Passing on the spreader of love award

As you will know if you have been reading my blog (do people read these things?) PatR has given me this spreader of love award. This is a puzzle for me 'cos I'm not making any cards "jus bloggin" and I've got to find someone to pass it on to. As I'm doing this I'm listening to some cheerful music emanating -phew- from Paul's Crafty Blogocks blog and I've decided he certainly deserves this award for cheering up everyone, for introducing me to so many great blogs, for teaching me how to use publisher properly, for being a hardworking teacher (what a class to be in!), for loving climbing what an endless list. I am posting the following poem for him and I hope it will tempt him to visit my blog again



THE CRAGSMAN

IN this short span

between my finger tips on the smooth edge

and these tense feet cramped to the crystal ledge

I hold the life of man.

Consciously I embrace

arched from the mountain rock on which I stand

to the firm limit of my lifted hand

the front of time and space :

For what is there in all the world for me
but what I know and see ?

And what remains of all I see and know,
if I let go ?

With this full breath

bracing my sinews as I upward move

boldly reliant to the rift above

I measure life from death.

With each strong thrust

I feel all motion and all vital force
borne on my strength and hazarding their course
in my self-trust :

There is no movement of what kind it be

but has its source in me ;
and should these muscles falter to release
motion itself must cease.

In these two eyes

that search the splendour of the earth, and seek

the sombre mysteries on plain and peak,

all vision wakes and dies.
With these my ears

that listen for the sound of lakes asleep

and love the larger rumour from the deep,

the eternal hears :

For all of beauty that this life can give

lives only while I live ;
and with the light my hurried vision lends
all beauty ends.

Geoffrey Winthrop Young
I'm not and have never been a climber but I love this poem and so does my DH and his friend whose 91st birthday we celebrated today. They were climbers in other days and when you love something it never leaves you. Off to Paul's blog now then I will make cards-definitely.

This is it! Some of it anyway

I'm absolutely exhausted. Here's just some of the glorious goodies I bought at the show. I'm bursting with ideas but so weary. This is mainly due to lack of sleep and hyper excitement caused by so many lovely products, samples and,chiefly, people, all in one place. It could also be due to taking a breakfast class with Julie Hickey on the morning when the clocks changed. It seemed like a good idea at the time but it's pay back day today. The card in the shot is one of the two cards we made in the class. Well everyone else made two but I'm finishing number two at home in the peace and quiet of my craft room where I can manage to achieve some focus.
I've filled a page with scribbled ideas this morning which has helped me to calm down. I'm always worried I'll forget what I thought of in the middle of the night (and I often do) so it's a good idea to get it down on paper if you can't manage to try it there and then.
My problem is I've had one really good idea and now I feel as though people might expect another one soon whereas I tend to just leave them to pop on their own. I have one in the back of my head though so Julie or Sue I'll let you know if it works.
My fab fab fab purchase isn't there yet 'cos I've put down a deposit and I've been promised it by the end of the week. I'll tell more later. It does involve checking the bank balance and clearing some space.
As I'm bleary eyed I'm going to close now except to tell you there's a great offer of half price
downloads until 31st of March on www.funkyfairyspapercrafts.com
so check it out. Their boys and girls collection is lovely. I would show you something I've made with it but I made them in my pre record everything days.

Our slice of Paradise

Pen-y-gent

This is the view from our window.Yes it is. I took this between the raindrops through the window and I had my fleece on at the time. What you can't see are the caravans below us. We have "opened up the van". This is a yearly ritual involving much airing off and plugging in of equipment-i.e. electric blanket and TV. Has anything been blown away such as satellite dish? The van is integral to my crafting life in that it allows easy access to places where stash can be obtained and also allows easy access for DH to places where he can stand around for hours waiting for the right lighting conditions for the best Landscape shot whilst I craft away in comfort in the warmth of said van. It's not too far from little sis either or Harrogate.

PatR has given me this award. Thankyou so much Pat. This has posed a challenge as you will gather if you read my blog regularly. I think she is chuckling to herself right now as she wonders if I will have another bald bit where I've torn out another clump of hair wondering how to deal with it. To make it worse there is a little message at the top of the posting window saying "scheduled outage at4:pm PDT so I'm trying to work out what PDT is and typing faster.
Now I've got to pass it on and I've chosen to sort it out later because

I'M GOING TO HARROGATE

I'm not going until Sunday but first we (DH and I) are opening up our static caravan near Gisburn on Friday then I'm taking up my bed -well blow up mattress -and staying at my sister Kate's on Saturday night. From thence to the goodies. I'm supposed to be packing right now but this blogging lark is mightily addictive. TTFN. When I see you again I will be trying to find space for more stash and checking my bank balance

Bingo a further episode

I was the caller for half the session. About ten of us turned up and Viv brought a bingo thing-a revolving cage that the balls dropped out of- but they didn't.She bought it for 20p at a car boot and now we know why. I restrained myself (jokes about balls were fighting to pop out of my mouth) but I was in the community room of the church. Those who know me may be surprised I managed it. The sour cream containers went down a treat and Maureen bought the one leftover for her grandson. Enid turned up in a new blouse exactly the shade of green on Julie's card from yesterday . I forgot to take my camera so I can't prove it.
Now apparently people do read my blog -well my little sis from Chatham does 'cos she told me when we spoke on the phone so the weight of the responsibility is going to my head a bit. The next bit is for her and for anyone else I haven't already told it to. The other day someone was talking about Confucius on the radio and quoting some of his sayings. Some were familiar but this one appealed to me
"It doesn't matter how slowly you go as long as you don't stop"

Building Rome-another episode

Did it -a few spare moments before my bingo session! and I worked out how to put the websites on.
Some people make cards-some people sell cards-some people sell stuff to make cards and some people play bingo. It's a long time since I did. I might be caller yet. Don't know until I get there. Yesterday I also made some lovely little cards based on one on cardsbyjulie by Julie Hickey but one has already gone before I took a shot of it. I will put a list of blogs I am following on here as soon as I get time but bingo calls. (It's a joke)

Simple is better says DH

Just one I've finished tonight. I hear these words all the time "Why can't you stamp it directly onto the card?" and "Take all that ribbon off and it will look better". I know the stamp is not directly on the card but the wording is. I bought this cardstock years ago and I've hoarded it. Why-I don't really know but I love the colour and I don't seem able to do it justice. I'm not sure if other people appreciate the colour as much as I do so I'll keep the rest a bit longer. Back to details. How do you think I've done the lettering? It's the hotfoil print wizard. I used some Pink Petticoat tiny tags which I don't think are on the website any more and I traced over them and used my tracing for the foiling. I just needed to polish it gently with a lump of cottonwool to bring out the detail. It's very handy is the wizard but my DH reads this so although I did tell him the price at the time I'm not reminding him. I wasn't keen on the samples on the hotfoil stand but the potential excited me and I haven't been disappointed (when I've made the effort). The stamp is Craftwork Cards again (don't click anywhere 'cos it won't work -Rome wasn't built in a day) and I made the shadow by stamping with the back of the stamp. It's a bit since I made the topper so I can't remember what ink I used but I played about for a while to get it light enough.
Keep meaning to try the stamps with some Stampbord. I bet they would be amazing. Before you ask -yes I have got some Stampbord.
Oh -"wHY CAN'T i STAMP IT DIRECTLY ON THE CARD? Same reason I just messed up this typing".

One for Lynne

Yesterday I saw a lovely card Lynne was making and I loved the way she combined the two stamps from the Craftwork Cards set to create a background paper. I hope you don't mind Lynne but I had to have a go myself and came up with this. The tiny touch of PVA at the cut ribbon end hadn't quite dried when I took the shot. I do that to stop any possible fraying. The touches of white have been added with an Inkssentials opaque white pen-they lifted the design so much I decided not to add the flowers I'd been planning.

Mother's Day, demos and bling

Mother's Day-a chance for every crafter out there to find out what the opposition is up to and by opposition I mean all the card manufacturers. You might think I've got three children but you'd be wrong-there's only two- it's just that one hasn't got very good lines of communication at home. Lovely cards though -especially the one with the fancy edge which has revived my longing for the Martha Stewart punch. If you can't see the detail it's got one flower directly on the card and pierced through, one foiled and one raised and pierced.The Hallmark one has got dry embossed daisies and the printing is done in mid grey-a nice reminder to us all to use grey ink to stamp with.

This is the card I made after going to a docrafts demo on Saturday. The bear pops up from a slot and the whole thing folds flat and fits in a C6 envelope. Don't do what I did though. I cleverly? cut out all the detail of the bear's fur which now jams as you push it up and down. This is the prototype (honest).

Last a box of bling for £2.50 which is what many people would think was junk-not crafters. To us it's a wonderland of delight. It's not mine. It belongs to my crafty friend Lynne who has plans for it-especially the tassel on the top and the art deco bits. In the top right corner you might just see the card she is making with Craftwork Cards stamps from one of the japanese ladies sets. She has stamped in black onto red paper and mounted it on silver mirri card then onto a black card. It looks very effective.

plus a simple card

Just in case you wondered if I'd actually made any cards at all-here's the one I made after I saw the demo on craftyblogocks on how to use the crop tool in publisher. Suddenly my Pink Petticoat downloads have become even more handy. Trouble is I couldn't sleep for thinking of all the things I could try. Not a good idea for a fibromyalgia sufferer (look it up if you don't know what it is- I don't think it'll make you any the wiser.

Busy doing nothing

The weekend arrived in double quick time with not much housework done. I seem to have spent my time grappling with new technology and techniques. The sunshine has brought an improvement in "unpleasant illness" which has resulted in a quantum leap in my brainpower and legs so I've been challenging myself by trying more new stuff on the computer as well as indulging in more bus travel. On thursday I caught the bus into Bolton, bumped into a colleague I'd not seen for years so we went for coffee at the Octagon theatre. I had my (new) camera in my bag and the sun tempted me to take some shots in the market-just missed the bus back so decided to walk through the park. I forgot bridge was closed and I couldn't remember where the other one is. Not totally recovered then. Thank goodness for mobile phones!

It was so lovely I wandered about among the flowers thinking "ain't life grand."

In fact you could say

"What is this life if full of care

We have no time to stand and stare?"

As you can probably tell-I stopped making heavy weather of placing the shots and applied the knowledge I've already got -only problem is I've a feeling these primroses should be round the other way.

That time already

I have tried to find out how to create links and how to put my photos and text where I want them but my brain has decided that enough is enough. Part of the point of this was to motivate me to make more cards -not tear my hair out at the computer. If anyone out there is feeling left out because I haven't put in a link -sorry. It's a bit like not saying hello to someone in the street when you've got the wrong pair of glasses on. I'm not ignoring you I just don't know how to MAKE IT WORK.
I'm about to make some sour cream containers and fill them with cadbury's mini eggs for a bingo session at a small community group I go to on Wednesday afternoons.
The builders still haven't appeared-surprise surprise but the sun has. It's very spring like outside. Blogflow has deserted me because I've just got back from the group and we have been doing Tai Chi so the aches and pains have set in. We exercise our jaws a lot as well. Everyone is older than me but some are much more sprightly. Fading rapidly so before total expiration sets in- cheerio.

Task complete

Here's the Pink Petticoat chandelier again-this time cut with labels two nestability and I've put the sentiment under a bubble thing from stash. I love that chandelier-especially since I changed the colour to pink. Nothing will appear where I want it and I can't work out how to place it in the right place at all. Tea is calling so au revoir.

At last I've managed to finish the requested Mother's Day cards and they are in the post. I'm pleased with the shot I took with the new camera. It's so easy just to zoom in and I've got it set on intelligent auto to compensate for the lack of "intelligent Betty" when it comes to photography.

I made the letters myself using wordart on Publisher and they are covered with some Trimcraft papers I have in my stock. It's sized to fit in a DL envelope. I learned the envelope lesson early on. Decide on your card size first and make sure you won't need to trim your card size to make the layout look right. I was starting from way behind square one. I have been present when plaintive requests have been made by desperate people in card shops for custom sized envelopes. Of course you can always make your own and I do- but not today. One day I will show you the drawer containing the envelope hoard. It needs using. Ah yes -back to the card. The flowers came with this month's Card making and papercraft. Wasn't it clever of them to match it to the papers I already had in my stash

Just a Teeny Weeny Post

Well I spotted a box that said title. Where did that come from? The yard was dealt with -almost-and the compost is going to be adopted by one of the offspring. The builders did not appear at crack of dawn and as I've got to finish a Mother's Day card I couldn't resist a teeny post first. Thanks especially go to DH who was wonderful yesterday. He put together some dormant shelving in the cellar which is now home to pots, potting compost etc. It all looks relatively tidy. Talking of posting-I've bamboozled my lovely sis into having a go as well.If I don't stop now this will not be a teeny post. Bye bye

Sunday is tidy the yard day
I am trying to find out how to create a title for the posting but haven't worked out how to underline it.
A long time ago we were informed that during the scheme to improve the area our walls etc would be rebuilt and tomorrow (after four years I think) they are starting on our street. We had a note shoved through the letterbox on Friday. We thought it would never happen but I think it is going to. It's a very short street and what's the betting they will start at our end if we don't do something today.
As we (ie me) haven't done much out there since I became ill there is a slight problem. The outside loo (we have got one inside ) is packed with stuff and we decided we would have it knocked down. All the -aaaargh-stuff has to be transferred to the cellar or got rid of plus there's more stuff which is stuffed into what was the coal bit. Then there's the compost I created in the far off heady days of gardening possibilities which has to be found a new home. Don't think I could sell it on ebay do you-er noooo. So no more blog today and no more cardy plans for the moment. Pity -I could have shown you the shot dearly beloved took at breakfast this morning with MY NEW CAMERA . If that's what he looks at in the morning it must be love because I haven't got any money - I am a crafter after all and something crunchy out there might have had something to do with it-oh and aforesaid "unpleasant illness". Ta ta for now

I keep as much as possible as close as possible so that I don't have to get up and down too much which I find a bit awkward sometimes. This is not all there is but it is the nerve centre and stuff moves in and out as the mood takes me. Besides I wouldn't like to reveal too much to all the tidy people out there. There is a method in it -honest.

Oh fandabbydosy. I went out and treated myself to a new camera today. Don't get me wrong-I've got a lovely SLR that I bought second hand from a friend but it's way too heavy to lug about and I've been using it to record all the cards I make. Instead of people asking me for a card "like that one you sent me" and I've no idea what they are talking about and they can't describe it (sure you've been there) I decided to keep a record. To get back to the point-camera no.1 was too heavy to carry about so I've ended up with this dinky Panasonic DMC FS3 for all you techies out there and I've been playing with it this afternoon. Got it to work and took some piccies of my craftroom chaos-for all you tidy people-steel yourselves-it's not a pretty sight and does owe something to a certain swedish store plus an icecream company. You might be able to spot some ribbon storage that I created recently using some Morrison's fridge fruit jars. I'm very proud of them. There is some more ribbon storage which I made with my big bite2. As you have probably sussed -ribbon storage is an ever present problem for me. If any of you have seen Kirsty Wiseman's blog with piccy's of her craft room -it's not like Kirsty's and if you ever find your way to my blog Kirsty- sorry for the shock. My problem is as soon as I reach a state of order I buy or acquire something else.

Oh yes ribbons-while I was at the market this morning I bought 2 bundles of lace so now I've got to find somewhere to put them.

Now I've got to come clean and confess that I've not been capable of cardmaking since Monday 'cos we had a trip to Leeds with some friends on Tuesday which left me in need of R&R due to aforesaid "unpleasant illness". It was worth it though. The friends had never been to Leeds before and the weather played along so that the city was shown in its best light. Good job because, like my lovely husband, they are passionate photographers which was the reason for our visit. There is an exhibition on at the museum by Marc Riboud. It's work he did when he came to Leeds in the fifties. We had a grand day out culminating in a lovely meal at the Corn Exchange which is also an amazing building.

Our friends had been in Florence the week before but they were still impressed. For two Lancastrians from Lancaster they made a good impression of enjoying Yorkshire.

Anyway I'm now back to my usual operating level with the added benefit of a blog of my own which gave me a bit of distraction when I wasn't capable of doing much else.

For anyone out there who would like to know what happened at the dentist's yesterday-I am still alive-just. Oh and the fish from the market worked out o.k. too. I bought a piece of tuna which seemed like pushing the boat out at £4.50 plus some ginger and a red chillie which brought it to a fiver but (and it's a big one) if we'd had fish and chips from the chippie it would have been about the same. I made a marinade and stood it in it for about half an hour then cooked it quickly using some advice I found in a Garry Rhodes book. I'm not a confident cook but it was absolutely wonderful -easy too.

Along more crafty lines I did enter the challenge on Pink Petticoat blog in February which was to create some sour cream containers and I can now show you what mine turned out like when I remember how to attach the blinkerty blinkerty pictures. Don't ask me to format it yet. These are early days.

Not much time for blogs today 'cos a trip to the market -not supermarket-to buy fish and a trip to THE DENTIST are on the schedule so hey ho off we go. Well me anyway because I'm so brave now I can manage the dentist on my own

Now I've got this thing up and running I've got to try to keep it going and find out how it works. I do tend to learn by doing and the first thing I've worked out is how to alter the time zone.
The new Cardcraft plus catalogue arrived this morning and I've spent some time browsing through it and testing my determination not to buy anything but to USE MY STASH.
Manufacturers are aware of this of course. I think they home in on me specifically otherwise why do I always see a sample which includes something I haven't got (NOT A LOT)and now I've GOT TO HAVE. The morning cuppa has been drunk and it will soon be lunchtime so before I get involved in the philosophical arguments for and against the necessity of owning some twinkling H2o's or some cosmic shimmer paints I am going to MAKE SOME CARDS.

Drat. I don't think I managed to publish my first post which had piccies in it so I'll just see if I can do it right this time and then I'll go for the cup of tea

Have you got the impression that I haven't a clue what I'm doing? Well you are right. I'm not sure how to get the pictures to appear where I want them and how to put a caption under each one so just in case they have actually appeared -the black one is by my new crafty friend Lynne who came over the other day to find out how to do the fancy middle bit and produced this card which she then took apart after I took the photo because she realised it wasn't central. Don't worry -it did go back together again. I always like O.P.'s cards much better than my own.
There's also a fan card I made with the new Craftwork Cards stamps and their yummy scrummy papers and a Mother's Day card using the yummys again plus a new download from Pink Petticoat that I changed to pink then covered in glossy accents, glamour dust and the new Suze Weinberg glitz stickles. Think my Nesties might have crept in as well and a scalloped card from Craftwork Cards.
Think I'll break for a cuppa now 'cos I'm utterly whacked but at least I've started. Surely it's going to improve from here.