Last post for 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS

and a

Happy New Year!!!

Good friends

My dear friend (and neighbour) made this for us. It will be the perfect centre piece when we sit down to our Christmas dinner. As you can see, it compliments the colours of our dining table perfectly and will look even more beautiful when the candle is lit.
Many, many thanks Hélène for doing this for us.




paul said...

Hi lesley that looks something special, will set of Xmas dinner very well.

24 December 2008 00:04

The tallest Christmas tree in the world . . .

The Gerbrandytoren is a TV & radio tower situated in IJsselstein.


At Christmas time, lights are suspended along the tower wires, and at 375m, makes it the tallest Christmas tree in the world.


This year I was lucky enough to receive a digital SLR for my birthday, which I was allowed to have early. The tower still had it's lights and I managed to take a picture of the Gebrandytoren at night - all lit up!

Photo taken January 2008

Yesterdays gift box creations

I spent a pleasant afternoon yesterday making gift boxes.

These are the milk carton style ones, made from a template. I used holographic card and carefully cut & scored to make the box. The bows are hand tied and finished off with ribbon curls and a tiny gift card (die cut).

Hope DS and DH like the boxes and the contents inside.

The second type of gift box is a minature popcorn box (die cut). This too was cut from holographic card. The picture below shows the boxes made up and one unmade (at the back).

Now available from our shop

Happy crafting!Y

paul said...

love the boxes Lesley they a brilliant ...oh you are such a talented lady well done

16 December 2008 20:35

Our Christmas Tree

As I said before, I would love a "real" Christmas tree but cannot face clearing up the mess when the needles drop!
Here is our beautiful "fake" tree. Please note, that Winnie just had to be in the picture too!
This picture was taken by DH with his mobile phone - he wanted a picture of the tree with the lights on - not a bad photo, all things considered.


Today I am busy making gift boxes - milk carton ones in various sizes. I haven't made this type before but so far I am pleased with the results. I made some other gift boxes at the weekend (for my own Christmas present I might add!!), well, I say I made them, all I did was cut them out and provide instructions on how to put them together (couldn't do it all as it was for my Christmas present!!) . DH had his first craft lesson and although it was a simple project, he certainly seemed to enjoy it.

Happy crafting!Y

Twelve days of Christmas

Many years ago when DS was little, I made these Christmas bell pulls. Every year they are put up despite the fact I think they should be retired.
Each square represents one of the twelve days of Christmas. The border is holly and the berries are tiny red beads. Backed with felt and topped with green ribbon bows they still remain a firm favourite with DS.
















Anonymous said...

Wauw, you did an amazing job again Lesly!

Greetings,Esther

13 December 2008 09:14

Our little Christmas tree

I have always wanted a "real" Christmas tree but I must admit the thought of clearing up all those pine needles did not appeal.



This year in a moment of madness, I bought a small, real Christmas tree and found some small baubles that were suitable. I spent a pleasant hour tying on the baubles, the pearly star on top is one from my stash and the pot is one that I already had.

It now has pride of place in the middle of the coffee table (conveniently blocking the view of the TV - didn't think of that one!). I am really pleased with the result, just a shame that my photography skills are not up to much this week - I'm blaming that on the cold that I have - it must be affecting my vision, mustn't it???

We received a handmade Christmas card!

This morning we received this beautiful handmade Christmas card - isn't it great?
This was from our dear friends, Paul and Hazel and is one of Hazel's lovely creations. Thank you so very much!

Check out more of her lovely Christmas cards on Paul's blog His photo's are better than mine!!

Another Christmas card

It is always difficult to come up with an idea for a card for DS - too sentimental is not an option for this teenager and funny cards can be a bit hit & miss. This year I combined his nickname and his love of brands to come up with this unique Christmas tree. The spanners are for his nickname - he is affectionately known as Spanner (as they are useful some of the time! lol!!) and the "Converse All Star" logo as the tree topper, to satisfy the brand idea. The card is based on a gatefold, with the tree cut from the folded fronts. A cuttlebugged embossed background completes the card.

DS loved his card and to my amazement even found it funny - wonders will never cease!


paul said...

Yet again the master / mistress you'll have to advise me on that Lesley any you have shown you are the tops in creativity ability. well done.

Paul

11 December 2008 21:36

Creative Christmas

I love Christmas. I love making Christmas cards, Christmas shopping, wrapping the presents - I could go on. I dislike the crowds, the food shopping and the lists. I do a lot of my Christmas preparations when I am back in the UK, getting all the Christmas goodies DH & DS love that we cannot get here - Christmas pudding (nut free of course!!), stuffing and Christmas crackers to name but a few. Unfortunately this year we were back too early to get the Christmas crackers, the Christmas stuff was only just arriving in the shops - but at least I managed to get the pud!!

As I couldn't get the crackers I decided to make them myself.


The theme for this year is silver and black. I got a bit carried away and made some gift tags too!

A very personal commission. . . .

A few weeks ago I was asked by DH to make an A4 page to be included in a digital book for a retirement present. The idea for the book came from the retiree himself, as he had said that in his retirement he would write his memoirs about his time at work. His colleagues decided to write his memoirs for him!

The brief was to: "Write a story, rhyme, or anecdote with the retiree as leading character. Maybe a photo of you and him together. It is also possible to draw or paint something if you like."

Now I was lucky enough to know the man who was retiring (I worked with him 20 years ago!!), and DH has worked with him for the last 10 years but known him for over 20 years, so I had a little inside knowledge.

He had been counting down to his "big day" by cutting the segments from a tape measure, 1cm equalling 1 week and had also talked of what he would like to do with his new found freedom. I wanted to include this in the final design but it wasn't enough to fill an A4 page. I then had a brainwave and decided to split the page in to two - one half for the retiree, showing his hopes and dreams for his retirement and the other half for his wife showing her hopes and dreams for his retirement. As you will see below, her hopes and dreams for his time are the complete opposite to his!!

The poem reads:

Best wishes on your retirement
Enjoy a rest that's overdue
Take pleasure in the finer things
That are awaiting you

Retirement . . . . . . . . .
where every day is Saturday!!

Here's hoping that our retiree loves his book and all the memories within.

Christmas is coming . . . .

Just a few Christmas cards that I have been working on.

Anonymous said...

Looking very good Lesley, really like them can't wait to see other creations.

Paul

14 November 2008 20:57

Is it really November?

Having started the annual clear up of the garden, I was amazed at how many flowers were still in bloom. In fact I found it quite confusing as there were copious amounts of leaves that had fallen, leading me to believe that autumn had well and truly arrived, but to my amazement, my fuchsias are still in bloom. I have never seen them in bloom in November.

A splash of autumn colour!

A bargain - WIP (work in progress)

We have needed a coffee table for some time but have been unable to find something that:
a) we both liked and

b) suited the room.

Having trawled around all the shops and found nothing, we decided to try our local second hand shop. I say shop, but more like a second hand warehouse! Success - we found something that we actually liked and that suited the room - a solid pine round table, with four small drawers and the bonus was it was only €25. The downside was that it was varnished and the varnish had aged to an almost orange colour. But I loved the table and I loved the price!

I spent the summer sanding the table back to the original wood and bought new handles for the drawers. The only problem are the legs - they are quite tricky to remove the varnish from. Having reached the point where I was worried that the sanded bits would get damaged, I decided last week to seal the bits that I had done and "do" the legs at a later stage. So as the title says - it really is a WIP!

before

half done

done!

At least I know that the top is safe from tea & coffee stains - fingers crossed that the rest looks as good when its done!

Winnie's Birthday

Today is Winnie's birthday and despite (or maybe because) of everything, she has reached the grand old age of 19!! When she was diagnosed with CRF back in February we never thought she would make it to today - how pleased are we!!

I had always considered my self a "dog" person. I liked cats but never had the urge to own one. Who could have believed that I would fall in love with a cat.

The story obviously begins 19 years ago and begins with some sadness - in October 1989 my beloved dog Tattie died - she was only 5 years old and despite putting up a fight, she died of cancer. Both DH and I were, as you can imagine, terribly upset. We decided to wait awhile before thinking of getting another dog but by the end of the second week we discovered that we couldn't be without a dog. Having trawled the local papers I found a breeder with Old English Sheepdog (OES) puppies due to be born. I contacted her, explained what had happened and our names were duly added to the list. On the 31st October we received a phone call that the puppies had been born - arrangements were made to choose a puppy (which we did) and we set a date to collect the puppy when she was 8 weeks old - 1 week before Christmas! We couldn't wait and the time seemed to drag but eventually the big day arrived. We arrived at the kennels like two excited children and then things took an unexpected turn. The breeder had two abandoned kittens and would we like one. I looked a DH and he looked at me and the breeder sensing our indecision brought out this scrap of a kitten and that was it, she stole our hearts and Winnie became part of the household too!

Winnie & Bramble

Sadly, Bramble died in February 2000.

Winnie's adventures were to continue without her partner in crime and in November 2000 she made the trip across the water to the Netherlands. She enjoys her life here and we are so glad that we brought her with us.

Another oriental project - this truly is the last!

Having spent the morning re-organizing my photographs, I discovered another oriental project that I had done. Each picture features a symbol: longevity, prosperity, benevolence and love. Having fallen in love with the designs in the book ("A cross stitcher's oriental odyssey, by Joan Elliot") I knew that I had to make them. The problem was that DH might not want more pictures on the wall. I decided that he couldn't object to a tissue box cover. So having finished each picture, I made a top, stitched it all together and then covered the edges with black bias binding.

Hi lesly,this would be really great for Boudewijn. he is fond of everything with japan of china.Very nice!!

Esther

13 December 2008 09:17

More birthday cards

Two more cards for birthdays this month.

The one on the left is a swing type card - the greeting is computer generated and topped of with a multi-layered flower. The small flowers, on the left hand side are hand drawn and the card is completed with a Cuttlebugged embossed strip. I loved the colours of this design.

The card on the right is based on a swing card but this time I have glued the front back on itself as I wanted the inside to be more visible. With oriental style paper on the left, complimented by the solid purple on the right, I thought this made for quite an impact. I kept the centre design fairly simple with the yin-yang symbol and a handmade tassle. Let's hope the recipients like them as much as I enjoyed making them.

Half Term - a trip to the UK and a sulky cat!

Last week was half term (herfstvakantie) here in NL. We spent the early part of the week back in the UK, spending time with our family. It was nice to go back and even the weather was kind to us. Winnie had to spend a few days in the local cattery, her first time away since she got ill.

The cattery is very nice and the bonus is that it is part of the vets surgery, which gave us added peace of mind.

We had a lovely time with our family - they were surprised how much DS had grown (funny how teenages have a habit of doing that eh?). We also had great fun trawling round the shops. Our trip back was over all to soon.

Upon our return we collected the moggie as soon as possible (we do miss her you see). Once she was home I made her breakfast and in return she made a huge fuss of DH and DS but not me. She ignored me completely, the little madam! This went on for over 2 days. The problem with Winnie is that she is a creature of habit and bears a grudge for what feels like forever. Whether it be a trip to the vet or a stay in the cattery, to her mind, someone must be held responsible and made to pay and of course that person is always me. Finally on Saturday morning the little madam jumped up for a cuddle, full of purrs and love as though nothing had been amiss - I do not kid myself that it was me she was after - just my dressing gown that is so cuddly and warm - obviously the temptation was just too much for her.

"Dogs have owners, cats have staff" - how true!!

paul said...

Sweet dreams springs to mind. I know another lady who curls up just like that.

20 October 2008 22:08

Yet another oriental project - the last, I promise (for now anyway!)

This is a wall hanging that I made, with orchids, poppies and irises. Each section was worked individually, then carefully stitched to the backing fabric to complete the wall hanging.

I hope you have enjoyed the oriental theme over the last three days.

All the designs are from my much treasured book - "A cross stitcher's oriental odyssey, by Joan Elliot". It is an amazing book and one day I hope to have completed all the beautiful designs in it

So long for now.

Another oriental project

As promised here is another of my oriental cross stitch projects. This one took a lot less time to complete but was just as enjoyable.

Each kimono represents one of the four seasons.

Oriental ladies

As you know I am a keen cross-stitcher. I combined my love of all things oriental with my love of cross-stitch and this was the result:

From left to right: Beauty, Grace and Wisdom

Each took me between 6-8 months and it was a project that I thoroughly enjoyed, so much so that I actually made "Grace" a second time for my cousin's birthday.

More oriental designs to follow tomorrow.

The end of the week - back to normal at last.

I'm glad it is Friday. This week has been a difficult week. Not enough hours in the day, coupled with Monday's disasters has made for one big headache.

Tuesday was spent cleaning the black marks from the kitchen cupboards in readiness for the new light and electrical sockets to be installed. Tuesday evening was spent at the local DIY place buy said items.

Wednesday saw the installation of the light and sockets - DH and our very dear neighbour did a fantastic job, especially as it only took them 30 minutes! My heartfelt thanks to our neighbour (and of course DH!).

Thursday was a massive clean up job, blame it on the kitchen drama, but everything was cleaned to within an inch of its life!! Even the cat kept moving, an unusual occurance as she normally sleeps 21 hours out of 24! I think she was worried that if she stayed still too long that I might clean her too.

And so to Friday, time to blog - a whole week in one post, more paperwork, pay some bills and hopefully finish early.

The weekend is finally here and I am glad that it is!

Have a nice relaxing weeekend.

Yesterday - a day that should be forgotten!

As with every Monday, the intention is to get up, get DH & DS off to work and school and then attack the job list! This Monday started as every other but it was not to be a normal Monday.
Having blasted my way through the first lot of paperwork for the day, I decided to stop and have a coffee. This was a mistake. Having gone through the usual ritual of filling the kettle, putting coffee in the cup etc. I switched on the kettle. I was treated to the most spectacular light displays - orange & blue sparks, spewing from the socket. Before I could even take a breath, the light that was connected to the socket, burst into flames!!! At this point I should explain, the socket is situated underneath the cupboard and the electric supply feeds both the socket and the under cupboard lighting. Well, by the time I had reached for the fire extinguisher, the fuse blew in the meter cupboard and the fire was out and of course I had no electric in the house. I made a quick call to DH, explained the situation (thank God for mobiles as the landline was down too!), walked round and switched everything off, checked the fish (they now had no pump or heater) and waited once again for DH to come to the rescue.

It must be said, that I am pretty self sufficient in most things - I can fix the computer (was my job in my previous life) I can put up a shelf, wire a plug but I cannot "do" electric or water! Except I know how to turn the water and electric off until I can get help.

Within 30 minutes of getting home DH had made the dodgy electrics safe and restored the electric to the house. Now as if this wasn't bad enough . . . .

After DH had finished work we went trawling round all the DIY (DHZ in NL) shops to get replacement parts for the burnt ones. Having failed dismally in our mission, DH parked the car, managed to clip the kerb (which the council have just replaced) and punctured the front tyre!! But, as you can guess, it gets better (read that as worse) as DH has only just had the front tyres replaced!!

So as you can see - yesterday really was a day that should be forgotten!!

On a positive note: nobody was hurt, nothing was damaged that cannot be replaced and once again DH was the hero of the day.

Have a great & safe week!

A big project

This summer I decided to try my hand at something new - machine patchwork quilting. I had tried patchwork before, hand-sewing the pieces together but I never got around to making anything of worth from my efforts. I trawled the internet for inspiration, mapped out my design and then just went for it. This is my first attempt at machine patchwork and for a rare change, even I was impressed with my efforts (which although not perfect, the overall result is ok).

The finished size of the quilt is 200cm x 200 cm. My arms ached for a week after finishing it!!

Have a nice weekend everyone.

Something different.

I have always liked things that are unusual. I enjoy making cards that are different and individual and I hope that comes across in my designs. I have developed a range of wedding ring pillows, so far just six but it is something that I will to add to in the near future. Each pillow varies in style, ranging from simple, classic designs to lace & pearl combinations. The one shown here is a Celtic design, entwined hearts. The smaller picture shows the embroidery detail. Each pillow is handmade and therefore, completely unique - no two pillows are the same.

A perfect gift for any Bride & Groom. It also makes a nice keepsake - one of my satisfied customers has hers on display, next to her wedding photo.

Why not have a look in our shop

and another birthday!

Today we have another birthday - the birthday of my dear friend and neighbour. As it was DH's birthday yesterday and our friend's birthday today we all got together yesterday evening for coffee and "taart", as is the Dutch way. It was a lovely evening and a nice way to celebrate both birthdays.

Another birthday!

Today is DH's birthday. Last week DS asked me to make a card for his Dad. Of course I agreed but on the understanding that DS came up with an idea. DS said that as his Dad had looked so good at the 70's party, could I make something using the 70's theme - this is the result.

DS was pleased with his "groovy Dad" card and so was DH.

I opted for a more stylish card - a high heeled shoe formed the centre piece (as I am assured every man has a passion for high heeled shoes!!), matted on purple and silver which was then attatched to a purple and white DL card.

DH is having a lovely birthday so far and still has a nice evening in front of the fire to look forward to.

paul said...

I promise to remember everyones birthday for next year, if I had any brain cells I could rely on.HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK

Hazel & Paul xxx

29 September 2008 20:31

Thank You and an update.

Thank you to all of you that have sent good wishes. It is nice to know that I have been thought of.

An update to the finger performance - the swelling is going down (with the assistance of antihistamine tablets). The problem was caused by a reaction to a mosquito bite. Hopefully I will be back to my crafting tomorrow (given myself a little time off this weekend).

Thank you once again for all your kind thoughts.

My husband - my hero!

What a morning! DH is working from home today - something that orignally caused me concern - how were we going to manage sharing the same workspace?

However, I am so glad that he was around today. For some unknown reason my finger began to swell, I wasn't unduly concerned. Within an hour, things became worse as my ring was so tight on my finger that it was causing immense pain. We tried all the usual things to remove the ring but the swelling was too much. Keeping calm and with a very, very steady hand DH proceeded to cut the ring with a hacksaw. Much to my relief, within 5 minutes the ring was off and my finger still where it should be.

The swelling is still bad and causing pain but at least the ring is off!!

My heartfelt thanks to a very patient DH - the sort of guy you want around in a crisis.

Have a good weekend.



paul said...

Lesley, is the digit still in one piece, your very brave and trusting to let DH loose with a hacksaw on your finger. What on earth caused it to swell ???? ... have you been poking around in some strange places ??? Hope all is well now.

28 September 2008 08:35

My anniversary creation - as promised.

As promised, a picture of DH's anniversary card.
The corset is from a cuttlebug die, the background is made using the cuttlebug heart embossing folder. DH loved his card, which of course, is the main thing.

We had a lovely meal to celebrate and DH bought me a bottle of my favourite perfume - how lucky am I?

Today I am making the next batch of family birthday cards and hopefully some Christmas cards too.

Good news - an excuse to make a card!

This weekend we heard that a good friend of ours had got a new job. Well, as you would expect, I just had to make a card!

I aimed to use the colours of the card to make an impact rather than any sort of complicated design (especially as I was making it late at night!). I also wanted to try my Dutch language skills as normally my cards are in English, if they have text at all.

It made a nice change to design a card using "words" as the focal point.

On to another card making matter - today is our 19th Wedding Anniversary and I was hoping to show the card that I made for DH - unfortunatley we were all running late this morning so he hasn't opened it yet. I will try and upload my anniversary creation tomorrow!

Have a nice day!

paul said...

Congratulation on making 19 years, your slowly catching us up. Hope you had something special planed for tonight nice meal etc ? Time just fly's by when you enjoying yourself.H & P Kent xxxxx

23 September 2008 21:03

Thank You's

As DS received some lovely presents for his birthday, I made some "Thank You" cards for him to send. He isn't a great one for writing, prefering to do everything, where possible, on the computer. We have tried to bring him up, as we were, to always thank people for their gifts - if people were kind enough to think of you then you should be kind enough to say thank you.

The added bonus is - I get to make more cards!!

I kept the design simple - using two different coloured ink pads to stamp the background, my Sizzix to cut the flower and the word "thanks". I finished off by hand drawing some tiny flowers, to compliment (hopefully) the bigger paper flower. DS thought they were good and he soon got on with the job of writing them. . . . . now where did I put those stamps so that I can post them - oh well, they must be here somewhere!!

Birthday Boy!

Yesterday, my DS turned 15! In typical teenage fashion he is "addicted" to brands - anything that has a brand name/logo on it and according to my darling teenager, it must be ok. He had a great birthday, despite still having to go to school (shame) and a great birthday meal - a traditional roast with all the trimmings - his favourite. It would have been nice to go out for a meal but DS has a severe nut allergy so we played it safe and stayed at home.



As was expected, I made two cards for the birthday boy:-



The one on the left is a swing card, complete with the logo of current favourite shoes (for now!)




This afternoon has been spent making thank you cards for DS to send - photo to follow.

Have a nice weekend!

A week before the party

A week before the party I received a phone call from one the girls DH works with, asking if I could make 40 cards for the party. "Great" I thought. Then reality kicked in - to be able to do this I would have to design at least two samples and quote for them, get the customer to make a final choice and decide on the words inside, all by Friday and it was Thursday evening!! I was given a pretty free reign on the design and by the end of Thursday I had two samples, a quote and a selection of words for the inside. DH duly delivered everthing Friday morning and by 9 am I had a call to confirm the order and instructions to begin making "design 1", but could I make it 45!!

Well, I worked on them on and off for most of the weekend, finishing off on Monday.

45 cards finished and waiting to be packed!

This was my first big order, only ever having made one or two of the same design before. A big THANK YOU to Sarah, for giving me this opportunity.

Sarah said...

Once again Thank you BIG time Lesley!!!!The cards look great and everyone was impressed and asking where we got it.A custom-made handcrafted card really makes a difference! Most of all I really appreciate you doing this on such short notice.Next time I will try to place orders well in advance ;-)You are our Hero!xoxo

15 September 2008 13:06