Bottle top/cap crafts

i decided to try something new using beer bottle caps. some people use them to make sculptures, some decorate with little items and some stick paper/photos is the middle.

cutting out photos seemed too fiddly to me so i decided to paint the inside. but the have a plastic seal glued to the inside which is a bugger to get out. i tried it with 2 of them using tweezers and a craft knife, but it just didn't leave a smooth surface.

so i left it in for the rest, which then gave me a ring round the edge to paint as a border.

i've ordered some self adhesive magnetic strip and will stick that to the back when it arrives. it was being posted first class today, so should be here soon.

so i've painted them and then varnished with an acrylic varnish. i managed to get photos of 2 of them before the battery on my camera died.....

this one is for a swap partner who listed cupcakes as something she liked in her profile:

and this one is for someone who likes paw prints and the colour green (the paw is actually done in green!):

i'll post photos of the rest when they're taken onc my battery's recharged!

Private swap from Christina

i received a large jiffy bag from the postman the other day. as usual i had completely orgotten about any swaps and packages that i should be expecting.

but then i had another problem, when i tried to see who it was from, on the outside i couldn't!!

so i opened it up to find lots and lots of tea and crystal light from Christina in America.

i had seen eggnog tea advertised on the web some time ago and had mentioned this in my swap-bot profile. Christina happened to glance at my profile and saw this and contacted me.

so i got her address too and in return sent her a sheet of stickers of characters that she mentioned she like in her profile. but then when the tea arrived i was amazed. i was expecting a few bags of each but no..................

20 tea bags, 20 sachets of crystal light honey and lemon, 2 handmade cat coasters and a little letter in a very pretty card.

so i shall be sending another something, a little larger this time in return for this wonderful package.

my non electric christmas lights

well i finally got them finished and eventually found that the best way to hold the candles in place was simply blue tac. putting coloured stones, like you find in vases with fake flowers made the lanterns very heavy. sticking a drawing pin to the bottom of the jars didn't work - i simply couldn't stick metal to glass. so in the end i opted for blue tac.

the candles seem to burn for about 5 hours, but with 10 lanterns, my 40 candles aren't going to last long! i've used 2 nights worth already, so i might have to find some more cheap candles somewhere..... i wonder if tescos' do value ones?

anyway i sent david out into the cold to take some photos once they were all lit. so here they are:

I shouldn't be awake this early!!

ok so it's not actually that early at 8.20am but when you only got home at 2.10am - it is!! but my body just doesn't seem to want to sleep past 8am these days, no matter what day of the week.

so, yes i did babysit last night, a few crocodile tears as the mum was leaving, but the mum, H, was running late, so when H went downstairs i decided i would too - after all the children had seen me and knew i was there so if they woke up it wouldn't be a shock. H had said the girl, L, (who turned 3 in september) could call on her mobile and say happy birthday to the the person she was going to see, but explained that L would have to wait a bit until she had got there.

H then quietly said to me that if L insisted to make the to let her do so. so about 10 minutes after H left i heard footsteps on the baby monitor and by the time i had walked the corridors of this large house i was about to meet L at the top of the stairs. she asked to make the call but i explained that H wouldn't be there yet and that i would let her know when the time was right to make the call. suprisingly easily L got back into bed, well compared to other nights it was a piece of cake. i went back downstairs and thought i'd leave it and if she got up again insisting to call H then i would get the number and to it. but you know what - i didn't hear another peep - well not an awake peep, she was coughing in her sleep but when i went upstairs to check the coughing (i thought i was T i could hear on the monitor at first) it didn't seem to be waking her, so i left her to sleep and by 1 am was almost asleep myself.

at about 1.30am the phone rang and it was H and her husband E. E said they would be about 15 minutes, so a quick stroll around the house to keep me awake, as it is quite spooky in the front part of the house which dates back 400 years and also quite cold despite the heating. i had finished my christmas cards, read the radio times, attempted the cross word and there was little on TV to keep my mind awake. but they did arrive home just after 1.45am, we had a quick chat and i came home with £70 in my pocket.

some of that money was for last night, so in total that £80 for 10 hours work (3 thursday night and 7 last night) i'm sure H said she was going to pay me £7 an hour but then as it was extra late last night i think i deserved it!! still not sure whether the money justifies how it makes me feel - stressed with a sceaming child and shattered the next day. but H didn't have any more dates for the moment to i can relax for a week or so i think....... i think that last statement actually shows how i feel doesn't it..........oh dear.......but my inability to say "no" just seems to kick in. i think i need to learn how too again, i always had that problem at school.

well after 6 hours sleep i am going to be such a grouch today, i bet! maybe if i start to doze during the day i might let myself have a nap. but this morning there's a farmer's market i want to go to. it's a fairly new one and not one i've been to before, so i'd like to have a look. it starts at 10am so an hour at least yet before i need to get going.

A very busy week

no, i haven't fallen down a rabbit hole and gone missing. it's just been a very busy week, and i don't think it's going to end there! i'll go through it day by day starting last thursday:

Thursday 6th - babysitting got home about midnight but at least managed to get peter's christmas card order sorted - 25 cards, not bad in one evening!

Friday 7th - did food shopping all on my own this week, nan and grandpa arrived 3pm, sat showing off my laptop to them, watched my starring peformance together when having dinner.

Saturday 8th - weather crap so stuck indoors, peter picked up his cards, offered us a trip to london to see Handel's Messiah @ St Martin's in the Field (going just before xmas), went out to Van Haage's garden centre in the afternoon just to get out the house, not soon enough in my books but by that time i'd had enough so when we got home at 5pm i escaped the house and went down to the pub with my diary.

Sunday 9th - left home 10am to go to Tryst on the Green for a family lunch with Alison, Joan and others from that side of the family. got there just after 12pm, not bad as the weather was horrible so the spray on the motorways was bad, i'd stopped for petrol and stopped for a 5 min break at Clacket Lane services, and i managed to take a "detour" as i got close to my destination but again that was only about 10 minutes of the 2 hours.

lunch lasted 4 hours and by the time we'd finished sadly it was a bit late for me to go back to their house especially if i wanted to get home for dinner. and its quite a good job i did as driving conditions were still bad with spray and after i passed through the tunnel i hit the tail of a queue from an accident which then delayed me by about 45 mins. so it was near on a 3 hour drive home.

whilst i was out nan and grandpa had gone home.

monday 10th - needless to say after the weekend i was shattered and spent monday half asleep!

tuesday 11th - i don't actually remember what i did, still half asleep i think. mum had her work christmas event so a quiet night in.

wednesday 12th - emotional rollercoaster of a day, ended up driving to meet mum for lunch as i needed to see her, then took my time getting home, got back about 4pm. had the evening to myself as mum and david went to the local panto. settled down to a dinner of mussels, something to keep my fingers and mind occupied!

thursday 13th (last night) - popped into town in the morning still on my hunt for coloured sand, and still no luck. i was it for my "green" christmas lights - homemade candle lanterns not electric lights outside this year! i'll try and take some photos later when its dark tonight.
babysat again - screaming tantrum lasted about 15 minutes this time. she's starting to learn that screaming the house down isn't going to stop mummy going out and i'm not going to give in and let her go downstairs or call her mumy back - i feel so mean and nasty but a 3 year old needs to learn she's not ging to get her own way. she got 20 mins of TV on her parents' bed and then a story anyway. the TV was mummy's compromise, not cartoons tho as only analogue TV upstairs due to renovation works, so it was nice and boring for her! and the quick story was just to make sure on my part and to be fair she hadn't had one earlier, but then to be honest she didn't really deserve one. so i read through the book quickly and put little emotion into it cos i was tired and pissed off by this time! but i was home by 10.30pm as the father had been away on business and got home before the mother.



but i could be going through all that again tonight! the mother phoned to check all was ok, and asked me if i was free tonight, as she had been invited out again during the course of the evening. My mum is right though, i need to work outwhether i need the stress though, as nice as £7 an hour is - is it worth the stress?

well at least i don't have to worry about getting up early or anything like that. todays plans include the post office, which will mean a huge queue at this time of year. but i have ebay items to send out and a postcard to send out for a swap-bot partner. her mother had cleared out her postcard collection when she moved out of home, so she's trying to rebuild it.
and then when mum gets home about 4pm today, as she's been on earlies this week, its off to do the food shopping at tescos.

why does this time of year have to be so stressful and tiring??!!

My five minutes of fame on BBC1

it was tonight!! i sat there with my heart racing, my body shaking with nerves and excitement, but it was a really good edit.

as i expected not too much from all the filming we did but it was really well put together.

if you didn't catch it have a look here and you can watch it online!!

The Sticker Works!!

So the answer to the question of the sticker on our letter box was finally answered yesterday. i was sitting on the sofa eatin lunch when i spotted someone walking down the front path. i carried on watching as i wasn't expecting anyone. the man got half way down the path looked up at the front door, then turned around and walked back up the path!

i was slightly confused at first, but the i noticed the bundle of things in his hands and the rucksack on his back. they looked like those supposed charity clothes collections - the ones that they normally sell for profit and give a tiny bit to charity.

maybe the Indian woman wasn't just being rude after all, maybe she didn't understand what the sticker said?

Our council is acually quite helpful when it comes to stopping junk mail, but i'd like to knows the law/rules on ignoring the sticker if there are any.

Funny Ransom Note Swap

this has to be my favourite swap so far i think, but a lot of that is down to the wit and humor of my partners too. This was the description for the swap:

It's simple, view your partners profile and write them a funny ransom note (that would suit them) using magazine letter cut outs.


so this was is what i sent to one partner, CraftyDez, whose main hobby/craft is fimo or polymer clay as they call it in the USA:



My other partner to send to, NonVenomous, collects giants microbes:

from susiqz i received this:

however i am pleased to report that i paid the ransom and Ragedy Ann is now safe and sound.

And from halfwaythere:

this one really made laugh. when i opened it and read the note i thought it was nice that she had based it around the fact i was from the UK (she's in the USA) but then i looked at the photo.....i initially read the note to mean that "the queen gets it!" as in harm the queen, but then i looked at the photo and saw that she meant that the queen gets my glue stick! i haven't laughed that much in ages - a very clever ransom note!

Christmas and Greetings cards

i've finally managed to get some Christmas cards made. these are one offs and unique however i have ordered 50 more prints, as i have an order of 25 already, and am hoping mum will take some into work and get some interest there, and maybe some more orders.

i have added some slide shows of the cards in the options on the right hand side of the blog.

the "christmas card examples" are all for sale at the moment, as are the "General Greetings Cards". i will update these as and when they sell.

the other slide show is off the prints and designs that are available to order. they are show there without the text on them, and before they are mounted onto the cards.

if you wish to buy or order any cards, please contact me. They are priced at £1.30 each or 10 for £12. these prices include postage and packing.

Help me finish my list.

this is my do do list from the "help me finish my list" swap on swap-bot with ideas from my received letters as well. i dounbt i'll ever complete all the things, but you never know! red text means its in progress and it will have a strikethrough when completed.

• Go horse riding on a beach
• Write a book
• Catch my own crab for dinner
• Try more different vegetables
• Try more different fruits
• Sell my greetings cards
• Go fishing
• Go kite surfing
• Research my family tree
• Audition for a reality TV show
• Learn to ride a motorbike
• View a house that’s for sale that i could never ever afford
• Work on a farm
• Go camping
• Have a professional photo shoot at a studio
• Go back packing
• Make a time capsule
• At out at a fine dining/celebrity restaurant
• Take afternoon tea at a posh London like the Ritz
• Go speed dating or to a singles night
• Travel abroad outside of Europe
• Go to a health/beauty parlour
• Try equine assisted therapy
• Go Ice Skating
• Be on TV
• Get a video camera and make a mini movie
• Write a fan mail letter to someone famous that i admire
• Stay up all night (stay awake for 24 hours)
• Get a part in an amateur dramatics production
• Do a sponsored event for charity
• Sing in public
• Take my Nan shopping
• Join a group/activity in my local area
• Join our local health walk
• Gain a certificate in something (anything!)
• Have a picnic
• Go rock pooling
• Clear out my old clothes that i don’t wear
• Go to a quiz night
• Help/befriend a person less able than myself
• Drive something other than a normal car like a tank or racing car
• Go back to a place i went to as a child and relive old memories
• Read to a group of children
• Make a smoothie with tofu
• Have a family photo session
• read a 1984 again
• read another great british classic novel