Catch-up Post ... thank-yous, winnings, a birthday card and online shopping

Hello Everybody

Thank You to WOYWWers, Followers and Friends
Today, I very much want to begin by thanking everyone of you who sent their get well wishes to Alan and myself during the week or so we have both been unwell. You have all been very kind to take the time to drop us a line. We are both feeling very much better today and getting back into the swing of things ... albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Alan is even back behind the wheel of his beloved car again ... he gets cabin fever if he can't get out so being forbidden to drive was stressing him out as much as being poorly did.

Crafty Individual Win
Another cheering thing that happened last week was this package the postie delivered.

Fabulous! I just love these stamps and the pad is full of gorgeous Christmas miniatures which I'm going to really enjoy using over the coming weeks. Just in case you are wondering, I won these for guessing where Malcolm of Crafty Individuals took the photograph shown on the blog - to see it, click here ... the photograph is just beautiful, so serene and inviting, I want to there watching the sea lap over those rocks :)

Alan's 73rd Birthday Card
It was Alan's 73rd birthday on Friday - shame he was too poorly to enjoy it - and here is the card I made for him.

Another Autumn themed card. The panel was inspired by one I saw Sue Wilson demonstrating on TV recently. It's simply a panel of white card inked, using a make-up sponge, and then stamping the  leaves and dragonflies over the top. My first intention was to make it an all white card so inked and stamped on to a white base .... but, I boobed ... I got some tiny red ink smudges on the front :( To save the day, I trimmed the panel down and edged it with the gold leafing pen and adhered the panel to a lovely brown card base ... phew!  An accident turned happy :) To finish the front I added a greeting, also edged with the gold pen, and some brown card candy.

The insert is computer generated as is the paper on the back ... another happy accident ... for some reason the first print-out came of the printer skew-whiff so, being the frugal type, I trimmed it down and adhered it to the back.

Voila!

Materials I used:-

Cardstock; Docrafts Textured card, brown for base; Neenah Solar smooth white card for topper;
Inks used: Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Fired Brick and Dried Marigold; Versafine, Olympia Green and Vintage Sepia; Memento Tuxedo Black;
Stamps used: Toodles and Binks Ivy Leaf (free with Craft Stamper Magazine; Denami Design Dragonfly; Stamps Away Words;
Other items from stash: 18kt Gold Leaf Pen; Card candy from the Craftwork Cards Choc-a-Mocha bag

The Online Shopping Experience
You would think that with my extensive experience of online shopping for crafting goodies, I would do all my supermarket shopping online, wouldn't you? Well, no, I never have until last week when we were both taken ill at the same time.

Alan, as the EM, usually drives down to Morrisons/Tescos/Asdas, practically on a daily basis, just because he likes to go out, zip round the supermarket, buy the paper and even haunt the High Street. He claims the exercise is good for him and, as he is such a gregarious buddy, he gets to chat to a few folk as he wends his way. I only take over the shopping in the direst of emergencies ... I loathe supermarket shopping.

However, last week neither of us were able to pop out to the shops so as the cupboard got barer and barer we decided that we'd get Tescos to deliver. If you'd seen the two of us, in our PJs, perched in front of the computer trying to find our way round the virtual shelves, picking our way through the endless types of bread, spreads, cold meats, etc., etc., ... the choice is amazing and the sizes confusing :) We got there in the end ... our order came to just £3 short of £50 ... I told you the cupboard was bare! Then we checked and if we spent the extra £3 we'd qualify for 5p of a litre of diesel ... there was nothing for it, we splurged on some choccie biccies and qualified.

Tesco delivered in the selected time slot, there were no substitutes ... something we had heard could happen and were dreading ... or mistakes ... well, there was a couple but they were entirely our mistakes. We now had a tiny quiche, intended for one when we wanted a larger size for two, and a delicious wee fresh-baked loaf ... again we wanted a larger size ... we should have paid more attention to the sizes!!! And the delivery man was a star ... he quickly sized up the situation ... how could he not when there we were, two OAPs, both still in our dressing-gowns, I could hardly stand and Alan was weaving from side-to-side as though on the high seas ... and carried our bags straight into the kitchen.

Was it worth it, was it successful ... a resounding YES! If we are ever find ourselves in the same circumstances again we will not hesitate to go online shopping again.

It's been a fairly long post today, but I really had a lot of catching up to do. Hopefully, this week will see us getting back to normal. Unfortunately, I was unable to go on the craft retreat at Bolton Abbey as planned ... disappointing, and I won't dwell on how much I was looking forward to it, but you just can't plan for the unexpected! Hopefully, I'll be able to go next year instead.