Summertime Craft and Other Adventures

Hello readers,
How are you all enjoying the summer so far? I hope you're all having the season you wanted for yourselves. With a little luck you've been too busy to notice it's been a while since my last post. The following will explain a little of what I've been up to since the end of July. But first I must welcome all new readers and followers of my blog, on Twitter and my Facebook Page. Thanks for allowing me to share my tweets and craft adventures with you.

First thing you'll notice is that my blog design has changed from the all black Minima. The Blogger design tools make it easy to preview a new look and with this and the multitude of possibilities I had some fun playing around. Since it's introduction I've played with my blog design more than twice but I always resisted the final click.  I suppose I was a little attached to my old look as it was achieved with not just a little work especially making it three columns. That was particularly tough. None the less I knew that it was time to change so one day I completed the tweaking and made the decision to click on the orange button. I haven't regretted it. Thanks to everyone who has commented on the new design with much encouragement.

Schools out so I've been spending more time with my grandson. One of the most enjoyable days we spent was at a community party on a local estate organised by a friend of mine. He got a tattoo of his favourite football team. We also decorated terracotta pots on a great table full of paints, glitter, glue and other stuff. The estate is in the process of being demolished and rebuilt but the residents have decorated it beautifully. There is a real community spirit alive on this estate which will hopefully continue when they move into their new homes. The music, the food the company was great. We especially enjoyed going on a canal boat ride. The estate sits right next to the Regents Canal and the little man got to have a go at and thoroughly enjoyed steering.

Before the end of July I was asked for a set of Thank You cards. I'd sold my last set but there was enough time (about a week) to make a new set from scratch. It took quite a while to come up with the first card. No specific colours or motifs were chosen by the client so I decided to design one card around one of my favourite colours. The one agreement we made was for note cards instead of A6. I sent the picture you see at the the top to the client for their approval.

Seeing as colour was a free option I elected to make a multi-colour set with similar layouts. This vibrant set met with positive approval. That was a good craft day.

It is much easier to find inspiration when the cards are ordered and the next card I made was a challenge. Having no specific goal than just wanting to make a card made for a trying afternoon at the craft table. Subsequently the design may appear a little plain. But I think someone may like that. It is, I think, very easy to over embellish although I did have one suggestion to add another butterfly. What do you think?

Don't think I have forgotten my To Do List in my previous post Handmade Cards - Setting Up a Home Business. I am working hard through it and struggling with developing skills which are very necessary. I'll write more about those struggles in a future post which will be sooner rather than later.

Thanks for reading and I wish you all a productive week :)