First Card! :P x

Hello Everyone, 


So I've had a busy week and have finally made my first card (two actually). :) I was very excited on
Thursday morning when I took the bus back home to go to a card making lesson there. Cloud Nine is a fantastic little craft shop and I am very grateful to Clare the owner for her patience with me. It was fantastic, I had so much fun, the ladies that were there to make cards were so welcoming. I now have two beautiful cards to show for it, as you can see. :P The session was called 'Springtime in Paris' and 'Stamping in Paris'. I think I got them to photograph reasonably well too. :) Which I'm really chuffed with. :)

After the lesson I had lots of fun picking up stamps I liked from the shop, some ink (essential obviously), some bleed proof paper even though I don't have any markers to colour with yet, and a few other essential bits.  I spent almost three hours in the shop and came away very happy if a little tired from getting so excited. lol. I spent the night with my family and they brought me back today, we have a wander round the city centre and went into the craft shops that were open. I picked up a few more things that I hadn't picked up from Cloud Nine, like a cutting mat, dies for my Big Shot, and other odds and ends.  I'm going to be really good though and not make anything until my actual birthday. Which is only just less than a month away now. :P As I just mentioned I brought dies for my Big Shot which will be coming my way on my birthday, only a almost three weeks til I get it. lol. :) I have enjoyed myself so much and it's just so much fun, as well as satisfying to see the end result. :)  

Well I'm going to sign off because its been a long few days and I have a fun filled weekend ahead, so I need to get some rest. I have afternoon tea at the vintage cafe tomorrow. Looking forward to it immensely. I get to have a snoop round the shop too while I'm there. :) 

Bye for now.

P.s. I will try and find a link for the shop or Claire's blog if I can.

(Edit: Links now up. :))

Sara xxx

Three Days Off

Hello Everyone, 

Well the last few days haven’t had very much craft-time about them at all. I spent all of Wednesday at Uni doing work, but did find some time to sign up to a postcard exchange on futuregirl’s blog. I really like this idea, all I had to do was send the lady my name and address and she will send me a post card when she next writes a ‘batch’. I can’t wait to receive one, really looking forward to sending one back. The blog itself is all about her knitting projects, and very interesting as one of the first things that got me into crafting was actually being shown how to crochet/knit again after quite a few years. I have caught onto crochet, never having done it, but I have not caught on to knitting again yet. Maybe just following her posts will give me some inspiration.

My Wonky Start! :P

I spent a lovely day on Thursday with my boyfriend; we went to see our best friend and her one week old little girl. She’s so sweet, but I am happy that I can hand her back when I’m done fussing over her. Not quite ready for a family of my own just yet. :P After such a lovely day, I spent  a few hours in the evening at a clothes swap/craft session which was held by the charity that I have been volunteering with since December 5^th 2012. The charity, Young Potential, supports young and disabled people in a number of areas in Lincolnshire. 

Straightening out :P

I’ll pop a link in for anyone who’s interested. The project that I have been volunteering with is the ViTaL project that is attempting to develop a support network for disadvantaged young people in my community. The craft session on Thursday went really well, I spent some time doing my crochet. I’m in the process of trying to make a scarf, which is slow going. The beginning of my scarf looks very wonky as I tried to learn how to keep the right number of stitches, but I have got it now. It now sticks to 20/21 stitches more often than not. Anyway, during the craft session I had a fantastic time chatting with everyone and it was nice to do something different for a change.

Postcard for the Vintage Cafe

Friday day time was a little strange, so I will leave that be, but Friday night was fantastic. My boyfriend and I went to the ViTaL Projects’ last volunteer event, which was a music night and pub quiz. We won, with some help from another volunteer. The prize was amazing, a ‘vintage’ games console for my boyfriend (I can’t remember the correct name of it, however many times he tells me. lol) which he was very pleased about, and a voucher for a beautiful little craft/fabric shop, as well as a voucher for afternoon tea at a vintage café/shop. There was also a vintage scarf, which was a lovely blue and green design and went to the other girl in our group. I’ll try and get some pictures up of the vouchers; they have a fantastic design to them. I’m really really excited about going and using the craft shop voucher, and the café. I love vintage things.

Image on the Vintage Cafe's Voucher

 Anyway, that was a big post and I may have just rambled on about aimless things from the last few days. I’m trying to make sure I make these posts personal enough to keep everyone interested but not so personal that it becomes awkward to read. Heh. Hopefully once I get myself some craft materials at the end of April I will have a bit more to show you and talk about. I’m going to need all the help I can get and look forward to seeing people’s comments. I’m really excited about entering some of the challenges I’ve seen online too. For now I should probably try to focus on my revision for Uni, I have exams in May which is coming round far too quick… I have lots of things to look forward too, especially Thursday when I get to finally make my first card at the lesson I have booked. :P Yay.  

 I think I’ll stop there and sign off. Talk to you all again soon.

Sara xx

Interesting Find :)

Hello again. :P

So this is my second post and I have to admit I’m probably posting to soon after the first one. I don’t have much to tell you all, I’ve spent most of my day doing Uni work or at least trying to focus on it. I have had time, however, to find a lovely YouTube video that I think is amazing. The video is called Interactive CardMaking Project, and is a succession of videos that give you various choices, all of which lead to a different design of a card. It’s all for the Operation Write Home, a project that sends handmade cards and the like out to soldiers serving in other countries. I think the idea is just fantastic, and I may just make one up myself when I finally get some materials and send it to them to be sent out there. I may make a few. Other than that I just thought it was a good way to get inspiration for a more personal project you may want to make. 

Anyway, I will add a link to the video’s name in this post and hope that some of you will go and take a look. Maybe if she gets enough feedback she will create another one, but as you will see/hear it took a lot of effort and time to create the project. 

I’m going to sign off there, want to spend a little bit of time looking through craft sites. I just can’t wait to get some materials and actually physically start on my new hobby. Card making class on 28^th here I come.

Bye for now. Sara xxx

P.S. I've just noticed this is an American project, I will have to have a look and see if they do something similar in the UK. I'm sure they do. :)

How Exciting... :P

My First Post! (Gosh I'm so so excited!) :P

Hello Everyone, (or maybe for the moment just myself.)

I am really excited (and very nervous) about starting this blog. I have re-written this post a number of times, and done a whole lot of procrastination from other work to do so. Ooops. :/

Anyway, I decided to start a blog because I want to document the beginnings of a new hobby in my life. I have recently found myself very much interested in the art of Card Making! And I am really, really, really excited about the possibilities that this new interest will give rise too. 

Due to being a student, the idea of setting up for the task of card making has been a little daunting; financially and space wise. I live in a shared house, so I only have the one room as my own. I do have a desk, but it is forever piled high with Uni work and books that should probably have gone back to the library days ago. Lol. I am, however, determined not to let this interest drop and as I am so excited about it my parents have offered to give me a hand setting up. 

My mum has signed me on to a card making lesson and has suggested that they buy me the things I need to start up as my birthday present (that’s over a month away!). I am so excited, I have spent hours online looking at tutorial videos (mainly ‘Prairie Paper and Ink’ on youtube, she’s fantastic and so talented). Oh and I haven’t been able to stop myself from buying a 6x6 boofle paper pad I saw on sale recently. Just today I brought myself a papercraft magazine and spent a good two or three hours looking at the download section on their website (papercraftinspirations). The magazine came with a set of Country Companions stamps, papers and the 33 free downloadable images on the website. J I’m so excited to get started; I’ve already printed one out on plain paper and given colouring it in a go. It’s all very basic as I don’t have the markers I’d like yet (I really want Copics, but I might have to wait a while before I can afford those. :P) I’ll try and get a photo of my mini, mini haul up with this post and also of the image I coloured in. 

So time to start learning exactly how this blogging thing works. Hopefully I’ll catch on quick and be able to keep it up.  Perseverance is all it will take. Anyway, I should probably go and take a look at the Cognition textbook I should be taking notes from…oh the trials and tribulations of being a student. :P  

Talk to you all again soon. 

 Sara xxx

Designed by Angela Poole from Papercraft Inspirations

Country Companion Stamps and Springtime Papers, I got free with my first ever papercraft magazine. :)

Sorry about the state of the photos, I do need to sort out a proper camera and not use my phone next time. :/

Sara xxx