Handmade Monday 154

Hello!  It's Handmade Monday time again - come and join us!

This week has been particularly hectic.  My elderly parents moved house and hadn't packed a single box (unsurprising, as both have problems with their memory).  You can only imagine the chaos when the removal men turned up two hours earlier than planned!  They were fabulous though, and despite the mayhem, nothing was too much trouble for them. I would highly recommend Kitson's Transport if you live locally to their base in Atherton.

other family members took them to lunch 

and for coffee while we moved and sorted

(in the complex where they now live)

Mum and Dad's new apartment is now cosy and settled, but there is still much confusion in their minds.  Dad in particular is confused about absolutely everything and has wandered off twice already.  Each time he has been found within the building, so that's good (and he is now well known to the care team who are on site 24/7).  My sister and I still have a lot of work to do settling both of them and familiarising them with everything so we've established a twice-a-day visiting rota between us for now.

They have started using their medication organiser pockets.  Up to now, it's working well - but they are having more support than usual at the moment.

In other news, issue 34 of Craftseller popped through my letterbox.  I love that they published a letter from reader Terrianne George who made a cushion inspired by my seaside vanity case in issue 25.  I love seeing how other people have been inspired by my designs!

The seaside vanity case which inspired Terrianne's cushion was one of my favourite projects, and has pride of place in my sewing room now (below):

I also made the cards in the current issue, a project which shows off their free papers.  These cards had a Mother's Day theme.

I think that's enough from me for now.  What have you been making?

Meet the Design Team: Lynne

Friday is currently my day for getting together with one of the Handmade Harbour design team for a chat - today's interview is with Lynne, who blogs at Scrapbook Lynne and has a new Etsy shop too.  Lynne's enthusiasm is truly inspiring and infectious.  Join me and find out more...

Who are you? Whereabouts in the world are you based?  What's good (and not so good) about your little corner of the world?

Hello!  My name is Lynne Mizera and I am a 51 years-young retired Grandma living my dream life with my husband Dean and our small dog Emma on our little piece of heaven  - four beautiful acres snug up against the Rocky Mountains in Water Valley, Alberta, Canada. 

Lynne's home in the winter

Anyone who has met me will tell you I am LOUD, Passionate and LOVE Life!  I love Food in ALL its forms (eating it, cooking it and serving it to people) and I LOVE to Laugh!  

Lynne

Although I am a city girl (born in Montreal) I LOVE living in the country.I have travelled all over this beautiful world of ours and this rocky mountain paradise of ours can compete with the BEST this world has to offer with its crisp, clean air, sunshine almost every day of the year and incredible views where the prairies meet the mountains… I wake up every morning and stand on my back deck with my hot cup of coffee to watch the sun rise over the ridge and Pinch myself!  OK… It IS Canada… there IS snow here for at least six months of the year… (grin) but that TOO can be beautiful… AND I have a wood-burning fireplace as well as a furnace!  Oh yeah… and COWBOYS!  There are horses, cows and COWBOYS all around me …. Grin!

Lynne's home in the summer

When and why did you start cardmaking?  What (or who) got you started?

Well no one person really got me started, I have been creative all my life – it’s just IN ME!  When I was nine I sat down and free hand embroidered a spider on a web – just because I needed to (smile). But I discovered the paper arts one day in 2002 when I was cruising my local, small-town craft store and I saw a display of paper, scissors and glue dots – the REST is history!  Scrapbooking is my first passion, but I began making cards to use up some of my leftover scraps and discovered that cardmaking is just scrapping on an itty-bitty canvas that I can GIVE AWAY!!! Now I just USE MY STUFF anyway I feel like – creating backgrounds for photos and sayings.  And lately I seem to put paint and paper on EVERYTHING!

card using a Handmade Harbour's beach huts digi stamp

What do you enjoy most about designing and making a card?

My favorite part of card making is that I get to give it away!  I see cards as mini canvases that allow me to create something special for a specific person or event that makes them want to keep it FOREVER!   One of the greatest compliments I have ever received was discovering that my Mother-in-Law uses all the Christmas cards I have made her over the years to decorate her winter home! 

What do you love about digital stamps?

I LOVE digital stamps because they are so versatile AND because they take up NO ROOM in my studio! (grin) I can size them for whatever project I am working on and  I can mix and match and layer them so easily!  I love that I can print as many images as I want at one time using my ink-jet printer and if I heat-set the ink I can color the images using ANYTHING – from Copic markers to watercolor paints to chalks, crayons, pencils, gel pens, inks etc., etc.  My process is always the same… I print at least three of the same image and color them all at the same time.  I have found that for me this takes the pressure off and I don’t worry about “getting it right” the first time.  When I am finished I have lots of images to play with and I usually end up creating more than one card or creating a multi-dimensional card where I cut out and “pop” key pieces of the digital image.

mixed media canvas

How many cards do you make in an average week?

Now THAT is a hard question to answer!  Since I was fortunate enough to be able to retire from office work two years ago I am now living my dream life and I spend a part of every single day creating something in my studio!  I try and finish at least one or two projects per week and I usually have a shoebox full of cards for every occasion.  This year I began offering my cards for sale in a small, local gift shop in Water Valley and they have been FLYING out of the store!  As well as cards and scrapbooking layouts/mini albums, I also have been making tooled leather journal covers and bracelets with empowering sayings on them and small, mixed-media canvases.

Where do you do your crafting?  Do you have a dedicated craft room or do you take over the kitchen table?
I am fortunate enough to have a dedicated space for my crafting that was created for me by my very handy husband for my 42^nd birthday.  

Lynne's studio

Well, to be honest he was tired of eating on the couch because the table and counters were COVERED two feet deep in STUFF (grin).  He turned an un-usable area at the base of our basement stairs into the most awesome of studios, and I now have about 30 feet of counter space, AMAZING storage above and below AND the cutest little desk under the stairs.  And although I don’t have any natural light my electrician hubby has lit me up so well I don’t even notice.

art desk under the stairs

Do you ever sell the cards you make? If so, where?

YES!  As well as offering my stuff at the local shop in Water Valley, Alberta I have also JUST opened up a tiny Esty shop and I Would LOVE if you came to visit!!!

owls

Do you do other forms of craft too?  If so, what?  
Well, as well as all that stuff I referred to in the previous question I also do stained glass mosaics… covering clay plant pots, tables, old trays – my bathroom wall - and just about anything else in bits of stained glass. Right now I am working with some old farm windows – using translucent glue so the light will shine through when you hang them in your window.  I’ll let you know how it goes!

Who are your favorite craft bloggers?

Now THAT is almost impossible to answer (grin) - because I have so many and there is so much talent out there - it is constantly changing… but if you are interested in seeing who I am following right now… please stop by my BLOG!  I Love my Blog and I share EVERYTHING on my blog!  www.scrapbooklynne.blogspot.ca

Finally, have you got a favourite Handmade Harbour image?

ONE?! Just ONE favorite!!  Well How about One Category?!  I especially LOVE LOVE LOVE working with all the by the sea images … although I live right next to the mountains my heart resides by the sea and those Handmade Harbour seaside digital stamps just make me quiver!!!   I cannot find words BIG ENOUGH to express just how excited I am to have discovered Handmade Harbour digital stamps and how eager I am to start playing with these images - I feel like the creative energy is just bursting out of me!

fishing boats on the beach digital stamp

Thanks so much for this little peek into your life and creativity, Lynne.  I love the idea of cards being mini-canvases - a little work of art that people will keep and treasure.  And your home looks stunning.  I'm not sure I could cope with snow for six months of the year (it's lovely but a few weeks of it is more than enough for me!) but that cosy studio looks like it more than makes up for wintry temperatures outside!!

A Creative Mess = Happiness!

In the struggle to earn a living (and the focus on where you want to be) it's easy to forget the really good things that are happening right now.

Yesterday was one of those days where I felt really, really happy to be doing what I'm doing.  I was making a mess with glue and fabric and beachy imagery and I just thought I can't believe someone is actually paying me to do this!

I was popping a picture together as I went, on the side of a vintage vanity case...

using fabric and scissors

and messy splodges of glue...

when the doorbell went and I was handed a parcel of fabric (and yummy orange buttons - wow, look at them!)  from the very lovely Abakhan. 

Just as I was thinking it couldn't get any better, it had done.  Not only was I suddenly reminded of another very summery project (for which this fabric is earmarked) but I sliced off a couple of small pieces of that lovely blue and white stripe to use on my beach hut...

can you spot the blue and white stripe?

This project made me realise how lucky I am be creative, to be able to work on a project where my own designs are central (and beachy and blue...) and it underlined for me some of the directions I really want to be going in. It made me realise there is very definitely not just one direction for me.

So it was a hugely successful project on more than one level!

I love the finished case too.  It may actually be my favourite project to date.  I can't show you the whole finished item (it will be in issue 25 of Craftseller) but here are a couple of sneaky peek close ups...

Here's hoping your creative endeavours bring some happiness (and/or revelations!) your way today too.

Handmade Monday 109

Welcome to Handmade Monday!  Just a quick reminder for everyone: please only leave one link to your blog per week, please visit and comment on some of the other blogs if you can, and please link only to blogs (not shops or Facebook accounts).  More info here.

This week, I've been concentrating on drawing.  I've finally discovered the versatility of Promarkers - I had heard people getting all enthusiastic about these but I hadn't realised how good they were to use.  My daughter has done some gorgeous cute cat illustrations using them and it opened my eyes to the potential of marker pens.  So I had a go...

I love the colours

I'm also working on my line drawings for digital stamps - I expect to be able to have a few of these ready for download in the next few weeks.  I'm trying to make life easier for myself and work on A4 paper so it's easy to scan!

I obviously have a bit of a thing for shed shapes!

There was also good news on the sewing/design front - remember the sofa clock?

sofa clock

They're using it again in another magazine so are paying me again for it.  How lovely!  It isn't as much as the initial fee (it isn't very much at all, actually!) but it does feel rather nice to have a surprise payment for something I've already been paid for once!

So, what have you been doing this week?  As usual, please...

Handmade Monday 73

Welcome to another Handmade Monday.

This week I've played with beach huts

and owls

but nothing is quite finished yet

so I'm afraid you'll need to wait a little while longer for any ta-dah moments.

At the risk of attracting guffaws of laughter, I remain hopeful that summer will happen in the UK sometime soon (what was that someone said? 2016? Nooo....!!) so I'm stubbornly keeping with the summer themes for now.

So, while the persistent rain, clouds, low temperatures and winds do their best to break our spirit (and much more, in some cases) I'll hand this week's Handmade Monday to you.  Enjoy it!

Just a quick reminder - there aren't many rules:

• link back to Handmade Harbour somewhere within your actual blog post
• visit and comment on at least a few of the other participants' blogs
• only link once per week
• join in with blogs only (not shops) - although it's ok to link to your shop from your blog post