The week's events

Hello folks, I have pictures to share tonight as I finally got the camera batteries sorted out...about time too! Today I received copies of my new book as well as the three others in the series. To get a sneaky preview just go to http://www.magmaker.co.uk/ and click on the link to the Mastercraft books. They should be available in the shops from the end of this week.

Now for Matthew's progress.....good and bad news really. The good news is that his tail feathers are now coming through and already about a half inch long which is great, as it means that the feather follicles were not damaged when he was attacked. The bad news is that, because he has no tail to balance with, he is having to rely very heavily on his one good leg and he is obviously struggling, so he was finding it very hard to hop onto the sill to get his seed and nuts in the last couple of days. However, we are making sure that he gets a fair ration of the food, so it is now fingers crossed that his tail regrows quite quickly so that he won't have to carry his entire weight on one tired little leg. Will keep you posted of course.

On Thursday I had caught up with myself so David decided that we should go out for the afternoon and we ended up in Southport. We had the best fish and chips that we have had in a very long time - from The Dolphin, on Scarisbrick Ave if you are in the area! We had a stroll through the town and along the marina front before the obligatory spending of several pennies in the arcade of course! I then got a phone call which meant that we had to curtail our day and head home so that I could write some project instructions for a sudden next day deadline! Such is life!

On Saturday I was in Lancaster at Card Craft and below are some of the cards that I was making on the day. The one below is using my Robin Post stamp on a background of Peppermint Twist paper, and some of my favourite snowflake embellishments from the K&Co Swell Noel range. I used pens to colour the robin and then added a sheen using the Gold Just Glitter pen that gives a subtle accent. My newest acquisitions are two Martha Stewart border punches and you can see the vellum border near the bottom of the card which is the Doily Lace pattern and is just stunning and really easy to use. I have used my other punch - a Zig Zag with holes and an embossed line - on the pink snowman card. I added fine Candy Floss glitter to the embossed line using a glue pen. These punches will be getting a lot of use I think! Next is an acetate card which I hope that you can see okay as, for obvious reasons, this card was tricky to photograph! It features my Feathered Friends stamp as well as K&Co Peppermint Twist papers and embellishments. Some toning ribbons just finished the design off nicely....a good tip is to round all the corners of the acetate, including those on the backbone, which gives a nice notch to hold the ribbon securely in place.

The card with the Sitting Snowman Baby in lilac is a "cheat's" shaker card! I can't take the credit for this idea which I saw...somewhere! ButI thought it was a great idea and a good use of the cellophane bags which we put our cards into. The image has been stamped and stuck well down onto a background then put into the clear bag. Then I added chunky glitter and some Micro Beads before sealing the bag, sticking it to the card front and adding a simple covered frame over the top. Eh voila! A quickie, cheaty shaker card! The final card here is one where I just got carried away and combined my stamped image with Peppermint Twist papers, Swell Noel snowflakes, grunge board flourishes and some sheer ribbon. Over the top, but fun! Mmmmm, now I see that the pictures have actually come up in the wrong order, so I hope all that made sense! Hello to everyone who came along to see me in Lancaster - your kind comments were very welcome and I hope that your fingers didn't get too dirty with all the Distress inks that you bought! Thank you to Joanne, as usual, for the ATC swaps...I love the them.

Today I went to my parents' as it was my sisters' birthday so we all had a day out together (I'm doing well for days out just now!). Part of the afternoon involved a trip to Farmer Parr's in Fleetwood, which is a lovely place full of friendly farm animals and also has a museum of farming and domestic "nick nacks", tools and general nostalgia. Here are just a few photos to share the day with you....how adorable are these white Chipmunks? There were about six or so in a large enclosure and they all wanted to be at the top of this artificial Christmas tree! They were tearing around the cage at a rate of knots and we spent ages just watching their antics. Very entertaining little critters! Well...I had some more pictures to share, but for some reason they are just refusing to behave now, so I shall have to sign off for tonight and try again tomorrow to complete this post properly. Maybe it is getting late and my brain may have gone awry now! So, I'll say goodnight and continue, hopefully, tomorrow. Lindsay