Confessions of a Crafty Accountant

Button Jewellery Swap.

2009-10-14T13:19:00.008+01:00

A little while ago I signed up for the Button Jewellery Swap run by Sam of IncyWincyStitches and was teamed up with Jo from Australia. Neither Jo or I have ever made jewellery before but both decided it would be fun!

Yesterday I received my parcel from Jo, it really cheered me up as I've had a nasty bug for the last week, so was in bed feeling really sorry for myself.

Jo has made me a lovely button bracelet, 2 rings (I particularly like the blue one) and a lovely pendent. Jo has been so clever with the pendent, she has used a buckle as the base to put the buttons on - I love it.

Now I know Jo has received my parcel, I can show you what I made. I found instructions on how to make a button necklace, but it didn't go according to plan, the first version didn't work as the thread I used was too thin, on the second version, the cord was too thick. The third version really worked, but only by accident! I had gone into my study to find some ribbon to try, but came across some wire instead.

I'm really pleased with the wire as you can bend it so the necklace sits exactly as you want. I also made a little button ring.

I then parceled it all up with some spare buttons including some with Union Jacks on, some ribbon, mint Aero (Jo loves mint chocolate) and other sweets. I hope Jo liked it.

Thank you Jo for all my goodies and for making the swap such fun. Thank you Sam for organising the swap. xxx

A birthday, 2 cakes and a party!

2009-09-10T22:32:00.008+01:00

I can't believe it but my darling daughter has reached the age of 2!

I was able to get the day off work so we had a girly day, just the 2 of us. I took her to a local children's farm as she loves all animals. However she wasn't too convinced by the man in the rabbit suit!!!

We organised a party for her as she didn't get one for her 1st birthday as I wasn't well. So the last few weeks have been busy preparing for it. Issy loves Timmy Time on cbeebes so I decorated her cake with 3 characters from the show.

The party was a great success and Issy was so excited when she saw all her friends. We hired a local scout hut and organised for a soft play group to come alone. They also brought along a bouncy castle which went down really well with all the kids. It was nice to have all the family there too.

It was my birthday the day after the party so I got a nice surprise when, just after we had blown out Issy's candles, the other half brought out a cake for me!

Another Swap & Dressing up!

2009-08-26T20:25:00.004+01:00

I promised myself that I would leave the swaps for a bit as I've got a few work things to get sorted at the moment. That was of course until Sam at IncyWincyStitches decided to host a button jewellery swap.

I've given button bracelets as presents and fancied the idea of getting something similar myself. What better way to get some button jewellery than joining this swap! I have to make some sort of button jewellery to send to my partner along with some craft suppliers and a sweet treat. I've not really made any jewellery before so this swap should be interesting!

If you fancy joining up, visit Sam's blog for the details. Closing date is 1st September.

Before I sign off for today, I just thought I'd show you a photo of my darling daughter looking lovely! Issy had a dressing up day at nursery yesterday, she had to go dressed up as a Disney character, can you guess who she is meant to be?

Anyway Hi Ho Hi Ho it's off to work I go!!!!

2009-08-25T20:44:00.004+01:00

I'm not sure if I have just picked some easy topics recently or if I'm actually getting better at scrapping but I've finished several pages without too many problems!

This first page is about the other half's birthday, he decided he would have a good day if Issy had fun, so we took her to a local farm. She wasn't took keen on the goats but she loved the chickens and the sheep.

I think this is the page that I'm most pleased with, usually I'm a perfectionist so never think my own stuff is any good. I'm always looking at other people's work and picking faults with mine. However this page of Issy standing in a flower pot isn't too bad, if I do say so myself!!! There's no really story to it, just that I thought she looked really funny standing in it and it reminded me of the old Flower Pot Men show!

I won!!!

2009-08-20T20:13:00.006+01:00

Crafteroo ran a competition to celebrate their 1st birthday and I won, all I had to do was persuade more people to join Crafteroo than anyone else!

My prize is fantastic

£20 Amazon voucher

£35 Dichro-findings.co.uk voucher

Fused Glass Bangle from Glass Kanvas

Button cover kit from Incywincy Stitches

I've been browsing the websites to decide what to spend my vouchers on but there is so much to choose from. I shall post some pictures of all my goodies when I've made my mind up.

New Job & Birthday Invites

2009-08-17T21:17:00.003+01:00

Life has been really busy recently what with one thing and another but I had some good news a couple of weeks ago. I have been offered a new job, I'm really looking forward to it, I'm in need of a new challenge.

I've found a bit of time to do some crafting. My darling daughter turns 2 next month so I've been making lots of party invites.

Bake Swap Recieved

2009-07-17T20:27:00.005+01:00

I received my bake swap goodies from Nicky of nickynackynoo this week. She sent me some lovely blackcurrant cup cakes with gorgeous pink icing, a lovely felt cupcake which is now decorating my pin board in my study/craft room and two wonderful recipe cards. The first one is a felt cupcake with the recipe for the cupcakes written on the back and the second one was a felt lemon with a recipe for lemon polenta cake on the back.

Isabelle loved the cupcakes, I wasn't allowed one until I had given her one first!

I'm looking forward to trying the recipes. Thank you Nicky xxx

Bake Swap Sent

2009-07-15T21:50:00.006+01:00

When Vonnie of Blotted Copy Book suggested a bake swap on crafteroo, I couldn't resist. The instructions were to bake something, decorate a recipe card and add something else.

I thought this would be really easy and excluding the baking bit - it was. However the problem started when I came to bake my goodies. The recipient of my parcel was Bronwen and she likes brownies, so I thought I would make her some - nice and simple. However I made 2 batches and both looked awful! Tasted great and my little girl loved them, but not good enough to send.

I'm still not sure what went wrong but I think I might have been making the oven too hot. A while ago we had a new kitchen and having never brought an oven before, I didn't really know what I was looking for. Once the oven was in, I realised that the temperature knob goes in jumps of 20 - not very precise!

However by the time I realised it might be the temperature, I'd got disheartened and decided to make Lemon Ricotta Cake instead. This turned out lovely & hopefully Bron liked it.

I will post the recipe at some point as I was running late for the post by this time, so Bron didn't get the recipe.

However I am really pleased with how the other bits of the package turned out. I made Bron a little book to keep all those recipes that get cut out of magazines etc. The book was made out of 6 C5 envelopes stuck together with a hard front and back cover and ribbon to tie. I then made 4 little cards to put in the first envelope and wrote a recipe for brownies on one & my all time favorite fruit cake on the other.

The recipe cards each have a little bit of ribbon on the left had side to act like a divider.

I also added a couple of little recipe books to the parcel.

Since doing the recipe holder for Bron, I've had lots of ideas of other things I could do the envelope books for and my mum has already asked for a recipe one for her best friend.

I was going to post the details of the lovely things I received from NickyNackyNoo but I made the mistake of trying to buy some things from the Next sale and so far its taken 3 hours and I've still not been able to finalise my order!!! I'm now tired and cranky, so I shall save that post for tomorrow when I can enjoy telling you about all the lovely things.

Cute n Crafty & Birthday Scrapbook Page

2009-07-04T20:56:00.008+01:00

Today I went to a scrapbooking class at a wonderful craft shop not far from where I live. I discovered Cute n Crafty about 4 years ago when I found a flyer on my windscreen, they were advertising cardmaking classes, I'd only made a few bad cards at that stage so I thought it might be fun to find out how to make cards properly. The classes were so good & such fun, I've never looked back. The shop is owned by Kirk & Roger who are lovely and very good at making tea! They have a website but if you are ever in Lichfield in Staffordshire, pop in & say hi, chances are I'll be in there too!!!

Just after Issy was born, CnC started doing scrapbooking classes and a real obsession was born. I must remember to forward all complaints from my bank manger to them!!!

Chrissie runs the workshops & is brilliant, this is her looking really embarrassed!

She has been a real friend to me, particularly over the last year which has been hard for various reasons.

Today I decided to scrap some photos of Issy's 1st birthday back in September, unfortunately I wasn't very well at the time, so we had had a very quiet day, just the 3 of us. I was surprised how hard I found it to do the page, Chrissie was great with lots of encouragement and ideas. I didn't finish the page in class but I have finished it tonight

and now it's finished, I'm really pleased with it.

Issy darling - you will have the best birthday party and a really special cake for your 2nd birthday, to make up for not having them on your 1st birthday xxx

My adventures in the world of Sock Monkeys - part 1

2009-06-20T22:12:00.006+01:00

While exploring crafteroo & various blogs, I have come across some lovely sock monkeys. They looked such fun that I thought I would have a go at making one.

So the other night while sat in front of the telly I had a go, although trying to use my sewing machine on the floor was more difficult than I thought it would be! I followed a pattern I found on the net and was concentrating more on seeing if the pattern worked rather than my stitching (that's my excuse & I'm sticking to it!!).

Here is the result - Monty the sock monkey.

As Issy was so unimpressed with Molly the dolly, I was hoping she wouldn't like Monty either, so I could keep him to myself. However she loves him & he has hardly left her side since she was introduced to him on Thursday morning.

I am really pleased with how Monty turned out, although there are several bits I will do better next time. I've found a pattern for a sock elephant, so I think I will try that next!

Scrapbooking a nursery photo

2009-06-16T19:55:00.003+01:00

At the nursery on Saturday, Issy had her photo taken which reminded me that I hadn't got round to scrapping the other photos she has had taken there. I've started with her first nursery photo & I'm really pleased with the result.

Face paint

2009-06-14T11:45:00.003+01:00

Yesterday we went to my daughter's nursery's summer fete. They had lots of stalls including face painting, Issy has never had her face painted before but she sat really nicely to have a flower painted on her cheek.

Although she wasn't too keen on me taking a picture of it & she refused to smile!

Garden Swap - part 2

2009-06-13T22:07:00.003+01:00

Kathy has recieved my parcel so I can now post some pictures of the items I sent her. The handmade item was a decorated notebook which had garden motifs on each of the pages, I really enjoyed making it & hope Kathy will enjoy using it just as much.

The other items I sent were some locally made fudge, a mini scrapbooking kit, a handbag hook and a garden themed magnet.

Thanks Kerry of Pennydog for organising the swap, it was such fun & I've gained a friend in Kathy as well as lots of goodies. Kathy has blogged about recieving my parcel & has said such lovely things, click here to see her post.

Meet Molly the dolly

2009-06-10T23:21:00.003+01:00

While exploring the Tesco near my Mum & Dad's, I found a basic kit to make a doll. I thought it might give me some ideas for future projects, so I gave it a go and here is Molly the dolly.

My daughter doesn't have any dolls at the moment, not sure why, she just doesn't. So I thought she would like Molly but she was completely uninterested & went straight back to cuddling her bunny rabbit!

Crafter..oo!'s 1st Birthday

2009-06-08T20:20:00.002+01:00

I often while away an hour or two over on crafter..oo, it's a lovely forum where everyone is so friendly & really supportive of each others crafty endeavours. There are also lots of non crafty threads too!

It's Crafter...oo's 1st birthday in august, so to celebrate they have launched a competition. The idea is to get lots of new members to join the fun & there are prizes for existing members who encourage the most new members & new members.

Therefore please pop over to crafter...oo & sign up, you will be asked who referred you, so it would be great if you could put 'Wizzy' (my name on the forum). Let me know if you sign up so I can say hi!

A Beautiful Wedding

2009-06-06T22:42:00.005+01:00

I've got quite a few cards to do in the next week or so, what with my sister's engagement, a moving house card & all my daughter's friends start turning 2 soon.

The first card I needed to do was a wedding card for our friends Dave & Ali who got married today.
Ali looked beautiful & it was such a lovely day. Unfortunately we didn't get to enjoy the dancing as we had to take dd home. She was really good & did make it to 9pm, which is 2 hours passed her bedtime!

This is me & my dd enjoying the reception. The favours were great - lots of penny sweets in a cone & tied with a ribbon. Must remember to give that idea to my sister for her wedding!

Garden Swap

2009-06-03T20:43:00.002+01:00

After the fun I had doing the easter swap over on crafteroo, I signed up for Pennydog's garden swap. My swap partner is Kathy in the USA & we had to send each other something handmade, something edible and some craft supplies. It took me ages to decide what my something edible and the craft supply was going to be, but I did meet the posting deadline of the end of May. I wont post any more pictures yet as I don't want to spoil the surprise for Kathy!

I received my parcel from Kathy a couple of days ago which was very exciting. She has been so generous, she sent some handmade seed paper that I can plant, a lovely china cup, some soap, raspberry tea and a flower press.

I'm really looking forward to using the flower press, it will be lovely to keep special flowers & add them to my scrapbooking pages.

I've never been a fan of fruit teas but I thought I had to give the raspberry tea a go - it was lovely & I never thought I'd say that about fruit tea!! It tasted even better in the china cup. I don't think that jar is going to last very long!

Thanks Kathy xxx

Good news & Duvet Covers

2009-05-31T21:50:00.003+01:00

Today has been lovely & we've been able to spend most of it in the garden.

However I have managed to do a bit of sewing. My little girl has recently started using a duvet & pillow but I've found it really hard to find covers for her cot bed duvet that didn't cost a future. So I brought her a set for a single bed & spent this afternoon cutting it up and restitching it so it fits her duvet.

I had some good news last night, my sister & her boyfriend have got engaged. It's about time too as they have been together for 8 years and owned a flat together for several years. I've been calling Dave my brother-in-law for ages and he is Uncle Dave to my little girl, it didn't feel right to say he's just my sister's boyfriend. At least it wont be long now till he really is my brother in law!

Congratulations Nicki & Dave

My first ever post!

2009-05-30T20:53:00.002+01:00

It seems everyone is blogging these days so I decided I'd better start one so I'm not left out! However I'm not really sure why because

a) I have no idea how to use all this software &
b) why would anyone want to read my ramblings!

Putting that aside, here I am! My name is Kat, I'm 32, an acountant and mother to a wonderful 21 month old little girl.

I like to scrapbook in my spare time, my main subject is of course my lovely daughter but occassionally I have other inspiration! I also enjoy cardmaking, I've been cardmaking for about 4 years now and scrapbooking for about 18 months.

Thanks to my sister in law, Sam of incywincystitches, I have recently really got the crafty bug. Sam organised an easter swap over on crafteroo & I enjoyed it so much that I'm now eager to get involved in lots more swaps & spend far too much time daydreaming about the day I have a lovely place in the country, can give up my job & have my own little crafting business. The slight problem to that day dream, (other than the funds for the house in the country!) is that I haven't yet found my "thing" that is different enough to make me any money! Oh well I guess the day job will have to stay!