Sew much fun

I enjoy a broad range of hobbies which is why I call myself Crafty Tash.  In my younger days I used to do a lot of dressmaking as it was difficult to buy off the peg clothes that fitted well.  My biggest success was making my own wedding dress and my bridesmaid and page-boy outfits.  I also made silk waistcoats for my husband to be and his best man, Ian his brother.  Looking back, it was a mammoth task but I felt I needed something to do to fill the 18 months leading up to the big day.  I hired the assistance of a seamstress to adjust my dress pattern so that the fitting would be perfect and it was.  It was a wonderful day followed by a three week honeymoon in America.  We borrowed a video camera and I just kept smiling the entire three weeks.

Sewing is taking a bit of a revival and back in the New Year I took the opportunity of updating my sewing machine.  It has come out on a few occasions but I haven’t fully utilised it yet. I made a cute owl very recently having received a free pattern and fabric from my Homemaker magazine.  

Hobbies can be expensive if you invest in everything you need, maybe use it once or never finish what you started due to lack of knowledge or skill. 

Here is a hobby that I guarantee you will enjoy – making felt Christmas decorations.  I have purchased this Felt Christmas Decorations book by Corinne Lapierre and it consists of 20 projects.  It is available from Amazon for £3.74.  

You will need access to a photocopier because the patterns need enlarging by 200%.  I have made all these Christmas decorations in four evenings!  I hope to sell these on my stall in November.  My favourite is the owl.  I shan't stop until I run out of felt!  Let me know what you think of them.

The Happy Couple

I had seen a great offer on Create and Craft this evening, a collection of Tonic Bird Dies, dies to dies for!  I have one or two flower punches from Tonic Studios and invested recently in a Christmas Cracker Die which is fab so I know the quality is good.  I visited Tonic's website for the first time and saw some great cards that had been pinned.    When I do this it invariably leads me from one blog site to another until I stopped when I came across one with a challenge to use dies or punches over 6 months old.  This inspired me to make another version of a card I have tried before using my Spellbinder dies.  I shall enter it into the challenge "Oldie but a goodie Challenge" so keep your fingers crossed for me because the prize is some fantastic dies by Tonic Studios. 

Having a good old "nose" around on other people's blogs is inspirational and I have been surprised by the number of entrants to craft challenges.  At last an outlet for my crafting activities!

The Happy Couple card made using a few Spellbinder flower dies and embellished with gems.  The flowers have been adhered onto an acetate background.    

Shed talk!

Being able to make your own cards can be quite handy considering I have two friends with Birthday's this week. One of my youngest friends is having her 18th and Phil and I are going to help her celebrate this at the Oriental City Restaurant in Pinhoe, Exeter.  It is really fitting as this week we have a celebration of our own.  It's our 20th Wedding Anniversary!  

Whilst looking up wedding anniversaries on the internet I discovered that the traditional theme of celebration is Chinese so there you go!  The modern theme is platinum and emeralds. I have always wanted to own an emerald ring, hint, hint!

I have enjoyed making an anniversary card for my darling husband using a new DVD Rom that was only delivered on Saturday.  The DVD Rom contains exclusive artwork by the world renowned artist Pollyanna Pickering who draws and paints British Wildlife.   

 As you can see I did a little bit of teabag folding and stamped the background of my card with my latest edition of leaf stamps by Clarity.

Meanwhile, I promised you a shed!  Again, the inspiration came from Debbie Moore's Garden Bookazine and I filled the shelves with stamped out pots etc from the miniature range of Clarity stamps I have.

Plant a garden, water your soul

It's been nice to sit down for an hour and get out my crafting materials and just relax and make another card.  It is the first this week!

I had a busy evening yesterday as Tuesdays I teach wheelchair dancing to a group of disabled people in Exeter so Wednesdays are my chill out evenings.  

Since my fall back in May I haven't been driving but last evening felt a good time to get back behind the wheel.  The traffic wasn't busy and the pre-nerves I had felt melted away as soon as I turned the engine over.

I was so proud of one of my dancers last evening.  She is a student from the West of England College in Exeter who educate and care for young people with visual impairments and complex needs.  Last evening she attended without the support of her carers and did remarkably well unsupported. The best I can do with British Sign Language is a handful of words and finger spell but between us we got by.

Anyway, I hope you like my latest card offering from the Debbie Moore Bookazine.  The sentiment is stamped using a Clarity stamp I have from a garden set.  I plan to make a garden shed card next so watch this space!

Time flies by too fast!

Ever wished that weekends were longer?  Mine is flying past and I also feel disappointed that I didn't find time to write a new post on my blog over the last week. I was busy preparing for my stall at the Exminster Market which took place yesterday.  It was good fun and I saw friends old and new.  Sales went well although I did feel it could have been busier.  I sold lots of cards including the two I made from Debbie Moore's Garden Bookazine which were recent posts.  I also sold a couple of my Beatrice Potter box cards, a bracelet I had made from Polymer Clay and some packs of my handmade buttons.  There were a good range of items for sale including homemade cakes, fudge, soaps and fish. 

Instead of getting down and crafting today, as well as doing the housework, I have busy sorting out the Christmas cards I have been making all summer long.  Looking back, it did seem rather strange to be adhering snowy acetate onto the fronts of my cards whilst we were enjoying a very pleasant summer. 

Some final touches were needed to some of the cards, including finding matching envelopes and cello bags and then the photography. Each card I make I like to take a photo off, upload it onto my PC and then give it a unique ID reference number. Why you wonder, well, if I note this reference number down when it is sold, I can move the photo into a "sold" album and I can see which cards have been popular or not as the case may be.    I do have one or two collections which have been non sellers!

Of the hundred or so cards I have made over the summer, there are two collections which are my favourite.  One is the Barkley Christmas Papercrafting CD-Rom from Crafter's Companion and the other, the stamp set from Sheena Douglass - A Little Bit Festive.  

I am going to sign off now leaving you with a some cards I have made with Sheena's stamps.  Do let me know what you think of them and thank you for stopping by.

In the classroom

The first weekend in every month is reserved for the classroom.  It is an opportunity for me to try new techniques and improve existing crafting skills.  In the classroom with Barbara Grey appears on the Create & Craft TV channel 36. This weekend Barbara got out the Gelli Plate which is used for mono printing and demonstrated how you could combine the art of stamping with acrylic paints.    I followed along but I am not ready to share my efforts with you yet!    

If you are intrigued to know what you can do with this Gelli Plate then I recommend you watch one of Andy Skinner's video's on You Tube.  I have shared a quick link to it - "Deco art Traditions and Gelli Plates... a match made in Heaven!" 


Meanwhile, I had a go at something I am more akin to, stamping and brayering and here is the results.  

I was quite pleased considering I was following Barbara's workshop whilst it was being broadcast live.    

Both the Nativity scene and the jigsaw set were purchased from Clarity Stamps  as well as the lettering.  

Now I have had a go at the techniques, I may work on these designs.