Catching up

Er hello, remember me? *coughs awkwardly*. I see that it’s over a month since I posted here last. Thank you if you’ve been stopping by to check for new posts. What have I been doing in that month? Mainly being ill, unfortunately. If you care to read my tale of woe, you can do so on my other blog, here. Crafting has been limited as a result of illness – I don’t have the energy these days to do much at all. However, I have done *some* positive things in the past month, too.

I bought a sewing machine! I didn’t get anything too fancy as I want it for card making, mainly. The lady in the shop looked at me in disgust when I mentioned I wanted to use it to sew card and paper. It’s a John Lewis branded machine, but it’s actually made in the Janome factory. It has everything I need and it’s easy to use. Who knows, I might even try some simple sewing with fabric! I did have an early blip with the sewing machine – I was sewing away but the stitching was coming out all wonky and I couldn’t work out how fast I was supposed to feed the paper through. I thought, “hmm, sewing is a lot harder than it looks” and I asked my mum to come over and show me what to do. Then I had a lightbulb moment when I realised I was sewing with the presser foot up. Duh. It has got a lot easier since then. They had run out of white machines, so I got a pink one. I’m actually scared of sewing machines (or I was) and the pink made it seem friendlier

In a rare pain-free day, I created a little craft space for myself. It’s actually my spare room/cupboard. It’s small – it was originally designed to be a cloakroom (why would a one bedroom flat need an ensuite bathroom and a toilet/washbasin in a cloakroom?). I use as it a junkroom and I got my DIY man to fit sturdy shelves from floor to ceiling on one wall. With some judicious shifting about, I managed to clear space for my papercrafting stuff on two of the shelves. There’s just enough room for my sewing maching on a small folding table and I sit on a folding chair. It’s not grand, but I love it so much. It’s my little escape pod away from everyday life.

I was on leave from work for two weeks and during that time, I learned how to do digital card making. I’ve struggled with traditional card making using paper, ink and stamps because I didn’t have a place to do it before the escape pod. Also, when I’m really poorly, I’m only comfortable lying down. I learned the basics of Photoshop Elements (which I had anyway, from my photography course) and then I bought a few digikits. Even if I’m having a difficult day, I can still design cards on my laptop, then I print them out and finish them when I’m feeling better.

Here are some examples. They’re ‘hybrid’ cards, because they have hand finished details, like punched shapes and machine sewing.

What do you think? The first one is for my friend’s birthday, the other two are because I like tea Being able to do something crafty takes my mind off things, anyway.

Phew, that’s a longer post than I intended. If you read to the end, thank you and congratulations on your phenomenal patience!