OOOPS!!!!!

Okay ... no, of course I am not really in a mad panic making hubby's card the day before his birthday.

Of course I've had it in hand for weeks and weeks and am merely making last minute tweaks to it right now.

Yeah, right!  

Thank goodness he is upstairs decorating as I just had one of those "oh my goodness!!!" moments when I realised his is the one very few cards I have left to make for this year.

Better get on with it then!!!!!

He is getting some *S*N*O*W* chains for the Land Rover for his birthday and they haven't arrived yet so am just making a quick silly tag to represent them ... absolutely nothing like the real thing but I've a rotten cold and couldn't come up with a better idea!

Shall stick some *S*N*O*W*flakes on it and a little tag that says "present following".

No time to even get out my large craft mat and just grabbed the little one when he went upstairs and am making do in the smallest workspace possible but needs must and he WILL get his card in the morning.

Back again already

Thought I'd get some other stuff on here ... this is primarily my crafting blog (not that I have any other blog I hasten to add) but it's a great place to record other stuff too.

I have taken to going out.  Had a pretty rotten time since losing my precious mommy seven years ago but the absolutely overwhelming grief began to lift last July and that, coupled with my discovery of a silly little blue pair of lace-up canvas shoes has really seen things turn around for me.  

From going out of the house once every 6 or 7 weeks or so and walking no further than from the door to the car and back again I am now walking several times a week around my beloved Earlswood Lakes and today even ventured into the wood there for the first time!

The absolute hight spot of all this has been .... THIS :

And this is our little feathered friend feeding from hubby's hand (I take a slightly better photo' than he does!!!!)

I have come to love these lakes and woods and didn't think for one moment I would ever get to the stage where I say to my husband "will you take me to the lake please?" ... it has been a long time coming and nothing is stopping me now!

Walking here is restoring my soul and I really do feel the dark days of the last seven years are now behind me.

The guilt of  "moving on" has been enormous and equally hard to deal with but I feel I can now grieve and live at the same time and I shall end this non-crafting post with a quote that really helped turn things around for me.

“It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.” 

 (Rose Kennedy)

Time slips by

So just where does it all go then?  A newly retired hubby seems to have both slowed time and also speeded up its passing in equal measure and it is a huge adjustment period for us but I wouldn't have it any other way and love having him home.  Well, most of the time ... his constant humming is driving me potty but guess I'm not going to stop that now!

Have been busy crafting away but forgetting to take many photos as usual ... simply hopeless!  

I was asked by a friend to make a "special" Valentine card so decided to adapt the Christmas hearts I made and the large - VERY large - Tim Holtz Tattered Floral die replaced the poinsettas very well and I used his choice of colours. He liked the result and now I just hope the recipient does too when it is opened tomorrow.

Then whilst I had very red inky fingers I figured I'd better make hubby one too ... not quite as "Moulin Rouge" as this one though and more to my own style.

One of my favourite things to do is emboss acetate and I kinda liked how this turned out.

Oh I really don't like how all my photo's just appear in a long line like this!  Must get it sorted out but it will mean bothering someone to help me and I do so hate being a bother.

I finally have most of my cards for this year made ... hundreds of them! Which is great news in a way as Crafter's Block came a-calling and I was struggling for weeks and weeks.   I now have loads of ideas for my Christmas cards and tags for next year though so just hope I don't forget them and end up stuck again!

Just got a few special ones to make ... not that they are not all special, of course, but you know how there are always one or two that are for a Big O birthday or an anniversary or wedding or something.

Then when they are all done and safely stashed away I can PLAY and ExPeRiMeNt and just mess about really.

Oh yes, remember I just said how I love embossing acetate? Well, I have been searching and searching for over a year now for a large dove die I saw but which has been "out of stock" at my favourite on-line shop for over a year now and extensive searching for it was so frustrating as nowhere seemed to have it anymore.  Quite by accident whilst browsing for something else on ebay there it was!  I nearly fell off my chair and had to blink twice and pinch myself to be sure I wasn't imagining it ...needless to say I ordered it straightaway and just had to use the packaging the moment it came to see the result.  Can't wait to get time to play around with this further.

So, yet again I leave my dear little blog with the promise to return more often, take more (and better!) photo's of my messing around and keep a better record of what I spend much of my time doing.

Really I will.

Honest!

Yeah, right.

xXx