THE SUN HAS GOT HIS HAT ON, HIP, HIP, HIP , HOORAY

Hi everyone

The sun has got his hat on and he's coming out to play.  Woo hoo!  Please don't tell me I have been dreaming? It has really been wall-to-wall sunshine for the last three days hasn't it?  Like everyone, I love the feeling being in the sun gives me - warmth, enthusiasm and motivation.  Even the toughest old Dandelion causes no problem, I feel quite cheerful when I chop it's head off!  The only thing in their favour is they are a gorgeous shade of yellow - oh yes, they are supposed to make a pretty good wine too and apparently the leaves should be picked in April and/or May when they are at their best.  Up until last week we had plenty of these 'lovely' weeds so perhaps my make for this week's Handmade Monday should have been Dandelion Wine.  Many years ago we used to make wine quite regularly, but I remember the best home made wine I have ever tasted was one a friend made from Elderberries.  It was soooo good, rich, red and very potent.  Rather like Tom Good's Peapod Burgundy - you only drank one glass of his because it took the skin off the back of your throat, my friend's Elderberry concoction took your head off.

A big thank you to Ann of Tickled Pink Crafts for her great post as my latest Friday Guest Blogger.  If you haven't had a chance to read Ann's post, I recommend you do - apart from interesting details about the background to Ann's business, there are some lovely pics of her work.  Thank you Ann for joining my growing gang of Friday Guest Bloggers (FGBs).  I am playing around with a badge for everyone to place on their blog that will link back to their post on here - a little more promotion for all of us.  Don't forget if you want to promote/write about your business, a particular project you are working on, a hobby or something completely different to what you normally blog about, you are very welcome to join the FGBs.  If you need any further information, please email me on christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com.

A thank you too to everyone who commented on my blog posts during the last week - all very much appreciated by me and my guest blogger.

Two of the cards I finished this week were to be added to this week's post - I am embarrassed to say I forgot to take photographs of them.  So, this is stretch your imagination time.  I will give you what the brief for each one consisted of, and you can decide in your own mind what the finished cards looked like.  Card No 1 was for a lady who owns a red Porsche Careera, has 3 Burmese cats (2 cream and 1 lilac), likes red wine, champagne and vodka.  Card No 2 was for a man who likes beer, golf, Bruch Violin Concerto (a beautiful piece of music) and has two ginger and white cats called Ben & Jerry (clearly an ice-cream fan).  Both cards were easy to do and to represent the champagne and red wine I used maps of the growing areas for the back-ground and I was able to download some copyright -free Bruch sheet-music.  My customer was pleased with the cards - hope the people she gave them too were also pleased.

I have a birthday card and a wedding congratulations card to make by Tuesday and I will definitely take pics of them this time and post them on next weekend's Blog post.  Time permitting, I also want to make some Father's Day cards to put on my wall at Bourne Mill on Monday.

My computer is still misbehaving, although I can use it by accessing certain things the wrong way round.  I am re-loading everything from disc and a back-up drive.  In addition to my computer, my car decided to throw a tantrum and had to have new brakes and a roll bar fitted this week.  These things always happen when you least expect them, don't they?  Working perfectly now, thank goodness; I would be lost without my car as public transport is not very frequent were I live.

In addition to decorating gift bags for next week's flower show, I have also been working on a new style (new for me that is) of cards.  I watched a demo recently using 12" x 12" card that was folded and cut to end up with a card a quarter of the original size, and it had two two pockets on the front.  So easy and so effective.  Double-sided card is best, but I used single-side card and added a complimentary paper to the area that was plain.  I also saw a demo for using the outer edge of doilies and I have added this to one of the cards.  The floral card has a tag with a salutation on it, which can be placed in one of the pockets, but they could be used for various things: a bookmark, theatre tickets, money, endless possibilities.  These are still very much work in progress, but I am pleased with how they are turning out.

I am off to enjoy the sunshine as the forecast for the coming week is a little mixed (sounds familiar doesn't it?).  I have a busy week this week, so need to (try to) keep on top of everything.  Don't forget to check out the Handmade Monday gang for great posts and pics of this week's makes, plus very good tutorials are often posted.

Nearly forgot to add that the three-day event I have booked for this year is at the Secretts Garden Centre in Milford and takes place on 16, 17 and 18 November.  Very local to me so travel  and therefore time, will not be a problem.  I already feel I need to be making Christmas cards, bags and boxes as I know the next few months will rush by, so the next month or so could see me adding Christmas cards to my Handmade Monday makes spot.

I will be back on Wednesday with my mid-week post and don't forget to get in touch with me if you would like to be a Friday Guest Blogger.

Jill