My Amaryllis has flowered

I love how an amaryllis grows so quickly and I love it even more when the large buds burst open to reveal the beautiful flowers. this year my flowers are white and delicately edged in pink.

Did you grow an amaryllis this year?

Vintage wallpaper discovered

I live in a croft on a Scottish Estate in Aberdeenshire, not sure how old the building is, but I have done some research and so far found out it is at least 151 years old. The part of the house that is my kitchen, originally wasn't even attached to the main part of the house, I think it was an outbuilding. There was also a lot more out buildings than we have now, with one of them being a Smithy's which was situated in the corner of our garden. I'm curious to find out more so will be doing some more research.

We've been having some problems with damp on the back wall of the croft, even though there is a path and a small retaining wall as the ground is higher than the building. The Estate have put in a field drain along the garden but it is debatable as to if this is working how it should. The joiner has also been and taken down the back walls to the bare stone and replaced them with plasterboard and insulation.... yay insulation.

The downstairs bedroom had old lath and plaster, which really was in need of being replaced. I found it interesting to see the bare stone walls, I wonder if this is how the first tenants saw the inside of the croft or did it have lath and plaster walls?

The other room to be done was my art/computer/dining room (which was recently decorated!). In this room the joiner found that it was plasterboard on the wall and shouted me through to see the old wallpaper that was on the wall underneath. This stone wall had been plastered straight onto the stone and then wallpapered. 

Here's a couple of close up images of the wallpaper. I wonder how old it is?  Who put it up?  Who lived in the croft at the time? The colours are quite bright, but faded in some places. I love it. The joiner (whose name is Steve) managed to peel a couple of bits off for me and I think I might frame them and hang them back on the wall after it's been decorated.

FACT: plasterboard didn't start to be used until the1930's, but this doesn't mean that the paper is earlier than the 1930's because things don't happen fast around here and the plasterboard might not have been put up till 1960's or 70's.

When I took the close up photos I noticed that there was another layer of paper starting to peel away from the pieces I had. I'm not liking the wallpaper as much, but I would love to know the answers to all my previous questions about this paper too.

We now have two rooms with lovely insulated plasterboard walls which can now get decorated. I'm especially pleased the bedroom is at last going to get done because once it's finished we'll have somewhere for visitors to stay.

I'm happy about my new walls and the Estate are going to be looking into where the water is coming from that causes the damp and how they are going to deal with it, so hopefully it is dealt with fairly soon.

If anyone has any idea about the date of the wallpaper please leave a comment and I am going to do some more research as I'd like to find out as much as I can about the croft.

Art Abandonment

I belong to a group called Art Abandonment, where artists from all over the world abandon art or something they have created for a lucky unsuspecting person to find. I have not abandoned anything for a while but last night I had the chance to abandon  2 of my digital art images in a local primary school. I placed them near 2 classes that are doing Space as a project. Children and teachers are on holiday at the moment, but teachers go back 2 days before the children. I wonder if a teacher will find them or a child when school starts again.

They have a label saying "Pick me up, Take me I'm yours, Hurry before someone else does" and also a label explaining what Art Abondonment is all about. There is also an email address if the finder wishes to send a message. To find out more pop over to Facebook, Art Abandonment and Art Abandonment UK.

Could Spring be on its way?

The snowdrops seem to think so, as they are all making an appearance.

Tutorials

From time to time I will add tutorials to this page for various crafts. I will be creating a video soon to show how easy it is to create a string of bunting from one of my Instant Download Bunting sheets in my shop.
To get this page started here is a video I created quite a while ago showing how to create a Never Ending Card

WOW! really cannot believe that it has been so long since I last blogged....

I have been busy though, I finished college last year and now have a HND in Visual Communication. I was offered a place at Abertay University to do a Degree, but unfortunately had to turn this down as I was moving back to Aberdeenshire. I am still hoping to gain my Degree somehow.

I'm loving living back in the countryside, but not loving the snow that we have at the moment. I have been busy designing papers that can be instantly downloaded from my shop, I have also added a few more instant download bunting designs. I have lots of ideas bouncing about in my head so there will be more being added to my shop soon. The latest  items to be added to my shop were Little Pastel Paper Packs, these are 12" x 12" papers which are ideal for digi scrapping, but can also be printed off on A4 paper to be used in scrapbooking, card making and other papercrafts. Pop over to my shop for a wee peek

I am aiming to be a better blogger and blog at least once a week, not always about my shop though, as I live in a beautiful part of Scotland and I love to take my camera out so be prepared for some photos of what I see when I'm out and about. Also the odd post about any other creative work I do, which can be graphic design, mixed media art, art journalling and cooking.

until the next blog entry.....bye for now :)

I've entered a competition....

... to design a Christmas Tea Towel for Pedlars. I love all the stuff in Pedlars so it would be great if I won as I would get £500 to spend on some lovely things. The winning design will also be made and sold by Pedlars. The winner also retains the copyright and will receive a percentage of all sales and a percentage to a charity of their choice. My charity would have to be the Meningitis Research Fondation, so I will be keeping my fingers crossed.

This is my design, if you like my design please vote for it here, just find my name click beside it then go to bottom of page and click vote.

Thanks in advance to anyone who votes for my design.

I'm getting better at this regular blogging, long may it last

Deborah :)

We have a winner......

.......the 200th sale has been made in my shop by Heidi Urshan.
Congratulations Heidi :)
Heidi had purchased some of my Vintage Jubilee Union Jack downloads to use for her daughters birthday party. So in keeping with the theme she decided to choose the Vintage Jubilee Union Jack ATC/ACEO background download as her freebie. I hope everyone has a brilliant time at the party. This was Heidi's first purchase from Etsy and she was very surprised to have won a FREEBIE.

I think I will have another FREE GIVEAWAY when my sales reach 300..... it feels good to surprise someone with a FREEBIE :) so as of today my sales are 202 so just 98 more sales till FREEBIE time again.

Thanks to all my customers and everyone who views the items in my shop and hits the Like button.

will blog again soon

GIVEAWAY

I've been a bad blogger again!...
I always seem so busy doing this and that I forget to find time to blog here :( I hadn't realised that its been so long.
I have updated my College blog with my college work and a little about some creative work I have done over the holidays, which you can find here. Back to college next week so that blog will be getting updated more regular again.

The main reason I decided to blog today is I have almost had 200 sales in my Etsy Shop, only 2 more sales to go. So I thought as a way to celebrate I would have a FREE GIVEAWAY for the 200th order.  The person who places the 200th order will be emailed and will be able to choose any Instant Download from my shop. So go on pop over to Ainjewelz you might be the one who gets your hands on a FREEBIE. 

I have also added a few new designs to my shop over the holidays, one of these being an Ice Lolly/Ice-Cream design paper pack and collage sheet

This is a page from my art journal created using the Harlequin papers I designed (which are available as a download from my shop) and the woman was painted using gesso, watercolour and fine liners.

bye for noo :)

I'm such a bad....

....blogger!

I can't believe it has been so long since I last blogged here. I'm still crafting and I still have my shop Crafting Ainjewelz on Etsy. I've been busy with college work and have 2 new blogs associated with that which are DeborahDey and my Art & Design Project which I have to complete by May 21st.  Submission days for all subjects are getting ever nearer, but the only one I worry about is 3D Modelling & Animation, this is not my kind of thing, but I'm sticking at it. I also have a new website called Pixel61 where I have my online portfolio.

A couple of weeks ago me, Buzz (dog) and James (sat nav) headed north for the weekend to see my pals and had a great relaxing time. I miss the hills, the forests, the fresh air and the slower pace of life. Didn't get many photos though as my batteries went flat. I did however manage to snap a few Highland coos before my batteries died on me. I love Highland coos :)

Hoping to have more time to craft and blog during the summer holidays and fit another trip up north in too. I must remember to charge my batteries and take my charger with me so I can get more photos!