Almost a month since the last post...tut...tut...

Hello folks - I've a few photos (again quality is poor but you know me). Life is busy - we've had some lovely weather which has broken today and we've had some rain but not a lot. It was so good to see the sunshine as it seems to lift people's mood somewhat. Our cherry blossom did get to last quite a long time and now the petals are falling all over the place....even though they are pink they remind me of the words of the last two lines of a hymn which says 'and from the ground there blossoms red life that shall endless be'. Our white lilac is out in bloom - we also have the traditional colour in our back garden. Tulips have now gone over. I've also been baking this evening. We had run out of wheaten bread so needed to get some in the oven. I make two batches which gives me these four loaves. If my younger son reads this he will not be happy as he's not here to cut himself a big slice, slather it with butter and a slice of cheese! Until next time take care!

20th April was a beautiful day!

Hello everyone....this has been a most wonderful day - the sun has shone from morning until a short time ago. Our usual family of blue tits has started to build in the nest box high up near our back door. When we are eating we can see them going back and forward with nesting materials. The rest of the birds are obviously sitting on eggs most of the time as really apart from a month ago there are not so many to be seen in the garden. Of course there is always Bobby Robin (at least 3 males which I saw at the one time) who follows my husband around in the hope that he'll disturb the ground and thus give him a little worm. He (Bobby Robin, not my husband!) will also come and sit on the bushes nearby when I am hanging out the washing. We have a cherry tree at the front and two thrushes are busy feeding hopefully 5 chicks as my husband got a ladder and checked for eggs maybe three weeks ago and there were 5. Just hope the cats will not destroy the chicks like they did last year. There is a constant hum of lawn mowers as folk keep their lawns looking pristine. Here are some photos of our back garden. The spring flowers abound at the moment. There is a lovely perfume when one walks down the path. The two white patches on the path are where I feed the birds who like to be ground fed. The blackbirds will appear a few minutes after I leave the food....breadcrumbs, fat balls crushed up and sometimes peanuts (whole) and mealworms which are devoured immediately. I can see the blackbirds picking them out before eating anything else. Take care until next time.

A Geometric One Layer card for 'Less Is More'

It's been a long time since I entered any challenge because I was making other kinds of cards for orders. This time of year can be less busy and I do like the odd challenge to keep my brain sharp. I hmmmd and haaad over this one 'what stamps do I have that fall into this category?' etc . I've ended up with Papertrey's Quilter's samplers (not having ever P'd and Q'd you'd wonder just why I ever bought this set) The larger square fitted in vertically three times (not perfectly spaced but there you are). It is stamped in Versafine Onyx Black. The top and bottom square inserts are stamped in Versalolour Cardinal - I find this to be the reddest red with no pink undertones. The sentiment is also Papertrey - needed to choose the right size to fit inside the middle square. The filling in of the squares and the roundels is worked in Dr Phil Martin's Spectralite Liquid Acrylic 18 carat gold 'ink' with a pointed pen nib (the sort one uses for copperplate calligraphy). In reality it gives a lovely sheen but this may not be visible on screen. To me the card then looked too bare, even for LIM, so I drew on lines in the red and black. I hope it fits the bill for the challenge this week.

A card I almost made this evening.

Hello - just popping in to let you see a card I made this evening...well actually two. First of all the base is one of the Stampin Up green colours (can't remember which) and then added a layer of white which I embossed with an Anna Griffin embossing folder. Then cut Turning a new Leaf dies from PTI and layered them on the white. Then cut Delicate Daisies from lavender and a pale purple cardstock. Added bling in the middle. Now have to add a word on the front or some greeting and a message inside but can't decide what occasion this card is going to be for. Should also add that the inspiration is from Pinterest, not me. Today has been cold and rainy. Spring has deserted us and our temperature is supposed to plummet to -4 tonight. Take care folks! I did some necessary shopping in Lidl this morning and dropped off some work to the Art Gallery.

Continuing...a little longer

I forgot to add a photo of a card I made recently...indeed I made 8 of them. Used the Anniversary set from Papertrey and life was made a lot easier by the gifting to me of a Mini Misti stamping tool by my shipping buddy in the U.S. This little miracle tool makes layered stamping a doddle....and no wasted cardstock - there is always a second chance to get the image properly stamped. Google My Sweet Petunia to see what it is all about. I hope I will be able to keep in touch with you more than I have done. Best wishes from a cold wintry Northern Ireland. Joyce

Spring is here- trying to make a fresh start at blogging again.....

Hello the few folks who still get notice of my postings. I really don't know where the time goes to, it flies. My intentions are always good but life gets in the way. I have had a few health issues and have been told not to push myself for a while so I decided to do a little re-organisation of my work room and thought I would try and take a few photos some of which are distinctly blurry but they may just give you a wee idea of what 'my place' looks like. I was watching a video by Jennifer McGuire yesterday and sadly my room is not in any way like her custom made workroom. Mine is made up of this that and the other but it works for me. Have just finished a phase of re-boxing stamps into old DVD type cases, I've had two big boxes of them and still not enough.... You will see that I still have some in DVD cases but hey, they'll do for now as the holders are fine and I don't want to throw them out. I usually get photos all over the place - it may take two posts to get them in but here goes. I have been know to make a real mess of this so bear with me.

Christmas Trees from Catalogues

Hello everyone - here I am again to show you how I have been wasting (?) my time making this tree out of a catalogue. If you need instructions just go to Pinterest and search for the title of this post and many will come up for you. I am making trees as part of a demo I am doing at our church ladies meeting in December and thought I would let you see how busy I've been LOL !!!! I took off the front and back cover of the catalogue and laboriously folded well over a hundred pages - stuck the first and last page together and a few others as well which were showing a bit wide....sprayed with gold and sprinkled with glitter.....added a few stars here and there and one for the top. I then stuck the base unto an empty ribbon spool to make it easier lifted. I don't think anyone who will be at the meeting will be aware of my blog so probably ok to show.