Back from the seaside

Hello all, or I should really say "evening all" as it's now 10.45pm! It's been a mixed up kind of day here with hot sunshine one minute and torrential rain the next. However, it was wall to wall sunshine when I was in Skegness at the weekend and it was certainly heaving with holiday makers enjoying themselves. After the long journey over to the East coast my first port of call, after checking in at the lovely guest house I was booked into, was Natureland. This is the sanctuary where they rescue and look after orphaned and sick seals and they also have penguins, meerkats, birds and butterflies to name just a few. Needless to say I was in my element!

Here's one of the seals that was in the special sick bay area - they are really well looked after and nursed back to full health before being released back to the sea.

This cheeky chappy was in the large pool where the seals spend their time once they are fully recovered....

In the butterfly house I was thrilled to see this Atlas moth - the largest moth in the world! Behind it you can see cocoons that are hung up waiting for their occupants to emerge.

Despite the numerous unusual creatures I spent the longest time at the aviary that was the home to Mac and Millie, two African Grey parrots. They were quiet to begin with but after I'd stood there bobbing my head, whistling and talking to them (I'm sure I looked a little mad!) they began to have a chat with me and then started wolf whistling, talking and making a really extraordinary range of sounds. Not sure if this was Mac or Millie...

....I really fell for them though!

On Saturday, after a great night's sleep, I was at Cutting Edge Crafts for the demonstration day. Check out the display board that David and his team had set up behind my tables!

It was a busy day of Zendoodling, Doo Lally Pipping and generally making a bit of a creative mess! Having said that, several ladies commented that I was a very neat worker......I've just about finished laughing at that one! 

Saturday evening was spent wandering along the beach and promenade before fish and chips and then a night in front of the TV and another good sleep before Sunday's full day workshop. A fun day was had by all. Kath and Janet busy working on their Steampunk Birdhouses.....

.....Ann and Margaret putting the finishing touches to their wall plaques....

.....and Ann's plaque with shimmering gold ribbon to match the Viva Decor Inca Gold wax that highlighted the corrugations.....

Everyone made a birdhouse, plaque, Doo Lally Pip tag and a Zendoodle stamped card and we even had a lunch break! Thanks for your company ladies - it was a fun day, and thanks to David and the team at CEC for making me so welcome.

Well, as I didn't get home until around midnight on Sunday I didn't feel guilty about having a day off yesterday! I did mow the lawn (which has now become one of my favourite jobs!) pull out some weeds and generally did a bit of garden tidying - as well as a bit of lying around on the freshly cut lawn with Thomas! I caught up with a couple of episodes of Gardener's World, watched the Chelsea Flower show and generally chilled out.

Today I sorted out my case and decanted what I'd need for the next demo into my lighter tote. I'll be at Inspirations in Preston this coming Saturday so it will be a stark contrast to last weekend's long haul train journeys as it will take less than twenty minutes each way! 

I wheeled everything into the conservatory where it was really warm and sunny, so I had the company of my two four legged pals as I worked - although Thomas did keep stretching diagonally across my craft sheet which slightly got in the way of things!

Here are a few of today's creations which I decided to photograph amongst the jungle of plants in the conservatory! This was an idea using Distress Stains to create a splodgy background which I then stamped my Zendoodle Fungi image onto before using a black pen to outline around the patterns created by the inks. This was a different way of creating the doodled patterns than traditional Zentangling.

I cut the design out and pasted it onto white card which I'd already stamped the same design onto...life's too short to cut round fiddly fronds!

Here's a close up of the doodling...

....and I also drew some stripey tendrils coming down from the top.

I added a couple of my Zendoodle Fish to a small corrugated card hanger after painting it and rubbing over some Inca Gold waxes.

 

I coloured the fish using a combination of Distress Markers and Promarkers along with the Tim Holtz Spritzer tool. Promarkers work really well in the Spritzer but you do need to remover the inner barrel of the holder that screws down to hold the pens in place - otherwise they won't fit. I highlighted the fish with a white gel pen and cut slits in them  so I could add a second fin to each one. The ribbon has been dyed with the Stains too of course!

Lastly, another Zendoodle card. This one features the Toadstools set and I began with a Distress Stain and water background using soft shades so that I could stamp over it and still add further colour with Distress Markers.

Here it's nestling amongst the Courgette plants! I highlighted with white which makes all the difference to the designs. The message is from a Paula Pascual set...Everyday Messages.

Well, that was a very photo heavy post and it's now just gone midnight so I had better push off and get to bed. Tomorrow Heather and I are off to the Grand Theatre again, this time to see Robert Powell in Agatha Christie's Black Coffee. Should be really good.

Time for one more photo though - one in my occasional series of this time last year pictures. This one shows that we had a similarly sunny day and Tom was enjoying the lawn just as he did today....

...no tulips or daffodils today though - mine have all gone over now but there are some beautiful deep red roses blooming on one of the three new climbers that I planted a few weeks ago and they smell wonderful too.

Right, that's definitely it now! Time for bed!