It's been a long time, long time now..

It will probably be one of my 2009 resolutions to update my blog more often. Yes, I'm already thinking of the new year, and of christmas, guy fawkes night and halloween! I love autumn and winter, even if my fingers do tend to go blue alot.



I made one of these birds & flowers coptic journals last month, but it sold not long after it was listed. I've just finished another and plan to make a few more; perhaps in a different size and one with a spine binding. It's covered with handmade gift wrap I discovered in a store which has just opened up in Holt - 'It's Great to be Green'. Sadly their website doesn't seem to be working.



In other news I finally got the DSLR I wanted! I am taking more photographs than ever, I love it! I will post some of them at some point..

Tagged

I finally found a tree decoration I am happy with to give to my sister and her husband. The above valentine tree decoration is by HELLO my name is Heather. I've ordered some heart print card (albeit not as nice as that used in the photo) and I think I may use some of the vintage silks my great aunt gave to me to make a tassel for the bottom.


I've been busy working on my coptic technique over the past couple of weeks. I'm saving the money from selling the books to buy an A4 mould & deckle so I can make paper from the smallest scraps I am left over with. I try to reuse as much as possible, I love the idea of being able to turn even the tiniest scraps into something (hopefully) pretty and usable again, instead of just pushing it into the bin and letting somebody else deal with it. I am rather eager to get the mould and deckle so these books never made it to Etsy. I am definitely going to make more though. The book in the middle is my first book using book cloth! I made it myself using this amazing tutorial. It was a dream to work with and I now want to cover every book with pretty fabrics. I will have to raid the charity shops for suitable vintage fabrics to reuse I think.

It is the first day of spring today, according to Google. The weather is miserable. It's so cold & wet. I was hoping to have seeds sown & our vegetable patch dug by now. The mini greenhouse frame we have won't stay put - I attached it to the shed but the wind just rips it away & throws it in the pond so I gave up. The surviving purple-sprouting broccoli from last year is doing really well, we've eaten one bunch and more is sprouting fast. I'm not sure what to grow this year.

A bit late doing this, sorry! I was tagged by Katrina of tomatotea.co.uk

The rules are:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

The facts:
1. My thumb nails grow faster than all my other nails.
2. I sleep with my eyes open without even realising it.
3. My entire family can roll their tongues, except me!
4. When I was little I used to pronounce flood as 'flude' instead of 'flud'. Even when people corrected me I still said flude.
5. Sometimes I like Marmite, sometimes I don't.
6. I try to avoid ironing. It's not that I really don't like ironing, it just takes me hours. I try to do it quickly, but it just doesn't happen.
7. Unless it's very hot I don't like cold drinks. I prefer beer at room temperature!

I tag:
Sareth Stitches
Vicky Riley
Earth and Tree
Geekzoidtastic
C-urchin
Magpie Nest
Big Blue Bed
.. it took a while to find 7 bloggers. I need to make more blogging friends! Apply within :)

So far not so good

So far I have proven useless at blogging. I am going to make a great effort to change this though.

Last month I uploaded a few things on to Etsy! First item being the above coptic bound notebook, which has sold already.. I taught myself Japanese Stab Binding using this tutorial and made a few recycled jotter pads to sell;




I've also been learning to make origami mini paper stars and a family friend spent an afternoon teaching me to make felt beads. I didn't realise it was so simple!

Pancake day was great, I made a batch for lunch with vanilla sugar and lemon juice. I've craved pancakes every day since though!