Making Lists

Well it must be true - I read it in a magazine!!

Feeling stressed - then make a list and all will be well.  I am reliably informed that list making is the  number one way to stay calm in busy times and frees up valuable brain space, making you more productive.  Hey good times!

Now, I make lists all the time, is this an indication, perhaps, that I am highly stressed?  Well, yes probably!

I juggle a full-time job in the busy NHS with running a home, being the main breadwinner, being a mum and feeding my passion for making craft.  So yes, I do need lists.  I couldn't survive without them.  For me they are vital.  Shopping lists, to-do lists, sort-out problem lists, reading lists, lists of future projects, ideas lists - the list of lists is endless!

But I'm an old fashioned girl in many ways and despite embracing (some) technology (I could not live without my macbook or iphone!) - I still have to write my lists on paper.  And maybe that's what makes my lists more real - they are physical and always there looking at me, usually from the bedside table (I have been known to add to them in the dark!).  I have tried writing my lists on screen but somehow that doesn't work.  For me they are less binding, less urgent and more easily ignored and at the end of the day the computer or phone can be switched off.

And yes, I do get a sense of achievement if, at the end of the day, I can put a tick through my list.  But I don't need to have completed my list to feel good, knowing that I'm well on my way to achieving the target can be good enough.

So get to it - get stress busting, free up some brain space and write a list today!

• Make them achievable. 
• Make them short - one side of the paper only!
• Break larger tasks down into bite sized pieces
• Review them regularly to see your progress.
• And be content with achieving most but not necessarily all of your list.

Making Tile Coasters

We moved in February and as a result still have lots of unopened boxes - yes I'm a hoarder I know.  Anyway whilst foraging through a box the other day I came across this set of tiles.  

I had bought them a couple of years ago at a recycling centre with a mind to do something with them and that's as far as they got.  Until now...

Today I woke up with the mind to do something for me - not for the Folksy / Etsy shop, and after constantly hunting for a newspaper or something to put my coffee cup down on, I decided these tiles could make sweet little coasters - just for me.

I know its not rocket science, not original, but because these tiles are handmade, no-one else will have a set of coasters like these - yay - always an appeal of handmade.

The tiles have rough bottoms (always a tricky issue - a rough bottom!) and so to prevent scratching my furniture, I glued squares of cork (trimmings from the  CD Coasters  ) to the base of the tiles and hey presto I now have a lovely set of unique handmade tile coasters.

Handmade tiles

Cutting cork

Cork squares glued to bases

My lovely set of tile coasters

Time for a coffee!

 

It Rained!

Well, it rained, and anyone that knows me well, will tell you that, when it rains I get the urge to bake.

And today, (Erik Zabel's Birthday, by the way!) it was cookies!

Mix 75g each of butter, granulated sugar and soft light brown sugar together to form a light and fluffy creamed mixture.  Add a few drops of vanilla extract and beat in 1 egg.

Add 175g self raising flour and mix.  Then add the goodies.  Today it was white chocolate chips and chopped Brazil nuts - approx 100g, stir together.

Drop teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto a greased or lined baking sheet and bake at 180 C until golden brown and smelling gorgeous!

Cool on a rack and enjoy!

Open Garden

For a couple of years now my parents have opened the gates to their garden to the public through the National Gardens Scheme, Gardens Open for Charity.  Both keen gardeners, they spend many hours planting and pruning, mowing and weeding in preparation for the big day.
Recently returned to the area, this year I was in a better situation to lend a hand.  However, my fingers are not as green as theirs, but I do make notebooks.  
So after some weeks of looking (or trying not to look) at the box of supplies, today I made a start on the notebooks I promised to make.  Using coloured postcards of the garden as covers, I have sliced and chopped my way through a pile of paper and banded the books together, ready for wire binding.
When the day comes, these will be on sale to the visitors, ready for them to make their jottings as they wander round the five acre garden.

work in progress

Visit Great Stones Garden, Hertfordshire.  Sunday 7th August 2011

Great Stones Garden

 

Just Seventeen (again!)

Well so much for writing a regular blog.  All very well until you get struck down, for over a week, with a chest infection and sinusitis.  I don't take enforced breaks easily and was becoming very frustrated, towards the end, with my lack of capacity.  But hey ho nearly there now.
So on to my latest offering. 

While checking out my local charity shop recently I came across this lovely collection of postcards - a real blast from the past.  Fabulous!  But curiously they are all addressed to the same recipient.

25 years ago, teenage girls were busy sending the free postcards, from their favorite pop magazine, to enter a prize draw for some haircare products!

I wonder what those girls are doing and where in the world they are now?

My burning question, however, is where have these postcards been hiding for the last 25 years?  What's the story behind that then?  I like my work, the products I make and the materials I use, to have a story behind them, a history - I'd really like to know the real one here.
 

 But, wow, check out these pretty boys!!  Got that teenage weak-knee feeling?  Oh yes!!

 My collection of 1980's Postcard Notebooks.

So revel in all that 80's gorgeousness and enjoy!!

 

First Treasury

Had a lovely surprise

my first week on Etsy and my postage stamp magnets were listed on a Treasury  - check out 'Another Side of Postage Stamps'

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTQ1NDU5ODZ8MzE2ODA5NzUx/another-side-of-postage-stamps?index=2

But to add to it, this treasury formed the basis of a video too.  (blink and you miss my magnets at the end mind you!!)  Some cool videos here 

thershop.tumblr.com/

Big thanks to Herlin from the R shop for this

 

Etsy Shop

Today I took the bold move of pressing the publish button on my Etsy shop.  But, as always, these things take much longer than you think when starting out.  I'm sure with practice, though, I will become more speedy.
I'm still surrounded by an expanding amount of stock, in the form of notebooks various and fridge magnets, all spread out for the casting vote of pricing each item and weighing it to work out postage and packing charges.  
Poor Phoebe (the dog) just keeps coming into the room, seeing she can't get anywhere near me and slopes off to the hallway.  I'll be with you soon Phoebe - we'll go and check out what's happening at the river!
Anyway, I think the hardest bit is done and now I've got a few basic items listed I can chill out a wee bit and add some more as and when the whim takes me.

I do hope those that find this take a moment to visit my new store.

Ok Phoebe - lets go......

the first blank page

Here I am faced with my first blank page and wondering what to write about.  Its a bank-holiday morning - I've been awake since the dawn chorus but I have achieved the basics of sussing out this on-line blogging stuff.   So I guess this is the start my journey sharing with who knows who a little of what makes up my life.
 I have a day job but love to make.  I think its in my DNA - I grew up sitting on the end of a workbench quietly absorbing and now as an adult my head is always buzzing with ideas, plans and future projects.
But lets not spend valuable time looking at a screen its time to see where the creative urges take me today in my own shed.
I hope you like my first pictures posted - some of my many notebooks.
Watch this space for details of how to buy them.