Project 280: Fruity day thanks

I had a mini playdate with Claire this week which was brilliant. We exchanged our $20 challenge gifts and revealed we had bought each other the exact same quantity of things, with 3 of the items almost exactly the same. How funny is that?

She also brought a gift that she was sharing as a craft friend of hers had given her a set of Spectrum Noir pencils and she generously shared these with me. As a thank you to her friend I wanted to make something using my new stash.

I loved the fruit stamp and die set and thought it would be a great feature. I blended the background using Peacock Feathers distress ink and then stamped the fruit slices and die cut them out.

I added the greeting from my new Sizzix stamp and die set and heat embossed it in black to make it stand out. The little candy matches the darkest tones of the distress ink. Super happy with it and I think it was worth all the little steps to make something a bit cheerful for Claire's friend.

Project 279: The craft room gets a makeover

One of the joys in my life is having a dedicated craft space in my tiny southwest London apartment. For years, I just kept my craft stuff in a closet and when it was time to craft, I would spend about 10-15 minutes getting everything out and then working from my kitchen table, repacking things up at the end. When we moved 2 years ago one of my mandates was a place for my stuff to live permanently so I could come and craft as I pleased. 

My space is, unfortunately, shared as the guest room in the smallest room of the house. So small that  we have to rearrange all of the furniture to get the pull out bed to fit in the room with my craft space. Which means if someone is only coming for a night or two we don't put them in here, we put them in the lounge with the pull-out couch! 

We have a friend visiting over the new year break for a few days with her husband and I decided it was time to make the situation inhabitable for them. Therefore, today's headline shot is of my desk a bit unusable as I move everything around! 

I've also discovered that a few of my storage solutions aren't really that great or fit for purpose as my kit has grown (the crafter's dilemma: how to keep storage scaling with your stash) so I want to investigate some new solutions. 

I'll still be crafting over the next few weeks but wanted to let you know that it may be a bit patchy. 

Also - I want to celebrate with everyone as I've posted over 100 times this year! My new year's resolution for 2015 was to hit 100 and I'm delighted to have made it. Thanks for sharing the journey with me. x