Summer brings cricket bats

The British summer is certainly making up for lost time now and at a cracking pace too! Every morning brings fresh delights in the garden with glorious colours and tasty crops.

Today I was greeted by this cheery Sunflower amongst the Sweet Peas and Nasturtiums. I've grown quite a few of them but this one has beaten the rest to open first. I've got three vases full of Sweet Peas filling the house with their lovely perfume and still masses of them in the garden. And some of these little belters were on my plate tonight!

I was away from home for a couple of days this week, meeting up with my colleagues for a day at Sizzix HQ, looking at the forthcoming new releases and learning more about how some of the products work. It was a really interesting day and gave me lots of inspiration. 

Yesterday, I was performing duties at another funeral....I'm feeling much more confident about what I'm doing now. Heather met me in church afterwards and we drove up to see mum. There were some other people visiting a relative too and we all ended up having a sing song! Michael started us off with "It's a long way to Tipperary" and most of the residents joined in....it's wonderful just how strong our memory of songs can be. People who cannot remember who they are, who their family are, or who hardly speak at all, can suddenly recall all the words of a song. It was a lovely moment, though, sadly, mum wasn't able to sing along as she once would have done.

Last night I watched the first night of the Proms which had a sea theme. I was transported by the Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony which I've only heard snippets of before, but I'll be listening to it again, it was wonderful. It made me think how permanent music is. Of all the arts, it's the only one that's never effected by time. Paintings can fade or crack, statues can crumble and for sure, all our inky creations will be lost, but music is there forever. Mmmm....it gave me something to ponder.

When I got home I spotted something on the floor in the conservatory and I got some good photos of it.....

  .....isn't he amazing! I was only thinking that I hadn't heard the grasshoppers or crickets in the field this year, and then this chappie turned up. It's normally the duller, brown "versions" that I see, but this one was the most brilliant green. Just ignore the Tara hairs on the carpet by the way! I managed to pick him up without him leaping further into the house.....

.....and snapped this picture before I set him down in the garden. So, he was the cricket of my post title and the bats, well, sadly, I haven't been able to take a picture despite my best efforts, but I've been treated to them swooping really low over the garden for the last few nights. They have been coming really close to me but they do such fantastic aerobatics that I just cannot get one in frame! Fascinating creatures and I'd love to get a really good look at them. NB....see end of this post for update!

I finished another canvas today, and, at first glance it may look as if I used my Robot stamp which was released last year...or was it the year before now...eek! However, this one is an original robot which I drew onto the canvas.....

 .....he's a little more relaxed, with his bent knee, than the one on the stamp set! The canvas has a wire hanger that's hard to see in the picture, but it was more suitable than the ribbon hangers that I often add to my canvasses. He's now up in my Etsy shop and you can see some closer photos of the canvas there.

It's been too hot for T&T today! Thomas has been asleep on my bed for the majority of the day and Tara has been mostly lying amongst the long grasses at the edge of the field. She joined me on the bench late this afternoon though when it had cooled down ever so slightly....

 ....thought you might like this cute picture of her! I'm very lucky that I now live somewhere that I can happily leave every door and window open, so I've been working in my Doo Lally room but I've been able to get the breeze coming through from the back of the house. It's been so quiet here all day - I think everyone has taken the advice to keep out of the sun whilst it's so hot. I had a cold shower earlier...my technique is to get into a warm shower and then slowly trun the temperature down until the water is really cold - not so much of a shock that way! If it gets too hot in the night, my top tip is to soak a bath towel in cold water, wring it out and use it instead of a duvet - works a treat!

Oh, before I go, after a rather long and rather rambly post....I decided to make a bread and butter pudding last night. Don't ask me why! I replaced the sugar with a little Splenda and it looked great when I lifted it out of the oven....

 .....unfortunately, it was a real disappointment and tasted nothing like it looked! I think it needed more liquid, but never mind. So, no recipe for this one until I do a better job! It will still get eaten of course!

Tomorrow I'll be helping between services at church and then it is the Hog Roast in the vicarage garden which I'm really looking forward to. I'll take my camera!

Hope everyone is having a brilliant weekend and not getting overheated....any top tips for keeping cool?

Bats update! Well, after saying I'd like to get a better look at the bats, I had a couple of lucky shots tonight! I go outside at around 10.15pm and tonight decided I would sit on the bench as the bats like to swoop quite low over my lawn (for lawn, read more like a meadow at the moment!). The joy of digital photography....I was able to keep snapping away and, instead of trying to follow a completely unfollowable bat, I just pointed in the general direction and carried on clicking. I didn't think I'd caught anything till I loaded the pictures......

 .....and this one is a corker......

.....though you'll need to click the image for a better look. I don't think I'll be getting a job as a wildlife cameraman any time soon, but these pictures gave me a thrill anyway. The bats came so close tonight that I could feel the movement of their wings as they flittered past, though, of course, they didn't touch me. Doorstep wildlife....fabulous!

Lingfield weekend

Hello again everyone, and especially to new followers and the lovely people that I met at the Extravaganza at the Craft Barn last weekend. Going on the long trip to Lingfield for my first demonstration event since David died was very daunting but I was okay once the first people came in and I got started.
My journey down was disrupted because of the extraordinary weather the previous day, so trains were delayed and overcrowded. Once I got to Lingfield it was much calmer though. It's a very quiet and pretty area. This is the library..... ......isn't it lovely? I took a couple of nice walks round the surrounding lanes each evening, so that was very calming.
Saturday and Sunday were incredibly busy with people coming from all over the World to the event. Hello to Glennis, from New Zealand, who I met last year as well...hope you do manage to be with us again next time. I also caught up with my lovely friend Paula Pascual, though we didn't manage a photo. I haven't seen her for a while, so it was lovely to spend some time with her. Here's someone you'll recognise..... .....my good friend Andy Skinner who was on the table next to mine. I know I have said it before, but he is such a talented artist, as well as being a really lovely man.If you haven't had a look at his blog already, do check it out.
I had been "messing about" with a book that I cut a recess out of, covered in papers, gesso, inks and some Idealogy items. It didn't really turn out how I wanted it to, but it was fun to do and gave me some ideas for next time I make one. This one housed the robot from my stamp set "Overhaul Needed". Here's a shot of me working at my messy table. Some of the other designers have lovely displays with neat working areas, but I can never seem to manage that. The weekend just went by in a blur really. I was staying at the local Inn again, which has a very good chef. It was good to eat some well prepared food again as I seem to have been living on ready meals and sandwiches these last few months. The worst part of the weekend was coming home to an empty house (bar Thomas and Tara of course, but you know what I mean). Still, I've done the first trip away now, so that was a really positive step.
The garden is growing really well - unfortunately, the thing that's growing is Mare's Tail along with other weeds. So, what with the onslaught of what seems like millions of slugs, I have been getting a bit behind with it all, especially in the wet weather. This morning's been really sunny though, so I have filled the green recycling bin with weeds and at least part of the garden looks tidier. I have to be careful with weedkillers around the pusscats, so I decided my best offensive was to pull things up and then just try and keep on top of them when they grow back.
This beautiful Poppy was growing out of the kerb at the side of the house so I have been hoping that nobody runs over it until it has set seeds that I can collect. It's a stunner, so I'd like to grow some if I can. Looks like it's going to rain again soon, so I think my gardening is done for the day. Apologies to those of you who I still haven't got back to yet. I am trying to catch up with everyone and everything, but it's taking me a while I'm afraid. Again, please accept my thanks for all your good wishes.

Inertia after the Leigh Show!

What a wonderful weekend it was at the Leigh show. I was demonstrating on The Stamp Hut stand and it was non stop from the moment the show opened. Here's where I was chained to the table all day - apart from when I was taking this picture! No, not quite, but we didn't even take a break and just kept going on coffee and water. You can see all the products that I was demonstrating behind my table - except for the whirligigs of decoupage which were on the adjacent stand and kept knocking my cards flying every time someone whizzed them round!
Lots of my stamp designs and the Gorjuss range along with Ranger goodies, including my new favourite Glue n Seal of course! Here's a closer look at one side of my table, not that it was as tidy as this for very long, though I was quite good really and didn't make too much mess!I met so many people that I know, many of whom I haven't seen for an age, so it was a lovely couple of days. Hope you are all making good use of your purchases and Glueing and Sealing for all you're worth!
I'm going to be at Crabapple Crafts in Frodsham this Saturday where I'll, once again, be working with Gorjuss stamps as well as some by my mate Andy Skinner. I'll have some new My Minds Eye Kraft papers as well, which I really recommend as they're a great weight, really unusual designs and work well with Distress inks. I'll post some samples later in the week, but have got lots to catch up on for the next few days after a Thursday and Friday that got completely taken over by other things for one reason and another.
Now, my good news for today is this............ .............yes, after some people pressure, Personal Impressions have added my robot into my Off the Wall Collection of stamp sets. Initially he had been made into a Twinchie sized stamp (still available) but I asked if he could be made into an A6 set and I drew some springs and nuts to go with him. So "Overhaul Needed" PICSA6332 will be available from the end of March. This is a version of the robot I drew for one of my journal pages but he'll be just as useful for cards, scrapbooking or any altered art projects as well of course.
I'll sign off for now as it's time to sort out some food for Thomas and Tara, as well as David and myself of course!