Blog Candy Winners & Name Tags

I've just found this post in my drafts, which I never published, of name tags and badges I made some time ago. They are on stampboard and some have a space to etch a name so they can be worn at crops or workshops.  Some have brooch pins at the back and some hang on cords. They would also make good bag bling.

They are coloured with a mix of Dylusions and Distress Inks and Stamped using Stazon ink.

I thought I'd post this as it might give some ideas to make your own.

BLOG CANDY

As usual, I toot the trumpet, blow the voovoozelas and give a roll of drums ......

Tah dah!!! 

to announce the winners of my blog candy. It's LONG, LONG over due as I've not had a minute to sort it all.

So huge apologies and one good thing is that there are now quite a few extras to the items shown in the photo.

Thanks to everyone who entered and sent so many great quotes and I'll publish all the quotes in a post as soon as I can.

and the lucky bloggers are......................

The winner.....

is fairythoughts, Janet (who will receive the art travel book) and some arty surprises.

Some arty surprises also go to Gerrina as runner up 
  
If you will all let me have your postal details I will send your gifts out as soon as I can get to a post office.
My 300th follower Monique will also receive a small gift. (I already have Monique's details).

This Week's Drop Out!

I am so sorry that I'm not joining in WOYWW for yet another week as I've just had so much to do and I've had to stop somewhere. I could manage a post but I don't have time to leave comments and get around blogs so it's really not fair or good manners to join in the fun. 

I hope normal service resumes as soon as possible.

I was lucky to visit Donna on Saturday and thus collected UK Mary Anne's fabulous quilts for the LillyBo project and I have also posted Sue H's super cards that she made. Pop over there to have an ooooh and aaah! at them at  LillyBo Quilts. 

We did a bit of crafting, Donna made us a delicious lunch, and we skyped Dolores, (Cardarian) whilst we were together and showed her the pages I did in her journal, which is a gift to her from Donna who will also add a couple of pages in it before Dolores receives it.
As she has seen the pages I can show them here even though she has not yet touched the journal!

I really got too carried away with the drippy purple creatures on these pages. They are not at all my style, and I veered away from my intended ideas, but it was good fun to do whilst Donna and I nattered and generally caught up, as we haven't seen each other for a while.

I haven't had my fingers so ink stained for some time.

I should have time within the next day or two to announce the results of my blog candy draw. I hope you'll forgive me for the delay but I'm sure the winners won't mind when they see their names and receive their prizes!

Roses for a Friday Smile

We recently planted this beautiful rose to mark my DH's 70th birthday in June. It is appropriately called "Special Anniversary", but before we knew it's name, we originally chose it for it's beautiful colour and old fashioned fragrance. It has settled into to it's new home so well and six weeks later it is in full bloom and brings additional joy to our garden. 
The radio tells me that today is National Feel Good Day but we have a feel good day every Friday.

I show this lovely picture of it as part of my Friday Smile for Annie, so pop over to her blog for more smiles to happily start off your weekend.

but wait........there's another tale....

......  I want to tell you about another special rose we have in our garden........

This rose has been here since 1991, and was planted when my mother died. We chose a "Peace" rose as Mum died just as John McCarthy was released from captivity. (He was a British journalist who had spent 5 years imprisoned by the Jihad terrorists in Lebanon and it was something happy in the news at such a sad time for us.)

However the rose never ever flowered and eventually turned into a gnarled stump and but I couldn't bring myself to dig it out. 

This year DH said it must go, but I persuaded him to leave it until Autumn when I planned to move it to the back garden to see if it fared better.

Before long it was as if it knew what was afoot, and it grew a strong fat bud and fresh life came into it.

The greenfly had a go at it so I picked them off one by one and gave it a rinse of washing up liquid.

I watched that bud grow day by day.

Our gardener came to mow the lawns, as DH can't manage the heavy stuff, and he happened to mention the rose so I told him the story and he listened with interest and saying how special it was to hear about it.

He then proceeded to mow the lawns and ......

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MOWED OFF THE BUD ON MY PEACE ROSE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sad I know, but you've just got to laugh! I know my Mum would!

Here's the evidence!

Have a great weekend and stay cool.

Annie's Friday Smile

BLOG CANDY ALERT!
Don't forget, there is still time to add your name for my blog candy draw.
 It's in the previous post but closes on Sunday.

Friday Smile

I didn't think I'd manage it today but I'm having a stop for a cuppa and to post my Friday Smile for Annie's Weekly Cheer for the weekend.

A friend of mine upholstered vintage furniture but, when she lost the unit where she worked, she offloaded a shed full for me to mind. Years have gone by and I haven't seen her, I don't know where she now lives and her phone number is inactive, so I decided it's all got to go! The shed is past saving and we need a new one.

I faced the old garden shed, it's cobwebs and rotten timbers and started throwing out all her decrepid pieces of furniture, now just piles of old wood. DH relayed a couple of carloads to the local tip and there's a lot more trips ahead.

Unexpectedly, there amongst it all, a face was staring at me.....

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A big fat healthy toad, who must have been locked in there for years.

He must have survived on spiders and the rain drips through the leaky roof.

He wasn't the least bit phased by my clear out and sat watching for ages.

As I am only half way through the job I decided to leave him in his free lodgings a while longer and then I will do my best to catch him and find him a brand new superior abode.

He is quite orangey on colour and I intend to investigate his variety... anyone know? Has anyone seen a friendly toad like this before?

Tatton Hall

A few days ago we took a trip out to visit Tatton Hall and Park in Knutsford Cheshire. It didn't open until 1pm so first we had a stroll around Knutsford, it's charity shops where I found a cute little Denby Tea Pot for £3 (I always use a teapot for making tea) and had a super lunch in a Thai restaurant.

I love the quirky buildings there and La Belle Epoque, (a gem of Art Nouveau), now a hotel and restaurant, is one of my favourites. The front was filled with pots of geraniums in every nook and cranny available. I has inscriptions of the history of all the Kings and Queens of England on it's pillars and walls.

The Belle Epoque Building

A snippet of it's history from the web.....

"Created and built in 1907 by glove merchant Richard Harding Watt, the Belle Epoque features two pillars taken from the original St. Peter’s Church in Manchester, opulent marble pillars, art nouveau fire places – Elizabeth Gaskell Memorial Tower and Mediterranean roof garden are to name a few are the plethora of original features of the building. This building is the living embodiment of the Belle Epoque Era.

It is now a very popular wedding venue.

Kate has just pointed out the smiling face on this door below...I've been there so often and I've never noticed before! Thank you Kate!

On to Tatton Hall where we visited their Orchid house for the first time....superb!

In the hall there was a special Beatrix Potter event and, whilst they had a large section especially for children, all the rooms of the hall had beautiful tableaus of the various characters and I especially loved this one.

There was an exhibition of many of original paintings for her books, which were well guarded and no photos were allowed. I was allowed, however, to take pics of the original manuscripts but as they were in high glass cases it was a bit of good luck and guesswork to do so.

 I did manage these little gems as a souvenir.

 A little extra treat that I love for this weekend is that M&S have their £10, 3 course meal and a bottle of wine on this weekend, so no cooking on Saturday. A great bonus for me whilst it's so hot here. 
Yippee! I'm smiling and I hope you are too,

Have a great weekend and pop over to Annie's blog for even more smiles and don't miss the new quilts on the LillyBo blog

WOYWW 214 & Blog Candy

WOYWW? Shock, Horror, Eeek! There's quite a lot, I must confess.

(The blog candy is at the end of this post)

My desk mess has built up over the last couple of months, in between all my travels as I dumped things on there in between each trip. 

I can almost hear the sharp intake of breath around the world as you see this quite exceptional melange of crafty stuff. 

Well now you can heave a collective sigh of relief as you appreciate the start of my clean up. That's my handy carousel/lazy Susan with pots of essentials still to be sorted but there is an area of clear space and that's essentially enough for me to craft on at last.

Did you spot these two who look like they are up to no good!! 

They'd better watch out as they are going to be altered by me one day soon.

If you're brave enough to face more desks at Julia's stamping ground, rest assured that almost all of them will be far less of a shock than mine so you can boldly go where so many others do each week.

I attended a super workshop at Vicky Stampers on Saturday when Neet of Hickdorums blog was our tutor. Neet led us through many exciting techniques for producing special effects using various forms of metal and as my desk was clear I had another little mess about with some of it.

I also filled the first page in my new art book too but it has a way to go yet.

This is my favourite example from the several pieces I made on Saturday.

Blog Candy

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned some blog candy here (in celebration of my June birthday and reaching 123,456 hits on my blog) It's still running and will close on Sunday night 15th July.

Still time to add your name, so here's another tempting glimpse of what's on offer but there will be a few more treats included and something hand made by me.

For now, there's a plate of beautifully detailed Christmas Stamps, a Crafty Individual vintage lady tag stamp, 3 rolls of washi tape, a border mask of gears, and a sheet of raised pearly dots.

The main item, to be won in the draw, is a good quality 7x10 inch Daler Rowney spiral bound multi media art journal, with magnetic clasp and a paintbrush inside.

Everyone is welcome to enter, just leave a comment to say you'd love the goodies.

  There will be an extra entry for followers.

I love quotes, so if you leave me one of your favourite quotes you can have an extra entry, (and I can use your quote!) and everyone else can enjoy reading them. They're great for journalling too.

Here's one from me......

"In a world where you can be whatever you want,

be yourself!"

Please, only follow me if you are interested in popping in, now and then, because you are genuinely interested in my blog and not just because of the candy.

  

My intention is to give this chance of a treat as a thanks to all the people who spare time to visit my blog as I do appreciate every visit and every comment.

WOYWW 213 & Blog Candy

WOYWW

It's blog candy on my work desk this Wednesday but lots of different things on the desks of the world. 

Each week I join in one of the biggest blog hops in blogdom courtesy of Julia's grandiose idea that she started over four years ago. It's still going strong with almost 200 desks bared and as many souls bared too. If you want to attempt to spy on them all just call in on the Stamping Ground.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned some blog candy here (in celebration of my June birthday and reaching 123,456 hits on my blog) but I've been so busy I apologise that I haven't managed to show the prize goodies before today. 

I had thought to make it a mystery prize but I managed to get another Artists Travel Book, that so many of you coveted, when I showed mine, last week.

Here's a tempting glimpse of my candy but there will be a few more treats included and something hand made by me.

For now, there's a plate of beautifully detailed Christmas Stamps, a Crafty Individual vintage lady tag stamp, 3 rolls of washi tape, a border mask of gears, and a sheet of raised pearly dots.

The main item, to be won in the draw, is a good quality 7x10 inch Daler Rowney spiral bound multi media art journal, with magnetic clasp and a paintbrush inside.

Everyone is welcome to enter, just leave a comment to say you'd love the goodies.

  There will be an extra entry for followers.

I love quotes, so if you leave me one of your favourite quotes you can have an extra entry, (and I can use your quote!) and everyone else can enjoy reading them. They're great for journalling too.

Here's one from me......

"In a world where you can be whatever you want,

be yourself!"

Please, only follow me if you are interested in popping in, now and then, because you are genuinely interested in my blog and not just because of the candy.

  

My intention is to give this chance of a treat as a thanks to all the people who spare time to visit my blog as I do appreciate every visit and every comment.

Another one of my collected quotes..

"What if the Okey Kokey is what it says

and that's really what it's all about"

I received some more super ATCs this week and thanks go to Sandy Leigh in America who sent a lovely little card and stitched her tiny treasure for me...

Thanks also go to Ros C who sent a triple treat all the way from Australia, a beautiful card and TWO ATCs. I love them all but I would love to get my sticky fingers on that globe die on the right. I'm wondering who makes it.

This week I surprised some blogging buddies with a flag tag album in which to store their WOYWW ATC swaps. They have already been received by them so I can now share them here.

All very quickly made from recycled cereal packets and scrapbook papers.

Lots of co-ordinating pages inside for all those treasured ATCs.

I know, as you are all so eagle eyed, there will be comments about my  gorgeous turquoise nail polish...... I've bought several bottles of this brand in different colours because it stays on so long without chipping. So before you ask, it's Miss Sport (Quick Dry) by Coty and it's only £1.99 a bottle and at the moment from Boots the second bottle is half price ... so 2 for £3. That's this weeks bargain for you!

Pop over to LillyBo quilts blog to see the latest consignment of super quilts from WOYWWer, Kate P's  craft group in Spain. I'm thrilled, you will be thrilled and, most of all, so will all the children who receive them!