WOYWW 619

 WHEN IT'S SPRING AGAIN I'LL BRING AGAIN

TULIPS FROM AMSTERDAM....

Well, that dates me! I remember this song from when I was a nipper and it just sprang to mind as I was wondering which lyrics to use this week. Because it may be Spring at the moment but it surely hasn't felt like it this past week when we had every sort of weather in a single day. 

My tulips in pots have been beautiful in the sunshine and are lasting for ages because of the chilly temperatures, so there's a silver lining to most things!

Can't fail to make me happy! They're looking very fetching against the newly refreshed fence (Urban Slate by Cuprinol) It's a brilliant colour against which to show off plants of all types!

Indoors, there hasn't been a huge amount of crafting again - I think you could call it dabbling, trying stuff and not achieving much. Ah well, you get weeks like that eh?

But I have bought some new stash!

Brace yourselves.......

I decided I needed some sentiments and this four pack was v v v cheap so I have every phrase I'll ever need now, I got the wrong ink pad however, good for stamping on a card but no use for painting over. Julia has now put me right, lol!

I dug out a few cards and had a go at sentimentisation (dunno if that's a word but it ought to be, lol!)

I like this scribbly script the best and know for a fact that this will get the most use!

I had some happy mail this week (actually it was more like a Happy Box) from the wonderful Debbie Rock, what a surprise it was!

Some great cards to raise some money and loads of yarn. This will come in very handy for my knitting projects - I like doing ribbed beanies for various charities and you can get one adult sized hat from a ball, so there'll be a fair few hats from this lot! Thank you so much Debbie, I really do appreciate your kindness and generosity, they will all get used xx

Sorry about if I didn't get to you on the desks last week, will try to do better this time round!

Have fun, keep safe and well and may your crafting go without a hitch!

WOYWW 618

 IS THAT WHAT YOU HEAR? THE COMING OF THE SEA?

We have had the most glorious weather in my corner of Wales over the Easter weekend, bright blue skies and lots of sunshine so we've been out quite a lot, even having coffee on the patio too. How lucky are we?!

Consequently, not a lot of crafting has been going on.....

I was colouring in some stamped house images that Shaz Silverwolf sent me ages ago, I don't possess any stamps and she kindly did me a few. I needed a house card so that's what whiled away the 2.5 hour chat with Julia. Honestly, we never drew breath, you'd wonder what we find to talk about!!)

I used my Arteza brush pens, they are so lovely to use and blend beautifully. I used my circle cutter to cut out the Kraft card for a background. Whoever gave the tip last week about colouring in a wide band of black around the image before cutting out, well, that was genius and hid the less than perfect snipping, lol!

I also doodled some watercolours after another tutorial:

Just playing really, trying to loosen up the paint.

Other crafting has been going on though - my teammate Kim has been making a fab job of:

You don't see this on the desks too often ;-D

And G helped me out with this:

He looks as if he's enjoying that way too much!! 

But the highlight of the week was a glorious morning spent walking around our harbour on Good Friday, a very high tide at 10.15, lots of people cold water swimming and paddleboarding, little boats puttering around and the sand dredger heading out to the mouth of the estuary. (sorry to FB friends who've already seen these)

Our little lighthouse.....

It just lifted the spirits! 

Hope you've had a good week and done more making than me!

WOYWW 617

 WE'LL KEEP A WELCOME IN THE HILLSIDES

WE'LL KEEP A WELCOME IN THE VALES.

Those words take me right back to my dear old dad singing in his male voice choir..good times. They sprang to mind as the weather means that the countryside is looking spectacular at the moment, it's amazing how a bit of sunshine and Spring weather can make you smile xx

I've been doing a bit of crafting but I can't show you most of it as it's for the competition, sorry, all will be revealed at some point!

I got quite a lot of stash out as I was looking for some things...

Guess what I'm making?

Lol, enough said eh? I was pleased with how this turned out! Talking of turning out, I have to thank you again Annie for those artery forceps, they are so useful and make some jobs easier to do xx

How many scissors does one crafter need? *cough*

It wasn't just me fiddling with things however....G had discovered some old tapes we shot when the boys were babies/toddlers, they were on VHS though, so that entailed a trip to the attic to find the machine...only there's a tape stuck in it (probably hadn't recovered from when Owen 'posted' a banana into it when he was 2!!)

Cue one husband having a lovely time trying to sort out machinery - and yes, he did, he's a tech wizard. The tapes were wonderful to see, some great memories xx

My SiL Jill has also been busy, her quilting skills are amazing:

How perfect is that? It makes my brain ache to think about how you even start a project like that never mind the precision required! It's fantastic Jill, well done you!

And the reason for today's lyrics? This is pretty much the view from our kitchen and it has been fab seeing everything sprout - the tulips in the pots and the gorse up on the hill:

The buzzards and red kites that nest up in the trees have been doing courting flights, circling up into the sky - it just makes you feel better xx

Have a great week everyone, hope you enjoy the Easter weekend xx

WOYWW 616

 UPS AND DOWNS, HIGHS AND LOWS....

It was an odd experience attending a virtual funeral but I wouldn't have missed the chance to say farewell to our dear Shaz Silverwolf. Doug did a brilliant job, everything was perfect for his dear wifelet and it was an amazing tribute to a kick ass woman. RIP dear friend.

Shaz would be the first to say it's time to get back on the crafting wagon though, wouldn't she?

More watercolours and cards have been made....

I'm starting to do my own thing now rather than copying tutorials and have found that my Arteza brush pens are excellent for just adding in a bit of detail without being too in-your-face about it.

A friend had a birthday so I drew these characters (from inspiration online) and put them on foam pads (which I took off the sheet in an orderly fashion Julia, lol!)

I ordered some stuff from eBay for the WI project! Swing those tassels......

My friend Kim is also working on the team and has been experimenting making jewels with glittery hot glue, don't they work well? I'd never have thought of that in a million years - she's a clever gal!

And finally, just so's Twiglet can have a snigger:

There was a man with a big chopper up my tree a couple of days ago *grin*  The Silver Birch had just grown too big and was affecting our roof, the streetlight and the foundations of our wall, so it had to come down. I feel bad about it but there you go, I'll make a donation to the Woodland Trust and get some others planted but in a better place. The jackdaws are not going to be happy....... :-D

I had my first jab yesterday, hooray, onwards and upwards!

Have a good week xxxxxx

WOYWW 615

 ROUND LIKE A CIRCLE IN A SPIRAL...

Well, that was a busy old week! A trip to Carmarthen for the first time since last October resulted in me having to get new glasses...boo.... and we refuelled the car, having last done in it early December. I know...the excitement of it all! *grin*  Lots of other jobs got done but that was the boring stuff.

This, however, was a proper surprise and a real treat:

I'd commissioned Cindy to make a card for me and it arrived at the weekend in a Box of Hugs! Lots of lovely treats, a beautiful Persian tile card and a box of positive thoughts with lots of Lavinia stamping (if I really did proper cardmaking, it's Lavinia all the way for me). The sentence that resonated with me most was 'If Plan A doesn't work, there's lots of other letters in the Alphabet', so very true. I am quite bad at giving up at the first attempt sometimes.  Thank you Cindy, you brightened up my day xxxx

I also got a new tool to play with:

A circle cutter! I've had a lot of fun cutting out discs from masterboards or just a painting (do you think I need to get out more?)

But there has been some action in the JanCave as well - I know, fever pitch stuff eh?

Your guess is as good as mine at this point ;-)

If I tell you it's all for Betty, does that make anything clearer?  The above pic has arms ready to be turned out and stuffed, some legs need doing too. They're being passed over to Kim who's going to create some regal limbs (we're on a team to create a figure for a WI contest but I won't be able to share much more for a while)  I'd taken the header tape off a curtain and have just pinned in some darts to make a cloak.

Looks a bit haphazard here but now I've sewn the darts in properly, it looks good. Just waiting for the Ermine to turn up (ok fun fur from Ebay!)

I'm also trying to do a painting for the contest but all attempts are finishing in the recycling so far - but as Cindy told me, if Plan A isn't working, try the other 25 letters.... something will turn out ok in the end!

I shall be attending Shaz's funeral online on Friday morning, it's going to be so sad but we have to give our great friend a good send off.  Love to you all xxxxxx

WOYWW 614

 I DID IT MY WAY.....

This title made me smile as I'm writing today's post - I absolutely detest this particular song but as Julia will probably tell you all, that's the way I roll.

Except when it comes to certain tutorials on YouTube that is, lol!

I had another try out with Ceecee Creations - these are the winter and summer doodles, there are spring and autumn ones too. They're easy to find via the search facility on YouTube.

Hmmm, not so keen on this one. I don't seem to get the consistency of the paint right, maybe my watercolours are too old (at least 30 plus years.....!!)

It's fun trying them out, I find I do better attempts when I'm listening to something or talking on the phone, it's almost as if I'm not over thinking the process. It's therapeutic anyway and I shall keep on doing them.

After quite a gap in time, I was asked for more masks this week to sell in the cafe:

All in a medium size, there were enough large sizes already. The white cloud to the left is a voile curtain that used to be in the huge window in our hall, it's had a wash and I might make it into drawstring bags to put loose veg in at the supermarket. Upcycling and reducing plastic usage too!

Using up odds and sods of fabric, the next step is to put the pleats in.

And that's it, short and sweet today. The weather has been mixed but I've been outside tidying up so haven't done that much crafting.

Hope you're all keeping safe and well, I'm hoping it won't be too long before I get my jab. It'll be interesting to see what the Welsh government does this Friday, I can't see them relaxing the rules too much.

Have a good week xxxxx

WOYWW 613

 ALL KINDS OF EVERYTHING...

It's been a lovely week that's for sure - a real treat to have blue skies and sunshine after the biblical amounts of rain we experienced in early/mid February! It even shone on March 1st, St David's Day, the patron saint of Wales.

I've been pottering around again, haven't done a huge amount of crafting because I've been in the garden, tidying up after Winter - we even had coffee sitting outside the other day, blooming marvellous!

The JanCave has seen a bit of action, I found some more oddments of fabric to make into zipped bags. The wadding and contrasting lining has been organised but that's as far as I got!

The sewing can wait until the weather isn't as lovely!

A friend dropped off a few cards that she and a friend had made - Kim is a good crafter, she has a go at everything as well, a kindred spirit!

I'll use them for the WI ladies, I'm still sending out birthday cards even though we're not meeting at the moment. 

I had another go at watercolour painting following various tutorials:

Just playing around!

Waste not, want not, lol!!

I also tried a CeeCeeCreations (YouTube) tutorial :

I think the 'foam' needs a bit more shadow but it was fairly simple (got to be for me to follow it!)

And a pretty And Finally from my brother who lives in Worcester:

Spring has Sprung eh?

Doug Silverwolf posted details of how to attend Shaz's funeral on Facebook but if you haven't seen them yet, please email me for the link and codes. I'm not sure if I want to post them on here as many non deskers read this and the viewing numbers are limited. Doug has posted here with details of how to give a donation in lieu of flowers.

Have a lovely week everyone xxxxxxxx