A little crafting at last...

I came across a lovely design for a mini book by Kim Woods in the July Issue of Scrap365 Magazine and was desperate to have a go at making my own. I was fortunate to have the Tim Holtz dressform die used for the project, and finally got round to making my version of the album last week.
I am absolutely in love with the slightly shabby and distressed look - and have been for a long time- it's definitely my style. I have actually had the papers for a long time, they were part of a whole kit but I can't remember what they were!
 I almost always slightly ink the edges of everything I do because I think it gives depth to the overall look. I was really pleased with the result and just need some photos to complete the album. With all these visitors passing through our house at the moment I am sure there will be some photo opportunities over the next two weeks or so! It's also our wedding anniversary this weekend, so another good reason for taking some piccies.
Aaaaanyway, it's time for me to go and have a lovely soak in the bath before retiring for the night, much love to you all.
Angie x

Summer Days

We managed to spend another lovely afternoon/evening by the seaside (in Whitstable, naturally), my OH went for a long run and I took myself off for a slightly more leisurely walk. First through the High Street - though (probably thankfully!) the shops were just closing- then for a coffee and a read in Costa, and then for a walk along the beach. I am always looking for treasure, whether walking in the woods, along the beach or anywhere else, which stems from the fact that I've dreamt of being an Archaeologist for most of my life but never got round to the studying bit! I didn't find any treasure on this particular day though.
All this was followed by finding a bench in the evening sun and more reading whilst waiting for OH - he goes for fairly long runs by the way - just in case you were wondering! We both had Fish and Chips by the beach, accompanied by the most delicious and refreshing glass (plastic cup) of Shandy, just perfect.
On the way home we stopped to watch the most beautiful sunset, which was simply breathtaking.

Tonight No 1 son and his girlfriend from Barcelona will return from their trip to Hungary (how cosmopolitan are they??) and will both stay with us for a week. Then on Monday my Mum and niece will be flying over from Germany to stay with us for a week so we will have a very full house for a few days. No doubt there will be trips to London, Whitstable and possibly Bluewater as teenage niece wants to go clothes shopping! Maybe I should get back to getting the house ready...?

Until next time! Much love. Angie x

The beginning of August...really?

I can't believe it. 3 months have gone by without me blogging. I have been procrastinating about blogging, but not actually blogging...I suppose it hasn't become a habit yet, and I really would like it to. But instead of beating myself up about having to try and catch up on the last 3 months I think I will just carry on from where I am now.
The weather hasn't been too kind to us so far this summer and there has been an enormous amount of rain as well as a couple of hot days - not many of those though. We have, however, had some spectacular rainbows as a result of this odd weather!

 All the rain and cloudy skies are not good for the mood though, as I do seem to be affected by the seasons but I don't expect my winter mood to rear it's ugly head in July!
In other news, we are looking to move house in the not too distant future, hopefully to Whitstable, which is about half an hours drive from where we live now, but all that's dependent on getting planning permission on our current house.
 That was turned down last month, which was quite disappointing, especially as we had found a house that we liked already. Anyway, new plans will be drawn up and a new planning application made so fingers crossed...In the meantime we will keep visiting Whitstable as much as we can and dream of the future!

A new hookey project is in progress, I decided that I need to have a little picnic blanket and as I have a lovely selection of Stylecraft yarn it will be a colourful, flowery granny square blanket.

It will be similar to one I already have (which I made a couple of years ago) and always want to take outside to sit on, but then I don't want to ruin it for indoor use. So a new one was called for.
The last one I finished was this one, I made it for No.2 son and called it his "Jubilee Blanket", for obvious reasons.

I think he liked it!
Anyway, must go as I have a ton of things to do, will try to be a better blogger from now on! ;)

The Beginning of May...

The weather in our little corner of Kent continues to be fairly miserable (my OH tells me that weather can't be miserable as it doesn't have any emotions but it certainly makes me feel miserable!) and this has been the view from my backdoor a lot of the time.


We did have a few hours of sun on Monday though so we decided that in the afternoon we would sneak a couple of hours to go to Whitstable, just long enough for OH to go for a run along the beach (I walked instead!) and to have Fish & Chips afterwards.

The sun didn't last too long and by the time we left it had started to rain again.
Our planned trip to Penshurst Place DID take place, we had a lovely day with our friends and although most of the art and craft was beyond our price range we enjoyed looking around, trying loads of different foods in the food tents, having lunch together and just generally spending time together.
As my friend is a recently qualified Falconer we were particularly excited to see some birds of prey at the show.

This little Peregrin Falcon was just too cute for words!

I can't remember what type of owl this little guy was but he was very vocal.

I have always had a thing about vultures (I think it's ever since the first time I watched "Jungle Book" - go figure! :)
In other news, as the weather is generally preventing a lot of outdoor activities this means that there is always a little time for crafting so I have been making some progress with what I call my "Domestic Album". It doesn't contain any photos at the moment but I think I will use it for photos from our upcoming (as in next week) trip to Germany for my Mum's 70th.

And that's all for today as there are a gazillion other things I should be doing! Bye for now!x

Bluebells

So on Sunday we finally managed to go and find some bluebells in the woods!

For a start I absolutely love the woods (I think that, being from Germany originally, I must have that Brothers-Grimm-Fairytale-Mentality in the blood!) and I love nothing more than being beneath those tall trees with beams of light coming through the foliage. Not that there is a great deal of sunlight to be found at the moment with all the downpours we are having. We did somehow manage to avoid the showers though.

It took us a couple of attempts to find some bluebells but we persevered and were richly rewarded.

I also had a little play with a Tando frame I bought at a crop a while ago, I was in the mood to create something girly and pretty and ended up with something that really made me feel quite happy and cheerful. I get totally lost in my own little world when I work on something like this.

If only every day could be a crafting day! But at least we have a long weekend to look forward to this week, although the weather doesn't look too promising at the moment! We are hoping to catch up with some lovely friends on Saturday and the plan was to go to a craft fair but the weather will dictate whether we go there or somewhere more indoor-sy. And if the weather stays as it is there will definitely some crafting on the Sunday or Monday! ;)