freecycle sewing machine and first project

today i got the sewing machine off freecycle, not the one i was expecting as the woman said it didnt work so she gave me another one.......a very old singer sewing machine, my dear mum had one years ago, i think it should be in a museum for old sewing machines myself but as i cannot buy one yet and it works, i will keep it and use it until i can get a new one.
anyway my first project was a raggy doll, in primitive style, so i cut up a pillowcase, like you do, and set about making the doll, turning her little thin arms and legs in the right way were an achievement on there own, a knitting needle came in handy for that job and getting the stuffing inside them.her dress is an old blouse of mine that never saw the light of day, the image on her apron is a cut out from a piece of material with images of sarah kay dollies on. as you can tell by her face i have yet to master sewing faces onto things. anyway i still like her and her quirky looking face, her name is gemima.
she may be my first project but she will not be my last one

happy new year

first of all i would like to apologise for the long gap in my blog, bad blogger!!!!!
now to business;
happy new year to everyone and may 2010 be a good year for you all, anything has got to be better than the year thats just ended, steve lost his job, i had to do extra shifts to make up for some of the money we didnt have coming in. ohh well thats life.
the good news is we got a kitten in november, called pedro, he is a long haired fluffball, dark brown in colour and is very lively, loves climbing the clothes airer, lol.
not much scrapping has taken place apart from ukscrappers cybercrop, i got loads done and loved every mad minute of it, big thanks to my sister niki for letting me stay at her house for the entire weekend.
our christmas was ok, could have been better but wasnt that bad for a christmas on a very tight budget. the worse present i got was swine flu 3 days after christmas, still suffering now, damn you swine flu, damn you.
i have a bit of good news, i went on to my local freecycle group and have got an electic sewing machine coming today, the lovely lady is even bringing it to my house, how sweet is she:)
i have printed out some simple patterns to get me started as i havent used a machine for years, got to start somewhere.
i have been knitting things like a snowman, rabbit, angel and a scarf which is an ojgoing project lol.
i seriously need to buy some black double knit wool for this 18 inch dress up doll which comes with a wardrobe of clothes i am making my grand daughter for her birthday.
anyway thats the last few months of 2009 for me, written in a few sentences, not bad ehh.
last but not least, i am now just waiting for my NVQ4 certificate to be posted to me then i have the qualification i have been waiting months for.

my mojo is back at last

hooray, my lovely creative mojo has come back after quite a while of going in hiding.
i suspect it went missing because i have been very busy at work, in august i went on a works holiday with 4 kids, see bottom for pics

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here is a 5x7 canvas i made today, i used sassafrass papers, flowers and gold gems. it is going to be hung in my lounge when it has been decorated.

above are a couple of pictures from my holiday, i could quite easily have stayed up there, the scenery was to die for, the people were all friendly and the homemade pork pies were divine.

leeds castle minibook

i had such a lovely time at leeds castle with steve, yazmin and nic that i thought i would make a minibook to keep some of the photos in but what to use to make the minibook. not enough mountboard left to make a book ( note to self, remember to go to lovely framers to pick up some free mountboard) but then i spotted a cardboard box that a parcel had came in, so i got to work cutting it up to make the pages for my book, tearing some of the top layer off to reveal the corrugated part of the box. i was going to bind it using my bia but the cardboard was too thick for it so i used my cropodile instead and used bookrings.

i used left over papers, the frame on the front page is actually a magnetic frame from poundland, 6 for £1.00, bit of a bargain i thought.

here are some pics of said book.

Tutu tantram

Below is a pic of my daughter, Yazmin, dressed in her party outfit, all her friends were going out to celebrate one of their 18th birthdays and the theme was coloured tutu's. I made the tutu after she said she wouldn't buy one and asked if i can make one for her, yeah no problem i said.... ha. Luckily i turned out ok and her friends loved it and one of them even said she didn't believe that i had made it, she thought Yazmin had brought it from a shop, now thats a compliment seen as i only finished it thursday night and they went out on friday night.

shopping expedition

today i went shopping with my sister,kath. she asked me the other day and yesterday we arranged for her to pick me up at 10am, well i set my alarm for 7.30 thinking thats enough time to bath, get dressed and do some housework before i leave, no chance, i woke up at 9.15, rushed for a bath, got dressed had my usual coffee and cigarette then it was time to go.

we went to the sugar and spice shop, pinnacle crafts and artbase, all i can say is wow, i felt like a kid in a sweetshop, never been to any of these shops before but am hoping i will go again. they were all overflowing with gorgeous stash which i will admit i bought loads of, it would be rude not to i thought.

below are pics of all the lovely stash i bought.

this is all the lovely stash i brought from the sugar and spice shop which was the first port of call. bargain of the day was the pack of 20 sheets of the whitewash 12x12 card, half price at £4.99 and a huge pack of scallop card in lots of colours for £9.99.

this huge and very heavy pile of stash was bought in pinnacle crafts, the bargains in this shop were the 3 packs of co-ordinating kits for £9.99 each instead of £19.99 each, i got then in pink, teal and blasck and white, they are full of papers, card and loads of embellishments. ohh and a huge pack of patterned paper for £9.99, ideal for layouts and cards alike.

and last but not least was this pile of stash from artbase, note the basic grey stamps with the birdcages on, i had been looking out for them everywhere and now i am the very proud owner of a set, woohoo.

what a great day i had and a huge thank you goes to kath and her boyfriend andrew who drove us there.

more cards

here are some cards i made today in my new craft room, with my new stamps and coloured in using my promarkers.