What a weekend !

Craft retreats ! Love 'em - Love going to them and love running them and this one was no exception.

Usually its a September retreat but the dates available were not suitable so I picked August bank holiday - slap bang in the middle of my leave for 3 nights which was fabulous - staying over an extra night did feel extra indulgent I must say !

So what did we do.

Well we shopped, crafted, talked, shopped, ate, laughed, crafted, put the world to rights, sorted out problems in each others lives, hugged, shared, ate, crafted, shopped a bit more, hugged a lot more, made Christmas cards and an advent calendar, scrapbooked, altered, ate, shopped, facebooked, slept (only a little), shared a bit more, ate a bit more, slept a bit, laughed, sang, painted, coloured, glittered, and fund raised the list is endless.

On the first night we were treated to some homemade gifts from the lovely Julia and Anne.

 We all received this beautiful keyring/ handbag charm - and whats more the girls had also made ones for the girls who could not make it this time ! How thoughtful and very clever!

 We all received a lovely fridge magnet too. including Andy the Chef ! Beautiful!

 The girls made some fabulous bunting for us to use at future weekends too - i just love it. 

My lovely pal Liz made this.  I could have cried - I nearly did - Its beautiful - all handmade, painted and glazed. It commemorates our lovely tea party on Sunday. I am thrilled we made £122 for Breast Cancer Care and would like to say a big thanks to our retreaters, Pam Miller , Glynis Parfitt and Jill Tuck for their generous donations, 

I didnt take photos but lots of the girls did so as soon as they share them with me I will show you our fun time.

Our next retreat is booked for 14th-16th March. How fabulous to do it all over again x

Thanks for stopping by. I am still working on the followers problem so please bear with me xx

Janet x 

Flying solo...........

Yep - my first craft retreat run on my lonesome - not that this is really true as my lovely friends Emma and Andrew are also supporting me this weekend.  We have such lovely folks attending our retreats it really is like a little holiday even for me !

This weekend we are playing with Christmas on Saturday and on Sunday are having an afternoon tea party in aid of Breast Cancer care.

I have been baking for the weekend today and made these delicious biscuits after a facebook friend reminded me how lovely the are to bake.

Seeing them here - they look a little like lines of boobs!

The tester one was delish!

I am mostly packed with just a few bits to do in the morning. Can't wait!

I can finally share some very exciting news.  My eldest son Tom has been accepted on a PHd studentship programme.  This has been his aim since leaving University with his first degree and we are so proud that he has steadily worked through his Masters and first year of work.  The heavy workload of a PHd has not daunted him one bit and he will begin in Leeds at the end of September. Reaching for the stars - I am so so proud of him as the road has not been an easy one.

Hope I remember to take lots of pictures to share with you after the weekend.

Until then have fun crafting and thanks for stopping by xx

Janet

My first crafty post here for Creative Moments

Firstly - Hi - thanks for stopping by here at my brand new blog - aptly named My Cluttered Corner.

All my crafty makes will be here in future so if you like what you see then please join my followers list.

At Creative Moments this week we had a colour inspiration challege - which so happened to work very well with my tea party invitation for my crafty buddies to come along and raise some money for Breast Cancer care.

This was a birthday purchase stamp - a beautiful one made by Crafty Individuals - I am also making my daughters 18th birthday invites using the stamp as we have decided on an afternoon tea party to celebrate her coming of age.

Stop by Creative Moments and see what eveyone has been up to, the inspiration photo and how to play along.

So my first crafty post is a cheat!

 Or it depends how you look at it.  I do like my crafty creations to be all my own work but with a baby card to make and this cute Mo Manning topper available - i cheated ! I do actually have this stamp which is beautiful and I love colouring her in - but this is bigger and perfect for this 8x8 card.

The lace is some I have had for years - i bought it for babies bonnets when our Megs was small but it went perfectly around the circle giving it a wispy frame.

So I cheated - but am still happy with the result.  Its been posted off to its recipient so I hope she likes it xx

I have a 2 week break from work and have very much enjoyed going back in the craft room for day long crafty sessions. I have been asked to do a few projects for a magazine which wont be out until November so I cannot share them but I can say its Christmassy which I absolutely love.  I did get a little carried away and made 6 projects instead of just 3 but they can choose which they like best to use that way.

This coming weekend is my first lone retreat which I am thrilled is full.  Its a do your own thing retreat but I do have a Christmas workshop planned for Saturday which is optional.  The big event is on Sunday when I am hosting an afternoon tea party. I am thrilled folks have joined in with this and am looking forward to doing the whole "sipping tea with your pinky finger out". I will try to take lots of pictures - though I am usually rubbish at remembering !

Whilst I think on - I will mention here that I run a crafty page on facebook called Skipton Craft club.  Initially a place for the crafters who come to the sessions I run to meet and chat inbetween classes - its now Countrywide as we have crafters from all over joining in.

We have a monthly challenge, which I choose and the winner is picked at random and wins a prize. this month the challenge is to go POSH !

As crafters in the group are not just papercrafters I try to pick a theme that will span many crafts.  We do have lots of fun and some serious crafty questions are asked and debated and answered by the many experienced crafters on there.  If you fancy joining in then please do look us up and request to join.

Well best be off - got a new printer to set up - Yippee ! and an advent calendar to prepare.

thanks for stopping by today 

Janet

xxx

My Header is here.

The header is what I see in front of me each day I craft. You may notice a familiar theme amongst the bits and bobs on my shelves. I do love all things British - The Union Flag fills me with pride.  I am very Patriotic and I am also a Royalist.

The bits and pieces here have been collected over the last 15 months or so when we were all flying the flag for the Jubillee and the Olympics and Para - Olympics.

I love the pale blue tins and was cross I only bought 2 - they were from M&S and at the moment are filled with lace one with white the other cream. They also happen to fit 12 distress inks nicely inside - perfect for travelling !

In the shelf above is another fab tin find from our local Market here in Skipton and was filled with fudge.  Thankfully Megs took the fudge with her to the cinema with friends or I would have scoffed the lot!

You will also see a triptic ATC on that top middle shelf. thats a few years old now and was made by the talented Katy Harrison who works at my local Samuel Taylors shop at Embsay - i love those quirky basic grey characters and its still makes me smile.

To the left are a variety of  tins, charity shop finds and also the dish was a gift from my Mum, the piggy bank from my sister and on the bottom shelff the zentangled bird was made by my lovely friend Liz.

Behind the bird are a few reels of ribbon - they are everywhere in my raft room I am surprised I can find any at all !

At the left side is a Kelly Rae wall art block - given to me by another friend Jacci, who also bought the Fortnam and Mason tea tin and the coasters in a tin.

Just behind the tea tin is my Jubilee flag book - a class I taught last May which was such fun. Yes 2012 was such a memorable year !

Back to the top left shelf and the cute snoopy tin was given to me by my Snoopy loving friend Liz who zentangled the bird.

I only got my own craft room last year - up to then I shared a room with my Mum - but I didnt just become cluttered - it was definately inherited! Mum has as much stuff as I do so we outgrew the shared space. When my eldest son left to do his Masters it was the perfect opportunity to spread into the box room that had been his. So thats where I am now. One day if I tidy a little I may walk you round my cluttered space !

Thanks for stopping by.  Its my 47th birthday tomorrow so I am visiting friends and celebrating with family.

Back with some creations soon x

Take care and thanks for stopping by.

Janet

Starting at the very beginning...............

One wonders at the wisdom of starting a new blog and stripping right back to the beginning but I fancied a change.  I also wanted a new name and a new look to go with it and I thought well if anyone wants to follow me on a new journey they may well just come along over to the new place too.

This year has seen massive changes in my life.

Change on the whole is good - I embrace it and feel empowered by it but only if I decide on change if you know what I mean. Having change forced upon you can be scary.

For the 3 years prior to April I was part of a business partnership. On the whole it was a happy partnership with a long standing friend. I was totally committed to it despite family and job commitments - I gave it my all. When the cracks began to appear I tried to soldier on - put my head down and worked that bit harder but there does come a time when enough is enough and when cracks get wider the inevitable happens and someone falls - or jumps as in my case.

Leaving something I had worked hard for was very hard - but for my sanity and for my family I had to do it.

Leaving the friendship was harder still,entangled with hurt its taken 3 months to turn myself around - to feel positive, trust my own instincts and decide the new path.  Starting again is part of my wider plan leaving the old behind and striding on with the new.

I have had the support of all my family and many many crafty friends as I went through the grieving for what had to be - their love, support and friendship upheld me whilst I healed and have given me strength whilst a plan began to form. The odd kick up the backside has also been a necessary part of moving on so thanks to the few that did that too!

I am blessed, I feel strong and there is no better time to grow than right now.

Today I was given this book by a very dear friend.

I wonder if she knew how many times the last few days my finger had hovered over the start a new blog button.  It felt like an omen.

I plan to read and digest it and build my future blog around the ideas it gives me.

Little by little I will add to this space until it feels like home.

I hope to share my creativity, my hopes and dreams, my highs and lows, there will be Christmas when I feel like it (which be warned my be January), possibly mindless drival as I blog late at night but I hope to begin again with strength, new ideas and a new sense of purpose.

Finally I will explain the name - My Cluttered Corner -

Quite simply each corner of my home is cluttered - we are a family of collectors.

My hubby collects music and clarinets and saxaphones - I kid you not !

My eldest son collects books - you know the library from My fair Lady ? I think we could fill it !

My middle son has moved out and taken his collection of guitars, amps, pedals and music with him.

My daughter is an artist so collects rt materials currently cluttering the dining room.

And me well - I am a stamp collector of course - not the postage kind but the ink and rubber kind. My tiny craft room is bursting at the seams and I love each little piece in it. 

Soon I will show you my new header - a picture that faces me each day I craft - my cluttered shelves.

that my friends is why I chose the name.

Hope to be back soon with some crafting.

If you think you would like to follow me I would love you to join me on this new and exciting chapter of my life post 46 years years !

Until next time

Happy Crafting x

Janet