A Spring Bouquet!

Hello Everyone, how are your all today? well I hope and enjoying the longer light of the days. I'm loving my neighbours garden where the beautiful Spring flowers are blooming. Neither Alistair not I are much in the way of gardeners, so I love seeing what springs up next door, and our new neighbours garden too, and I've noticed tulips coming up there. Over the years we've lived here I've spent a fortune buying bulbs and plants, just to see them wither and die, best left to those who know, I think.

Thank you for your lovely comments on my last card.
Our friend Dougie got home form hospital yesterday, and phoned to say he needed a bit of support with his medication. His eyes have been badly affected by this type of Arthritis and he has very little sight and until the infection form his surgery is cleared up, the eye medication he was on has had to stop. So I spent the a few hours this afternoon sorting it out for him and making sure he knows when to take them, and my goodness what an amount he has been prescribed. my heart went out to him, and he is being as upbeat as he can be and not complaining at all.  This getting old just sucks, but you just have to get on with it. Thank you for all your good wishes for him.

So I have a lovely Spring card today;

All of the stamps used are from Creative Stamping Magazine, and I've used  watercolour Pens and some sparkle pen. My background is made with Oxides and then a feather image stamped over it. I have a couple of lovely border EFs from CC so thought I would used this lovely one. A little bow and some sequins  finished off the main panel. The sentiment also from the same set is stamped on to a die from The Works.
Over the last few years I've been buying Creative Stamping Magazine and seem never to get round to using the stamps, which are   really lovely, so I've decided that I'm going to remedy that.

That's me for now, enjoy your evening and keep well,

I would like to enter my card 

into http://www.fashionablestampingchallenges.com/2018/03/11/challenge-133-springtime/

T'is the Season!

Hello Everyone and I trust you are well and enjoying your weekend. 

It seems no time at all since we were preparing for our break away, which was just lovely and peaceful, and the weather was kind to us too.  I took all sorts of play things with me, knitting, coloured pencils and colouring book, and my kindle. I didn't get the pencils out of the box, and only a few rows of knitting done, but my goodness, I got through two books, and a lot of nodding off in front of the big log fire. 

We travelled back late on Friday night, totally exhausted, I find travelling always so tiring, and I wasn't even driving, but I had to get right into getting my music and clothes sorted for Saturday as the Choral were leading a Scratch Messiah at one of the local churches.  It was also  our Coffee Morning, always a good turn out with fantastic home baking, then later in the afternoon we had a rehearsal for the performance in the evening. It was a long, long day as I was away from 10 in the morning and didn't get home  home till 10.30 at night.  However it was a brilliant evening and we were joined by various other choirs from around Inverness, and even as far a field as Buckie and Kingussie.  It's such a marvellous piece of music to sing and we had four young soloists, all in their early twenties and my goodness what voices they had, and they are only at the beginning of their singing careers. So it was a right buzz of an evening, but guess what? today I'm totally knackered, so it's a quiet day here in the Currie household.

My card today is one I made a few weeks ago but will do nicely for the Rudolph Challenge;

CI-369 is the image from Crafty Individuals, which I've coloured  with SN Aqua Pens. I found a little die cut in my box of bits and matted the coloured image on to it. I embossed my base card with a snowflake folder and the sentiment is from Inkylicious, finished off with a few sequins.

I would like to enter my card into https://scrapsoflifebyscrappymo.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/march-rudolph-days-challenge.html

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my last card, and sorry to have had to let go visiting you all while I was away, but I'm sure you all created some wonderful cards and projects. I used to try to catch up with days of comments, but I find it's too much to do now, but I'll be by later to see your current posts.

Here is what I was doing yesterday;

That's me for now, I'm away to see if I can find my lost hour, I need it back. Take care everyone and I'll see you soon,

Forest Friends!

Hello Everyone, Monday again, gosh they are not long in coming around again, the weeks are flying by.  I hope you are well and that your weather has improved. We have a beautiful sunny day, Alistair has gone out for a cycle, and I've been busy packing for a few days away. We are travelling down to Dumfries tomorrow and our neighbour is keeping an eye on Teallach.  We are going back to a hotel we stayed in a couple of years ago as it's so comfortable.....big leather sofas and chairs around a big open fire, my kind of comfort.

Thank you so much for your lovely comments on my CCC cards, always appreciated  and happy that you find time to visit.

I've got a little card for you today that I want to enter into a challenge;

Now it looks like it's a Christmas card, but it's not, the green of the hills are is not showing up too well, but it's all about not only the little things....sentiment from CB, but all the little Forest Friends. The Animals and fir trees are all from a Magazine, forget which one, and the other trees and birds are from Card-io.
I would like to enter this card into;http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/march-challenge.html

I had a lovely walk with the dogs and Damian yesterday and no snow, but it was a long walk so I was whacked at the end of it. I took a few photos....Sorry...

Always difficult to catch a shot of Rowan, she's always on the go. Milo loves picking up branches and he came across this beauty and just had to lug it along with him, he walked a good bit with it and lucky that no one passed us on the track as he wouldn't have let go of the branch.

I'll not be around for a few days commenting, but will see you all when we get back home. Off now to wind a skein of yarn into a ball for taking with me, think I'll take some colouring to do as well.

Take care of yourselves and see you anon,

Christmas Flowers for CCC!

Hello Everyone, another two weeks has flown by and here we are again to share our Christmas Card Club  cards. This time our lovely Rachel has chosen the theme and it's Christmas Flowers, lot's of scope there. Here is what I've come up with;

Christmas Roses, and which I discovered comes in all sorts of colours, I had always thought they were just white, so I used colour on mine. Watercolour paints and Sparkle Pens. The sentiment is by Chocolate Baroque, and the lovely little die the sentiment is stamped on to is one I bought in the Works and which cuts out  beautifully even although it was £3 for 4 in the set. The flowers are part of  a fabulous stamp set from Justinklined that I bought a few years ago, and comes with a lovely winter church scene. Embossed card base and a few pearls.

A lovely little stamp from Papermania for this card, again one I bought a few years ago, and this time they are painted with CE Christmas Colours paints which have Mica in them so gives a gorgeous sheen. Papermaina paper in the background ribbon and sequins to finish the job. Hope they will do Rachel, loved the challenge so thank you very much.

The concert I went to last night was just lovely. Held in one of our two Episcopal churches, a very old and very small church, which was all in candlelight and offered a beautiful atmosphere to the whole concert. The choir and in Russian and the piece of music was entirely unaccompanied.  Always very impressive that.

Thank you all so much for your well wishes for our friend Dougie. Alistair finally arrived home later that night as Dougie was being kept in hospital awaiting the results of a scan. Hubby just wanted to see him settled. The scan wasn't good news as indeed there was quite a bit of infection and the need for Dougie's wound to be opened. The big risk is if the infection reaches the metal that is now in his spine.  So we are keeping our fingers crossed that that has not happened.

Your comments about my poppy plaque was really appreciated, so thank you so much for that.
When looking at my blog page yesterday, I discovered that my title was Blue Poppy Plague and not plaque. I wonder if any of you marvellous folk noticed.....but too kind to mention. I did laugh at myself.

Anyway, I'm off to get read for my walk with Milo, Rowan and Damian, amidst the little snow flurries.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend whatever your'e doing,

Blue Poppy Plaque!

Hello Everyone, can you believe it's Friday again!! Where has this week gone to?
I hope you are well and keeping warm from these high and bitter cold winds that the country is having just now. Thankfully no snow yet.

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments left on my last post, I do appreciate your time as we are all busy these days.

Do you remember me telling you about our friend Dougie going through quite a big op on his spine a week or two ago, well the surgery went according to plan and Dougie was doing well and got home after five days, however last night he phoned us to see if Alistair could drive him to Aberdeen to see his consultant as he has developed an infection which is just not healing. He's been suffering for the last week and his GP has now sent him back to hospital. As he had to get there as early as he could, Alistair picked him up very early this morning and away they went. I'm still waiting to hear from Alistair as to what is happening. An infection like this is quite worrying.  Being positive, all will be well though.


Here is my make for today:

I've used Chocolate Baroque stamps onto a wooden plague which I painted in black gesso. The poppy image was heat embossed in white and then painted with Starlight Paints. The little butterflies are heat embossed with clear EP, some sequins and it's finished.
This is for a friend's birthday instead of a card.

Do you have any plans for the weekend? We are going to a concert tomorrow night to hear Musick Fyne, who play with old style instruments and it's choral music.  

We've been to quite a few of their concerts as some of my Choral colleagues sing in it and our Conductor Gordon plays the Harpsichord.  The piece they are playing is beautiful, so looking forward to that.
On Sunday, Milo and Rowan have invited me to go for a walk with them and Damian. I'm not needed now for puppy minding as Damian has a new job and can't get home at lunch time to take them out, so they go with him to work, Milo is too big and strong for me to take out. Anyway, they love it and get to go  a long walk in Damian's lunch hour. However, I miss my time with them.

So that's all from me for now, I hope you all have a good weekend and that the weather is good, take care and see you soon,

 I would like to enter my project into; 
http://theflowerchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/the-flower-challenge-18-reminder.html

Teasel!

Hi to You All, I hope you are well, but sending kind thoughts to those who aren't and hopefully you will feel better soon.

Thank you all for your visits and kind comments, I do appreciate them. Hello to Gill who popped in for the first time and left a lovely comment, I hope you will come back often.

Well, would you believe it, my quiet weekend was scuppered by Hubby phoning to say that they had to come back home, the weather was so awful and the campsite was a quagmire. This was on Saturday night, but I wasn't to worry about a meal for him.....like I was of course, he would get a fish supper in Ft. William.  He and Ken were home by 8.30, thankfully before the new Scandi drama started. He was whacked, wet and cold and he hadn't enjoyed his chippy either.  Once he had a shower and settled down, he said....I'm getting too old now!. I felt really sad for him as this sort of thing has been his life since the age of 11. However he is indeed getting older, but he goes for the burn, not good at pacing himself, he is however fitter than anyone else I know.  He's having a few quiet days now and most likely when the weather gets warmer the boys will be organising another weekend away. 

So here is what I've got to post today;

This is a Crafty Individuals images CI-121, it's a lovely teasel stamp, and I've used some lovely  Chocolate Baroque paper behind the tag, the paper was designed by Lesley form CB. I've used other small stamps from CI and some tear drop stencil shapes. I had made the tag separately, then decided to add it to a card instead. 

That's me for now, the last episode of Shetland is on later so I want to get settled for that. Take care of yourselves and see you soon,

  

Seaside Scene!

Hello to You All, I hope you are well and having a good weekend. Teallach and yours truly are having a bit of peace and quiet as Alistair is away with a friend to Glencoe......camping. Mad as a box of frogs I think. Still Alistair has his most excellently warm sleeping bag and Ken has the tee pee and they have a box fire, a bottle of the Amber Nectar so they should be okay.  I did notice Alistair has his ice axe with him which concerns me a bit that he will be ice climbing, but there wouldn't be any stopping him, so I don't mention it.  I do however, trust his judgment about what conditions are safe and what aren't.

So, having the home to myself, I've been catching up on Call the Midwife, and boy am I wrung out, I watched two episodes back to back, ended up with a pile of soggy tissues beside me.  What marvellous stories which never fail to bring up strong emotion, that's why I prefer to watch on my own. Do any of you watch the series? I think the writers have covered just about every heartbreaking and joyous issues that there is.

I'd like to welcome a new follower Jannet, who is the March GDT for Crafty Individuals, and you can find her blog here if you have time do pop in and see the most wonderful creations she makes.

A big thank you to everyone who visits and who leaves comments too.

I have a card made with Chocolate Baroque stamps today;

From the Seaside Scenes stamp set and coloured with watercolour paints, I decided to keep a simple colour pallet using shades of yellow and grey. I've used Pixie Powders to make a background and all matted on to black card.  It's going to my BiL Jim for his birthday later this month.

It's been a dull, smirry rainy day, so going to be dark a wee bit earlier, I have to say I'm glad I'm indoors. So I will  love you and leave you, and hope you have a lovely evening, take care and see you soon,

Tall Tree!

Hello Everyone, I hope you are well and enjoying your evening. 

We have had rain, sleet and snow all day, nothing lying thankfully, but it's been a dreach  sort of day. I've not been over the door, not even to the dust bin. I had a lie in this morning....well that's not really quite correct, I had been up a 5 o'clock letting Teallach out, but had been awake from just after 1 o'clock this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. I finally dropped off about 7 and slept an hour when Teallach rattled the letterbox wanting back in. so once he was fed and played with, I went back to bed in the hope that I would get another couple of hours shut eye.  No such luck, but at least I was resting and enjoying my book. It's been a bit of a lazy day, but feel exhausted now. An early night is out of the question as Teallach would just come and get me to give him is supper and let him out, yes even although Alistair is there, the cat just by passes him. I've made a rod for my own back with this wee rascal, he's lying curled up on his chair looking as if butter wouldn't melt.

Anyway enough of my sleepless tales, thank you all so much for the lovely comments on my last post, I do appreciate your visits.  Here is my card for today;

This tree image and verse is from Chocolate Baroque, Tall Trees stamp set, the little flowers in the bottom  corner are also CB, Teen Whiny Meadow Flowers, The bird are from Inkylicious. and an inky background, using several brands of ink, matted on to black card.

Alistair had just made a cuppa, so I'll away now and settle down to watch Shetland with it. Take care everyone and see you soon,

Robin for CCC!

Hello there Everyone, hope your weekend is going well and you are not affected too much with all the snow. It's been quite incredible in some places, not too much here though, we have been very lucky in Inverness, but it's been bitingly cold and temperatures  in the minus during the night, minus 10 one night last week. We haven't ventured out much I can tell you, so plenty time for crafting.

Thank you so much for your lovely comments on my last card, so very kind of you.

Well, it's time for the Christmas Card Club ladies to show their creations for another challenge, and this time around it's been chosen by Mrs. A, known to all as Valery and she would like to see a Robin or Robins.  You can't go wrong with a Robin, cheeky little chaps that are so traditional for Christmas cards. I've made a few as I used a CD and there were lots of images on the sheet that printed out. The CD is by Cupcake Crafting and it's called Magical Moments at Christmas. 

The Robin image is the same on both cards, just one smaller than the other. The first one is matted and layered on to a DL base card, with a little embossed edge that came along with a CC magazine, I've glittered the image up and embellished with leaves, the Ivy leaves I bought form Mrs. Duck, not sure of the brand and the other leaves with the bow are from JND.

Second card is matted on to an embossed black card using a SB EF, the paper is from the CD and I've used a Kraft card base this time. Having glittered the image I than added DI in Black Soot around the edges. The sentiment is one by Inkylious .

My last card is using a lovely image from Chocolate Baroque;

This image is called The Gift and I've coloured with SN Aqua Pens, Sparkle Pens and Sakura Gel Pens. I stamped leaf images in the background and coloured with DI. More CB flourish stamps embossed with WOW Silver powder, then I matted the main panel over it. Added a few sequins and job done.I hope they will do Valery, loved the challenge and was on a roll with it, thank you.

Now let me tell you what I've been getting up to  today. I've been at a Ladies Lunch in aid of Children 1st. The venue was at the Drumossie Hotel here in Inverness and the guest speaker was Professor Dame Sue Black.  For anyone who has never heard of this lady, she is a Forensic Anthropologist  and has worked national and internationally on crimes associated with wars, murders, dismemberment and abuse of children. She is Director of the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification  at Dundee University.  She led a team to identify the remains of the mass murdered victims in Kosovo. It's important to her to be able to give the deceased person a name, but also to gather evidence for war crimes.   She had led research which  develops techniques to make this possible.

She has also developed techniques the police which help to identify those who abuse children, hence her link to Children 1st, and there had been great success in catching these people. 
I could have listened to her all day, a terrific speaker with ever a hint of humour... well with her job she'd need it. 

Now if that's not all... for the readers amongst you and if you like crime novels the Professor is a consultant to Val McDermid when Val need to know about bodies. She is one of my favourite Authors.  

Just after lunch we were entertained by the Inverness Army Wives Choir, and how fabulous they are, you may remember, that Gareth Malone  put the choir together a few years ago and they had a number 1 chart hit. I was so impressed as they sang without music. It was just lovely.

There was an auction which raised £2900, and with around 300 Ladies at the lunch, there would have been a fair amount of funds raised.  So all in all, it's been a lovely afternoon and something different.

I'll be scheduling this post for tomorrow(Sunday). I'm thinking the temperature has  just dropped as it's suddenly become really cold and I've got all the heating on.

That's me for now, keep yourselves safe and warm and see you soon,