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?




Monday, December 30, 2013

New Year Cards

I made a couple of cards for my neighbours who were kind enough to unexpectedly send me Christmas cards.
 I made no cards at all for Christmas this year,  or at least, to be honest I started to, but realising that postage costs were out of sight for us I gave up. Those I DID make will be up on the website eventually. Anyway, not wishing to be on bad terms with my neighbours I've made New Years Cards for them. I realised how out of practice I was in making cards when I started out, skills were rusty as was my inspiration!  I made two identical cards, and it took me nearly all day!

Anyway, although  I'm not completely happy with them, at least I made the effort. 10/10 for trying, as my teacher used to say. I thought I'd share my attempt with you, as some news is better than no news.



It blowing a gale here today and its pouring with rain. It's just after 1.30 in the afternoon, and we have had to put the lights on. Shocking waste of electricity but I couldn't see to type, and my daughter is trying to read. 
 There's a house round the corner to us that has lost all of its side fence, concrete posts and gravel boards included. All I've had blown over so far are the cut down milk bottles, waiting for me to plant them up with strawberries. They are in a heap in the far corner by the shed, so I'll just gather them up when the weather improves.Thankfully this garden seems to be fairly well protected.
The cat has just been howling to come in, I TOLD her she wouldn't like it out there, but she'd rather go out than utilise the litter tray. Something I'm actually quite grateful for to be honest. The dog has settled on a duvet on the settee to get warm and sleep, and my daughter has tucked him up in a blanket.......sad, but he seems very content with the whole situation. Silly animal!
This is definitely a day for staying in doors and doing crafty things, which for me today will be my cross stitch. 

I hope it's nicer weather where you are.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Farewell 2013......thank goodness

I am looking forward to the end of 2013 with huge anticipation. Although several good things  DID happen last year, overall I felt that I had  reached the culmination of the worst 4 years of my life. There was a really bad time when I just couldn't see anyway forward. I am just waiting now to draw a deep black line under the last year and start over.
However, I have been in our new house now for approximately 6 months, and I can feel my "black dog" receding a little everyday. Not everything in my life is rosy by any means, and due to several problems within my children's lives, I are more strapped for cash than I have ever been, to the point of having to go begging to the Essential Living Fund for food and heating money about a month before Xmas. But even then, I could only be grateful for this lovely little house................and the peace and tranquility I enjoy here.  We had a home made tree this year, courtesy of my ex husband. I asked him if he had any wire coat hangers he didn't want, (which he didn't,) but when he went into town a couple of days later he bought a pack from Wilkinsons, and wouldn't let me pay for them, so ......I made a tree out of coat hangers!


I have been looking ahead to 2014 and making plans. 
First Job : I am going to try to sell my large settee corner unit as it is way too big for this house. Good sense says I actually need a 2 seater settee, with a higher seat to aid my arthritic back and knees, and also something with legs so I don't have to move something heavy and cumbersome, to clean up the dog and cat hair that collects under the one we have now!
 If I can get a good enough price for the corner unit, I should be able to find a second hand replacement, AND hopefully, with enough left over to buy some wood for some raised vegetable beds in the garden,

 That's the second job this year:   I have to be able to grow some vegetables. Surplus to be frozen for winter, with luck. The cost of everything is going up, and I'd also like to plant some fruit bushes and espalier trees along the fence as well. When money gets tight, the first thing I cut back on is expensive fruit. So I'll grow my own.

Number 3 on my list of things to attempt this year is decorating this house and getting it straight, room by room. This has been put on hold up until now, as my son's belongings crowd every every available space, and furniture fills the shed. Hopefully he can find work, and also get rehoused himself, so my daughter and I can have our home back. I actually have the paint as I was given a decorating allowance when I moved in, but I am only just feeling well enough to tackle the job. Slowly, slowly will get it done and I'll take pictures as I go. I managed to get my craft shelving built just before Xmas, so with luck I can get back into that again this year.

Last but not least, I need to lose weight and get my Diabetes seriously under control.  I have been neglecting my health abysmally, so taking my medication and checking my blood sugar levels properly has to be on the agenda.

I really had let my whole world cave in around me whilst living in the hell that was my previous flat. Until I started thinking things through the other day, I really hadn't been conscious of how low I had got.  Scary when I look back! I had a phone call from a friend  a couple of days before Christmas, and she said I should go round to hers for a meal after New Year. I shocked both of us by agreeing immediately LOL.......that hasn't happened for at least a couple of years.

I've made quite enough decisions about 2014, and I'm hoping I continue to improve so I can sort out everything. I'm not going to set myself 'time targets' as I'm sure I'll still be having good spells and bad spells. I'm just going to do the best I can without putting myself under stress. I will update this blog, as and when I can, and with a little encouragement, the posts will get more and more frequent. I'd  LIKE to get my life back ha ha ha!

Wishing you all a really great 2014, and I'll speak to you again soon.