It's the weekend again

they do seem to come round very quickly - wasn't like that when I was at work !!!! Today I have been finishing chores and getting the house ready for the weekend - a special weekend. My eldest son and family are arriving tomorrow for the weekend. On Sunday we are going out for lunch with both sons and their families am so excited.
As I won't see either of them at Easter I decided to make sure I had some of my Easter decorations in place.

This weeks flower selection was Lillies - though they are very strong smelling and thought I'd have to put them into the dining room.

A few decorations on the mantelpiece ( well it's an oak beam actually) .

Ooooppps this crept in here. It's the decoration I have made for my sis for her MIL's cake. If you are a good maker of sugarpaste flowers you will know that these are not brilliant but I hope my sis will like them. That's not the cake by the way just a polystyrene dummy.  

Ran out of branches to put these decorative eggs on so popped them in this bowl of pot pourri. 

Another 'Easter Tree' that also has some hearts on - the hearts are always on these branhes.

Two candles - they are little sheep.

My grandchildren made all these little creatures last Easter I think.

A metal chicken, a rabbit with a basket ( have to put some little eggs in there and a carrot also needs to be filled with eggs.
Have you got any Easter decorations? See you soon. Anne x

Hi

today I finished the sugarcraft decoration for my sis for her MIL's cake. To be honest I am a little disappointed with it - didn't go quite the way I wanted. Not sure I will put it on here yet - we'll see. Yesterday did a big shop as my eldest son and family are coming to visit at the weekend. Am really looking forward to seeing them as it will be four weeks since we saw them.
This morning went to knitting group. Only four of us today but it was good to knit and chat. One of the ladies was telling us how much the group has helped her. She is a widow and also lacks confidence in her abilities. She has just started a cotton top for her daughter and she is such a neat knitter. She says she feels a lot more settled and is sleeping better for first time in a long time. I am so glad that it has helped someone - that was the idea behind starting the group.
Although DS and family coming at weekend I am still going to cardmaking this Sat as they can't get here until about 3 in the afternoon, so I should be back before then.
Mum is still feeling battered and bruised. Yesterday she was trying to get out of a chair in my sister's  garden and the chair collapsed. Sister said she is ok but something she could do without.
Take care Anne x

Thankyou

for all the kind comments re mum and my cards. Glad to say Mum is now at my sister's recuperating. My youngest son took DH and me down to Somerset to see Mum yesterday. I think she thought she would be able to carry on with everything where she had left off. She has of course found out that she can't. She is still in pain and finding it difficult to move. She has a cough and gets breathless and her legs and ankles are swollen. Hopefully she will improve a little each day.

We have had some gorgeous weather and with it everything coming alive including a tree we thought had died that my sister and family had bought us for our Ruby wedding Anniversary.

Above the camelia in our back garden.

The star magnolia at the bottom of the drive.

Unfortunately the colour is not true on this. It is a vibrant orange colour but I'm but I'm not sure what it is called.

On Saturday morning I went to cardmaking class. The cards we made were designed by Linda.

Thanks for looking. Anne x

Yesterday afternoon I spent starting to make some sugar flowers for my sister who is going to put them on her M.I.L. 's 90th birthday cake. I couldn't concentrate on anything else whilst waiting for news of my mum (see yesterdays post) .
This morning I had a hospital appointment and when I got back I felt like making cards. They are nothing spectacular but it kept my mind busy.

I bought myself these few tulips on Tuesday as I loved the colour and they have cheered me every time I've looked at them.

The card below is for a swap for which I am late. I am not usually late with swaps ( think this is first time, I hate being late for anything)  but the last two weeks have been unusual. I hope the recipient will understand.

The second one is for my nephew's wife. Last week was the funeral of his Auntie who died unexpectedly ( see earlier post) and then later that week his wife's grandma died. She was very close to her grandma. So am just sending a few words to say we are thinking of them.

I have to send a cheque to someone who is organising flowers for a lady who has just lost her mum. Am just going to put a little note on this to lady doing the organising ( this is another forum friend- there are some lovely 'virtual' friends out there aren't there) Not sure about this card though- not quite right.

Didn't make this today it was a card for a collection that were being sold- this one didn't sell tho the pink version did!

That's all for now I think. Oh yes my sis has seen mum tonight and said she seemed abit brighter. See you soon. Anne x

WOYWW 146 and my mum

will start with my desk as I know that's the whole point of the exercise. If you have time to read on I'll tell you more about my mum

Wednesday again - seems only five minutes ago that I was putting WOYWW 145. What's it all about? Click on button at bottom of my blog and see what your missing.

My desk was tidy - not done any crafting on it since I finished off my Mother's Day card last week. However it does have a lot of 'stuff' on it waiting for me to find a place for it all before starting a new project. More of that in the future though - maybe.

My desk

Now to mum. If you have seen my previous post you will know that I spent the weekend with mum. She lives down South. After lunch on Mother's Day we went a walk along front at Sidmouth- there is a photo of her looking at the sea in previous post.
Tonight she is recovering from an operation to remove her appendix. Just cannot believe it. I came home on Monday evening from visiting her. On Tuesday pm I rang her on spur of moment to say hello ( I know she really misses us when we leave) she sounded awful and said she was going to bed had terrible pains. She had told my sis not to go over she would be fine. Got in touch with my sis and she said she was going anyway and was going to get in touch with her GP. After a bit of discussion with GP he agreed to pay home visit. She had raging temp was not 'with it' and in a lot of pain. GP called ambulance and they took her to hospital. She was breathless and heart was racing so had oxygen, put on heart monitor and given morphine. This morning they put her on theatre list. She didn't go down until earlier this evening. She had her appendix removed and is in recovery and they were monitoring her heart. Surprise that a lady of 82 had appendicitis apparently it's most unusual!!!

Just hope she makes a full recovery.
Anne x

Hope you all had a lovely

Mothering Sunday. I went to Somerset to spend it with Mum. Left here on Thursday afternoon after knitting group in the morning. It was lovely to get away for a few days, last weeek in particular was hard going. Yesterday we went to Taunton Rugby Club for lunch. I don't usually go out on Mothering Sunday as a few years ago we had a bad experience with double booking, waiting ages and then inferior food. But was pleasantly surprised. It was a carvery and everything was beautifully cooked , hot and plenty of choice. Also delicious desserts to choose from. Also very reasonably priced. So thanks to my sis and her partner for booking it. My niece and her boyfriend came along as well.
Afterwards we went to see my niece's new house - it's her first house of her own. It had a sea view!! From there we went and had a walk along the seafront at Sidmouth.

A few photos

My niece, sister's partner and Lady ( the dog)

Same again !!

Mum and DH looking out to sea.

Just a shot along the prom- it was a beautiful day.

My niece and Lady.

A lovely weekend. Hope you all enjoyed yours whatever you did.

Gosh forgot my sons and families sent me lovely cards. I had a gorgeous bracelet from Matt and family and a voucher for a relaxing evening at a hotel nearby with dinner and breakfast the next morning. Anne x

WOYWW 145

It's Wednesday again!!! Why am I stating the obvious well it's the day we all get to have a nose at each others desks - all across the world. To find out more click on the button at bottom of my blog and go and see what it's all about. Julia - our hostess will be pleased to see you.

I have been finishing off a card for my mum for Mother's Day, a gift bag for her, a card for a friend and a card to include with a recipe I promised someone. I also decided to make the card from snippets and join in with Di's challenge. Got to try and link with that later.

 You can see the gift bag side on, ribbon and punches I've ussed on the card.

Above the card more punches bits and pieces I've been using on the card for my mum.

Below the card for mum.

The gift bag - not quite finished yet. Will take another photo and put on in case anyone would like to see the finished object. I really like making these bags- this is the third one.

The birthday card for my firend at sugarcraft.

This one is made from odds and ends left after other projects.The base card was one half of a card I started at Christmas and din't like it. I cut the front off and then folded what was left. Did the edge with a Martha Stewart punch. I have stickled the middle of the punched flowers and ones on the border.

That's all for now. Thanks for looking. Anne x

'She Is Gone'

You can shed tears that she is gone
or you can smile because she has lived.

You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back
or you can open your eyes and see all she has left.

Your heart can be empty because you can't see her
or you can be full of the love you shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember her and only that she's gone
or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.

You can cry and close your mind,
be empty and turn your back

or you can do what she would want:
smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

David Harkins

Today has been a sad/happy day. You may have read on my blog a while ago about my sister's sister in law. She was 58, had not been ill or on any medication but died suddenly. Her husband found her on his return home from work.  As yet no reason for her death has been found.

The funeral was very very emotional. We were asked not to wear black and that today was a celebration of her life. Her husband,son and her daughter (who wore  lovely floral dress and cardigan ) each spoke about her and it was very hard to stay dry eyed. My DH had to have a tissue from me. The church ( which she attended) was packed. She was a lady who had been involved in many activities. A beautiful service followed by a 'party' at her local pub. She will be so missed by many.

Anne x

The poem 'She is Gone ' was a reading at the service.

A card for my great nephew

gosh that makes me sound old, well I probably am to some of you, he will only be 7 though!!!

I used a Stampin Up paper as the background and then found the clown as a free digi on a blog called Imagine.Make.Share .
The balloons were stamped using a Stampin Up stamp. Coloured the clown with promarkers. Use some 'string' I had from Ribbon Girls. There is some glitter around the Happy Birhday sentiment.

The inside is quite simple a piece of the coordinating pattern paper from the same set as the one on the front of the card.

ooops not sure how it came to be that way round.

Tried to put on the other two spring themed cards I received in a swap but at moment I can't upload them.

Hope everyone is ok. Be back soon. Anne x

A 'few' photos

yesterday from the cardmaking workshop
http://www.giftsfromtheheartcraftbarn.co.uk/
 They were designed by Mandy and I made them exactly the same. I can't claim any credit for the designs.

The circles on the one above were punched using card that had been embossed with musical notes and then distressed. There are also tiny notes around the punched circle and we used some stickles to makes small dots.The other is self explanatory.

The strip on the white card was a whole strip, embossed with musical notes and distressed  and then cut into three same size squares and mounted on a black card strip. The cream was musical notes embossing again. Can you see the little heart- so sweet. We used the punch to nip the corners of the labels with the sentiments on.

And the last two we have a cream card with a strip of card that we  stamped with a background stamp, distressed edges and then tore edges. The second card hear has a piece of brown card that has been embossed with tools and then distressed with gold. The sentiment is gold on brown (which doesn't show up very well ) backed onto a green card.

Some daffodils (which I love) bought for me by my son today.

Thought I would show you the cards I received in a forum swap wth theme of 'Spring' there should be 5 but I seem to have lost two along the way. I will try and add them tomorrow.
Hope you enjoyed looking. Anne x

Just a quick hello

from me today. This morning I was at cardmaking class at the craftbarn. Had fun it was good to chat and laugh alongside the rest of the ladies.

Also wanted to say that many of my previous posts are no longer available for viewing. I have had to delete some for personal reasons. Hope everyone will understand. Anne x

WOYWW 144

Wednesday again and my life since last Wednesday has been has hectic as usual. Last Thursday I went to knitting group in the morning and then in the afternoon we went off to Leeds for my eldest son's birthday celebrations. (Will show you cake at end of post)
My desk didn't change from how I'd left it last Wednesday - but is different from the week before!!!! I've had so much on and so little time but have managed some cards along the way. All the Spring swap cards have been received now so will show you them at the end.
So why I am I showing pictures of my desk you ask? If you go to end of my blog and click on the WOYWW button you can find the answer. Go on give it a go!!

As you can see I didn't have time to put anything away last week before going away for the weekend. In the background is a card I started for someones birthday - it is based on one I saw in Stampin Up catalogue.

Below other side of my desk. The bright pink card is the one my GD made yesterday. It's for her mummy for Mother's Day. She chose her colours and punched out flowers and was very adamant about where she wanted to stick them. There are also little leaves on there and a lot stickles. I have a lot less glue left as well. :-)
 Everything else on the desk was left there last week.

Thanks for looking.


Now the cards for the Spring Swap

All the same really it was easier to do them that way.

Finally my son's cake. I could not quite get the model of the runner right- but I'd been working on it for quite a while then and I still had loads of other things to do.

My son takes part in Triathlons so he swims, then cycles and finally does a run- hence theme of cake.

It was yummy though even though I say it myself.
Right I'm off to have a nosey at some other folks desks. Anne x