Happy 2012!

January is here so that means we are al back to work and ready for some new crafty projects with new crafty products!

Docrafts have once again brought us lots of new items to play with including the fun 'Hot Diggety Dog range', the wonderful 'Portabello Road' collection and some beautiful new colours in the Papermania 'Capsule Collection' which always proves to be popular with everyone...particularly this time, those gorgeous BIG paper flowers!

I had my first weekend of demos at Craft Central in Fleetwood and The Range in Wigan. I must admit, I struggled through as I wasn't very well and spent the whole day coughing and sneezing. I tried to be happy and enthusiastic but it was hard because I felt exhausted and blocked up. Anyway, it was nice to see lots of crafting friends at both events and I enjoyed both days regardless of the germs!

On the 24th and 25th of January we have a docrafts Pick of the Day launching on Idea World at 9pm so try and tune in if you can, there will be some nice products on there. I am just about getting started with my demo prep and samples for those shows so I am looking forward to heading down to Peterborough again for the launch.

Better get back to crafting now!

Three days in a row

Yes I have posted every day now for three days AND added photos too!

Here is the card we made at my club last night using the Papermania Noel stamps. I love this snowman. We used backing papers from the Docrafts Digital Designer cd-rom, a Sizzix embossing folder and some adhesive gems from docrafts too. Everyone added some glitter and sparkle to finish off their card in true Christmas fashion.

Right, now I am off to close the curtains and hide from the stormy weather that's hit the UK today.

Cheerio x

Another creation for the Festive season!

Well, here is my lantern that I made on Sunday. I bought the amazing template from the Craft range in Burnley about 2 months ago and haven't had time to make it. So on Sunday morning, I decided to get some cream card off the shelf and have a go. It took about three hours and I really enjoyed myself cutting, sticking and inking.

I added a flickering candle inside (which I got free with the template) to make it more authentic then we turned out all the lights in the lounge and I sang 'O come all ye faithful' as I carried it in!

"Very good" was my husband's comment, a man of few words!

I am hoping to add some embellishments to it...maybe some trailing ivy or snow. I will keep you posted on here of any changes though.

Bye for now x

Christmas projects

Oh I am so pleased that December is here and I can finally start to slow down with work. This has been such a busy year and 2012 looks set to be just as busy. In the meantime though, I am looking forward to tidying and cleaning my house in preparation for the Christmas tree and decorations...I love going out to choose a tree, it takes me forever though as I choose about 10, then narrow it down to five, then three, then two and finally...I decide!

Talking of Christmas trees, we made an Advent calendar at my craft club two weeks ago using a Christmas tree cake stand as the base. With the help of my Cricut machine, I cut 8 small boxes for the top layer. The middle and bottom layers needed bigger boxes so I had to make templates for these. To cut a long story short, I spent two days cutting out 160 small boxes on the Cricut and then copied 320 larger boxes on my scanner then printed them out! That's 480 boxes in total and that was before decorating them and cutting out the numbers too.

I think my craft group enjoyed making them though so I thought I would share a photo with you here.

Hope you like it too x

I know, I know...

...it has been months since I blogged!

Life is so busy these days that I don't have time for anything except work. So much has happened since I was last on here that it would be impossible to fill you in.

So, I will try to blog more often from now on. It won't be every day but will be more frequent than twice a year!

Docrafts are keeping me very busy which is great as it means there is always work for me. Being self-employed means every day is different and it can be very busy or very quiet, so I am thankful for the work I keep getting.

October is usually a quiet month for me but not this year. So far, I have had 3 store demos, 9 hours on Create and Craft, 2 craft clubs. I still have 1 local demo remaining, Creativity tv filming, more hours on Create and Craft and a weekend of demos at the Glitter Pot in Sussex. Oh yes, I almost forgot...magazine prep with a November the 1st deadline. All this amounts to many hours of prep, many hours of travelling and not much sleep!

I have a new phone too now so I am going to Bluetooth some of my photos across to my laptop then you can see some of my latest creations. Watch this space.....

One year on...

Yes, it has been more than a year since I wrote on my blog page, isn't that terrible?!!

So much has happened over that time and I can't begin to tell you everything because it would probably take me a year to write it!

So, it is the 2nd April 2011 and I am having a little rest from my busy life as a crafter. The whole of March has been taken up by docrafts demonstrations, filming Creativity tv down in Bath followed by four days of Card making workshops at the Olympia exhibition halls in London. It's been such a busy month so the next couple of weeks will allow me to re-charge my batteries ready for my next spell of work.

For those of you that know me, you may remember that we had a little black cat called Jess. She was my baby and we had her with us for 15 years. Unfortunately, she took a turn for the worse in June 2010 and we had to let her go. We were very sad and missed her being around.

So in August we decided to get a couple of kittens from a rescue centre in Blackpool. After looking at many kitties, we found two tabbies (brother and sister), who now have made their home with us. Lester and Sadie are their names and they are just two crazy bundles of fun and frolics...they really are cute! So they keep me busy and snuggle up with me on the sofa when I am lonely, hee hee!

It is time for me to finish my Mother's day card now for tomorrow so I will make sure I keep blogging from now on.

Bye for now x

Well I am a little sad today because the temperature has risen and it has started to rain and you know what that means.....the snow is disappearing fast and I don't want it to go! I love snow so much and have been in my element over the last few weeks as it's got deeper and deeper.

On the photo you will see our garden at the back all wintry and cold. We even made a sledge run from the top of our hill (in front of the summerhouse) right down to the patio at the bottom of the hill. It was fab and I had a great time with my hubby, niece Stephanie and her partner Anthony. She couldn't join in as she is 8 months pregnant and my husband preferred to stand at the bottom of the ski run with a glass of cider! So...it was down to me and Anthony to hit the sledge! It was minus 5 at the time so we were pretty cold. As you can see from our thermometer in the picture, it did actually get to minus 9 by the next morning at 8.45am...wow!

Well, I will sign off for now. I need to go and get the oven warming for tea and do a bit of final prep for my demo tomorrow.

Bye for now, Sheila x

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