Midlands Craft Club Celebrates In Style...

Calling Crafty People in the Midlands! Why not come and meet like minded folk who enjoy crafting in Tullamore this Sunday? The Midlands Craft Club is two years old this month and to celebrate their success they are moving to a new venue. From 1pm – 6pm come and meet, chat, scrap, shop and craft in luxurious surroundings at the Tullamore Court Hotel.

Sandra Dunne from PaperPlay Challenges offers excellent tuition on putting together a seasonally themed scrap book page, this month it’ll be a spooky double layout for Halloween. Sneak peaks will be published here this week.

If you do have your own tools available

please bring them along as only limited supplies of spares are available.

Ideally you will need a sharp pair of scissors, a craft knife, craft glue and a cutting mat to protect your table.

No experience is necessary and all are welcome. If you’ve always fancied exploring the craft

scene, now is YOUR opportunity to try it out. For a modest fee, class materials and instructions are supplied, with excellent support from Sandra available at all times. In addition to this you will be making a card from the scraps and Sandra will be doing a quick demo on colouring images using distress inks.

Alternatively, if you would just like to meet people with similar interests and just make use of a space to craft the Midlands Craft Club would still be delighted to welcome you. Annamarie will be there with her Scrapbook Store offering the chance to pick up some gorgeous goodies for your stash.She will also be demo'ing The Slice from Making Memories.

NB. Children under the age of 14yrs must be accompanied by supervising adult participant.

Polly Plays Paper Challenges

Okay, so this week after a well earned rest from exercising my fingers I have managed to squeeze in a few minutes to enter another PaperPlay Challenge 09- Week 14. To be honest, I'd love to do this every week and I do have good intentions, it's just that life has this peculiar habit of getting in the way...

PaperPlay Challenges was set up by Sandie, who also runs the Midlands Craft Club (MCC for short). I prefer to use the full title, as some of my erstwhile friends would be happy to point out that the MCC is also short for Motor Cycle Club. This may have been more appropriate during my younger days, but sadly 'the beast' is resting up, in the same position it's been in for a little over fourteen or so years!

(for more info click on the pic)

Anyway, this week's challenge is set by Elisa ... "The challenge is complementary colours, that is, to use colours that are opposite to each other in the colour wheel , such as red/green, yellow/purple, orange/blue, etc. Elisa"

Purely by chance, or maybe not, I put together a special card for my good friend George. During the deluge drumming on the roof of my studio (aka garden shed) I consoled myself with pretty butterflies, flowers and ribbons for a special lady in his life - his Mam! It just so happens that when I looked up the colour wheel, which I really should consult more often, that the yellows and blues used on this card are on opposite sides, directly "opposite each other"

My PaperPlay Challenges 09 - Wk 14 Card

Hurray! At last, I remembered to scan the card in and it meets the criteria for another challenge. Isn't it a shame I forgot all about it last week when I might have won a prize for my efforts, still, the more the merrier, eh? Regardless, there are some lovely entries for this weeks challenge and hopefully mine will fit right in...

Maybe one of these days I'll be able to call on George for his excellent services as a business coach, let's face it folks, I need some help with my time management - don't I...? Either that or a lotto win, so that I can afford to employ a house-keeper and spend all my time crafting...

Polly Pierce

A Series of Unfortunate Events - Final Chapter (Death Match Takes Place...)

Did you hear the one about the woman who purchased a brand spanking new top of the range dishwasher and then couldn’t use it because the fittings were different? Well, you have now! That’s me; I am the heroine in the final chapter of ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’.

Last Friday, I filled in a few of the blanks regarding the adventures of the family Peirce and their multiple disasters over the course of a week. Today, I propose to close the book on this episode of our lives; in the hope that we can get on in a trouble free manner from now on and well into the future.

Going back to the dishwasher; it is now plumbed into the space where my washing machine has always been, thus avoiding problems caused by the anti-flood system and its ginormous fittings. Seeing as it doesn’t have to pass through the carefully manufactured hole in the mass concrete wall dividing the kitchen from what we fondly call the ‘Scullery’, this is no longer a problem.

With the new dishwasher installed and working perfectly, my two bitches decided that they would embark upon yet another of their ferocious fights, right behind my back in the confined space of the scullery. I had been trying to re-programme the water softener, in the hopes of having even shinier glass ware. This task was abandoned rather suddenly as the girls snarled their way into the back of my legs and almost sent me flying.

What followed was ten minutes of terrified intervention between the objects of my affections and myself. I could and probably should stand back when these things happen and allow them to take their course. I don’t because I can’t. I take my chances and hope that I don’t get bitten; so far I have been lucky. Neither I nor my two bitches have suffered too greatly from their hormonally charged sparring matches; but it is exhausting physically and emotionally for us all.

Next evening the matter of the washing machine was tackled. For the best part of last week I was sans washing machine. The plumbing wasn’t long enough to traverse the famous whole in the wall; a matter of mere inches prevented the installation of the machine in its new position.

First evening DG took himself off to B&Q in search of extension pipes and found just what he was looking for. It was only when he went to fit them that he realised the real problem was the discharge pipe. The following evening he made a return visit to that great bastion of DIY and luckily found just what he was looking for; an extending discharge pipe for an automatic washing machine.

Evenings came and went; largely unsuccessfully. Appliances were pulled out; blocking the thoroughfare between the kitchen and the rest of the house, bits of pipe were cut off, water leaking everywhere and generally interfering with the smooth running of the household. Enough was enough! On Friday evening I demanded peace and quiet, without any excitement or water leakages…

While all of the above has been going on, it has actually been advantageous in some ways. Thankfully the washing was up to date, so this hasn't been too much of a worry and BJK looked after the boy's school uniforms for me. As a result the wedding stationary for my friend is coming along quite nicely.

I have been able to spend quite a bit of time out in my studio and/or on the computer; working on the wording. I've settled on of six informal layouts, four for the wedding itself and a couple for the evening reception.

I'm really concentrating on the design aspect of it now. Being very much aware of how people's taste varies, I have determined to offer a selection of modern & traditional designs which will hopefully suit everyone.

It's a great challenge; but it is just what I needed to get me right back into the middle of what I had originally planned to do; which is to make handmade greeting cards to sell, after all, I've got to pay for the dishwasher somehow, haven't I?

…Sunday afternoon: In the space of roughly thirty-five minutes DG removed the back of the washing machine, replaced the original hose with the B&Q extending version, put it all back together again and hey presto! Normal service is resumed…

I had almost forgotten how much I enjoy making cards...! LOL!

Take care!

Polly Px

A Series of Unfortunate Events Chapter 4 (Monday's A Good Day!)

My tail of woe continues from yesterday's post. Having lost my mobile phone at the weekend and it being my primary form of communication with the outside world; I am now wondering about the wisdom of this system.

That said, I did buy a card reader and back up system for precisely this situation. Following our disastrous visit to France in 2006, I swore that I would never be faced with the problem of losing my phone contacts again. Unfortunately, I haven't made a regular habit of backing up my sim card using this device; consequently its value remains questionable. Ah, ha! Another resolution for the new year!(That's resolution 10..1!)

The saga of the dishwasher delivery wasn't actually too painful after all. After a couple of well placed e-mails to the company's customer service department and one telephone call at 9.00am Monday morning the courier was able to contact me in advance of his arrival on my land line. I must be sure to give both numbers in future; it would have been so much simpler to do this in the first place, but hey, nevermind, eh?

Poor DG; my hero. His name was slightly sullied at nine thirty-five on Monday morning; when the courier rang. His estimated time of arrival was forty-five minutes later and DG had forgotten to pull out the dead dishwasher and disassemble its many and varied attatchments; plus it was full of water.

Luckily, the God's were on my side; given that I enjoy tinkering in the DIY department. This has much to do with my parenting and history of orthopaedic theatre nursing; the combined effect make for dynamic talent in everything and anything around the house. The plumbing was the least of my worries and what's more, the scullery floor got washed into the bargain, a minor inconvenience with a hidden advantage.

Draining salt sump proved somewhat trickier; resulting in the offending machine being turned upside down; yes, that's what I said - UPSIDE DOWN! The only injury was the thump on the forehead; incurred when the blessed thing catapaulted itself forwards from its position leaning backwards, balanced on its back legs, in order to drain the last of the fluid through the discarge pipe.

It's great being able to do all these things for yourself, even if two day's later you notice what looks like smeared newsprint all over your forhead! I shall be eternally grateful that Monday was one of my good days, otherwise it would have meant a trip to the local rubbish dump at the weekend to dispose of the dishwasher that DG forgot. All in all it was quite a successful day.

I am sure you can't wait to hear the rest of my misfortunes this week, however, patience is a virtue and I have cards to be making. I am following the advice of my friend Fly Lady and using my kitchen timer to help me make the most of what seems like the short time available to me, already I have reset it, I am now on round two of my computer time!

I must go now and emerge myself into the world of the mad crafter; in the garden shed ( that should read Craft Studio) at the back of the house. I set up a website for my friends wedding; so that she can keep abreast of any developements here, and let me know what she thinks.

Yesterday I was working on the wording for the invitations, today I have to go and look at the design aspect; it's a challenge that I am really enjoying. I'm looking forward to updating their website daily. Maybe one day, I'll let you all have a peek at it...