Boom, bangabang...

There is a thunderstorm going on outside, not very spectacular.   It was a VERY loud thunderclap that woke me up on Wednesday morning.  I damn nearly shot out of bed.  It is a bit cooler here, so more bearable. 

I've not been doing much crafting, just far too hot to be stuck by a craft desk, especially one that is right in the sun.  But yesterday I felt inspired,  that was after a trip to a craft shop, mainly to buy some material which I hoped I could use to cover the door on the bedside cupboard.  Didn't get any material, but did get some lovely decoupage paper,  well think decopatch, the thin tissue like stuff.  To my delight the shop also had some Clarity stamps!   I was chuffed, they only had the sentiments, but that suited me just fine as I rather like Barbara's choice of verses.  It was very hard to choose just one, which is all I could afford :-(  But I settled for this one.

I used it as the central piece for one of the large wooden hearts.   I forgot to take a pic of the reverse side,  which has the decoupage paper on it. The front has been decorated with a piece of white embossed card,  some die cuts, all from the Tattered Lace range,  and the sentiment, which was stamped onto a piece of card.  It is hard to make out on this pic, but on the one above you can see the fancy corner, which I did with my new corner punch. It is very dinky.   I embossed the die cuts with cosmic shimmer, and used an embossing tool to round the leaves. It came out much better than I thought it would. 

Before settling on the plain white embossing, I played around. On this one I used cosmic shimmer over the dry embossing.   It gave it a very rich look and did match the decoupage paper I was using. 

Then I had a go at inking the folder,  and was very happy with this result, well except for one bit that sort of got missed out!   I guess I could ink round the edges so all is not lost.  

It was a nice afternoon,  just messing and creating.  My cutting got better!    I also enjoyed watching Hels demonstrating the melt pot,  she makes such beautiful things. I popped over to her blog and may have a go at the latest challenge,  I've been thinking about doing something to do with 'time' which is the theme.   Everyone else seems to be focusing on Christmas,  oh please, it is July, and far too hot to start thinking of Robins and snow. My Christmas stash will stay firmly stored until at least September. 

And finally - a card! I don't often make these nowadays, so it was actually quite nice.  It is for a friend's birthday,  was a bit stuck for ideas, then the Owl stamp kind of fell out of the box, and the yellow paper was at the top of the pile.   So it all made for a nice, bright, sunny card.  I even managed to find my inserts! 

It's been another up and down week,  with Thursday definitely a downer.   That's when I have my counselling session, and this weeks was painful.  I didn't have a good day, but the next day I did feel a little better.  The counsellor gave me instructions 'not to dwell' on things.  It is a bad habit of mine, and one I am trying to break.  Yesterday my plan was to get out,  I have to make a plan for every day and stick to it, well try to!  So off I went to a different craft shop,  then did a spot of much needed food shopping.  I'd been cheered up by seeing my neighbour,  he had a major stroke 8 weeks ago and it didn't look good,  so it was great to see him back home and making progress.  I hoped for a quiet afternoon, sadly our new neighbour had other ideas,  his family descended and went into our communal garden area,  and started drinking.  Well sun and drink don't go together,  they got louder and louder,   one of them did keep telling the others to keep the noise down.  Finally they went inside,  and of course the long session of drinking ended up predictably, with an argument, and nearly a fight.  Charming.  People can be so selfish, they didn't seem to care about anyone else.  He seems a nice enough chap,  usually quiet,  so yesterday was a bit of a surprise.  I should say it was the younger ones who were making the noise and started the arguments. 

Tomorrow I'm off to do some Zen tangling at the craft shop,  Liz, the manager, is holding a class and I got an invite.  Should be a nice way to spend a morning. I've already had a practice, I haven't got any of the pens, but I have got a couple of very fine pens which Liz said would do fine.  My counsellor was bemused when I told her that I was doing Zen tangling,  I told her it was constructive doodling with Zen!

I hope you are all coping with this heat,  the sun is lovely,  having a proper summer is fantastic, just wish it was a tad cooler.   Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely week.

And summer goes on!

Another sunny day,  it is so nice to say that after all the wash outs we've had in recent years.   It's also nice to get the washing hung out,  but I did feel like murdering the builder who was using some grinder and making a racket!    I've been having a treats day,  chocolate, cold melon (great way to keep cool) and a very nice dinner.  Not moved very far either,  just didn't feel like it.  Had a rubbish day yesterday at the craft desk, everything I touched went wrong.  So today I cleared the head and thought about what I wanted to do.   I've always fancied doing a tryptych, a 3 panel picture.  So I had 3 canvases...

And this mask,  next it was a question of what do with the mask,and were to put it, on the canvas.  I went diagonal,  on the two end pieces and straigh across on the middle canvas.  Next I have to decided on colour,  no idea yet, or what will go on them, but I have an odd feeling that it will be my new purchase...   Well it isn't my fault if Tattered Lace keep coming up with adorable dies!   I only caught the POD by chance,  then I fell in love with the flowers,  and they somehow fell into a 'basket'...  hey ho.  Well I do have my tax cheque,  and some of that was designated for a treat.    The masks were not a treat, I had a voucher for them.

I do find it funny how us crafters drift into different things.  Once I wouldn't have  used masks,  now I can't be without them.  It is the same with the stamps, powders, modelling paste. 

This is the other mask, which I love, already used it a few times, as you can see.  I've still not use my new bird stamp, so that may be incorporated into the new work.   Though I'm not sure how much crafting will go on in the next few days as the golf starts tomorrow.  I never used to like it,  but now I find it fascinating. 

These are the 3 canvases, a rather boring picture as they are still drying, but hopefully they will be a bit more colourful and interesting by the weekend.  Wondef if CnC can get my dies to me by then?  

I'm still watching the owlets at the Heligan wildlife centre.  They are really getting big, the older one is now getting its feathers so it looks a bit odd, but they are just so funny to watch.  They often catch sight of a fly,  and then they seem to be surprised to see the other owlet,  but they also cuddle up together, so cute.   You can find them here: http://www.heliganwild.com/webcams
but be warned it is addictive viewing!

All for now, enjoy the rest of this sunny week.

What a scorcher!

Today, thankfully, it is a bit cooler here.  Thursday I could have done with it being less hot as I had a nasty tummy bug,  luckily it seemed to be a 24 hour thing.   But with it being so hot there hasn't been a whole lot of crafting going on!   Well I guess I could count the bedside cupboard as a craft project, as I finally got round to painting it.   It should have been all done and dusted, except for some odd reason the top and one of the sides refused to dry,  no idea why as the rest of it was dry.  So that meant more sanding and repainting.  Just the door left,  but I do want to decorate that, so that is my project for the week.   I took a pic of my desk after a craft session today,  fairly tidy for me,  it shows the new stamps from Get Stamping (available at Tesco, WH Smiths or online).   Along with the usual bits and bobs.   I have been worrying about my stamps in this heat,  they seem okay so far. 

Here is a better pic of the stamp set.  There is a repeat stamp, down on the right hand corner (bottom),  which is very easy to line up.  The phrases are very useful,  all on travel but they would suit any scrapbook page as well.   Not yet used all of them!   Well aside from a practice stamp,  just to get them going. 

I consulted with the hole in the wall and it told me that I had more money than I thought,  phew, nice to know I'm still solvent!   So since I had a ten pound voucher for the craft shop, I put another ten pounds to it and got a few treats, two masks, some white detail powder, plus two wooden  hearts and a stamp.  I've been wanting the detail powder for some time as I wanted to do some relief work.  It was way too hot to linger for very long in the craft shop,  I was almost tempted to go back for the work shop, but frankly didn't fancy sweltering in there for an hour. 

With the stamps, and some stuff from the stash I created this tag. I did use that lovely repeat stamp with the white detail powder,  came up a treat.  There is also some masking, and of course stamping.  The balloon stamp is from the last issue of Get Stamping.    The scooter stamp sadly split when I was removing it from the acetate,  but it is still useable.   I've had that happen before with a clear stamp,  it is very annoying.   I soaked the rest of the sheet in soapy water and carefully prised off the rest of the stamps,  they now seem to be fine and come off the backing sheet more easily.  I guess it is the heat.  

Oh I am not complaining,  the sun is lovely,  nice to see everyone looking cheerful, so long may it continue!   My little garden is also blooming,  everything is running riot and the bees are enjoying all the flowers.   Aside from my tummy upset the week as been okayish,  got confirmation that I qualify for free prescriptions/dental treatment, that is a relief.   Had apology from DWP about the lateness of my PIP form, or rather that I had been misinformed.  And had my second counselling session,  it's too early to say that any progress is being made,  I did have a disagreement with my counsellor about shock,   well shock that doesn't involve physical trauma...  we'll leave it there as it is a bit technical, but I was right!    Next week could be much harder as she wants to try the PTSD treatment,  I have her assurance that if it all gets too much she'll stop.

Enjoy the week ahead, it will be hot and sunny!

What a match!

I've not been anywhere near my craft desk these last couple of days.   I had the nice distraction of having a friend to stay,  the tennis and glorious weather!  Needless today I was glued to the box cheering on Andy Murray.   It was  hard to watch at times,  and the nerves were jangling at times.  But what a match,  and the best man won.

I spent yesterday at Chester Zoo, which was packed needless to say.  But we had a lovely day, saw lots of animals, including the meerkats, who are right little posers!   I managed to catch a few shots with my Lumix,  while my friend was snapping away with her super douper camera.  We just ambled our way round,  well I had no choice as I am stuck at 'amble' speed, and with plenty of sit downs along the way.   It has been a few years since I went to the Zoo, so was a bit shocked at the entry price, £18,  and I can remember the mono rail being free to use, now they charge £2.

I have to share this adorable picture of a baby meerpup,  he/she was keeping us all amused with its antics.   A lot of animals had decided to stay out of the sun,  or were sticking to the shady bits so it did sometimes take a while to spot them.  No sign of the lions, or tigers, but we did see the Cheetahs,  and lots of varieties of deer,  and the otters who were very funny.  One otter kept on screeching at the others who were taking not a blind bit of notice.

We also managed to spot the red panda who was hiding up in a tree.   We both caught the sun,  and were feeling pretty weary by the time we got back to the entrance.  We enjoyed a nice cuppa before leaving for home, and then picked up a lovely takeaway curry - a great way to end a beautiful day.

Just me, myself and I again,  my friend headed off home around lunchtime.  I then got myself ready for 'the' match, had the cushion ready in case it got too scary.  I really did think it would go the distance, but Murray played so well and the end was nerve jangling.   But I was so thrilled for him. 

Hope you are all enjoying this lovely summery weather,  there is a nice breeze here coming in from the sea, it just takes the edge off the heat.   Have a lovely week all and thank you for stopping by.