Bright Red Poppies

 Well it's a beautiful sunny morning in our little corner of the world, but still on the chilly side! Roll on summer! I've been out for a quick check round the garden - accompanied by the Beastie Dog of course, who was trying to hoover up any stray bird food! I swear that one day she'll start to grow feathers.

I've been trying to sort personal admin a bit this morning - always a nightmare. I'm not sure why I've got endless patience with any craft or crochet project, but trying to deal with companies/organisations, endless passwords, etc., can drive me potty.  And the irony is that I work as an administrator - but personal and bank admin is a different beast completely! 

Anyway, I'm hoping for a little bit of therapeutic crafting time over the next day or so. 

I'm not sure how it happened (haha!) but the beautiful 'Poppy Garden' stamp set from Altenew sort of fell into my online shopping basket. Well, there's got to be some benefits from working, hasn't there?  I've been playing with watercolours and copics, trying different ways to colour these stunning flower stamps.

This one is coloured with copics and I think it works quite well. I'm not usually one for dramatic colours, but gorgeous red poppies are beautiful

And this was a work in progress with the watercolours, and softer pastel shades. I'm hoping to make this up into a card today

I'd better go and get some more jobs done before I escape to my craft room for a while. I can't believe that my Easter break from school is nearly over and we're back on Monday - how come holiday periods and weekends always speed by so much faster than work days?

Back soon,

Kim x

Just to say

 It's so nice to have some spring sunshine. Yesterday and today have felt so good, and it's just the simple but joyful pleasure of being able to sit outside with a mug of tea! And our daughter Lauren's baby is due in just over 3 weeks, so I'm keeping everything crossed that we can visit them as soon as the little one arrives. It's been so difficult missing the pregnancy with her (they live over 200 miles away), and photos and video chats can only help so much! Let's hope for a more positive spring for all of us - it's been a very long, difficult winter!

I've been busy finishing off all those little jobs that get left 'till later' when I'm busy at work, so it feels nice to tick some boxes that I've done them! I've been finishing off some design team samples for Hunkydory (that have just been collected!),  and some happy post arrived yesterday with some stunning stamps and embossing folders made by Altenew.  Of course, I had to have a little play with one of the small flower stamps (that comes with it's own die) - it's so cute, and perfect for adding to a quick card

The sentiment die is from Hunkydory and the banner die is a Sue Wilson one. 

The flower stamp has been coloured with copics and pencils. The backing paper is from Hunkydory.

So just a quick card, but I think it's quite cute! 

I'm off to get some cards ready for an order - and it's lovely to have the time to play in the craft space (although if the spring sunshine continues, the gardening and dog walking may take priority place!)

Back soon,

Kim x

A very long absence

 Well, I'm not sure whether anyone is still out there, but I realised with something of a shock, that it has been SO long since I updated my little corner of Blogland.  Mind you, so many months, but in some ways, we're still in the same position! Nearly a year after the start of the first complete lockdown, we're still in a another lockdown now. It's been a long and difficult time for so many, but still plodding on in our little corner.  But I've also realised that I quite miss adding posts to my little Blog, and it's been like a little diary for me for quite a number of years now - and, looking back, I have found that 'Tilly's Crafts' turned 9 years old last week! 9 years! How did that happen?!*!

However, I'm still crafting and I know many people are either continuing with their crafting or many are new to the joys of making. It's been a saviour for me in stressful times, with chance to focus on something and 'escape' for a while.

One of the new things that I've been trying recently is 'no line' watercolouring and I'm getting very addicted!  I love colouring with the watercolour paints - it's very soothing and relaxing. I treated myself to a Winsor & Newton cotman watercolour half pan set, and it's been great fun playing with the colours and mixing shades. 

The stamps are from Altenew and this set is 'Beautiful Peonies', masked and stamped with Distress Ink 'antique linen' 

My main problem, as always, is finding enough time to do all the crafting things I want to do! When you're still working (especially when it's as busy as it seems to be at the moment!), there never seems to be enough time (or energy) to work on all the projects I'd like to. 

I'm not sure how many are still out there in Blogland but I'm going to try and spend a bit of time exploring. But my Instagram is updated pretty regularly so if you're interested, you can always find me on there (the link is on the side bar!)

Back soon,

Kim x