Have been out in the garden today. Needed to take advantage of the beautiful weather! So have done a bit of tidying, pruning etc at the lawn and borders nearest the house. The large middle lawn is suffering from the wet weather, moss appearing and the shrubs on the left are desperate for a hair cut! So maybe I will manage to do another border tomorrow as the forecast is good. I made this ATC last night - inked and stamped background, paper collage and an embossed border - am going to have a crafty messy evening tonight as I have a new stamp!

Nature and Nakedness!

Maggies Challenge this week was 'phone books'. I remembered seeing a dress shop called Fine Feathers in the local yellow pages so this image seemed to fit! I have bought a lot of stamps on line recently, some have arrived and some not. The other ATC is one of a pile that arrived yesterday! I love this image, her face is so serene. I inked the background and after stamping the image sponged over it lightly with white ink. The skeleton leaves and lace I added afterwards and does anyone else have trouble with 'rub ons'? I never seem to manage to get ALL the transfer off onto the project!

Circle of Life

Have wanted to do this circular book for a while. This being my first attempt, it isn't perfect - it's not entirely symmetrical when it's closed. But I know where I went wrong, so maybe if I do another, I will manage to get everything lined up perfectly. It looks fine when it's opened out fully! You do each segment separately, then stick it all together so when it opens out it makes a perfect circle.I chose the 'Circle of Life' theme as it combined my crafting with one of my other passions - Ancestry! I did each segment as a generation, starting with the children, then the young gentlemen looking forward to their travels and young lady who is in love for the first time and finishing with Grandma and Grandpa who have a treasure chest of memories of their lives together. I'm enough of a romantic to think that perfect families really DO exist (if only in my imagination!)

I have started a couple of projects this week, in anticipation of my bowling season finishing on Sunday!

Guilty copycat and Second hand Rose!

Am feeling really guilty! It's been a lovely afternoon here, sun shining and I have been very naughty! Instead of doing some work in the garden and taking advantage of the weather, I have sat here and turned the tidy(ish) craft space into a tip! I have been envious for a long time of Jans beautiful wall hangings and although I am not a 'fabric' person and am rubbish with a needle (unless it's x stitch!), I was desperate to try and do something similar. ( Note for Jan....Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery ...honest!!)
Connie had sent me a card some time ago which had this beautiful image printed on acetate so I decided to try and recycle it.
Using a 4"x4" chipboard mount I covered in a musical score paper, I then tipped out the contents of the lace/ribbon box and found some scraps at the bottom! I used two eyelets so the fibre hanger could be threaded through and knotted at the front. The cut up tag is from a 'Tag Art' collage book which I had forgotten I had - (I think I might have bought it when I thought I might try scrapbooking!! Needless to say, this is the first time I've used it!)
Cannot remember where the 'ribbon rose' came from but it was definitely cut off something! And the shaker style heart came from our village craft shop and was left over from a few wedding cards I made as an order! I have called her second Hand Rose as it sounds so much nicer than recycled Rhona! Although this is nowhere near Jan's standards I'm quite pleased with it for a first attempt.... it wasn't made for anyone or with anything in mind, so I shall just keep it for a little while before I decide what to do with it! Just wish I was a better photograher, this is another one that looks better if you enlarge it!

Final Amount

After all the excitement of last weekend, I have finally calmed down! Today was the final Breast Cancer fundraiser. Once again the weather was kind and our total on the day was £334. The final total is now a huge £1,762! Have been completely overwhelmed by everyone's generosity and although it's been hard work, it's been worth every penny! I shall be sendingoff the cheque at the weekend and this will be one cheque I won't mind writing!

So, my season is almost over, just Club Finals Day left on 21st September then the bowls are being put away for the winter!

Maybe then I will be able to get some time to craft!

This ATC I made last night. Am really getting into collage, so hopefully over the winter months I can get back into creating.

Although the season has been a good one, I have missed sitting here crafting.

Haven't had any time to do any crafting apart from one ATC for Maggies challenge.I am suffering severe withdrawal sypmtoms, particularly as Maureen has sent me some beautiful plaster cast faces which desperately need to be worked with! It has been a mad 10 days - held another 'Pink Day' last Sunday at one of the Clubs. The event raised over £800 so am well happy! Actually I'm completely gobsmacked at the amount we have to date..over £1,300 with one event left. There's some fab pics on the County website (some men look good in pink!!) Follow the link on the right ( County Bowling Site - ) if you want to have a peep! It's shown under the heading 'Team 5'

And yesterday was the biggest day in the ladies County team's history! The rain never stopped and I knew when I arrived at the green it was obvious (even with our artificial surface) that we weren't going to be able to play. Cue worried faces as we knew that if Cumbria managed to play at Yorkshire and win, all our efforts this season would have been for nothing- there would be no time to re arrange this final game of the season and it would just be marked as 'abandoned'. The Durham team arrived and all we could do was sit and wait. The news came through that the green at Yorkshire was playable so that game got underway. I paced round, with my phone in my hand waiting for the result, a few more grey hairs appearing. Once the result came in, I managed to get all my team together outside away from the opposition to tell them their fate! They went barmy when they heard that Cumbria had only managed 2 and a half points from the maximum 11! So we had won by 4 and a half points with a game in hand - Drinks all round and a happy team, husbands, supporters everyone!! The rain didn't spoil the party!!! Oh and my team presented me with a beautiful engraved crystal vase - had to get the hankies out!