About Me

I'm a freelance artist, designer and demonstrator and have been involved in arts and craft my whole life in one way or another. I design stamps for top British company Personal Impressions, under the "Lindsay Mason Designs" brand, as well as papers, templates and other crafting products. I'm a certified Ranger Educator and my first book,"Stamping", was published in 2009. I also design regular projects for Crafts Beautiful magazine and have made guest appearances from time to time on QVC. I've recently joined You Tube under the name of LindsayMason1000 where I'm posting short technique videos and you can buy my paintings and hand crafted pieces from my Etsy shop. My work takes me all around the country demonstrating stamping, papercrafts and general inkiness! When I'm not working, I love gardening, church & community activities, nature watching, journalling, music and theatre and just relaxing at home. Email me at: ljm.design1@virginmedia.com

Friday 10 August 2012

A mixed few days

It's certainly been a mix of things over the last few days or so. From dramatic thunderstorms earlier in the week to sweltering heat over the last couple of days that was a real energy drainer. It was a mixture of good and bad things too.
On Wednesday one of the two dogs belonging my neighbour across the road had to go to the vet - sore pads on her feet. When she came back the other, smaller dog went up to greet her and was immediately attacked. She was rushed to the vet but has, sadly, lost one of her eyes.Thankfully she pulled through a big operation to repair her face and is now home, sporting an eye patch but quite chipper considering what she went through. The other dog had to be put to sleep and, although that was the right thing to do, it was still very sad to see her being loaded into the car yesterday morning to be taken on her last journey.
So, it was very traumatic for all concerned, and a really depressing end to the week.
On a lighter note, I've been busy getting to grips with the Big Shot and the TH dies and getting samples made for next weekend's event at The Paper Warehouse in Kendal. I was going to take a few pictures of the cards I've been making but my camera batteries ran out, so I will have to get some more tomorrow. I am getting on with some creating I promise!
Meanwhile, this was the horrid sight in the garden today.....
.....the large bags are my first two lots of bark chippings but as the little wall at the edge has been crumbling and collapsing bit by bit I thought I should repair that first or I'd have bits of brick everywhere if I did it later. I found some mortar powder in the garage and decided to get it done when I got back from an appointment today. All well and good until a well meaning but rather enthusiastic neighbour spotted me and decided that I should pull down almost all of the wall and set about doing it for me! So, I have very quickly run out of mortar and most of the bricks he pulled out have disintegrated. I was looking forward to testing my bricklaying skills but now it's going to be a much bigger job to sort out the dimensional jig saw that it's turned into. Oh well, I like a challenge!
However, on the up side, here is the "after" picture that I promised in my last post. Yes....I have a lawn, albeit a very small one. It looks very patchy at the moment but will be fine once it's bedded in properly and the turf has rooted. It took about an hour to lay it yesterday and I have a strip left over for filling in any gaps that might appear. I've been watering it every couple of hours or so since then as it has been so scorchingly hot and if it dries out it'll shrink!
And, yes, they are my TH scissors lying on the soil there! They have been very handy for outside as well as inside work! I can't describe how good it feels to have got it done as it was really depressing me that it was such a mess and knowing how very much David wanted a lawn in the garden. Someone else was pretty impressed and decided that it was a new and comfy spot to take a rest on.... ....so far, Thomas has been a bit wary but he can be a big wuss! So, once I've repaired the wall, laid the weed suppressing membrane, covered it with bark chippings and put my new bird table (thank you again Joanne and T!) into place, that will be just about all the groundwork done. I'm planning on planting aromatic herbs in the long strip of soil alongside the lawn - not that I do much cooking, but they'll smell nice!
Anyway, next time you pop back here I should have some creative pictures to share so long as I remember the Duracells tomorrow. Thank goodness there's a slight breeze coming through the door now, so it may not be quite such the humid night as it was promising to be. Have a lovely weekend everyone.

6 comments:

TAM said...

Wow you have been hard at work - the lawn is looking fabulous and I'm sure your other piece of ground will look equally good once you have sorted out the mess left by your "well meaning" neighbour.

Glennis F said...

Wow - you really have been hard at work, it's looking good

misteejay said...

Well done you - what a fabulous achievement. You must be so chuffed.

"Well meaning" folk can be a bit of a trial as I found when I painted my front fence. Working full-time doesn't give me a lot of spare time to do stuff so if started it needs to be finished. The weather was great when I started but became very windy - by the 20th "Not really the weather for doing that..." I had become an expert at gritting my teeth LOL.

Toni xx

SusieJ said...

So sorry to hear about your neighbour's dogs...hugs to all concerned.
Your garden is really taking shape and the lawn is obviously very comfortable!
Hugs xx

craftypam60 said...

Well done to you! The garden is looking great, and David is probably beaming down with pride :)

Joanne said...

hey, I had a little tear then. Fab progress, well done you. Have you noticed, I have a 2 bar signal, yippee! Enjoy Kendal my lovely pal. Xxx