Tutting

Yesterday was a 'Girls Day', a day my friend and I spent crafting.  BetBet had decided we would try to learn how to Tat.  We had both fancied the idea of Tatting and she had bought the Tools of the Trade (a shuttle each) in readiness and we both had odd skeins of embroidery thread lying around waiting to be used for just such an occasion. 


 We watched a few tutorials on YouTube, then had a go. 
It was a lot harder than we had imagined.  One needed very nimble fingers and being women of a certain age, we found it painful to keep our fingers in the positions they needed to be in.  We decided that, maybe, we should have tried this many years ago.


However, we persevered for a while longer and finally I 'got it'.  Something clicked and I found my way of creating the stitch.  I couldn't hold the thread how one was supposed to, but through trial and error, had found a way that suited me.  It wasn't such good news for BetBet.  However hard she tried, her fingers would just NOT do what she wanted them to. It was very disheartening.


This is what I managed after a couple of hours ...

around three inches of raggedy, uneven stitches. 

This is what I managed after another hour or so, once it had 'clicked'...

I had something that was starting to resemble Tatting!

I love the way it automatically goes into circles.  I can see endless possibilities for this; jewellery especially.  However, I am not sure my fingers want to revisit Tatting any time soon, but my brain is telling me "Ooh, this is fabulous, lets have another go!"


After a tasty lunch, home-made crustless, spinach quiche if you're interested, BetBet showed me how to Macramé.  She had taught herself many years ago and had made pot hangers and the like.  I had always wanted to have a go, but could never quite understand the written instructions - no YouTube in those days!  I must say this was much, much gentler on the hands.  I took to it like a duck to water.

(hands courtesy of BetBet)


She also showed me how to add beads into the work.  I did take several pictures of my Macramé, but as we were using dark wool they have not come out very clearly.


We had a look a several YouTube tutorials for both Tatting and Macramé, which helped us enormously.  I have to sing YouTube's praises for Videos on how to do things. Fabulous invention if you ask me!


It's also fired up my imagination for all sorts of Macramé-d things.  I can't wait to have another go.  YouTube showed us lots of bracelet tutorials and I can see myself using  finer embroidery threads, rather than the traditional hemp, and small beads to create Christmas gifts.


We also looked at Needle Tatting, where the shuttle is replaced by a very, long needle.  It looks so much easier and more kind to one's hands. We are thinking of giving this a go.  Maybe on our next 'Girls Day'.


We were not alone in our crafting. 
 We had a very special guest...

meet Poppy, a neighbour's cat who seems to prefer BetBet's company.  She seemed to know that if she wanted to stay with us, she had to be Very, Very, Good.  No chasing the balls of thread and wool!


And there I will leave you.


'Til next time.


Debs xxx

Colour Therapy

I've been feeling a little blue lately, a little sorry for myself and wishing the sun would shine.  Fed up with rain and yet more rain. Thought I would soon be growing webs between my toes! Feeling in need of some colour therapy.

THIS WEEKEND there's been SUNSHINE and lots of it!

I've been out in the garden and lovin' every minute of it.

Ahh, that's better...

Til next time xxx

Some Crafting

This is one of the first digital scrapbook pages I have made.

When Mr C asked me what I wanted for my Birthday at the end of February, I decided I wanted an easy-to-use graphics programme.  I had been trying for several months to understand how to use a very expensive professional programme that I had, to no avail.  Even with the help of the manual, I still couldn't figure out how to put together a page layout.  I had been watching Create and Craft (a TV shopping channel here in the UK selling all things craft related) and decided that this software was the one for me

Serif's Craft Artist Professional.

I can honestly say that from the moment I loaded it, I was hooked!

It really is easy-peasy.  I've only used a couple of the tools that are available and have downloaded two free digi-kits to play with, but my-oh-my, the results I think are fabulous!  Here's the second  page I made.

This was a scrapbook page encapsulating the moment when my father presented a boxed gavel and base to the Royal Engineers Association for use at their meetings.  This was a very poignant affair as it is likely to be the last outing my father takes as he is terminally ill.  This presentation was something he was determined to do despite being so ill.


I am very pleased with how this has turned out and have added two more pages showing other photos taken on the night.  I like the idea of hybrid crafting, where one combines both computer crafting and hand crafting and I am planning on adding a pocket on the middle band to the right, where I can keep a written record of the evening. I may also decoupage the flowers and ribbon. I printed this page out on smooth 250gsm paper, but feel it would look better printed on glossy photo paper, although the shabby look is more suited to a matt finish.  Decisions, decisions.  Once I've decided on what paper to use I will get the other pages printed off.  I already have twelve by twelve plastic page protectors that I can place these in and I can see that this will become the start of many more scrapbook pages telling the story of my life.


I am already planning on going back to my childhood for some pages, making pages about the dogs that have been in my life, pages about Mr C and keeping a visual diary of day-to-day life at Soggy Bottom.


I feel an obsession coming on!


Wishing you all a Happy Easter, 'Til next time. Debs xxx

Play Day

I've spent a happy day today crafting with my friend BetBet.

We usually have a craft day once a month where we do our own thing and chat and eat and sing... but this year I suggested we do something a little different.  Instead of doing what we fancied, and thereby always doing the same sort of crafting, why didn't the host of the day decide on what we would do?  This way we would push ourselves to do things we perhaps had never tried before and get out of the comfortable crafting rut that we've been wallowing in for some time.

As it was at my house today, it was my decision and I  went for Rosettes and Roses.  Now, I have only ever made one rosette and never roses, and BetBet doesn't often reach for paper (paint and glass being her specialist subject) so this was something I knew would fit the bill of 'pushing the boundaries' for the both of us.

My attempt was pitiful, but this was BetBet's

Good huh?

We then went on to make paper roses.  They were much more successful and we both enjoyed doing these.

I reached for my trusty Tim Holtz Distress Inks to add definition to the edges, whilst BetBet used her glass products

It took several attempts to get them to be consistent and I think I managed slightly better than BB, but then I use paper all the time.  Here are the fruits of our labours

As I mentioned earlier, we always have a treat, often Tunnocks Tea Cakes - we can't get enough of them!  Seriously, we LOVE these so much that  we restrict  our consumption to Girls Days ONLY!

We came up with the idea of seeing if we could make a rose from the foil wrapper.  BB stuck the foil to a piece of cardstock first for robustness, then set about making the rose.

I think they turned out very well, don't you?

We were also very, VERY naughty as we  had After Eight Mints as well!

I'd better not eat for the next week to balance out the calorie intake!

I hope you enjoyed the peek into my day.

'Til next time, Debs xxx

*L*O*V*E*

Sending light and love 

To Mr C

My father who is very poorly

And to the Universe.

XXX

Sunday at My House

Its snowing!  

I don't know why I get so deliriously exited when it snows but I do.  I HATE it for travelling in and getting anywhere,  but it is SO BEAUTIFUL.  A mixed blessing for sure.

Mr C was out there, double-quick, shovelling it away so we could get to the bird feeding stations and water bowls.

Minus 0.2 degrees C - pretty cold!  But, does Mr C care?  Not in the least, any excuse to get outside.

And then there's the obligatory tea break!

What was the man in your life doing today?

Derailed

When I decided to take a little break at the beginning of  July last year, little did I know that it would end up being a BIG break!

After a prompt from Mr C that the house was looking less than clean and tidy and that I seemed to be on the computer all the time (something I admit that I hadn't realised)  I decided I would take a complete break from the cyber world, as indeed I had become a little fixated by blogland and all that scrumptious goodness that can be found therein. I would concentrate solely on the house, tackling the dross that one accumulates, oh so quickly, and generally get things back to a respectable level of cleanliness and tidiness.  But one month turned into six as Real Life took over and decided it had other plans for me.  Suddenly it was Christmas and we all know how that can derail us!

So there you have it, in a nutshell, my absence.

My aim for this year (which has already been derailed) is to blog weekly, so I hope you will stop by regularly and see what's occurring at Soggy Bottom.  To make it easier for you, I've finally discovered how to put the email widget thingy on here so all you have to do is sign up to receive new posts directly in your inbox.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day.

TTFN XXX

Sailing Life's Oceans

This month, the Being Creative Group theme was 'Ocean'.  True to form and what is quickly becoming 'the norm' for me, I had lots of ideas throughout the month but only sat down to do anything about it this weekend.  And so, yet again, I have only one piece to show.  

I decided I would settle for the sailing boat in the ocean idea.  I had, what I thought was the positively genius idea of using an old atlas page showing an ocean.  Leafing through my old atlas I found that the page I liked best was showing three oceans: the Atlantic, the Indian and the Southern Oceans.  Although my atlas is very old and was a hand-me-down from many years ago,  as it was the only  atlas I possess, I decided I would photocopy the page rather than actually tear it from the book.  I stuck the copy to a piece of cardboard for rigidity.

So far so good.  I felt it needed jazzing up a bit as it looked exactly what it was: a page from an atlas!  So I decided I would try out my new stash of distress inks.  I chose Broken China (blue) and Dusty Concord (mauve) and used a square of Cut 'n' Dry Foam to rub the ink over the paper ... 

gradually building up the colour until I liked what I saw.

I confess I got carried away doing this: it was so hypnotic making circular movements over the page.  It then struck me that a single sailing boat would be more effective than the fleet I had at first imagined, and the title 'Sailing Life's Oceans' just popped into my head and resonated deeply; I just knew that was the way forward.  And so, I drew a little sailing boat on thin card, cut it out, and placed it on the canvas.  Deep satisfaction; this was the way forward.  I wanted the boat to be really bright, a brilliant white, something like...like a ceramic tile.  Hmm, how on earth could I do that?  My mind wandered to the recently bought pot of Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel.  Would this work?  Worth a try, so I found the pot, the embossing ink pad, my heat gun and a pair of tweezers (I didn't want to scorch my fingers) and settled down to the task in hand.  And what a task it was!  If I tell you that the boat is less than an inch in size overall, and I had three sections to emboss, one at a time, you can perhaps imagine just how fiddly this was.  But I did it!  Patience and perseverance won the day.

And so I give you the end result... 

Sailing Life's Oceans

and the boat in close-up... 

I so thoroughly enjoyed making this and LOVE my little 'ceramic' boat.

This all came together so quickly and well.  Mr C loves it (and if you know Mr C and his shortcomings when it comes to art appreciation, you will know that that is praise indeed!) and has asked where I intend hanging it.  What better compliment can there be?

Being Creative - May

Hello.  I was so looking forward to this month's challenge: HOME, but in reality, life got in the way and I've had little time to craft.  I did manage to quickly put a piece together and I am fairly pleased with the results, but feel it could have been much, much better had I allocated more time.  I spent just a couple of hours on this.

As there is no way I could draw a realistic teapot or cup and saucer, I found a couple of images on the web and printed them off.  I drew round them in black ink so I could see the images clearly and I tried a couple of different layouts.

Then I decided what papers I would use ...

and what background paper ...

I didn't have any thick paper or craft cardboard to hand so recycled a breakfast cereal box.  I thought the paper looked a little boring, so scored lines closely together to give it a bit of a lift before sticking it down.  You can just see this in the photo above.  I thought the scoring made it look more like wallpaper, which is the look I was aiming for.  Then all I needed to do was to cut out the teapot, cups and saucers and stick them in place. 

It didn't look quite finished so I cut a frame from some pink flowery paper and ran a pink felt tipped pen along the edges to soften it and to get rid of the white edge as I hate seeing the white cut edge of paper.

I then drew round all the images in pink glitter pen to make them stand out more.

I am quite tempted to put this up in the kitchen, but it will need a frame with glass,  which I do not have to hand.

Do you like it?  I'd love to know your thoughts.



The Last Month

Hello.  Just realised it has been a month since I last posted.  Want to know what I've been up to?  Oh how I wish I could say I had been on some glamorous holiday - a cruise around the world perhaps or had been away climbing Mount Everest, but no, I've been busy ...

washing ...

ironing ...

hoovering ...

and gardening.  Whew!

The Promise of Things to Come

Hello and thanks for stopping by today. I've had a wonderful Easter break, four whole days of pottering and spending time with friends and family, I feel renewed and ready to face what life throws my way.  The weather was absolutely beautiful, a little windy at times, but sun and more sun!  Its a shame this week isn't turning out to be as nice. Its much, much colder (by at least ten degrees!) and looks like it will rain at any moment, not that it has yet.

I was very excited to note over the weekend that several of my food seeds had germinated: french beans (above and below) and tomatoes (smaller seeds below)

and my cut and come again lettuce (or lettuce-pray as its know in this house) is positively romping

Its such a thrill!  I've sown carrots and sweetcorn too but no sign of those just yet.

The sun always makes one feel positive about things doesn't it? It also makes me realise just how dirty the windows are and the house in general so I've been on a bit of a spring cleaning mission lately and have done the downstairs areas, including the kitchen, but only a quick clean of the surfaces - the turfing out of the cupboards will be done after I've finished the rest of the house.  Upstairs is always tricky as the master bedroom hides a hoard of 'too-good-to-throw-away-might-be-useful' stuff under the bed which takes ages to move out and the other bedroom, which is called The Study as its a work room, well that has become a bit of a dumping ground.  Lets just say upstairs is going to be a challenge.

Well I guess I've done enough wittering for today.  I'm really looking forward to the Royal Wedding on Friday; I'll be glued to the telly all day, so I must make haste today and tomorrow and Get Things Done! TTFN xx

Sunny Saturday

With sky this colour, one just HAS to get outside and potter!  After a morning of essential shopping and banking, Mr C and I decided the garden was calling.  He continued with the mammoth task of removing a very large Leylandii, having previously cut all of the foliage off during the winter, he now has only the trunk to deal with. I put my hand to potting up the sweet peas I had sown in the autumn in to their final large pot.

They look rather bedraggled but once the sun has been on them for a day or two, I'm sure they will soon get going up the strings.  My only problem with doing this is that they will now have to live outside rather than on the bench in the greenhouse.  Having only a small greenhouse and one that is also used to store the recycling bins and various other bits and bobs, there isn't any room for a pot this size to stand. I do have a bit of fleece I can wrap around in the evenings and hope this will  provide enough protection until they 'harden off'.  Our garden is fairly sheltered and they have two chances - it will be a shame if they don't make it.  However, they could no longer stay in the greenhouse in their little tubes, as they were starting to look a little unhappy, probably because they were not getting enough food as they had so little compost around them.  Fingers crossed!

I also sowed tomatoes and sweetcorn this afternoon, which are now on the bench in place of the  sweet peas.

They look so lovely all lined up, side by side.  This picture was taken just before I pushed the sweetcorn seeds in half an inch and covered them over.  The polystyrene boxes are packing bits from the toners used in the photocopier at work.  I love that they look like little cauldrons. They work very well at keeping the pots warm.  The now very dirty polystyrene behind them is all saved packaging from various purchases by home or work.  Our neighbour has recently had a new kitchen and we chose several bits of packaging to add to our collection.  Our greenhouse is a cold house, we do not use any heat during the winter and so this polystyrene helps to keep things warm.

Its been such a lovely afternoon, doing my favourite thing - pottering. 

Til next time, TTFN xx