Life can be cruel, it's not odd for us to face times of troubles, times of pain, times when we crave an escape.
Perhaps your struggle is not something you share with others, perhap's its very personal and you deal with it alone. Do you have pain in your life that needs soothing, do you just need to find something that offers a moment's peace. Could a hobby be just what you need? When I sit down to do some paper craft I zone out. My breathing calms, my mind clears and all the days troubles fade. Creatively I come alive, I work quietly without fear of judgement. I am in my own little world. Could you be in need of this?. Could paper craft be your therapy?, Could any craft be your therapy? How will you know if you haven't tried yet?. Life can be cruel if your struggling I urge you to try something it doesn't have to be papercraft perhaps gardening or even the simple act of making a cake can offer you a moment of inner peace. With this long Easter weekend take a little time out go create I dare you.
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On Saturday I headed to Yandles with the West Country Wood Carvers. Yandles is an amazing place a mix of barns with wood and wood supplies, craft and art supplies. Several times a year they host a few different craft events. This time it consisted of wood carvers, turner's and other wood related crafts. Some of the big names in wood related machinery as well a few other crafts. Craft demonstrations such as quilling, all sorts of wood demonstrations, decoupage, wool spinning, knitting stalls,plus an incredible artist. This event along with the fabulous supplies shop and expert help within the shops made it a great event. As well as demonstrations you could have a try at a few crafts. I met Jill Lackford a local crafter who had a fabulous table Set up (picture below) with quilling goodies. You could have a go and buy what you needed to try it out. I didn't have a go sadly as it's something id really like to try. But I will one day!. Somerset wool had come along with some lovely hand dyed wool. You could also try some decoupage, a big colouring table had been set up to try out some different pens. I tried a few as I'm looking for some water colour pens. Plus the shop had 10% off! So please if you are an undecided crafter who has yet to find the right craft for you this could be just what you need a chance to see lots of different crafts and have a little go. Now let's talk wood. I've touched on it slightly before but not really gone in to much detail. I've been carving for nearly a year now. In all honesty I need a lot of help but actually coming to Yandles has got me thinking about the other types of crafts you can do with wood. With this blog post I am just going to talk about the day but I'll be coming back to some things as i try them. Wood turning I have no doubt that wood turning is craft on the rise. Actually I will admit to not really having a massive knowledge about wood turning but I was amazed at some of the examples I saw. If you are at all interested in wood turning then I would take a peek at www.awgb.co.uk which is the association of wood turner's of great Britain. They are passionate about wood turning and can point you in the right direction to find something local to you. Wood carving At Yandles I noticed a few sellers of carved creations but mainly items are for display with demonstrations. Both the West Country Wood Carvers and Exeter Woodcarvers had come along to share what they had made and are on hand to answer questions. Is wood carving a dying craft? No way but it's always in need of new people to pass on its skills. I spoke for some time with some members of Exeter wood carvers. In fact they had some great interactive carvings. They are a very friendly bunch keen to help those who would like to learn or further what skills they already have. These are just a few pictures of what they have been up to. Amazing work and if you are in the South Devon area click on the link to find out more or find them on facebook https://www.facebook.com/exeterwoodcarvers/. More local to me then perhaps the West Country Wood Carvers might be of more interest to you. This is Dad carving away and some of the members work. We had lots of members carving and talking to people about what they are doing. I will give you a link to the West Country Wood Carvers page or find them on facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/1761172437457806/. West Country Wood Carvers meet in Radstock and Bristol. If neither of these groups are local to you and you would like more information then head over to http://britishwoodcarversassociation.co.uk/. I promise I will share with you what I have been carving with you in a blog soon. So I can conclude I really enjoyed my day at Yandles if you would like more information on Yandles check out this link http://www.yandles.co.uk/about-yandles/13-events. Well thanks for taking the time to read my blog, its a little different from normal and I know I haven't done a paper craft blog for ages so keep checking back as one is coming your way very soon. Take care and keep crafting xx Good morning.
Just a speedy quick post today to let you know I'm taking a little break. My head is buzzing with ideas but my body sadly is not. So I'm taking a little break!. It's half term for me and one of my children and we actually have a few projects at home we need to do. I'm hopeful my children might help so I'm sure I would be back with you soon. Have a lovely weekend thanks as always for your support xxxx Hello it's spring but I'm not really feeling very springy. Outside spring is in full swing. But inside my home I've still got my Valentines bunting up! In my head I was going to make some spring Crochet bunting. In fact I even started to make some but I just didn't like it. So I'm on the look out for something someone else has made. I will let you know how I get on. A granny SHAWlI had a little spring clean, well actually I nearly halved my wardrobe which was kind of worrying although I only took out what I don't like and what no longer fits as I have dropped a dress size over the last year. Which is what made me start my shawl. I really love the idea that I could make something to wear. So the shawl I am hoping will give me the confidence to start a summer cardigan. Stupidly I didn't follow a pattern I just started with 3 tr in a magic circle then I Crochet 3 turned and TR back added 2 TR in each end chain. Now I didn't count how many rows to make but I've reached a length I'm happy with and now need to decrease. But I'm not 100% sure how. Lets hope I figure it out. Painted pots I like to have flowers in the garden and when i saw these large terrigotta pots i knew they would perfect for my girls to decorate. We used acrylic paints and a coat of varnish. Then filled with fresh soil and flowers. We still have one more to finish. If i was doing this again I would use smaller pots as it takes a while and young children might get board. Easter bunting Can you remember the pound shop papers i purchased well i popped them into my silhouette and cut out the words Easter. As always it's been a creative week and busy one with my youngest on half term and I've really enjoyed spending time with her.
I will leave you with some pictures of what I have been up to. Have a lovely weekend every one. Xxx I have a confession to make its the Saturday before mothers day and I have had such a busy week I haven't made any mothers day gifts yet! If you know me personally you will know I have just launched a new facebook page called Create Personalized Gifts which I work on making a range of products and putting together designs and I absolutely love it. Its very different to my business Said Lucy as its personalized photo gifts but that's taken most of my time this week so I'm sat at my desk in my jammies at 7.15 in the morning on my silhouette curio making some presents! The cardMy mother in law likes elephants so it had to be an elephant card. the file above cuts a complete card. But I didn't want a complete card I just wanted the elephant. Now in the software you can use the tools to remove him but I just the machine cut him out then I cut the rest by hand as it was very simple. Next I used the bellissima letter stamps from do crafts to add the word mum to a die cut banner using sizzix dies. Then I used a tonic die and stamp set to make a have a wonderful day sentiment. I did both these using a linen texture paper from sizzix. Lastly I added lots of dots using dovecraft 3d pearl effects. A slate coaster You can etch into slate using the curio but due to slates uneven texture its a little bit hit and miss but I wanted to give it a try for my mother in law. I picked a tribal elephant file by Studio Ilustrado. I sized the file to fit within my coaster and taped the coaster to the curio mat and sent it to cut. With the curio it only has so much pressure it can put into an object. Sadly the cut was to fine to really show up well. My mother in law is partially sighted so I'm sure she wouldn't have seen it. I decided to take a sharpie and do my best over the pattern. You can still see the etched line and its far from perfect but its the thought that counts. A coat of varnish to seal the design and its ready to box up.
I've still got another present to make but I will share that with you next week. What ever you are up to this weekend I hope you have a lovely one. Xxxx For some reason and I'm not sure why but I'm feeling a little brave at the moment. Im learning some new skills and it's challenging me big time!. In fact on Thursday I was so frustrated. Nothing was going right and I was seriously frustrated. A few years ago ( um probably 17!) I took a course called the computer driving license or something like that! It took me round the basics of using a computer. Jump forward to now and I'm saving, cropping, snipping, printing, using software programs and basically just getting back into using a computer for crafting rather than for just blogging. Perhaps that's why I really want to learn to use my cutting machines for things I haven't before. In fact my creative motivation is massive at the moment. But my creativity isn't restricted to just my cutting machines. The picture at the top of the page is actually magents. You can actually buy thin magnet sheets now which can be cut with a die cutting machine. To make these I used Stampin up tea cup thinlet die I did do a double roll to ensure it cut and it cut beautifully in my trusty big shot. Then I cut some Papermania country paper which is a linen look paper with same die and stuck them on. Whilst I think they are lovely and I'm more than happy to have them on my fridge the edges aren't secure and I've already pulled one of when removing a magnet. The joy of experimenting. I'm excited to see what else I can do with these magnet sheets! Bath melts I love having a bath I know not the best option for the environment so I save my bath as a once a week treat and stick to showers in the week.
So I want my bath to be as luxurious as it can be I've been making my own bath melts. To be honest they are so easy. You need Shea butter or coconut oil 1 cup Essential oils I use Lavander for coconut or rose or sweet orange for Shea butter. 5 drops of vitamin e oil. Silcone moulds. Simply melt your coconut oil or your Shea butter in a pan on the lowest heat until it melts remove from the heat and then add 5-10 drops of your choosen oil plus your vitamin e oil. Mix and pour into the moulds allow to cool and store them in the fridge until you need one. Simply pop into the bath. A WORD OF WARNING I'm not a skincare specialist I've taken this from different recipies I've found online and adjusted it to my needs. You may wish to do a skin test to ensure you don't react to any of the ingredients. Also these are seriously moisturising so you will need to clean your bath well after!. Well as you can see this is just a small section of what I've been up to!. Check back next week as I attempt to make my own stickers. Hello just a quick blog today and I wanted to share how easy it is to use your silhouette around the house. This week we finally picked up a new bin for the kitchen. This bin is to be the one to store our recyclables until they go out to the recycle bin outside. Now it's much smaller than our normal kitchen bin but to ensure visitors and my children use it for its purpose I want to make some vinyl words to tell you what you can put in it.. With vinyl you can stick it to most flat surfaces. Infact if you look around the silhouette store you will find a whole list of words to help you. Choosing a font and a colour will be crucial to making sure people can see what they should be putting into the bin. I choose the following words and I choose a really simple font so it's easy to read for little ones. Vinyl is one of the most simplest things to cut on the silhouette. If you are using a cameo to cut vinyl and have a large roll of vinyl you can simply load the role into the machine. If your using up pieces of vinyl the you will need to load a mat with your vinyl on. Once cut you need to remove the vinyl you no longer need. With a good design like this it's very easy to remove what you don't need. Then apply transfer paper to your words. I then cut each word out and remove the backing paper. Next place your vinyl down on the bin lid and using a credit card run over the design before removing the transfer paper. I'm determined to use my machines much more and my next project? Well it's got to be print and cut. Yep I want to make my own stickers.
Make sure you check back soon. Xxxx I am lucky enough to own two types of silhouette machines. If your not sure what a silhouette machine is then let me briefly enlighten you. These machines connects to a computer and using the silhouette software allows you to design an image or buy one from the store then the machine will cut out the image for you. Different machines will cut different media and they have slightly different features. I won't go into that now but I will be bringing you some demos very soon. The point of today's post is that I need to use my machines a lot more. So you can expect regular blog posts when we look at exactly what you can do with these machines. This weekend I cut some vinyl images and words for my daughters Welly boots, sadly what I didn't know was they need 72 hours to set apparently but she couldn't wait and some of the design came off. Not to worry I can simply cut some more.
This is what I mean about me not using the machine to it's true potential. But that will change and I am wanting to make a painted wooden sign in time for Easter as well as a few other ideas I have in my head. Enjoy your Sunday xxxx I think I may have become a little obsessed with winter warmers. When I take my two troublesome doggies out for a morning stroll it can be so cold! It means a hat is a must really and I didn't have a brown one but I did have some brown wool. If you have made a hat before it's a bit like making a circle that just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I found this pattern on utube it has this technique on the bottom that I've never tried before it's kind of a cross pattern almost. I am sorry for not having a link to it, it's seamed to have disappeared. More snoods! I had so much wool left I decided to make a snood infact I made two!. The chunky pink long snood has a raspberry trim and is so warm and I also made a small brown one. Then I did something really naughty I made another snood using half a ball of so soft blue wool left over from a blanket. This was ment to be a present for my brother who's birthday is in march but I loved it so much then I decided that actually it's going to be lovely and warm in march so he won't need a snood and it goes with lots of things I wear! Wool storage I think I have a bit of a storage obbssesion. If you have a lot of wool especially if you have left over bits you will know how quickly it can get tangled. I've been organising different areas in my house and I was looking for a way to store my wool when I decided to store it in clear freezer bags according to colours. Then I have popped them into laundry baskets that I can slide under my bed.
I really would like to switch over to a more eco friendly locally sourced wool to ensure the animals have great living conditions. Im also concerned about the colours used in the wool. That being said I don't like waste so I will be using it up slowly!. But I'm sure I've finished winter warmers now I definitely have enough snoods to last me a few winters. I've decided to keep Crochet for the weekends and I'm planning on making a flower garland next I will bring you a pattern for that so please do check back again soon. Xxxx Hello again. I think it's time I told you a little bit more about me and what I'm up to. You see there has to be a little hippy in me, a little something deep inside that is calling out to me to be more cautious with my carbon footprint. To be kinder to myself and our planet. To reduce, reuse and to lesson the objects in our house, infact I want to get the belongings down to a minimum. Slowly we have been getting rid of furniture and nick nacks! In fact if I don't love it and we dont use it's going. Lessoning my belongings is so therapeutic. Less to clean (a massive bonus), less to store!, More space and you actually start to enjoy what you have so much more. Sadly you realise that actually you have wasted a lot of money on things you didn't need and don't bring anything to your life. As well as getting rid of things we are also increasing our recycling. We went on a bin hunt today. My plan is for bathrooms to have two bins a largish one for recyclables such as lol rolls, empty bottles ect and a smaller one for non recyclables. I want to do this in our kitchen as well as at the moment we have a bin for food recycling on the draining board and a standard bin. We just put the recycling on the draining board and take it out as and when. Small steps but it all helps. As well as my concern for our environment I'm also concerned about what I put onto my body as well as what I put into it!. So I am lessoning the chemicals we are using starting with the eco egg! Now this egg filled with pellets no nasty chemicals. The special pellets are friendly to skin and it has been scientifically proven to clean your clothes. It's brilliant I've used it for 5 washes now, whites as well. Obviously it's not got saucy pasta stains out of a white t-shirt but then neither did my usual washing powder!. You can buy some stain removers from the same company If you need to. I haven't added fabric softener either. The only down side is you don't get a build up of chemicals in the machine which keeps your washing machine from becoming smelly so they recommend running it every so often on a hot wash with some vinegar. Which really we should be doing anyway!. This cost £9.99 for 210 washes not bad and no chemicals. Natural BEAUTYI've always had a love of lovely smelling soaps in fact it's on my list of things I'd like to learn to make.
But once you start to learn about what goes into the beauty products we use and use on our children it starts to become a real concern. So when I came across this book called freedom face I knew I had stumbled on just what I needed the reasoning and methods needed to make my own product's!. I can't tell you what I'll be using but I'll certainly be sharing the results with you over time. I think I have everything I need now to get started. So make sure you keep an eye out for more posts. If you would like to learn more about Freedom face or the author (it's a digital download) and definitely one of my favourite blogs click on the link bellow. Have a lovely weekend xxxx |
AuthorHello Thank you for taking a peek at my page. My name is Lucy and I adore craft and the methods and process behind it. Why not join me and see what I am up to.
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