Pumpkins & Lanterns

Tonight we will be going to see the annual Lantern Parade in Sefton Park, which apparently gets more spectacular each year, but this is the first time I've ventured out to see it!

I mentioned that my DD1 made pumpkin lanterns to decorate her 40th birthday party and she has allowed me to share some of the photos. She got together with a couple of her friends, all artists, to have a girly pumpkin making party, the day before her birthday party, and I think you'll agree that the results are simply amazing!

They make a change from the usual Jack O' Lanterns for sure!

These will all be on the street outside her house tonight!

Stay safe and have fun if you are doing anything for Halloween.

40th card and Autumn glory

This is the card I made for my DD1s 40th birthday. I can show it now as she won't have any time to look on here as she is having a party tonight in Brighton. She has made dozens of pumpkin lanterns to decorate the room and also lots of her famous cupcakes too to go with the refreshments. I hope it is a great night for everyone and that she has a really Happy Birthday. She deserves it!

I've added a removable flashing star to the front of the card

These are the 3 tags from inside the pockets

I have been quite subtle and just added 40 in glitter on one of the tags!

Images are from Lost Coast Designs and background from Paperartsy.

It always amazes me how I love the colours of Autumn when I don't really like yellows and oranges in art or clothes. It is so different in Nature and so beautiful. As we plan to move South early next year I have been taking photographs so I can remember the changes in our lovely garden. 

This little Japanese Maple was bought by my two lovely DDs to mark my DHs 50th birthday and it has hardly grown in over 17 years but it is so beautiful. I might well dig it up and, hopefully, transplant it when we move!

It has taken over 20 years to establish this lovely purple flowering Wisteria into bloom and the Autumn leaves are so lime yellow.

The Viburnum Lanarth Placatum is my favourite shrub in the garden and I showed it in early Summer with it's flat tiers of crisp white flowers. It sometimes gets called the Wedding Cake Bush! Just look at it's leaves no and where did this rich red come from?

Who was the artist that missed out that little bit of this leaf?

I won't miss the work of the garden at all but some of the plants hold such special memories so it's good to record them here.

Wish Upon a Star & Peter Pan

This card was made using a small piece of background card made by spritzing alcohol ink on glossy card with a can of compressed air. The image is one of the new UMs I bought from Linda of Lost Coast Designs at the Port Sunlight show.

When we visited the Palm House on Sunday, it was so lovely to see, nearby, the Peter Pan statue back to it's original glory. It is an exact copy of the famous statue in Kensington Gardens and brings joy to so many children (and adults too)

Lots of little animals and characters set in the gnarled tree trunk below Peter Pan.

The last time I saw it, it was in the conservation museum under renovation and it was all in pieces.

WOYWW73 & More Superlambananas

Busy, busy, busy, this week but with not a lot to show. I'm in the  middle of my first attempts to make a special card for DD1s 40th birthday. I'm stumped, each week as WOYWW comes again, to know where the last week disappeared to, but I am really brain frazzled to know where 40 years has gone and my two lovely daughters are grown and now mothers themselves.

I'm just playing round, hoping for inspiration, using for the first time the new stamps I bought at Port Sunny from Lost Coast Designs. I really don't know how this will end up or if I will even use it but I love these quirky images. Oops! better move that knitting from the desk before it's inked up. Just started knitting for the grandees to keep them warm for Winter.

I've just started making a baby nest for my niece's expected baby as there are only a few weeks left before it will be born. No pastels and lace but red gingham for this modern babe!

If you think these are the rambling of someone deranged.... they are but it is also the weekly madness shared by many others who love to share their crafty spaces with all those who are nosey enough to enjoy snooping on them. All this is the brainchild of Julia of Stamping Ground blog so, if you are like minded, super tidy, mad chaos messy, or anything in between, or just want to spy on it all, pop over to visit many more of us on Julia's blog.

and here's another arty spot to share.....

Some more Superlambananas just for Doone. There are still quite a few lurking round the city as they were bought at the charity auction by local businesses.

This one is dressed as a tepanyaki chef and is now outside the Sapporo Tepenyaki Restaurant in the city centre.

& Sergeant Pepper Superlambanana

I popped in on most of you last week but apologise to the few I missed ..... I'll try to change direction and pan this week and visit from middle outwards or last first ... see you soon.... I off calling in on WOYWW friends!

Plant Pot & Palm House Sefton Park

I sent this potty plant pot of flowers to my lovely blogging buddy, Sam, who was 40 this week!! A special Happy Birthday Sam! It's a bit away from my style but I was inspired to experiment with an idea I saw in Craft Stampers and changed quite a bit. I made it a bit quirky and I added a base hinge so it would stand. The front flaps open to hold a message.

I think I'd like it better in other colours as I'm not a fan of yellows but I thought it would be cheery for Sam's special day.

We took a walk today in Sefton Park to enjoy the Autumn colours and sunshine and we were lucky to enjoy a free concert, in the Palm House, given by the Liverpool Male Voice Choir. It was superb and so warm inside out of the crisp Autumn cold! The programme was a balanced mix of modern and traditional songs, songs from the shows and films and choral. The performance by the choir was top notch with excellent interludes of solos by some members with such lovely voices. It was a magic afternoon for all ages in a beautiful venue and all for an optional donation to charity.

One of the excellent soloists from www.liverpoolmvc.org.uk .... fancy joining? They welcome new members!!

Sefton Palm House was derelict for many years, and did not have one complete pane of glass, until some years ago when the public campaigned successfully and raised funds for it's renovation. Now it is one of the jewels in the crown of Liverpool's architecture.

It houses many community events and is a spectacular wedding venue. I know someone who's Christmas wedding there was candlelit by hundreds of glass votives from Ikea.... magic!

There are wonderful statues, of famous pioneers and scientists, around the perimeter of the building.... here are a few......

Captain Cook

Columbus

Darwin

Geisha, Harlequin, Ink & the Singing Ringing Tree

I've had to catch up a bit on swaps so I've just finished the next three pages of the alphabet swap for KCUK. 

H for Harlequin

This is a stamp I wanted for years and found in a bargain bin for £2 at the Harrogate show.

It's made by JudiKins. The background is alcohol inks blown with an air can onto glossy card.

I for Ink

Stamps from mixed sources including Lost Coast Designs 

The background is sponged with Distress Inks

G for Geisha

This image is one of my own designs for Stampattack.

The background is sponged with Distress Inks on the front with Washi paper layered behind.

The Singing Ringing Tree

High up on the Burnley moors, in Lancashire, is a wonderful, huge, art experience called The Singing Ringing Tree. It is open to all the elements and has amazing views across the moors and to Pendle Hill. It was designed by Japanese architects Tonkin-Liu and it is a sensory treat, well worth visiting.

The metal pipes "sing"as the wind passes over the ends of the tubes and change as the wind alters direction to create beautiful relaxing, haunting sounds.

It fascinated me to see how such a solid object could flow visually

There's a video on Burnley Council's website if you'd like to hear it too.

WOYWW 72

I've had an amazing, busy, exciting, interesting week and it seems like it was only 2 days since I bared my soul and exposed my work desk for all to scrutinise.  Here we are again for WOYWW 72, inspired by our leader Julia of Stamping Ground, so do hop over to spy on her desk and those of over a hundred kindred crafters who just love to nosey. 

Don't all faint when you see this but please help yourself to some strawberries. They are always there but usually under the mound of mess waiting to be tidied away. Amazing how fresh they stay!
Whilst Caz was here we toured the local charity shop and had some great finds, including the lazy susan/carousel on my desk for £1.99. As a result I tidied all the bits and bobs and organised what I wanted to go on my handy carousel. I love it!
There's a blue card WIP cut out and some Bird house die cuts waiting to be decorated, then a basket of fan stamps from Sunday needing a good clean. 
My cooky bird gift from Liverpool Lou and my Post it Note hanging from LizzyBobs take pride of place.  Thanks ladies, great to meet up with you and thanks again for your help and thoughtfulness.
My spritzer is there to remind me to tell you all to rush out and buy a litre bottle of "fragrant ironing water" from Sainburys (other supermarkets may or may not sell the stuff). Ironing water, I ask you, just who irons??? so who would use it? However I do spritz lots of water about to blend and create special effects with paint techniques, so it is so lovely to have my spritzing smell of jasmine and other gorgeousness and at 80p a litre it will last me forever and I love nice smells.

Above is my experiment cleaning a messy Stazon inked stamp. The Tee Tree oil cleaned the left side so easily and cleared my sinuses too. I left the middle as evidence and cleaned the RHside with my WD40 pen which worked really well but the Tee Tree just had the edge and was slightly better. (It was just a cheapo £1 shop bottle too).

Sorry I didn't get round many desks last week as I've been so busy but watch out I might do better this time......

Here's the one that got away in the charity shops, (they had a "Cruise wear Section with lots of sparkle and THIS!)... No! Caz and I didn't fight over it, we just thought it was hilarious and wondered who on earth would go out in it!!?? Eeeekk! So sorry if there's one in your wardrobe the same... heh, heh!!

Geishas & the Red House

I made so many sample cards in a hurry for Japan Day on Sunday (I only got the new plate of UMs that I designed for Stampattack a couple of days before, hot off the press) so I'll show some day by day.

This hanging shows the two traditional geishas with a parasol.

Here are the Chinese toddlers we sneaked in to Japan Day! The images are separate but they work well together either masked or, as in the RH pic, decoupaged.

A simple card with the geishas on an orange background.

I helped so many visitors, on Sunday, to "Make & Take" these fans with honeycomb paper inside. It fascinated everyone at the way it pulls out.

The Red House

Yesterday we went out to buy a new car, a Nissan Note....(new to us that is!) and ended up buying it from a showroom near Chester. The saleswoman recommended a local restaurant for our lunch and it ended up being an amazing experience. When we arrived it looked quite uninteresting from the road but....it certainly surprised us! I must add that we had a late lunch and I waited until after our meal to take these photos, when it emptied, but it looks like no one is there bar us!

The Red House is set on the banks of the river Dee and the tourist cruise boats pass by at the end of the garden. There's one just going out of sight behind the trees as I rushed to get out my camera.

It's such a lovely setting and view, with the cathedral and town hall of Chester on the skyline.

The restaurant is multi levelled and the glass is the same system as used in the London Gerkin with special properties that keeps an ambient temperature all year round.

Decks and garden terraces lead down to their own mooring on the river and it must be lovely to dine outside in the Summer. I'd also love to be there in a thunderstorm with lightening flashing round!

A cosy corner on the ground floor.

Best of all the food was superb and (whilst pricey in the evening), their lunch time specials were well priced to suit us. Delicious and we'll definitely return.