WOYWW #343- The New Year Edition.

Hello folks, I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, and we both want to wish everyone a peaceful, healthy, happy and successful New Year.
Sad news this week for all us Metalheads, with the death of the great Lemmy from Motorhead. The man had a voice that sounded as though it was raised on 60 Marlborough and a bottle of JD a day! The band urged fans to play Lemmy's music loud and "have a drink or few", saying: "Celebrate the life this lovely, wonderful man celebrated so vibrantly himself.
"He would want exactly that."
 Apparently, he only had his cancer diagnosis two days before he died, and I read that it was in his neck and brain.
 So I will indeed be having a JD and coke, or two, for the great man tonight.
Now, onto more cheerful things:
This awesome frame was a gift from our own super talented Debbie (Tattered Rocks).





There is so much detail in it, and just how glittery is that? Here's a close up:

Debbie, it's fabulous, we love it. Thank you so much.















Marg, (Silvercrafter) sent us this, a card mounted onto a canvas board. The detail is amazing, so many hours of work gone into this. Again, thank you Marg.







Youngest son Mikey bought me a Hobbycrafts gift card, so Monday saw a trip there. As you can see, a few bits and pieces-some card blanks, a couple of paper pads that were on sale, a nice silver and white dotty ribbon, a stamp saying ' Keep Calm and Craft On'- I can see that getting some use!. A date stamp, which was really cheap, only £3.50. Closer look at the paper packs here:

I like the 8x8 size, very useful, and the pack below only has a couple of really Christmassy papers, the others I can use all year. Love the owls (left) in the bottom right corner!

Still not a big fan of Hobbycrafts, they seem to be reducing the stuff they carry for stamping/papercrafting everytime I go in. They have loads of art materials, scrapbooking, knitting/sewing, beading and even cakecraft, but stamping etc seems to be getting edged out.It seems like they are trying to carry a bit from a lot of ranges, and it ends up a bit lacking, I felt. I think they could do with opening up some communication with stamp manufacturing companies, especially here in the UK, and get some more brands stocked.
 So that's me for now, I'll be around to visit later on, have a lovely Wednesday folks. Link up with Julia, over at The Stamping  Ground, and come play.

WOYWW #342- The Christmas Edition

Hello everyone, and here we are, Christmas week, the day before Christmas Eve. So a pre-festivities amble around the desks of the world, overseen as always by our own Shining Star, Julia, at The Stamping Ground. 
No desk pic here,as it's buried under packages and wrapping paper, 'cos I'm that organised I'm still wrapping pressies! Most of you will be highly amused by the fact that Doug wrapped all mine on Sunday night after I'd gone to bed- because he does nights, he has a nap Sunday afternoon, then stays up all night- and had bought paper especially for the job, all with glittery features on it. Result? 1 sparkly Hubby, and the floors all have a lovely glittery shimmer to them! And for once, it's not my fault.
 So I'm posting up a Christmas banner, to wish everyone who visits a warm, happy and peaceful Christmas, with lots of good friends, food and drink!
 Normal service will be resumed next week, with the pre- New Year Edition.
 Have a Happy, Happy Christmas, from both of us, with lots of love, and many, many thanks for all the support you've given us in the last year.

WOYWW # 340

Again it's Wednesday, and time to meet up at our Julia's, over at The Stamping Ground. Another week closer to Christmas, and it's officially ok now to panic.Don't know about anyone else, but despite all the stress and problems of the last year, it seems to have absolutely flown by.
So, to the desk. Main desk is still in the process of the same Christmas card I showed you last week, so I thought I'd show the desk behind the desk, as it were. The plan was that it would keep some stuff close to hand, and that it would be useful for laying open folders of stamps on, stuff to dry, and so on.

Not exactly a pretty sight, is it? Dumping ground for all sorts of stuff. Envelopes in the front are waiting to be opened, some are stamps bought in the Black Friday sale that Visible Image and Indigo Blu had, the other holds last months Tim Holtz colour.Some colouring books,and a pack of cards and envelopes. The easel is the one I usually photograph my cards on, in front of that and a pack of envelopes to go with the cards I'm making. Offcuts of black card on top of a tub of foams for the blending tools.There is a basket with acrylic blocks for stamps in, and the wooden rack at the end holds embossing powders. Along the back, the DIY holder for my markers, which is now also home to my DI markers, as now they won't fit in the original tubs. A tub of mens shaving brushes, which double as duster brushes. A few stacks of mini drawers which hold all sorts of little odds and ends. The purple box holds my Card-io stamps, there is a black box next to it with my Gorjuss girl stamps in, and the black box underneath holds my Visible Image ones. Just visible at the top of the picture, some hanging trays from IKEA, which hold various sprays. And if you think that's bad, be grateful I'm not showing you the table I use for my cutting station! At the moment, it's buried under all the Christmas pressies bought online, and a few other odds and ends.All this will get put away, but probably after Christmas, as the one problem I have at the moment is needing to be in two places at once. I need to be in my craft room, getting stuff done, on the other hand, I also need to be downstairs to answer the door when said stuff ordered online arrives. Due to my surgery, I'm still walking with a stick, and it takes me a while to get downstairs if the doorbell goes, and usually by the time I've got down, they've given up and gone. So I've taken to staying downstairs until after Doug gets up, which isn't a problem, I'm just doing what I can manage in the time I've got. Nothing in my room is urgent, anyway, the Christmas cards are almost finished, the rest will get done when it gets done.
Thats me for today, just going to finish with a bit of enabling, lol. Country View Crafts are running an Advent Sale, every day from the beginning of December till Christmas, with different things on offer every day, so don't miss out.

WOYWW #339

Well these weeks are just flying past, aren't they? Here we are, in the first week of December, and no, I'm not even slightly ready. Can we get it put back by a couple of months? But still, it's our weekly meet at Julias place, The Stamping Ground, to see what everyone is up to.

Photo taken Tuesday night, a hive of activity, which is my excuse for having a desk buried in stuff.
 I'm using peel off greetings on my cards- not because I don't have stamps, I do, but I have a stupid amount of peel offs bought back in the day before I really got into stamping, and they are just standing on a shelf in a binder. So I want to get them used.

This is the finished card-I ended up swapping to a Versamark pad and gold EP, as I found that unless I cleaned the stamp every second or third time, the pigment ink was building up and blurring the detail.
And thats my offering this week- I'm getting shorter and shorter with these posts, have you noticed? It won't last, lol. See you all later, have a great week.

WOYWW #338

Hello again, and here we are, all linking up with Julia at The Stamping Ground, to continue our weekly round of desk surfing around the world. As we are almost at the end of November, I think it is now acceptable to talk about Christmas cards in polite company. At the NEC a few weeks ago, I saw a great card, made with the stamp on the right of this picture, called Pear Square.
It was heat embossed in gold on black card, then matted onto white, then black, and finally onto a white card base. Looked lovely. So hence I bought the stamp. And beloved Hubby liked the other one, so got that as well.

So out came the black card I ordered last week. Along with a Gold Encore Pigment pad,last used back at the dawn of time, and amazingly, still nice and juicy, although I do have a re-inker, it wasn't needed. Gold detail embossing powder, and a little anti static thingy supposed to help the EP to only stick where its supposed to.

I've only got one stamped, as I wanted to make sure it was going to stamp and emboss nice and clearly, especially the script detail. But it's looking good, so tomorrow I will matt it all up, and see if I still like it.I hope I do, as I haven't actually got a plan B organised yet.
 So, fairly short and sweet for once- have I been swapped by body snatchers, I wonder. Unlikely, nobody would want this particular body, I'm pretty sure, lol. Have a lovely Wednesday everyone, I'll be round to visit in a while.

WOYWW #337

Hi folks, and we're back again, meeting up at Julias place, The Stamping Ground, for our regular snoop around the worlds best, and worst, kept desks.And here's my entry for the week:

As you can tell from the dark outside my window, this was taken late yesterday evening, but looks much the same this morning. From the bottom right, the blue folder contains the images I started on for my Christmas cards last year, which never got made, so at least I have a head start (In November, I call that a head start, lol). Beneath them is some black and white card I ordered, and in a few minutes I'll show you why I always order online from PDA Card & Paper. I did look round the NEC for black card, but why is a 'true' black so hard to find? Next is three of the new Distress re-inkers waiting to go away, some little pots that were used to hand us pills in the hospital that I thought might come in useful, lol.Baby wipes, every crafters staple item, rolls of DST, and low tack masking tape on the holders. The Spa tub was from a Christmas pressie a few years ago, contained bath stuff, now holds cotton wool balls,a Stix To layering ruler, a bit further on are Wilkinsons glasses wipes, a wooden IKEA holder with pens in, a couple of those egg shaped sponges I've yet to try, and a mountain of the NEC stuff to put away.Behind that, a couple of houseplants,and so many odds and sods I'm not going to list them! I've spent most of the week storing the images in Evernote- its a free app that works on PC, tablet and phone, and syncs between all of them. You can use it for keeping track of anything, I'm using mine to gradually store all my craft stuff, to stop me buying duplicates.

This is what was in the blue folder, they were done with stencil paste which was glittered before it dried. I need to matt them up, then find the card blanks I bought last year to fit them. They are in my craft room, which is about 15 foot square- how hard can it be?









I said I was going to show you why I order from PDA Card & Paper, apart from price and choice.

The parcel comes wrapped in a waterproof poly bag, which when opened reveals a corrugated cardboard box.

Open the box to find the contents wrapped in bubble wrap.

Remove the bubble wrap, and your purchase is wrapped in brown paper.

Remove that, and the top and bottom of your stack of cardstock is protected by a sheet of 'scrap' card, which is perfect for using as chipboard.

Now while I'm not normally a fan of what could be called excess packaging, when I'm ordering cardstock, I want it to arrive without damaged corners, or indeed any sort of damage at all, so love the fact that the company goes to great lengths to ensure your order arrives as perfect as it left them.
So that's my offering this week, just leaving you with the results of my check up with my surgeon at the QE last Thursday. He's absolutely delighted with how everything has healed, and with my progress since he last saw me. He was especially pleased that I no longer have the weakness in my left knee & ankle, and that I have no pain, only that my butt tends to ache and get numb if I've been sitting a lot.The numbness in my thigh, and tingling in my left foot will subside as the nerves heal, and were all expected. Nothing that isn't kept at bay by Paracetemol, so you can tell.
I still have a catheter, and saw a specialist in Urology today. Everything functions properly, I just have no sensation in my bladder at all, he said the sensation should return, but could take up to 12 months. To be truthful, it's a small inconvenience, compared to some of the possible after effects of the surgery we were advised of- I could have had permanent weakness in my left leg, leaving me with mobility problems, I could have had chronic pain from the removal of the tailbone, I may have had the opposite bladder problem of incontinence, so all in all I do feel I've got off lightly.  So that's me for today, I'll be round to visit shortly.

WOYWW #336- The Nec Edition

Yes indeed, it is the NEC edition, linking up with Julia at The Stamping Ground. First thing I will say is that very early on- the second aisle to be precise,- I admitted defeat and let Hubby go and get a wheelchair to push me round in. We'd started down the first aisle, and halfway down was Inkylicious, so we stopped to shop there. By the time I was paying for what we'd chosen, I felt like I was going to faint. So we headed back to the entrance, and I sat on a chair for a while.
 When I felt ok, we resumed where we left off, and finished aisle one, and got halfway up aisle two, as far as Visible Image. Same thing happened again, and I paid for my stamps and we went back to the entrance so I could sit down. At this point I had to admit that there was no way on earth I was going to be able to walk the whole show, and let Hubby go off to get a wheelchair, as they hire them out, as well as mobility scooters.He came back with a mobility scooter, as they had no wheelchairs left. I hadn't wanted one of those, as being a non driver, I had expectations of destroying stands and displays all round the hall.It turned out to actually be very easy to use, and made the world of difference for me.So, on to the spoils of my rampage around the show:

A small selection from Inkylicious, and some from Lavinia stamps- most of the stamps bought today were a joint choice, my Enabler was very restrained this time, I have to admit. Can't remember where I got the little Gorjuss stamps from, but they were only £1.75 each.

On to Visible Image, the site of my second almost faint, sorry, Mark & Helen! I bought a few stamps that time, and went back a little later and got the others I wanted.

Some more stamps from Cardio, loved the penguins and snowmen! The two Creative Expressions stamps came from The Art of Craft, after I saw some stunning samples done with them.

Could not resist these when I spotted them, I remember reading somewhere that they were not going to be made available over here, so grabbed them while I had the chance.It's the stamp and die set of accessories for the Crazy Bird stamps. The Crazy Words stamp was Hubbies choice.

 A cardstock selection- some Lavinia Stamps scenescapes, some Lavinia Matt cardstock, a few sheets of embossed card in black, and some card blanks. I really do like the square format, I think it's my favourite base.

Some dies and stencils- Sweet Poppy metal stencils, and a variety of plastic ones.The dies were a couple of Happy Birthday ones, including the large one at the front, which will make a card on it's own, layered up. I think this pic contains most of Hubbies enabling, lol.



 

  The square Dylusions journal was a surprise to come across, I've only ever seen the A4 & A5 version. A Tim Holtz spray bottle, and a couple of sheets of chipboard letters & numbers, along with a sheet of Cut n Dry. Can never have too much of that stuff.

Finally, the odds and ends. I visited the Powertex stand, as I'd seen the Buddha heads on Kylas blog earlier in the week, and I've wanted some for ages. I also came across a lovely Green Lady, and a pack with two Native American casts in, so was very pleased.The packs of craft bottles were in a £1 bargain bin,there are two rolls of ribbon with a golden Bee on, from the same place, I spotted the box of wooden cogs on another stall, and finally, 3 rolls of masking tape!
 Thanks to having the mobility scooter, I got to really enjoy the day, and could take my time browsing. Which may account for spending so much, lol.
 But, I can now get up and down to my craft room unsupervised, which means I can spend some time crafting, instead of reading or just surfing the net. First job, however , will be to get this lot loaded into Evernote!  
I will do some extra posts showing the stamps and stuff completely, as in these pics they are lay atop each other, but that's for another day. I'll be visiting later, have a nice Wednesday everyone.

WOYWW #335

So, it's Wednesday again, which can only mean one thing- time to hook up at The Stamping Ground, under the watchful eye of our smashing leader, Julia.By now you are probably all Halloween Cropped out, but I have a few pics to share,and a lovely day was had by all.

 Some gorgeous tags were made and shared by some of those who came, and I just wish I'd been up to crafting, as Halloween tags were right up my ( spooky) alley. So thank you, to all those who gave me tags, they are awesome- do you like Kyla's 'Mummy' with the googly eyes? I think its great.

Lots of lovely cake- it's a good job we're not covered by the Trades Description Act- we'd have to rename our crop as the 'WOYWW cake eating and chatting crop',lol. A smashing lunch, provided as always by our amazing LLJ,who kept everyone supplied with tea and coffee too.

I bought a hat from Tesco especially for the occasion- and the hall was brilliantly Halloween decorated by the group who were having a quiz night on Saturday evening.

Our lovely leader, Julia, with Debbie and Marg, ( Tattered Rocks and Silvercrafter),possibly admiring the multiple shades of blue Debbie managed to get her fingers! Kyla busy quilting in the background.

Morti and Dave, with Dolores behind them. Fiona and Lisa-Jane.

Mary Anne, appearing to have been abandoned by all.


I will leave you with those, as I'm sure you will see many more shots of our day, and indeed there have been some amazing pics already on LLJ's blog, HERE.

 I surprised myself, to be honest, with how well I coped with being sat/standing up all day, so much so in fact that I said to Hubby that I thought I would go to the NEC this weekend for the Hobbycrafts show. I'd really thought I wouldn't manage it this year, but I'm getting much stronger every day, so I reckon I'll be ok. Especially as Beloved Hubby said he would go with me- just to be sure I managed without any difficulties.So me and my Enabler Extrodinaire will be going on Sunday- not sure which of us will spend the most, lol.

WOYWW #334

Well hello again, that week just flew past. I have to admit that probably at least three quarters of my week has involved lying down, sometimes asleep, sometimes not. I have a limited time I can spend sitting before my butt begins to ache,lol  then I'm lying down, first on one side, then the other, so the ache goes away. And sometimes I fall asleep, lol.
Anyway, I did manage a visit to my craft room over the weekend, as Hubby was there to supervise me on the stairs, so I sorted out all the colouring stuff I'd  put together before I went in, and got Hubby to take them downstairs for me.

So thats what I've been occupying  myself with this week. I made a start on some images I'd stamped up for later use on cards. Apologies for poor picture quality, it was taken with my tablets camera.
Crop 2 this weekend, and I'm really looking forward to it.We'll take a slow drive down, with plenty of breaks for me to stretch my legs.
I'll be round visiting later, and to all those going to the crop, I'll see you Saturday!
EDIT:Saying a quick hello to Marcie, Julia tells us you read the blogs, but don't blog yourself yet. Just want to welcome you to the nicest,kindest, most thoughtful  bunch of crafters you will ever meet.And to say that once you dip your toes into blogging, you will wonder why you didn't do it sooner!

WOYWW 333

Well it's been a while folks.Far longer than I expected.10-14 days and I'd be home,they said.Huh, I spent that in the HDU! So,6 weeks later, here I am.
No picture for you,as I haven't actually made it to my craft room yet. That involves a flight of stairs, a walking stick and Hubbies supervision,as my balance is a bit unreliable.
I want to say an enormous Thank You to everyone for your good wishes,all the cards you have sent me,as well as the books and crafting goodies I've received.I know many of you were following my progress on Dougs blog,and left us many uplifting and heartfelt comments, which have been wonderful to read.
This has turned out to be a much harder recouperation than expected,and I've had to adjust my goals quite considerably as to how much I can do, and how long it's going to take.
Now I'm back home, I'll be joining our regular Wednesday snoop again, so will be round to see you all later.I'm also planning on getting into my colouring books, so hopefully I'll have something for next week to show you.

WOYWW #326- The big day has arrived!

So hello again, WOYWWers. Can you believe we are now into September? It'll soon be the Halloween crop at this rate! We had a smashing weekend away, visiting Jennie at The Artistic Stamper in Kent on Saturday.

I left with a bag of goodies, which I'll share in a moment.




She had amongst others, Jo Firth Young there doing make and takes, and this was the Tag I made, using Jo's stamps, and Paper Artsy Fresco chalk paints.

Onto the goodies, and before we go any further, I will tell you now that I was very good and restrained with my purchases.

Some Graphic 45 papers- a Raven and pumpkins, how could I not?, and a Tim Holtz Alpha/numbers die set.

A few Dylusions spray colours, a couple of DI stains,a couple of stencils, along with a Pigment white inkpad and two of those egg sponges.



I've been really good, haven't I? A sensible sized shop.
 However, Beloved Hubby was not restrained at all. All sorts of stamps appeared in my shopping basket!

These three-the Jofy one turned out to be the one used in her Make and Take- because ' that caterpillar is just cute', the one with the cat for the same reason- 'it's cute', and the bird on  a branch 'will make a great foreground image, with branches behind it'.


No, I'm not done yet.

These, because the tree is really spooky and zombie like,and the birds because 'they are awesome'.
I have to admit, that fluffy little bird is so sweet.

 





                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Finally, a Tim Holtz stencil, just because he liked it. At least it was on sale!
 I explained the concept of Enabling, as per WOYWW, and awarded him the title of Enabler Extraordinaire!

We had a lovely day there, and the sun shone, which was great as Jennie and Mal had organised a barbecue too.
 We went on that evening to Whitstable, and on Sunday to Southampton, which was also a nice sunny day.
 It only started raining on Monday morning, and although we had planned on going to Avebury on the way up, it was far too wet, so we went to see LLJ and her family, which we'd already planned, a little earlier than expected.
 Arrived back home early Monday evening, and now I'm down to the last 24 hours. I'm writing this up on Monday evening, to schedule for Wednesday, as my mind will probably not be straight enough to type legibly by Tuesday!
 I will try and link before I leave the house for the hospital, but if I don't get time, I'll be asking LLJ to link me in. It'll no doubt be Thursday before I'm round visiting, but visit I will.
 I have to be there for 7 am, and it's pretty certain I'll be down for surgery first thing, due to how long it is, so no doubt whilst most of you are reading this, that's where I'll be.
So thanks everyone for all your good wishes, your love and support has meant a great deal to me. See you all on the other side. xxxxx

WOYWW # 325

Hi folks, and before I forget, those Dragon Eggs last week? Built up on a coconut! They were split in half, emptied, then glued back together before adding the scales.So, time to show your desk/floor/tray- whatever you're currently crafting on, for worldwide inspection, courtesy of Julia at The Stamping Ground.
The weak willed amongst you may wish to hide your eyes at this point! I'm almost certain one of you enabled me with the Quietfire/Elizabeth Craft Designs Happy Birthday die last week! There is also a Happy Christmas (that's on backorder).
 The Alpha die (Die-namics) was reduced to half price as a clearance line, so I just had to.By the way, looking at it, are you as confused as I was? Usually, they are in the order of the alphabet, I've found. This one is random, clearly to make the most of the cutting space they had, but it really threw me when I first looked at it.





 The Happy Birthday die is really quite large:

I've laid a couple of rulers next to it, to show you. I loved the script style though, thought it was gorgeous.





I like how the back of the packaging for the Alpha die gives you all the sandwiches for various machines.

I forgot about these Brusho's a couple of weeks ago. 8 new 'Autumn' colours.

The rest of my week so far has been taken up with organising 'Things to keep me occupied' whilst I'm in hospital. To that end, I stamped out a batch of images to colour- these are some of the Gorjuss stamps, not probably normally my thing, but I think they're kinda creepy, rather than cute, as well as some of the Visible Image character stamps. I've also packed my colouring books, Promarkers & DI markers, and both the Art Journalling magazines that Diane sent me. I've been downloading You Tube craft videos to go onto my tablet, as well as some comedy stuff- Michael Mcintyre, and my absolute favourite comedian, Eddie Izzard.
Loads of music, E-Books and Audio books too. So I think I'm fairly well stocked for entertainment of all sorts. I'm not packing my suitcase yet, as we're having this weekend away, to help keep both our minds otherwise occupied. The plan is to drive down to High Wycombe, and stay there Friday night. No particular reason for there, just that it's roughly half way to Kent, which is where we're going on Saturday. I've tried to organise this weekend so Doug only has a couple of hours driving at a time. Then on Saturday we are going to pop in to see Jennie, at The Artistic Stamper.Yes, I may possibly buy some craft supplies (whistles, looking innocent!)
 Saturday night we'll stay at Whitstable, then on Sunday, drive over to Southampton and stay the night there. Monday we will start heading back up towards the Midlands, possibly via Avebury- LLJ mentioned it last week, and I realised it's been a few years since we last went there. So we'll be back home Monday evening, then Tuesday I will pack to go into hospital on Wednesday. I will put up a blog post next week, if I can't link before I go out, then I'll ask LLJ to link me in. I'm going to have plenty of time on my hands to visit you all!
 Also, if anyone wants to text me to chat/see how I am, either FB PM me, or email me (link in sidebar) and I'll send you my mobile number. Hubby has also put Skype on my tablet & phone- shazsilverwolf@gmail.com. As far as I know, the hospital has wifi Internet access, so I won't be out of touch for long,lol.
Tomorrow morning is my pre-op assessment- how on earth has this come round so fast? Have a lovely Wednesday folks.

WOYWW #324

It seems truly horrible to be starting a second post this year, paying my respects to one of our lovely WOYWWers who has passed on. As many of you will have seen from Julias Tuesday post, we have lost the lovely Janet, Fairythoughts. I only actually met her in reality once, at the 5th year crop,  but she was so friendly to one and all. Then, this time last year, when I'd had my stoma surgery, and mentioned that I had been told that eating plain chocolate was a good cure for if it stopped producing, a few days later I got a gorgeous card, with a lovely supportive message, and an enormous block of plain chocolate from Janet. Thats the pic I posted at the time, and it's way thick, honestly. So much so, believe it or not, I still have a quarter left.I will think fondly of her, as I slowly finish it. Then, earlier this year, a magazine had had a freebie set of feather stamps, and the following month, a die set to match. I mentioned on Janets blog, that I hadn't been able to find it around here, and the lovely lady went out and bought me one and sent to me.  Two examples of her kindness and generosity of spirit, and to someone she only knew through the blog hop. Those who knew her personally must have many, many wonderful memories of her. Goodbye Janet, you will be sorely missed. To her family and friends, much love from us, and our deepest condolences.
 So, on to the reason for our weekly gathering around the world, what's on our desks! I'm actually going to start with Whats On The Fishtank? Answer- Birthday cards.

Two stunning cards from Shoshi, for me and Beloved Hubby. Mine also incorporates an ATC.

Two awesome tags from Debbie- Tattered Rocks.

Two very dimensional, gorgeous cards from Marg, Silvercrafter.

Two from Margaret,Glitterandglue,and her Husband John. Possibly not easy to make out in this pic, but the one on the right uses the Sheena Douglas 'Arches' embossing folder, and it is incredibly detailed.






A lovely gift from LLJ, and will be put to good use with all my bits and bobs for going into hospital.

Very me, isn't it? Has a fantastic black with white spots lining too.

Finally, the card my Mother in law gave me, and on the right, the one she actually wanted to give me. She said she had to get one with 60 on, as Doug told her she had to! But she thought the other one I would appreciate.
 Which brings me to a funny! I need to go into Tesco, and shake the hand of whoever orders balloons, and thank them from the bottom of my heart for being out of stock of balloons with 60 on them last Friday. Doug had planned to get as many packets as they had, inflate them and fill the dining room for me to find when I got up.

This was my card to Beloved Hubby- those Birds get everywhere. Good use was also made of the Poppy Stamps die I was enabled into!


Speaking of gifts, as I was a moment ago, Eldest son Ant, and DIL Becky made us these-

Dragon Eggs! All the scales were hand cut, and painted with nail varnish to get the shimmer on them. But can anyone guess what they are layered on? Answer next week, as long as I remember, lol. The 'nests' are made from slate chippings.

 These were two gifts from Beloved Hubby- the penguin is a pencil sharpener. The crow is now sitting on my PC desk, keeping Spike the hedgehog company.












Returning to Shoshi,and gifts! A parcel had arrived from Shoshi, and when it was opened on Friday revealed an amazing Box of Delights- ( anyone else remember that programme?). It's full of papers, card and embellishments to get me crafting after I've had my surgery.

There is so much gorgeousness here, I am totally overwhelmed by Shoshi's kindness. If anyone wants to see all the goodies, and how much work she has put into the things in this box, she has been posting 'making of' posts on her blog this week.


We had thought about having a weekend away, but the weather seemed a bit indifferent to be honest, and we do have some fencing needing replacing in the garden. Normally, Doug and I would do it, but as I can't lift the sort of weight that the panels are any longer, his brother Rob is helping him do it, and he was free this weekend, so came over to make a start.

 It's the hardest part of the garden to fence too, as it involves three steps down in level. Amounts to about 50 foot of fencing, and also needs some retaining walls built.

Most of the fence posts are in now,they've been braced together just to keep them true whilst the concrete around them sets,and the footings for the walls. There is a lot of concrete involved, as we are an end house, and slightly higher than the houses to our left, and all the gardens are very exposed- we have the only trees in the car park to our right.Which means that when it's windy, it blows straight across with some force, and we don't want any of it blowing over. It also turned out that some of the top level of decking needs replacing, as a couple of the support joists were showing signs of rot. So the job just got bigger!



Sorry, Julia, I know this one got a bit picture heavy!
 One quick update, then I'll let you all go, lol.I added an update to my post last week, that I'd had a phone call from the secretary of the Orthopaedic surgeon who was going to do my op, with an appointment to see him last Friday.Early visitors probably didn't get that bit. I've put full details on my Cancer page, but in short, he was a lovely, friendly, funny man who I took to straight away. He said he likes to meet the patient first, so he can put a face and personality to the name, and decide if he likes them. Heaven knows what happens if he doesn't. I didn't ask. Just in case! I've also had my letter of admission, and next Thursday, 27th, is my pre-op assessment. How fast this is coming round is scary.