Blown Away

Wow, I'm blown away by all the lovely comments on my first DCM dare. I'm feeling really inspired and ready for more dares and challenges. Posted a card to Crafts by Carolyn Forum last night, will try and get it on the blog tonight, it was a 'Well Spotted' Rubber Stamp challenge and I had just made a card the night before with spotted paper and a little Do Crafts stamp of a vase of flowers with spots on it!

I'm half way through the Deathly Hallows and am beginning to carry it around with me, so I can read a bit when I have my breakfast, coffee etc. This means I am really getting into the story now and can't wait till bedtime to find out what happens next!
Sad git or what!

DCM Check

So here it is then, my first card for a DCM dare. I've had that bit of ribbon for ages and have never managed to find the right place for it on a card, the brads too have been in my box for a while - it all just seemed to come together when I saw the 'check' theme for the dare.

Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix

My friend and I went to see the movie last night, we wanted to wait until all the crowds of children had seen it. It was really good, very fast paced with lots of action. But the star of the show as Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge, the new Defence of the Dark Arts Professor. She was just fantastic as the nasty Dolores and her clothes were just so fab, those pink dress and jacket numbers reminded me of a Latin Teacher I had in 1971 (she was well behind the times). The Mohair coat she was wearing when she visited Hagrid in his little hut was 'to die for'. I have to say, much as I admired her consistent style, it was the only item I might actually wear!

I'll be starting to read 'The Deathly Hallows' very soon, just have to finish the book I am currently reading.

Indian Elements

I've posted my card made with the Elephant Theme plate from Elusive images. I used the paisley (or mango) pattern to make a background on the card. The main image is stamped and painted with Twinkling H2O paints then mounted on purple card and a rich orange paper. The background is paper towel wet dyed with fabric paints then ironed onto Bondaweb and quilting matting, then stamped with the paisley stamp in gold ink. It was then free machine stitched, mounted on purple card with a torn paper frame, paper printed double sided from Pink Petticoat Christmas Doodle Handbag CD Rom. Finished off with gold peel offs. Whew! that took longer to describe than it took to make. I am quite pleased with it, but the frame is a bit bumpy because of the quilted paper towel underneath - so room for improvement.

Exciting News!

I have a journalist from DGB (Dumfries & Galloway and Borders) Life Magazine coming to see my home and my business next Friday afternoon with the possibility of putting a feature in the magazine! This, of course, has induced panic and I am rushing around tidying up and trying to make the place look respectable.

I had a great crafting day yesterday, the new theme plate arrived from Graphicus, it has Indian Elephants and paisley patterns on it, it is really great - a whole A4 sheet of stamps! I also got a set of Twinkling H2o paints (my first) and they are going to look so good with the stamps.

I also received a free copy of Papercraft Essentials as I had emailed a question to their Card Doctor page. It was so great to have all these parcels waiting for me when I got home from work.

On top of that the new Harry Potter book arrived with the post this morning. I am not going to start it as my son, Steven, will want to read it first - he is 20! He will probably stay up all night tonight reading.

Flash Flood

On Wednesday night I set off home from work as usual. It was dry and dull in Dumfries. As I reached the top of the hill after Torthorwald, a heavy thunder shower started, then it simply did not stop. There was a lot of traffic and everyone slowed right down, as we started to descend the road was filling up with water. It was pouring off the fields in great fountains, reddish brown and full of soil. On the road it was like the tide coming in, great waves of water swooshing across the road, it was about 4 inches deep in places and I suddenly thought about those film clips you see on TV where cars are swept away - a very scary moment.

Further down the road it was covered in stones swept onto the road by the water. Water was bubbling up through the drains in Lochmaben but the water level was much lower. As I drove out of Lochmaben towards home the road became dry, there had been no rain there at all. It was the worst drive I have had since we had a major snow fall and I had to get home, I thought that time I wouldn't get there.

Of course, because it had not been raining like that anywhere else, only those who were there could really understand how frightening it was.

First Post - Why I am Blogging

I started creating felt handbags in June 2005 after attending a one day course in wet felt making. I was really hooked and had a lot of positive comments about the bags. Last year I launched my website www.janicepattie.co.uk to try to expand my sales beyond local craft fairs.

I've come to a bit of a turning point, because sales from the website never really took off, so I am probably not going to renew the e-shop package that I bought last year, but go for something simpler.

I thought that I would try a blog to see if that would be a possible alternative or addition to a simpler website.

Creatively, I have also found that the felt jewellery I have started making is selling better than the bags, so I need to work on that. All this is done in my spare time as I work full-time to pay the bills!