Author: craftyguider

Button Swap Parcel!

This morning I got a lovely parcel in the post from Sarah-Jane, my popular crafts magazine button swap partner.   Poor thing had a sewing machine die on her halfway through, but it was definitely worth waiting for!   Details of what I sent are here.

Look at all the gorgeous stitching!

 

The back is equally beautiful.   Beautiful patchwork squares.   I did take a photo but it refused to upload 🙁

Inside is plenty of room for needles, a tape measure and anything else I need to hand.

It’s great doing these swaps and I really recommend signing up.   The current Popular Crafts Magazine one is hearts.   I need to get my thinking cap on.

Baking with the craftyguidelets

My two little girls are my craftyguidelets.   The eldest is 5, and although she’s definitely daddy’s girl, her ambition when she’s a grown up is to be a mummy.   I’m not sure which part of my job she likes, but I must be doing something right!   The youngest is almost 3 and a mummy’s girl.   She can sing a great ‘craftyguider dot com’ jingle.

One of my aims for this year is to bake regularly with the craftyguidelets.   They love baking but I have to make sure they don’t bake together as they are so competitive.   There’s only so much mixing a cake can take, and the step ladder really only takes one girl at a time.

They both joined forces with daddy to make my birthday cake, and this weekend we did more baking.

The 2 year old and I made gluten free toffee chocolate fudge brownie muffins (daddy is gluten intolerant) from Phil Vickery’s fabulous Seriously Good! Gluten Free Baking

pic.twitter.com/Y2pcGQ7B

They taste great whether you eat gluten or not.

The 5 year old chose a gluten free light sponge from the book.   I think she was swayed by the icing on the top.   This didn’t go as well as the muffins.   I think I need to experiment more with oven temperatures and timings, but we ended up with a nice cake.

The icing is actually pink, but it’s a bad photo.

She’s part of the fifth or sixth generation of bakers in our family.   My dad is a master baker and confectioner so it’s in her genes!

Owl Swap Parcel!

I received a lovely parcel today from Kerry @craftsftheath.   She’s my Popular Crafts Magazine owl craft swap partner.

I opened it up and look at all the gorgeous goodies I’ve got!

The owl is a beautifully stitched needlecase and I also have some lovely buttons and ribbons for my stash.   I love the grey square buttons!

And I’ve just seen that the next swap has been announced on the Popular Crafts website.   Hearts this time!   I’m off to sign up.

Owl Swap

While I was at the post office with my button swap, I took my Popular Crafts owl swap too.   It doesn’t have to be there until the end of next month, but I prepared it at the same time so I thought I’d get it out of the way before I forgot it!

Of course my owl had to be one of my babies.   This is Ruby.   Her brothers and sisters will miss her terribly, especially her identical twin sister, also called Ruby!

The goodies are from my local habby again.   A handmade crochet flower, some butterfly trim, and a gorgeous floral ribbon.

The owl swap is still open until the end of January and your swap needs to be sent before the end of February.   Give it a go!

Button Swap

One of the things on my four-one list was to participate in a swap.   I’ve seen so many blogs where people have crafted something for someone and got a wonderful gift in return, so when I saw the Popular Crafts Magazine mentioned on twitter, I took the plunge and applied.

The button swap was just about to close so I sneaked in at the last minute.   I’ve made button hair clips for my website so I thought I’d make something like that.   However, when I got my swap partner’s details and likes, I thought of my decopatch kit I’d bought before Christmas.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo including the detail on the box.   It’s a heart shaped lidded box with a great red and black lacy pattern.   I chose some red and black buttons for the lid from my stash to go on the top.   I really enjoyed trying decopatch for the first time so I’ll definitely be hurrying back to the kit when I get time.

I also had to choose a treat to buy to go along with it so I went to my fantastic local habby and bought some orange and black handmade fimo beads and some assorted charms.

Fingers crossed she likes them!

(That’s got ‘participating in a swap’ and ‘adding photos to my blog’ ticked off the list!)

List Update – Four one plus some!

Going well

  • Crafting with the craftyguidelets – they did stickers, a windchime, started decorating a jewellery box and aquadoodles.   I started decopatch!
  • Birthday cards and presents on time (just!)
  • Blog commenting – when technology complies, I do
  • Fresh flowers in the house (thanks hubby!)
  • The exercise bike is no longer a clothes horse and the laundry is moving from laundry bin to washing machine to wardrobes much quicker now.
  •  The lacy scarf is the prescribed length but I’d like it longer.   Next on the needles are probably the socks.
  • My bread is coming along well and tastes so much better than everything except my dad’s, but as he’s a master baker and confectioner, I’ll let myself off that!   OK, baby sis and bruv’s bread is good too, but I don’t want to let them get big headed!
  • My food management is going well.   Some of my meal offerings at the moment are a bit samey, but once I’ve gone through what’s there, it’ll  be easier.
  • I’ve spent 2 days sorting out my office admin and I now know I’ve raised about £130 for the Guides since September.

Finished

  • My button and owl themed swaps from Popular Crafts are en route.
  • The badge machine is now here and I’ve made a couple of badges for the craftguidelets.

Going badly!

  • Exercise daily (hmmm!)

Most of the other bits are going OK.   I’m currently watching Dancing on Ice on Sky+ so I’m always working!   With 41 items on the list, it’s a bit of a challenge for me, but I’ll be realistic and do my best like the good Guide I am.

The big four-one

Last January I turned 40.   It wasn’t a big deal.   It looks a mean old number, but as long as I don’t feel 40, I think that’s fine.   This January I am 41.   This is worse as I am now ‘in my forties’.   I still don’t feel old enough to be a grown up though as I believe the saying – growing old is compulsory, growing up is not.

As I wasn’t blogging for my landmark birthday, I’ll have to do my list of things I want to achieve in my 42nd year on the planet now.

  1. Knit a pair of socks
  2. Learn crochet
  3. Organise craft area of office
  4. Improve my jewellery making
  5. Blog at least weekly
  6. Start adding pictures to the blog
  7. Learn machine embroidery
  8. Scrapbook regularly
  9. Bake bread regularly
  10. Bake with the craftyguidelets weekly
  11. Send birthday cards and presents on time
  12. Take part in a swap
  13. Tame the magazine mountain
  14. Knit a hat
  15. Knit gloves
  16. Use up my lavender stash
  17. Begin gardening again
  18. Finish soon to be 3 year old craftyguidelet’s birth sampler
  19. Finish her Silvermist costume
  20. Make an item of clothing for me
  21. Comment on people’s blogs more, as I love it when they comment on mine
  22. Keep food waste to a minimum
  23. Cook at least one ‘effort’ meal a week
  24. Keep up with my housework app
  25. Weekly craft days with the craftyguidelets
  26. Exercise daily
  27. Regularly get fresh flowers
  28. Start badge making
  29. Make more time for friends
  30. Try felting
  31. Don’t use the exercise bike as a clothes horse
  32. Decorate our bedroom and bathroom
  33. Buy handmade/local and make more gifts
  34. Listen to more music
  35. Sort my office admin area
  36. Finish the lacy scarf before it gets too warm to wear it
  37. Meet up with some tweeps
  38. Clear my sky+ backlog
  39. Make more desserts
  40. Start Christmas preparations  in July
  41. Never put off until tomorrow something I can do today

I know lots of these are vague and not easy to tick off, but it’s something to aim for.   Wish me luck.   I’m going in!

Becoming craftyguider

One of my milestones of 2011 was becoming @craftyguider last April.   I had an ipod for a present and hubby kept talking about twitter.   It finally clicked that it wasn’t just about people saying ‘I’m making a cup of tea’, ‘I’m drinking my cup of tea’, ‘think I’ll watch deal or no deal in a second’.   Twitter has opened up another world to me.   I’ve ‘met’ some wonderful people on there, learned new things, been inspired to try new things, and most importantly, been able to chat with people when I needed it most.

The biggest change in my life inspired by twitter was launching Craftyguider.com (mainly thanks to @meanyjar and @duckingfabulous).   Craft has become a therapy for me, but there is a limit to the amount of birthday cards I need to make for my friends and family.   The website is where I can make lots of gorgeous things and then sell them on to raise money for a good cause.   My darling husband set up, deleted, and then relaunched my website for me.   It has boosted my confidence no end and he gets to see the stock that I make leave the house and not come back!

At the end of 2011, I was lucky enough to win #wwbizoftheday with the newly launched WW Business Network and a new logo for the website from Yarm Web Design on the same day.   Today I got the news that I’ve been shortlisted for the Purple Dog Network #purplebiz.   I want to make Craftyguider a proper business that is taken seriously.   I have lots of plans for the website, new stock and new ideas for 2012.   Keep watching!

Even more love!!

Having got a lovely Liebster award from the talented meanyjar, I’ve just got another one from the lovely SoStaceySews who I nominated for my award.   Thank you so much Stacy!

This of course means that I get to choose another 5 bloggers who get to recommend their favourite five.   It was hard narrowing down my last selection to five, so I get another go!!!

I discovered Flossie Teacakes today and was blown away!   I ordered two PDF patterns (oh my ever growing WIP list!), and I’m going to get some shirring elastic when I’m crafty shopping next.

Daffodils and Snowdrops is currently blogging about her advent swap goodies.   Definitely something I want to do next year.   She makes gorgeous stuff and is a fellow meanyjar speedboat owner.

Fellow twister team member and library biscuit muncher Mummy Misfit who is an author so that makes her a ‘sleb compared to me.   Both her books are on my Christmas list!   Please Father Christmas. I’ve been a very good girl…

Sew Scrumptious is a wonderful crafter who is organising pillow case dresses to be sent to girls living in poverty around the world.   A definite service project for my Guides next year.

The fantastic Flower Mammy who became mammy to Flower’s baby bruv this week.   Her blog may be a bit on the quiet side at the moment, but is good when she’s on full throttle.

Thanks Stacy for the opportunity to do it all again!

Work in Progress

I haven’t made new year resolutions for years as I always made unachievable goals that got me down when I inevitably failed at them.   This year, to coincide with my birthday which is in the new year, I’ll be sharing my list of aims for 2012.

One of these aims will be based on getting my Work in Progress (WIP) load down.  I currently have numerous kits from magazines I want to do, as well as a fancy dress costume for the youngest craftyguidelet from a year ago, and her birth sampler cross stitch I started over three years ago.   Added to that are some flannels that need embroidering for a friend and her son, and some fabric to make into a present for her too.

I also have half finished kits.   I’m sure I’ve got a load of candle wax stashed somewhere, and card making decoupage pages.

I keep promising to make things for me and the craftyguidelets.   Add some Barbie sleeping bags, various princess fancy dress costumes, quilts, clothes for me, mini bunting for the kitchen and hundreds of other things.

I am also a sucker for new things.   On the pile of new crafts to try I have a decoupage kit and a jewellery making kit.   I bought felt for Christmas decorations for the website, and I’ve also got some lovely lavender to go in lavender bags.   I’ve got a large collection of craft magazines inspiring me to try things, and some wool to make mittens, a scarf and a phone case.

Work in progress?   Unfortunately there’s not a lot of progress!