Lovely Break

Morning (just!)

Mr C and I had a lovely break in Inverness.  We arrived on Monday late afternoon so did nothing much but chill and have dinner.  Tuesday saw us out and about all day.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous, we really were so lucky and couldn't have asked for better.  Unfortunately we were home again yesterday.  What a difference a day makes, the weather yesterday was horrendous on the journey home but was still OK in Inverness when we left.  Thankfully we were on the train so didn't have to worry about the weather.

Here are some photos I took while on our mini break.

outside our hotel on the first evening

oooh yummy, pork loin with mustard sauce and onion rings

statue of Faith, Hope & Charity just along from our hotel

the riverside

the "scenery" on the journey home!

I don't now if I'm going to manage to get anything made and posted today.  I'm just waiting for Mr C to come home from night shift then I'm off into town as I've a few things to get.  It all depends how successful I am as to how long I'll be in town!!!

Take care

Hugs

Anne xx

A Big Birthday

Hi Peeps!

Yesterday was my 'bus pass' birthday and what a wonderful day I had.  So many cards, birthday wishes and pressies I was overwhelmed.  In the evening 15 of us were out for a meal and we had a blast.  The food was delicious and the chat round the table great fun and we had a real laugh.  I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful family.

Hugs

Anne x

my granddaughter and me

my daughter and son

last but by no means least, my long suffering husband!

Shamballa

Hi! I've scheduled this post as I'm off to the hairdresser first thing this morning to get the grey covered before we head down south next week.  When I'm finished there my cousin's wife and I are heading to see my aunt.  Since she broke her other leg (thankfully I wasn't with her this time!) about 4 months ago she's definitely not so mobile and at 83 is beginning to get frail.  Having said that she's always game to get in the car and go somewhere and has even taken to a wheelchair if there's going to be too much walking involved.  I hope if I get to her age I've the same gung ho spirit as she has.

I don't have a card to show you today.  I spent last night making shamballa bracelets for my daughter and granddaughter.  The beads have been languishing in my craft room for ages but at last, after lots of nagging from my granddaughter, I've got round to making them.  I have to say they were easy to make and I'm quite pleased with the result ... could be some more made for Christmas pressies.

Enjoy your day whatever you're up to.

See you soon!

Anne x

Hellooooooo!

Wow, I can't believe that it's a month since I last blogged.  Lots has happened since then.  My daughter and granddaughter have moved into their new abode but it took two weeks of solid hard graft to get the flat into a livable state.  It was clean enough but the decor was ........ aaaaaah!  Thankfully my daughter was on holiday and we were at the flat every day from 9am till we couldn't bear it any longer. Suffice to say that all of the 8 doors had four coats of white paint on each side to cover the awful colour on them.  That was my first job and I never want to paint another door again!!!  Only the kitchen still has to be finished.  When we started stripping the paper off there were millions of layers.  I don't think any paper had ever been stripped in all the time the house has existed (about 100 years).  Once we got back to the wall it was up and down like the waves of the ocean so it's in the process of being replastered just now.  I have to say the carpets and decor she chose looks brilliant and you wouldn't realise it was the same place.

After they moved I'd another task to start - getting our house back to normal.  I've finally finished this morning and as Mr C is going to be asleep this afternoon I'm going to get into the craft room and see if I can stir up my mojo.

I have been keeping tabs on all my blogging friends but haven't had the time to comment.  I'm pretty busy next week with one thing and another and the following week we are away down south to our friends' golden wedding so after that I'm hoping to get completely back to normal (whatever normal is!)

Hugs to all 

Anne x

Baby Baby

Hi peeps!  Hope the weather's not too bad where you are.  I can't believe how much rain has fallen over the past few days.  Now that the children are off school it's typical summer holiday weather.  

I've had the afternoon to myself as Mr C has gone to get his hair cut, my daughter is working and my granddaughter is at her friend's house.  My BFFL asked if I would make a card for her daughter to give a friend who has just had a baby.  Normally my friend would come and we would craft together but unfortunately at the moment there just isn't room!  Hope you like it.

Hugs

Anne x

Elements :

Image - Pink Petticoat

Papers - Craft Creations

Letters - from the craft box

Sentiment - computer generated

Die - Madera by Memory Box

Pearls - The Hobby House

GJWTHF

Hi folks!  I've been AWOL recently, things are a bit hectic at home with one thing and another but today was a 'me' day with the Girls Just Want to Have Fun ladies.  I was so lucky that for their last ever workshop they decided to come to my home town of Perth.  I've had it booked since April and was so looking forward to it.

I can assure you, they didn't disappoint.  I had a brilliant day learning things I'd never tackled before and finding out just how simple it is once you're shown how.  A huge thank you goes to Kath, Debbi and Anne for their patience, hard work and brilliant instruction.

Mr C and I are off to Chester on Monday till Friday, fingers crossed for dry weather.  Hopefully after that I might get back to the craftroom and creating once again.

Hugs

Anne x

  

This was a fabulous project taught by Kath.  The stamps and inks were Tim Holtz along with other lovely glittery things provided by Kath.  It was quite easy to do, just a case of doing it in the right order!  I bought another two packs to make a couple of Christmas pressies, hopefully!

Debbi taught this project of altering a notebook.  The stamps were fabulous and were a mix of Hero Arts, Kanban and La Blanche. Again we got to play with Distress and Alcohol Inks - oh what a mess but great fun and I'm absolutely delighted with the result.  It really all came together in the end.

  

This was the last project I did and it was Anne who took this part of the workshop.  I'm not sure what you call this type of work but we started off with a polystyrene dummy and used a napkin and glue.  The end result looks like fabric - brilliant.  Lots of lovely stamps again and another brilliant finished product.

Gorgeous Day

Hi!  Sorry I've nothing crafty to share with you tonight but it's been the most gorgeous day here with temperatures reaching 23 degrees.  Instead of playing in the craftroom I went to Broughty Ferry with my friend while Mr C was playing golf with her husband.

We had a fabulous day browsing round all the little individual shops, so many beautiful things but all I bought was some knitting patterns.  We went into the art gallery where Timmy Mallet has an exhibition on at the moment.  As an entertainer I was never too keen on him but his paintings are awesome.  There were quite a few I could have taken home with me (but I spend too much on crafting!!!).  We had lunch and in the afternoon we went to the Italian ice cream shop and then had a walk along the sea front - we thought we were on our hols.  I took a couple of photos just to remind ourselves that we do have sunshine now and again.

Hope you've had a lovely day

Hugs 

Anne x

swans a-swimming on the River Tay with the pier where they launch the lifeboat in the background

the colour of this bush is astounding, if anyone knows the name of it can you pop it in the comments please

Phew ... it's all finished!

Hi peeps!  It's been a very long week but I have to report that the kitchen is officially finished and ready for action.    The MESS has been horrendous and I've still lots of tidying to do in the rest of the house but I'm so pleased to be nearly done and dusted and I don't need to get up at silly o'clock for the workmen coming!

Mr C and I are delighted with the finished product.  It's very difficult when you're in the shop trying to visualise how tiles, flooring, units and the rest will all go together but it's just as I had imagined.  We're going to have a bit of breathing space then the bathroom is next ... gluttons for punishment but there's not quite so much mess with the bathroom and at least we have two in the house so there's no problem.

Hope you're having a good weekend.

Hugs

Anne xx

 

The Transformation - Step 1

Wow, what a day it's been.  The kitchen has been ripped to bits and the transformation is beginning to take shape.

  

To keep my mind off THE MESS my friend and I went out for lunch then we spent the afternoon in the craftroom.  There wasn't much done in the way of crafting as we seemed to be talking rather a lot and putting the world to rights!  Oh, by the way, I STILL HATE MESS!

Hugs

Anne x

Back to almost the bare bones - check the trendy wallpaper in the left hand corner, I think it's coming back into fashion though.  It's a throwback from when we moved into the house and we covered it with units!

The start of the transformation, the carcasses for the bottom units are now built and that's the new flooring down. Wait till we see what happens tomorrow. 

kitchen - before

As promised I've taken some photos of our kitchen before the work started.  Until we got the new boiler put in it didn't look too bad considering it's over 20 years old.  We needed to rip up the lino for the workies to get to the hatch so they could get under the floorboards and we also had to take the doors off the cupboard next to the back door so they could put new pipework in.  Thankfully, the transformation has begun!

Hugs

Anne x

Daughter

Today is our Daughter's birthday - that makes me feel even older!  Hope she likes her card.  Sorry the photo is a bit squint, camera must have done a wobble!
Hugs
Anne

Elements :

Paper - from Pink Parfait collection by Forever Friends

Image & Sentiment - from Tulip collection by Docraft

Ribbon - stash

Flower - Prima

Punch - Half Daisy by Martha Stewart (I've chopped the lengths up and used it to edge the main image)

Die - Madera Corner by Memory Box

Andrew's Birthday

Elements :

Papers - from Maluka collection by Nathan Design

Image - from Newton CD

Sentiment - Lili of the Valley

Dies - Circles / Scalloped Circles by spellbinders

Granddaughter

Morning!  Firstly I'd like to say sorry that I've not been around commenting much these past few days but I've been busy getting ready for my holibobs.  We are off to Spain tomorrow so this will be my last 'live' post for 4 weeks.  We are really looking forward to catching up with all our friends there and hopefully getting some sunshine.

I had a day out to Stirling with my Aunt yesterday.  She enjoyed it and managed to get the things she was looking for.  Today I really HAVE to get the case out of the cupboard and get organised as Mr C doesn't finish work until midnight and we are off at 5am tomorrow. I have everything laid out on the spare bed so all I really have to do is pack.  I want to get the bed changed and do last minute dusting etc.  The budgie has to get cleaned out as it's going next door to its Aunty Ruby (our neighbour) and the dog is going to our daughter so that's the animals seen to, phew.

I hope all my blogging friends behave while I'm out of the country.  I'm taking my lappy with me but don't know if  or when I'll be able to connect so take care everyone and I'll be in touch soon.

Apart from all that it's our Granddaughter's birthday today and I'm trying to fathom out where the last 14 years have gone!!
Hugs
Anne

Challenges :

Birthday Sundaes - Birthday Card

Bunny Zoes Crafts - Celebration

Catered Crop - Ribbon

Craft Your Passion - Anything

Creative Mondays - Anything

Creative Inspiration Paint - Family

Ladybug - Pink & Girly

Elements :

Paper - from Tulip collection by Docraft

Image - Gorjuss

Ribbon - Stash

Felt Buttons - Stampin Up!

Sentiment - Craft Creations

Dies - Locina Buckle (which I've cut in half) by Memory Box

Pearls - The Hobby House

Wood, Wood and More Wood

I just had to share this piccie with you.  When we had the last 'big wind' there were several trees toppled in my son and DIL's garden.  As they have two woodburning fires in their house, nothing daunted, they went out and bought a chain saw and all the gear so they could make used of the felled trees.  

This is just the spoils from one of the trees, there's another 3 to go.  I think there's enough wood there to keep the home fires burning for a while!

Hugs

Anne

Samples

Morning all!  Sorry I've not been blogging the last couple of days but I've been busy with other things.  I don't have a card today but I do have 3 samples I've made for a Golden Wedding.  Friends of ours are celebrating later this year and I was asked if I'd make the invitations.  I'm going to get them ready to go in the post on Monday as they live in the south of England.  Which one do you like best?  Let's see if it matches the one our friends choose!

My granddaughter got on fine at the dentist.  Her teeth came out no problem and she had a small filling done too.  She doesn't need to go back for 6 months and hopefully by that time her teeth will have evened themselves out a bit otherwise it's railtracks.  She doesn't mind that though as it would seem it's COOL to have them these days!

I'm just going to put my coat on and go to meet my daughter.  It's ages since we did lunch and had a proper catch up.  Hope you all have a lovely day. 

Anne

Sample 1

Sample 2

Sample 3

Happy 50th

This card is for my cousin who is the youngest of my generation in our family.  Oooh, we must all be getting old!!!  He is a great cyclist so thought this was appropriate.

Elements :

DP - from Purdy collection by Nitwits

Image & Sentiment - Beyond the Fringe

Dewdrops - Crafty Feeling

Colouring Medium - Promarkers

BP70 - Cleared for Take Off

I've made this card for a friend of ours who is having a very special birthday and is addicted to model aeroplanes.

Elements:

DP / Image / Sentiments - TLCCreations

Punch - Scallop Dots by Martha Stewart

Faux Brads - Card Candi by Craftwork Cards

Cololuring Medium - Promarkers

Summer Time with My Granddaughter

Here are a selection of photos we took during our holidays.

YORK

railway museum

  

Betty's Tearoom

   

Caitlin at 'Appy Feet'

The Minster

Castle Museum

Jorvik Viking Centre

ROYAL YACHT BRITANNIA, Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh

The Bridge

    

The Queen & Duke's Bedrooms

  

The Drawing Room with the Baby Grand

  

one of the Bunk Rooms and the Laundry

  

Rolls Royce Phanton V which travelled on board and the operating theatre in Sick Bay

SENSATIONS, Dundee

  

  

a selection of the scary dinosaurs that used to roam our land - glad I wasn't here then!!!