Eleven

Today I’ve been blogging for eleven years - and I’m not quite sure where the time has gone.

As you’ll know this space has changed name in the past year, but I’m still keeping my original starting date as my ‘blog birthday’ as that’s when it all started for me back in 2013. I’m sure lots of things have changed since then too, more than I can probably remember!

But as part of my blog birthday tradition, I thought I’d give it a go - so here’s eleven things that have changed for me since I started blogging:

  1. Where I blog: I started off using a free Blogger blog with one of the inbuilt templates. I soon outgrew the inbuilt template though, and learnt enough html to make changes to its look and feel and feel a bit more like the Life at 139a home that I changed from back in the summer. I relatively quickly decided to move away from the Blogger platform, and to move to my own url, which I did with Squarespace. Then last summer following our house move I updated that url to the one I’m using today, so quite a journey.

  2. Where I live: that’s the other big change you’ll know about already. After growing up and living in London we’ve escaped to the country. We left our house of twenty one years - 139a - and moved to Nottinghamshire. I’ve still plenty to share about our new house, and our move!

  3. Where I work: again a big change, as I am no longer working having taken early retirement in 2022. But even before that I left my job of nearly thirty years in the City in 2014 taking some time out before working locally in Greenwich for six years.

  4. My name! While I was working I continued to use my maiden name, but used my married name for non-work related things. That was the plan anyway, and quite often I’d forget which led to MOH regularly asking what name I was using that day! Since I’m no longer working I’m using my married name more and more, though it’s still taking some getting used to - even after sixteen years of marriage (seventeen this year) I feel I’m always surprised when I answer to my married name in the doctors!

  5. What I blog about: one of the reasons for starting my blog was to share updates on the work to update our house in London, once that completed though I still found plenty to share especially visits to gardens and our own garden, again starting with the work we undertook shaping the grass and then to monthly updates. It’s almost as if it’s come a full circle now though, with a new house and plenty of projects to come.

  6. Getting my craft on: back in 2013 I was a lapsed crafter having tried many crafts over the years. Life was busy and there was little time to craft back then, but now crafting is a much bigger part of time and more regularly, especially as I’ve now got a dedicated space for crafting - so different to having my craft materials across several rooms of the house (though MOH might legitimately comment that that hasn’t really changed!)

  7. Blogging: it’s changed quite a lot, or perhaps I don’t have the same time or energy for blogging groups, blogging circles or blogging events - though I suspect the latter may have been scuppered initially by Covid, and then more recently by reduced budgets. However, I think that’s ok, things move on. Quite a few bloggers I got to know back in those early days have stopped writing their blog, but it’s great to still keep up with many of them. I do a lot less brand work and when I do I’m even more choosy than I was before!

  8. How I use my social channels: this also relates to how blogging has changed, but also to how social media has also changed. I now rarely use X and my blog’s Facebook page has lapsed (even though I renamed it back in the summer) and I share fewer and fewer of my blog posts on my social channels. Where I previously resisted using Instagram stories, these are probably now the social channel I use the most - I think that also reflects how life, and how we use technology has also changed.

  9. PoCoLo, the weekly linky I co-host: I started to co-host the linky back in 2016, and since 2019 I’ve co-hosted PoCoLo with Suzanne from Chicken Ruby. The linky itself has changed as we no longer include the Blogger Showcase element, as quite honestly we didn’t have people wanting to share information this way. As I said, things change but there is still a community of people who join in each week, and we both love to host each week.

    Ermm… now I’m struggling.

    Clearly so many things in the world around us have changed and I’d need a much longer list to cover off those. So instead I’m finishing my list with three things that haven’t changed quite so much, if at all.

  10. Clearly MOH has been here all along, and I’m grateful for that obviously - though occasionally he still finds things out when people we know in real life ask him about posts on my blog. He really should read here more often, but he’s not much of one for things online!

  11. And you, I’m grateful for everyone that reads my blog - whether you dip in every now and again, or more regularly. It really wouldn’t be the same place without you!

Thank you for being here, and for being part of my online space and community.

8 cards bringing warmth on dull winter days

When I received the cards in my most recent card subscription box from the CardBoys I thought they were from a spring box and I’d missed a box somewhere along the way, as I was pretty sure the last set had arrived in autumn. And they had, but actually it’s no bad thing that the February box has a spring-like feel as I think it’s something we all need after what seems a long, wet and windy winter, which I’m sure isn’t over just yet however nice it is to see the days starting to extend slowly but surely again.

As ever I have mixed feelings about these cards, as I can’t wait to use them but also don’t want to use them either as I want to keep them all too! Keeping them all isn’t an option though, and having a stash of cards in the house is really handy, especially now that we’re a lot more rural than we were in London.

ARTIST: MARYAM AH

The cards in this box evoke warmth with their colours and decor, and that’s much needed on those dull days. Even though the sun has been out, and it’s oh so good to feel its warmth, it’s still pretty chilly isn’t it? Earlier this week I finally took down my winter wreath and while I’d timed it well avoiding the rain, I still needed a sweatshirt on as I stood at the bins pulling as much of the greenery out as I could, recycling it in our brown/garden bin.

ARTIST: LUCY NICHOLSON

I don’t think there’s a card which didn’t make me smile in this box, though I think I’ll have to choose the recipient of the card above carefully - as a thank you card it works, perhaps not so much as a birthday card or note.

And don’t you just want to climb those stairs in the card below, hopefully a thirst quenching drink would be waiting for us at the top.

ARTIST: LAURA PAGE

ARTIST: MELISSA DONNE

There’s a few artists in this collection that have a couple of cards, and it’s easy to spot these through their style and the colours they’ve used isn’t it?

ARTIST: LAURA PAGE

It’s amazing how a piece of art - as let’s face it, these are mini works of art - can influence your feelings, from the calming coffee scene above to the tumbling rainbow person below.

ARTIST: LUCY NICHOLSON

ARTIST: ABI EVERETT

My favourite card this month probably isn’t a surprise - but it’s the daisies below, it just something that speaks to me, so this is one that I’ll probably be hanging onto for a while, until the perfect opportunity to share arises.

ARTIST: ABI EVERETT

This box really was a box of warmth, which arrived in the post box. I can’t wait for spring-proper to arrive!

Gelli printing using stencils and shapes

In my first post on Getting started with Gelli Plate Printing I shared the basic equipment needed and my first prints using single and two colours, here I’m going to share how using stencils and masks can bring even more texture and interest. These bring another dimension to the prints, and endless possibilities.

I already have a number of stencils, which I’m keen to try out in this new craft that’s quickly becoming one I can’t see stopping anytime soon. I’ve purchased my own gelli plate and brayer online as this is a craft that has so much potential, and is fun to do and thankfully isn’t that messy either (which is always a bonus).

Using stencils

The possibilities are endless, as are the colour combinations. It’s also easy to get two prints from the same stencil and paint application, as long as you work relatively quickly and don’t let the paint dry. I chose to use a thin plastic reusable stencil with a flowery pattern. The first two images below show the first and second prints using a single paint application, and how they differ; the third image shows a final feint print to remove the paint that remained on the gelli plate.

The third print using the residue of the paint on the gelli plate produces a very pale and ghost-like print

In some ways the second print is my favourite, but I know that all of them will be useful - and used - in my future papercraft crafts.

I also tried an alphabet and number stencil. I didn’t reverse this as partly this was a test of the process, but also it’s not text that needs to be read, however if that wasn’t the case the stencil will need to be reversed to avoid the mirror effect. Again I pulled two prints from a single paint application, and the softer second print is definitely my favourite of the two.

Using a number and lettering stencil with orange paint on a yellow background
The second print using the letter/number stencil on an orange and pink background

Using masks

Another technique that we tried on the course was cutting out shapes to mask areas. I cut simple blob-like circles and leaf type shapes for this. I liked the results of this less than the stencils above, but I think my choice of shapes and colours also contributed to that.

Unlike using stencils the second pull using the same paint application didn’t really add anything, the outline shape was too feint to keep. But all was not lost as the beauty of gelli plate printing is that you can reuse prints that don’t quite work out.

Using other items

This is where your imagination can run riot. In the image below the hearts are made from a squished toilet roll - and I think they work pretty well. On the right hand side of the hearts I used a plastic glue spreader to make swirls in the paint (care: do this gently to avoid damaging the gelli plate), I think this has potential and it’s something I want to try again but perhaps with more advance thought on what shapes to try.

I also want to try using bubble wrap, scrunched up foil and paper and especially leaves. I don’t know how successful these will be, but half the fun will be experimenting. I’m sure there are many more things I can try - perhaps some lace too - and many that I haven’t thought of yet, but are no doubt lurking in my craft room somewhere!

The worst that can happen is that I’ll end up with textured papers that I can use in collages and in card making. How can that be a bad thing?