Rubber Stamping - North Wales

Hello everyone and that includes Bob & Gareth who seem to pop in every so often & have a look at what I have written. Well! Just a couple of hours left of the year of 2010 & for me it has been a year of mixed feelings.  The fun & work towards a family wedding, a magical holiday in Carcassonne with that wonderful day trip into Andorra.  Then the worry of my health scare -  which I hope is now well under control.  But it has been rounded off with a most enjoyable family Christmas Day & then some restful days since then.   Tomorrow sees the start of a new year & another family dinner - as Gareth, Russ & Nadine will be joining us.  Then on Monday we will be joining together again for an evening meal probably at Ghandi's restaurant, to celebrate Bob's birthday which is on Tuesday. I have some crafting photos to show you & also that winter sunrise photo - but I am going to leave that until tomorrows blog.  Whatever way you are seeing in the Ne

Good morning ladies ............ & Gareth, in case he has popped in. I hope you had a very pleasant Christmas Day & that you are managing to take advantage of this slightly longer weekend break.  I know I am. Did Father Christmas bring you lots of lovely goodies (or whoever buys the presents in your family group)?  I do hope so - any crafting goodies? I was thoroughly spoilt.  Firstly I didn't have to lift a finger all day - we spent the day with "Bob's other son" (Cheeky thing even signed his Christmas card that way!!!).  He cooked dinner for all of us - himself, Bob & I, Russ & Nadine.  Bob & I arrived reasonably early & we even had bacon sandwiches for breakfast.  Bob then went & collected Russ & Nadine about 11 o'clock, & once we had settled it was time to open presents with Russ acting as Father Christmas passing the gifts out. I received some very nice chocolates from various people - so there goes the start of my di

Merry Christmas to you all 

Hi everyone. Popping in early today - just in case you all have time to check the blog amidst your final plans for tomorrow.  Have a very happy day however you are spending it & I hope you receive some lovely gifts. Don't forget to hang up your Christmas stocking - you never know what Santa might bring.  You do still believe in him, don't you? Merry Christmas to you all. 

Hi ladies Well a successful trip was made & Turkey has been collected, plus other bits of shopping that were required. That's it. Bob & I don't go out tomorrow.  It's the start of our Christmas break -  a quiet day just making sure pressies are wrapped & ready for taking to Gareth's where we are spending Christmas Day, along with Russ & Nadine. We haven't heard whether Gareth's oven has been fixed - so there is a possibility there will be some cooking to do tomorrow - of the Turkey. I hope all your plans are coming together - I will be popping in tomorrow to chat - not sure how much I will do over the couple of days after that. That's it for now. Night, night - sleep well.

Hi everyone Well they said there will be more & there has been - I guess we have 2 - 3 inches outside.  Not as much as some I know but its enough to stop things happening. I have published Jo of crafty Jo's latest comment regarding Sue's leak - seems Jo has had trouble too.  But should she be so cheerful that her son has had the same problem?  Hm! babies do that to us don't they! I was talking to my brother this morning - remember he lives in the Isle of Man.  They have had some of their worst weather with this snow &  he was telling me that people were taking 4 hours to drive the length of  Douglas sea front at home time.  The stretch where the horse drawn tram normally runs is about 1.8 miles. So possibly the whole sea front is a little more. That is a long long drive for a short journey.  He also said that people were abandoning their cars near Douglas & walking home to places like Peel.  Peel is about 12 miles from Douglas.  What a walk & in the s

Hi everyone - how are you all on another cold cold evening. Bob has just informed me that we have had a fall of snow during the evening.  Ah well. Yes, I am up to date - that's with my Christmas crafting anyway.  Everything from now on is birthdays etc for 2011, & samples for clubs & workshops.  Hopefully I am also up to date with my Christmas shopping because I don't see much chance of going out for anymore. I was talking this afternoon to Sue - poor thing she has had a burst & her dining room has been soaked, so she is waiting to have that sorted out, hopefully before Christmas.  So anyone from any  of the clubs if you know Sue & Bill please hold them in your thoughts at this time. That's it for today - a flying visit. Keep safe & warm.

Hi ladies Today I had to pop along to my Doctors surgery for my monthly blood test.  As the road right outside us is rather icy & the surgery is just up in the main part of the village I decided to walk.  It's a bit uphill from home so along with the state of the paths it was quite a tiring walk.  Having put my feet on those icy roads I am glad I made the decision not to drive, but using one of those long umbrellas - which Gareth had given me - as a walking stick I was fine.  Just a short while ago the council came & gritted the junction of our road with the road we sit on the corner of.  So perhaps we will be able to get out of our drive now.  My courtesy car is still sat at the front of the house having gone nowhere.  There were a couple of moments yesterday with cars trying to get up & down the road at the side of us.  Two vehicles managed to slide into the road name post & bend it. I have done some crafting today - putting final touches to a present, but it

Hello everyone. Well actually I am going to say a little more than that -but not a lot.  Yesterday morning my little car was taken away to the place that will make it better & a rather smart red Citroen C1 left outside the front of the house.  Red, actually is not my favourite colour in cars.  Never mind. We had already had snow & the man delivering the car & taking mine away said the roads around the house were not nice.  By the afternoon my courtesy car had a fine sprinkling of snow all over it, today the amount has increased.  When the man was showing me around the car bits to make sure I knew where everything was he asked that when I returned it the petrol gauge should read "two bars" minimum.  These new cars don't have E & F?,  I asked.  Sure enough I was being given the car with 2 bars of petrol in it.  Well if this weather remains as it is that is very likely to be the 2 bars they get back too. I have not done any crafting today - which is not

Hi everyone I have been informed by Bob that I made a mistake when telling you about our drive on Sunday. The pub we popped into is in fact The Griffin, but the village was Llanbedr-D-C, Nr Ruthin, not Llanferres as I stated.  But Llanferres is just up the road.  My apologies to Llanbedr.  (By the way - I do know that the DC stands for Dyffryn Clwyd). Just to bring you uptodate on the car - it is being collected tomorrow for repair & I am pleased to say I will be getting a courtesy car.  Mind you if we get this snow that's forecast I probably won't be going far anyway. Craft-wise I had a good day getting on very well with one of the presents I am doing - will be finishing it tomorrow.  Then it's on to the next one. That's it for today - keep warm & safe please. Night night, talk again tomorrow.

Hi everyone Well! I had a good day today getting the last 4 of my Christmas cards made.  Because all but one had to go in the post today I forgot to photograph them so can't show you my work, sorry.  During the course of making them I decided on ways to make some birthday cards for next year - & ways to use up the paper & toppers I have collected over about the last 18 months.  Yes! despite using lots of them during this last 5 or 6 months there are still loads left.  I have to say I am really looking forward to making some birthday cards for a change. That as I said was the good day. The bad day?  I had a meeting to go to tonight, the last for this year, of my "other" interest.  Coming home someone ran into the back of me at a roundabout.  In the dark it looks like the surround bumper has been broken in half just by the rear number plate.  Unfortunately the surround around the nearside of the car actually got stuck in the tyre.  But with the help of the ot

Good morning everyone I thought I would pop in this morning & say that as I am aware some of you worry if I haven't blogged at anytime, I thought I would just say that possibly I might not have the time every day over the next few days.  But will try - it really depends what I have of interest to say. I do have some crafting to do over the next week - but will not be able to tell you about it or show it to you until after Christmas, as it is related to things for friends presents.  Something I will be doing over the Christmas break is prepare projects for the clubs which I will photograph & then they will appear on the club pages as appropriate. So that is it for now - please take care when out & about in this next lot of snow that is due tomorrow.   

Good morning Just popping in quickly to show you that picture that last night would not upload.  It must have just been that the server was busy because this morning it has uploaded straight away, & here it is. I have said it before & here it is once again - isn't nature absolutely fantastic. More later. 

Hello again I am popping in now to show the photos that I have been talking about for some days.  I think I have remembered all the ones - well about 7 in total - that I spoke about. After spending a couple of hours with two friends this morning I popped down to Broughton Shopping Park to do a little Christmas shopping - or perhaps that should have read some Christmas little shopping.  I mainly went to buy Crackers - the sort you pull at Christmas dinner & read funny (?) jokes & wear silly hats - not the type you eat with cheese.  Although I also bought some cheese for Christmas - some nice Edam, some brie & another one - a blue cheese, can't remember its name.  I had it in France during my holiday this year. Also picked up one or two other bits. The other main item I went for was to get a copy of Craft Stamper - I really must get a subscription sorted out after Christmas. Earlier today I updated the club pages with the programme for the next few months.  Also on

Just popping in to let you know I have updated the club pages with the programme information for the first few months of 2011.

Hi everyone I hope you have had a good weekend - we decided to make it a rather quiet lazy one. Lazy that is - after we had done the weekend shopping & been & posted our Christmas cards on Saturday morning. Whilst Bob was watching the rugby on Saturday afternoon - I sat with him with my trusty netbook computer on my lap & did a mixture of things.  I did some family history research & updating of record keeping, then a poke around for rubber stamping ideas & also had a good look amongst my downloads for papers for some cards & things that have to be made soon.  I am left with one very special Christmas card to make & 2 rubber stamped ones, & one in any style I decide on for a lady I had missed on my list.  Not sure how that happened.  Bob didn't have Gareth to share the rugby with this weekend as he is visiting friends in Kent.  At least there is a great improvement in the weather this weekend - not that Gareth would have tried in weather like la

Whoopee!  I've been out. More precisely I have been out in my car.  Today is the first time it has been driven since the first heavy frost, then the snow started.  It has been covered in heavy frost, snow, more frost.  I was worrying that it might not start first time, that it might be frozen & also that the handbrake might have frozen on.  But no!  what a little treasure - it started first turn & no sticky handbrake.  I have had to review the car situation in the light of all that - I had for a while being talking about possibly changing the car - but I am not so sure now, after that much dependability.  Heck! is that a word? Anyway it meant I could go & do some Christmas shopping. Then this afternoon when I came home I sat down & wrote out my Christmas cards.  I have 4 cards to make, then I am done - that's 138 in total & not one single shop bought card.  I think that makes 2010 my record year now, also I have only bought 2 shop cards throughout the

Hi all Today I had my first turkey meal & it was also my last function for this year.  From now on it's just friends & family get-togethers. The meal was my usual once a month lunch that I go to & help organise - this time Bob came with me.  He also acted as taxi driver in picking up two colleagues who were going.  Then after the lunch he also drove them back home. It had been my plan to retake the photographs from yesterday - but with the things I had to do in the morning before going to lunch & the time that we got home afterwards I didn't get them done.  The light in the afternoon was already fading & once you put the house lights on the pictures aren't the same.  So will do them first thing tomorrow morning. I can't believe that there is just two weeks to Christmas, this month is just flying by.  Tomorrow I must also write the Christmas cards that have to go in the post & get them posted.  I never do send them out much earlier than thi

Good evening everyone Well today really was a good crafting day.  I spent most of the day in my craft room & made lots of cards.  In fact I made 32 in total - that was 31 Christmas Cards & 1 birthday card.  I still need more - but that was how many I made today until I felt I needed a rest. I did take photos but it was evening & they did not come out too clear the electric light has made them look yellowy, so I will take some more tomorrow in the daylight.  But I will put 2 photos here of the cards, which includes some I had made some time earlier, I have been storing them in 2 A4 boxes whilst making them, so that is how I am displaying them. Tomorrow I will take those pictures again plus some of the individual cards.  Of those I made today 20 that were made from a kit I bought from Create & Craft.  The square ones at the back left of the top box, & the square ones at the front of the lower box.  The kit was designed to make 10 cards with about 4 layers of de

Good evening ladies Another chilly day, my poor car just hasn't had even the slightest chance of thawing out.  Our driveway is at the back of the house & slopes down from the entrance.  My car is at the lowest point & the sun, when it's out, is just not reaching down there. I hope it's not completely frozen - it hadn't had it's winter service so I am not sure about any anti-freeze.  Ah well - I will find out soon enough. Bob had to go into his office today & as he was expecting a parcel, I couldn't really go upstairs to the craft room to craft.  If the postman had knocked the door, apart from the possibility of not hearing it straightaway, I probably wouldn't get there before he went away.  I didn't want to bring things down stairs to do, so after a few domestic tasks, I got on & wrote my first set of notes for the 2011 crochet workshop & started on my samples pieces.  It was good fun. Back to card & present making tomorrow. 

Hello again I just had to take pictures of the beautiful white scenery outside my house this morning. Nature just leaves you breathless doesn't it.  I wasn't the only person this morning who thought the view was worth recording.  A car pulled up outside our house & a man got out & took a photo of the same view as I did. Some of the photos are taken over my back garden too - the one where you can see part of a brick wall on the right hand side is the view across my back garden.  That lovely big tree is in a neighbours garden. I did do some card making today - 2 Christmas Cards for the States, a masculine birthday card plus a thinking of you card.  Sadly I didn't take photos of them as they all had to go in the post today & Bob was waiting to go to the post office as I was finishing them. My workshop due to take place tomorrow has been cancelled as there was only one lady booked on it - I was due to show how to make bags & boxes.  A new workshop I am star

Hi everyone Just literally popping in to say hello. I didn't get to craft today after all - as I was quite weary from my late night last night, after a fantastic meal & the previous late night talking to my brother on the last evening of his visit.  So pretty lazy day apart from general shopping - which means i should be full of energy for tomorrow & actually get some things done.  We will see. Chat more tomorrow - night, night

Hi everyone - sorry I didn't get to blog yesterday - but my brother was visiting.  He dropped in last Thursday on his way to visit several friends around the UK, as I think I mentioned. He was due to go to Lincoln on Thursday to visit a friend & then come over here to us on Friday before returning home today.  But due to the weather he decided to come here on Thursday as he couldn't afford to get stuck there. So yesterday I went with him to Chester to assist with some shopping, then last night the three of us went out for a meal at the newish Indian Restaurant in Queensferry called "Ghandi's".  Now I am pretty sure I mentioned this last week when we went there. We had so enjoyed that visit & the good value of the £6-95 meal - we did it all over again last night.  Of course we did spend a lot of time chatting - so of course I didn't get to blogging - so sorry about that. Just to add to the misery of the cold & snow - last night our water went o

Well! That snow didn't amount to so much after all - but boy is it cold again - especially now the evening is drawing in.  I spent some time earlier today checking Christmas papers & designs that I had downloaded from various websites, in order to make up the last of my non-stamped Christmas cards.  I keep thinking I am close to finishing then realise I have left someones name off my list. My next Christmas task is to make a special present. When it is finished I will photograph it - but won't be able to show it until the new year as the person who it is for does possibly read the blog. With a nudge from Joanna I have found a great technique to include in the new year programme - but first I must give it a try.  So if you too find something of interest - please let me know.  Remember you can leave a comment by clicking on "post a comment" at the bottom of each blog.  If you don't want me to publish - that you are using it a bit like email, that is ok. Th

Hi Well! as it wasn't or even - isn't - a day for going out, after I had sorted what to do about the CSNW meeting I settled down to some card making. You may remember some time back I showed you some pictures of my work in progress card making for the cards for Bob's work colleagues.  So I have now finished them & I have a completed photo for you.  Here it is; If you want to see all of them pop over to my blog HERE  .  Also over on my blog is the photo of the card I made for Nicky (Bob's daughter) for her second wedding anniversary.  There are 2 postings for today - you will see the anniversary card first as it was my latest posting. At the time of blogging this I do feel vindicated in deciding to cancel the CSNW meeting as just about 4:30/5:00 it started snowing here & it is turning really cold.  A little message - again - for those ladies, as we are not meeting I will be popping your Christmas cards in the post along with the details of our meeting in

Hi ladies This is specifically for the ladies of CSNW whose final meeting for 2010 is tonight. Due to weather conditions & after great thought I have cancelled tonight's meeting.  I have reached everyone by telephone whether speaking to them personally or leaving a message or another member agreeing to phone another member. I do not like doing this but I would only worry about you all not only driving there but more importantly driving home, as it is forecast that temperatures will be very low tonight.  I would much rather think of you all safe & warm at home.  I have spoken to Wendy of Card-io & she is rather relieved considering the conditions & the distance she would be coming, but she & Martin would  have come had we been meeting.  I will be in contact with her to re-book her as early as possible in the New Year.  Of course as we are all aware this weather could be repeated any time up to about March - so I will probably ask her to come around April ti

Hi Everyone Sorry - I missed writing anything yesterday.  Other things took over my time - one was making sure I could get hold of a certain Christmas present plus much on-line ordering as there is no way I am shopping in this weather. Also, I have been trying to find out weather conditions between Wigan - where Card-io are - & Rhuddlan where CSNW meet.  It is very difficult to make a decision as to what to do.  This morning I will be ringing Maureen the caretaker at the community centre where we meet to check the conditions there.  But it is really the conditions at "going home" time that is the worry & they don't look too good for Wendy & Martins return journey. Anyway will be back later today to update you. Flippin' snow. Take care everyone