That was the week that was....

......a very busy one! In fact, I was joking today that demonstrating on Saturday will feel like a day off! It's been a juggling act to bring all the different strands together on time if that's not too much of a mixed metaphor! I haven't even seen a tennis match yet, just an odd five minutes here and there, although the match featuring Sharapova yesterday got switched off anyway when I could stand the outrageous shrieking from both ends of the court no longer! Time to get tough on the ladies who spoil the game with the ear splitting screaming in my opinion.

I had two days that were more or less set aside for making samples for my demo at the Coleman's Craft Warehouse event on Saturday. As well as my Doo Lally Pip range they have a good stock of lots of my other stamps, so it was fun to work with them for a change. This is one of the cards that I made using one of my wooden rubber stamps called "Fluffy Owl".......

 .....I used a DCWV paper to fold into the "frame", secured with brads and threaded with sheer ribbon that I coloured with Dylusions inks. I've used a few images of the owl, cut and layered to give him some dimension. I cut out a separate pair of his feet so that I could glue the branch across his body and then the feet on top of that so he looks as if he's gripping it.

Here's the card taken out of the paper frame - it's not as finished as it would be if I were making it to send to someone. And, yes, I know it's either a Bonsai tree or a bloomin' big owl....artistic license! 

I cut the tree freehand from really dark brown textured card stock and glued it down over the card and the owl panel. A little white card moon and some white gel pen stars just add a touch of brightness and I wrote a simple message with a fine pen...not very straight! Oh yes, I did put Glossy Accents on his eyes.

Back to Doo Lally Pip for this tag now, quite a bright tag at that! The birdcage is cut from Tim's Kraft Core card using one of his Sizzix dies and I then sanded it back a bit. 

The background of the tag is Tim's tissue wrap (Symphony) that I sprayed with inks and then dabbed with paper towel to blend them onto the slightly resistant surface. I added gold embossing powder over glue stick around the edges. The bird and word are from my "Squawk" set. Some TH pearls along the bottom of the cage, some inky ribbon and an inked Kraft Resist flower complete this quirky quacker!

I've been too busy to get into the garden at all this week, except for watering things in the evenings of the very hot days we had on and off. I got home this evening in the middle of a downpour and decided to take a few snaps whilst the rain was giving the colours an extra vibrancy. I can hardly believe how much everything's grown in the last few days.

This is the area at the back of the house that the side door of the conservatory opens onto. It's where I hang my washing, but it's much nicer to look at when there are no towels and sheets in the way....

  ....to think all this came from some tiny seeds that I planted a few months ago! Don't even ask about the tray and the plastic bowl part filled with soil...at least the bowl matches the Nasturtiums! There are Sweet Peas and Sunflowers against the fence and the troughs at the side have Sunflowers, courgettes and tomatoes in them.

More edible goodies are maturing now....

 ....though I'll be lucky to get any of these cherries if the birds have anything to do with it. Last year I put netting over the tree which did deter the birds but did nothing to protect the fruit from the aphids and ants which appeared like magic as soon as the cherries began to ripen. I might get the odd one anyway!

I'm chuffed to see the Clematis at the side of my bench is flowering now. It's a beautiful blue lilac colour and has plenty of buds, so I should be enjoying the blooms for quite a while I hope.

 

Well, that's tonight's garden tour over with!

The other big commitment this week has been in my new role as deputy Verger of course, and I set up two Communion services and helped with two funerals. Everything went okay and thankfully, I remembered all the various things that I had to do. Not the best picture, as I was standing in the subdued light at the back of the church, but this is me wearing the Verger's robe.....

 .....I did feel a bit of a fraud as it's emblazoned with the Guild of Verger's badge, which I'm not a member of, but I'm allowed to wear it when I'm on duty. You can see from the panelling behind me that St Chads is a very old, traditional church, a Grade II listed building with some parts dating back to the 11th century.

This evening I was in almost the exact same spot where this picture was taken, but in a very different role as a puppeteer! We were having our first rehearsal for an event in a few weeks time - I'll post some pictures after the show, but we had a lot of fun tonight!

My bags are packed for my trip tomorrow....Thomas doesn't like the way I have kept paying so much attention to my case - think he suspects! He won't be best pleased when he has to sleep on his own tomorrow night...he's a big bruiser but a real "mummy's boy" at heart!

So, hope to see some of you on Saturday and, though I'm a day early - have a great weekend everyone!