Oh yes, I've got a blog!!!

Oh dear, oh dear, I've barely started this blog thing, and now I've not posted for absolute ages. Tut, tut! Well, it started because we went on holiday. And a lovely time we had, too. Weather was mixed at first, then really sunny and hot, we did loads of different things, and the girls didn't want to come home in the end. Once we were home, the usual washing-and-ironing-clothes marathon started, then the weather here was quite good, so kids were outside all the time, and youngest daughter does still need to be watched when she's playing in the front with all the big girls. So no housework and no crafting got done for a long time, so nothing to post about either. Well, that's not strictly true, I made a few gifts for friends of ours who were returning to the US, but they were made in a last-minute rush, so I never had a chance to take photos. And so the weeks dragged on, and now the kids are nearly back at school, and I'm thinking "what have I got to show for my holidays?" So here are a few bits and pieces I've made today.



Well, this one is my first attempt at a challenge from the Daring Cardmakers Blog. This week, we were challenged to use frills on our cards, anything from lace, ribbon to paper frills. I made a flower from sheer ribbon, with a bead in the middle, another one with loops of ribbon and I added a length of lace to the message panel. Hope this qualifies. Paper and cardstock are DCWV, ribbon, lace, button and bead are of unknown origin. I inked all round the card and patterned paper panel to tie the whole design together.

I also made this card, just to have some more cards to hand for card emergencies, and it nearly ended in disaster. There is a greeting neatly hidden under the butterfly panel - I experimented and it went disastrously wrong. Well, it's hidden now, the greeting is on the other side, and I think it's actually quite a nice little card.

And then I decorated this neat little expandable file which I bought at ASDA for the bargain price of £1.47! It holds A5 size paper and has 12 compartments, so I thought it would be a great wee place to store birthday cards for the whole year (if I'm ever going to be organized enough to make cards ahead of time and not last minute...)

Finally, I've also started a kind of mini-album following Ali Edwards' project "Daily Something". The idea is to establish a daily creative routine and tell one of the many stories we experience every day. So it's not like a diary, really, you just pick one thing and document it in whichever way you fancy. That appealed to me: I do want to craft more regularly, and small, manageable project seem a good idea. I grabbed an A5 ring binder, decorated the front and started working. It's become a nearly daily thing - some kids' stuff put a halt to it middle of this week. But I'll pick it up again, and I'll show some photos once I've managed to take some good ones.

Well, that's it for today, and I will try to be a better blogger and crafter from now on!