MILLY'S DIARY

Hi everyone

I know we shouldn't wish time away, but I am glad January is whizzing by coz in the spring time I am going to be let loose into an unsuspecting world.  By that I mean I am going to be let out into my garden.  I look at it out of the window and so far I haven't been too keen to go outside, but I am sure there are lots of places to explore and lots of wonderful things to collect and bring inside.

My 'borrowing' is still continuing; when Jill tried to put her boots on on Saturday, she found it a little difficult as I had hidden a pack of Richard's cigarette papers in the toe!  He just isn't getting the message that he should give up smoking!  I won't give up and Jill will just have to remember to check her boots in future before she puts them on.  I do occasionally get into Richard's sock drawer if he leaves it open - bundled up socks look rather like big mice.  Mind you chances to borrow things are getting less and less as they get wise to me - spoil-sports.

I am really well settled in here now and although we have a few 'discussions' I think Daisy is beginning to realise 'I aint going' nowhere'.  I love Jazz, he is my best friend - don't think he sees me in the same way though, but I can hope - and as you can see in this pic I like to cuddle up with him for a nap after a hard day's play:

I am off for my mid-morning snooze now, but I will be back next week.  Have fun everyone -
I will.

Milly

LOVELY, LOVELY SUNSHINE

Hi everyone

What a beautiful day it has been.  Thinking back to a week ago, who could have foreseen such a change in the weather.  The forecast shows this week will see a couple of days with temperatures in double figures - perhaps spring is on the way.

A busy week that has involved card-making to re-stock my wall at Bourne Mill Antiques Centre as well as completing three card orders - photographs of two of them are below.  As so often happens with me, I forgot to photograph all of them.

The brief for one of the cards was for a wildlife (in particular tigers, whales and elephants), Tudor dynasty, poppies and Rachmaninov loving person.  With photographs I already had and other copyright-free ones, I managed to fulfil the requirements of my customer and I gather the recipient was very happy with their card.

This week has also been, groan, tax-return week.  Just need to do a final check before I send it to the HMRC.  I always feel very relieved that has been done.

Handmade Monday reached the grand total of 100 posts last week and Wendy, the blog's owner, celebrated with some fantastic give-aways each day.  There is still time to enter and there are some amazing goodies - I entered each day and am really hoping to be one of the lucky winners.  Many thanks, Wendy, for as very interesting week.

My pottery course began again this week (well for me it did as I missed the first week).  We have an ambitious project this term which is landscaping - creating pots or wall plaques with scenes.  I have decided to create a plaque and have so far added mountains, rocks falling down a hillside and also added some trees using twigs/branches pressed into the clay.  Once it looks presentable I will photograph it and post it on my blog.

My workshops are moving, very, very slowly, so I think I need to step up the promotion of them which so far I have not been very proactive about.  Work for this week includes making Valentine's Cards for Bourne Mill and my website and I will also add some to my Etsy shop.

We went to one of our regular family get-togethers yesterday.  Always great fun, time goes too quickly and it was really nice to catch up with everyone - lots of lovely food too.  Thank you Maralyn, hope today has been feet up time for you.

Don't forget to visit the Handmade Monday blog this week to read everyone's comments and see their fantastic makes for the week, plus to have a go at the give-aways if you haven't done so yet.

Have a good week everyone.  I will be back next Sunday and in the meantime Milly will be posting her (now) regular Wednesday blog post - if you missed it last week's post, please click on this link to catch up with what she has been doing.

Jill

MILLY'S DIARY

Hi everyone

It has been a long, long time since my last post - Christmas, New Year and holidays have come and gone, as well as a whole sky full of snow!  I have never seen snow before - well I am only 5 and a bit months old and had to have it explained to me.  It does look a lot like cat litter falling from the sky - I always thought cat litter came in bags not from the sky.  Oh well, I learn something new every day.

We have had a very large fox visiting our garden recently, I am sure he is very hungry but cats don't make tasty meals, so off you go Mr Fox, you are beautiful, but not too welcome in my garden.  I haven't been outside yet so have not met him face-to-face.

I know somewhere in her recent posts Jill has called me a kleptomaniac, but I prefer the name Richard has given me - he calls me a Borrower.  Problem is they know what I borrow, but they are having problems finding my hiding places.  Sometimes I hide them in a box, sometimes in their bed. a few times under the table and occasionally in the middle of the floor.  Sometimes even I forget where I have hidden things.  I tend to leave bits of clothing in the middle of the floor: socks, pants, scarves, a bra.  However, they are getting a little wise to me and are being very careful about leaving things lying around.

I am trying to help Richard give up smoking; I hide his cigarette papers and his lighter - I tend to drop his cigarette papers in my food bowl so they get all soggy!  I am a four-legged nicotine patch.

As you know, I was a kitten from Woking Cats Protection and was originally fostered by Jill and Richard.  They adopted me not long after I came to them because I am cute, adorable and lovely (well that's what Jill says).  If you would like a cute, adorable and lovely kitten (or cat) please check out the website - there are lots of cats and kittens looking for new homes.  I understand there might be some foster kittens moving in here soon, so watch this space.

Off for a snooze, this blogging is very tiring.

I will be back next week

Milly

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A FEW DAYS (AND MILES) CAN MAKE

Hi everyone

We arrived back in the UK from Malta on Thursday, having spent 12 gorgeous sun-filled days there.  As someone who is super-glued to their computer (in this case my iPad) I did my regular weekly blog while away, occasionally checked emails, and kept up-to-date with the UK weather.  As we all know, being in business means our address is all over the Internet, so I tend to not mention online that I am away until I am back home.  Better to be safe than sorry.

We had a lovely time, the weather was really great and every night we had to have the windows open as it was so warm.  To the Maltese people this is their winter, to us it felt like early summer and as you can imagine the prospect of coming back to snow was a little daunting.  The Maltese people are lovely, very friendly and helpful, but once behind the wheel of a car...............

As we took off from Malta to come home the pilot advised that the temperate was -5 at Gatwick and on arrival it had risen to the heady heat of -2!  As we drove home it got foggier, colder and generally more gloomy looking.  Getting up on Friday morning to a considerable amount of snow was a bit of a shock and it didn't stop snowing all day long (in fact it has been snowing all day today as well).  Such a shock as we were getting acclimatised to warm weather and in fact it was very mild when we left the UK.  It was lovely to get back to our furry gang-of-three though.

Here are the before and after photographs (well not quite, but I am sure you get the idea):

The view from our balcony the day before we flew home

The view from our kitchen door the day after we flew home

We were able to do lots of sight-seeing while there and one of the first amazing sights was this Christmas tree:

Mdina is home to famous glass-makers in Malta and as we arrived just before the end of the Christmas decoration period, we were lucky to see this glass-bauble Christmas tree in Valletta.  All of the baubles were handmade and the tree was over 12 ft high.  It was beautiful and the photograph doesn't do it justice.

I love fish and shellfish so being on an island meant my habit could be fed with an amazing variety of tastes.    In fact I was able to enjoy a different fish-dish every day.  Fishing seems to be a very popular activity in Malta, not always just as a hobby - we were convinced that restaurant owners were out every day catching their day's 'dish of the day'.  One day we went to Marsascala and sat watching the fishermen preparing their boats.  The man in the photograph above rowed out to his fishing boat, prepared his nets and got everything ready for a fishing trip later in the day and then rowed back to have his lunch.

The hotel we stayed in was next door to a restaurant that we first visited over 30 years ago - it is called the Gillieru Restaurant and we were so pleased to find that it was just as good this time around as all those years ago.  It is renowned for its fish dishes so for me it was the place to dine at.  Lucky for us they had a resident cat - I can't do without my cat fix and (sorry Milly) it was a tabby cat and we named him George.  We didn't find out his real name, he was often referred to as 'the cat', but we felt George suited him:

The last time we went to Malta we didn't make it to Gozo, and promised ourselves that this time we would.  We did and were so surprised at how different it is.  Gozo is very different to Malta and to quote a tour guide's leaflet that we read after our visit it 'is very picturesque and has its own unique identify'.  It is a beautiful island, very quiet and peaceful, lovely houses and gardens, with well cared for properties and stunning views from many of the bays.  This photograph is taken from a bay looking out to the island of Comino - another island in the group.

Here are a few more photographs of places we visited in Malta:

However, it wasn't all sunshine.  On Tuesday of our second week we had a massive thunder storm, hailstones, the lot!  Incredible.  As it didn't look like being over quickly, we decided to go to the cinema and chose The Hobbit in 3D - what was really great was that we were the only ones in the cinema.  A picture show just for us - how wonderful.  We did get the chance to take a photograph of this impressive rainbow from our hotel room window though - I think you can just about see on the right hand side its reflection.

Now it is back to normal, although while I have been away I have been doing a little work on my workshops.  Checking newsletter and poster content, which has been carried out by my partner-in-crime (Linda the cake-maker who is managing the refreshments for each workshop).  Now it is time to hit the ground running: make up packs for the workshops, manage the bookings, plus I have orders for birthday cards and Easter cards I also and need to get on with making some cards for Valentine's Day.  In addition to this I have my tax return to finalise and hand over the Mr Tax Man - I always feel relieved when that has been completed.

Thank you everyone  for your responses to my questions in my last blog post. They were very helpful and I have decided I am going to have a display of cards; as suggested it may help people to see what they can make and I will also have tools and some materials for sale, for example scissors, tweezers, card, etc.  

I received a copy of the first issue of a new magazine called Homemade with love; its the first issue and I haven't yet had a chance to look through it properly, but will do so and feedback on it in my blog post next week.  Has anyone else come across this magazine?  

It's a crafting magazine which seems to have a variety of topics and makes, and this brings me neatly to reminding everyone to visit this week's Handmade Monday bloggers.  As always I am looking forward to reading about the adventures and makes of everyone taking part.

Down to earth now with a bump - no I haven't fallen over in the snow.  Just need to get back to work.  I will be back next weekend with my main post and Milly will be posting her diary on Wednesday of this week.  I hope to start my Friday Guest Blog Spot soon and if you would like to join in, please do get in touch on christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com.

Have a good week everyone, take care in the snow and keep warm.

Jill

NO SNOW PLEASE

Hi everyone

What's the weather like where you are?  The forecast for Christmas Pie is pretty grim and I have visions of being snowed in or out - see my post next Sunday for clarification.

This week has been busy, but not work-related busy.  I haven't lost track of my plans J have just been involved in something else.  However, plans are going well for my workshops; they are about to be advertised in a newsletter that is distributed to all homes in Chilworth and I will add them to Blink Collective and Hot Courses (HC) - I registered with HC late last year.  In addition to these advertising outlets, I will use Twitter, my blog and website, as well as local notice boards to promote the courses.

I will be spending time soon making up packs of material to be used in each session, as well as packs that people can buy to work on at home.  A question or two for my blog followers.  Would you use a workshop to sell your own work?  Would you take the opportunity to sell other card-making materials, such as card, embellishments, scissors, double-sided tape, etc?  I am interested to know your thoughts on this.

A mini-post this week, but a very good reason and should be back to normal next Sunday.  Many thanks for the lovely comments received and please don't forget to drop in on Handmade Monday  To catch up with my fellow crafters.  Last week's posts were great as it was lovely to read about the Christmas pressies everyone had and the New Year plans they had made.

Have a good week everyone - 'see' you next Sunday

Jill

PLANNING, PLANNING AND EVEN MORE PLANNING

Hello everyone

A very Happy New Year to you.

Already one week into the New Year - the days seem to whizz by so fast.

No new makes this time around - I have taken some time off to work on various other things.

I am in the process of finalising six card-making workshops: two for Valentine's Day, two for Mother's Day and two for Easter.  The sessions will be two hours long, the first one will run 1.00 pm - 3.00 pm and the second, 6.30 pm - 8.30 pm on the same day, will be a repeat of the afternoon's session.  I had originally thought of having workshops for just basic card-making for all/any occasions, but think a themed one to begin with will be easier to run and provide materials for.  My cake-making friend is managing the refreshments and we are also offering homemade bread and soup mini-lunches and suppers.  Once everything is confirmed, I will add details on my blog and website, but I can let you know the sessions will take place in Chilworth, Surrey.

No New Year's resolutions for me this year.  I rarely stick to them so by not making any I avoid the disappointment.  However, I do have plans (they are not resolutions, are they?).  My aim is to be more structured and organised in my working life.  I am a terrible time-waster and am amazed at how much time I can waste on the Internet - doubt I am alone in that though.  This year I will make proper 'To-Do' lists on paper, not the mental ones I have relied on and conveniently lost, and I will stick to them and ensure everything gets completed - eventually.

Just a mini post today, but don't forget to visit the other blogs taking part in this week's Handmade Monday.  I am looking forward to reading about the plans everyone has for 2013 - exciting times.

My Friday Guest Blogger spot returns at the end of January, so please get in touch with me if you would like 'book' a spot.  Our new kitten, Milly, will also be back towards the end of January with her Wednesday blog post - this coincides with my return to kitten fostering, so Milly will have plenty to write about.

'See' you next weekend.

Jill