Great Expectations

No I'm not with child!

Hello lovely readers.

As you will know from my last post, I'm just getting back into my crafting.  I've just started an art journal which, although I'm no 'artist' in the general sense, I can use to sketch, doodle, fling paint at and stick things to.  I'm enjoying the freedom that the journal is letting me have.  It really doesn't matter that I'm not good at art - it's the 'doing' that I'm finding quite therapeutic. When I'm feeling tired,  I can sit quiet and doodle in my armchair with just a pen or pencil and have a good old colouring in session without the need for lots of materials around.  Conversely I can allow myself to be surrounded by every craft item known to man and sit up at the kitchen table where I can get messy with glue and glitter and oils and pastels and all that malarkey!! As I've just been diagnosed with spondylosis in my lumbar spine, I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself so this journal will be just the place to let off a bit of a creative steam.

My friends over at The House of Bears blog SEE HERE  set a literary challenge a few days ago using "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens as a prompt and using the words

• gentleman
• Neglect/decay
• Nature/nurture 

for inspiration.

I'm ashamed to say that I've never read Great Expectations so the challenge was more, erm, challenging.  Thanks to the mighty Google however, quick character synopses and quotations were provided to me - and with this help I think I just managed to pull it off. 

Borrowed from the t'interweb

The character of Miss Havisham drew me in immediately and I knew it was her that I wanted to feature.  I printed off a picture of Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham (apparently a new film is in the offing)  in grey scale and then used pencil to de-prettify her! (Ms B-C is FAR too pretty to play Miss Havisham, I feel - although from an eccentricity point of view she has it in spades!).  

As I just wanted the picture as a base, I went to work on altering her a little, giving her black button eyes and a stitched mouth a la Sally in A Nightmare Before Christmas.  Her hair was created using Angelina's Fusible Fibres which I cut to shape before sticking down.  Some  thread and lace dyed with good old fashioned tea was added and Miss Havisham was .. erm... born! 

I used watercolours to create a gloomy dark background and, as the text advises that the room was 'yellow light in the darkened room' I added a touch of yellow to the mix to reflect this and the suggestion of neglect/decay. 

The nature/nurture element was relatively easy really.  I colour washed the top of the page with the palest hint of blue, then found a feature garden picture in one of my old Country Living magazines.  I painted the window frame around the picture and then added two painted strips of card to denote the window itself.

The quotation "So!" she said, without being startled or surprised; "the days have worn away, have they ?" 

was added to complete my challenge entry.

Thanks bears - I had great fun!!  

Friday Crafty Corner

Hello lovelies!

I haven't crafted for a while, mainly due to lack of time and space, however just lately the yearning to play with bits of paper and glue has returned with a vengeance! 

I first developed a passion for paper crafting (mainly scrapbooking) some time ago now when an American friend introduced me to it.  A little later, after visiting a couple of scrapbooking fairs, I enrolled on U K Scrappers, a crafting forum, and through that forum met a group of ladies who I am blessed to class as some of my very closest friends.  We've been friends now for a number of years and have our own closed community forum where we chat every day.  A little later this year, some of us are getting together at a weekend retreat to indulge in lots of eating, chatting, laughing (lots) and maybe a little crafting too!

One of our number issued a small round robin challenge recently.  Basically anyone who wanted to take part would put together a small kit together with instructions for a project to be created by the recipient.

Yesterday I received my package of goodies (and I've just remembered that I didn't photograph the flippin' kit before I attacked it with the scissors and glue!).

The project was to use the papers and embellishments provided to create a decorated 'minibook'.  My friend had kindly created the 'book' for me out of 8 x 12 cardstock, but I'm a clumsy, sausage fingered crafter and needed something a tiny bit bigger to work on, so re-created the minibook from 12 x 12 card stock.  

Having inked the edges of each page with a nut brown ink pad, I matted up the front cover with two types of gorgeous patterned paper, I cut spirals from some dark brown card stock and attached two butterfly embellishments.  When the book is moved, it looks like the butterflies are fluttering!  

 

These butterflies are so pretty - they have an iridescent sheen on them which reflects the light.  Gorgeous!

As it's well known that I'm head over heels in lurve, the sentiments, papers and embellishments provided were of a very romantic nature and complemented each other perfectly.  The flourish and picket fence were provided to me in white card stock, so these were inked up to give a little definition.

Aww - L is for Lurve! 

Again the die cut butterflies were beautifully cut from white card which allowed me to employ my snazzy copper gilding pen to do a little 'colouring in'.  I was really pleased with this effect.

This is how the book looks in all its glory!

I sealed the bottom of two of the pages to make pockets, then decorated two of the tags with more of the embellies provided.

The tags slot perfectly into the 'pockets' and give a bit of added interest.

Ta-dahhh!  The first crafting I've done in ages!  Thank you Sherri - I've had a lovely chilled out afternoon, cutting and sticking to my heart's content!  

Looking forward to the next challenge now!

You say you want a revolution.....

"Well, you know
We all want to change the world ..."

Whilst blog-tangling recently, I happened upon THIS lovely blog.   I'm always on the look-out for blogging inspiration and so am more than happy to join in with this particular type of revolution and its simple enough - just list 10 things that are making you happy this month.  If you would like to take part then head over to Astra's blog to leave your link.

1.  Freebie flowers - glads and alliums from the lottie, mallow (lavatera) from the garden, wheat and grasses from the field!

2.  My new jewellery stash purchased from the local 'boot' on Saturday! I was lucky and found lots of goodies but in particular I fell in love with this gorgeous necklace, (£4) from one stall;  and  ring (50p) and bracelet (50p) from  another! 

3.   Our  adorable 14 month old "granddaughter" sitting in the middle of the dinner table in a local hostelry on Sunday after lunch, smiling the biggest cheesiest smile and babbling lots of babble in to her Daddy's mobile telephone!

4.   The fact that The Great British Bake Off is back on tv.  LOVE that programme!!  (and the eye candy in the form of Mr Hollywood ain't bad either!)

5.    That I'm seeing an ex-work colleague on Thursday for a catch up and a balti - and that lots of other lovely ladies I work with are coming too!   Nothing like a curry and a gossip!

6.   That my wondrous partner and I have a lovely couple of days without children this very weekend!  Don't get me wrong - we love the bones of them but sometimes... just sometimes, it's great to have a complete weekend heat re at home on our own without the constant background noise of music, crashing of doors, petty squabbles and the like.  And, conversely, we can be as noisy as we like! ;)  heheheh....

7.   That I can actually SEE my craft boxes after a good clear out of rubbish in my craft room.  This means that potentially I can start my scrapbooking again!  Potentially.

8.   That the shadows are lengthening, the light in the evenings is more golden and I've seen blackberries already ripening on the brambles.... my favourite time of year is fast approaching. Delicious!

9.  That it's sunflower season!  I adore seeing these beauties randomly peeping over garden fences!   This single one is planted in a pot down on t' lottie.

10.  Finding this photograph on my old camera which I've only just uploaded.  I always get frustrated taking moon pictures because they never turn out as well as I'd like.  This one was a luck shot - and I'd say it was taken..... ummmm....probably around May/June time.

What's making you happy this month?

~x~

Starry Starry Night

Hey guys

Keep your eyes cast skywards during the mornings of 11th - 14th August as it's time once again for the Perseid meteor shower!  

"The peak of activity - when you might expect to see 20-30 meteors an hour is predicted to be between 00:30 and 03:00 BST on the morning of the 13th."

Read more about this fascinating phenomenon **here** 

As some slightly 'better' weather has been predicted for the next few days and the waning Lady Moon we may get a decent view! 

It's a busy old sky this month!  On 31st August - we'll have a "Blue Moon".  A "blue" moon happens when there are two full moons occurring within a calendar month - although it's 'blue' in name only!    

Ooh I say - I had a bit of Sir Patrick Moore moment then didn't I?!   

And ask me to say "fascinating phenomenon" again  on Friday evening after a couple of glasses of the pink stuff!

I'm off for a lie down!

EEK!!!

Seeds

The Seed-Shop

Here in a quiet and dusty room they lie,

Faded as crumbled stone or shifting sand,

Forlorn as ashes, shrivelled, scentless, dry -

Meadows and gardens running through my hand.

In this brown husk a dale of hawthorn dreams;

A cedar in this narrow cell is thrust

That will drink deeply of a century's streams;

These lilies shall make summer on my dust.

Here in their safe and simple house of death,

Sealed in their shells, a million roses leap;

Here I can blow a garden with my breath,

And in my hand a forest lies asleep. 

Muriel Stuart

Little Pepper Pots!!

Tap these little pods gently and out pop......

Hundreds and Thousands!

Isn't nature wonderful?   (I may have said that before!)

Olympic Moon

"Borrowed from the ITV website with thanks"


Wow.

Just wow.

Seems like the Lady Moon wants to get in on the act too!

I had to share this stunning picture - please click the LINKY to see more pictures and a tiny bit of editorial.

I know I'm a simple soul but the pictures made my heart pop.

Bloom...

Hello lovely people.

A very warm welcome to my new follower, Cheri.  Everybody wave now!!  **wave**  :)

The garden saga continues.  Once again, we have been stymied by the flippin' weather.  Excitement at the new project is now turning to exasperation as every day we pull back the cover, and less than a couple of hours later we have to cover up once more.  As this week off work was to be dedicated to garden work you can imagine how annoyed we are.

Hey ho.   At least ALL of the lawn has gone now.  That was a heavy and messy job.  Thank goodness we had somewhere to put the discarded turves. At the back of our garden fence is messy area which leads on to the field.  We have transferred the turf here and hopefully the grass will   regroup and regrow and make the area more presentable.  I have lots of  seeds gathered  from various seed head rescues which I will scatter over it and leave Mama Nature to work her magic.  It will be interesting to see how that looks this time next year.

I bought a lovely gardener's reference book from one of the car boot sales yesterday entitled 'What Plant, Where'.   The title says it all as to its content and guides enthusiastic but clueless gardeners like me in the right direction.

It was ironic then, that when we moved some rubbish yesterday, embedded in a tiny crack in the cement, this little lady was more than happy just where she was.

A fitting justification to the common phrase, "Bloom Where You Are Planted"

Garden Update

Blessed Lugnasadh to you all.

I do hope that you have been able to reap some of what you have sown, today, and that your veggie patches are plentiful and your borders bear gifts.

So, today is the beginning of the harvest season.  The grain in the field is ripening nicely.   Whilst walking the hooligan along the path around the circumference of the field we retrieve any stray ears of wheat which have been casually plucked and discarded, or stems which have been knocked down by passing Joe Public.  On our way back to the house, we offer these to the chickens who adore their wheaty gifts and, tuk-tukking softly to themselves, shake the wheat ears and feast upon the resulting grain.

We are on leave from work this week and have managed to get to a couple of boot sales, thankfully between showers.  s a result, the garden has been blessed with some new perennial plants for a very reasonable amount of cash.    At the very top of the garden we have a very neglected border which has been given somewhat of a makeover.  This border gets very dry and, once the new plants were in situ, I added a bark mulch in the hope of retaining a little more moisture. The bark mulch came free from a local tree surgeon who gifts the shredded fruits of his labour to the allotment people.  I managed to appropriate some this time so have avoided paying garden centre prices!    I'm really pleased with how it looks now.

These are a few of the plants we bought from boot sales over the weekend.

Heuchera Chocolate Ruffles.  The ''old fashioned" name for the Heuchera is 'Coral'

A delicate Astilbe - Sprite.

I've been after this particular species of Buddleia for ages - the photograph
makes it very pale - it is actually very dark purple and is called 'Black
 Knight'  Another much maligned invasive plant this one, but I can live with that!

This plant is beautiful.  It almost looks like a cornflower, yet is scabious blue in colour and
its cornflower type flower heads are held aloft tall slender stems.  Unfortunately car boot man removed the bliddy label before he handed us the plants I didn't realise until we had got home. 

The calendulas grow in their droves down on the lottie and, whilst they do get invasive if not checked, I love their cheery little bright faces and so am more than happy for them to self seed in this area of the garden.  I lifted a big clump of them on Sunday and divided them into smaller clumps for planting.  Some of them are already setting seed and so even if their flowering is very short lived this season, I'm sure that I shall have a border full of brightness this time next year.  

With the addition of some 'cheap in the sale' Willow edges from our local Wilkinsons  - the final Ta-dahh!



Until tomorrow

xxx

A Rather Posh Weekend

Happy Sunny Sunday bloglies.  I do hope that the weather has been as kind to you this weekend as it has been to the Midlands.  Hot hot hot!!

We were lucky enough to be guests at a beautiful wedding, held at Walton Hall in Wellesbourne near Stratford, yesterday.   It has been a truly gorgeous weekend with much good food, wine, laughter and good company.  Just what the doctor ordered.  We stayed overnight at a hotel in the grounds and it almost feels as though we've been on a mini-break, living the high life!

As I haven't sought permission to post pictures of the happy couple I'll just share a couple of general pics, suitably cropped photographs and images from the day and of the grounds of the Hall.

St James' Church in the grounds of Walton Hall was the venue for the ceremony 

I loved this ornately adorned cross in the tiny churchyard

Walton Hall

 I loved the muted colours of the table centre pieces 

Bridal bouquet -  scented and very heavy!

The bride's beautiful dress - very elegant  in its simplicity ....

Which allowed the bride to wear a very eyecatching vintage looking hair adornment with a matching bracelet cuff and earrings.

We woke this morning to hot sunshine and after indulging in the all inclusive buffet breakfast we had time for a wander around the grounds before we needed to check out of the hotel.    The picture above was taken from a sweet little wooden bridge, where we watched lots of dragonflies dancing on top of the water.  

It was an idyllic weekend and I could quite easily have stayed another night.

Sigh.

Back to work for me tomorrow.  Not sure how I'm feeling about that really.  At least I only have to do five days though as then I'm on a week's leave.  Hurrah!

How was your weekend? 

  

The Simple Woman's Daybook - Summer Edition

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.co.uk/


As ever - lots of blog-hopping opportunities via the above linky thingie. 




FOR TODAY

Outside my window... the black plastic cover is STILL covering half the garden.  Sigh.

I am thinking... that the lasagne I made earlier smells yumcious even though I do say so meself! 

I am thankful... for my family.  Nuff said.

In the kitchen... a monumentally huge amount of dry washing is teetering on the table and needs to be sorted and put away.  Sigh.  Rock and bloody roll. 

I am wearing... black.     What??!! 

I am creating...  a monumentally huge mess as I attempt to declutter the house with a view to having space to be able to start scrapbooking again.  

I am going... to cry.  Because I'm simply moving one pile to another pile and then back to the same place.  I need a lie down in a darkened room until the declutteration fairies pay a visit and sort it all out for me.  MU-UUUM!!!! 

I am wondering... whether anyone would notice if I lifted up a couple of  the laminated floorboards and swept all the clutter beneath.  

I am reading... the riot act, mainly, to errant 13 year olds who make it their life's work to clutter up the tiniest available decluttered space in the house.  With plates.  And mugs.  And empty bloody packets of STUFF!!  (well... not stuff exactly - cos the stuff has been scoffed - you know what I mean don't you?!)

I am hoping... that the sun shines tomorrow..... because....

I am looking forward to... a work colleague's wedding at a ver' posh venue where I shall swan around in heels and a floaty dress which is not coloured black -  ( and therefore feeling like an over stuffed sofa)  looking glamorous and carefree whilst partaking of sumptuous repast and wine and indulging in much frivolity and dancing and  trying my best to avoid collapsing into a drunken heap at the bottom of the sweeping driveway on the way back to our hotel room.  Probably.

I am learning that grief cannot be locked away in a box and will rear its head at the most inopportune of moments.

Around the house...well..... it's a bloomin' mess innit?!

I am pondering... whether to go put some fake tan on or whether I can actually be arsed with all that malarkey and just look pale and interesting instead.

A favorite quote for today...

One of my favorite things... my BlackBerry.  One is never alone with a BlackBerry.  (How shallow I am!).

A few plans for the rest of the week:  Back to work I'm afraid.  I can't afford to be off any more so I shall have to put on my big girl pants (shurrup you lot) and be brave.  I'm only there for a week though because I have a week's annual leave booked so that could break me in gently, so to speak. 

A peek into my day...

This is where I stand every day, coffee cup in hand, looking out of the window sadly at the vast expanse of black plastic.  Sniff.    Those insanely coloured dyed crysanths were a gift from a kind soul two weeks ago and they're still going strong.

See you soon xxxx