Life without the Mac

Don't you just hate it when your computer breaks down......?  Week 2 without my beloved iMac and the pain is almost unbearable.  Only almost, because the laptop and various other viewing devices in the house are coping with my insatiable Pinterest and all things crafty browsing needs in the interim.

The biggest problem is photos, as I can't seem to fathom out how to get the damn things onto either my old ipad to do a post or this very old laptop.  I'm working on it, as I have some pics of a little crochet project I've been working on and want to pop them on here for eternity.

Will be back once I've worked out how to do it....there must be a plug here somewhere.....

Nasty wool can be lovely too

You know that problem when something calls to you to buy it?  Well this ball of 'wool' is the nastiest quality in the universe, hasn't been within a hundred miles of a sheep and i'm fairly certain there's some wire wool spun in with it BUT the colours said I had to buy it.  Cheap as chips it was and a gigantic 250g ball to boot which further reflects the quality BUT I still really like it.

The colours shouldn't work right?  But i'm having fun crocheting a 'nothing' blanket in rows of doubles and trebles.  It's probably hideous to you, but it reminds me of a bizarre aran jumper than went wrong but is loved all the same.

Absolutely no idea how big it might get from one 250 ball.  I'm hoping a liberal dousing in softener will make it more cuddly once it's done.  Who cares if it ends up as a dog blanket, it's pleasing to my eye!

 

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all dad's!  Hope you've all enjoyed a great day and perhaps rounded it off with a nice spot of dinner at the local steak house - yum.
Made a card for my dad using this cool Alf & Beer stamp from Digi Stamp Boutique There were so many to choose from I had a hard time deciding but this fitted my requirements for both cards.  I shall be going back there for more though!
This one is for my dad.  Love the colours on this one.

 Made this one for my OH who is a bit of a John Smith's monster so was led by their colours.  

They both went down well anyway!  I'd like to enter both of these in the Here Come The Boys dotty challenge for the dotties around Alf.
Lisa
x

Rush rush

Phew it's been a busy week, and it's not letting up yet as i'm about to spend the weekend looking at residential care for a relative and writing a CV.  25 years since I wrote my last CV, methinks it's going to take a while to get into the groove again!

No time for crafting more's the pity, so I thought i'd share some pictures of the mother's day card I made for mum back in March.  I used Nitwit - Hello Sunshine collection which has such lovely colours and images.  Mum loved it by the way!

 

It was really easy to make and I had a great time.  The inside is decorated too:

 

Picture quality dreadful as always but I am getting better I promise teehee.  

Oh and here's doggie looking handsome:

 

xxx

 

Peeking at the new christmas planners

OK so I was going to give you a peek at the new book style christmas planners i've been working on.....but my camera has decided otherwise.  It's not playing ball at all I shall have to get some super duper batteries and see if that's the problem.

It did let me take a couple of photos before refusing to work though.  This is the front of one of the planners, complete with binding holes on the left side.  They'll make a bit more sense when you can see the inside sections but essentially they will be planners for all those christmas lists and troublesome receipts and calendars and should last 3 years of use.

Here's the front

A close up of the sweet beaded front panel.  

This book has been made with Dovecraft Christmas Fancy papers and once the camera is my friend again will get some pictures done of the inside sections.  I promise you'll love them!  

xxx

Rays of Sunshine

Good morning it's a beautiful day here, makes me want to get all my crafting stash out and make something.  Hopefully i'll get some time.

Here's another I made with a completely free digi stamp.  I can't seem to find it on the net now - I downloaded it quite a while ago just hadn't got round to doing it. It's a fast and easy colour in job (needs to look a little like childish colouring I think as it's a childish looking house), bung on a button and bob's your uncle.  I put the beads on the end of the cord to make it look like sunrays teehee.

x

Colour

The thing I love most about a blog is the ability to whack everything in that you see or think or do or want.  It's not necessarily interesting to anyone else - but me.  So these are for me.

Inspiration.

Beeeeee

Isn't the web just brilliant?!  I found this sweet little bee as a digital stamp along with the sentiment free here: Free Bee Stamp  It was exactly what I needed for a 'leaving' card.  So simple and easy easy easy.  Love it.

There are so many legitimately free resources online for images and patterns an tutorials it's easy to spend all day just looking it all up - never mind actually making something with it!

Have a house full of children today and as they're not back to school until tuesday, I think I will just surrender to the fact the house will remain messy until AFTER my working week, rather than fight the tide this weekend.  Sometimes it's best just to enjoy the moment rather than stress about an imperfect untidy home.

Enjoy your sunday and hope it's as stress free as i'm making mine.

xxx

Lili of the Valley

Hi!  I've made a card for a good friend's birthday.  Have used a Lili of the Valley stamp and coloured with Promarkers.  The whole colouring thing is way harder than i'd imagined.....gonna have to practice heaps more at that!  

Am getting the hang of placement and matting and stiching and.....oh my a card can take hours of fluffy nonsense doing.

Made another card, coz i could, using just a tiny daisy punch and mucho mucho hours.  

Thanks for visiting me.

xxx

Stitchy stitch - Lorna Bateman embroidery

Hi! I bought a kit to make an embroidery pincushion recently. I'd seen them online from a great shop on Folksy for Lorna Bateman Embroidery.  Her embroidery designs are gorgeous and the kits are brilliant.  
It only took a week of a few evening stitching hours to get the pincushion done, and that was pretty much from a standing embroidery start (it's got to be 25 years since I last embroidered as a child!)
I was thrilled with the result and have made lots of other pretty pieces since, including a card with the embroidery.  Here are my attempts.

 Such lovely colours.  The card was an experiment and i'm just making another having learnt from the first one....

 Thanks for looking.

x

Christmas Planners 2013

I've been working on some new christmas planners for 2013.  Unbelievably, I started these on new years day and i've just managed to finish 5!!  So many distractions eh.  They actually don't take that long to do once the hard decisions have been made on the papers, but I do so like to faff around doing fluffy nonsensical fiddly bits.
Here's a few from this year.

Learnt so much from making the 2012 editions, so these are much better designed.   I'm working on some christmas planner books that will have sections and can last 3 years - will post pics when I finish them.

Lis
x

Nitwits!

I really love working with Nitwit Collections images and designs the collections make it so so easy to make something special.  Have made this anniversary card for our neighbours on their first anniversary was so pleased with how it came out.

Here's the inside of the card.

Sorry about the quality of the pictures.  Have got to get much much better at this.
The card came out really well don't you think?
x

Christmas cards

Actually, before I go....found some piccies of some cards I made last year.  Love these.

They're made with gorgeous gorgeous Nitwit Collections digital papers.  I could spend all my days doing these.  Not enough hours.

Planners

Well I can see that keeping up with a blog will take some doing!  OK back to the pictures of the christmas planners.  I created these after spending an extraordinary length of time researching different types of books and folders that might help organise a busy mum in silly season. These planners have 3 separate lists for gifts, cards and notes and then a pocket to store all those pesky christmas receipts that get placed all over the house. On the reverse of the planner are detachable calendars for november and december.  I have a huge amount of fun making these and love them. Would love to hear what you think of them

This is the inside of one of the planners showing the lists and the receipts pocket.

There's a better one of the receipts envelope. It has a little swivel fastening on the reverse to keep them secure.

These are the calendars with lots of space to enter all the events of the season - usually half a ton of school parties / disco's / plays / bazaar's and then all the work events and then all the relatives visiting dates.....gawd it's busy isn't it!

I think they're quite handy and did sell the ones I made last year.  Have changed the design a little for this year will put some pics on when I get round to it.

I've also made some book style planners with HEAPS more room which can be used year on year.  Pics when I stand still long enough to take them.

Off to create something.  Thanks for visiting!

Lis
x

Beginnings

OK so where do I start? Welcome to my blog! This is where i'll journal my foray into all things crafty in the Wonderful World of Lisa, where fluffy nonsense is the name of the game. I love love love all things crafty and the hardest question of my day is always 'what lovely fluffy nothingness will I stick/stitch/glitter/hook today"?  I'll start with a few pictures of some Christmas Planners I made last year.

x