Need a Hand?

I do! And I don't mean some help.

I need a "hand" to "model" my puppets. I need to spend ages taking photos of all of the ones I have finished revising so that I finish these patterns off and sell the finished puppets. Another bag full out of the way.

Last time I asked Benjamin for help to model some he was in a very bad mood because he wanted to be off doing other things and was very uncooperative!!!!!!

I was looking at those wooden ones on eBay but when I saw them in a shop, the thumb didn't go where I needed it to. Anyway, Mark helped me make this. He bent the garden wire and I covered it in the no longer needed tube bandaging and stuffed it.

It works like a dream! Of course, if the finished puppets sell well, I may make some more. To be honest, I don't want to spend my time crocheting to sell but I am trying really hard to save up to get my A-Z published - which isn't easy with the reduced hours and a 12 year old son who always needs something new.

So far I have made about £17 on ebay with all the stash. Not as much as I was hoping for but better than nothing and also saving just either throwing or giving everything away. I also found the gorgeous green chenile I knew was up there. No way am I getting rid of that. I have been dreaming for years about what I am going to make from it!

And in the wardrobe, I found the bag of chunky I was saving to make myself a cardigan. Some of my nice warm woolies are getting a bit past their "use-by" date. The elbows are getting thin and stringy and the cuffs are starting to unravel. And there was no way I was going to buy any new ones when I knew all that stuff was in the attic just waiting to be used.

And about that Clematis. I haven't given up. I ordered some of the sagey green thread to make the leaves from. It have arrived and is ready and waiting for me to use it but I have a long list of things which need to be done first. Besides, small cotton leaves are definately a summer project as I can't be making chunky cardigans then!

An Award

I had this last week from Emma but, as usual, I am running around trying to do 50 things at once so I didn't get to post it. So, a bit belated, but "Diolch Emma"

The rules for accepting the award are:
1. Place the logo within your blog or post
2. Pass the award on to 12 bloggers
3. Link the nominees within the post
4. Let the nominees know they have received the award by commenting on their blog
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received the award

So here are my twelve nominees.

Buckinghams Palace - Truly Scrumptious - Woowork.com - Stamping Ground - Debs Cards - Vrons Blog - Scrap Happens Here - Juliet K - Debs Craft Blog - Happy Mum - Secret Corridor - A Crafting Journey

Enjoy Everybody!

And now down to business. I have been crocheting up a storm. I have been re-vamping the puppet patterns and, since having my cast off 4 weeks ago, I have almost done 5 of them. As there are 3 puppets in each pattern, that means I have crocheted 14 puppets. No, my maths isn't wrong - I did say almost.

I took some photos last weekend of some of them. I am not entirely happy with the photos, I will try again next weekend. I have to wait until the weekend as I need my son to model. However, having just checked the calendar, I might be able to do some tomorrow as he doesn't have an afters chool club and I should be finishing normal time.

I am quite pleased with myself and am more or less back to crocheting normally. The first couple of weeks my wrist ached rather a lot and Mark was telling me off for crocheting too much. However, I found the crocheting actually helped and, if I cam home from work with it aching, the gentle movement soothed a bit.

Also, I was told this by a AnnieAnna on Craft Forum

"Seriously - enjoy that crocheting. Did you know knitting, crocheting and handsewing is hypnotic. You put yourself into a sort of trance and your seratonin levels go up and you go dopely happy."

What other excuse could I possibly need?

Do Trolls have Tails?

Is it that long since I blogged???????

So much has happened this last month.

The good news is that Mark has found a new job. It isn't as much money but it is something he will enjoy doing and he can walk to work which will save around £1500 a year! After his first week he is in a much better mood than he has been in a long time and its really great to see him back to his old self.

Of course, that now means that any money I have spare at the end of the month after the food shopping is all mine!!!!!! I have been looking at cameras again.

I quite like the Ixus 970 or 80. Basically the 970 has better macro and zoom capabilities but is about £60 more. Its a hard decision!!!!

And, after Saturday I am going to have to wait even longer for it. I think I may have got myself on a very slippery slope yesterday. Mark went shooting for the first time in ages so I cadged a lift to Huntingdon. I needed some "Happy Easter" peel offs for work. I got them, I also got a couple of other things for the cards we are making.

The Market stall didn't have what I wanted but they were selling some stamps cheap. I resisted. Stamping is something I haven't yet got into. And I don't have any ink. It was going to work out expensive to buy ink and stamps for work.

However, there were a lot of sales around!!!!! Colemans were selling peel offs at 10 for £3, so I just had to get some (especially as I was rather shocked last week to realise that I didn't have a gold "Happy Birthday" for a card I was making). However, I knew my peel off folder was full so I only got one lot. Grafton Projects were having a closing down sale. They are going online instead. They had peel off folders there. They also had a box of 20 assorted small size inks reduced to £4.99.

You have guessed it! I got both of them then went back to the market and got some stamps then went back to Colemans for more stickers!!!! Anyway, now I have 20 inks and 4 stamps and an extra filder of peel-offs! Might have a play later.

And later, after encouragement from Mark, I went to Argos and bought two games for the Wii. Board games (for me) and Brain Training (for him). They were selling them any two for £30.

I think the camera might have to wait for another month unless I sell an extortionate amount of crochet over the next month!

These Fellas might help! I am currently working on a new set of puppets - Fantasy. I have a Dragon and Unicorn and wanted something else to go with it. I decided on a Troll. This was the first draft. I used some pictures I found online. I wasn't entirely happy with him. Hands and feet too big for a start.

Of course, I couldn't make him exactly the same. Apart from the copyright issue, the face would have been too flat to get your hand in. And what point is a puppet you can't get your hand in? So, do trolls have tails?

I am pleased to announce........

That I have finally finished my Puppets pattern!

You have already met the individual puppets so I won't bore you with that. I am off to add the pattern to Rainbow Valley When all that is done, I can carry on with my A-Z. I am sorting out the photos I want printed so that I can send them off. I need to decide how big I want them all first and any smaller than 6x4 can be added to one print.

I would nornally print them myself but I had an offer of free prints through from Snap fish and the postage is only 99p for up ro 50 and £1.49 for up to 500. Also, if I refer people and they sign up (don't need to actually buy and no card details needed) we both get an additional 20 prints free.

If anybody is interested, use the "Ask me, I might" button on the left to email me.

Puppets and Zion

I was going to be ever so good and try to blog at least every other day. Look how long that lasted!!!!!

Still, I have been busy with other things.

First of all, I listed my Halloween Baskets pattern on Etsy. This isn't a new pattern, I wrote it some years ago but I still love it. I was debating about putting it on eBay as well but with the new rules about ebooks (and the new listing prices) I decided not to. Etsy is so much cheaper to sell from when you are dealing with handicrafts.

Here are some of the puppets I have been working on. Meet Petula Parrot,

Sidney Snake,

and Arnold Aligator. These are the "Jungle Puppets". As always, made from 100% machine washable acrylic so you don't have to worry about them getting dirty. I have listed them all for sale on Etsy. The pattern will be on there just as soon as it is finished.

During the crash a whole pile of my photos got corrupted. Fortunately, some of them were from my A-Z photo journal of Chatteris which means they are relatively easy to replace. I decided to go out to the bank and Co-op yesterday and replace some of the photos. I went to the bank first then started taking some pics.

Wouldn't you know it - it started to rain! So I went to the Co-op to get what I needed only to find I hadn't put my purse in!!!! At least by the time I got back to the town centre it wasn't raining any more and I managed to replace some of the pics from Jubilee Gardens. I actually think they are a little better than before. The dark sky wasn't such a contrast against the black clock. But yesterday wasn't a complete disaster! In the evening I left the boys playing on the Wii and went out - complete with purse!

And I managed a new letter - Z This is the Zion Hall. I haven't been able to find out much info about it apart from this little bit I found online. Another such church (non-conformist) in Park Street was founded in 1819. In 1851 the congregation numbered 485.

However, the sign says 1839. I think a trip to the local museum is in order. And I still need to finish sorting out those Harvest ones.

September Calendar

I have been a bad blogger! Nothing in over 2 weeks!!!!! I hope these pics make up for it.

I thought I would brighten up your desktop this month! This is a photo I took yesterday at the local garden centre. I just can't resist those bright blooms. As usual, click on the pic over in the left column to download.

I just can't resist dandelion clocks! The macro lens allows me to get really close and see all the fine detail. I like the way the narrow depth of field softens it and make it look fluffy. I did get some of a bee on the dandelions but he is blurred in all the photos because he just wouldn't keep still! Better luck next time?????

And, yes its pink, but it was the only rose bush there!

I really don't know where the time has gone. Since Benjamin has come home it has been all go. We went to Cambridge on Friday to do all the Museums. Of course, I didn't realise just how many there were! There are 8 free ones in walking distance of the bus stop and 15 in total. We managed 4!!!!!

But we had a great time. The down side was the 1½ hours on the bus each way, which was actually more than that because of the traffic. But the fare was only £5.50 for both of us so that made up for it a bit.

This is a definate repeat for half term, however, as he also has 2 teacher training days added on to the end of half term, we might do it then when there won't be so many people around.

And I must remember to take the camera next time!!!!!!!!!!!!

Something else I have been doing is working on some puppet patterns. I "lost" the Jungle Puppets in my recent puter crash and didn't realise until I was putting them all back on the puter from the discs. I hadn't saved that one to disc - Silly me!

Anyway, I was sent a US copy of one I had sold and have been using that one the create the UK copy and remake them to take pics. While I was at it, I have altered one or two things to make them easier to do.

When finished, I will be putting both the pattern and the puppets on Etsy and send out the re-vamped copies to the two nice ladies who sent me theirs!

I have also been re-working some of the older pupper patterns. The original ones were made in a totally different way to the newer ones as they have "evolved" somewhat over the years. I have been working on the Pond set. This will also be on Etsy when finished.

Now, I have a jam packed day ahead of me so I had best get off here and get on with it!

New Puppets!

I am so pleased, I finished my Jungle puppets pattern. This didn't take me long as, instead of starting something new, I was ever so go and dug something out of the wardrobe to finish off!!!!

So here are Arnold Alligator, Sidney Snake and Petula Parrot. This is my 11th set of puppets. I am thinking of making another set to round it up to 12 then call it a day. I have added it to my site but haven't sold any yet. However, I have had some enquiries as to whether I sell the actual puppets!

Getting to grips with it.

After spend nearly all day yesterday on here, I am starting to get the hang of PSE5. I have done another two layouts. I started the first one yesterday and decided to "go it alone" rather than a template or tutorial. I use a free digi kit called Twinkle Toes from Peppermint Creative and played with some of the tools on there. I managed to copy the stars from the backgrond paper and make them into a new layer. Took forever to get it right!

Then, for the UKS weekly team challenge, I found a template from Happy Scrap Girl and used yet another freebie from Miss Mint called Lilac Garden. I had to change some of the colours to fit the challenge.

Of course, all this made me late for Craft & Chat but at least I got there! Which was just as well as I sold some puppets. One of the newer ladies was looking at the ones I was working on last week so I took some others in to show her. As it happens, she was wondering whether it was cheeky to ask me if I would like to sell any. Cheeky???? Not at all. I was delighted to oblige!