I like making things: The 'new to me' stamps and health update

Sunday, April 2, 2023

The 'new to me' stamps and health update

The stamps I ordered from ebay arrived Thursday. The seller was very prompt in sending them out. I didn't get chance to try them until Saturday as Friday was busy with going to the hospital and picking up groceries. By the time I had put them all away I was done for the day.

They are Stampin' Up brand from the 2001/2 but are in excellent condition. Even with postage costs they worked out at around a dollar each. I am still determined to conquer stamping. Sometimes being a stubborn old biddy is a bit of a pain. I wanted to try the rubber stamps on wood blocks to see how they compared to the silicone ones that you use an acrylic block with. The wooden blocks are much taller and indented for your fingers to grip, a lot easier than the acrylic ones. The images are on par with the silicone ones but I really like the patterns on these wooden ones a lot.

Anyway, I got out one of my good ink pads and tried them all.

The ones I circled were not good prints. Two of the stamps didn't seem to print fully. I wondered if perhaps I needed to re-ink my inkpad so I did and tried those two again and got excellent prints. Another lesson learned, make sure the ink pads have plenty of ink!

As you can see below the ones I did after the inking came out perfectly.

I am not willing to stamp directly onto cards yet as you only get one go at it and if it is wrong you have to discard the card. I will use them on envelopes though as they will be great for Christmas and other occasions. Envelopes are not so important so a mistake won't matter as much and I do so like a pretty envelope.

Health wise, things are not so bad. The scare turned out to be benign thankfully after all the tests, MRI's and CT scans etc. but I do have some issues with my back and a compression fracture that is getting worse. They are going to try physical therapy and if that doesn't help they want me to consider surgery. After neck surgery and two knee replacements I can tell you I am not in any hurry to go back under the knife. Time will tell I guess. Oh, and I am officially diabetic. Have been pre diabetic for a while but it finally caught up with me and I am now on Metformin. I can tell you that those pills sure make you 'windy'. Nuff said lol.

And on that not so pleasant note I bid you a fond farewell to next time........

No comments:

Glad you stopped by

I started this blog in 2011: Ever since my Mum taught me to knit at the age of about six or seven I have made things. Back then it was doll clothes. I was also inspired by Mrs Levitt an elderly lady who had a sewing room in a conservatory type room on the back of her house. I would sit and watch her in awe as she sewed.

When I was a child living in England the school system was such that you started at 5 years, did two years in Infant School, then four years in Primary School then five to seven years in Secondary School, depending on whether you chose to stay on after fifth form to get qualifications to go to University. I can't remember much of the Infant school other than making the standard square doily thingy from fabric that had holes in it so you could embroider patterns into it. A bit like the modern day cross stitch fabric but with bigger holes and spaces to make it easy for small hands to use. I also remember with great joy getting a toy sewing machine one Christmas which sewed only chain stitch but I did make doll clothes on it and that was before I started Primary school. I do have very vivid recollections of Primary school and having sewing and knitting lessons. In Primary school I knitted gloves and made a dress from scratch hand sewing it all.

Secondary school continued on with sewing by which time I had progressed to using full sized sewing machines and was making more intricate skirts and dresses. My parents bought me a proper sewing machine when I was thirteen. I used that same machine right up until I emigrated to Canada at age forty six years.

I have always had a fascination for sewing machines and knitting machines. I bought my first knitting machine at around age twenty one from an ad in a newspaper for twelve pounds. I had absolutely no idea what one was just that I wanted one. I trundled on the bus to the address in the advert and handed over my twelve pounds having absolutely no idea what I had really bought. Fortunately it came with a manual. It was an aged Knitmaster, very basic and I loved it. I wore it out. Next was a Brother push button one which I didn't keep because it was at a time in my life when things were difficult. Later on in my life, around forty, when things were better I bought a brand new Brother punchard machine with a ribber attachment. I loved it and made many things. Life took a different turn, I moved countries twice and along the way, regrettably I sold it.

Now, through the universe's blessing I now have another machine. It is a vintage one because they stopped making them early 90's but works perfectly and I love it. So I decided to make this blog to document my knitting progress and include sewing projects.

In 2013: we embarked on a new hobby, leather-work. My husband got started with it and it drew me in. It is something we can do together. We have a workshop so have plenty of room to work. We added another workbench for me to work on in 2013. We already had one but we were tripping over each other both trying to work at it. We only make things we want to make. It is strictly a hobby. We made some things for our good neighbours who help us out a lot. I am also working on Christmas presents. So this blog now incorporates the leather-work. Knitting and sewing will always be my first love though.

Fast forward to 2023 and now age almost 75 years. I have seven sewing machines, four knitting machines, several ribber attachments and a garter carriage for one of the machines. I am blessed beyond words, but I know that I have more than enough machines to keep me going in my lifetime so I don’t think I will be adding to my collection any time soon……….unless a nice embroidery machine manifests itself very cheaply.

I am a Brit living in the USA, sometimes I spell like a Brit and sometimes like an American. Sometimes I use slang and even make grammatical errors. I blog for the pleasure of it and to record my endeavours in the event that my memory fades, as I am sure it will with more age. I will be able to look back and remind myself of the things I have made along the way. So please forgive my mistakes when reading about my life making things here in the hinterlands and I hope you get as much enjoyment from my blog as I do from reading the blogs I follow.

Pages

Sunday, April 2, 2023

The 'new to me' stamps and health update

No comments:

Post a Comment