WOYWW - Week 434

Good Morning Everyone ...

... on this the last What's On Your Desk Wednesday before The Crop on Saturday. We start out trip to Wales tomorrow morning, breaking for an overnight stop at Lancaster on the way. Which is why there's nothing creative on my desk this morning - zilch, nada, nowt, not a thing!

So boring!

That being so, I thought I'd show you something much more entertaining.

Spotted yesterday when we left the Book And Bun, where we had lunch with our friends. This is Highland Cow McCoo, the very colourful creation of artist Steven Brown, in his recently opened shop - he calls it his flagship store so clearly has plans to expand - in Newmarket Street, Ayr. Steven is famous for his fabulous paintings of McCoos and McZoos which seem to be finding their way into everything from posters to calenders and cushions to mugs, though I've yet to see a multi-coloured coo chomping on a thistle in any of the fields nearby. 

Now how brief was that - just like Head Desker Julia likes it - and so rarely gets from me!

Looking forward to meeting everyone on Saturday.

Wishing you all a very happy WOYWW.

Butterflies and Roses - A Card for Nothing

Morning Everyone,

Apart from the white card base this card has cost me nothing to make. The topper is recycled from a birthday card received, oh maybe two or three years ago ... I find it nearly impossible to throw pretty cards away! I carefully trimmed round the image with scissors and then matted it on to a scrap of leftover orange card. The background paper is also leftover from quite a few years ago and the butterflies were die cut from the last snippets of the orange card.

As it's all old stash I couldn't possibly list the supplies used, though I do think the orange card is textured and  from Docrafts Papermania - it's one of my favourite brands of cardstock. And the butterflies were cut with the XCut Dinky Die that I've been using a lot recently.

Short and sweet today. I have a hair appointment early morning and then DH & I are spending the day with friends. The sky is blue and the sun is already shining so it looks like it's going to be the perfect autumn day.

I hope you all have a lovely day too.

In A Vase On Monday - Summer's End

It's a wee while since I joined Cathy for In a Vase On Monday over at Rambling In The Garden. Summer holidays, trips out and life in general got in the way. Not that it's been a particularly good summer for the garden - too much rain and not enough sunshine so it seems summer's end came early.

Today's vase is a plonked arrangement of possibly the last of the roses and sweet peas. I keep thinking that I've picked the last but, no, they just keep coming. However, frost has been forecast so I'm enjoying them while I can. Along with the sweet peas there are several cream roses, Elina, and a pink one - the last from the climber with no name. There's also a few roses from our newest climber, Susie (Harwhistle) which is, at present, smothered in golden blooms together with a couple of stems of centaura montana and dianthus (pinched from my husband's pot).

There's a bit of blue hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) tucked in here and there - here it is keeping a stem of red Faithful roses company.

and a there's a tiny Violet Cloud (Harquick) shrublet rose peaking out too.

Whilst I haven't been posting photos of vases on a Monday I have still been filling the house with flowers. I did, however, take photos of the vases so I thought I'd share a few with you here today.

As you can see the rain didn't ruin everything. The sweet peas are still going strong, as are some of the roses, but frost is forecast and sadly that will bring an end to them. In the meantime, I'll continue to bring them indoors and enjoy their wonderful perfume.

We've struggled to keep up with the garden during the summer and only partly because of holidays and trips away. The truth is, and I don't mind admitting it, that we are getting old; my husband Alan is 79 and troubled with arthritic knees, and in a few weeks I'll be 70 and simply not as able as I once was. Because of this we did have a couple of guys in to help with the hedge trimming and pruning. They also removed a very old, and ugly, fir tree that was growing too close to a beautiful rowan (Sorbus aucuparia). It was doing some damage so it had to go to save the rowan. That sorted out we've been able to catch up with most of the easier gardening jobs before winter sets in.

I'm off to Wales for the weekend which probably means I won't have time to fill a vase for Monday next. We'll be into October by the following week and I wonder what the garden will be offering up then - possibly not sweet peas.

In the meantime, I wish you all happy gardening,

Friday Smiles

Hello Everyone,

It's been another busy week with plenty to smile about and share with Annie at A Stitch In Time, not least a visit from these two handsome chappies on Wednesday.

It's nearly impossible to get my great-grandson, Callum, to stay still long enough for a photo shot. A typical two-year old, he is constantly on the move, and into everything too.

These two blurry photos show just what an active little chap he is. For some reason he loved the mat at the back door so had a wee dance on it and then he very helpfully mopped the kitchen floor. There's never a dull moment with Callum around, although I admit this great-gran was shattered by the end of the afternoon!

His dad, William, sporting a very fetching beard. I still find it hard to believe my grandson is old enough to grow a beard let alone a dad. Where do the years go. Sigh.

Final photo for this week, a shot taken by DH of sunrise over Ayr this morning.

Stunning.

And now the funny for the week.

Given that I'm a great-gran four times over - at the time of posting - the sentiment on this  mug appealed to me.












Hope you have a wonderful weekend which brings plenty to smile about.

WOYWW - Week 433

Evening Everyone,

Thought I'd never get here today! WOYWW had to wait because I've had a little visitor, my great-grandson, and his daddy, so have been busy. Got to admit too that once he had gone I sat down and fell asleep on the sofa - I was exhausted! Still, it was lovely to see them both. Anyway, here at last is what's on my desk today.

There's a box of Christmas stamps out and I've started making card toppers with them - hence the pile of white card cut to size. Rudolph Day is just a few days away and I'm told it is only about twelve weeks to Christmas so time to make a few more cards than the one a month I've been managing up to now. Behind the saucer with the wet wipe there's a dish full of Stickles - I've propped them upside down in the hope that there's still some life in them. If not, I'll have to toss them and start anew.

So there you are. Not a lot going on creatively ... well, not that I can show you. I do, however, just have to share these with you:

Our first apples from the tree we planted just two years ago. Last year we didn't have any fruit but this year there's loads. They are fresh, crisp and juicy too.

Not long now until the Crop now - just a few more sleeps :)

Have a wonderful week everyone.

Sunday Snippet Cards - A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies

Evening Everyone,

It's been a lovely autumnal day here ... perfect for the day out at Portpatrick Harbour to celebrate DH's 79th birthday. For those of you who follow me on Facebook pop over to see photos taken today.

There was, though, a definite nip in the air so I think it's safe to say that summer is over. Not to worry, autumn here in Scotland is glorious and our summer hasn't been all that good ... not good enough to miss, that's for sure. And it does mean that I will be spending less time gardening and more time crafting. Now, that's got to be good because it will mean I can get back to posting more often on this much neglected blog ... starting with sharing this trio of snippets cards.

As you can see the design is similar in all of them and they all feature butterflies. The strips of card are leftovers from an earlier session when I played with the various colours in my Brusho collection. I layered them on to scraps of solid coloured card before adhering them to the face of the card blanks. The butterflies were cut from snippets of card using two of the new die sets bought recently from The Range.

Supplies used:

• card blanks 
• leftover pieces of white card spattered with Brushos in a variety of colours, trimmed to create strips
• scraps of card in green, yellow and pink for the layers under the Brusho strips to create the panels
• snippets of card in green, aqua, yellow, turquoise and pink for the butterflies
• butterfly dies - Xcut Dinky Die - Butterfly and Dovecraft Mini die - Layering Butterfly

I'd like to say that these made a huge dent in my scrap mountain but, sadly, they did not. I've been thinking of taking another approach to this problem, that is apart from tossing them all in the bin - I couldn't do that - and after watching a few YouTube videos on the subject I'm going to have a bash at making up card kits to have ready to work on at any time I have a free moment. I'm hoping the initial time taken to make up the kits will, in the end, be worth it. Grabbing a few kits to work on whilst watching TV of an evening would seem a good plan. And it also occurs to me that the youngsters in the family might like some to be creative with. It's worth a try. I'll let you know if it proves to be a successful approach - or not.

In the meantime, I'm submitting one of these cards to Pixie's Snippets Playground. I'm just not sure which one - decisions, decisions!

Hope you have all had a wonderful weekend and that the coming week is going to be a good one.

Saturday Smiles

Hi Everyone,

Missed Annie's Friday Smiles this week so I'm making up for it today - I hope. And I also hope you have had a very smiley week. Here's a couple of shots that made me chuckle.

This is DH's great-great nephew. He's an absolute cutie. First photo shows the wee rugby player proudly showing off his Player of the Month certificate ... he'll be three later this month.

He's not afraid to try anything, including a spot of decorating!













When you have to put two greats in front of nephew you know you are getting old. And that brings me on to  why I didn't make it yesterday ... It's DH's 79th birthday today so we celebrated a day early. Sadly, I forgot to take the camera or I'd have got a great shot of him tucking into his cream tea!

 Finally, here's my funny for the week - I think this one applies to both papercrafters and sewers.

No need for words!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend with a week of smiles ahead too.

Birds, Butterfly and Herbs

Morning Everyone

And it's a very early morning for me here. The sun is up - just- and the sky is blue but the scudding clouds are grey and look rain-laden. I can also see from my craft room window that there's quite a breeze blowing out there too. I think we are in for a showery and blustery day which is a pity because I'm going to have to go out in it. I'm off to the quilting class this morning - the first of this new Autumn term.

I did intend joining in with WOYWW yesterday, I even had the photo of my desk all lined up, when a domestic crisis arose, as they do, and all notion of blogging a post had to be put on the back burner. Needless to say, by the time I could get back to thinking about it again it was too late, I gave up and went to bed.  Life's like that these days - one day it's bowling along happily, next it's thrown me a curve ball or two. I suppose I should be better prepared and have a post or two in draft form ready to go, but somehow I'm never that organised - sigh!

Anyway, all is well this morning - so far! - and I have a little card to share.

It was made using bits found in the bit box. I must have stamped and coloured the herb image more than a year ago and the bird covered piece was an experiment in inking done around the same time. They've been matted on to some purple card from the scrap basket and decorated with a butterfly made from the tiniest snippet of leftover card and one of the new Dinky dies I found in The Range recently. The base is a black 5" square card blank. I'd give you more details but, in truth, I've forgotten what I used and even where the stamps are at this moment. If there is anything you need to know about the stamps just ask and I will dig them out later.

That's it for today. Now I must run and get ready or I'll never get to the class on time.

I hope you have a great day.

Happy Crafting,

Sunday Snippet Card

Two posts in one evening. That's something of a miracle for me but I just wanted to do a quick share of this little card over at Pixie's Snippet's Playground.

A rummage around in the basket of snippets produced all the card used, including the black for the bee.

How the card was made:

• the base is a white 3" square card blank from Docrafts Papermania
• the topper is made from snippets of white and yellow cardstock. The white card trimmed to a 45mm square (just large enough for the bee to sit on) and the yellow card 55mm square for layering.
• the bee was die cut from a scrap of black cardstock - Docrafts Xcut Dinky Die - and then attached to the white card using dimensional squares
• the topper was then assembled ready to attach to the front of the card blank
• the sentiment is from Altenew Crafty Friends. It's a straight stamp but I twisted it on the stamp block to create the feeling of movement before stamping on to the bottom of the card blank front
• the topper was then attached using more dimensional squares. 
• the final touch was to stamp, with another of the Altenew stamps, Happy Crafting, inside the card.

 It's a teeny wee card, simple to make and, as I made twelve altogether, it used up plenty of snippets which has got to be a bonus.

Saturday at the Scottish Deaf Patchwork Quilters Group Workshop

Evening Everyone,

Those of you who have read my WOYWW post on Wednesday will know that my daughter, Juli, was taking a workshop on English Paper Piecing this Saturday at St Vincent's Centre for the Deaf in Glasgow.  A few of you may have already seen the photos on Facebook but for those who haven't I thought I'd post them here too.

Juli (in jeans) with the first ladies to arrive - all the way from Aberdeen! The other members who attended lived in or near Glasgow.

The workshop underway.

Juli explaining in sign language how a die-cutting machine can be used to cut shapes and fabric to make the process easier and quicker.

Showing her current work in progress ... a king-size quilt - all those tiny hexagons have been hand-sewn together - and there is as many more still to be done.

Some of the ladies busily stitching hexagons together. There was a lot of laughing and chatting going on throughout. As all this was done using sign language so it's amazing that any stitching got done but everyone went home with the beginnings of a patchwork project started and a better understanding of paper piecing.

It is one of the members of the group Mrs Norma Hunter's 83rd birthday today and to celebrate Evelyn, one of the members from Aberdeen, made this fabulous cake.

The 'fabric' and 'buttons' are made from fondant and inside the layers of sponge are in rainbow colours. It was delicious.

The birthday lady tucking into a slice of the cake. Fabulous smile!

The workshop has been voted a great success and we are all now looking forward to the next one.

Friday Smile

Well, I'm late - what a surprise, I hear you say! And this is going to be the quickest but possibly the most photo heavy Friday Smile post ever.

First of all, I should explain why I'm so late. I'm of to a EPP (English Paper Piecing) workshop run by my daughter for some of the members of her Deaf Patchwork Quilts (Scotland) group tomorrow morning and I've spent most of the day preparing. I say most of the day because I did have to see a doctor this morning with a nasty rash. I had to know whether it was contagious - didn't want to risk infecting a hall full of lovely ladies. It's okay. This rash is all my own! I'm allergic to something, we just don't know what. Anyway, it means I can still go along to the workshop and, as it is in Glasgow, that means an early start which is why I have to be quick.

Anyway, last Saturday DH and I went along to the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine - a town just up the coast from us - and had a brilliant time. I took tons of photos so what follows is just a selected few.

This building, a former warehouse, was brought down brick by brick from the Glasgow district of Govan, famous for it's shipyards, and rebuilt on the site at Irvine.

Everything in a boat/ship is massive.

Here himself is standing by just one of the exhibits to give you some idea of how big everything is.

I loved this wonderful representation of some of the men who worked in the shipyards.

This rather rusty, battered and strange looking vessel has a remarkable history. It is an ASR-10, an experimental air and sea rescue barge built for the Royal Air Force in 1942. Their role was to provide emergency shelter for the crew of downed aircraft. They were painted in these really bright colours to make them as visible as possible to the downed airmen. The intention was that survivors would swim to the barge, climb inside and avail themselves of the facilities until they were rescued. They were equipped with radios, bunk beds and emergency rations as well as other forms of signalling apparatus.

This little beach hut was surprise discovery.

My idea of heaven - a sunny window seat, comfy cusions and shelves full of books to read.

These engraved pavers were distributed along the river front pavement. They include many of my favourite words from my native language.

I'll leave you with these two photos of the beautiful river's edge.

I wish you all a very smiley weekend.