Tuesday 29 August 2017

Tic Tac Toe challenge #12

Another week has flown by and it's time again for the Tic Tac Toe challenge.   I did actually make the card last night but was unable to get a decent photo of it until this morning.


I chose to go with the middle vertical row pink, oval, sentiment but after I'd made it I realised it also fitted the bottom row too, die cut, sentiment, floral.


I already had some of the flowers stamped and die cut and I knew I wanted to use one of the Kraft card bases I had lying around on my work desk.  After trawling through my paper stash I found the background paper with some green foliage on to which I added some stamped flower images to add more pink to the design.  The sentiment is from SU and fitted nicely into the large oval.  Although I didn't do it at the time I think I will add some little gems to the centre of the flowers to give this card a little sparkle.


Sunday 27 August 2017

I started so I finished

On Thursday evening when I got home from work I made a start on the jigsaw puzzle I bought DH (us) for Christmas the year before last.  I was able to get the outside completed apart from a few pieces which had evidently got left in the box while sorting before going to bed that night.

Yesterday inbetween household chores and taking Max for a walk I was able to finish the jigsaw although I did stay up until twenty past midnight to complete it!  Probably not a good move but I kept saying just one more piece and the time just flew by so fast.  


It felt good to accomplish this so quickly.

Max and I  will be catching a bus into town later to take a walk up to Plymouth Hoe where there is a bus rally going on and all the males from our family are involved with it.  The sun is shining brighly so it will probably be busy which is good for a bank holiday weekend.

Tuesday 22 August 2017

Tic Tac Toe challenge #11

Another quick post before I go to work to show the card for this week's Tic Tac Toe challenge. 


I went for the bottom row this time leaf, free (used background stamp and gems), splatter.


Edited
Back from work so I can now explain how this card came about.  I used the SU En Francais background stamp and inked with a few autumnal coloured inks to give it a multi tone.  I also stamped one of the small leaves from the SU Vintage Leaves set.  From the same stamp set I stamped out several of the leaves onto patterned paper and used the coordinating dies to cut them out.  The patterned paper came from a retired SU DSP pack which has been lurking in my stash for quite some time.  The sentiment came from one of the new stamp sets that will be available from 1st September called Painted Harvest.  My free choice(s) were to use the background stamp and a few pearl gems.  The final choice was to use brown and green inks watered down to create some splatters flicking a paint brush.

Monday 21 August 2017

Rainy Sunday stitching

It rained all day yesterday so our plans to tackle the tidy up of the garden and wash the car were put on hold - personally I think DH said a little rain prayer Saturday evening to avoid doing the garden.  So if it rains then it's the perfect excuse to spend the morning stitching.


I managed to get the sailing boat completed and some of the background behind it done before our eldest son and family came to visit.  It was then time to play with the Plasticine and the Wii.

Once the family had departed I could resist no longer and made a start on the It's Only Forever cross stitch kit from Gecko Rouge.   When I bought the kit I also treated myself to the coordinating needleminder so that as I work the many thousand of stitches I can remind myself what it will eventually look like.


This is approximately 400 stitches.  Initially I wasn't marking them off but I realised this is too big a project with very similar shades of thread and so not to do so would be a mistake.   As I go back near areas I have already worked but hadn't crossed off at the time I can mark everything and so be able to have a more accurate stitch count with each session very soon.

Thursday 17 August 2017

A trio of tags

Yesterday I travelled down to Scrapbook Magic for a tag workshop in the morning and a general crafting session in the afternoon.   I did far more talking in the afternoon than crafting but it was lovely.  We made three Christmas tags using a variety of stamps and dies.



 

Tuesday 15 August 2017

Tic Tac Toe challenge #10




No time to lose so short and sweet for Tic Tac Toe challenge


EDITED
This morning I only had time to post a picture of the tag with no explanation on how I made for the Tic Tac Toe Challenge before going into work.  I'd left it right up until this morning to decide which elements I was going to use and it was a frantic effort at getting it made in time to post in order to meed the cut off time.  Eventually I decided to use the centre horizontal line Anything But a Card, Fun Fold and Watercolour. 

To make the tag I used some watercolour cardstock and placed it into an embossing folder and ran it through the Big Shot.  I used a few different SU ink pads to create a random watercolour background and when dried I added some gold embossing powder.  I created the fancy fold snowflake rosette using a Tim Holtz die and also added gold embossing powder to the peaks of the rosette.  Finally I added an SU sentiment and mounted the watercolour card onto a piece of Kraft cardstock.

Sunday 13 August 2017

Bobbing along

Bobbing along was the song that entered my head this afternoon as I finally got to sit down and work on my stitching.  Of course in the Bedknobs and Broomsticks version of the song they are bobbing along on the bottom of the beautiful briny sea, thankfully the boats in my stitching will be on top of the waves.


It's been a while since I've done any stitching with being away on holiday and spending time with the grandchildren now they are on school holidays.  It was also very nice to have a different colour to stitch with as the right hand side has been predominately blue.

A confession now - I've bought another kit this time from a company called Gecko Rouge.  In my opinion they are a UK version of Heaven and Earth designs, very large and generally detailed designs.  I was browsing their website prior to going on holiday and kept being drawn to one particular design which reminded me of hours spent watching the film The Labyrinth with our children.  It was our daughter's favourite and I can always remember when we were expecting Bryan that she said if our new baby cried all the time she would call upon the goblin king to take it away.   Luckily for Bryan he was a good baby so there was no need for Colette to call upon his services.  While on holiday I subscribed to their newsletter and when we got back they had sent a newsletter out with details of a money off coupon which finally made my willpower crumble and so yesterday morning this arrived via the postman.


It's a large project and comes with a detailed pattern in a booklet format, all the threads presorted and a huge piece of 14 count aida (although there are other counts and fabrics to choose from).  I also purchased a coordinating needle minder.  It came neatly packed in a striped paper bag along with a thank you sticker with a gecko charm attached to it.  Now I did make it a condition of buying it to go through the many already unopened kits I already have in my stash and put those that I am no longer likely to stitch ever up for sale.  That's a job for Monday morning as I clean up the conservatory which was recently used as a dumping ground while we decorated the living room.  Wish me luck as I know I need to be realistic with past purchases and let them go.



Wednesday 9 August 2017

Farewell Scotland

After breakfast on Thursday morning I could no longer resist visiting the craft shop before leaving Castle Douglas. Two stories high and filled with an abundance of different crafting materials from fabrics to paints, stamps to yarn and lots more inbetween.  I almost managed to come out of the shop unscathed until I saw this pair of Alice stamp sets and then my resistance failed miserably.  However it could have been a lot worse I guess.


Back to Nantwich we went avoiding the chaos of motorway roadworks by taking the toll road. We took an afternoon stroll along the canal to stretch our legs after the car journey.  We walked along the old Chester canal which was built in 1772.


It was a beautiful walk away from the traffic, lots of pretty canal boats and its hard to imagine that this would once have been the main way of transporting goods in times past.





We came across this wooden sculpture as a reminder of the wonderful horses that would have towed the boats along the canal.


The main line between Nantwich and Autherly Junction was almost built as a railway line but eventually they decided to build it as a waterway.


Along our journey we saw a sign for the Star Inn public house so on the way back we turned off the canal path in search of it.  The footpath took us through fields of corn.


Then through a housing estate before getting back onto the main road, passing this pretty church and arriving at our destination.


Sadly when we arrived at the Star Inn it was to find it had been permanently closed  I've borrowed this photo from a newspaper article, sadly the Star Inn we discovered was covered in grime and road traffic dirt and looking very forlorn.


It would appear that it has been sold and outline planning permission given to turn the Grade 'll building into three residential homes - however this was back in 2016 and sadly it is still empty which will no doubt be another building left to decay before any real action is taken.


We carried on walking back along the road to our original starting point at the aquaduct before going back to our hotel for our evening meal.

Monday 7 August 2017

Tic Tac Toe challenge #9

Another week has flown by but what a great week we had with our trip to Scotland and the birth of our grandson more to follow in the next day or two.  However it's time to share the card I made for this week's Tic Tac Toe challenge. 


I've gone with the vertical middle row sequins, distress inks and stencil.  I've used four different coloured distress oxide inks and a Stamplorations stencil to create the panel of my card.  Sequins were added to the centre of the flowers and a few additional random ones.  The sentiment is from a recently acquired sentiment stamp from Clearly Besotted which is one of their August releases and was waiting for me on my return from our holiday!


Sunday 6 August 2017

Threave Castle

On Wednesday morning we took a walk along the Threave estate footpath with the aim of seeing Threave Castle.  It was a lovely walk through the countryside and nature always has wonderful surprises for you.  We came across a cow that must have recently gave birth to her calf as she was cleaning her as we walked by.  If we had been maybe 10-20 minutes earlier we might even have seen the birth (something I would have appreciated but DH was relieved not to have been there any earlier as he gets a little squeamish).


Further along we came across a collection of fungi growing on a fallen tree branch.


The walk to the castle was about two and a half miles.  The castle was the stronghold of the Black Douglases and built in the 14th century.  It lies in the River Dee and can only be accessed via boat.  


You have to ring a bell and the boatman comes across to take you over to the tower house/castle.  Unfortunately dogs are not allowed so we had to admire this impressive building which is the same height as a ten storey block of flats (30metres).


We then walked back to Castle Douglas where we found another dog friendly cafe called Street Lights.  We stopped for lunch and they even brought Max a doggy chew to enjoy while we had our lunch.  We then headed back to our B&B just before the skies opened and the rain came down for the first time since we had been there.

After a few hours of rain the sun came out again and we popped along to a shop called Enigma where we had seem some nautical themed wooden ducks which we had decided to buy and they would go in our newly decorated lounge.


Pirate Peter and Admiral Neil.  It turns out these ducks are made by a company called DCUK, the duck company which is based in Diptford, Totnes which isn't far from where we live.  We were also tempted to buy one of their Scottish cousins, they were wearing different coloured Tam o'shanters but we couldn't decide on which colour to have.  As we have now discovered we can buy them online we have plenty of time to decide if we will add to our duck family.

We also took another walk down to Carlingwark Loch where the swans seemed to be practising their synchronised swimming routine.



Saturday 5 August 2017

Exploring new places

On Tuesday we visited Kirkcudbright pronounced Kircoobree.  It has been a Royal Burgh since 1455 and is predominately a fishing port but also boasts museums, galleries and a castle.  We paid a visit to the Stewartry Museum which holds an amazing array of historical artifacts and wildlife.  As it was busy with children it was difficult to take photos without inadvertently capturing one of them so this is the best I could do.  It was founded in 1879.


Kirkcudbright has a long establishment with the Glasgow art movement including the Glasgow Boys, Samuel Peploe and  Francis Cadell.  There were plenty of gallery/shops to peruse.  Scattered near the estuary where the River Dee runs were several sculptures and even beach huts?!




This is one the town cat who apparently spent his days in different shops and by the harbour.

This wooden sculpture was placed on the harbour in 1994, it was built to remember all those that have been lost at sea.  The artist was Charlie Easterfield.

Sir Thomas MacLellan had the castle built from material from the church which was dismantled for this very purpose around the 1570's.  It was difficult to get decent photographs as there was scaffolding in the centre of the castle.

There is an art trail around Kirkcudbright and from one of the windows it looked like Rapunzel was letting her hair down.



Beautiful views down the River.


Our next stop was Dalbeattie which is known as the granite town of South West Scotland and on wet days I can imagine it looks a cold and grey place.  Thankfully the sun was shining for us.  Dalbeattie was established in the 1790s beside the water power of the Dalbeattie Burn and the granite was extracted from the local quarries which was also exported across the country.

Dalbeattie most well known figure is Lt William McMaster Murdoch who was the First Officer of Titanic.

There wasn't a great deal there but I did go into one of the charity shops and buy some books as the one I'd taken on holiday I finished reading Monday evening.  Three books for a pound - can't go wrong there.  A mixed selection purchased.


From here we called into a small pottery workshop, lots of nice things to look at but nothing that really caught my eye.  I did like the way they had shaped one of their hedges though.


Our final stop of the day was Kippford which is a small village along the Solway coast.





All along the beach is just one mass of pretty shells of which I collected quite a few and have brought them home with me for future projects.





Friday 4 August 2017

Two weeks early

I was without internet access yesterday evening so was unable to continue with my holiday tales and today I have an update of a different kind. 

Our darling daughter had her baby today.  Baby Sebastian was born at 10.17 this morning by c-section.  Two weeks early but weighing in at a healthy 6lbs 13oz - what surprised us more was his mop of black hair, Logan and Lincoln her other two boys have ginger hair.  Although Savannah was dark haired when she was born so they are taking after daddy.  He's just gorgeous and they are both doing very well.



More holiday updates will come over the next couple of days so not long to wait Chris to find out what I bought while I was away lol.

Wednesday 2 August 2017

Over the border

Our destination in Scotland is Castle Douglas where we are staying for three nights.  We were recommended the Douglas House B&B by our friend who now lives here and our reason for visiting this part of Scotland .  The B&B is run by a lovely lady called Linda and it's dog friendly so Max has been able to come with us too.

After checking in we went for a walk round the town centre of Castle Douglas which is a small 18th century market town.  There are lots of independent shops, a pop up artist shop which sells arts and crafts made by a variety of people from all creative backgrounds including paintings, glass work, textiles and more.  I've also come across a craft shop which I haven't ventured in yet but will do so before we leave and also a lovely fabric shop.  We did stop for a drink and cake at The Mad Hatter cafe.


Another dog friendly place and they even brought Max over his own bowl of water.  Inside the cafe they have a display cabinet with lots of Alice in Wonderland teapots, China mugs and tea sets - I was very tempted by one of the sets but again have resisted so far.


Our friend who lives here now wasn't finishing work until later in the evening so we had a chance to explore the local area a bit more.  Castle Douglas is very close to the northern end of Carlingwark Loch which is absolutely beautiful and just a five minute walk from our B&B.


It's a freshwater loch and in years past when it was frozen over they held curling competitions for the Queenshill cup on there.  There is a circular walk around the loch which is about 3.2 miles, a future walk maybe.  There are four artificial islets which are indications of fortifications and settlements with various artifacts found including a bronze cauldron and sword.  More recently an aerating fountain was added to prevent the build up of blue-green algae.


  Nearby there is a carvan and camping park, what a beautiful place to be able park your mobile home and wake up in the morning with this on your doorstep.