I have been a non-blogger for months...

but now I am going to try and post on here at least once a week!

I have been a very busy crafter since September and have had a really heavy workload. I seem to be winding down now though and can start to think about Christmas shopping and decorating our tree at last.

I was working at the SECC in Glasgow in October and the NEC in Birmingham at the Hobbycrafts and Crafts for Christmas show on behalf of Prima. I was in the demonstration theatre making cards and projects using a Canon photo printer. It was a bit nerve-racking at first but once I got into the flow, I really enjoyed myself. It was a great opportunity and a very worthwhile experience and I am looking forward to being part of it next year if I get offered the work!

Along with my three craft groups and evening classes, demos, shows and other projects, I have had no time to do anything for myself and my house is slowly turning into a junk shop rather than a home!

So, today, I am going to catch up on laundry, cleaning of skirting boards, emptying of the magazine rack and making room for a Christmas tree in my lounge. Then I will catch up on some of my favourite tv programmes while I make tea and iron...yippee!

I am hoping to make some cards too this weekend and maybe post one or two pictures on here.

Okay off to do some chores. Bye for now! x

Welcome back to blogging Sheila!!!

Hi everyone,

It's been 2 months since I was on here which will indicate just how busy I have been. Haven't had a minute free to blog or view other blogs but now I have two weeks off and may get back into the routine of posting on here when I can.

Today I have posted a card on Clare's blog for the Colour challenge which is 'Summer'. So here is my attempt at something summery.....even though the Robin stamp is from the latest Do Craft's Christmas Goody Bag!! If you paint him in blue and yellow, he stops looking like a robin and starts to resemble 'Orville the duck' (from my youth!!!)

Tomorrow we are going to the microlight flying club (where my husband is a member) to enjoy the 'fly-in' where approximately 40 planes will be landing and taking off. We will fly round too so it should be exciting particularly as the weather is going to be good.

I hope you all have a fun weekend and I will be back on here with some photos on Sunday.

Cheerio for now x

Lots of changes

It's been a busy week again with lots of good things happening and some sad things too.

Firstly, my sister who lives in California called to tell us that her American brother-in-law had died after a short but awful bout of suffering and as he was just 45 years old they are absolutely shocked and devastated. I met him 2 years ago along with the rest of my sister's in-laws and they are such a lovely family to be part of. We are heartily sorry for their loss.

My friend Robert who has also been very sick and in hospital for 8 weeks is now just starting to recover slowly. He can sit up and speak a little and is laughing at my jokes so he must be feeling better! Fingers crossed that he progresses fast.

My cat was ill earlier this week too so we were worried about her and I was watching her every move for 2 days. Anyway, she seems to be getting better and is mooching in a carrier bag full of craft stuff as I type so that suggests that she's getting back to normal!

I am expecting my friend Clare to call me soon as she returned from her Do Crafts expedition today so I am dying to hear all about her trip and what she got up too while she was there. Will be good to hear her voice again.

On the crafting side of things, I am busy making up some samples for a QVC show later in June. I have also started to run the craft club sessions at my local education centre along with my own Wednesday club (Meet the Flockers!). I am about to start my PTLLS course which runs for 5 weeks. PTLLS stands for - 'Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector' which will mean I can teach cardmaking classes in the local college. It will be hard work along with all my demos, clubs and other work that I have but it will be challenging, satisfying and a great opportunity to earn a better living especially with the economic crisis being as it is at the moment. May be able to save up and buy a bigger house with a HUGE craft room!!!!! At last, I think I have decided what I want to be when I grow up...a professional full-time crafter, HOW FAB!

Well it's now supper time for me so I will go and watch a bit of telly with a bowl of cereal.

Good night everyone x

Back to the land of blogging!

I have not been on here for so long due to being a busy bee again! You know what it's like don't you?!!

We managed to ge a day off last weekend so went up to my in-laws caravan just for a break from computers, phones and general 'town' noise. It is just situated in the Eden valley in a place called King's Meaburn, it is very green, very peaceful and very lovely. As the weather was great, I managed to snap a few photos in and around the most fantastic garden centre. It overlooks the Yorkshire Dales and it has so many plants that I didn't know which way to turn. With the temperature in the high 20's and the sun beaming down on us, it felt like we were in Greece...lovely. The purple flower in one of the pictures is an Alyium and I was so taken with it that I had to buy one, so it is now standing in my garden waiting to be planted!

Well I am off to get some demo prep done now for tomorrow and then check my list of jobs to see what's next...oh gosh, it's never ending!

Have a good day everyone.

Sheila x

Craft Club Anniversary

Last night at Craft club we celebrated 2 years of being together which is fantastic. A big Thank you to all the lovely ladies who have crafted every Wednesday and made our club a fun and enjoyable place to be.

We all had cake (as you can see from the above photo) to celebrate our anniversary and to officially name our club 'Meet the Flockers'. We now all have a membership card each and an official tattoo on our bottoms....no that's just a joke!!! We don't have tattoos!

I also received the most beautiful bunch of roses from one of the members and they are now in full bloom on the fireplace. Thank you Nicki!!

We have extremely heavy rain here today so I think I will stay home and either craft or tidy up, I can't decide...maybe a bit of both as I have the house to myself. My husband left here at 6am this morning to be in Harrogate for 9. He is a professional musician and is playing for an award ceremony tonight hosted by Lenny Henry, so he has an all day rehearsal before the show in the evening. He will be shattered when he gets back at 2 in the morning. No doubt he will want to give me all the details on his return, even if it's 2am, he likes to tell me EVERYTHING that happened over the course of the day. I can't wait!!!!

Hope you all have a good day today wherever you are.

Sheila x

My forgotten blog!

I can't believe that it is 18 days since I have been on here...is that good or bad? It is good in that it means I have been very, very busy working my crafting socks off but on the other hand it is bad because it means I have been working so much that I haven't had time to do anything other than work! Does that make sense?

Anyway, I have a couple of free days this week so yesterday, I had a little trip to the hospital to see my friend Robert who has been very ill recently. He is still in Intensive Care but was awake and moving his arms and leg a bit and actually smiled at me a few times. We even held hands too which is fantastic considering he was unconscious last week. It looks like he is slowly getting better, thank goodness.

Well...tomorrow is Craft club and it is 2 years since we got up and running. I can't believe it. I am so pleased and very thankful to all my lovely members who come along every week through wind and rain. They are a wonderful group of ladies and I love each and every one of them. So tomorrow evening, we will have our usual crafting session with the raffle and we will celebrate as we craft with sweets and laughter. We will also be officially naming our club. After many weeks of pondering over names and ideas, we finally came up with 'Meet the Flockers'!!! Isn't that funny?! The ladies started using the flocking powders recently and love them so much that every week they just crack jokes with the word 'flock' in them. So if you have used flocking yourself and also enjoy comedy films like 'Meet the Fockers' you will understand how the name became very appropriate for the club. I am really looking forward to our meeting tomorrow night. I am proud that my little club is still going 2 years later...fantastic!!!

Have a good day everyone!

Love Sheila x

A beautiful sunny morning

Yes, that's right. The sun is shining and there's not a cloud in sight. I am sitting at the dining-room table with the patio doors open and my little black cat is snoozing on the mat by the door enjoying the warmth of the sun on her shiny black coat. At the same time, my husband snores away upstairs, enjoying the thought of his well-earned day off I expect!!

I have a little demo tomorrow and Monday at Craftworld in the Lowry Retail outlet in Salford, Manchester so if you're in the area, pop in and say hello. I will be there from 10-4 making cards, boxes and anything else I can turn my hand to! Have still got a little prep to do for that which I will finish today.

I am also contemplating whether or not to drive over to Bury Market in Lancashire this morning. My mum and I keep saying we will go and have a mooch there but we never seem to get round to it. Some of my friends visit the little craft stall there where there are bargains to be had, so that would be our main reason for going, obviously.

I haven't got any cards to show you today because I haven't really made many this week but if you buy the new issue of Creativity! magazine which is out today, you will see some of my projects in there.

Have a good day x

Sometimes life can be cruel.

I have had a strange day today. On Sunday, we heard that a friend of ours who was diagnosed recently with MS had taken a turn for the worse and was seriously ill in hospital. He is only 30 and after hearing the news I just haven't been able to get him out of my mind. So I nipped up to the hospital this afternoon. He is really ill and I can't believe the change in him since January. I sat by his bedside today and spoke to him even though he was sleeping all the time and in the last 2 hours of me sitting here thinking about him, I feel really down and upset about him. My head aches with fighting back my tears so now I am having a little cry about him after speaking to his Dad on the phone.

I really hope that he can find some strength from somewhere to help in what might be a long recovery process. We have to stay hopeful and keep our fingers crossed.

I don't want to end my post with unhappy news so I will tell you about a lovely craft shop in a local town which a friend told me about 2 weeks ago. It seems like the shop has been open for two years and I had absolutely no idea!! So I paid a visit there and it is very nice with pleasant staff, lots of stock and tonnes of stamps.....so I will be visiting there again and telling everyone about it. They have also just opened a Coffee Shop within the Craft store so what could be better? Coffee, cake and crafting all at the same time.............JOY! 

Bye for now, Sheila x

Project of the week

For those of you who are Do Crafts followers, you may have already seen my card for this week over on the website. This project had to mainly feature the Quickutz Squeeze so I cut the letters from it but also cut around the metal dies to create the little 'Course work' file. Add some rub-ons and a couple of tiny jump rings and 'Hey Presto'...your completed ring binder! Cocktail sticks were used to make the pencils and pen. A bit of vellum around the cocktail stick and some silver outline sticker borders brought the miniature pen to life which I was really pleased about. There's no greater joy than fiddling around with tiny bits and pieces to come up with something fun. I would love to be the person who was put on a desert island with a hut to build...I would be in my element!!!

Anyway, I had better get some sleep now, it's bedtime again. 

Goodnight x

Colour challenge

Here is my card for the colour challenge over on Clare's Signature range blog. Kath and I chose to use Turquoise and Yellow for this week's challenge so here is my completed project.

I went to a craft show yesterday at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool and I took my mum along for the day. I bought some clear stamps, jewllery findings, charms and chains, Magic foil card, More Copic markers and some Merino Roving from which I can make felt beads and balls for jewellery. 

Today I have done a few jobs around the house and spent 2 hours playing my saxophone in preparation for my gig tomorrow. We have a rehearsal at 10 in the morning and then our gig starts at 12.30pm so we are looking forward to spending the day at the jazz club, it should be a good concert.

Maybe tomorrow night I will make some cards or maybe practise my jewellery making again!

Have a good day everyone.

Sheila x