Wednesday waffle...

Wednesday waffle is here again! This is more of a Sunday waffle really as these pics are from Sunday, but there you go ;)

Just thought I would share some more beach and Beagle pics from our latest trip to the beach on Sunday. After all the great weather we've had lately in the UK, it chose to rain on the morning of our beach trip(!) but as you can see, the beach looked just as beautiful even with the rain...

I loved how you can see the spray from the surf...
...and this old shipwreck in the sand...
I did manage to fit in a little crafting too :) this is a wall hanging I made as a gift for my sister-in-law. Hope she doesn't see this! She just moved into a new apartment and I thought I would inflict some of my experimenting on her ;)
I also wanted to share the ATC I made for the Steampunk swap over at The Scrappy Tree. This is my first go at Steampunk but I really enjoyed it!

If you want to join in, get your ATCs off to Kristin this week!
Can't wait for this weekend - in the UK, this Monday is the May bank holiday which means an extra day off for us :) I am hoping to go check out the free Festival Fringe at the Mumbles Mostly Blues and Jazz Festival sometime this weekend; I have persuaded df that some blues in the sunshine along with a glass of beer/wine could be pretty lovely :)

Saturday-ness

'll be honest, tonight I am indulging a guilty pleasure - I am watching Intervention on YouTube! lol

It reminds me of when we first got internet at our flat, and I used to spend the whole night crafting and watching Intervention - happy days! Sad to say but in that respect they seem like old familiar friends :) wish that I could still get Intervention here! I think A&E tv have figured out that the UK were watching their new episodes from their internet site and for some reason they have put a block on - nuts! lol

So I have been working on a few things tonight that I can't share just yet, but hoping to tomorrow. In the meantime, I need to encourage you all to have a good rummage in your local charity shop. I went into ours this week with a client and spotted a pair of shoes in my goofy old size 8's for only £2, but the most exciting and important thing I picked up was this lace trim...

Bearing in mind that at the big craft store near here it costs between £1 and £2 to buy a metre of lace trim, I was lucky enough to find the three trims above by digging around at our charity shop (metres and metres of the stuff) for only about £1. Beautiful. :)

Tomorrow morning my stepdad and me are taking two of the Beagles down to the beach again - it will be early but I am happy to be able to enjoy this weather and this wonderful countryside :)

Big thank you!!

Want to say a BIG thank you to Jennifer over at blueskysunburn - I entered her March giveaway for a book on working with acrylic paint.... and I won!! I know nothing about paint apart from my own messing about, so I'm very excited to find out some new techniques to try.

Jennifer's blog makes for interesting reading AND shows off her great artwork, so if you haven't already been for a visit then take some time for a browse!

Happy Wednesday everybody :)

Beagles, beaches and bbqs...

So today we took the pooches to the beach - Millie the Scottie got to stay at home cos she's the old lady of the bunch, and the plan for today was to let the younger two off their leads and let them run without running into too much harm (I don't know if it's a Beagle thing, but the younger two are RUBBISH at coming back when they're called!).

So we headed out with bunches of treats in our pockets (this is the old man Beagle, Alfie, who at the age of 7 has now figured out that he will get a treat if he comes when he's called)

This is Ellie, the mum of the three, here pretending that she is a good girl and will come and see you for treats...
Alfie again, being a good dog for his treat...
... and this is my fiance and my stepdad pegging it after Lucy the puppy and Ellie her mum, when they decided to streak off into the distance and around the corner...
...this is a muddy pair of Crocs halfway down the beach while waiting for everyone to come back...
...and after the drama, this is Alfie....
...Lucy...
...and Ellie, all tired out for the day.
This evening we had a bit of a bbq with my fam before Gav headed out for the evening, and after catching the beginning of the new series of Britain's Got Talent (strangely addictive, every time!), I got down to some crafting. I am practicing some card-making; I get really anxious every time I need to make a card for someone because I am worried about what to do!
I think I might need to shop for some more stamps... watch this space...

Friday already? Nope, actually it's practically Saturday

Writing this very late at night on Friday; got plans with the unseasonal good weather the UK is experiencing at present to go and drag the family out to the beach tomorrow, and also to have a barbeque, so getting in here early with some pics from this week's craft projects :)

Missing many of my online crafty friends very much! Feel like I haven't had anywhere near enough time to spend here or anywhere else crafty much lately, but have done my best this week to keep to my commitments LOL

The monthly inchie swap I take part in chose 'faces' for this month's theme; I absolutely had to find a use for the free stamp with Craft Stamper magazine a month or two ago, plus a pretty Valentine style stamp which I loved and reminds me of a great old fashioned movie scene.

I also picked up a great deal on the DCWV Green Stack recently and have been waiting to use it :) Julie's Inspiration Monday challenge at The Scrappy Tree presented the perfect opportunity!
It's a bit of a crazy card with loads of stuff on it, but I am no card maker and I had too much fun making this one! lol

Had a bit of a rubbish week at work with having to make do with one car between me and df since mine broke down (we work in opposite directions from where we live) but today came out beautifully and with the weather being so good it was blissful this afternoon to do something as simple as helping a client with her garden :) sometimes life really is good to me!

Happy Friday to one and all, and thank you for coming to visit :) yes I have more art journal pages to share but unfinished is unposted :D will get there in the end ;)

Weekly posting?? Terrible!

It's true! I am managing a post once a week only! Terrible indeed :) and I definitely need to come and visit everybody and leave lots of blog love too :)

We had lots of family visiting with us over Easter weekend and it was really lovely to have that family time, not just with those close to us but people that we don't see so often. I couldn't help but think of my nan though - usually some of us go to visit her every Easter but she is still having work done on her house after the burst pipe at Christmas so she doesn't have anywhere to put us just yet.

Easter weekend with its extra two days of holiday put an extra couple of pounds on my butt as well! Why is it when you have visitors you have to cook stuff to fatten them up LOL my mum found a recipe for Thornton's toffee apple pie - oh MY goodness! - and that was without the other two courses for dinner, plus rhubarb crumble, ice cream, and chocolate eggs - yikes! I have been like a total slug all week! But got out of the house today for an hour walking the dogs, must take a camera down there because it was so beautiful! I know that I couldn't take as good a photo as my friend Michelle, but she would really love the scenery down there :)

So to crafting! I am excited to start working on something for The Scrappy Tree Steampunk Swap - I have never tried steampunk but I really like the style, and receiving a piece of art in return for the love and enjoyment you put into your work is always a wonderful bonus :) if you fancy giving it a go, send it off to Kristin by the end of the month - details here.

This week I got some great collage images and they were just the right size for ATCs - the temptation was too great and I just had to do it :) I adore ATCs and just haven't devoted enough time to them lately!

This is a journal page from last weekend, I was having some fun playing with pastels and bright colours and this is what jumped out of my brain (via my left hand, which is why it's kind of fuzzy LOL)
I have another page I'm in the middle of (again from last weekend) and there's something very Alice-like about it - I guess that even though I haven't seen the film I am still on that wavelength on some level ;)

Last weekend I felt my brother needed a bit of a lift, so we went to see Clash of The Titans on the Friday (good film, but not necessary to see in 3D), and for the third and final time before it left the cinema, yes, I went to see Avatar in 3D again! :D my brother had seen the film but not in 3D, and as I needed no excuse whatsoever to see it again I decided that a cinema ticket would be his Easter present :)

The third time was the charm; we went to a cinema further away from home this time as it was the only place still showing Avatar in 3D. My goodness, the 3D specs were so good that they were alarmed and you couldn't take them from the cinema if you'd wanted to! Absolutely amazing and would have given Disney a run for it's money, the 3D was THAT good :)

Hopefully I will be here again before a week passes! Have a great weekend everybody :)

Time goes by so QUICKLY!

Another silly busy week - no projects to share, because in the spirit of the Art Journal prompt I posted last Friday, there just hasn't been the time - BIG sad face! :(

But this weekend is a bank holiday weekend in the UK (not sure how international this is!) so everything is shut on Good Friday and Easter Monday, including the office where I work (HUGE sigh of relief!) so this weekend will be for family - a lot going on at home as well as at work this week, so plenty of hugs and support needed for those concerned.

I have taken a few photos this week, but one that really made me smile was this one of the Beagles - how many can you fit in a bed?

Not many more than this I think!

As an ATC fan, I also want to extend The Scrappy Tree's invitation to take part in this month's Steampunk ATC swap - all the details are here and you can also check out the blog, plus voting is still up on the blog to decide the winner of the Spring Bloom challenge, so get your votes in - only two days left!