Bits and Pieces

Hi All,

Sorry I haven't posted for a while but I have been making the most of the good weather. I have had a new patio and 2 footpaths laid in the garden. What a mistake that was!!

I had a friends' husband and nephew doing the work, after she assured me that it was the sort of work he did. The nephew was a very hard worker but did what he was told.

The final result was, 2 paths that cannot be walked on, as all the slabs wobble. He had dug big lumps of earth out of the path area and laid down membrane on the earth without levelling it! Threw down the slabs on top of the membrane and topped it with gravel!!! Job done!! I said to him about the bumps and he said that the gravel would level them off and I should throw gravel under the wobbly slabs!!

What a cowboy!

I now have to take up the paths. Remove the gravel, lift off the slabs and remove the membrane. Then level off the ground by removing earth in some places and adding in others. I will then lay sand and cement, (which he made me buy last Saturday for £43 and he never used) on top of the earth for the slabs. Cover over with the membrane and finally add the gravel. All of which, should have been done in the first place.

I also have bumpy areas on the patio to sort out, along with rumpled and shredding membrane around the slabs.

I am very lucky, as I have 2 friends coming to help me next week.

Now I feel better after my rant, these are a few of the things I have made for my next Craft Fair, next month.

A few fusioned daisies on the candle and flower pot.

I do love Sheena Douglass's Stamps. They are very versatile and you always get a great image. I stamped them with Grey Stazon and painted with Eco Friendly Acrylic Paints from the Craft Barn in Lingfield.

 This pot has a matt finish, so it paints very easily.

 This was just a plain mug I bought in a sale. I stamped the sewing related images, using a set of stamps that were free with a magazine, sorry can't remember which one, using Stazon.The tape measure sticky tape was from the same magazine.

I made the Pincushion top with a scrap of fabric and stuffed it with wadding. I drew leaf shapes on some green felt and attached them to the top. The cherry was another scrap, cut into a circle. A row of gathering stitches around the edge and pulled up. I put some wadding inside, pulled the thread tight and attached it on top of the leaves.

I stitched some ribbon to the bottom edge which I tied to the mug handle.

Inside the mug I have put a few pins, needles, buttons and threads. All packed separately. Thought it made a nice little gift.

Thank you for stopping by and hope you liked what you have seen.

Hugs,

Carol S.xx



What A Week!!

Good evening all,

What a week I have had. I had a couple of men start work in the garden on Wednesday, preparing the ground for our patio. The area is 40' by 35' and they started to strip off the grass in the rain. They gave up after a few hours, as the rain was coming down so hard the turf cutting machine wouldn't work.

On Thursday they picked up the cut turf and stripped the rest off with a spade. They then had to dig a large area, as the levels were very  uneven. Again in the afternoon the rain came down like stair rods, so they had to stop again.

Friday was a bit better weather wise and one guy continued to dig out one area and the other laid our old slabs at the back of the garage where we want to store the dustbins. They were coming on Saturday morning but the rain came down so hard Friday night, that we had one rather large paddling pool! I am hoping that tomorrow the weather will be a bit better. The job was supposed to take 3 days!Lol!

The village fair I was supposed to do yesterday was cancelled as the field was waterlogged. I thought it was Summer!

This is a little card I made yesterday. As I sold most of what I call my 'posh' cards at the village fair I did last week, I have to replace my stock.

The fairy is a Kanban stamp, coloured with Dusty Concord Distress Ink on her dress. Her hair is Scattered Straw DI. The picture is not very good as the light was rubbish. Also I think I might have lightened it a bit too much with my photo prog.

This picture is a bit better. You can even see the Star Dust Stickles on her dress and the flowers.  The leaves are a new die I bought, which is one of a set of 5 different leaves. They are Cheery Lynn Designs dies. I just love them as they are so different. I also bought a set of 3 butterflies dies.

I can't seem to get my cursor below my picture. Blogger is playing silly b.....s again. So I will have to say goodnight up here!!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you had a good weekend.

Hugs,

Carol S.xx

A Touch Of Teal

Hi Everyone,

We woke up to sun this morning. Yippee!!  And it lasted most of the day. I even got the washing dry.

I spent the morning sorting and packing my stock for the village fair that I am doing on Saturday. It's in Heathfield East Sussex. I am just hoping for a dry day.

I had to buy a new Gazebo as we had a problem with field mice in the garage last week. We found 4 nests, one of which was in my Gazebo. They had completely destroyed the canopy, chewing it up for nesting.

I really enjoyed doing this mirror. I first did a couple of coats of cream matt emulsion. I then stamped, using Kaisercraft stamps, text and butterfly with text. An old mesh texture stamp from Stamp Man. A few other stamps that I had taken off their wooden blocks, so no idea what they are! The inks I used were Versafine Smokey Grey, Distress inks, Tea Dye, Pumice Stone, Broken China and Brushed Corduroy. I did a second stamping with all the inks, so the images were not too bold.

I was very brave and cut into a piece of my Tim Holtz paper pad. I know you will understand how difficult it was, as up 'til now, it was mainly just stroked and returned to it's box. Lol!
Even more difficult was using a piece of my Victorian lace, which I attached to the paper.

I tied a double bow with my favourite Teal ribbon. More pain!!

The glass oval in the middle of the bow was given to me from my neighbour. Many years ago she worked for a company that sold items of mens' attire. She was given display cards of loads of different styles and colours of these gems. It's difficult to explain them, but they were to clip onto mens' dress shirts or cuff links. On the back of them they have a metal clip with a hole in the middle. I found some plain long legged brads that I have had for years and attached the clip to the head of the brad. I then put the legs either side of the centre of the bow. I made two holes in the paper and pushed the legs through to the back and locked them in place. I used Pinflair glue to stick the strip to the mirror.

The flower is the Nestabilities Aster Flower die. The butterflies at the bottom are Graphicus, (now Chocolate Baroque,) stamps. I used scraps of the Tim Holtz paper to stamp them onto.

The butterflies at the top are from Cheery Lyn Designs, Doilies& Exotic Dies.

I hope you like my mirror and thank you for stopping by.

Hugs,

Carol S.xx

Gardeners Gift.

Evening All,

What a horrible day today here in West Sussex. Dark and raining all day and chilly with it. I thought it was summer now!

I am hoping it's dry at the weekend, as I have an outside market to do on Saturday. I also have one on the following Saturday, so I have been busy making extra stock.

These are some little books I have made. They have an A6 note pad and a pen inside.

For the one below I used some old Art Impression stamps. I coloured directly onto the stamps with a mixture of Marvy Le Plumme pens and Distress Inks. I used a Nestie Die to cut the card and whilst it was still in the die, I added some Dusty Concord Distress ink around the edge.

This gate is also an Art Impression stamp and coloured the same way as the one above.

 Now the Bird Houses are from different stamp sets. Most of them were free with magazines. I stamped them with Nik Bantok Charcoal Grey Ink and coloured them with a mixture of Copic and Promarker pens.

All of them are decorated with the smallest flower from the Nestabilities Aster flower die set. I added the colour whilst the card was in the die.

The small piece of card on the right hand side is the tag which holds the book closed. I have used sticky backed velcro to hold it in place.

All the papers are from my stash. I have told myself that I am not to buy any more paper until I have used some of my stash. I have 17 full boxes of 12"x12" papers and 16 A4 boxes. Also 8 ring binders full, 6 drawers of paper pads, 2 drawers of vellums and 1 drawer of pearlescant papers. Also a pile of paper that I can't get into boxes. And that doesn't include Christmas papers! Phew!!

I am now off to bed as it is 01.30 and I have to be up early tomorrow.

Thak you for visiting my crafty corner and welcome all new followers. If you are only viewing and are not yet a follower, please take a moment to add your name, as I would love to reach 50 followers. I could even find some Candy for a draw, if I reach 50 followers.

Hugs,

Carol S.xx