It's finally stopped....

...I hope! It rained this morning but nothing since, and the weather forecast is looking good. I was tempted to get the hedging shears out but thought better of it. It would just be my luck for the rain to start again, or for some electrical mishap with all the rain about. Instead I've done a bit of weeding in the back garden. There wasn't much to do and weeding after rain is the best time...they come out so easily. Hopefully I will get started on the front garden tomorrow....'cos it certainly needs attention.

OK..you can stop now,

Raining that is. Getting a tad fed up with the weather now, not that I can actually do anything about it. I got soaked just going to the surgery to pick up my prescription. Looked and felt like a drowned rat when I got home. Kept looking outside before I went, trying to decide if I would manage to be there and back before the next onslaught of rain.
Most of you will know that there are quite a few digital stamps being offered for sale on the Internet. I have a few of these. They are a great alternative to buying stamps. They are cheap..no postage costs and good if you are starting out or are having to be careful with the pennies (aren't we all?). I still prefer the actual physical stamps but unfortunately I would be bankrupt several times over if I indulged as often as I would like. I digress from my point here. Yesterday while catching up with all my blog reading, I came across 2 of these digi stamps that I would like to buy..actually there were more that I would have liked but I decided on these two. From different sites....but I couldn't buy them. Why? Because they were sold out. Now I don't know if I'm missing something here; but can a digital image actually sell out? Let me know if you know the answer to that one. I'm intrigued..... and disappointed!

It's still raining.

So here I am catching up with my blog reading and another post. Well it had to rain...I bought a new washing line....yes, son broke the last one...and a line prop. They haven't been used yet.

A few days ago I received 2 ATC's and a card from the lovely Nikki from the Crafts Beautiful forum. The ATC's I should have received went missing, so she sent me an Easter one, which was the theme, and a butterfly one. Thank you Nikki, it is very much appreciated.

Over at ATC Swappers we have a colour choice. 4 blue and black..OR..4 cream and purple...OR...both! I decided to just go for one option....cream and purple. I managed to do these without cutting into any new sheets of card or paper. They look more like blue and white....but believe me they are purple and cream! I'm blaming the weather and the poor lighting.

I'm off now to upload latest ATC's to my Picasa.

Stop raining!!!!

Last weekend I cut the hedges in the back garden....and managed to cut through the cable, did that last year with the lawnmower. No worries though.....surge protected and I know how to temporarily fix it. I haven't got an electrician for a son without learning something!.....and my dad taught me how to wire a plug, change a washer on a tap, and lots of other useful things to know around the house. Although it took me a couple of days to recover....which I spent not doing much but enjoyed sitting outside or pottering for a while, even though it was a bit windy. When I was ready to cut the front hedges what happens?.....rain...and more rain...and more rain. It has alternated between glorious sunny spells to torrential downpours for the last 4 days. I thought that it would settle with the thunderstorm last night, but today, again the same. I haven't wasted my time though. I made a card for the Imag-e-nation forum challenge and have done my ATC's for this month. I've not spent a lot of time on the computer as I'm finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate for too long at the moment. I'm way behind on my blog reading! Didn't win the challenge....never expect to though, the standard is high. I really enjoyed making this card. I used a stencil and played with my chalks which I haven't done for a long time. The dolphin was cut out from a free downloaded sheet of toppers from Scrapbookingmad. If I find that I need this card for someone then I can always personalise it with a name or age in the top right hand corner. For now it is in my card box.





I will update my ATC albums when I've taken pictures.

Today is...

....M.E. Awareness Day. The month of May is dedicated to M.E. Awareness...and the 12th is accepted all over the world as Awareness Day. If you would like more information on M.E. please link on to a couple of sites in the sidebar and you will find a lot of info here. I hope every sufferer and carer is as well as can be.
Take care

Can you see....

...the smoke coming out of my ears? I'm fuming! The day started badly with gas contractors hammering on my door at 8 this morning (I don't do mornings). The gas supply pipes are being replaced on our estate. Holes everywhere. They've moved my meter from the kitchen to the toilet..it's downstairs....I don't know why. My house is due for major modernization work this year so it will have to be moved again. The wall that my meter is situated on will be knocked down. The mess was unbelievable. Chunks of plaster and brick dust everywhere, solder dripped down on the walls and door, and paint scraped of the door by the metal ladder. When I pointed this out I was told that it didn't matter as the door will be replaced with the modernization!! Then I was told that there was a gas leak....and it must have been leaking for quite a long time apparantly...he had trouble finding exactly where the leak was. OK, it's fixed now....BUT!..my boiler and gas fire was serviced by the local council a couple of weeks ago. The boiler had a fault and was repaired....BUT...no gas leak detected! Anyhow, after I'd cleaned up a man came to fill in the holes in the walls. A child could have done a better job.
I was consoled a little with receiving some crafty post.....much better than bills. ATC's from 2 of the 4 swaps I participate in...Imag-e-nation and Crafts Beautiful. Unfortunately one of them was an opened empty envelope from the Crafts Beautiful swap. I've come to the conclusion that the contents have been "removed." The envelope has no franking marks whatsoever, so it cannot have gone through the system. Not only am I disappointed for myself but also for the people who's ATC's they were. On a brighter note Jane, aka Draytonlady, has offered to send me some more to make up. Just shows what a caring community the craft world is.

ATC's now uploaded to my picasa albums which can be found on the right hand sidebar.

P.S. Thank you for the comment Anne (my greatest fan)....glad you liked your pressie, it was a pleasure to do...and by the way, everyone knows how old you are now...lol

So what have I been.....

...up to? Well, first I've been busy with a card and stationary set for my friend's birthday....which was last Sunday. Had a panic with the card though. Theo decided to help..and was the air blue! I'd left it to dry and darling boy did what cats do...chased a moth on the outside of the window. In the process he brought my net curtain down and managed to knock the card on the floor. Silicone all over the acetate. After carefully dismantling and using a fresh piece of acetate it turned out OK. I used one of the Flippin Women sheets from La Pashe. I scored the card stock into squares to represent tiling..and then stamped a blue flower on alternate squares I took the picture before I realized that I'd forgotten to put the champagne cork on..that was remedied before I gave it to my friend. The insert is a birthday bubbles sheet from someone on the Imag-e-nation forum. I'm sorry, I can't for the life of me remember who it is. If you know can you please let me know so that I can give credit where it's due. (I really will have to start tagging these items, that are so freely and generously shared, so that I'll know at a glance who's they are.)

Below is the outside of the stationary set. I first got the inspiration for this from Jak's blog. It was going to be blue, then I found this gorgeous textured gold card in my stash that I didn't realize I had. The initial is metal and I've put a very small blue gem where a brad should be. The flower is a download from Jak's build a blossom sets....available on her blog....and a small blue gem in the centre. I have to say that the pictures are not good.

The inside....I used Jak's sheets... yet again available from her blog. They were originally black and white but she very kindly gave me permission to change the colour....to blue. Have you guessed yet that my friends favourite colour is blue?

Here are a few of the cards that I made to go inside. All the papers used are from Jak's blog. I used the same sentiment on all the cards..Just to say....as I think it's a very useful sentiment....hello....thinking of you...get well soon...etc,


And finally.....a card for my niece's birthday. The flowers and backing paper from Fred. The circle sentiment from Funky Fairy.

P.S. A quick pic of Theo getting to know his way around the garden. He's been an indoor cat up to a couple of weeks ago.

It's been a long time...

....since I updated my blog. I've been busy working on a little project for a friend that I should have started a week earlier. Due to me feeling worse than usual and a slow recovery from the chest infection, it was a last minute thing. I still haven't got rid of this cough and it is very annoying. My concentration is a bit lax as well...so I haven't been able to spend too much time on the computer. I'm catching up though. I have remembered to take piccies of what I have been making and some ATC's that I have received for this months swaps. Hopefully I will be back very soon with a loooooooooong post! Think I might split it down into several short posts though. A lot easier for me to do and for you to read.

I've been gardening.

All week. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous and I wasn't going to miss the opportunity. Normally when I decide to garden it's an all day thing with me. I just love being out there. Well I know I wouldn't have managed that, so I have made myself wait until the late afternoon. It's been a bit frustrating but it has worked. I've managed to pace myself a bit and I was surprised how well I've done. After the initial hard work of the first cut of the lawn.....the term "lawn" used very loosely....the rest was a doddle. The perennial plants I have been putting in, and keeping my fingers crossed that they would grow, are maturing very nicely and as a result there was hardly any weeding of the flower beds to be done...Yay!!! The back is just about done....just the hedges to trim before they get out of hand...and then on to the much smaller front. I'm dreading doing that....because Lily is back with a vengeance! Not much in the flower beds, just a couple which I can easily get rid of...but oh my word!...the front lawn is half covered with it. There is no way I'm digging that up ! It makes all that work I did digging it out seem just a waste of time now. All I can do is hopefully just keep cutting it down with the lawn mower and hope it gives up. If it gets desperate I could always blitz the whole lot with weedkiller.
I actually got to go swimming yesterday. Only did 12 lengths but it was enough. Although the chest infection has cleared I've still got a hacking cough and my breathing is still a bit wheezy. I'm supposed to make an appointment at the doctors for a lung function test but I can't see the point in going until the cough has cleared a bit more.
I've not done much crafting.....just some ATC's. I've another couple to do this week and 2 birthday cards. Tomorrow I'm in front of the TV. Jak of La Pashe fame is on with some new flippin sheets...the boys will have to do the cooking.

It's been a strange day.

Today would have been my son Matthew's 37th birthday. He died in 1990 but sometimes it feels as if we lost him such a short time ago. I didn't go to the cemetery...instead I spent some time tidying the garden. I know I'm going to suffer for it but it really did need doing....still lots to do...but I enjoyed myself, and it has been such a glorious day. We've had some beautiful weather lately and I was fed up of not being able to get out and enjoy it.
The last couple of weeks have seen me struggling to cope with the everyday things..getting out of bed, dressing, washing, light housework......just the normal everyday things...I've had to really push myself and I don't feel better for doing it. The boys have not helped at all. I'm going to have talk very seriously with them..they will have to do more. OK, they do their own washing, ironing and see to their own rooms. What they don't do is help with the washing up, cooking, cleaning and shopping. I manage to get to the local shop most days..they won't go...but the fortnightly shop with eldest and DIL is becoming increasingly more difficult. Last Thursday saw my son having to hold me up after me nearly passing out...and this is just for basics. I used to shop online when I was working just to save time. I had better things to do, and I hate shopping! It does have it's drawbacks though. If they haven't got what you want, the alternatives are not always suitable. Of course there is the cost to consider as well. We all have to watch the pennies a lot more carefully. Well I'm afraid the boys will have to get their act together and start taking some responsibility for food shopping. After all they eat most of it. If they won't help out a bit more they will have to go hungry..and I can't see them doing that!