Honey I'm home - with blog candy news

I bet you didn't even notice that I had 'gone' did you?

I am just checking all my emails - 126 in just 5 days!   89 of which were kinda 'junk'!

BUT some nice news to catch up on in my - inbox - one of which was to let me know that Moira - the owner of the Happy Daze shop, had moved her blog to here  and to celebrate is giving away a £30 voucher.   Yes - a whopping £30 to spend in her fabulous online shop.

Click on the link and join in!

It's that time of the month again.............

Oh how I have missed going to our monthly flower arranging get together.

It's such fun and well worth the journey.

Did you get to see Chelsea Flower Show last week?

I only watched it on TV and it was great.

This arrangement is a mix of English country garden foliage - hosta leaves and conifer.

With a touch of the hot colours of Gerbera, exotic Proteas which always look as though they are not of this world, and cooling carnations.

Framed with aspidistra leaves.

Not the best place to photograph it, right in front of a window, but my space is limited as we have some work going on indoors at the moment.

The colours in real life are much more vibrant and contrasting - it makes me smile just looking at it.

Grrr Blogger still misbehaving!

Well blogger is being a real pain.   It lets me type a message in the comments on blogs - then it throws me into the log in page - even though I am logged in - then when I got back I get the same message - seems to be stuck in a loop.

It will be nice when they fix it.

So I am visiting your blogs and will continue to do so - but for now you will not see my comments - all nice ones I can assure you!

Altered wooden cheese book

Well here I am  - back again - it's been a long time.

This is a wooden cheese box which I painted inside and out

with metallic blues,and pearls.

I used my favourite stamp - the mermaid goddess, and also used a stencil to make a seabed like pattern of seaweed

I managed to find some embroidered edging that reminded me of waves.  It is decorated with sew on little seed beads and 'pearls'.  I happend to find it in a little haberdashery shop which finished it off perfectly I thought.

The mermaid has been finished with a watery pearl wash then sealed to give it a lovely watery finish.

It's off in the post tomorrow for a swap.  My husband asked, 'Can't you keep it and send something else?'  Maybe I can make myself one - but two never turn out the same do they.  That is the joy of  crafting.

Happiness is..................................

Feeling well enough to slap on the sun cream, big floppy hat, and go out into the spring sunshine

To have the energy to clean out the chicken run, albeit slowly with lots of resting and looking, and watching Bluebell and Zola rush in and roll about in the fresh Hemcore squeaking with delight

To see Dolly, and Willow, Henrietta, Freckles, Snowy, Poppy, Mary, Gozzie, charge in and follow suit

To sit in wonder that Old Daisy has survived another winter, and is relishing the spring just as much as me.  She really is very old, and we never expect her to last another year - but she does bless her

Happiness is seeing new life bursting forth through a bare ground

Turning a corner and discovering scented wonders

And bouquets of Bergenia

Oh how I have missed all this.

And happiness is visiting treasured friends blogs again, and seeing that 'they too' are enjoying a breath of spring and chickens - just like me.

Jo's given me some inspiration to get crafting again.

Thank's Jo - I loved your post - it really perked me up and I hope to have a go at your 'make' next week.

Lovely to be back - hope to be 'visiting' you all again soon

Flower Arranging Friday

I had such a fun time at the flower arranging workshop I go to once a month.

Perfect pearls with pink

My tutor had said that it would suit me down to the ground, and it did!

 

Most of the lesson was 'crafting'

You cut up a bit of old cardboard 10"x10" or any size you like to fit over your vase - a tall one.

Cut a square in the centre - so it looks like an empty picture frame

Then start wrapping material scraps, plasterers netting strips, ribbon, wool, torn paper, skeleton leaves, and just keep adding layers until it looks padded and pretty.  Lay bits and pieces loosely on top, like skeleton leaves, bits of string - anything that takes your fancy. 

Then wind around it with wire to flatten it and keep it all intact.

I decided to thread some old beads from a broken necklace on the wire to add some interest.

Then you just do a hand-tied bouquet of whatever flowers you like-roses in this case from the supermarket.

And I thought I would add some pearls on pins to the centre of the roses.

Over the coming days the roses will open up and fill out and look gorgeous.

Imagine a frame with spring colours - and the bouquet full of tulips or daffodils!

Or hot firey reds and oranges for summer flowers from the garden.

Or those lovely rustic autumn colours - yummy! 

Think I will be making a few more frames - such a cheap way of having a bouquet in your home.

And it would only cost pennies - and the frame will last forever!

Edited

I took the above photos last night with the hope of taking better ones today. 

My bungalow is so tiny that I only have one table to put a vase of flowers on, but I can't get a decent photo without 'things' in the background - like the fire place or sofa - so I tried outside.

And this happened!  As soon as either of us go outside the bantams come rushing over to see if they can scrounge some food or scraps!   These are just some of my rare breed banties.

I threw them some chopped up apple and pear cores and managed to just get them out of sight for a quick photo.

Fabric Journal - ongoing project

Firstly may I thank you all for leaving comments yesterday.   I wasn't able to get onto the computer until last night, and by the time  I had answered emails, etc, it left me little time to visit all your blogs.  I did spend over an hour before my eyes 'gave out', and later today I will return the compliment and visit all those blogs which I didn't manage to last night.

Now where did Kate go to next? And what did she send back to Lucinda in England for her scrapbook?

Well she did get to have a good time didn't she!  She mixed with the high society and fashionable set of the era - and they certainly knew how to enjoy themselves!

The Moulin Rouge was a new theatre and totally different to anything seen before. 

It was so exciting, and glamorous and full of high society and artisans, and was always packed with the rich and famous - quite an eye opener for an 'innocent' from a country estate in England.

She became in awe of Toulouse-Lautrec, who used to spend hours and hours in the theatre sketching everything that was going on there.  He was only 1.5m tall, after breaking one, then the other leg later in his childhood which stunted their growth.  

His art was very 'new' and 'modern' and totally different to the 'traditional' painters.

Maybe he saw things differently when he sketched, then painted the posters at home in a drunken 'haze' apparently.

I love the simple lines and caricature way of painting his subjects and the colours he used too captured the vibrancy of the theatres don't you think?

Kate loved visiting there - and Lucinda was transfixed when she read of Kate's 'adventures'.

Her scrapbook, although very old, has weathered the years quite well, despite the pages being 'well thumbed' over  years of re-reading it, and stained with age.

So, two more pages in my vintage fabric journal story......

Thirteen more to go - who knows where she will be visiting next?

I don't - but I'll find out in a week or so no doubt.

Thanks for looking