Stitch a card? Genius!

It was my mother's birthday. I made her a bag (more of that later). I made her a card from the same fabric. And, oh, I am in love. Why have I never stitched a card before? And would I be completely mad to attempt to stitch all my Christmas cards this year? As usual I've got so many more plans than the capacity to complete them.

 

PS A belated happy birthday again, Mum. You are just super.

Thank you kindly

Little time, lots of thank you's needed. How do you send a meaningful 'thank you' when the child doing the thanking can't speak, when the parent thanking on their behalf wants to make it thoughtful, but when the thought of fitting in 14 home-made thank you cards is just, well... too much?

Answer: see above. It's a little thing, this drawing round a baby's hand in card, this cutting out around his finger images, this printing a little phrase, and this tracing around a little hand cut-out in a pen shaded baby blue.

But it's a big thing to say thank you. A meant thing. And I'm so glad I did it - not just the thanking, but the method. Because that little hand - with its baby blue pen marks - is now sitting by my sewing table reminding me of how lucky I am. One day I'm going to hold that little, chubby cardboard hand against the large, strong hand of a boy turning into a man. And smile.

Greetings

Hello! I have some photos to show you...

Remember the greeting cards I was making? Well I'm back at it. And the new method involves PVA and fabric. More fun than it should be. All the above were for birthdays except the obvious stork arrival one.

A few interesting things (by which I mean 'I found them interesting' but 'you will most probably be bored out of your mind but kindly pretending otherwise')...

• Fabric really soaks up the glue. You go through a fair bit. But it's oddly satisfying brushing it on.
• Use a stiff brush. Or get one of those plastic glue-spreaders you used in nursery school.
• Lots of glue means damp card. And often slightly warped card by the time it dries. I'm sure there's a solution (spray-on glue?) but I quite like the inelegant handmade-ness of it.
• The brush with its last gasp of glueyness can be used to tease all the stray threads from the unhemmed fabric into place.
• To text or not to text? I like writing on the cards but I'm not sure whether they are more effective and tasteful in their simple, word-free state.

I have another batch to do one evening in the next week.

PS I like the train one best.

A list for 2012

I am a little list-obsessed. Having written one for what I'd achieved (or otherwise) in 2011, I feel I ought to set myself a bit of a plan for 2012. You could call these plans resolutions, but they're a little less stern than that. Intentions, maybe?

• Family - They are always top of my list. And though there are eight other items below this one, I will try to remember not to resent the time I spend giving to my family when I may have had hopes to be working on one of my other 'intentions'. My husband is my rock, my heart and my home. I am still giddy about him, eight years in; and so I hope to still have butterflies this year. My boys are my joys and, as we struggle through adolescence, potty training and emerging willfulness with each in turn, I hope to keep counting my biggest blessings, one, two, three. Last but no means least, my parents and brothers. Absence has made the heart so much fonder. They have given so much to me, and I hope to rebalance the scales in 2012.
• Writing - My soul is type-written. 2011 brought me back to it, and I hope to take it for a long walk in 2012. I'd like it to be read more, for my voice is not mute. Hence the blogging. Will I write anything else than the blog this year? I hope so, but I'd like to let that idea jiggle around in my mind for a while before I set any specific goals.
• Sewing - I was in the flush of new love in 2011. In 2012 I'd like to build a long-term relationship with my sewing machine. Sew, sew, sew more. Sew gifts. Sew for others. Sew for me. Sew for the house. Sew quilts for the boys. Sew to sell. Learn, learn, learn more. By the end of the year, I'd like to have had my own stall and opened an etsy or folksy store. We can but dream.
• Cooking - Well I've always loved this, but I want to make more myself (especially since the revelation of processor-made pastry) and more for the littlest boys. And I'd love to delegate the stove to the Big One one night a week, since he shows the kernel of such enthusiasm. But I have yet to ask him!
• Baking - The problem with cake-making is it lead to cake-eating! So I hope to bake more for others to eat, and bake more savoury goods (I have dreams of a breadmaker, since my tiny hands and wrists are too wimpish for regular kneading). And gosh darn it, I will get my piping bag out of its packaging and decorate a cupcake before the year is out!
• Making - Keep making my cards, and actually get good at it! If I could make them on time, well that'd really be something. Make more decorations to mark the seasons, celebrations and patterns of the year. And of course I'll be making my gifts, but that's covered under 'sewing'.
• Nesting - This house, just over a year in, needs some window-dressing! It was home from the moment we first turned the keys in the door. The painting can wait (no time). The rotting window frames can wait (no money). But the odd cushion, quilt or curtain will, I hope, have the same effect as a blush of red lipstick on an un-made-up face.
• Nature - Get my footprints in more mud, paths and trails. Get my head in more wind, sky and weather. Convince the Little One to walk in the rain! Bring the outside inside more - my vases look embarrassingly naked too much of the time.
• Nurture - I will nurture my family (see first point!). I need to nurture my friends more. There has to be time to pick up the phone. My close friends are like sisters to me now, and, surrounded by boys as I am, I need more of their oestrogen in 2012. And to nurture myself? Is there time?! If there ever is, I hope to use it wisely. And to read a book, what luxury!

I hope we all make it to the end of 2012, and that I can look back and above all else find I was happy and I made others happy. And if I've found my vocation (sewing? writing?) and found a way to make a living from it, then so much the better.

9 days til Christmas

I made my own Christmas cards this year. Yes, red and white - the Scandinavian theme continues. I used a couple of pastry cutters dipped in red paint. And then (you can't see this, I photographed them before the urge came upon me) I wrote 'twinkle' on them in silver. But I have now decided I prefer them without. At least the photo captures the no-longer-existing simpler version.

I wasn't as neat, as inventive, or as effective as I had hoped. Better next year! And I ran out of card so about a third of my Christmas card list is going to have to make do with cheap shop-bought cards after all. But for a couple of hours one evening, fulfilling my making dreams, I don't think they're that bad. Granted, they're not sell-to-someone quality. But I think they're give-to-someone thoughtfully. And that will do me this year.

This Christmas is about rounding off a sometimes beautiful, sometimes ugly year with a return to the dreams of last year, and hopefully the living of some of them. It is not about perfection, getting to the end of the 'to do' list, or anyone else's expectations. I want to enjoy myself pottering about with a needle and thread, holly and ribbon, paint and card, fir and decoration. I want to be with my family, focus on my family, and hold dear my friends and relations. I will be wrapping us all up in a metaphorical big red Christmassy bow. Next year I will be less metaphorical, more reality. Next year I will let my Country Living snobbery get the better of me. This year is the simple, the jingle bells and the joy.

Card carrying over

 Here are the cards I made in May. Yes, I know it's July - but I'm what my husband calls 'slowly efficient'! 

I experimented with a few new things: torn paper, metallic pens, abstract designs, backgrounds. I like them but I have to admit I could do better - as usual, time and I have been at war again and, as usual, time won. My favourite is the cupcake design. I quite like the fire engine too - nice and simple. The Little One is crazy about ladders so, once he saw the fire engine I had to make him his own paper ladder stuck to a square of paper. He was too lovely to resist. As I said in my last post, it's the little things!

Things you missed... March cards

March was a bit of a card-making frenzy, because I knew I'd be out of action in April with the Tiny One on his way. I've shown you some already, but here are those you missed. The three above were made using magazine-page collaging. I like playing around with the colours and patterns to find those that complement. I think the letter cards work best in this format, but I quite like the stylised house I made for my parents' anniversary (it's supposed to look a little like their white house on the river). But is the collage technique a bit of a cop-out? I've been so afraid of making my own art (I was good at age 18. Reader, I lost it. Being good at drawing is not like riding a bike, but like learning a language - show me anyone a decade on from GCSE French who can manage more than a smattering of words and phrases). Maybe I've just been using someone else's art and rearranging it?

With this in mind, I have moved onto collage with colour blocks, ideally suited to a train-loving and dinosaur-loving twosome who turned two in March and April, respectively. It feels a little more like I am the artist when making this style of card (though that's a very glorified title for someone sitting at the kitchen table with glue, sugar paper and the merest sprinkling of creativity).

Prior to this year, I'd not made a card since childhood. This year of card-making was, to be honest, inspired more by lack of money than abundance of inspiration, talent or creativity. But it's brought me a little feeling of each member of this triumvirate. And it's brought me back to my childhood. I think as adults we can lose our ability to play - our creative tinkerings - and I know I had certainly lost mine. Cards are such little things. And yet they send thoughtfulness and caring to their betroved; and yet they require some of that artistic triptych of inspiration, talent and creativity. But they are little enough not to be daunting in time taken or effort required. And for a shy, retired, lapsed artist they are the perfect way to dip my toes back in.

Starting the week with some making, baking, sewing & happiness

Beautiful spring sunshine and a Monday morning getting the chores done (the joy of vacuuming) left me feeling optimistic and eager to get on with some projects!


I made some cards on Monday evening, only one of which I can show you as the others have yet to make it to their destinations. A good friend of mine had a little girl, so I made her a little collage card. I'm really enjoying the collage technique for my cards. As a teenager I was pretty good at drawing but I've discovered it's not like riding a bike - having held the knowledge of my talent so smugly within, I tried a decade later to draw again only to find I can't. Cue depressed self-loathing. And so I think I need a bit of collaging before I venture into the frightening world of the pencil again.



Then came the glorious spring sunshine on Tuesday morning, to which my little garden crocus in its regal purple - and no longer solitary - responded with thanks. As did I! It's like it's petals were clenched shut against the chill of winter's last breath, and then opened with a little 'aaah' of relief. It's also been joined by a lot more garden growth and the hellebore lower down in the garden has sprung back to life. We've only been here for six months so I feel a little guilty calling these plants 'mine', but since I've inherited them I think they could do with a little loving and stewardship. I have a weekend of gardening coming up (complete novice) with my wonderful mum (not at all a novice). More to follow!

On Tuesday afternoon, the Little One slept for an unexpected and glorious two hours! Out came the sewing machine, the fabric for a couple of children's presents, the mug of green tea and a very satisfied me! It's been lovely to feel that the sewing is coming more easily now, and that although I'm still not following patterns, I'm feeling more competent at working out what to do and how. These fabric pieces frayed after pre-wasing. They will become bags, but worried about wear-and-tear, I've made each bag side its own turned-rightway-round sealed unit (there must be some technical language for this that I should be using - feel like all I can manage is gobbledegook) so that when I sew them together there's no way they'll fray apart with use. Don't you just love the Hungry Caterpillar pattern?! I adore Eric Carle's illustrations.

And when the Big One came home from school on Monday, we hurriedly made rhubarb muffins from an internet recipe to use up some slightly wizened rhubarb. Good texture, but too much vanilla and too little sugar. I think they'll taste better with a bit of thick yoghurt for breakfast. I did make a yummy Nigella Moroccan chicken stew on Tuesday night though, with double quantities so that there was a meal to freeze for post baby-number-three.

Oh, and pancakes! Followed Ruth's tips on the Pink Whisk, but probably should have done something fancy and exciting to post to the blog. The problem is, I'm such a sucker for lemon & sugar. And we've had quite a few Scotch pancake recipes recently. Maybe next year!

The project so far - cards

Here's what I've been getting up to, just before I started to write about it all...

Making my own cards. Not doing much more than cutting out pictures from magazines at the moment, but I hope to do a little more when I've got a little more time!

 While fun, it's a little bit of a sacrifice too as I love card shopping; spending ages searching out the right card for the person.

I'm also making my own presents, but more on that another day. My first project was sewing bunting and I think it deserves a post of its own, for both good and bad reasons!

 The home-made presents and cards seem an ideal way to be more creative. They give me the a chance to show the recipients how much they matter to me (it takes an awful lot longer to sew a present than to shop for and buy one!). And they give me practice in the skills that I'm currently a novice at. Of course they save a bit of money too, which is no bad thing when you're a one-income family with a third child on the way.

  

These cards appear in the order I made them. I think I like the Happy Anniversary one the most.

This post was a little diversion from present making (a bag - watch this space!). Now back to it...