Well, it only lasted for one week, but I knew that it would be hard to break a habit, so my chatty post is back to its normal posting day of Sunday (Yes, I know today is Monday, but I lost track of time). I found it hard to put time into posting on Tuesday and although last week was extra busy, it is something that I know I will find hard to do normally (very busy tomorrow, I know I would not be able to post then). My plan is to arrange my Sunday post as first part for Handmade Monday (HM) and the remainder will be the chatty catch-up post. That way the HM contributors will not have to get bogged down in non-craft-related chat.
Section 1: A crafters life for me
I spent most of last week working on my wedding invitation order. The week included three nights of working from early morning until gone midnight to ensure I kept to the deadline that I had set myself - and agreed with the bride and groom. Finally completed everything at the crack of dawn yesterday morning (well, a little later actually) and the bride and groom collected their invitations in the afternoon and I am pleased to say they like them. You know how it is, we are hypercritical of our own work and are always somewhat surprised when it is complimented. Why do we do this to ourselves?
This is a photograph of the finished invitation. The invitation is a pocket with orange ribbon and a diamanté buckle around it; around the half circle at the top are diamonds (I wish!). On the front are two sections of purple card with cream card on top - the top one has the couples initials and wedding date (covered in this pic) and the bottom one has the name of the invitation. Inside is a purple card which has cream card on both sides - one side is the invitation, the reverse is information about the venue, church, etc. A matching ribbon pull has been added to the insert. Finally, I made supports for the back of the pockets so that they could be stood up.
This week sees the start of making the Orders of Service - these are similar in design to the invitations in that they have an orange ribbon and diamanté buckle on the left hand side.
I am very late with my Handmade Monday/chatty Sunday post, but don't forget to visit the other contributors to Handmade Monday. Lots of great blog posts to read.
Section 2: Non-stop chat - almost
Did you watch the Olympics closing ceremony? What a spectacular end to a truly amazing event. To go through all of those times and parts that brought tears to my eye would mean a very, very long post, but I am sure they were the same for many of you. How about the runner who continued even though he had suffered a broken leg! Believe me, having broken a leg about 4 years ago, I can assure you that running was the last thing I was able to do! And we still have the Paralympics to come - I am sure there will as many tear-jerking moments at this event as there has been in the last two weeks.
Did you manage to catch my Friday Guest Blog? Rich Little of Bloggabase wrote about his new website that is for bloggers of all types of blogs - it's a really great idea and I hope it takes off very soon. Do have a look and join. Rich is looking for at least 2,000 members before going live, and at the last count he had just over 1,000, so half way there.
Most of my time last week was spent on work, work, work. Great to have orders and I received two more yesterday for a Ruby Wedding anniversary card and one for a 65th birthday. I want to get everything, including Orders of Service, completed this week as Richard is on leave next week, and don't want to be working while he is lounging! I am hoping it will be third time lucky for him weather-wise as the last two breaks have seen heavy rain most days - he is getting a complex.
I had lunch today with a couple of friends at Elstead Mill. We reviewed the Olympics and decided we needed to do some form of sport/exercise, but agreed hurdles and the pole-vault were definitely not on our list of possibles. Up to a few years ago I used to regularly play golf, so that was a possible one for the list; we also thought we might try rowing. I will let you know how (and if) these sporty plans develop.
I have a lovely guest blog post on Friday of this week, so don't forget to check back. As I am back into my usual blogging pattern, I will be back with a mini post on Wednesday.
I hope you enjoy this week and if you want to be a guest blogger, please do get in touch: christmaspiecradfts@virginmedia.com (many thanks to my previous bloggers for promoting this on their blog posts).
Jill
