Time for a challenge

Hi everyone! Well its that time of year again, Christmas is nearly here and shortly after it will be time for the dreaded New Years Resolutions... Eek! In the next couple of days I plan to write a post summing up how this years resolution of turning crafty as gone. The fact that I'm still blogging is a clue that it's gone well lol! I will definately be continuing with cardmaking, decoupage and basically anything else I want to try but I'm setting myself a new challenge for next year...

Over the last 8/9 months that I have been cardmaking I have collected a large stash of crafty bits. Although my stash is nowhere near as big as some peoples, my problem is that I don't have a craft room, just the corner of my bedroom (and to be honest, at the moment, half of my floor too!). As well as this, I've also decided that I must make my money go further next year, so here is my next challenge. I've decided to go all posh and declare it properly haha.

I, Hayley Usher declare that for the next year, commencing today 19.12.2011 I will limit myself to one craft shop visit per month, to one shop of my choice. After each visit I will blog what I have purchased and give my reason for buying it/them. I will make do with what is already in my stash and recycled materials (foil sweet wrappers, cardboard boxes, drinks cans etc) or things that I am given by others. I am doing this to make a dent in my crafty stash and to (hopefully) spend less of crafting materials/equipment.

So theres my declaration, now I just have to stick to it for a whole year! (What have I done...) Feel free to joing me if you are up for a challenge!

Hope everyone has a fabulous Christmas!
Hayley x

A change of plan...

Sorry it's been over a month since my last post, life took over a bit! In all honestly very little sewing has gone on but I have been doing a lot of thinking. Over the last 3/4 months I have established that:

*Sewing is a fun hobby
*Although I enjoy it I am completely useless at it
*I seriously lack the patience and time to do it
*I end up more stressed after sewing as opposed to before

And I guess the biggest realisation is that I am ok at refashioning but sewing clothes from scratch is really not for me. I will definitely continue to alter and refashion clothing now and again but I'm afraid the plans of sewing as a major pastime and making my own clothing have now flown out of the window. Might as well be realistic.

However all is not lost! Weirdly, when I tried to make a hot water bottle cover for my mam's birthday (and only succeeded in ripping a large hole in my old jumper that I was attempting to make it out of) I stumbled across a hobby that I enjoy, am relatively good at, find relaxing and therapeutic, can take as little or as much time as I like and most importantly, let's me unleash my creative/crafty side. Card making. See when my hot water bottle cover idea failed I decided to make a birthday card instead. Then I got a little hooked and made two mothers day cards (one for my mam, one for nanna) and yesterday I made three Easter cards/money wallets for my cousins that live down south. Pics will be up in the next couple of days. Tomorrow I plan to make a card to go with the money wallets so we can write in all of our recent news for my auntie and uncle to read (they always send a card with their news in too). Also in the pipeline are "Good Luck" cards for my friends who are taking their exams at college and uni very soon.

So basically I'm moving over from sewing to card making. I'll still blog here at Hayley goes Handmade, (card making is handmade after all), I'll still alter and refashion clothing and go thrifting but my main focus for now is cards. Sorry for the sudden change, if this isn't your kind of thing feel free to stop following. My New Years resolution was to try being crafty and creative and make things myself, I'm still doing that just from a different angle

Ok, long winded post over. I'll add pictures of the cards I've already made soon and let's see where this hobby takes me :D