Mosaics and Moody Blues

I gave you a glimpse of a card design I was working on last week and today I have the finished article to share.

Easy to put together with the matching stamps and punch. I stamped a selection of mosaic “tiles”, punched them out and layered onto the embossed background. It’s the type of card I tend to make up in advance, ready to add a sentiment when I need it. I made another in navy blue which could be seen in the previous post.

I was very lucky to win a blog giveaway last week and this gorgeous stack of Fat Quarters arrived in the post a few days ago. Eight fabrics from the new Cloud 9 Moody Blues collection, courtesy of Dragonfly fabrics and Handmade Jane.

Now here’s a funny thing. I’ve followed Jane’s blog for quite a while, with no idea that we had a connection, other than our shared interest in sewing. It turns out that we have several mutual friends and lived in the same town at the same time, studying at the same college, yet we never met. What are the chances?

Have a lovely weekend.

Me on Monday ~ The Whitsun Edition

A day late waving to Sian after the long weekend. It started on Friday.

It was a shirt signing, face painting.....

.....sunshine enjoying, curry simmering.....

.....new t-shirt wearing, beach walking, ice cream eating.....

.....shower dodging, board game playing sort of weekend.

Hope yours was a good one too.

PS I have been trying to publish this post since yesterday lunch time to no avail. I have given up with Live Writer as I think that is where the problem lies. I've been blogging with its help for so many years now that I've forgotten how to use Blogger. I have no clue how this will look. Hoping for the best as I hit publish.

WOYWW ~ The 6th Anniversary Crop

This time last week I was on my way to spend the day with these lovely ladies.

From L to R, standing: Dolores, Julia, Helen, Me, Kyla, Morti, Mary Anne, Sam, Fiona, Lisa, Cindy, Debbie, Chris, Jan, Margaret. Front row: Lisa-Jane and Zoe

I travelled light. Taking only my hexies kit.

Well I needed room for all the cake.

Zoe was celebrating her 40th birthday weekend with us. Her football team were on the verge of promotion and she’d coloured her hair, ready for Wembley the following day. All proceeds from the crop went to the charity she is fundraising for.

There was fun and laughter, a fabulous lunch, more cake…..

…..and even some crafting.

Thanks go to Jan for all her hard work in organising the day, cooking up a storm and serving that lunch. To Julia for bringing us all together in the first place, keeping us in drinks and being such a charming host. To everyone that came along and made it the wonderful day it was. A special mention to Shaz and Janet who weren’t able to stay for the whole day and didn’t make an appearance in the group photo.

Some images shamelessly stolen borrowed from Jan and Zoe. Thank you.

Pairs ~ First and Last

Today seems like a good day to share a pair of photos for Helena’s meme.

My boy, dressed as one of Starfleet’s finest, on his last day of secondary school.

And here he is on his first.

Blink and you’ll miss it.

What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday #311

And just like that it’s Wednesday again…..

This is what my kitchen table looked like yesterday. The little mosaic stamps are retiring so they are having a last hurrah in class today. The panel I’m assembling here is for a monochrome card. The ink pads at the top were used in a more colourful version. I’ll miss those colours, but look forward to some new ones.

I finished the commissioned feather cards. Sorry to see these stamps go. They are a big favourite of mine. You may have noticed!

On Saturday it was the WOYWW 6th Anniversary crop and I’ll be back with more on that at the end of the week. Linking up with Julia. Happy Wednesday.

Me on Monday ~ The Sixteen Candles Edition

My sweet girl turned sixteen today…..

….which meant you’d have found me baking a chocolate cake.

Today is also the beginning of the last full week of school for both children. Half Term next week, followed by Study Leave, during which they will only go in for exams. All change around here.

Waving to Sian and happy to see that the zippy bag has arrived safely. I wonder if any of you guessed where it might end up?

Sewing on Saturday ~ Little Houses

Remember that little project I started earlier in the week? Ta dah! I finished it.

It took three sessions. One to cut the fabric and interface the pieces. One *slightly* longer session to put in (and take out!) the zip. A final one to sew it all together and turn the right way round. Ideal for little windows of creative time during the week.

All the zippy bags I’ve sewn, up until now, have followed pretty much the same method as the first one I did. This time I did a few things differently.

Used interfacing that didn’t make the fabric feel like cardboard, once I’d ironed it on. Held the zip in place with Wonder clips. That worked well. Avoiding the slight distortion of pins in the zip tape, while cutting out the extra step of gluing it in place. Added end covers to the zip. I think they give a lovely professional finish.

The thing I find the trickiest, when putting in zips, is keeping an even distance away from the zip teeth. Ideally the width of yellow zip tape on show would be the same all the way along. It wasn’t! I unpicked it and tried again. The result was much the same. I’ve got a new zip foot now so no excuses.

I start close to the teeth and then worry that I’m too close and veer away from them as I head towards the other end. A fact which those lovely zip covers highlight all too well. Did you notice that all my photos show one end or the other and not both in the same shot? Creative cropping! I’m counting on the cute fabric to divert attention away from this flaw. Of course I’ve pointed it out now. Shh! Don’t tell.