Hare totem Native American Flute

I am truly blessed in knowing and being in a relationship with a wonderful man who oozes talent from his every pore. Yes I might be a little biased but he has an affinity with wood and magically creates some beautiful things.

For Yule this year he made me a native american flute.  I love playing the flute & although a beginner there is something deeply moving sitting and letting the notes transport you to a different plain. The flute is made from cedar so as you play it fills body, soul & surrounding space with aromatic cedar.  I have had a connection with hares for as long as I can remember and have a hare tattoo on my wrist. The flute has a hare totem hand carved which is simply WOW.

This is the first flute to be made & several more will be made during the coming year if time allows.  Should you wish to have one of your own then please get in touch allmark.j@sky.com as commission pieces can be made.

A Jar Full of Happiness

Well the New Year has begun in earnest & am starting to get back into my daily routine.  I work at a wonderful day centre for the elderly which is a drop in centre so get to spend my time talking and learning from the wise (hardly work as it is so rewarding) My aromatherapy massages are going well and I have a good client base of lovely people ageing from 20's to 80's  I do a couple of cleaning jobs (which are quite boring) but bring in the pennies to allow me to indulge in my Stampin' Up! obsession and buy lots of crafting bits and best of all the cards I make I sell at the centre & get to make one-off bespoke cards for people who are looking for something special (my recent baby naming ceremony card was a huge success & was the talking point which was very humbling).

So it is time for me to get back to doing my daily blog and sharing with you all what I am up to in my crafty world.

The first thing I want to share is a jar idea which was posted up on facebook several months ago.  Take any jar (I used an old coffee jar) decorate it (I used flowers & ribbon in bright summery colours) and then during the year fill with happiness & all the special little things that happen during the year.  Then during the festive season, or New Year next year, or even during the year when sometimes your feeling a little down or want to be reminded how great life is, open the jar & read.

I used the Stampin'Up! New In Pursuit of Happiness stamp set which is 5 stamps with the most lovely wording & I find that I use it all the time.

• Now and then it is good to pause in out pursuit of happiness & just be happy.
• Do you little bit of good where you are. It's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
• A grateful heart is the mainspring of happiness.
• Everything will be ok in the end. If it isn't ok it isn't the end.
• Live in the sunshine

The stamp set comes in wood or clear to mount onto your own acrylic block £15.95/£12.95

Well I began filling my jar at Winter Solstice this year 21/12/12 I went to Avebury with my besties and saw a beautiful dawn & then went & had breakfast in Marlborough at The Polly Tearoom. My gorgeous partner bought a huge homemade Yule Log, very chocolaty & indulgent, which we scoffed over the next week.  The Yule log was tied with a cute ribbon which has gone into the jar.  I am intending to open my jar at Winter solstice this year to see all the things I have collected during the year and my mantra is definitely going to be,

" Now and then it is good to pause in out pursuit of happiness & just be happy" and I intend to spend most of this year being happy.

If your interested in any stampin' up! products or would like a catalogue then please don't hesitate to get in touch on my email allmark.j@sky.com

Thanks as always for looking :)

Sneek Peek 2. Stampin' Up! Sale-a-Bration

Well here is another lovely card made with a stamp set which will be coming soon in Stampin' Up! Sale-a-Bration

It is a gorgeous hand drawn penny farthing and the detail on the stamp is just stunning as  every little detail shows up perfectly.  I used the designer series paper Fan Fair which is my favourite as it is subtle but with a vintage look to it which complimented the penny farthing perfectly.

If you'd like to be one of the first to see these fantastic new products from Stampin' Up! and order this new brochure when it comes out then just contact me allmark.j@sky.com Stampin' Up! products can only be bought from independent demonstrators like myself so please get in touch.

Thanks for looking.

Sneek Peek Sale-A-Bration

Well I couldn't resist putting this up as a sneek peek of what is to be coming soon in Stampin' Up! Sale-a-Bration.  Soo excited as some of these stamp sets are just beautiful.  As you know I really love the vintage look and shabby chic and it is so current in the shops in everything that is out there.  I always find it interesting that everything seems to go in cycles and will come in and out of fashion.  So I am really pleased that one of the great iconic things that we associate with Britain is the red telephone box.  With the advent of mobile phones there are very few telephone boxes left and there are (as far as I am aware) no traditional old red telephone boxes.

I really love this image as it has been line drawn so is easy to colour in with water colours (which is what I did)  The background is a designer series paper called 'Fan Fair' which I really like as it has a lot of subtle colour matches which work well to compliment a busy print/main stamp rather than overwhelm it.

So this gorgeous telephone box is part of a stamp set which will be launched as part of Stampin' Up! Sale-a-Bration coming soon.  If you would like to be one of the first to see these new products when the catalogue is launched then please get in touch and I would be happy to send you one allmark.j@sky.com

Happy Holidays & Happy New Year

Well I have been a bit quiet here as have been enjoying the festivities with my family and friends & taking a well deserved rest.  There is something quite refreshing in sometimes just sitting doing nothing but eating, drinking & generally vegging out.

However there is only so much vegging you can do so I am now back to my crafting and can't wait to show you some of the beautiful things that I have made.  Ooo and very exciting I was made a beautiful native american double flute for my Yule gift by my exceptionally talented boyfriend and it has the most beautifully hand carved hare totem as the sound piece. 

So I have to get the camera out and start snapping so I can put lots of posts up for the New Year.

In the meantime I would like to thank everyone who has been watching my blog and hope that it will be as entertaining in the New Year.

Wishing everyone peace and love for 2013 and don't forget if you need to contact me regarding anything to do with Stampin' Up! and their products, need to order a catalogue? or just want some information then please email me allmark.j@sky.com

Baby Naming Ceremony Card

Was asked to make a baby naming ceremony card for someone who was attending one for a lovely little baby called Edward or Ted as they like to call him.  She had scanned all the shops and could only find christening cards.  As this little fellow was going to be allowed to make his own decision about his religious path when he was old enough to understand, the family were having a baby naming ceremony.

So I made a beautiful personalised card using the fantastic Stampin' Up products

Don't forget if you would like any of the Stampin' Up products or would like a catalogue please just get in touch b email allmark.j@sky.com

Thanks for looking

Up! Up! Up!

Well what an exciting few days!  It started really badly with my poor old car 1998 Honda HRV going in for it's MOT & failing miserably. £400 later it passed but is now driving like a bag of spanners so it was time to say goodbye & look for something else.  I have taken the route of old bangers for my last two cars & each year they cost me a small fortune to get through the MOT so I decided to bite the bullet and look at newer.

I have always had a passion for VW as my boyfriend has a 1956 splitscreen called Rusty & I was quite impressed with the new VW Up!  It has had rave reviews and been voted world car 2012 so off to my local garage to have a look.  I couldn't stretch to brand new but they had a lovely 9 month old one (so almost brand new) in red and it is gorgeous.  Took it for a test drive & then got my eldest son to come and give me his opinion as he knows about cars & I just like the colour.  Well to cut a long story short I bought it.  Sooooooo exciting & I pick it up on Wednesday.  To be the proud owner of a 2012 car which is red is just a fantastic feeling.  The cutest thing out is that the tyres have flower patterns on, such a girlie thing & I am so a girlie :))))

So to celebrate here is a cute decoration made from one piece of 7" x 7" designer series paper.