Friday Smiles

Morning Smilers

It's Annie's Smiley Day again - an opportunity to share some of what has brought us pleasure during the week. For us it's been a another busy week but I haven't been snapping away much with my camera. When I'm busy with family I often forget to take pictures.

Our niece, Louise, all the way from Aberdeen, visited us on Wednesday morning. She had an appointment at Ayr hospital so we took her there and back. It's a university hospital so very busy. We spent the time waiting for Louise in the little tea room beautifully ran by volunteers, as is the little well-stocked little shop nearby. We also took the opportunity to visit my sister Margaret who was in bed and feeling not so good. MS is a miserable condition but she always manages to look on the bright side and finds a lot to smile about too.

 At the weekend, we did pop down to Culzean to our favourite second-hand book shop - we had quite a pile of read books to offload but we really don't need much of an excuse to visit the estate. To our surprise we found that there was a 'Forces in the Field' event going on and this time I did remember to get my phone out. Here's a few pics from the day.

Living history re-enactments was part of the entertainment.

And this aircraft cockpit display - hubby checked the dimensions and reported back that the entrance was so small he'd never be able to get inside!

Not sure this was the sort of display I'd have around with so many children milling around. I was assured they were not loaded by what about those bayonets - they look pretty lethal to me!!!

This lady was weaving a bag from rags on a very primitive looking loom.

Birds of Prey were also there - kindly pitched away from all the noise of the military re-enactments. This eagle was alert but didn't look uneasy even though he was the centre of attention.

And finally, not a funny today but something really special.

Rose 'Eternity' is the name on the label but, after receiving it from our very own Annie and her husband when they visited us earlier this year, we've renamed it 'Annie's Rose'. Hubby took the time to count the blooms this morning and I think you, Annie, will be pleased to learn that there are seventeen on the bush. And it's showing no sign of giving up even though we are now moving into Autumn. Incidentally, the seat just behind the rose, fashioned from half an old round table, is now spoken of as 'Annie's seat'!

So that's it for today. Next Friday we will be on the way Wales for the WOYWW crop so I may not be able to post on this blog ... I've never tried blogging from my phone so really don't know if it's possible. What I will be able to do is post photos on Facebook and, as I have decided not to join in with 'Scroll Free September' this year, a noble idea I'm sure, my Friday Smiles will be there instead.

Take care and have a wonderful weekend.

Summer Challenge Scrap Pages

Hello Everyone,

Today brings us to the end of another week of the Mind The Scrap Summer Challenge bringing the total of pages made to 39 ... that's over six weeks and it's a personal record. I've shared a few over the weeks but here's the pages from Week 3 only. I'll spare you the Weeks 4 & 5 for now!

My Girl

I had fun creating some of the colours of the rainbow, one of the requirements for the challenge that week, with Brusho powders for the background on this page. I also plucked up courage to use my machine to stitch a border all the way round the edge of the page. My machine and my nerves survived! The photo is an old one taken in 1975 of my lovely daughter, Juli. The army had arranged for us to fly over from Germany to London so that she could be seen by specialists to determine whether she had a hearing defect. In this photo she is proudly wearing her hearing aids for the first time. She took to them like a duck to water!

Summer Bliss

And talking about duck to water, it's Juli again, even younger this time. These photos were taken in 1972. It was a hot summer - all the summers in Germany were hot as I recall - and because she was too young to play in the paddling pool with her older brother we put her in this blow-up canoe and gave her a few inches of water to play in - she loved it.

December

I know we don't normally associate rainbow colours with Christmas but somehow this worked and I really enjoyed putting this page together. The photo was taken of one of the festive displays found in one of our local garden centres back in 2012.

Waterbaby

This page was inspired by the lovely photos of my great-grandson, Callum, enjoying his first dip in the Mediterranean Sea. It's not too obvious but there's ink spatters in the background - I had fun with the yellow ink, Lemon Sherbet, from Jane Davenport - it's a beautiful sunny colour and just right for a beach themed page.

The last week, Week 6, of the challenge started this evening and my first job is to clear my desk of the detritus from the week just gone. A clear desk, a clear head.

I'm sure I'll be back with more pages to share before the challenge ends.

Have a lovely evening.

Sunday Snippet Card - Golden Leaves

Afternoon Everyone,

It's been a while since I popped over to the playground at Pixie's Crafty Workshop. I've been so busy with the summer scrapping challenge I've been participating in that there's been very little time for cardmaking, but here's one I made with a background made from leftover watercolour paint.

Rather than mop up the paint, such a waste, it was brushed on to a scrap of white card and put aside for later. Later usually takes months but on this occasion it only took a week or so - something of a record for me - before I decided to make this card with it.

Supplies used:
- one white 5¼" square card blank
- sheet of lavender patterned paper from a very old 6x6 pad - the Prima Londonderry Collection from 2011
- the scrap of white cardstock
- yellow paint mixed up from my Winsor & Newton set
- Penny Black Golden Leaves stamp 
- Personal Impressions Happy Birthday stamp
- Whispers Archival Rio Purple ink pad
-  three tiny lavender coloured enamel dots

It's a very simple design but I like it. That's one of my all-time favourite wood-mounted stamps and I really like the font used for the birthday greeting - it's not unlike my own handwriting.

I've just mopped more leftovers on a scrap of white card - this time it's blue ink - so I might just have to make another snippet card very soon.

Hope you are enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend and have a great evening.