Florida 2

Well I really have left you to your own devices over the past week, I hope you have taken advantage of the break from my ramblings to do a lot of crafting/knitting/sewing/painting/whatever floats your boat. Me? I have actually done very little, the weather has been disappointingly cool so my dreams of long lazy days by the pool with a good book have been scuppered. In fact it poured with rain one day, (I vowed to myself at one stage on this particular day that if one more person told me that they needed the rain, I was going to slap them, dampness and irritation beginning to show...... ) I have seen nothing but rain for the past six months, wouldn't you think it could have held off until I left. But no, temperatures remain stubbornly below normal - meanwhile, back in rainy old Britain, they are enjoying a heat wave - it was hotter in my hometown yesterday than here. 

What I have enjoyed is renewing my love of Florida's bird life. This cardinal comes for his breakfast every morning......

and some tiny little goldfinches too.......

and my new best friend and constant companion is my hosts adorable nine month old Havanese puppy, Lola......

I wanted to show you this gorgeous gift I got from Carol, one of the friends I met in Orlando, I have been online friends with her for years, and she is a very faithful visitor to my blog, never failing to leave me a lovely comment, just look at the gorgeous parcel of goodies she bought for me. Thank you so much Carol, I'll be posting the projects I make with them when I get back home xxx

and of course, when the weather is irritatingly cool, and to stop myself from slapping innocent strangers, what was I to do? Go shopping of course.....
I LOVE these new stacks from DCWV, the one on the top left is real burlap which is backed with paper, the blue one is a stack called gauze, and the front one is a stack of different earthy colours of corrugated card....... 

Here's a close up of the gauze, I don't know how they did it, but it really is a gauzy mesh that has been adhered to the cardstock. 

Some more stencils jumped into my cart when I wasn't paying attention, all by Heidi Swapp, my haul also included some 12 x 12 stencils that I forgot to photograph....

and a few Tim Holtz bits and pieces - well, they were on sale....

My biggest purchase by far is the Scan N Cut by Brother, which I have been playing around with a little. I'll be doing a couple of posts later this week on that. 
In the meantime, the weather forecast is looking good for today, tomorrow and Wednesday. The day I fly home is going to be the hottest day of the year so far......predictable don't you think. But suntan cream at the ready, book under my arm, if you need me I'll be by the pool.....

Florida......

I've been a busy bee since I last posted on the blog, last Thursday saw me heading straight for my old crafty haunt to meet up with all my pals. They are now into making jewellery, so there is a lot less paper about than there used to be in my day! It was really great to catch up with them again....

and of course there have been a few visits to places like this....

where I have bought many objects that I never knew I needed. See the little blue round moulds? They are by Martha Stewart and I will use them with air dry clay to make some more embellishments. I rather liked the background stamps by Recollections (Michaels own brand), the two layer stencil is by Heidi Swapp, and the cute blue flowers were in the dollar bin, and cried out my name as I passed by. Be warned, this is just the first of a zillion photos of stuff that jumped into my basket......

Then on Friday, I headed to Orlando, more about the 'heading to' part later, to have lunch with a crowd of online crafting friends - we all go way way back, to the days when the Cricut forum was the hottest place in town to hang out, and we all keep in touch to this day on Facebook. I was especially delighted to finally meet Shirley aka Okieladybug, we have emailed, chatted on Facebook and telephone for years and never actually met in person, but when we did, it was just like saying hello to an old friend...... 

and here is the gang. We had a great afternoon, and please note at this stage that in the photos, I look cool, calm and collected.........I am on the left of the photo in the brown top for those of you who wouldn't know me from a bale of hay.......

So I set off bright and early on Friday morning, ready to make a two hour journey to Orlando, and armed with a friends Sat Nav (GPS). For some reason it took me along an isolated country road, where I came across a truck that had shed it's load of boxes all over the road, the driver and a cop trying to sort out the mess.

'You can't come through here' said the cop 'you have to take a right, then a left, then carry on through the woods until you get to the garage on the corner.....

'The woods!' I squeaked 'You are sending me through the woods? I can barely work out how to drive on the right side of the road, and you are sending me into the woods.......'

On and on I went, rabbiting on about how there may be a international incident involving Presidents, Prime Ministers and even, possibly a Queen, when it became known that a loyal British citizen had been sent into the woods and was never seen again.....

"I'm asking you to drive through, I'm not sending you on a hike' said the bemused cop

In the end, his buddy turned up in another car, and he kindly led the way through the woods, flashing his lights to send me on my merry way. So I had a police escort for that bit of the journey.....

Then I hit a nasty traffic jam and sat for an hour and moving about ten feet closer to Orlando in that time. Then it cleared a bit and I bowled happily along, still about 50 miles from my goal, but confident that I was on the right road and dreaming of coconut shrimp for lunch. Then another jam, this time it was a super humungous jam, people were practically setting up camps on the side of the road and having a party. Almost weeping by this time, I crawled off at the next exit and had a fabulous lunch of a burger with no pickle and a small fries (I thought I'd put in the tiny details just to check if you are still awake...)

So, after five tedious hours of this, I finally made it to Orlando. "Your destination is on the right' announced the GPS, so I swung into a Marriott hotel complex. No sign of Bahama Breeze where we were meeting for lunch. I spotted a passing hotel worker 'Are you checking in?' he asked
'Possibly' I replied in an exhausted voice 'I may be here for a while.........'

You'll be astonished to read that the journey back was a doddle, no problems at all!

Guess where I am.....

I'm really sorry for the lack of posts over the past few days, I had a bit of a health problem to deal with prior to a mad dash with last minute packing and errands, not a lot of time for crafting - yes, I have crossed the Atlantic for a flying (solo) visit to see all my friends in Florida. So we won't talk about boring health stuff, let's chat about flying, airports, and Dunkin Donuts instead

When you book tickets, an hour and a half to change flights always seems quite reasonable, that is until you are standing in terminal B at Newark, New Jersey, knowing that you have to clear immigration and customs, get across to Terminal C and get to the furthest gate, and the hour and a half has dwindled by a half because of the apparent inability of the airline to find a parking spot for their plane. So clutching the bottle of the finest Scotch Whisky I bought as a gift for my lovely friends and hosts, Ray and Linda, I made it through immigration, customs and rechecked my case for the next flight. Then I had to go through security again, by this time with only a few minutes until my next flight took off. Oops. Blunder alert. Major mistake - in my moment of hot and bothered flusteredness (there is no such word, but I like it), I totally forgot to switch on my commonsense gene and stow away bottle of Scotch into checked case. So of course, as I was fumbling to put on my shoes after they had been examined for the zillionth time that day, it was announced by a child masquerading as a security officer that my precious bottle would be confiscated. Which it was.......

So now I had less than five minutes to dash to the far corner of the terminal for the plane. I flagged down one of those buggy things, and begged the driver to get me there quick...he took me at my word, yelling BEEP BEEP at the top of his voice, and swerving around innocent passengers at breakneck speed. "Have you ever killed anyone with this thing?" I asked, hanging on for dear life. "Not yet. BEEP BEEP< BEEP BEEP"

So when I eventually arrived in Tampa, rather tired and spaced out, I set out in my unfamiliar rental car, and decided to stop at a Dunkin Donuts for a much longed for large iced caramel latte. Honestly, I had been sitting there for less than three minutes when a guy walked up and made a very eloquent (and probably much practiced) speech asking for gas money. He was desperate.....
HE was desperate? I had just survived two airports, two planes, risk of death by a BEEP BEEP airport golf cart, and had precious amber liquid whisked from my hands -  I was desperate too, but in the spirit of one survivor to another, and with the surrender that total exhaustion brings, I gave him money for a couple of gallons of gas. Yes, I know, SUCKER.....

See you tomorrow x 

Little pots - and a winner

Remember my lovely little pots? Made with moulds available from Katy Sue Designs (available in the USA and Canada as well as Europe). I dug out some papers by Authentique and made a couple of cards.......

I used a clear stamp for the sentiment, so I was able to curve it on the block to follow the line of the circle......

the little flowers and leaves were done with Martha Stewart hydrangea and fern punches out of the papers in the pack.....

Once I have dug out a paper pack, I can't leave it alone so made another quick card, this time using the memory box window die.... 

all this stuff in the bottom corner was printed onto the cardstock, but it looked dimensional so I quite liked it - apart from the printed label which was one of those encouraging little sayings that I hate so much, I think it said 'live each day to the fullest' - well, that had to go, there is no way I am telling someone how to spend their days, especially as most days are spent with me drifting around quite happily achieving sweet nothing, so who am I to talk? So I stamped another saying (so much more reasonable, enjoy your special day, no philosophical tracts exhorting them to spend each day dashing around living life to the fullest......) which covered up the original......

Look what's arrived, the latest collection from Craftwork Cards, this one is RIGHT up my street, I love the colours and can't wait to start using it....

When we were looking after the boys, we took them to Pizza Express where they were given a sticker book and stickers. Milo decided they were more fun on his face than in the book - I am not showing you the photo of me sporting a sticker moustache that makes me look a bit like photos I have seen of Mussolini. Milo looks cute, I look ridiculous!  

The winner of the two sets of Flexmarkers is Crafty Jo


who said:

 CraftyJo said...

Your post at Letraset is fascinating, I do appreciate the way you experiment so that the rest of us don't have to!!! :)

Congrats, email me with your address and I will get them in the post to you 

Floral Thank You......

Here's one of four floral cards I made for this month's edition of Papercraft Inspirations magazine. I'm not sure what you call this fold, but it's easy to do and looks effective...the papers and flowers are by Craftwork Cards

Thank you for all the good wishes, there have been a few issues to deal with this week, I don't think I have ever left my blog so neglected for such a long time before. Lidia's mum is out of hospital now, and again, we appreciate all your kind thoughts

Talking to four year old Milo:

What would you like to drink with your tea Milo?

I'll have a woktail please Ma

A woktail? Do you mean a cocktail? (said with an incredulous laugh from me)

Yes, I like woktails

Apparently his dad mixes different juices for him, and calls it a cocktail - that was comforting to know!

I'll sort out the winner of the ProMarkers tomorrow, sorry for the delay, see you then, it's good to be back x 

A quick post.....

No card from me today, we are doing an emergency child sitting session - our daughter in law's mum has been taken ill and we are keeping the home fires burning for a couple of days. I have my iPad with me, but all my work is on my laptop, so I won't be posting for a couple of days.....see you later in the week x