Christmas Greetings

I want to wish anyone who reads my intermittent blog posts a Very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year.

At this time of year we have so many memories of family and times past so hope those memories sustain you at this time.

For those who are lonely I trust you will find that the Babe of Bethlehem will stand alongside you and comfort you.

Trust all those who have health issues at this time will know the healing touch of the Great Physician in the days ahead.

I want to say grateful thanks to all of my cyber friends for all their help and support over the year. 'They' say one has to be careful of cyberfriends but I am so glad to have 'met' so many of you on line, you have blessed my life.

Greetings from a very mild Northern Ireland where it is windy and raining and yes, we await the coming of Emmanuel...there is that feeling of expectancy.

God Bless you all.

My goodness a card!

Well folks today is sunny and I got a photo, albeit poor quality, of a card I've made for a customer. My instructions were warm and bright....not two things which necessarily go together but here is my offering...possibly more busy than I'm used to. There are gold gems on it which don't show up too well.
I am sort of otherwise engaged around the house at the moment and I just haven't time to devote to blogging.....I apologise to my 'followers' that you haven't had much to read lately. Take care until we 'talk' again.

Weather and Apologies

Our weather has been glorious - sorry I haven't a photo for you.

Sorry I have been so bad at posting - life gets in the way at times.

Until I have more interesting to tell you....take care.

I'm Back # 2

Just adding more photos. Cavtat is 15 km south of Dubrovnik and is quite a small village/town with beautiful views over the bay...there are two harbours...one for the flash yachts which arrive day and daily and create great interest for the onlookers. The other little natural harbour housed many little boats bobbing up and down all day and provided hours of amusement watching the water taxis come and go....we also watched the tour buses from cruises arrive to our little town for a coffee stop. They all doddled off the buses and to the front where all the eateries were. One day we were sitting watching the yachts and being nosey I always asked where they were from if I didn't recognise the flag....one was from Russia (did know that flag) one from Austria (wasn't sure of it but should have know from The Sound of Music LOL!) and one from Germany. It is mystifying to me how these folks navigate to certain ports...augh...I'd certainly be lost at sea!
On one photo you will see a doorway with shutters...just look how the shape of the shutters matches the shape of the stone doorway...attention to detail here. This was a simple Bed and Breakfast place on one of the islands we visited...simple but clean and sparkling from what we could see. You can also see two sunbeds and this is the place we watched all the comings and goings....it was overshadowed by Corsican pines which gave dappled sun most of the day and we didn't get sunburned.
Until next time take care.

I'm Back!

Hello everyone...here I am again...refreshed, rested and almost ready to resume whatever is in front of me. We had a relaxing break and the weather was still very warm so we didn't rush around at all. In fact we only had one 'excursion' and that was a boat trip to 3 islands - and a rough journey homewards. Sufficient to say the crew were tying down the spare seating - I was waiting for us to be handed our lifejackets LOL! Our hotel was very pleasant and the staff were more than helpful and friendly and above all they all, without exception, were a treat to be with. The food was good. I am enlcosing some photos - there may be two posts tonight.

I'm Having a Break

Hello Everyone...just popping in to say that I am enjoying a break from cardmaking and a lot of other things too. It is great not to have the pressure of working to deadlines for a short time. Lots of folks have been disappointed about cards but I drew a line on the calendar on 17th August and had orders to complete which I managed to do around 3rd September. Now I am having time to organise things I've not had time for recently plus I need to pack two cases for a get-away in Croatia....the former Yugoslavia and we are both looking forward to seeing somewhere different.
I apologise about the lack of blogging and lack of camera work.....dull days anyhow so not much opportunity to snap anything.
I trust those of you who are sweltering still in high temps will soon get relief from searing heat.....we are trusting we will find some real summer in Croatia.
Take care everyone until I talk again.

One of the many cards I've made recently

Here is a card for a 1 year old - or as I was told...'it's a card for the Mother really'!! So it was a mix of young and old....the box has a Tilda on it and the card is a little more elegant for Mum. The dp is Echo Park.(love it!!)..the number is PTI with stickles on it. There are two suede pale green leaves from Sharon Johnson's site. The roses are made from double faced satin ribbon. It's one of those cards I particularly like and don't actually feel like parting with ...but it has to go tomorrow!

Another day out

One good day last week we headed off to visit Londonderry....first we walked over the newly opened Peace bridge which is a decorative bit of engineering but very costly....I loved the sweep it had over the river Foyle.
On the walls of the city my husband came across these young girls highland dancing accompanied by a piper...sorry I can't bring you the haunting Scottish melody. We travelled by bus and train and on our return journey the train was crowded and we were joined by a German couple who were travelling in Ireland, we had a lovely time chatting and telling them of our local dialect...sorry we don't have any names but he was a Colin Firth/Mr Darcy look alike and she was very sweet too. We waved them goodbye as they left us at Central Station to catch the Dublin train. The mother in me was concerned that they would arrive in Dublin after 10 at night with no reserved accommodation....
The flowers in the city were a sight to behold and all credit has to go to the City Council for such a tremendous show of flowers....this is the hanging baskets at the bus station no less...

What is this life, if full of care.......

.....we have no time to stand and stare...indeed....here I am...... it serves to remind us all that some staring is necessary once in a while....one of the photos is also of the woodland walk...and I kept saying to my husband...'it's so quiet here!'...while unknown to us in another woodland not that far distant over two strips of water something utterly sinister was taking place...what a shock we got to hear of this when we got home...there we were walking in a peaceful woodland and ...well, I've already said it all. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Norwegian nation at the moment.

Summer came - a day out.

When the forecasters said last Friday was going to be the best day of the week we headed off...and en route I managed to replenish the cardstock and dp supplies. We visited Rowallane Garden where there is a beautiful walled garden full of a plants to charm any gardener's heart. There are lots of old stone walls bursting with little ferns seeking the light of day. Rowallane is one of the old houses and estates owned (mostly but not exclusively) by the National Trust.

A Couple of things I made today.....

Well, I made these after spending some time making the templates last night....I know you can get templates on the web but sometimes the things available to us in the U.K. are not American sizes so sometimes they don't work...for instance....a certain stamp company has their own notepads and I ain't going to pay postage for them so, we have perfectly good alternatives at Tesco.....and one of the photos shows my attempt to cover one up for a little gift....the paper is Washi paper attached to thick cardstock. I bought this so long ago at The Paper Ya on Granville Island, Vancouver...what a shop....www.paperya.ca - I've also managed to include the flap inside the cover which can hold receipts or something else you need to keep alongside it. This was the last piece of this paper in my possession.
The other photo is the cover on the 100 size post-it notes - some felt flowers and a leaf (both Papertrey) and a couple of petals off a corsage I bought a long time ago - coupled with a ric rac and an edger panel as well. You know we see these things on the net all the time....I may be slower than some but don't underestimate the time it takes to come up with even the simplest little offering. All this when I should be making some of the 15 cards on order....so I better get back to that.
Kind regards from a wet Northern Ireland where the weather has been glorious for a few days and now we get more rain to make the grass grow again!! It's endless!

At Last A Card!!

Life is so busy at the moment but in the nick of time for this Engagement Card came a little package from Claire holding little beauties in the form of Cameos and Ovals compatible with Spellbinders....oh my!!
Managed to get a photo in half decent light as it is not a bright day hereabouts.
Hope you like!!

Cyndie's Wish LOL!!!

Well, here you are dear girl....we are having an Assistant Pastor soon and within the Presbyterian Church after they go through Union College they have to be Licensed......this was my gift to ours and I also gave one to another man who we know well....so recently did two of these and of course Shaz you will realise that I've managed to do the gilding a la PVA....the main text is in Foundational Hand which is very plain...not like Shaz' ornate letters which she has hand drawn. Endless patience to do those. Hope you like - lettering is not 100% but I was in a hurry...when am I not?

A fishy tail.......

Look what someone gave us last week....two were 1 1/4lb each and the other three were smaller....I had 'fun' cleaning them all out....we ate one each for dinner and the rest are frozen....so thank you Tom and friends for your tasty gift and thanks to Ailsa (she of the Easter ring on an earlier blog) for driving here to deliver them. They tasted absolutely delicious!
I'm also posting a photo I forgot in last post....this is the one with the painted word on it!

This and That

Well folks, sorry for the non-posting - life gets in the way but thought I'd show you the little town of Malin in County Donegal....we were passing through this beautiful little town with it's 'triangle' of green in the centre of the small town - this is typical of so many Irish towns. Sadly it appeared that there was only one little supermarket open in the town...one small hotel too but lots of small shops closed up. We headed on up the road to Malin Head which was a communications point during WWII. It's a wild and breezy place so we didn't stay too long...it's the most Northerly point in Ireland. Ireland was neutral during the war and to deter planes from dropping bombs meant for the port of Londonderry in Northern Ireland (a few minutes by plane away) someone had the bright idea of painting the word 'Eire' (this was the old name for Ireland) on the rocks (you may see this vaguely in one of the photos) - wouldn't be much use in the dark when most bombs were dropped!!

Second Post today

I have a couple more photos to show you. One is the wallpaper in this house...one room was really beautiful....the largish rooms lend themselves to wallpaper with a large repeat and I show one example here. Also another bedroom - pinks seem to be popular in this house. Sorry - seem to have posted 2 photos the same - can't get one removed...yet another senior moment.

Holyhill House near Strabane

Sorry for my long absence. Lots of work but in between jobs I had a day out with my husband's mens' group (we womenfolk are 'allowed' to accompany them on their outing).
We visited this house yesterday. The house was built around 1670 (yes 1670. It was bought in 1683 by Rev John Sinclair. At one point in history they had to flee the house but returned and the house was in the Sinclair ownership for 250 years. The last of the male line was William Hugh Montgomery Sinclair who, while in America on Consular service met a certain Elizabeth Elliot Hayes who was American. They married and when he died left all his estate to his American wife. On her death in 1957 the estate was taken over by Major Gen. Sir allan Adair, who was the liberator of Brussels. The estate was then sold to a local Pharmacist and it is now their family home. The rooms are small compared to our other big houses but this makes it a very cosy home indeed. They keep it immaculate with only a very little help and onl have small groups to visit by prior appointment for which they make no charge but ask for donations to a local charity. There were so many beautiful paintings and an absolute plethora of books in the most wonderful bookcases....wish I could show you more of it but here are a few pictures to whet your appetite for a visit to our country.

Easter Blossoms....like snow on the ground....

My friend Bernie called last evening and she hadn't been up our avenue when the cherry blossoms were blowing around in the light breeze, almost like snow....and the covering of pink all over the ground never fails to be something beautiful....just thought I'd let you see her photo, one of many which she took as she left me.

Easter Blessings

May I wish you Every Blessing this Eastertime.
Today, Good Friday we remember His suffering but on Easter Sunday morning we will rejoice that He has risen that we may live with him forever.

My piece of calligraphy today was written probably 25 years ago....apparently it was written by someone in prison who was supposed to be demented but surely these words, along with the other verses of this hymn, could only be written by someone who was certainly in their right mind.

Best wishes to one and all whatever your plans are for this holiday.