Voluntary Work

Hello one and all!

I am alive - ish.... lol! it's been a strange few days to top off a strange few weeks, but today I am here to finally talk about the voluntary work i'm doing that I mentioned in my last post.

For the last couple of weeks I've been at Soho House Museum in Birmingham, the home of the industrial father of Brum - Matthew Boulton. Now, i've worked for the site for two seasons (2009 and 2011) and I love it. The house is so welcoming and the history, truly incredible. So when I started to get cabin fever from job hunting I got in touch with the debuty curator to ask if I could come back and do some volunteering with them - conservation cleaning, research and the like.

Little did I know that I would not only be able to do that, but also be in the midst of their redevlopment work at the site as well. The vistor centre is finally getting a much needed facelift and in the process, a new gallery space is going to be created - which in turn has meant that the gallery rooms of the house have been removed and the spaces returned to two more historical rooms! phew!

It's been great though - not only have I been able to assist the team on the site to gut the old gallery space (nothing quite like a hammer and crowbar to make you feel like a rebel!) but it's also enabled me to pull out all the old site history and indulge in my favourite past time, research!

Amongst manyof the tasks that i've been doing, one of the key areas is the re-write of the information panels in the historic rooms and the drafting of new panels in the two new spaces. Although these are still far from being completed, its been incredible learning even more about the site and its development, redevelopment and numerous uses post Boulton family - and here I was thinking I had a fairly good grasp on things! ooops!

But as I carry on and do more research, it becomes even clearer to me the importance of Matthew Boulton, not only on the city of Birmingham but on England in the 18th Century. If only more people cared enough to learn about him - maybe the site wouldn't want for visitors and maybe, just maybe, we could rekindle his name across the country. I can but dream.

Until next time (hopefully being typed without so many cuts and bruises!) take care and happy crafting

A Travelling Journal

 Evening everyone!

Ok, you can pick yourselves up off the floor, I am alive - I've just been incredibly busy doing voluntary work of late. Infact, I'm still doing it and it's all very exciting and interesting - but I'll do a post on just that in the near future. The other exciting(ish) news that I have is that I finally have work! hurrah! i'm going back to Birmingham Community Museums for the season - but this year I won't be working for the city council, I'll be working for the UK largest Museum Trust. Birmingham Museum Trust will consist of the community museums, the Museum and Art Gallery as well as Birmingham's Science Museum, ThinkTank.

But enough of the boring stuff. I just wanted to share a quick project with you. Whilst browsing the eighteen25 blog the other day I came across the most fabulous idea. A travelling journal. Not a travel journal, but a journal to share with friends and family who are spread far and wide. Now, I guess many of you are like me and have friends who live up and down the country (or even possibly abroad) and you don't get to see them as often as you'd like and probably don't speak to them as often as you should. Well now you can send them your latest news in a journal that you post from person to person:

This was such an easy make. It's a cheap hardback notebook from Wilkinson's, covered with some old scrapbooking paper. I added a coordinating ribbon band and then printed out the label which the girls over at eighteen25 designed. I cut a second house and foam mounted it and added some glitter around the edge of the label and there you have it!

I'll shortly be sending this on to my friend Charlie down in Dorset, then from there it'll go to London and our friend Heather before heading over to Cardiff to see Sarah and then back to me. I can't wait to see how this goes and I'll keep you updated when it comes back to me in about a months time.

Until next time, take care and Happy Crafting!

Magic in the air

Evening all,

Just a quick card to share with you all - just to prove i'm still alive! lol! this one is for stock. I have a couple of friends and family members I could use it for, but i'm not sure who it's going to yet. I started colouring this image months ago and stubbled on it last week so I decided it was high time to finish it!

Clean and simple. The images are from tiddlyinks and the leaves on the tree are from a cuttlebug die. The image has been coloured with promarkers and the whole thing mounted on red and black card.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Red, White and Mom

Morning all,

Well I'm finally back with another card - this one is for Mom's Birthday next Sunday. I decided to try a new style of card for her and came across this fantastic tutorial at Stampartic. Well all I can say is nothing seemed to go to plan with this card. The first one I tried I messed up the punched edges so badly there was no way of rescuing it. This one, the folds are quite rough and look distressed - far from intentional - so in the end I've highlighted them with a chalk ink to make it look more like part of the design and then I had a total mind blank on how to decorate the front.... I think the papers I chose hadn't really helped me but finally! here is the finished article:-

The papers are from a Dovecraft Oriental 12x12 selection pack i've had for a couple of years. The chalk in I used for the edges was colorbox - Blush Rose. The ribbon and gems are from stash. This was the first card I used the Marianne D rose dies on and having finally sorted out the most effective method of rolling them I'm really happy with how they turned out. The butterflies are a MS punch and (as usual) glitterd up with stickles. Finally, 'MOM' was created using Sizzix transfers and there we have it.

I'd like to enter this challenge into Allsorts - Anything goes.

Thanks for dropping by and happy crafting!

Oh no!

Morning all,

I hope you're all well and happy crafting - I'm not sure if I owe you all an apology or if i'm taking things personally but in the last week I've lost 2 followers :(

If I have done or said something to upset any of you or if you're just fed up at the lack of up updates then I am truly sorry. I don't intend to upset anyone and try hard to make sure my posts don't contain anything that can be taken in offence. I also try hard to keep the blog updated with both cards and life, but life does have a funny way of getting in the way.

This week for instance, I've been busy completing two job applications - in the process of which I finally tipped my arm over the edge and not only reaggrivated my RSI but also then popped a tendon and so my right arm is now strapped up from knuckles to elbow! Not at all helpful in doing anything crafty for long periods of time. So please bare with me when it comes to crafting updates - I'm just not getting anywhere very fast with anything.

I do hope to be back with a card either later today or over the weekend - as I really need to get my mum's finished! So please keep coming back and checking in, because I do appreciate the feedback and the company - and if I do say something you don't like, don't just leave, say something!

Until next time, happy crafting x

Love in a Mug

Afternoon everyone!

Are you all looking forward to Valentines Day tomorrow? or are you like me and just looking forward to the reduced chocolates on Wednesday? lol!  It seems that everyone has been bitten by the love bug and as I said on my last card post, I don't do Valentines day, but it seemed a shame not to take part in the challenges and so I thought about it and I realised that I could send my own kind of love to my friends who are up and down the country - better known as my urban family. You know, the kind of friends you can pick up a phone to after months of silence and carry on the conversation as if it were yesterday; the ones you call up to crash on their sofa when you're in town (or missed your train) and most importantly, they are the ones who give you unconditionally love and support when life throws you a curveball.

So, this year, on valentines day - whilst many of you will be sharing a kiss with a loved one or raising a glass of champagne whilst out for a romantic dinner - I'll be at home, raising a my mug of love - a good old cup of tea - and letting it wrap me in it's warm hug as I remember those I love and who love me in return. 

My un-lovie, but sent with lots of love, valentines card:

The rhyme inside reads 'A little cup of friendship, With a bag of tea, When you relax and drink this, Remember it brings love from me'.

The papers are from My Minds Eye - Blink of an Eye. The small roses and lace is from stash and the digi image of the teapot was a freebie from a fabulous little website called Birds Cards.

I would like to enter my alternative valentines card into the following:
Creative Inspirations - Lots of love
Simon Says - Love is in the air
CRAFT - Valentines Day
Fussy and Fancy - With all my heart
Crafty Catz - Valentines

That's it. Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

We'll meet again......

Ok, so I have to admit I haven't paid the greatest amount of attention to the changes google's been making to blogger but I have heard more than one rumour that the follow me app was going to be removed. Looking further into the case it would appear that at the moment it will no longer be supported on blogs which aren't blogger - word press etc.

In order to ensure that all my lovely follows can continue to follow me and I them, no matter which platform they are using, I have installed Mr Linky's new App for followers to sign up to. It's located on my sidebar, below Google's follower app - so feel free to sign up and if you're not on a blogger platform, leave me a comment so I can be sure to change your site to the new feed so I don't miss out on any of your lovely creations.

Until next time. Happy Crafting!

*UPDATE*

Because I think there is a lot of confusion out in Blogland I just wanted to make this very clear - if you have a BLOGSPOT account then ignore this post in so far as signing up on Mr Linky, however ; if you are NOT on Blogspot but wordpress or similar your feed will cease to exist and you will not have my updates and I won't have yours.

Therefore - if you have a wordpress account etc you need to change your follower app and if you currently follow someone with a wordpress account etc you will need to sign up on their new app.

If you only follow people on Blogspot (which is the largest community anyway) then ignore everything and carry on crafting in peace.

Hope this makes it all a bit clearer.