Welcome to Scraphappy Day post for April. Apologies to readers for the long gap recently – any kind of craft work has been a challenge these last few months as I have so little time for myself. As I recently noticed my box of greetings cards is very much depleted I set aside an hour or two to make a few more, so this challenge is about reusing paper items such as old birthday cards and scraps of paper as an alternative to recycling them.
Old greetings cards, thank you notes, postcards and even those art cards you can pick up free at exhibitions and galleries can be turned into new cards. Here are some examples:-
Many of these ‘new’ cards have been made from old cards and the card at the bottom was an ‘art card’ from a gallery and cost me nothing.
I make a little label to stick on the back of the card just to tell people this is recycled.
When I was clearing out the craft room last month (and it is still very much an ongoing project) I found a stack of small colour photocopies I had taken of my own watercolour sketches and turned these into little cards too.
I also came across a sheet of rather lovely printed wrapping paper of vintage seed packets and I have no idea now why I bought this – it must be a few years old – though no doubt it would have been for some craft idea of mine back then and I never got around to it.
Instead of keeping it to wrap up a present I cut around each of the illustrations and together with this pack of handmade 3″ square concertina cards (a find at my local art shop that I bought last year) …..
….I decided to turn these cute little pictures into tiny cards – the idea being that I will send them to friends and family with a pack of flower seeds included.
And here they are in the making – not easy cards to photograph especially with the low light levels at the moment but I think you will get the gist.
It is always worth a visit to all the other ‘crafters’ that take part in the ScrapHappy Day they make some beautiful and inspiring things and below you can link through to their blogs. I am just hoping it is an up to date list.
At last some good weather – though it is odd that I have to come all the way to Scotland for it.
There have been changes whilst we have been away we expected it of course as the new owner of the pub, restaurant and caravan site is continually making changes even for change sake, unfortunately, most of them involve planning or licensing applications and he has obviously not applied for any otherwise we would have received notification of them in case we wanted to object. It appears he has no time to abide by any rules.
The last few days have been so nice we had breakfast and then went straight out into the garden…..whilst the sun shines, make….. full use of it!
I usually start by going over this little border outside our garden gate that runs along by the upper part of the lane. I removed a rather large overgrown clump of wild yellow irises to make way for some ground covering plants like geranium and valerian. The hollies, which are all self-seeded and then transplanted, are doing well now and filling out quite nicely – I don’t want huge trees but will keep them pruned to a nice rounded shrub sized plant. It is so easy at this time of year to dig up some of the dormant plants along with the weeds so I have to take extra care. DH tackled the Rosa rugosa hedge that runs down along the lane side from the gate – the one that the new owner of the pub and caravan site massacred a couple of years ago – luckily it is hard to kill and has regenerated quite nicely but we always make sure nothing is growing out into the lane so he doesn’t feel he has the need to chop it down again.
We had a rest day yesterday to protect our backs or else we will get little else done for the week. Instead I used the time to stay indoors and do a little more planning and some digital detox on my computer.
Of course it was too much to hope that mum would be OK during the time both me and my sister are away and we wouldn’t have a crisis on our hands. It was only a small drama really but to her a major crisis and I wasn’t able to help very much only be on the other end of the phone. It happened on Sunday evening. She was waiting for her carers to go and put her to bed. Her time slot is for 6pm, their previous visit ends at 4 pm so before they put her to bed for the night they usually make her some toast for her tea/supper and a final hot drink. At 6.45pm she rang me to say they had not come and she couldn’t get through to the office as the answer phone was on. She was clearly agitated as she does not like to go out of routine. She said she would ring them again to make sure someone was coming. At 7pm, 7.15pm, 7.30pm, 7.45pm, 8pm, 8.15pm, 8.30pm she rang me again and again to say they still had not shown. She had spoken to someone at the office, quite aggressively as she does now, and they said a carer was on their way but no explanation was offered as to why they were so late. Finally at 8.45pm someone arrived – of course mum was hungry, thirsty but most of all cold as she cannot switch the fire on by herself now and the flat had got quite chilly. She was also dog tired and very angry – I didn’t know whether to feel sorrier for the poor carer or my mum!
Needless to say they have been on time for the last two days.
We had a lovely walk to the village yesterday afternoon, called at the pub by the harbour for a hot chocolate and took a few photos.
We spotted quite a few new painted rocks along the low road from the village. It is lovely that anyone in the community can add to this – the idea began when one of the residents secretly placed a few painted rocks along the path one night and it has snowballed over the years to the point where the coaches heading for the Mull often stop for their passengers to get off and go and look at them.
Whilst the light was good I managed to complete the last bit of knitting on the little jacket for baby Chocolate. Try as I might to make it neat I do struggle with edges and picking up stitches but no doubt I just need more practise. Knitting patterns, I find, often leave you high and dry – I am sure for experienced knitters it is not a problem but I need more instructions. The pattern says to pick up and knit the contrasting band around the hood and then down the front of the jacket which I have done. It does not say to do both sides….not knowing if I should or not I decided I would and did in fact knit the band on both edges.
I am not sure of the weather today so have no definite plans. There is always plenty to do in the garden but we also need a trip into town for a bottle of gas and to take in a trailer full of old plasterboard from the kitchen ceiling of the cottage. Luckily, the tip here accepts rubble and stuff as not everywhere does. At home you have to get a skip even if you only have a bucketful.
I am starting to feel a litle more relaxed now and am finding the time to sort out one or two tasks off my list which has also helped – things that seem to have been on there for ever and keep getting rolled over each week – you know the ones. It is quite odd that when we are here at the cottage I think about all the jobs I need to do at home and when I am at home I have my mind on what needs doing at the cottage – well mainly in the garden. Perhaps having the distance somehow makes my mind clearer and I feel less overwhelmed. I am sure that life is getting so much busier these days and more stressful and it is not just a matter of being older. Technology was supposed to make things quicker and easier but I find just the opposite…. that you are forever in a queue on the phone or you come up against an answerphone or you get through to some voice telling you to go to their Q&A on their website (don’t they ever think that you have already done that and the answer is not there!
It’s been a while, it’s also been quite frantic here and as usual it’s been stressful and joyful in equal quantities….well almost, perhaps a little more on the stress and a little less of the joy!
I just thought I would pop by as I can’t believe it is the latter part of February already and I have only completed a few tasks on my long, long to do list. I decided that the beginning of the new year called for a major declutter in our house to regain some lost space. I intend for this mad clear out to also include the loft, shed and garage….though at the moment it is far too cold to be in any of those places for any length of time.
I am hoping it is a case of it will get worse before it gets better as the whole house is in a mess now with piles everywhere destined for charity or recycle or a friend or craft group. Hardly anything is rubbish, very little has gone in the bin – it just needs rehoming…. either at my house or hopefully someone elses.
As I go through every drawer and cupboard, every box and bookshelf I am finding that as I remove more and more I am loving the space and it is becoming much easier to part with things.
After Christmas I sorted through all the decorations before I packed them away and took a bag full down to the charity shop – I have found as time goes on I am putting out fewer and fewer decorations each year.
I did have a box full of lovely cards that friends have handmade for me over the years – I picked out the best and then photographed the remainder before putting them in the recycle. Such a shame but I can’t keep everything.
Christmas seems a long time ago now. We had a large family gathering at my sister’s house for Christmas dinner and we managed to get my mum there too though the one little step at the front door was quite a challenge for her.
The grandchildren were busy before Christmas making their traditional place name cards which were wonderfully decorated and have now gone into my keepers box with the others.
I even managed to make a few cards myself and had a bit of a production line going one day. Thank heavens for rubber stamps as they are quick and easy to use when I run out of time to do my own lino cut.
Since Christmas it hasn’t been all work and no play…. during January we celebrated Master Freddie’s 5th birthday (at one of those ear splitting play gyms with a party room) and my mum’s 98th birthday – a much quieter affair. The weekend after her birthday my sister and her husband took mum out to a posh hotel for a meal during which mum suddenly stopped eating and went unconscious at the table – her head slumped but her eyes remained wide open staring ahead and they could not get a flicker of a response from her for over 10 minutes, it was only the fact that they could detect a faint pulse that they knew she hadn’t actually died! During this time my sister got reception to call for help – they wouldn’t send an ambulance – obviously not thought urgent enough but passed her over to a 111 person who asked my sister a load of questions to establish mums condition.
Eventually, mum finally rowsed and started talking as if nothing had happened and finished her meal – she didn’t even realise anything had happened. The 111 person then ended the call as they thought she sounded OK and said they would refer her to her GP who did actually go and see her next day and take some blood tests. The results showed a blood abnormality but the GP said they would not do anything because of her age – so far she is a write off then and so far no-one knows why she went unconscious for so long!
For her birthday I bought her one of those large button TV remote controls as she was having difficulty changing the channels with the tiny buttons on hers and was always pressing the wrong thing. She had been intent on getting a new TV just to get a different remote (her mind works in a mysterious way these days) even though I told her it would not be any different to what she already had. The new remote has been wonderful – it has fewer buttons for her to press so she can’t press something she didn’t intend to and end up on the shopping channel or mute it by accident and best of all she doesn’t get it muddled up with the telephone anymore either and try to call me on it.
So far this month we have spent a good deal of time researching a new but used car for my daughter. It is unknown territory for us as we have only been used to new ones – DH had a company car and we always saved up to buy my small car outright and traded in the older one in part exchange. The big question was who do you trust …..we do not know much about cars to buy at one of these auction sites or from a private individual so we resorted to a local Kia dealer as that was the make she wanted with the 7 year warranty….or as in her case the remaining years of a 7 year warranty.
After two days of trawling websites and a spreadsheet to capture all the information we fnally found one that ticked all the boxes at Perry’s in Rotherham. It was a 2020 reg with only 11,000 miles and one owner. It looked like new with good quality Michelin tyres hardly worn. We took her and the girls down last Saturday to pick it up. It is a long story but she had only driven it for 14 minutes along the M1 northbound when we got a call from her saying mum I have broken down!!!!
It was no joke.
Whilst driving the tyre pressure sensor suddenly came on the dashboard at the same time as the rear passenger side tyre blew and went completely flat. She couldn’t even make it to the next exit to get off the motorway.
Of course she rang her breakdown company but they had failed to mention that by switching the cover from her old car to the new one there was no immediate cover and it would not kick in until the next day.
Perry’s in Rotherham could not recover the car but they gave me a number to ring for a local recovery man. Imran came to the rescue – he was so lovely and got my daughters car on his breakdown truck and off the motorway so he could swap the wheel for the emergency one in the boot – that was the first expense of £200.
The next day my daughter got the tyre examined at our local Halfords – it had a few holes in it and one still had a visible nail head embeded in it. Halfords showed her where a nail must have popped out when she was driving and had been the cause of the sudden flat. On examination it was found that the tyre had already had a repair in the past so it had to be a new one – another expense of £99 ….luckily only the one was needed as the other rear tyre was like new.
It is yet another mystery as my daughter did not notice anything on the road at the time and had only been on a normal A road before getting onto the motorway – she had not been down any rough tracks. Once my daughter is back from her holiday Perry’s are going to look in to it but as it is a punctured tyre I expect there will be no come back on them.
We are now in Scotland to rest and recover for a few days and where I can plot and plan for more space clearing when I get home. I have brought some bits and pieces to do up here along with my knitting in the hope of finishing baby Chocolates little hooded jacket.
I hope everyone is well and enjoying 2024 – many apologies to anyone coming over on the 15th for the ScrapHappy Challenge I will try my best to show something for March, and welcome to new readers – as you will have realised by now my blog posts are a bit hit and miss!
Since we got back from Scotland last Monday it is all go here….I am not sure if I am creating Christmas or if it is just creating itself. I think the latter. I have simplified, but I am still far too busy.
There are some issues that always arise at Christmas – the car, washer, fridge, oven stop working – well this year we have the ‘condemed’ gas fire (only because we cannot get a new part - the ceramic tray beneath the coals) and our heating boiler requires more than a service and so the manufacturer will have to come out and rectify a fault (though we can still run the boiler, thankfully and have heating in the radiators). The Christmas lurgy has also struck and we are two men down (Master Freddie and baby Chocolate both have a digestive bug – I won’t mention anymore details on that issue!). Oh, and did I mention mum has been ultra busy in the complaints department and upsetting anyone who enters her flat! She keeps trying to ring me on the TV remote and change channels with the phone but says it is not her that is doing anything wrong it is the TV and phone that need replacing and we cannot persuade her otherwise.
On the good side I have managed to get icing on the top of the cake ready for the little ones to decorate.  I also, with great relief, put my cards in the post box on Thursday (4 days before the last posting day – must be a record for me as I am often waiting for the ink/paint to dry when I make my own. The lights which DH put up in November were ready and waiting to be switched on in December and the Christmas pyjamas for the little ones, ordered in late October, are all ready in their respective Christmas Eve boxes.
This weekend we are childminding – not sure whether it will be 2 or 3 but only 2 will sleep over tonight. I have plenty lined up to keep them busy – Christmas plates to paint, table place cards to make, our Christmas tree and the cake to decorate. Today we are going to Nostell Priory to see the Pantomime themed decorations in the house and, weather permitting, have a brisk walk around the grounds to spot the woodland fairies.
This coming week we have our hair appointment, a dental appointment and then lots of dropping in on friends to exchange gifts, have a festive drink and a natter.  Lovely.
Every year our church holds a coffee morning at the end of November to raise money for the charity Crisis who help the homeless over the Christmas period. Each year I make some Christmas gifts to sell on the gift stall and this year my idea was to find some empty craft boxes and fill them with various items for someone to give as a present or use themselves. 
The craft boxes are quite inexpensive and I used old Christmas cards to decorate the top. I made up six boxes in all – once I got into the swing of things and made a prototype I could have made more but time as usual was the big constraint and I had to photograph all these in a rush before I put them on the stall so I apologise for the poor photo quality.
Inside each box the contents were carefully concealed under pretty leaves of tissue paper to add to the surprise. Three of the boxes contained toiletries or beauty items that could be given as a gift.
My daughter donated these brand new No7 skin care products and I added a face cloth.
She also donated some rather gorgeous French make up that came with an equally gorgeous cotton printed scarf.
I had a number of unused shampoo and conditioner bars that were given to me as gifts but far too many for me to use so I wrapped some of them in pretty sheets of tissue and added another face cloth in this box.
The other three boxes consisted of homemade cards and gift wrap accessories – gift tags, ribbon or twine and a little pack of matching embellishments made up from bits and pieces in my craft stash.
I made three designs of cards in differing colour schemes and chose the accessories to suit – ‘Winter Wonderland’ was my favourite in cool white and silver.
‘Happy Christmas’ was the more natural pack…..
…and ‘Holly Jolly Christmas’ the traditional red and gold.
Whilst searching online for the craft boxes I came across these lovely Advent boxes that contain 24 boxes to fill yourself. All the boxes are from the Tiny Box Company www.tinyboxcompany.co.uk - (Just to be clear I am not being paid to mention their website or endorsing their products but if you are interested then follow the link they have some lovely packaging).
I decided my two daughters would love them and so bought them one each and then had great fun finding things to put in them. Everything had a Christmas theme and some items I made and some I bought.
The grandchildren have loved waiting to see what surprise is in each one as much as my daughters – I included Christmas balloons, string lights, baubles, cake toppers, a mini pot pouri box of pine cones, cinnamon sticks and dried oranges and even some home made gift tags and thank you cards.
Of course, as many of my long time readers will know, since my two girls were little, each year they have found an angel in the top of their stocking and this year is no exception only instead of in their stocking she is the surprise on day 19.
So if I don’t get back here again before Christmas…
Have a Holly Jolly Christmas and may all your dreams and wishes come true. xx
where the journey takes me 2 