the lines are bubbles in the clear film on the top of the stamp**

7. Large BUTTERFLY

made by Anita's

weight 40grams 

  8. **SOLD** thank you!
Large PATCHWORK BUTTERFLY

Made by Funstamps

weight 115 grams

  9. **SOLD** thank you!
Large PATCHWORK FLOWER & HEARTS

made by Inca Stamps

weight 115 grams

  

10. FERN SILHOUETTE

made by Rubber Stampede

weight 65 grams

 11. HEART SQUARE

made by Funstamps

weight 40 grams

12. CHRISTMAS CAT :)

made by Inca Stamps

weight 90 grams

 13. GARDENING SET

made by Anita's

weight 60grams

 stamps really well and is great for gift tags :)

  14. SAILOR GIRL & BOY

made by Anita's

weight 45grams

 15. GARDENING BORDER

weight 60grams

 *nb. this isn't cracked, the line is a bubble in the clear film on top of the stamp

16. WILDFLOWER BOUQUET

made by Stamp City

weight 45grams

17. WISPY HEART 

made by Papermania, ref pma 10091

weight 115 grams

That's all for now!!!!!

Thanks for looking :)

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Love, tea & cake,  
Helena

Stamp sale planned...

I've gone through my rubber stamps/clear stamps etc. and had a cull. I'm going to be putting loads up for sale. 

At first I thought I'd stick them on Ebay, but now I'm wondering if to put photo's of them on here and see if any of my readers would like them. Maybe I could put them on here first, then, put the ones that nobody wants on Ebay on one of their special "free listing" weekends. What do you think? I've got dozens...

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Love, tea & cake,  
Helena

Picking things up again

 Had to look twice before I noticed she was carrying a black cat :)

Hi all! 

I have been keeping in touch with a lot of people via Facebook, which I only joined last year. 
I was reluctant to join as I enjoyed blogging instead. But now I see the advantage of Facebook is that I can see messages from my friends as they write them- I don't have to be on their page, a little square pops up in the corner to tell me who has just updated, whether they commented on something I posted, etc. So I am in touch even while I'm typing.

It doesn't feel the same as logging though. It's like comparing an article with a headline, or a letter with a text.

Well that's ok, as I've had some lovely online conversations with people whilst there (you can send private messages, not just on your page.) But I do miss my blog, and being able to write longer stuff, and share more fully what I've been doing.

It will be hard to get back into blogging, but to start I thought I'd do an update on the week, each Friday.

I especially want to do this because I don't want to lose contact with good friends that aren't on Facebook, like for example, Angel & Kirby :)

I'm going to look over my blog layout over the next few weeks and have a cull on my links. I'm going to make sure the links are only to blogs owned by friends, or websites that really interest me. It isn't that I no longer judge any of them as good, it's that my interests, my amount of spare time, and my own artistic interests and style have changed.

I have a feeling about 50% will go. So if you like any of the links on the left, make a note of them quick!

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Love, tea & cake,  
Helena