New ATCs

Some ATCs I made for a swap all based on song titles with the word Dreams in it. Apologies for the rubbish photo, I had to dash it off before heading off to the post office with them.

Journal making

Ahhh, the messy joys of journal making, these started out as three piles of paper, small, medium and large but they didn't stay that way for long.

Merlin was checking up on me from time to time.


Made some interesting pages out of old gardening books, vintage knitting patterns, old library books, old calenders and diaries.


Now to decorate the pages further and put them all together. I just love making these :)

Another Charity Shop Find

I just love the sixties/seventies vibe of these two pictures, both framed by Boots. Both were 50p each, bargain!
They have been put up in my dining room, on the flower wall, the intention is to fill it with flower pictures, all collected from charity shops, car boots etc. They'll provide a splash of colour, like now, in the depths of winter when the garden is looking bleak and bare.
Further along the wall are other charity shop finds that I adore. The top one is a framed Kaffe Fassett tapestry that I picked up for £1, someone had put alot of hours work into that. The romantic picture below was only 75p, at this rate I'll fill the wall for less than £20 :)

And young Bill knows that no photo shoot is complete without a cat and he was more than happy to oblige :)

Charity Shop Find

I got a bargain in the week, a big bag of threads and bits and bobs for £4. I can't believe my luck, as the journals I'm now making a very heavy on thread and as we all know thread's not cheap. It must have belonged to a dressmaker judging from the amount of different colours and the other bits such as chalk, buttons, pins and needles.The thread at the bottom of the above photo is silk made in switzerland and I can't help wondering if it was used for a wedding dress. If only these pieces could talk. The vintage white buttons are just adorable.

This wooden cotton reel reveals some of my home town's history, Leicester used to be a centre for hosiery but hardly any of this industry remains now. My first job was working in a thread dyers and finishers, in the laboratory, doing quality control and colour matching.

Christmas Tree comes down

Bill (or should I call him Stinky Fish Boy, but that's another tale) tried a sit-in protest two thirds of the way up the christmas tree (read cat activity centre) but to no avail, it has had to come down and doesn't the dining room seem huge without it. It only seems 5 minutes since I was putting it up.

Been rearranging and tidying my studio, no photo available because I don't think anyone would believe the chaos. I keep having to remind myself that it will be worth it in the end and that it will look like a bomb has gone off in there before it looks better, fingers crossed. I've come across lots of crafty stuff that I'd forgotten I'd got and have gotten lots of ideas during the process of creating order or just room to walk across the floor. So hopefully with a week off next week I should be able to just concentrate on having creative fun :)