Wishing You All A Very Merry Christmas!

Hello Everyone, the Big Day is almost upon us once again and I hope all is well with you and you'er not getting too stressed out by your preparations. 

I just wanted to say Big Thank You to all of my lovely Blogging Friends and Visitors who continue to pop in and leave some wonderful comments. I appreciate everyone of them and you too.

As for many people this year has been especially difficult for Alistair and myself, with Jim's illness and eventual death, Damian's unluckiness with work, and my own health, and of course our various friends who are experiencing poor health, it's been some year and I will be glad to see the back of it. 
Having said that, and as Elton John says "I'm Still Standing", and are more fortunate  than many folks. I'm thinking of those terrible bush fires in Australia, with loss of live, both human and wildlife. Floods in England destroying homes, volcanoes erupting with more loss of life. The list is endless, which hits all ages, class and creeds, and that's just natural disasters. It is to be hoped that 2020 will bring peace in the world.

This will be my last card for this year and it's for all you lovely people;

A little Hobby Art Goose.

I wish you a Peaceful Christmas and all Good Wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Let it Snow!

Hello Everyone, I hope you are well and managing to get through your Christmas preparations without too much stress.
I was up and out before 9 o'clock to get some shopping, totally forgetting that I couldn't buy any alcohol before 10 o'clock. so that's a task for another day.
I've still got some wrapping to do, but got Alistair's presents wrapped whilst he was away, he was down in Glasgow for Jim's funeral yesterday. I chose not to go, I knew he would be well supported by his boyhood friend who was also attending. Alistair will be back tonight so I'll hear how things went then.

I've got another little Christmas card for you today;

This jolly little fellow is by Honey Bee stamps from a set of stamps and dies called Snowbuddies.
Stamped and then cut out, coloured with Copic Markers and glitter marker, with Glossy Accents on his nose. I used red card and inked up in white pigment ink and added white gel pen to make snow flakes, Sentiment is a freebie from Creative Stamping magazine. I finished by adding Star Dust sparkle to his little had. The snowman is mounted with dimension tape to the card.

Took myself to see Cats yesterday, I loved it, smiled all through it except the bits where I had an emotional cry, the dancing was superb too, I'd recommend if you like musicals., and I just wanted to do something nice to take my mind off a sad day.

Right off to get some wrapping done, thank you all for all the lovely comments on my last card, see you soon,

Jingle Gnomes!

Hello Everyone, I do hope all is well with you, but if not, I'm sending kind and healing thoughts that you will feel better soon.
There are some nasty bugs going around, but thankfully we are keeping clear of them so far.

We had a fabulous Carolthon on Saturday and raised £1,557, and still the choir sponsor forms and gift aid to come in over the next month. However we are £300 up on last year's Carolthon.  The Befriender's team were brilliant, and for me it was lovely to see some former clients who wanted to volunteer as they knew I would be singing. 

 The other lovely thing that happened was that I met another former client who I have not seen since I left work and have often wondered how he was getting along.  I had a real soft spot for this young man who had a horrendous childhood with sexual abuse that has left him so damaged and a self harmer, and who has tried many times to do away with himself, even to jumping of the Kessock Bridge.......to survive but pretty broken up.  To meet him on Saturday was like an early Christmas present, and to see him so well. In a lovely relationship of four years with his partner and his loving family. Alistair too had a soft spot for this guy and took him up mountains and fossil hunting, trying to give him good experiences. So Alistair was delighted to hear that he was still alive and doing well. Especially good as I know quite a few of the people who used our project have indeed died. and strangely enough, everyone of them have suffered from family sexual abuse.  Anyway, enough of this but it just made my heart glad.

I'm still making Christmas cards, not that they are needed this year, but this stamp I've been dying to use and the card is earmarked for a friend for next year;

This is a Whimsy stamp and I've coloured it with Copic markers. Now I've cased this card from one that the fabulous Faye Wynn-Jones of Stampin Fluffnstuff did a couple of months ago. Her colouring is outstanding. Unfortunately, I didn't have the same colours so did the best I could. I would love to go to one of her Copic colouring classes, but they are in Englandshire. The snowflake die was gifted from Mrs. Duck the other year so I don't know it's brand. I've matted on to glitter card and some papers from LOTV, and added a few clear gems.

I'm still recovering from my long day on Saturday, my knees were killing me by the end of the day, and my voice all but gone as, because of illness quite a few of our singers had to call off so I sang in three sessions, that was three hours phew!! It was all worth it though.

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my last post.
That's me for now, take care of yourselves and see you soon,

Hubby's Card!

Hello Everyone, finally getting here, don't know where the time has gone, but every day seems to be awfully busy.
Anyway, I do hope that you are all well, and keeping clear of all the bugs that are going around.

Alistair's brother Jim died on Tuesday, and although it was expected, it's still a shock and so very sad. By all accounts he just slept away, and his daughter and two of his old friends were with him. So he is out of any pain now. So we are  a bit sad here, and it just brings back memories of when my Mum died just around this time, albeit fifteen years ago.
I want to thank all you lovely people who emailed me and commented on my blog, so kind of you all.

So, I've got the last of my Christmas cards that I have to make, one for Alistair;

This lovely image is from the latest Creative Stamping Magazine which I've embossed with WOW white powder on to dark blue card. I used a Tonic Stencil for the stars, and added more with a white gel pencil, I used dies for the sentiments and added loads of glitter. I inked around the edges with DI to bring the eye to the image. Alistair likes dark cards so he should give a thumbs up for this one.

That is all my cards made for this year and written and posted, just a few to pop into neighbours. It's the first year I have been so organised, but I felt I had to be as we as we didn't know when we would be going down to Glasgow for Jim's funeral, one stress less sort of thing. 

Tomorrow sees another year's Carolthon, and those of you who have been following me for a while will know that the Inverness Choral Society sing all day in our local shopping centre for our chosen charity, which this year is Befrienders, who befriend people who experience mental health difficulties and those with dementia and their carers. It's a great organisation and many of my clients when I was working benefited from them.

So it will be a long day, as I will be there all day, with my organiser hat on as well as singing. I will be taking the organising of the Carolthon on proper next year, oh help!, so this time around I'm shadowing the person who is in charge at the moment. We hope for a good day weather wise to bring people into town, and that they will want to donate some dosh... mind you times are hard for some folks but , you never know. There is always a lovely buzz in the centre during the Carolthon, so if you are in Inverness tomorrow so stop and have a listen... we are awfully good....even if I say so myself lol.

That's me for now, a bit of a happy, sad post,  but that's just what life is about.

Keep well everyone and hope to see you soon,

Look Out Sprouts are About ! CCC

Hello Everyone, and how are you all today. Another week almost past and for the Christmas Card Club girls it's another challenge and it's our last one for the year. This time around Rachel has chosen the theme and it's humour.  Here is my card...only one this time,

This is a fabulous stamp set from Hobby Art, and have saved it to make a card for Damian and Moreen. Coloured mainly with Copic Markers after having embossed in green Wow EP, I've also used gel pens on some of the images. I found this card base in a drawer with yet more old stash, it was already cut out and scored, I don't know what this shape is called though. I think, they'll get a laugh at it.  Thank you Rachel for choosing this theme, I really did enjoy it.

As I said it's the last challenge and it's been so good making the cards throughout the year as I've had more than enough, I've also let Moreen choose any she wanted and it hardly made a dent in my box.
So, if any of you would like to join our merry little band, please get in touch with me or indeed any of the other girls and you would be more than welcome.

I have only one more card to make and it's for Alistair, thank goodness for that.

I've sat tonight and got all my cards written out, it's exhausting, but at least it's done and I'll get them posted on Monday. Dreading the postage though!!

Thank you all so much for your comments on my last card and your kind comments about Jim, he's still here bless him, but every time the phone rings we just expect the news that he's gone. 

I'm scheduling this for tomorrow for when the Challenge Blog goes live, so I'll sigh off for now and see you soon,

It's Hoolie Time!

Hello Everyone, I hope all is well with you today, but sending kind thoughts out to those who are struggling a bit just now.
Thank you for the kind words regarding Jim, you are so kind. Alistair who was down for a visit yesterday noticed quite a change from only a few weeks ago. He couldn't really hold a conversation with him as he was falling in and out of sleep, but Jim knew he was there. Alistair feels that it will be the last time he will see him. What a long day it was for him he was exhausted by the time he got home. It's times like this that it feels that Inverness is at the end of the world.

Anyway, thank you too for the lovely comments on my last card.

My card today is one for my choir friend Fiona, I always make her a The Snowman card,

A bit difficult to photograph I'm afraid. Using up more old stash. This was a Crafters Companion kit many years ago, I thought I'd use it up.  I try to make something different each year as Fiona adores the Snowman and she even frames her cards, what a lovely friend. I hope she likes this year's.

Thankfully I'm getting to the end of the Christmas card Making, only Damian and Moreen's card and one for Alistair, I'm running out of ideas.

That's me for now, off to peel the tatties, take care of yourselves and see you soon,

Thinking of You!

Hello Everyone and hoping  this finds you well. 
Well it's the weekend again, don't they come come around so quickly and almost into another month too.  

We are very cold today a thick frost on the car when we went out to go for the shopping and even now the cars in the street are still frosted up. Home now and staying put.

I have a card today that's for Alistair's brother Jim, who is now in the Hospice. He had to go into hospital a few weeks ago as he was falling. It turned out that a new doctor had somehow not read his notes and gave him a double dose of sleeping tablets. Jim's not all that good at knowing what medication he's actually on, but the nurse spotted the mistake when she visited. When in hospital he asked if he could be taken into the Hospice and that's where he is now, I think he feel so much safer now and he will be looked after. His daughter is at work during the day so he was on his own quite a bit. It's the same Hospice that my mum was in and the staff were wonderful, nothing too much trouble even for grieving daughters, so he's in the best place. 

Just kept it fairly plain, inkylicious stamp embossed in Wow white powder  with DI in the background using the resist technique.  A freebie sentiment and some clear sequins to finish.

I have not been able to go down to see him since summer, just keeping in touch by phone, but he is sounding much frailer. Alistair is going for a visit next Tuesday.

Our neighbour Donnie who usually looks after Teallach when we are away, has been diagnosed with cancer too, and is looking very poorly, but is trying to get himself stronger for an surgery on his lung, so Alistair is away out a wee walk with him.  We just seem to have so many unwell friends just now, it's just so sad.
 Although, it's been the leg pain that's prevented me from spending 7 hours travelling to Glasgow, not having someone to look after Teallach is now something else to sort out.  Will have to look for a cattery near us, but don't know how the wee puss will cope as he is an awfully skittish cat and of course spent sometime in the rescue centre before he came to us. Anyway, I'm sure something will work out.

Thank you for the lovely comments on my last card, always appreciated your visits.
I'll love you and leave you and hope you have a lovely weekend,

Christmas Rose!

Hello Everyone and I hope I find you well having had a good day. 
We has a lovely trip out to Nairn today and took a packed lunch with us and sat in the car watching a very grey cold sea whilst eating. Certainly too cold to be sitting out. There were some pretty high waves rolling in. I managed a walk to the end of the harbour so I was pleased with that. It fairly blew the cobwebs away.

Thank you for the lovely comments on my last cards, you are very kind and I always appreciate each comment and the time it takes to visit.

I have a little card for the https://scrapsoflifebyscrappymo.blogspot.com/2019/11/november-rudolph-days-challenge.html

I'm still looking out and using up stash I've had for years, and I found this lovely Christmas Rose image, and a packet of silver peel off embellishments, and then a beautiful piece of embossed card, I think it's turned out rather well.

Just a short post today,  I've got some emails to respond to, one that need to go into a card going to Australia and has to be mailed pretty soon, so I'll love you and leave you and see you soon,

Forest Scene....lots of Snow and Glitter for CCC!

Hello to You All and I hope your weekend is going well.

It's time again for the Christmas Card Challenge....where did the last two weeks go!!!
Anyhoo, it's my turn to choose the theme and I would love to see cards in a Forest Scene with lots of Snow and of course Glitter. But not to worry if you can't manage that, there's always Anything Goes.

Here are my cards, I made three;

This is a lovely in=mage from Creative Expressions, which I inked up in SP Night of Navy Ink. Some silver Glitter card behind it and silver mirror card cut with a Tonic die. The lovely paper is from a pad bought in The Works, and the sentiment is a freebie. Oh and lots of glitter.

Now this is the same stamp, but this time white embossed on to blue card, lots of glitter and clear gems.

This is a new stamp by Whimsy that I treated myself to. Water coloured with Altenew's new Metallic watercolours....another treat, and I can say that they are fabulous to use., Lots of glitter on the snowy parts of the scene. Mattered onto some copper glitter card and again paper from that lovely pad, matted on to green card. I decided to cut out this lovely stag image from Dovecraft in copper glitter paper.  And that's that, I hope you like them.

Do look at what the other girls create, they always have beautiful cards.

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments on my last card.
Enjoy your Sunday and see you soon,

Jolly Snowfolk!

Hello Everyone, I hope all is well with you  and that your week is going well.
Boy have we got some Baltic weather just now, well in the minuses, but our new heaters are keeping us cosy, best thing we did getting them installed.

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last card, I do appreciate  that you take time to visit and comment.

another little Christmas card for you, 

Hunkydory for this one, I just love these cute snowfolk, and the pretty colours. I've had this for ages, so thought I would put it together, it's turned out well.

Just a short post tonight, want to get settled for the "Debate", let's hope we still have a TV by the end of it.

I have to apologise for not visiting you over the last few days, I've had a busy time with one thing and another, but hope to get around some of your blogs soon, take care of your selves and see you soon,

Christmas !

Good Evening Everyone, I hope you have had a good day and now enjoying your evening.

I've had a quiet day as Alistair was up a mountain and I had planned to go into town, but then I didn't bother, I don't really know why I thought I wanted to go and as I would have spent money....needlessly, I thought better of it and stayed put. I'm not yet ready to do Christmas shopping, it's getting harder and harder to think of gifts for Damian and Moreen as I've done it all, how many handbags, scarfs and gloves can I give Mo, and Damian is just as equally difficult to buy for. I'll maybe have inspiration nearer the big day.

Another little Christmas card made with bits and bobs found in my stash, some of it older than the pyramids lol;

I'm afraid I haven't a clue what any of this is now, even the sentiment die I had already cut out some time ago, and now don't have the die, so I don't know what it says, I can make out the peace and joy, but goodness knows what it says in the middle. Anyhoo, once I'd put it all together I was quite please with how it turned out, what do you think?

Well, had my long awaited GP appointment yesterday with the results of the X-ray, and absolutely nothing showed up, I couldn't believe it. No Arthritis in the knee and no crystals , so the gout meds are doing their job. So why all the pain?? apparently I have something called Anterior Knee Pain. which just means front knee pain. Was told it was a bit of a mystery thing. It can take months or years to clear up. However, it's not something that's progressive and I don't need a new knee....I was worried about that.  So what do I do, well, the surgery has now it's own physio so I've got an appointment to see her her this coming Monday and she will hopefully be able to advise me on exercise to build up the muscle around the knee.  So there we are all that pain and I feel not much explanation for it.  I'm still not able to walk all that far and I seem to stagger and stumble  too. So we'll see how Monday goes. Thank you once again for your kind comments and well wishes.

Thank you too for your lovely comments on my last cards, I do appreciate each and every one of them.

That's all for now, Alistair has made a cuppa, so I'm going to settle down with it and watch a bit of TV, cheerio for now,

   

Anything Goes for CCC!

Hello Everyone, I hope you are well and not involved with those areas that have been flooded, so awful for those people. We have not had all that much rain up here, thankfully, but plenty of very low temperatures, and even some snow the other morning, but cleared up by lunch time.

Anyhoo, it's time for the Christmas Card Club girls to show their latest cards and this time it's our Zoe who has chosen Anything Goes, thank you for that Zoe.

I managed two this time,

I've used this gorgeous CB poinsettia image and heat embossed it in Gold WOW powder on to red card from SU. Once again I've used a sentiment form Creative Stamping magazine on velum and heat embossed with the same gold powder. I didn't add anything else, didn't think it needed it.
I'd like to enter this card into;
http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.com/2019/11/november-traditional-christmas-colours.html

I seem to have stuck with red again with this card. This is a Creative Expression stamp and coloured with Copic markers. I found some Rose Gold mirror card and some very old stripped paper to give a background. Both sentiment and presents come from a Creative Stamping magazine.

So that's it, my contribution for this challenge, thank you Zoe for your choice of theme, I did enjoy this one. Please have a look at what the other girls have created. We are almost at the end of the challenges, only two more to do, and I have a healthy box of Christmas cards, I'm pretty sure that I will have more than enough for my needs and some for Moreen.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last card, id so much appreciate your comments and your visits. Welcome to my new Follower Lourdes TM too,  I'm so pleased that you've chosen to follow me and I hope you come back often. If you do have a blog, let me know as I would love to see what you create.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend whatever your plans have been. Teallach and I have been on our own as Alistair is away to his mountaineering club dinner dance down in Dunkeld. I don't know that there will be much dancing done.. .....the average age of the clubs members is around 90 lol. But there will be lots of reminiscing about climbing back in the day and a great opportunity to meet up with   old pals, especially Alistair's oldest friend from school days. It will be good to hear all about it when he's back.

That's me for now, take care of yourselves and hope to see you soon,

Anniversary!

Hello Crafting Friends and Visitors, I hope all is tickity boo with you, but sending out kind thoughts to you if you'er not.
Mid week already, time is whizzing by, but at least it's not raining here. 

Thank you for you lovely comments on my last card, well it was a set really, and thank you too for your kind comments regarding my painful legs, and for the advice which some of you offer, I do appreciate them all. 

Tuesday was our Wedding Anniversary....24 years, and the time has gone so quickly, I remember our wedding day just as if it was yesterday and what a fabulous day it was too. Yesterday was Alistair's birthday. Now this is how our wedding came about.....I asked him what he wanted to do do for his 50th birthday, and his response was "lets get married"... well I wasn't thinking of anything on that sort of scale, but that's what we did. Alistair's birthday landed on a Sunday that year so it had to be on the 4th, which was fine as it also had been my lovely Dad's birthday. I won't show Alistair's birthday card as I showed it a while back, it was the Pink Ink image of the Merman, but here is the card I made of our Anniversary;

All of the stamps used were a set free with Creative Stamping magazine earlier in the year, and coloured with Copic markers, except for the swans which are coloured with white/grey colour pencils

We have had a beautiful family of swans on the lake at our university campus for the last few years and we often visit them and have watched three sets of cygnets being raised, very successfully, so I thought this lovely swan image was very apt., anyway, Alistair loved it.

I'm off to Damian and Moreen's this afternoon as they need me to let an electrician in to fix their oven as they are at work, I'm delighted as I get to spend time with lovely Grandpets, Milo and Rowan, and any of the cats who come in to say hello. I'll take my knitting, and we'll all have a lovely afternoon.....I'm easy pleased.

That's me for now, have a lovely day whatever you are doing, take care and see you soon,

Wedding Card!

Hello Everyone, I hope all is well with you and that you have better weather than we have here. The whole weekend has been wet and miserable, and so dull. However, it is only weather and hopefully you are enjoying the weekend whatever you're doing.

Yesterday was my Choral concert, so it was a long day with a practice in the afternoon ahead of the evening performance.  Our programme was Rossini's Stabat Mater and Vivaldi's Credo, with our fabulous young soloists singing arias from operas.  The audience received our performance well, thank goodness the bad weather didn't keep them away. My main worry was that my legs would let me down...pardon the pun, but I got through it with the help of some painkillers, it was the getting up from sitting that was difficult and trying to straighten my legs, but Alistair said I didn't look awkward. Anyhoo, we enjoyed it all and on Monday night we'll hear what our conductor Gordon thought of it.

Thank you for your kind comments on my last card.

Our friend Dougie asked me to make a wedding card for his Grandaughter who was married last week. I have to say my heart wasn't really in it due to the pain in my legs, especially as I tend to stand to craft, and also I just wasn't getting much inspiration for it, but I didn't want to let our friend down. Here is what I came up with;

LOTV image and coloured with Copic markers, and I found the lovely background paper in The Range, it's a company I'd not heard of The Paper Boutique and this range is Natures Gift. As the wedding was in Autumn I tried to keep to Autumn sort of colours and this paper just fitted in fine. The flowers are by Little Birdie and I used one of the gorgeous pins that are made by Wendy...Spanish Crafter. 
As always I also make a box for the card;

and of course a bag to put them into;

The sentiment was from Creative Stamping magazine.

Now Dougie liked the set, but unfortunately he didn't manage to go to the wedding as he is another friend who is in very ill health, and as the wedding was in England it was all too much for him o get there. Anyway I hope his Granddaughter liked it.

It's a quiet day for me today, just pottering around the house, so I'll say cheerio for now and hope to be back soon, take care of yourselves,

Kerr's Birthday Card!

Hello Everyone, I hope you are well and that your week's going well.
Pretty damn cold here this morning, although beautifully sunny,  getting a bit dull now though.

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my Christmas cards, you are so kind and I do appreciate your visits and comments.

Nothing Christmas today, a birthday card for my friend Dale's Grandson, who will be 16 on his birthday next week. I can hardly believe he's reach this age as I remember holding him when he came home from hospital, where have all the years gone????

It's always difficult to find designs for teenager boys, and his only hobby is gaming with his computer thingy and I've already done that. So, I ended up with this LOTV Oliver image Studying, quite apt as Kerr is a very clever young lad and has always done well at school. I do like these Oliver images because he looks rather like Kerr, who is very tall and very slim, and has the same shaped face as Oliver. Anyway, Copic colouring, DI and an Embossilicious EF. I gold gelled the stars on it and added a little WoS  to the lamp. I hope he likes it.

Well it's a short post today, got a bit of ironing to do before I get too tired, so I'll love you and leave you and hope to be back soon,

Penguins or Polar Bears for CCC!

Hello to you All, I hope things are going well for everyone, but if not, sending out positive and kind thoughts to those who need them.

Can you believe it a fortnight has passed since the last Christmas Card Club challenge, it goes all too quickly. Anyhow,  here I am again with Shaz's choice of theme and she would like to see penguins or polar bears, certainly a great challenge and I was on a roll with it.

I made four cards, here's No. 1 

This is a Hazel Cuppledich, that might be spelt wrongly, image and I've coloured with SN Glitter Pens,. I've added lots of sparkle and white gel pen for snow. A freebie sentiment and my background is a MFT Snow Flurry stencil and DI. Another freebie stamp  and some little gems.

No. 2 

LOTV stamp for this card, I think this is so sweet, coloured with Copics and loads of glitter and white gel pen for the snow, Creative stamping Magazine sentiment. Kept the background simple and just mounted on to silver card.

Next up is 

Little Claire for this image of the Polar Bear with cub, inked in blue ink and just a little Copic colour.
Paper is from a very old LOTV pad, grey and white glitter card. Sentiments from JND and a freebie. A lovely Snowflake border from The Works...cuts out beautifully and was only a couple of pounds. Again lots of sparkle.

And finally, 

LOTV image and coloured with Copic markers. Sentiments from Little Clair. Sliver card, a snippet of LOTV paper and navy card. Plenty of sparkle and a few sequins.

I really enjoyed this challenge Shaz, not only did I get get to use stamps that have not seen the light of day in yonks, but also got to use lots of snippets of paper and card, so thank you for your choice.

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last card, I do appreciate every one of them

I got my tooth removed and boy what a job it was for the dentist, at one point I thought she was going to have to cut the gum, but she persevered and out it came, mind you it was very crumbly. My mouth is still tender but loaded with painkillers. Hopefully it will all settle down soon.

On the knee/leg front, I believe the pain is getting easier, though I still can't walk any great length, but I've got my XRay appointment in early November,  so for now  it's still painkillers.

So that's me for now, hoping to get around to visiting your blogs and see what you've been creating. Remember to have a look at what my team members on the CCC have created. Take care and see you soon,

I would like to enter card No. 1 into;
https://scrapsoflifebyscrappymo.blogspot.com/2019/10/october-rudolph-days-challenge.html

Autumn!

Hello Everyone, a new week begins, I hope it will be a good one for you all.

I was at the dentist this morning and I've got an abscess caused by a tooth that will now have to come out, so antibiotics and back on Thursday to remove the tooth. The dentist has been trying to save it for a few years, but obviously enough is enough and out it must come. Now I'm terrified of dentists, even although I have a very good one now, but my fear goes all the way back to childhood. I'm just hoping that she will have no bother pulling it out. There's always something. 

Anyway, were kindly given tickets to see Mozart's Don Giovanni as our friend could't use them, this was yesterday. It was being streamed live from The Royal Opera House and it was electrifying, I could imagine what it must have been like to have actually been in the theater, the voices were amazing, especially the Baritone who sang Don Giovanni, what a treat to hear it.

So, thank you for your comments on my last card.
My card today is another Autumnal one and I'm entering it into;
http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.com/2019/10/october-trees-leaves-autumn.html

I've used a lovely CB edge stamp and coloured with Copic Markers. A lovely Inkylicious sentiment with gold sparkle and a few sequins. I've matted on to a mustard shade card.
It's a simple design but one I really like.

Well, that's all from me today, I hope you all had a good weekend and are looking forward to whatever this week brings for you,

I would like to enter my cards into;
http://movingalongwiththetimes.blogspot.com/2019/10/challenge-109-and-winners-of-challenge.html

Skating !

Hello Everyone, hope that you're well, but kind thoughts going out to those of you who are not so good and hope you will be feeling better soon.

Another lovely day here, sunny and not too cold. We had one or two things to do in town this morning, then we drove out to Ardisere to The Cheese Pantry for a bit of lunch. We have never been before although we've always meant to go, but always we are on our way back home when we notice the sign for it.  As it's name suggests, they make their own cheeses from their own cows and sheep. There's a lovely little cafe and although not an extensive menu plenty to whet the appetite. I had a brie board with two good slabs of cheese and a tortilla what had a gorgeous quince jelly on it that had been sprinkled with sugar and then heated, and oh my it was delish, Alistair had a very fancy cheese and Serrano ham toast with scrumptious chutney. We finished off with a piece of carrot cake which we shared. Just lovely, not too much but felt satisfied, and it was good to go somewhere different too, with a beautiful run into the country. I bought some cheeses too. Their shop is amazing, what an array of cheese, I bought some Gouda and the same Brie that I had  and the lovely chutney that Alistair had with is toastie. We'll not need much for dinner tonight.

Thank you for all your lovely comments on Pinky Inky, I'm pleased you liked him.
We watched a TV documentary a few weeks ago about Octopus, or is it Octupi, anyway, they are very intelligent creatures, and like human company. The Biologist who had been studying them, had one in his home, in a large tank obviously, and bonded with the scientist's daughter. It would be waiting towards the top of the tank, waiting for her to come home from school, she would talk to it and they'd play games, a sort of hide and seek, where the Octopus would hide in amongst his bit's and bobs in his tank. It was fascinating to watch. When the girl put her fingers in the tank, the octopus would reach up with one of his tentacles catch hold of one of her fingers and pull it along as he swam around the tank, they had great fun with this.

Well, I've probably bored the pants off you with my octopus and cheese story, sorry, anyhoo here's my  card for today, and I'm entering it into;
https://caschristmascardchallenge.blogspot.com/2019/10/cas-christmas-october-2019-challenge.html

The theme was a Winter Scene and I thought this fabulous stamp from JND was just perfect, I love the skaters on the village pond, at least I think that's what it's meant to be. I stamped it in Night of Navy SU ink and matted on to blue card. added a panel of pretty paper from First Edition , Sentiment, banner and snowflake are also from the same set. They were free with Creative Stamping magazine. I heat embossed the sentiment in white  and finished with sparkle on the ice and snowy roofs.

Well, a new weekend tomorrow, I've nothing planned but Alistair is going to Ft. William  for a meeting and that takes him really most of the day away, so I'll catch up with housework and maybe a bit of knitting which has been neglected lately.
Enjoy your weekend and see you soon,

Pinky Inky!

Hello Everyone, I hope you are well and having a good week.  We have a drizzly day and quite dark, pity as the last few days have been sunny but cold and crisp, oh well that's weather for you.

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last card, most appreciated as ever.

I've something a little different today;

Meet Pinky Inky the octopus, I think he is fab and it's another of Pink Ink designs. He's a big image so rather than make a card I decided to make a lollypop stick plaque.  I've still to put a cord on it to hang him beside my seaworld projects on our bedroom wall.  I've painted it all with Starlight Paints, and although it's quiet sparkly it doesn't really show here. The little fishes and the shell are part of the same set. Hope you like it.

Another short post, so cheerio for now and see you soon, take care,