Unbelievable but true: Sean and I have been married for 10 years!!! We did a round of self-portraits in the garden with the automatic release on the camera...Cardstock from Club Scrap "Autumn Splendour"; embossed paper from "Key to my Heart" (embossed writing highlighted with watercolour pen); ribbon from Making Memories; epoxy hearts from Creative Imaginations Sarah Johnson; alphas from Club Scrap; red and black peel-offs from Craft Creations.
A horrible dingy day - and I just felt that I should include a picture of what a pretty spring tree in blossom looks like in the grey dark. After all it is a sight we are treated to a lot here in England, in normal years...Paper and alphas from a HOTP Pizzazz book "Ephemera"; brads from Making Memories; slide frame from Magic Scraps.
The chives are in flower - so pretty! And I even caught this little bumblebee feeding...Paper from a Fiscars paper book; peel-offs from Anita's; alphas and numbers from Club Scrap (can't remember which kit) and on the photo I had to overwrite them with white photo marker as you couldn't read the black lettering...
I scalded my hand when some hot water swapped over the edge of a bottle I was filling, leaving a mark for days. I used a lot of the Aloa Vera gel and it finally healed up completely, but you can see the angry red streak across in the picture.Cardstock from TSBH; chequered paper scraps from an old Paper Trail kit; alphas from Club Scrap "Fiesta" and tag ribbon from Mosaic Twist; numbers from Making Memories. Tag from my stash and the bandaids are real ones, those mini sizes that come in the mixed boxes and never get used...
When I visited my friend Eve today, she showed me her latest acquisition whom she called "Skunkweasel". The writing on the page explains the story... Tag reads:" Skunkweasel is a member of the LGMG (London Goth Meetup Group - it was during one of their walks that she saw him!) and his favourite band is The Animals."Paper from Club Scrap "Java Mocha"; netting ribbon and jewelled flowers from a Wiggly Woods Textures Box; brads from Making Memories and numbers from Club Scrap "Let me count the ways".
Sean's current R+D project for a company that produces underfloor heating systems. He is develloping what I believe is an array to operate the system.Journal reads: "Another unhappy story for Sean – after lots of unpaid hours for his previous customer CKS, he now did some work for this company in Bude, on recommendation from a friend. It was super urgent job in three stages, involving two trips to Cornwall and long hours including night time work for several weeks, and should have been worth a good amount of money. Then they owned up to the fact that they were having financial problems and didn’t want to pay the kind of rates he had suggested. I wonder when he’s going to learn to fix his terms and rates in writing up front…"All papers and the front tag and wire are from Club Scrap "Matrix"; alphas/numbers from an old Scrapgoods kit; brads from Making Memories.
Weeping Heart (some call it Bleeding Heart) in our garden - one of the few plants we kept from the previous owners' garden design.Paper, alphas and tag from Colorbok "Flavia" slab and frame from Club Scrap "Wedding"; numbers from Making Memories.
Journal on the back of the tag: "Sean has "harvested" some of our bamboo to make wigwams and climbing poles for beans etc. The bamboo is "courtesy" of our neighbours who have a jungle of it just the other side of the fence and it is very invasive, claiming a little more of our garden every year... Now it is sitting in the shed to dry out before being used. Some of the cuts are so long they are virtually taking up the whole shed diagonally, hence the glove dangling as a "flag" just head high to prevent us from walking into it."Creative Imaginations paper and border stickers; peel-off alphas from Craft Creations; numbers from Club Scrap "Asian Artisan" and bead from "Paisley". The wood veneer tag is from my stash, can't remember where it came from, and the fibre is stranded cotton for embroidery.
A weekend's work in the potting shed has filled up our new growhouse nicely. Shortly after I took this photo, we moved it to another postition, though. Onto the patio, as here behind the shed it was too susceptible to slug attacks. They just wiggle their way into everything!KI Memories paper and Making Memories alphas. The thing sticking out behind the photo is a DVD from a seed catalogue that had a pretty picture of sunflowers on it with suitable writing along the edge.
We finally got time to take all the cardboard boxes from the shed clearout to our local recycle station - they were too big for my little car, so Sean had to take them in his van!Backing cardboard from TSBH; paper bag from Club Scrap "Farmer's Market" and alphas from "Salsa". The bits sticking out of the bag are cut from various product packages we use - Winalot dog food, Kellogs musli bars, Sainsbury's pizza and So Organic hummus.
Not a good photo - sorry. Don't know how the glare at the top got there - the alphas are the same as the numbers on the bottom!Once a year, there's a local competition going among the bellringing bands. It has two sections - call changes and methods, and this year our Chertsey band won the call changes. I wasn't there but Sean was one of the ringers. Here, Malcolm, our Tower Captain, is holding the little trophy they got. Paper from Club Scrap "Varsity" and alphas from "Bridges"; bell 3Ds and trophy from Jolee's Boutique; word sticker is a Making Memories fabric label.
Tree in the neighbourhood - the bright white looked particularly stunning on this beautiful blue sky day...HOTP Pizzazz paper from "Joy's Vintage" book; numbers from Craft Creations; and chipboard letters from a Scrapmuse kit.
We decided to have a clearout in the shed and make it back into a proper "potting shed". There was loads of stuff in there that could go in the bin or for recycling, especially stacks of old cardboard boxes...Papers from Club Scrap "To You With Love" and "Retreat"; numbers from "Let me count the ways". The title sticker is a Softly Spoken 3D which I modified by adding the twine.
Barn Dance at church - I've finally found somebody else to organise these events and am glad I'm spared the hassle and the worries about making a loss. The lady who's responsible now has changed the whole setup and the dances, once or twice a year, are now in the church hall with a BBQ or fish+chips meal in a marquee in the churchyard. Much cleverer of her, but a health + safety nightmare because the hall is far too small for dancing in crowds. There were about 100 people there, although not all dancing. I did not think the band and caller she had employed were very good, but people seemed to enjoy the evening... It made a good profit which pleased the Treasurer.Papers and sticker from Club Scrap "Musical Interlude"; chipboard number from "Let me count the ways"; and 3D stickers from Jolee's Boutique.
Well, following on from the delivery of the nematodes, the day after I spent two hours watering them into the soil - you need to water them on, then add several loads of water to make them go in, and hope it'll rain some to help keep them moist and water them in deeper.It felt rather stupid watering the lawn in particular, in this weather...and felt like hard work, too. We'd kept the bath water from the night before to safe on water, so it was going inside to the bathroom for every load that went on the lawn and bushes. Fresh water for the edibles beds...KI Memories paper with alphas from Making Memories; a Card Creation diecut, bubble epoxy stickers from Jolee's and Allison Connors flower clip.
Finally, the slug nematodes arrived. Personally, I thought they should have sent them out earlier as in Southern England we really rarely get frost this late and the ground has been warm for quite a while now. It just makes planting too late but there's no use trying to raise anything from seed in our garden with the amount of slugs we get. Hopefully, these little creatures will reduce the load - they live in the ground and invade the slugs there, killing them and then passing on to another slug. The dead slugs stay in the ground and the nematodes go on feeding and killing for about 6 weeks. Here's hoping...KI Memories paper with goodies from Club Scrap: word charm from "Painted Desert"; lollipop stick from "Down to Earth" (turned over); numbers from Egyptian. The peel-off alphas are from Craft Creation and the fimo snail was a freebie I got with some embellies from a local crafter.
This is the blossom on the apple tree hanging over the fence from our neighbours. This year, the blossom was rather sparse, as of course are the apples...Everything from Club Scrap "Painted Desert" except for the brads from "County Fair".
Since I have started this awkward diet, and with a view of sticking to it strictly for a year and in a moderated version perhaps for the rest of my life, I have been collecting suitable recipes. I reckon if I find enough things to cook that we really like and that are not too difficult, time-consuming and expensive, then I stand a chance of making this routine a permanent part of my life - it's certainly healthy food! So, I have revamped an old garden magazine binder into my new cookbook collection...Papers, cutouts and alphas in the photo are from Club Scrap "Culinary"; alphas on the page and brads are from Making Memories; peel-offs from Craft Creations.
When we moved in here four years ago we bought this corkscrew hazel bush - I love it when it gets its danglies in spring. They are much brighter yellow than they appear in this photo, though.Papers from Club Scrap "Earth & Herbs"; peel-off alphas from Craft Creations; number stickers from Mary Engelbreit.
Sean had quite a time fitting the so-called "growhouse" together - it worked a little different from how he thought and he actually had to consult the manual!Papers from Club Scrap kits "Kit for a Cause" and "DIY" with alphas from "Freedom" and number from "Let me count the ways"; screw eyelets from Making Memories.
Annual visit to my favourite garden centre, Longacres in Bagshot. This year I convinced Sean to come with me and take the van as we needed a lot more compost for our veggie gardening endeavours, and I also wanted to get one of those plastic shelf mini greenhouses...K1 Memories paper, along with cutouts from another sheet of the same series; big number from Club Scrap kit "Let me count the ways" and little 3D stickers from Jolee's Boutique.
A little bunny rabbit, seen on the way to the allotment...The paper was a leftover piece from a very old Paper Trail spring kit, with alphas from Making Memories; number from Phrase Cafe; and title diecut from My Mind's Eye. The highlight ring was cut with Quickutz from a paper scrap.
Every year in April and May we get a few of the precious fragile blooms from this little Alpine in our mini rock garden (in a stone tray). Small but beautiful...Cardstock and number from Club Scrap kits "Let me count the way" and "Harvest" with a computer-printed piece of patterned paper I received in a material swap bag years ago. Never thought that it was particularly great, until it was just right for this layout: although the flowers on the paper are yellow and ours is purple, it i a Pulsatilla all right!
I just love the camellia that are hanging over the fence from the neighbours' garden - they make lovely little droopy arrangements that look a lot like old-fashioned roses...Paper from Club Scrap kit "Kit for Cause" with alphas from Making Memories; vellum roses from Jolee by You; peel-offs from Craft Creations, and a cutout number from a very old Scrapgoods kit.
Chiefie's birthday! She was born 11 years ago today, in the first litter of FIL's dog Trixie, and because I always carried her around as a pup - she was so cute and her face always reminded me of the flying dog/dragon creature in the Neverending Story - so she ended up as Sean's birthday present that year! He is born on June 20th, just about the right time for weening off...Karen Foster paper with the big number from Club Scrap kit "Let me count the ways", a Jolee's epoxy balloon sticker and a Memories Complete pet sticker adorned with peel-offs from Craft Creations.
Our Scottish Club was again invited to do a demonstration of Scottish Country Dancing at the Ottershaw May Fayre. This always happens on the early May bank holiday (Monday after the fist weekend in May) in the recreation grounds of our neighbouring village, and there's usually a varity of stalls from clubs and businesses in the area, plus a mixed entertainment in the ring. The dancing was on between the Karate Kids and Mr McDonut, a children's entertainer.Paper is from Club Scrap "Stepping Out"; title sticker from Creative Imaginations "Danielle Johnson Art"; peel-offs from Craft Creations and number sticker from Mary Engelbreit.
Journal on the tag reads: "Mother’s Day is a funny affair every year: here in England we celebrate it in March, but in Germany where my mother lives, it’s celebrated the first Sunday of May…which makes it difficult to remember the card at the right moment. It’s a good thing I make my own cards as I would never be able to buy one then… Also, Mum is easy to cater for in this respect: she loves all things oriental and is much happier with such a card than the typical Mother’s Day things. And of course, I have a stash of oriental cards ready for her!"Printed mulberry paper from LJG and yellow card from Club Scrap kit "Harvest" with alphas from "Asian Artisan" and fibres from "Muscial Interlude" and "Matrix"; kimono sticker from Mrs Grossman's.
International Scrapbooking Day! Of course I was honouring the occasion...Everything is from Club Scrap kit "DIY" except for fibres from "County Fair"; and brad and mini buttons from Maing Memories.
These are mini tulips we have had in a container ever since we moved in here. They are only about 10" high including the flower, but SO cheerful!Paper is from Club Scrap kit "Mosaic Magic", chipboard number from "Let me count the ways". The alphas are Making Memories and the vellum diecut was at freebie at Bonanza years ago.
Tag journal reads: "Sean decided to try out his new GPS unit on a route we knew well anyway, to see how it was going. It was a bit of a last moment idea, so we simply took it along and he asked me to set it up while he was already driving. Punching in the destination was no problem – it was the actually putting the thing up on the windscreen that got to me! I really made a fool of myself, trying to stick the parts together every which way, and they just wouldn’t fit! Soon we were laughing so hard over my ignorance that Sean had to stop anyway, and then he mounted it himself, just so… What a joke!"Paper, fibres and big alphas from Club Scrap "Road Trip"; black alphas from Making Memories; and the little plastic car shape I saved from a Christmas cracker!
Emily is my friend from church who is this year sharing her allotment with me. When she went on holiday to see her parents for a few days, I was on watering duty for our seedlings in her growhouses...Paper is K1 Memories with Jolee's by You leaves; Magic Scraps slide frame and the 3D watering can from Darice Finshing Accents. With peel-offs from Craft Creations and number stickers from Sandylion flower power alphas.
I've always been fascinated by the bright red of the old-style phone booths and post boxes here in England. It is such a shame that are now all being replaced by modern glass ones that look just like anywhere else in the world. But in some historical or charming quaint old places the reds still survive, and I thought this one in Church Lane just looks all the more stunning at this time of the year with the bright forsythia bush next to it...Cardstock by TSBH; flower vellum from a HOTP Paper Pizzazz book; and the quote is from a DCWV Vellum Quotes Stack. Numbers and all brads (including the flower ones) from Making Memories; peel-offs from Craft Creations; and flowers from a mixed bag of paper flowers I bought in a sale.
I thought an update on my 365-photo-challenge was in order as I was getting the second month started with actual layouts. Since the layouts are 6x6" I can fit two sets into a 4-ring binder which is handy as it means two months fit into one folder. I think they are so cute, even if I say so myself...Bronze paper is from a HOTP Paper Pizzazz book; embossed paper is from Club Scrap "DIY" kit; tag is CS "Matrix"; "create" charm is from CS "Painted Desert". The number stickers are from a Mary Engelbreit cherry alphabet sheet and all the peel-offs are from Craft Creations; brads from Making Memories.
St George's Day is England's national holiday, and while it isn't celebrated as lively as the 4th of July in the States or Cinqo de Mayo in Mexico, it does have parades and big formal church services, usually on the nearest Sunday since the day itself is not a bank holiday.The parades are enacted by the uniformed organisations, i.e. scouts, cubs, girl guides etc, and they then descend on their local churches for the service. This it at St Peter's, Chertsey - taken from the organ balcony.The coloured paper is a leftover from a Wiggly Woods Celebrations kit and the white paper piece is actually a part of a wallpaper strip I kept for just such a purpose... The stickers are a fantasy set called Timeless Treasures by NRN Designs and the peel-offs are from Craft Creations. Plus unknown tag and brad from Making Memories.
Couldn't resist another angle on these gorgeous tulips - I just love them and their bright colour!Background paper is Club Scrap "Chocolate Shoppe" with a scrap of leftover grid paper from an old paper block. The alphas are Club Scrap although I can't remember which kit - quite an old one, too; and the tulip stickers are Sticko vellum stickers. I was amazed how the colours matched!
Unbelievable but true: Sean and I have been married for 10 years!!! We did a round of self-portraits in the garden with the automatic release on the camera...
A horrible dingy day - and I just felt that I should include a picture of what a pretty spring tree in blossom looks like in the grey dark. After all it is a sight we are treated to a lot here in England, in normal years...
The chives are in flower - so pretty! And I even caught this little bumblebee feeding...
I scalded my hand when some hot water swapped over the edge of a bottle I was filling, leaving a mark for days. I used a lot of the Aloa Vera gel and it finally healed up completely, but you can see the angry red streak across in the picture.
When I visited my friend Eve today, she showed me her latest acquisition whom she called "Skunkweasel". The writing on the page explains the story... Tag reads:" Skunkweasel is a member of the LGMG (London Goth Meetup Group - it was during one of their walks that she saw him!) and his favourite band is The Animals."
Sean's current R+D project for a company that produces underfloor heating systems. He is develloping what I believe is an array to operate the system.
Weeping Heart (some call it Bleeding Heart) in our garden - one of the few plants we kept from the previous owners' garden design.
Journal on the back of the tag: "Sean has "harvested" some of our bamboo to make wigwams and climbing poles for beans etc. The bamboo is "courtesy" of our neighbours who have a jungle of it just the other side of the fence and it is very invasive, claiming a little more of our garden every year... Now it is sitting in the shed to dry out before being used. Some of the cuts are so long they are virtually taking up the whole shed diagonally, hence the glove dangling as a "flag" just head high to prevent us from walking into it."
A weekend's work in the potting shed has filled up our new growhouse nicely. Shortly after I took this photo, we moved it to another postition, though. Onto the patio, as here behind the shed it was too susceptible to slug attacks. They just wiggle their way into everything!
We finally got time to take all the cardboard boxes from the shed clearout to our local recycle station - they were too big for my little car, so Sean had to take them in his van!
Not a good photo - sorry. Don't know how the glare at the top got there - the alphas are the same as the numbers on the bottom!
Tree in the neighbourhood - the bright white looked particularly stunning on this beautiful blue sky day...
We decided to have a clearout in the shed and make it back into a proper "potting shed". There was loads of stuff in there that could go in the bin or for recycling, especially stacks of old cardboard boxes...
Barn Dance at church - I've finally found somebody else to organise these events and am glad I'm spared the hassle and the worries about making a loss. The lady who's responsible now has changed the whole setup and the dances, once or twice a year, are now in the church hall with a BBQ or fish+chips meal in a marquee in the churchyard. Much cleverer of her, but a health + safety nightmare because the hall is far too small for dancing in crowds. There were about 100 people there, although not all dancing. I did not think the band and caller she had employed were very good, but people seemed to enjoy the evening... It made a good profit which pleased the Treasurer.
Well, following on from the delivery of the nematodes, the day after I spent two hours watering them into the soil - you need to water them on, then add several loads of water to make them go in, and hope it'll rain some to help keep them moist and water them in deeper.
Finally, the slug nematodes arrived. Personally, I thought they should have sent them out earlier as in Southern England we really rarely get frost this late and the ground has been warm for quite a while now. It just makes planting too late but there's no use trying to raise anything from seed in our garden with the amount of slugs we get. Hopefully, these little creatures will reduce the load - they live in the ground and invade the slugs there, killing them and then passing on to another slug. The dead slugs stay in the ground and the nematodes go on feeding and killing for about 6 weeks. Here's hoping...
This is the blossom on the apple tree hanging over the fence from our neighbours. This year, the blossom was rather sparse, as of course are the apples...
Since I have started this awkward diet, and with a view of sticking to it strictly for a year and in a moderated version perhaps for the rest of my life, I have been collecting suitable recipes. I reckon if I find enough things to cook that we really like and that are not too difficult, time-consuming and expensive, then I stand a chance of making this routine a permanent part of my life - it's certainly healthy food! So, I have revamped an old garden magazine binder into my new cookbook collection...
When we moved in here four years ago we bought this corkscrew hazel bush - I love it when it gets its danglies in spring. They are much brighter yellow than they appear in this photo, though.
Sean had quite a time fitting the so-called "growhouse" together - it worked a little different from how he thought and he actually had to consult the manual!
Annual visit to my favourite garden centre, Longacres in Bagshot. This year I convinced Sean to come with me and take the van as we needed a lot more compost for our veggie gardening endeavours, and I also wanted to get one of those plastic shelf mini greenhouses...
A little bunny rabbit, seen on the way to the allotment...
Every year in April and May we get a few of the precious fragile blooms from this little Alpine in our mini rock garden (in a stone tray). Small but beautiful...
I just love the camellia that are hanging over the fence from the neighbours' garden - they make lovely little droopy arrangements that look a lot like old-fashioned roses...
Chiefie's birthday! She was born 11 years ago today, in the first litter of FIL's dog Trixie, and because I always carried her around as a pup - she was so cute and her face always reminded me of the flying dog/dragon creature in the Neverending Story - so she ended up as Sean's birthday present that year! He is born on June 20th, just about the right time for weening off...
Our Scottish Club was again invited to do a demonstration of Scottish Country Dancing at the Ottershaw May Fayre. This always happens on the early May bank holiday (Monday after the fist weekend in May) in the recreation grounds of our neighbouring village, and there's usually a varity of stalls from clubs and businesses in the area, plus a mixed entertainment in the ring. The dancing was on between the Karate Kids and Mr McDonut, a children's entertainer.
Journal on the tag reads: "Mother’s Day is a funny affair every year: here in England we celebrate it in March, but in Germany where my mother lives, it’s celebrated the first Sunday of May…which makes it difficult to remember the card at the right moment. It’s a good thing I make my own cards as I would never be able to buy one then… Also, Mum is easy to cater for in this respect: she loves all things oriental and is much happier with such a card than the typical Mother’s Day things. And of course, I have a stash of oriental cards ready for her!"
International Scrapbooking Day! Of course I was honouring the occasion...
These are mini tulips we have had in a container ever since we moved in here. They are only about 10" high including the flower, but SO cheerful!
Tag journal reads: "Sean decided to try out his new GPS unit on a route we knew well anyway, to see how it was going. It was a bit of a last moment idea, so we simply took it along and he asked me to set it up while he was already driving. Punching in the destination was no problem – it was the actually putting the thing up on the windscreen that got to me! I really made a fool of myself, trying to stick the parts together every which way, and they just wouldn’t fit! Soon we were laughing so hard over my ignorance that Sean had to stop anyway, and then he mounted it himself, just so… What a joke!"
Emily is my friend from church who is this year sharing her allotment with me. When she went on holiday to see her parents for a few days, I was on watering duty for our seedlings in her growhouses...
I've always been fascinated by the bright red of the old-style phone booths and post boxes here in England. It is such a shame that are now all being replaced by modern glass ones that look just like anywhere else in the world. But in some historical or charming quaint old places the reds still survive, and I thought this one in Church Lane just looks all the more stunning at this time of the year with the bright forsythia bush next to it...
I thought an update on my 365-photo-challenge was in order as I was getting the second month started with actual layouts. Since the layouts are 6x6" I can fit two sets into a 4-ring binder which is handy as it means two months fit into one folder. I think they are so cute, even if I say so myself...
St George's Day is England's national holiday, and while it isn't celebrated as lively as the 4th of July in the States or Cinqo de Mayo in Mexico, it does have parades and big formal church services, usually on the nearest Sunday since the day itself is not a bank holiday.
Couldn't resist another angle on these gorgeous tulips - I just love them and their bright colour!