Friday Rocks!

Welcome to a very wet Friday, steady rain has been falling all day, wonderful for my garden, the ground is very dry and really in need of a good soaking, but not such good news as far as our family of cats and dogs are concerned, the cats do not do rain and sit by the door, looking accusingly at me from time to time, as if I can do anything to improve the weather for them....the dogs on the other hand seem oblivious to the rain and want the door left open so that they can seemingly bring most of the garden in to the house, in the form of muddy footprints all over the laminate floors and the sofas......grrrrrr! Still it is funny to see them skittering about, and I should be grateful that the floors are laminate and not carpet.... and the sofas are leather and not fabric......lol.

This week has been quite an unusual one in lots of ways, and unusually relaxing, I am off to Brittany on Tuesday for our annual family holiday, two weeks away from our normal routines and commitments, normally I am fairly stressed at this stage, writing lists of things to pack, things to buy, worrying about how it will all fit in the car, dreading the 7 hours in the car to the ferry etc etc ....but not this year, it's all done and dusted, and was actually all done last Sunday!! I've had the luxury of finishing off various work and crafting commitments at a leisurely pace, and time to plan and prep for up and coming events when I get back from holiday ..... all I have to do is get me, four teenage girls (DD plus 3 friends) my friends Kate and Nora (Jim's 89 year old Mum) to the airport on Tuesday, phew.... I am so grateful that my OH had to be in Plymouth all this week, for work, and is now at the docks waiting to board the ferry accompanied by our friend Jim who travelled down to Plymouth today to join him, along with a car loaded to the roof with bags, books, craft stuff etc, etc. and they will be at the airport to collect us all on Tuesday, having enjoyed a few quiet days before the rest of us arrive.

My eldest daughter is coming home to house sit and look after the menagerie whilst we are away, arriving tomorrow, I am really looking forward to spending a little time with her and her partner before we leave for France, I don't see nearly as much of them as I would like to, and I am grateful that I can enjoy this weekend with them, as the packing etc for France is all done.

I won't be blogging whilst I'm away, the part of Brittany where we stay is very remote and does not have broadband coverage, in fact it is hard to get mobile phones to work as the signal strength is very poor, and we don't have a TV where we stay. I am grateful for the opportunity that this lack of mod cons gives us each year to talk, play games, eat leisurely meals and share real quality time without distractions, simple pleasures such as beachcombing and visiting the amazing rock pools exposed at low tide on the rose grantite coast are ones we look forward to every year, and are priceless and free.

Bye for now everyone, see you all on here when I get back.

Bee xx

Sunshine at Tuesday Taggers.

Hi Everyone,
I can't believe that it's already Tuesday again, time is just flying so fast. I'm off on holiday to Brittany soon and just can't wait, but I've got plenty to do between now and then, to get ready.
This week at Tuesday Taggers the theme is SUNSHINE, and perhaps it's because I'm in holiday mode but it put me in mind of all those hot summer days by the sea when I was a child. Summers always seemed longer, hotter and sunnier then, but maybe it was just that as a child I had more time to notice and enjoy the really good days.

Because I'm trying hard to get all my crafting commitments done before I go on holiday my ATCs have been made with an ATC swap that I belong to in mind as well as this week's Tuesday Taggers Challenge. For the ATC swap the Theme is childhood, and "The Summer by The Sea" Stamp set from Stampin' Up! has some really lovely images and sentiments. I have simply stamped the images onto rough watercolour paper with Dove Gray Stayz-on and the coloured the images in with reinkers and a watercolour brush. I stamped the sentiment afterwards, using a Stamp-a-ma-jig stamp positioner from Stampin' Up! to make sure everything fitted inside the 2inch x 3inch frame I had allowed myself, so that I could then double mat the images and still keep to the 3.5 x 2.5 inch dimensions of my ATCs.

Bye for now.

Bee xx

Black Is Back at Tuesday Taggers

Thanks to my teamie Lyn, the theme at Tuesday Taggers is Lots of Lovely Black. As I had recently made a card using just black and white I decided to go with one more colour this time and added a beautiful turquoise blue. This card was inspired by one made by a good friend of mine called Tracey, I just loved the colour combo. I hope you like it too.

This card is winging it's way to my eldest daughter to wish her good luck in her driving test later this week. I really hope she passes, so fingers crossed.

Bye for now

Bee xx

Rocking My World

Right, I've remembered it is Friday and I am raring to go, I really think that Virginia at Celtic House, has the right idea. Friday starts my weekend and it is a good time to look back on the week and appreciate the positives.

As I write this there is steady soft summer rain giving the plants in my garden a much needed drink, I am so glad that I live in a part of the world where we have proper seasons and weather, where the grass is green and actually the sound of summer rain on the roof is quite soothing. The other bonus of this rain is that our newly planted trees don't need watering this evening.

I am happy to have the support of friends, helping me establish my fledgeling Stampin' Up! business, not only by buying from me directly but by getting their friends together to hold a workshop, I really appreciate your help and friendship, and the fun we have when we get together.

I am glad that Charles (my OH ) was able to leave work early today and start the weekend just a bit earlier than usual. He works really hard and it is good when he gets a bit more time to relax at home with the rest of us.

I really appreciate the regular special deals on Wine at Tescos, over the years I have become much fussier about the wines that I enjoy drinking and I am pleased to say that Tescos regularly drop the prices of the wines that I like, making them all the more enjoyable.

Finally, I really appreciate having this few minutes to sit and think about the good things in my life and realise that the best things in life are not things at all, but time with family and time to do the things I enjoy and rain on my trees.

Bee xx

Christmas In Wonderland.

This week at Tuesday Taggers my good friend and fellow teamie Emma chose the theme "Christmas" !!! In the middle of July......I don't think so. Now I do realise that there are a number of very organised crafters out there who start on their Christmas preparations nice and early, and I know that there are other crafters who need a Christmas Fix nearly every week but I am not one of them....In my household Christmas starts on the !st December, so this challenge is a real topsy turvy one for me, just like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland......that got me thinking....I wonder If they have Christmas in Wonderland? What would Christmas Dinner be like and how could they fit it in, in between all the tea parties.........so a journal page started to appear...a bit like the cheshire cat....lol and here it is.

I had great fun making these pages, I hope you enjoy them too.

Bee xx

Reasons to be Grateful

I really meant to get this post on my blogg on Friday so that I could link it to Friday Rocks, but as usual life got in the way, still, I am really grateful for the weekend retreat at Claxby last weekend with my lovely Crafty Friends, it has really recharged my batteries and I can't wait for the next time we all get together, at Beamsley in September. This past weekend has given me so much creatively and in other ways, that it has started me thinking about the things I have to be grateful for. Often it is the small things in life that we take for granted everyday that we realise are our true treasures when we have time to stand back and take a proper look.

So this week I am grateful for having such good friends, people I can truly be myself with and who love me for who I am, warts and all.

I am grateful for the inspiration that I get when crafting alongside my friends and for the ears that are willing to listen in the small hours of the morning.

I am grateful for my daughters who bring sunshine into my life and who are also becoming women who I will cherish as friends.

I am grateful that my eldest daughter came home to help look after our animals this weekend so that I could enjoy my crafting without worrying about them, and also for helping Bertie (our rescued Hound) sleep downstairs alone, so that I can sleep in my bed again instead of on the sofa.

I am grateful for having a real summer at last, after the past few wet and chilly years, being able to sit out in the sunshine and enjoy our garden, and finally I am grateful for my OH who supports me in my ventures and my need to spend time with my friends even though he really doesn't understand "Crafting" or "get" the weekend retreats at all.

Bee xx

What a wonderful weekend

Hi everybody, I have just spent a really wonderful and relaxed weekend with some of my most favourite people...... It was our Summer Craft Retreat at Claxby....we crafted,ate, laughed, crafted,slept, ate, laughed, crafted ....... and generally had a complete weekend of doing what we wanted to do when we wanted.......no pressure.......no phones, no deadlines, no rules. Andy cooked splendid meals for us, such a treat to have someone else take charge of the kitchen, Thanks Andy, and my fellow crafters were inspirational and great fun to be with as ever. I feel very fortunate to have such a group of friends, who I can truly relax with and be myself.

We had a few new participants this time, who fitted right in, and I hope they enjoyed themselves as much as the rest of us did and will join us again in the future.

Whilst at the retreat I completed my project for this week's Tuesday Taggers Challenge "Hang it all - It's Canvas" by creating this little 4 seasons wall hanging from 4 mini canvases. The Bird, Butterfly and Leaf embellishments have all been made from canvas too.

Enjoy.

Bee xx