Attack of the Time Vampires

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook!  I haven't been crafting as much recently as I would like and I've been trying to work out why that should be. I've come to the conclusion that it's down to an attack of the Time Vamps! What are Time Vamps? Time Vamps are those things you do when you think oh I've got a spare five minutes I think I'll go.... (FILL IN THE BLANK) and you suddenly realise it's now dark outside, the cat/kids/husband are about to eat each other and your bum's gone numb because you haven't moved in 3 hours. As I'm typing this I have two tabs open at the top of the page, my email account and Facebook and if you are anything like me these two are probably the two biggest time vamps that are guzzling up your precious time.I don't know about you, but I'm OBSESSED with checking my email and Facebook accounts. I can spend hours on Facebook checking on the groups I follow and reading every single little update on my friends and family's timelines. It's one of the reasons I've avoided joining for so many years, in a way I'm quite lucky because I have to make a conscious effort to get onto Facebook and my email accounts (and Twitter, Pintrest and even this blog!) because I don't have a tablet, smartphone or whatever gadgets most people use. Facebook has even spawned little time vamps - online games and quizzes. My sister keeps inviting me to play them but I know if I do I'll never come off Facebook, I practically needed to go into rehab over computer Solitaire (luckily Chris's PC doesn't have any games stored apart from Football Manager and I'd have to be extremely bored to play that!)

If you too are under attack from Time Vamps, don't panic there are ways to deal with them without having to forsake Facebook or the internet. The first thing I've found valuable is to work out what's important to me (goals, spending time with my husband etc, etc) one of the things I value most is the Bible Study I do every day, I haven't really mentioned my faith on this blog but it's something I find a great deal of comfort in and spending 15 minutes reading a set Bible study sets me up for the rest of the day.  I know that if I do other things first (apart from the usual just woken up activities - like COFFEE!!!) I'll put it off and end up forgetting about it so once I've made a cup of black coffee I settle somewhere quiet and read my Bible. So my first tip for slaying those pesky Time Vamps is to do what's the most important thing for you first if that's workable. Obviously if your personal goal is to spend some romantic time with your partner it isn't really something you should concentrate on first thing in the morning - unless of course your one of those revoltingly cheerful morning people - but instead of automatically reaching for your iPad or phone the minute you're fully awake go and do something a bit more meaningful like getting back into bed to give your other half a cuddle or whatever. I'm not a complete Luddite and I realise that keeping in touch in the viral world is part of life, but I'm suggesting that it shouldn't become the whole of your life. My second suggestion involves one of those gadgets everyone is so fond of - your mobile! Most phones have a timer function (I actually had one without and I hated it!) and a stopwatch, I would suggest that the next time you're online just killing time you stop a moment to set your stopwatch going - you may well be shocked at how much time you actually spend online. This brings me to the second part of my suggestion, if you're as shocked to realise how much time you've wasted as I was the first time I used my stopwatch, start using the timer function on your phone to limit your online surfing. If I know I have something I really need to be doing instead then I set my timer to go off in 20 minutes and as much as possible I stick to it (I say my goodbyes first of course!) then I go do something a bit more important even if it's just the washing up - it may be a chore but not doing it has consequences (no clean cups!). If I'm honest I use this principal to tackle the housework, I have a lot of lower back pain and find that 20 minutes of standing/cleaning is about my limit so I clean for 20 minutes then go read some of my book for 20 minutes. I'm always amazed about how much cleaning I can get done in such a short length of time. I think one of the reasons we're susceptible to Time Vamps is we underestimate how much time we spend on pleasurable activities (Facebook, reading, crafting) and over estimate how long an unpleasant activity will take. Doing both pleasant and unpleasant activities in 20 minute bouts means you manage to get both things done and if you don't finish them in the first 20 minutes after the switch you can carry on for another 20 minutes until the task is completed. None of what I'm writing is new of course, Time Vamps is just another name for PROCRASTINATION and there are hundreds of self help books out there but I've hope I've given you a few ideas and the next time you reach for your phone it'll be to activate your timer and not to go on Facebook ;).

I hope you've enjoyed my penny's worth of advice - if you love or indeed hate this post please leave a comment in the usual places so I'll know whether similar posts will be appreciated or if this should be the last one! Until the next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

P.S. this post does not in any way mean I dislike Facebook or any similar means of social media - I love 'em!

Entry#1 for Passion for ProMarkers week 277 Mega Christmas Challenge

DIE CUT, FREE, GLITTER

Entry#1 for Passion for ProMarkers Mega Christmas Challenge

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you are all enjoying the first weekend of 2015, I'm in the middle of a huge re-organisation of my living  room and my "Crudy" after purchasing a much bigger than I thought sideboard/dresser from one of the local second hand shops using some of the Christmas money I was given by very generous relatives! The unit is 5 ft 4 " long and almost 6 ft high, my husband would love for me to get rid of some rather outdated 70's units but I rather like them so they're staying lol. Instead I'm hoping to replace a desk I've had since I was about 12 (plus a cupboard) with a rather battered but still functional black sideboard in my crudy and put the "new" oak sideboard in it's place in the living room. It means I'm going to be rather busy for quite a while emptying the black sideboard of around 800 books and various other stuff (can't really remember what's in the cupboards apart from a rather pretty coffee service), moving the sideboard out of the way and replacing it with the two halves of the new sideboard then putting everything away so Chris doesn't trip over the boxes and bags. Then I'll have to repeat the whole process in the crudy (probably even more stuff in there than the living room - I'm a craft hoarder!) To make things even more 'interesting' I'd really like to have everything sorted by Wednesday 7th Jan '15 as it's my mum's birthday and I've invited her over for a meal.

 Unfortunately I'm rather a Procrastinating Princess and I've already got distracted today making the above card for the Passion for ProMarkers blog challenge. I wasn't actually planning on entering but I've still got loads of diamond fold accordion blanks just crying out to be decorated and I treated myself to some Crafter's Companion "Scruffy Little Cat" stamps when they were in the sales (they still may be on sale so check out the Crafter's Companion Website). I've coveted these stamps for months now ever since they appeared on "Create and Craft" tv channel. I couldn't afford them at the time but I'm really glad I waited as they were only a couple of pounds each and stamp beautifully. I decided to use the Die Cuts, FREE, Glitter, choice of the craft bingo card (pearls were my FREE item). I hope the judges are ok with my interpretation of Glitter as I haven't actually used loose glitter just glitter card and glitter glue. For some extra sparkle I added black wink of stella to the main image's eyelashes, silver WOS to the bath fittings and clear WOS to the powder puff and over the eye shadow. The main image was stamped using Black Tuxedo ink and coloured in using ProMarkers. As always I apologise for the photo's quality, it doesn't do justice to the glitter card in the slightest. Below are some more photos including close ups of the ProMarker colouring.

Closed card ready for DL sized envelope

Close up of Image coloured with ProMarkers

With Added Red Glitter Hearts

I hope you've enjoyed this card share, as always if you have any comments or questions I'd love to hear from you so please leave them in the space below. I'm off to do a bit of packing and I think I hear the siren call of the crudy so I may have to do a bit of crafting too (I have to make a card for my mum!) so until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxxx

P.S. I've just had to delete then re-submit my link on Passion for ProMarkers Mega Christmas Challenge because I'd somehow managed to link my draft version of this post instead of my actual blog post - D'oh! Sorry for any confusion caused. Sarah xxx

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Merry Christmas Eve crafty peeps (not too merry though - who wants to spend Christmas Day nursing a hangover??) - welcome to my crafty nook!

It's just turned 5 am as I'm writing this and I've already been up for 2 and a half hours after my passive aggressive cat Jinx yowled in my ear until I got up to feed him! I'm hoping this is not an indicator of the day to come lol. I'm sat here drinking my new favourite drink - Tesco Finest Chai Tea and it's like Christmas in a mug. The perfect thing to both wake me up and put me in a festive mood. I'll keep this entry brief (ish) as I've a to do list as long as my arm but I wanted to wish a wonderful Christmas/Festive Holiday to all my wonderful readers, old and new.

Sarah's To-Do List

Wash coat - I accidentally egged myself at Icelands (who puts a carton of broken eggs back on the top shelf in a shop anyway???)

Poke ham joint to see if it's defrosted yet.

Soak ham once it's defrosted.

Do all those niggling household tasks you've been putting off for the past three months (dusting, tidying, vacuuming, ironing etc, etc)

Cry when you realise it's not humanly possible to do three months worth of housework (and the ironing!!) in one day.

Start praying that you will metamorphoses into Domestic Goddess, Martha Stewart, an obsessive compulsive cleaner or similar.

Mutter resentfully when prayers are not answered even though it's totally one's own fault that you'd rather craft then clean (rather do anything than clean truth be told - ooh look some paint is drying!)*

Start tackling the housework in 20 minute segments (20 mins clean, 10 mins resting with cup of Chai and a book, repeat until completed)

Have nagging feeling you'e forgotten something - I know I'd like some olives for Boxing Day - send Chris to Tescos on the bus while I stay and clean, perhaps?

Is the card I still need to make Gramps?

CRACKERS!!! OMG I have 6 crackers to make for tomorrow and I don't have any jokes, snaps or hats to put inside.

Google cracker jokes.

Make crackers and take tissue paper, gluestick and scissors with you so people can make their own paper hats - it'll be "fun". Stamp out BANG on the outside of each cracker.

Go to In-laws for delicious Christmas ham late afternoon.

Wait for Santa to bring you lots of crafty goodies.

ENJOY!


Whatever Christmas brings you, I hope you enjoy yourself and have a wonderful time - until next time - happy crafting!

Love and crafty Christmas hugs,

Sarah xxx

* I hope no-one is offended by my jokey Christmas To-Do List. Neither praying or OCD are laughing matters but I hope people will read this with a light heart and with the same intention as it was written.