About Blackbutterfly Cards



I started making cards for pleasure in 2007, and quickly found my home was becoming swamped by cards everywhere. I decided to put some of them up for sale on a webpage in an effort to recoup some of the costs of my hobby. I called the webpage Blackbutterfly Handcrafted Cards, and it can be found at http://www.blackbutterfly2007.co.uk/

I try to take my cards to a couple of table sales or craft fairs a year, but make my cards mainly for friends and family. I would love the website sales to take off, as I nowhere near cover the costs involved in this all absorbing hobby, but for me the main thing is the pleasure I have in making my cards.
Recently I have decided to expand my blog to cover my other interests too. It's a sort of substitute for going to work and chatting to people, as due to ill health I was unable to work, and since the beginning of 2014 I am officially a pensioner.
Although I'll still show my cards, I'll also be covering my other interests and how I attempt to make ends meet day by day.

In fact anything that crosses my mind will be on here, so be prepared for waffle and a wasted five minutes as you read.
Make coffee and settle in, why don't you?




Saturday, January 19, 2013

Dull & Dreary...

...The weather that is!......we had a smattering of snow last night and today it's just wet, grey, cold & miserable. It's been too dark indoors to make a card, even with the light on. So much for my intention to make one a day. Tch!......so I have more decisions to make, do I just miss a day, or make two cards tomorrow?

Anyway, I do have a Valentines card and a general greetings card to show off from the last couple of days.  Here is the Valentines card...

It's quite a simple design, and I used one of my cutting dies for the heart, and added some gems to it.  The sentiment was computer printed direct onto the card, and could be changed to whatever was wanted. The paper was from a pad by Henbury Lane I believe. This card could be made in any colour including white on white, and would be equally suitable for Anniversaries and Weddings.

Yesterday I made a General greetings card using a stamp I've had for a while, but not used yet......I have quite a few of these, and I'm going to try to get around to using them all in the next few weeks.

 This sweet little girl is from Lili of the Valley. The colours aren't showing very well, I'm afraid. She is actually coloured in lilac, NOT grey!
 I used a Sakura stardust pen on the centre of the flowers, and it just gives a slight purple sparkle. The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed also in purple.



It's been so cold here today, I went out to the kitchen to make some soup and my fingers got so red raw and achy preparing the veggies, I was almost in tears with the pain. I've been keeping a check on the cost of heating this flat, and it's been costing between £6 & £7 a DAY and the flat is still cold. 

My daughter has been staying in bed with a hot water bottle and playing on her computer, apart from that we just have a halogen heater in the lounge. We dare not put the storage heaters on at all. 
The dog and the cat are both snuggled up on the settee as tightly curled as they can, and I'm thinking of crocheting a dog coat for him to go out in.
Anyway here's a quick picture of the soup, it's simmering now, and when the vegetables are all cooked I'll blitz it smooth! There should be enough for a couple of days anyway.


My daughter doesn't really like soup if she knows what's in it...( I know, pernickitty!) ... and unfortunately she came out into the kitchen while I was preparing it, so has decided she doesn't want any......we'll see!  
I made it to use up some veggies that we have that are past their best. I have an organic vegetable box delivered, and some of the veg wasn't being used and it's far too expensive to waste anything, so I've made this soup. I used some chicken stock cubes, a couple of carrots, 2 leeks, 2 onions, 1 small Turnip, a couple of cloves of garlic, 1 grated Celeriac, 1 Butternut squash and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Salt & pepper to taste of course and because it's so cold, and I was thinking 'warmth', I added 1 level tsp of sweet chilli sauce.......should be interesting eh?

I'll let you know tomorrow how it turns out.

Could everyone please keep their fingers crossed for us, we have had a reply from someone who may want to complete our three way house exchange on Homeswappers

I would love to get our housing sorted by March if possible, so I can get my vegetable garden planted in time for this year.

Updates on that if  they happen too.  
Bye for now

5 comments:

  1. Just couldn't leave your blog without remarking on your beautiful valentines card. Absolutely stunning. I've no idea how you could possibly make that delicate heart.

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    1. Thanks for your comment, it's lovely when someone likes what you've made, and takes the time to say so. The heart is made using a Memory box die, and I find their dies are lovely to use.
      I'm sorry I haven't replied sooner, but the housing problem and ill health,(plus the cold), has meant that once more the blog has suffered. I feel awful about abandoning it, but I can't make cards in the cold, so I just seem to spend my days trying to keep warm. Roll on summer, it seems to have been grey for so long!

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  2. Beautiful cards! I have a question for you about house swapping. I'd like to house swap in 2014 and I live in the USA. I don't know of anyone who has done this but this would be the only way I could come to the UK. Thanks
    judyk2310@yahoo.com

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  3. Hiya Judy

    The house swapping I mentioned is for tenants of Housing Associations and Local Authority housing in this country. I am sure I read somewhere about people exchanging private properties between countries, but I don't know anything about it personally. It could be something to search on the internet, as someone is bound to come up with some information at some point.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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