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!

North to East

Hello all and a special welcome to new followers and readers. I'm back from my trip to Scotland but will soon be off again, this time to Skegness on the East coast.

The journey up to Hamilton took rather longer than expected due to a late train and then a further delay caused by someone putting a huge freight train in front of the one I was travelling in....something of an error from the way it was announced! Honestly, I could have walked from Carlisle quicker!

So, I arrived later than I'd hoped and that didn't give me much time to take a look around the town. I've been there twice before, once with David, and neither time did I get to see anything. I recalled David telling me that there were lots of modern art installations and sculptures and I did manage to see a few of them this time. I particularly liked this one of a man's head and shoulders looming up from the ground with a whimsical looking dog on his head......

....I couldn't see any information about the artist or a title, so I was left wondering about the meaning of the piece. I just liked it anyway and I did think it might have looked quite good in my garden! I ate at a Chinese buffet restaurant that evening that David and I had dined at when we were there together....just for old times sake.

I was staying in a hotel just around the corner from Inkspot so I didn't have far to walk in the morning and soon had the workshop underway. A special hello to all the ladies that attended and hope that you have all got your plaques proudly on display now! I received a gift of a pair of handmade earrings from one lady, so a special thank you for those - they're lovely.

Sorry...I couldn't fit everyone on! In the afternoon I was demonstrating and then, in what seemed like no time, I was off again to catch the train to Glasgow and then onto Gourock on the West coast. This was a beautiful part of the journey with gorgeous scenery that I would have photographed if my camera had not somehow managed to drain itself - gggrrrrr! Suffice to say that the Scottish coastline did not disappoint.

Next day I was demonstrating at Cardwell Nurseries (oh how tempting were all the plants but I couldn't have carried anything else - whew!) and had a lovely day with lots of very friendly people that came along to the event which also included two other demonstrations and a craft fair with people selling their handmade goods. It all made for a very enjoyable time.

Needless to say that I got back quite late on Saturday night and was still nursing an aching tooth that had suddenly flared up on Friday evening. Ouch. Plenty of paracetamol kept it bearable until my dental appointment on Tuesday where my dentist performed a virtually pain free root canal treatment. Last time I had one of these done was excruciating - partly because I was at the dental hospital being treated by students! My dentist at the time couldn't see me until a few days later and I had been in such pain that David drove me to the hospital instead....turned out fine but it was pretty horrendous whilst I was enduring their administrations! I've still got a "missing" tooth until my crown is remade and fitted, so, if you're visiting one of my demos in the next week or so, please bear with me....I can't say my "f"'s properly apart from looking like a pirate!

This week I have been getting ready for my trip to Cutting Edge Crafts this coming weekend. I'll be there for two days with a demonstration on Saturday and a full day workshop on the Sunday. I believe that there may be a couple of places left on the class, so do contact the shop if you'd like to book one. We'll be creating a range of projects.....a steampunk birdhouse using some gorgeous Graphic 45 papers along with all sorts of paraphernalia, a Doo Lally Pip tag, a wall plaque and, if time is on our side (!) a Zendoodle card. It will be all go but great fun!

Needless to say, I have been prepping kits so all I can really show you is.....

...just a few of the packs I've been making up. Not a great deal of room for working in the conservatory at the moment due to the expanding number and size of my plants and "crops"!

Everything from tomatoes to Sweetcorn, French beans to courgettes and Chard as well as lots of Pansies, Violas, Nasturtiums, Carnations, Dahlias and Sweet Peas! It's a veritable greenhouse and there are more to the side that you can't see!

The house has two definite sides really....the front of the house where the lounge is just doesn't get the sun and the back of the house gets more than its fair share. So, I like to work in the conservatory to get the sunshine until it gets so hot that I can't bear it anymore. I have to keep popping out to my garden bench with a cool drink every so often and can almost guarantee that Thomas will come and join me as it's one of his favourite spots. Today however, he decided to stay in the conservatory and foil my attempts to pack my case! 

Little monkey! He always senses when I'm getting near to going on a trip and he really doesn't like it. I'm sure that one of these days I'll open my case at the other end and Thomas will jump out having sneaked in there!

Oh yes, I have a project feature using my Zendoodle stamps and Viva Decor products in the June issue of Crafts Beautiful which is out now.

I loved using these cheerful colours and the Viva Decor products gave me some great textures to contrast with the graphic look of the stamps.

You may see the following advertisement in some of the craft magazines that are out at the moment....

....promoting the event at the Craft Range, Burnley on 14th June. This will be my first visit to this store and I'm really looking forward to it, especially as two of my great friends will be there - Andy Skinner and Mark Gould. Clare Horner will also be there for Indigo Blu....Clare and I met several years ago at one of my demos and she's one of my blog followers. This year she was demonstrating across the aisle from me at the Stitches trade show so it will be good to catch up again.

So, it's pretty hectic here one way and another. I watched the film musical version of Les Miserables last night (and cried almost throughout the entire two and a half hours!) as we are using it as the basis for one of the courses that are run through Church. It should be very interesting as we will be concentrating on a different character each week and discussing them in depth...their motivations, weaknesses, strengths etc. Something a little different! I loved the film and Eddie Redmayne's singing voice was a revelation!

When I get back from Skegness Heather and I will be going to the Grand theatre again, this time to see Black Coffee by Agatha Christie starring Robert Powell as Poirot. Really looking forward to this as I do like a good who dunnit. This was Agatha Christie's first play and, I think, is the first time that Poirot put in an appearance - but don't quote me on that!

Well, that's all from me for the moment. Hope to see loads of you at Cutting Edge Crafts in Skegness this weekend - if I haven't melted...it looks set to be a bit of a scorcher!

Skegness, sea lions and sickness

My trip to Skegness was certainly a memorable one, some memories being more pleasurable than others! I'd never been before and arrived on Friday afternoon after four separate train journeys...all the trains were crowded and noisy but I just blanked everyone out as best as I could and concentrated on my audio book. I'm still only a third of the way through it, but it's a really good "listen".

My hotel was on the North Parade and a ten minute walk from the station - boy, the town was busy. I didn't see the sea until a few hours later as Skegness is one of those resorts that has a promenade set back from the beach. Once I'd checked in I went straight out for a walk and my first stop was Natureland which is a sea lion sanctuary - how could I resist? It's quite small but they have a variety of creatures there besides the seals. There were Meerkats, penguins, various reptiles and lizards, a brilliant butterfly house, birds and small farm animals. I took loads of photos and had intended to upload a slide show type video to my You Tube site but I'm hopelessly clueless and have no idea how, or even if it's possible to do it.
Here is a pic of the more mature rescued seals being fed. They were having a wonderful time zooming round the pool after the fish and splashing the water everywhere including over visitors! Just after this, the three baby seals were fed. These pups had all been rescued from the beach and were in a pool to themselves after coming out of the hospital section. All the seals in a particular year have themed names and this years theme is the Olympics. I didn't catch the second seal's name, but one was called Ussain Bolt and this little chap is called Tom Daley! They were indescribably cute and got very impatient when the handler was walking round the pool talking to visitors - peering up at him whilst resting their chins on their front flippers! Apparently the cost to rehabilitate and release each seal is around £2000 (vet bills, medication, fish etc) and they receive no funding whatsoever. They're certainly doing a great job.
Once I'd finally pried myself away, I had a stroll around the town, had something to eat and then made my way down to the beach itself. There were wind turbines out at sea which looked rather like an Anthony Gormley installation. Looking back inland though, it was a real British seaside resort, complete with old fashioned pier and fairground rides. I fell asleep pretty easily after all that sea air and exercise! I was looking forward to a cooked breakfast to set me up for the day, but I woke on Saturday feeling pretty grim and could only manage a few mouthfuls of melon and a peppermint tea.
Cutting Edge Crafts is a lovely shop and they had set two big tables out for me with everything ready for my demonstration. Ladies started arriving soon after I arrived and mostly stayed all day. Everyone was really friendly and keen to watch everything I was getting up to. I had a feeling that my queasiness was going to get worse and unfortunately I was right. I think at one point I actually turned green! No idea what the cause was, but I felt I'd been punched in the solar plexus and kept feeling so sick. The ladies were really understanding and with a few minutes outside to get some fresh air I somehow managed to keep going. The show must go on!
The staff and customers insisted I should pack up fifteen minutes early so I wouldn't have to wait till 5.30pm to catch my train - thanks for that and to the ladies who helped me pack away and gave me a lift to the station. Apart from feeling ill I really enjoyed Skegness and meeting everyone at the shop. The journey back took almost seven hours and felt even longer...when we're ill we just want to be at home don't we?! I had a nice greeting from Tara and Thomas and then a really good sleep which helped a lot, though I've felt a bit delicate since....like a Victorian lady having an attack of the vapours! I can't describe how much I missed David being here when I came home...he could always make me feel better with just a hug that felt like the safest place in the world.
Well, I've been getting to grips with a busy week since I got back. I've been stamping, colouring, spritzing, die cutting and getting samples made for the coming events this next weekend. Today I've been working on stamp designs as my deadlines are ticking away relentlessly. The weather's been glorious of course, so I decided to take advantage of the balmy evenings after each day's work was complete and get a few jobs in the garden sorted. The wet and warm weather has undone the hard work I did a few weeks ago and the weeds have begun taking over again. So, after pulling up the blighters and spraying with weedkiller again, I decided to get the wall finished. Heather and I had bought a large bag of sand and cement from the garden centre a couple of weeks ago and I'd been waiting for the chance to get on with it. I hauled the bag up, opened it and found.....lumps of hard cement and sand that had all sorts of stones in it. I was really fuming but decided to use what I could. Pretty much a disaster of course, and I only managed to make up a pitiful amount of concrete that had the consistency of school custard ie full of lumps. I was not a happy bunny!
I then decided that I might as well get started on the bark chippings. I spent a good while laying down the weed suppressing membrane over the freshly weeded area, trimming around the stepping stones and tucking the fabric carefully round the edges. Once I'd done half of it I sliced open the first bag of bark chippings and let them tumble out over the membrane - the bags weigh a ton! The smell was awful - like rotten mushrooms and then I saw the bark...a mix of brown wood and white webby strands. Of course I'd tipped the whole thing out and I just stood there in disgust looking at what amounted to a dung heap full of fungus. I just gave up at that point and flounced back into the house!
So, first thing this morning I rang the garden centre and they very helpfully said that they would get their delivery man to call round. Two men duly arrived an hour or so later and brought me a replacement bag of concrete and a fresh bag of bark. Great service - I was impressed! The garden expert of the two told me that the bark I'd opened was perfectly okay and that the white fungus would do no harm and would dissipate with more exposure to the air. They were happy to leave me the fresh bag though. I did begin to wonder if I'd made the right choice though, as a few people have commented that bark chippings are seen by cats as a giant litter tray! Should I scrap the idea and bring back gravel after all that hard work?
I was helped to decide later as I had a word with the gardener who tends a neighbours garden once a fortnight. The new lawn had grown really long but I've no lawnmower yet...the one in the garage turned out to be a duffer! So, for a fiver, the gardener popped across and mowed it for me as well as spraying a really good weedkiller everywhere. He also said the bark was okay and that it was a good choice so long as I spray it every couple of weeks or so to stop the weeds establishing from the adjacent field.
After I'd done my work for today I just had time to lay the bark before it went dark. I've "nailed" the weed membrane down, laid two more stepping stones that I'd forgotten to put in...when Heather and I visited Farmer Parr's on her birthday they were in the middle of doing some construction work in the car park area and I asked if I could grab some of the slabs that were lying about. "Help yourself!" I was told, so I did! I've used most of the three bags of bark and now just have the second half of the area to finish which should only take a couple more bags. I had a few misgivings but think it looks alright now... ....I took this photo when it was just about dark, but you can see the section I've done and the newly cut lawn. I've still got my birdhouse to put in place and a little bench that I've now been advised not to put on the lawn as it will kill the grass underneath it. Oh well - plan B for the bench now then...once I've decided what that is! I am hoping that the bark will not become a huge cat litter tray going by Thomas and Tara's reactions to it...they were very much not impressed by the surface or the smell!
Speaking of Thomas, I thought you might like this picture of him showing off his enormous feet. I really love his giant paws and this pose makes him look as if he's waiting for a manicure! Finally, here's a pic of another tag I made yesterday using Dylusions ink sprays and a few TH dies. The rosette was made using the same paper that I've posed the tag on here - I inked it with Evergreen Bough and added touches of Diamond stickles.

Tomorrow is another day of stamping and spritzing, so I had better get to bed now as it's already half past midnight after this long epistle. Hope you've enjoyed my meanderings about one thing and another! I meant to also say welcome to the new followers and readers of my blog and apologies that I didn't get chance to photograph the snow scene card that I made on Saturday...I'll rectify that as soon as I can.

Ready for another trip

Just a photo free post this afternoon whilst I'm having a coffee. I've finished packing my case for my trip to Skegness this weekend...a case full of stamps, inks, samples and dies - not much in the way of clothes. My faithful old case is really fraying at the edges now and, despite David putting new wheels on for me last year, it's beginning to get very rickety. But, I'm really fond of it and it's stood me in good stead for many years now, there's a perfect spot for everything that I need to take and it's just the right size. So, I'll keep my fingers crossed that I can keep using it for a while longer yet!
It's a long trip tomorrow, five and a half hours and three train changes in all. So, I've got very organised with some healthy (and a couple of slightly less healthy!) snacks, my Nintendo is all charged up and I've borrowed an audio book from the library to listen to. My brother in law had an old personal CD player that I'm taking, so I'll be the antique on the train who's not using an MP3, i-pod or whatever other new fangled gadgets everyone's using these days!
The "book" is "The Star of the Sea" which I have been meaning to read for the past few years, so I'll enjoy having it being read to me instead and it will stop me from having too much time to spend in sad thoughts which long train journeys are prone to allow. I'll let you know what I think of the book, though at over sixteen hours, I won't have listened to all of it by the time I get home!
I'm hoping the weather stays fair for tomorrow so that I can enjoy having a look round Skegness in the afternoon. There's a seal sanctuary a few hundred yards from the hotel, so I imagine I might have a wander down there at some point. Should have some good pictures to share after the weekend.
There were loads of mosquitoes in the house again last night, despite my keeping the doors closed from before dusk. I had to go on a bit of a rampage again I'm afraid, as one got me in the hand the other night. Thankfully, the cream and pills have kept the reaction a little less bothersome this time, but I am getting fed up with bitey things now! To redress the balance I rescued a big red tailed bee this morning. I spotted him on the path where I'd seen him yesterday afternoon and he was very much the worse for wear after obviously being soaked through in last night's downpour. Poor thing was on his last legs so I put him onto a sprig of lavender and brought him into the conservatory where he could warm up, and put some sugar water onto cotton wool so he could have an "energy drink"! He began to perk up after about half an hour, so I put him onto a nice flowery Marjoram plant outside and he has been there all day, soaking up the little bit of sun that we've had. Hopefully, he'll be fine now...got to look after all our lovely bees!
So, hope to see some of you at Cutting Edge Crafts on Saturday for a day of tips and techniques. Do say hello if you're a follower or reader of my ramblings - it's always good to put faces to names! Have a good weekend everyone.