Hee hee hee!

Fab day!

Well yesterday was fab! I went to Liverpool to go on a glass fusing course run by Phil of Glass Kanvas. I admit that I had no idea how to make the lovely pendants that he makes and didn't know what I was in for - I imagined lots of polishing etc but it was more a case of cutting glass and layering it. We also had time for free play after lunch so we could experiment more! We sat down first thing (there was a lovely couple Harriet and David there too) and Phil showed us how to cut the glass (with safety advice) and told us the golden rule of glass fusing - the layers have to add up to 6mm or the finished item will pull in the middle and you won't get the lovely domed shape. Of course I forgot to take my camera so I didn't take any photographs of the making stage!

Then after lunch Phil showed us how to make dichroic items. Ours were still being fired so we couldn't bring them home but as soon as they arrive I will show them off! Here are a couple of the layered pendants I made! What do you think?

This one is my favourite despite the blobbles of blue at the end - I was aware that that would happen though as the stripy bits (can't remember the technical term!) that I chose were longer than the base layer.

And here are the other 3 I made. I used frit to make the blobs in the top 2 - frit is basically ground up glass made into 'sprinkles'.

So all in all it was a fab day and I would heartily recommend it - both for what you learn and Phil's great teaching. Now how much were those kilns again? I will post pictures of the other things I made once they have been fired and sent by Phil!

Exciting things!

It's going to be an exciting day today as I am off to Liverpool for the day to make some things that I have never tried to make before - hope it works out!
I'll be back later with news of how it went. Have a good Sunday!

Celebration and competition!

To celebrate getting 1,000 members into the Cuteable Flickr group I am having a giveaway over on the Cuteable blog. Just leave a comment over there by Friday 4th April at 8pm (British Summer Time) with a chance to win some Swirlyarts goodies!

Cute new envelope

I'm really pleased with the padded envelopes I have been making recently. I found another book of nursery rhymes that I must have bought at a charity shop or something but have no recollection of buying!! It's a really cute one from the 70's but the first 8 pages or so are all damaged, having been ripped and drawn on by the previous owners. So those pages are destined to become tags (as there are some usable illustrations) and the later pages are going to be envelopes. Here's one envelope that is going out to the Isle of Man today. I love the details on the illustrations.




The bottom 2 photographs are of the back of the envelopes with the nursery rhyme on - I've never heard this one. Have you? Expect to see more of these soon!!

Why oh why....

..... is it that whenever you are trying to get a custom chicken made that your sewing machine decides to have a hissy fit and refuse to work - arrrrgggghhhhh! Luckily some cross words sorted it out but I think I'm going to have to take Janine (the Janome obviously!) for a service.

Organised!

Blimey - it's only 10 am and I have done all 3 Cuteable posts for today (one is due to upload later) and I'm writing this blog post!! I've added some buttons to a new style card I made yesterday and I'm off to sew a commissioned chicken in a sec! I also managed yesterday to get 51 cards prepared ready to turn into the new style cards (photographs later) or into flower button cards. Busy busy Lynsey! Here's a photo of the cards all together - and I know I am sad for counting how many I did!


Right - best go and make this chicken!

Business cards

Well I took some photographs of my new style business cards yesterday and they came out quite well. If you have seen my previous business cards then you probably won't see much of a difference! I have decided to ditch the iron on sticky stuff as it left a residue all over my iron and the fabric on the cards itself. I've decided to sew them on instead and I personally think they look great! I can't use invisible thread though on them as it snaps very easily and then leaves me with 4 lots of thread to sort out!

I think they are fairly representative of my business and I am going to add a range using paper instead of fabric too so that should sum up my business quite well! Obviously the fabric and paper is all recycled/repurposed!

Wednesday weigh in

I've decided that I need to loose a bit of weight and tone up - how I'm going to manage the exercise part though I don't know! I could do with loosing a bit as I am nearly classed as obese according to my BMI score. I know that it can go by weight of muscle etc but I don't have any so that's not why it is high! So I have decided to do a weekly weigh in and you can see (hopefully) progress as I work to loose a stone and a half. That would get me down to 11st which is the ideal for my height. So this weeks weigh in puts me at 12st 7. Keep reading on a Wednesday to see the progress.

Into other news I went into town yesterday and got some fab things in the charity shop. One book I got is about embroidery (but it's too boring to photograph) and the other has kept the girls amused for ages.


I love the felt hats below.

I also got a very cute pair of birds that double up as a salt and pepper set! Aren't they cool?? They even have their own perch!

Photoshoot

The chickens are going upstairs shortly for their photoshoot in the light box so there will be some new chicken doorstops in my shop soon as well as cards and a slightly new design of business card. The business card won't be for sale in the shop obviously (unless someone wants to give me money for them!) but they are going to have their photo's taken today.

At nursery it is Spanish Day today so Anya had to dress up in red and yellow to represent the Spanish flag. I have plenty of red for her but no yellow. I have plenty of yellow for me but that's not very useful. Anyway, we compromised (as she insisted she had to be yellow and red) with a yellow ribbon in her hair. I'm tempted to find an oak tree on the way back from nursery to tie it round!!

Nice break

Had a nice break away - family, fun, farmers market and a car boot sale. What more could I wish for! It's my Mum and Dad's 30th wedding anniversary tomorrow and I made them a hamper full of goodies for them to share and this card below.

And here is the picture that Anya drew inside the card of Tara. Cute!

I've got lots of washing and sorting to do so I will be back with a proper post soon. And some of the goodies I have been making!

Tagged!

I have been tagged by numerous people both here and over on Cuteable. Sorry for the delay in doing this but I have been a bit busy! Here are 7 exciting and interesting facts about little old me!

1. I have a phobia of water - not washing water (!) but large bodies of water like rivers, canals etc. I really don't like boats or even walking alongside waterways. It's strange really as I can swim but don't like to!

2. I LOVE charity shops, jumble sales, fleas markets, car boots sales - you get the picture. My ideal day would be to get up and go charity shopping all day. In fact when we were in New York recently we managed to find a flea market. I saw a beautiful bike but we couldn't get it home :)

3. I used to rock climb, abseil and go caving but I haven't been for years (I used to do it in the Guides). I really like the adrenaline rush!

4. I used to be 16st and a size 20/22 but now I'm 12 and a bit stone and a size 14/16. I'd like to get down another dress size and tone up a bit but don't we all!

5. Gosh this is hard! I love reading and used to read a book a day before the children came along but now it's limited to a chapter or two before bed.

6. I like Granny Chic dressing - even though I am only 30!



7. I love vintage ephemera - in fact any ephemera - but especially postcards, recipe books, ledgers, letters, autograph books etc etc. I also like using etc a lot!

There - I'm not going to tag anyone but if you would like to have a go just leave a comment and I'll come and have a look. If you want to see my last 7 facts then they are here.

blurgh!

Still feeling a bit poorly but much better than I was this morning at least. I haven't been sick since last night so that's good and I managed to walk up to and back from nursery so I can't be that bad! I have swapped my jeans for my pajama bottoms though as the jeans pressed into my stomach too much! We have been reading, watching telly and just generally slobbing out this afternoon. I'll be back tomorrow no doubt!

Lists

I am always writing lists - shopping lists, to do lists, to make lists, things to buy in town lists etc etc I always feel guilty however when things aren't crossed off as quickly as I would like. Today I have decided that I will write a list of all the things I have done today (including boring things) so that I can see exactly what I do do in one day and then hopefully I won't feel guilty about not crossing things off my list!
I'll edit this post just before I go to bed tonight so you can see what I have done today - it's up to 12 things already!

Right here is the list - I've edited it now so things should make a bit more sense and I've moved the picture from at the end to the middle where it breaks up the long list! Also I was feeling sick and went to bed early - that's why there are no entries after 8.30

Showered 6.40

Got dressed

Made breakfast

Punched some paper flowers from a Cath Kidston catalogue

Loaded dishwasher and switched it on

Got girls dressed

Brush teeth

Straighten hair (don’t do it every day!)

Hung washing up on airer

Checked emails

Moderated comments on cuteable

Cleaned downstairs loo

Cut out cardboard for tags

Walked Anya up to nursery 8.40

Posted letters

Wrote a brief swirlyarts blog post

Responded to some emails

Put a load of washing on

Finished punching out flowers

Got Tara a snack of raisins

Made two banana cakes

Unloaded dishwasher

Cleaned up kitchen after baking

Put dirty cake making things in dishwasher

Sorted out some mags/newspapers to go into recycling

Changed Tara’s nappy

Made a cup of tea

Sat down and read emails

Sent out Cuteable advertising details to people

Picked up the pins that Tara managed to scatter all over the sofa!!

Swore as I find a pin stuck into my bum that I didn’t pick up

Hung next load of washing outside

Opened sites/pages for Cuteable article

Took cakes out of oven

Walked up to get Anya from nursery 11.15

Sliced up cakes – 1 to go in freezer.

Sat and read Now magazine for 10 mins while girls play

Made lunch and ate it! 12.20

Wrote Cuteable post

Responded to more emails

Cleared up lunch things and got some cake for girls

Looked through my blog reader ready for tomorrows clinks post

Asked a question on the crafts forum

Checked the Etsy forums

More emailing

Sorted some Flickr photo’s

Changed Tara’s nappy and put her for a snooze 1.15

Tidied our bedroom and put away the mountain of clothes piled up!

Hoovered our bedroom

Played with the girls for an hour or so while we were stripping the beds

Stripped the beds!

Sorted some stuff for the charity shop

Put the clothes in the dining room into baskets to go upstairs to be put away

Moderated some cuteable comments

Checked my email

Listed a OOAK doorstop on Etsy

Tidied up front room and kitchen

Put more stuff in the dishwasher and put it on again

Put potatoes on for tea 5.05

Moderated more cuteable comments

Through moderating comments I found a new blog for my reader!

Read some more of my magazine while tea was cooking

Had tea

Googled crafty tattoo’s as I am researching my next one!

Tidied up the tea things

Went upstairs to get the girls (and myself) in jama’s

Made our bed

Sorted the rest of the clothes out to put away

Put Anya’s clothes away while talking to Matt on phone

Put Tara to bed

Read story to Anya and put her to bed

Checked emails 7.15

Emptied dishwasher and wiped surfaces down

Swept floor and put another load of washing on

Wrote tomorrow’s clinks post for Cuteable

Updated blog 8.30

These next 2 things I did all day - managing grumpy children who don’t want to do what I ask them to and also all day sorting out bickering with them or just watching them play – I didn’t want to detail all of those things separately!

I have also counted the number of things done and it reaches an impressive 77 things! Hmmm, next time I am feeling down about not crossing things off my list then perhaps I should have a look here!

How wonderful....

...for it to be 6.30 in the evening and to have 2 girls fast asleep in their beds and for me to be in my pajama's too! The girls are very very tired at the moment so I decided to get them upstairs straight after tea. I'll probably regret it in the morning when they are both up extra early but we will see!

I'm posting also to show you the idea I have had for the children's dictionary I bought yesterday at the car boot sale. Tags would've been nice but then you would have got detail but missed the overall picture. My normal envelopes would've worked but again not much of the overall illustrations. Enter the super douper bubble envelopes!

Front view

Back view. They are lined with double thickness bubble wrap so will protect my items going out. What do you think? I'm not going to be selling these at the moment unless you think they would do well but if you want some custom requirements with letters of your choice then let me know!!

Shopping and orange dress!

We will start with the photo of me in my fab orange and yellow towelling dress that I bought at the jumble sale on the 'fill a black bag for £2 day' so it worked out at about 10p!! My kind of bargain! The girls had to be in the photograph too - Tara is copying my cheesy grin! Close up of the fabric below.


At the car boot I bought an autograph book from 1918 - I love vintage ephemera! My favourite 2 pictures are below although there is a sewing related one that I love in my Flickr photostream.



I also got an old dictionary which has some lovely illustrations but I haven't yet decided what to do with it - tags maybe but I will see.



I also bought a baby set for the girls consisting of a highchair, travel cot and a baby swing. It also came with a doll for Anya as she doesn't have one (Bo has always been her baby but she has wanted a doll for a little while now.) It was the best £5 I have spent. Tara is feeding her doll as I type and they spent a long time yesterday playing with it. I'm sure it will be played with when Anya gets back from nursery too.


I also went shopping with Alex in the afternoon to Boundry Mill as it is moving to a new site and everything was meant to be a bargain - it wasn't but I got two things for me and the rest was presents. I bought some knickers for me (which you won't be seeing!) and a fabulous bright pink knitted shrug from Windsmoor for £5! I'm sure it will be featured in some clothes photo's of me at some stage.

Bye for now.

Tired.....

...after all that shopping so the post is being delayed until tomorrow. All the photographs are uploaded so it should be fairly easy to do! I'm off to bed now to curl up with Matt and yesterday's papers! Night night!

Car boot fun!

We are going out shortly to a local car boot that is always full of stuff and I'm hoping to find some bargains! Then this afternoon I might be going out shopping to Boundry Mill with Alex - it's moving to a new site and today is the last day at the old site and they want to get rid of everything. Expecting some bargains there too!
I'll be back later with details of any bargains and to show you a photo of the fabulous orange towelling dress I am wearing - Ruth will tell you it's fab :)

I nearly wet myself laughing!!

I was on my way out to Asda today and decided to take Tara with me as Anya was quite happy sitting with Matt watching Chicken Run. Anyway all was quiet so I looked in the dining room - no Tara. I looked in the bedrooms - no Tara. I came back downstairs to check that she hadn't gone back into the front room - no Tara. Aha thought I 'She will be in her pushchair' (her favourite thing at the moment is climbing up into it to read her book). So I checked there - no Tara. Then I checked in the downstairs loo and this is what I found!!! Bless - she must have been sleepy to fall asleep there!!



And she was snoring too! I have no idea what she was doing in there in the first place! And yes she does have her dressing gown on although it was 4pm - she likes to wear it round the house over her normal clothes.

Happy Birthday!

To my gorgeous man


From your lovely girls


Happy Birthday Matt.

And order is restored!

Phew! And there wasn't too much whining either!

It runs in families......

.......messy behaviour! Or at least that's what I think this little lot is down too!

Anya and Tara taking a break from crafting and looking after their babies to read a story. And this was all done in the space of 20 mins while I put the shopping away! Amazing then that it will take 3 of us and about half an hour to put it all away!!

Life just gets in the way!

Well I was doing so well at blogging everyday or at least every other day but life has a way of getting, well, in the way! Nothing big has been happening here but we've just been incredibly busy and some of it has been crafting I'm pleased to say. I've also sold a few more things on Etsy so I'm pleased about that too. I don't have any photographs of the recent crafting but here are some dinosaur themed notecards that will be in the shop soon.


I am also busy making presents for a friend who turns 30 this coming weekend. I will obviously post photographs after the event because I know she reads this blog!

Well now I know how it feels!

To be featured on a blog other than my own. Ok it has happened before but only now that I have Cuteable do I appreciate how nice it actually is! The lovely Skully from Autonomous Artisans mentioned my work - specifically my vintage flower Cheeky Chicken doorstop. It's really nice when crafters of the world unite. Thanks Skully :)

Speaking of crafting, I have actually been making some things of my own! Yesterday I whipped up these little beauties to add to the tasty tags section of my shop. I'd found the Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales book in the post office on Monday (it sells books on behalf of the local hospice) and it just jumped into my hands and begged to be made into envelopes! I took the pages out that were good enough to use for envelopes (they haven't been made yet) and the little illustrations were turned into the tags you see below. I also have some more tags to come but that will be (depending on sunlight) tomorrows post.

The illustrations are very varied and I love the one of the Tinderbox dog. To see more photo's then check out my flickr photo's or my Etsy shop.

I've also been making different kinds of envelopes but that will have to wait until I have made a few more - just photographing one doesn't work too well! I'll leave you with some more chickens - notecards available in the shop!

Quick Flickr Tutorial

To show you how to upload your photographs to groups. First you will need to go to the individual photo page that looks like this.

Then just above the photo is a row of grey commands - one of them says send to group. Click on it and something like this will come up.


Just click on the group that you want to send the photo to - then something like this will come up to confirm that you have sent it to that group. Just click OK.

You can easily see which groups your photo is in by looking to the right of the photo and a list will come up - see below!


Now this method works really well if you only have a few photo's to upload to a group - I'll now show you how to use the organize section for uploading photo's to groups.

You'll need to look at the top of your photo's page and in the main section there is an organize button. Click on it and it will take you to the page below.

Your photo's come up along the bottom and all you need to do is drag them into the grey section in the middle. Once you have put your photo's into the middle then there is another send to group button - at the right on the pic below.

Do that and the instructions are just the same as the individual photo upload. If you drag a photo in that you don't want then simply drag it back out again. You can also change the permissions on your photographs from the organize section - it makes it much easier to do a batch at once.

I'm writing this tutorial as some people aren't sure how to upload photo's to groups and rather than tell each person individually then I can just direct them here!! Don't forget to visit my groups on Flickr too UK Craftsforum, Children's art and craft, Cuteable and Etsy Treasury Screenshots.

Hope this helps - shout if not - and feel free to link to this and tell other people!

It's amazing!

How much the weather can change from day to day. Yesterday it was snowing, hailing and raining but with bits of blue sky in between. Today the sun is out and the sky is a beautiful blue colour. It's still cold out there - hat and scarf weather for girls - but the washing is out and I'll be outside later taking photographs. It's amazing what a bit of sun can do!

I was very busy last night and yesterday finishing off little bits that have seemed to drag on forever. I have no photographs of these things yet as the sun hasn't hit the garden yet but when it does I'll take some pics!

Here's a picture of a card I made for my friend Jennie. I wanted to use up some of my larger buttons (of which I have a lot!) and I like the design but I'm not sure about the colouring in. The card I use is slightly 'ribbed' and the colour doesn't sit quite right on it. I do hope you know what I'm talking about here!! I'm going to try a different design but still using large buttons and I might try felt tipped pens to see if that makes a difference.

Right well I have an Etsy order to fill so I'd better go and crack on with that!

Yucky snow

I think it's well documented that I don't like snow. It's pretty to look at if I am inside, snuggly warm under a blanket but I don't like having to go out in it. Luckily the sun keeps coming out nice and bright in between snow flurries so it is melting - yeah!!

This is the beautiful lady that Anya made for me for Mother's Day. It's gorgeous and I think I'm going to use it as a bookmark. I also got some daffodils from Tara and a Gerbera from Anya. They were a nice suprise as Matt took Anya out to get some shopping and he came back with those - so thanks darlings!

On Friday Anya has to dress up as a nursery rhyme character as it is book week so I have had lots of ideas. I haven't got time to make a costume though so we raided the dressing up boxes. This is what we came up with!

Tara is Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater, Anya is the cat from Hey Diddle Diddle and I am the Ladybird from Ladybird, Ladybird, Fly Away Home! Obviously only Anya will be dressing up on Friday but we all had to try costumes on for fun!

And I'll leave you with a photograph of what we had on Friday night for tea. Smiley face pizza!