Bank holidays!

And so I lurch from one Bank Holiday to another - I thought I might have a little time to blog at the end of May purely because the bank holiday weekend was offering me an extra day to do so! And I was wrong!! lol

I'm sitting here with my iPod on listening to Stephen Lynch's tribute to Jim Henson, drinking a glass of Pinot Grigio and thinking how glorious it is to not think about work! It's been a busy month, and a busy week just gone - we went off on our adventures this past week as we took to the rivers (ok, canals) of middle England and navigate our way to Stratford and back at the grand speed of about.... 3mph. lol.

There was very little crafting going on in this busy month of May, but I did complete a page for my monthly slot, Art Journal Friday at The Scrappy Tree - apologies to everyone that I owe something to, my poor crafting supplies are dusty and neglected and feeling surplus to requirements at the moment (which of course they certainly are not!)

This is my page for the AJF challenge:-

And randomly thought that I would also share this very rare pic of me and my brother with my dad - haven't seen a photo like this since we were kids, so perhaps it needed sending out into the world to prove that it happened ;)

Happy June everybody :)

Castles and cards

Well we bid goodbye to the bank holiday weekend (they go so fast, don't they?) and back to work today. Feeling quite joyful though, as my car is FINALLY on the road again as of this evening! Few more things to do, but back in action for now :)

Thought that I would share some photos of our Sunday - we visited Carew Castle near Tenby for a mediaeval fayre. It was kind of quiet, but the scenery was great :)

I also got to do a little crafting this weekend, a birthday card...
...and a grungy art journal page...
...ended the weekend with multi-coloured hands, can't be bad :) Have a great week everybody!

May Day

It's May Day bank holiday weekend here in the UK - in keeping with the tradition of many of our national holidays, it's raining.

But as a nation, we don't let that stop us.

We had a barbeque, and a few beers; Gav even got a cigar out from our trip to see his dad in Texas last year...
Something about Corona beer with a slice of lime, and the smell of cigars, makes me feel like I'm on holiday :)

Check out this weekend's art journal challenge at The Scrappy Tree and let me know about those sights and smells which get you thinking about summer....

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...