It has been a busy week. It’s not good if you’re too busy to enjoy your craftiness or blog about other people’s amazing talents. The week ahead looks less busy which means I can indulge in knitting my new (secret) project.

However, while I cannot blog about that I can blog about other crafty techniques that I am turning my hand at. While procrastinating over some work last week, I noticed a tweet from Nikki McWilliams. It was advertising screen printed images that she’d done. I was very interested so took a quick peek at the image. I loved the kettle image & immediately popped over to her Folksy page & ordered my very own copy. I received it the next day and was bowled over to have received the number 1 of 30! I am most impressed with the promptness of service but also with the beauty of the screen printing. It is really amazing. I think that the fact that it is of something so simple & everyday like a kettle makes it even more lovely. It is on the wall next to my desk so I can see it all the time. Thanks Nikki!

It has also inspired me to have a go at painting. While I may not be an expert in painting, I did attend lessons for beginners in watercolour & thoroughly enjoyed it. One of my most recent purchases from Comma shop in Oxford was a stencil kit. I’ve been thinking of ways to improve my card making & thought using stencils would be a great way of doing this. Armed with my stencils & some paint, I had a go.

I am super chuffed with the results. These might be very simple & crammed onto one page, but I really like the slightly raised effect that stenciling gives. I will definitely be using stencils on my next batch of cards.