Celebrations Galore

It's been a busy week here with three celebrations and cards to make for each.

First it was my parents Golden Wedding Anniversary, this was probably the hardest card for me to come up with an idea for.

 I knew I wanted to use some gold netting and add a ribbon to it.

 

Although I liked my first attempt, I started to worry that maybe it looked more like a general Birthday card than an Anniversary card, I was also very pleased with how the picture came out using the Light Box.

 

 

I'd recently had a private photography lesson with Tish Hornsbury and she taught me all about  using the White balance and a few other functions on my camera I'd had no idea about.

Just can't believe the difference in the quality of the pictures.

 

I then dug out my box of Die Cutters found the alphabet and the Anniversary cutters to add more details to the card.

The card now looked much more finished, but time was short, I had to get the card delivered so took a really quick snap of it on my mobile phone and off I went to their house to deliver it, as you can see the finished card is a lot more glary and not so sharp, will definitely ensure I'm using the Light Box next time.

 

 Then it was my sons Birthday, I really enjoyed making him this cute card, as we were having a rare beautiful day I took the picture of it out on the garden table.




Today is Himself's Birthday, he's a hard one to make cards or to buy gifts for. He's brilliant when it comes to chosing me gifts, he has such an imagination, the photography lesson was my Birthday present which got put off until recently due to my knee surgery.
I used the Light Box to photograph Himself's Card and very pleased with the results.



In Puppy News Boris is doing very well with his training and growing up fast, he's almost as big as Badger Boo now, maybe even a little bigger, it's hard to tell as he never stops moving long enough to measure him.
Here they are charging round on the common on one of those lovely sunny days last week, that seem to have disappeared this week.

A  rare shot of Boris sitting still long enough to take his picture, we have just started to learn the stay command and getting the hang of it now.

Here he is acting like a pro in front of the camera as if he was born to it.
 I love this shot of Boris.



I'm linking this post to Creative Monday and Handmade Monday.
Hope you all have a great week crafting.
xxx
 

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A Painfully Slow Week

As todays title suggests it's been a painful week here in the Stone Pit Cave, my right hand has been very numb, swollen and stiff due to the Arthritis plus my left shoulder, which I dislocated a few years ago has also been very stiff and painful, therefore it's been a slow week for crafting.

 

I've had to put the Mitred Baby Blanket to one side for the time being, until the flexibility comes back, so for now I'm knitting with a thicker yarn and larger needles because they're easier for me to hold and it's been very slow going.

 

I found this pattern for an Owl Tea Cosy in one of my knitting magazines, although I can't remember which one, as it was a while ago.

 I think it's great fun, I just adore Owls and knitting with my favourite Aran yarn, normally I could have knitted this in a couple of days but with all the stopping and starting it's been a slow make.

 

 

It was my mums birthday on Saturday so I made her a Butterfly Card, painted with water colours then  clear embossed the darker colours to make them really stand out. So many people commented on it as it really stood out in the hall where mum had a massive Party.

 

 

In allotment news Himself has erected a large gazebo, which we are going to net  and use as a fruit cage once the ground has been dug **groan**

It didn't look nearly so large in the garden centre when we first saw it. It'll certainly be interesting trying to get the scaffold netting over the top of it.

 



 

All I can do at the moment is a little light weeding until I've had my six week check up with the surgeon, it's so frustrating as I want to get going again and get the Raspberries planted, but it's best not to rush these things I suppose.

The Physio said I can drive again, I can now bend my knee 125 degrees, the first thing I did was I head down to the allotment  to do some harvesting. My Cauliflower's and Broccoli have been brilliant this year, I'm so pleased as I grew them from seed and they tasted delicious. 
 

 



I'm also really pleased with my first harvest of Peas, I grew these from seed too, they nearly filled this 4ltr flower pot, plus there's lots more to come as they mature.

The Sweet Corn is starting to grow rapidly now after a difficult start, sadly only approx a  third of them survived the slugs, I then cheated and brought the rest as seedlings from Homebase. The taller ones are the ones I grew from seed but I'm sure the others will catch up soon.

The Sweet Peas are doing brilliantly well, every time we go down to do the watering I bring a large bunch of them home, the scent of them in the house is delicious.

 







I had a lovely email from Jill at Christmas Pie Crafts asking to use some of my photos for her Friday Review  of my Knitted Collectibles which was a lovely surprise.
Thank you so much for your kind words Jill.

As is usual on a Monday I'll be linking this post to Creative Mondays and Handmade Monday.

I hope you all have a great week crafting.
xxx

 

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Happy Birthday Mum

Today it's my mums birthday.

She really loves Butterflies, so it was a great opportunity for me to use my Swallowtail butterfly stamp from Stampin Up. I painted with watercolours, then clear embossed the darker colours to make them really stand out.

It was a big decision whether or not to add her age, it's always something she's been really sensitive about, but I decided what the heck, it says it's her 70th on the party invites, so I went with it, as everyone now knows how old she is LOL.

I'm very lucky to still have my mum when so many of my friends have lost theirs. We've had our differences over the years of course, but she's always been there for me, no matter how awkward things have been between us at times. She's bailed me out of more difficult situations than I can remember, stood by me no matter what and given me sound words of advice, although not always heeded at my cost.

Happy 70th Birthday mum xxx

Authors Note:

Opps just realised I've used the word "She" quite a lot, I can hear mum now, saying

"Who's She? The cats mother!"

I'm linking this post with Handmade Harbours Paper Craft challenge and My Sunday Photo

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Not a Lot and The Odd Card

It's been fairly quiet here as my Arthritis has been playing up a fair bit this week, which means I've not been able to knit as much as I'd like, and I've not been out much either, but I've been using my time wisely making some cards.

 

With Fathers Day due next month, I decided make up one of the decoupage kits I got as part of a recent Goody Bag purchase.

It was a bit fiddly to do, as my hand was suffering with loss of grip, but once I got going it was a fun little project that took no time at all.

 

 

I then decided to move on to an any occasion card for men,  because lets face it, they're aren't really that many handmade cards for men around. I really love this Dad stamp with all the little pictures of tools on it.

 

 

This week I purchased some New Baby die cutters and really enjoyed having a play with them. I'm not so keen on the way the word baby is written on the girls card, the next time I'll chop it off and swap it with another one I have, but I think the stork is adorable. 



Like I said not a lot has happened so only a short post today, I've not even been doing any digging down the allotment this week, although I went for a brief look yesterday and everything seems to be starting to poke through the soil at last.

I'm linking this weeks post to Handmade Monday and Creative Mondays.

 

Hope you all have a great week crafting.

xxx

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