What next?

I know I said a couple of days ago that I lived very near to countryside walks but the wildlife seem to be migrating to my garden.  First a mouse (after the bird seed we put out) that Sorrel chased around the garden and which Mr B found was building a nest in Sorrel's sandpit (under the cover) and now this....

...a beautiful (depends on your opinion) toad, again in the sandpit but buried a few inches down in the damp sand.
Sorrel couldn't believe her luck when she dug it out this afternoon and now she has gone with Mr B to escort it to the nearest pond safely tucked away in it's ice cream container.  It's gone by car as the pond is a mile away so chauffeur driven to its new home.  Goodness knows how it got in our garden which is surrounded by other gardens on three sides and by our home on the fourth as none of our neighbours have a pond or water feature but I wonder if the little boy next door brought it home sometime.

What on Your Workdesk Wednesday - 147

What a week! What weather! What's on your workspace?  I'll show you mine if you'll.......

......show me yours.

Inspired by the bright, fresh colours appearing in my garden, mainly a pretty golden yellow on my kerria shrub, I decided to make a masterboard ready for Easter cards.  I only ever make three for in-laws as my family have never been 'into' cards at Easter - eggs are a totally different thing altogether though.  Lots of spring colours and some free stamps from Craft Stamper plus a few fillers.  Bunnies at the bottom and the green flower were just a try-out and were cut off later.

Here's a closer look and the cards I made - I love lime green.

Keeping it short and sweet this week as I know how long it takes me to get round as many other desks as I possibly can.
Pop on over to Julia's Stamping Ground for a nosy at more desks.

Happy WOYWW to one and all.

Lucky to live near here

Yesterday afternoon we took Sorrel out for the second of her daily walks.  Although I live in what was a very industrialised part of the north-west of England (used to be able to count 7 factory chimneys from my garden and many coal mines) our little town is surrounded with beautiful countryside.  Just three minutes walk away from my front door we have the old railway line (thank you Dr Beeching for closing it) which leads through light woodland and farm fields to a local woods/park.
Here are some photos I took yesterday.

This is near the beginning of the path (Sorrel marching on in front in the hope of finding a squirrel to chase).  The trees that were on the right have been cleared in preparation for work on a guided bus-way to Manchester a folly in the making but it has opened out the views so some good has come out of it if only temporarily.  The woods in front were planted on an old mine spoil heap - much more beautiful now that 30 years ago.

We have reached the trees now, again with some cleared on the right to widen the path but more in the background and the sound of spotted woodpeckers ringing out, and the laugh of the green woodpecker as well.  Through the trees on the left are Lilford Woods and park, given to the town by a Victorian worthy (Lord Lilford I think).

Here we are in the woods proper with Sorrel caught in a shaft of sunlight - before she caught a whiff of something and dived off stage left chasing something.

Just as lovely today so we will be back out there later this afternoon.

Seasonal?

Yes, but the wrong season as the warmest day of the year so far sees me finishing off my lovely warm woolly scarf, well timing has never been a strong point.

Jo of Jozart showed me 'how' when scarves were still very much needed.  I finished the knitting a while ago but I hate making-up any garment, the knitting is much more fun.  So today I buckled down to it and made the tassels and added the beads.  Don't know why but almost everything I make ends up in shades of blue, green and lilac.

 A couple of weeks back I had a go at altering a bottle using faux crackle.  All the examples I had seen used Stamp and Seal as a base but as I didn't have any and am on a 'do I really need it?' kick I decided to use multi medium instead and it worked just fine adding a little interference blue mica powder while it was still wet.  Once dried I covered with crackle glaze and a bit more mica.  Not finished yet but I like the effect.

It's such a beautiful day today and the forecast is the same for the next few days so the scarf will be put at the back of the cupboard for now ready to come out again when it turns cooler (and snows?) probably at Easter ha ha.

Meanwhile make the most of the rest of the weekend and I hope the sun is shining where you are - and if you are in the UK I hope you remembered to put your clocks forward this morning.

Altered Book - lesson three

I am linking this post to Elizabeth's blog so here are all the photos from lesson 3.
Most have been on various pages of my blog these last two weeks but for ease here they are all together.

I am missing one - the reinforced page two, which I forgot about until today so that's on the agenda for tomorrow, along with the start of lesson 2.

A huge thanks to Elizabeth for the how-to and for pulling so many of us together in this wonderful project.

Inside front cover -

The niche left-hand page not quite complete) -

Closer look at my altered dragonfly - (still find it hard to believe this started out as silver-coloured metal -

So that's where I'm up to - onwards, and upwards.

Whats on Your Workspace Wednesday - 146

Wednesday again and I have a  good week with lots of little (and not so little) parcels dropping through my letterbox (swaps and buys), a few crafty days and a bit of sunshine - can't be bad.

First of all, thanks to Paula of Ephemera's Attic I 'won' and EBay auction for a stamp I really 'needed' which was a thrill as I don't do these often not having nerves of steel needed when your 'winning bid' gets wiped out in the last 3 seconds.  Then yesterday had a crafty few hours with a friend, making cards and faux porcelain roses before getting down to finishing of the niche in my AB.

The niche is covered in some gorgeous strokeable washi paper - a present that I have been saving for the right project - and in it is my altered dragonfly.  Dragonflies on the left-hand side as well, stamped on the same washi and adhered to yet another sheet of washi from my stash seen above.

The blue folder contains all the bits and pieces I have collected for my book and I managed to pick up a couple of leaflets from a local farm shop yesterday that have little bees on to match my 'wings' theme.

The knitted fish at the top is a present from Japan, made by a survivor of last year's Tsunami (see previous post for details) and the little card on the right is the swinging easel card made at a recent stamp club workshop taught by Jo of Jozart.

I am going to put all my lesson three AB photos in a separate post later so that I can add a link to Elizabeth's (Altered Book Lover) blog.

Have a great WOYWW and pop over to Julia's place to see what everyone else is up to.

Mother's Day treats

I cooked Sunday lunch yesterday for MIL, Aunt-in-Law and her daughter-in-law, Kinuko who visits every year from Japan this time each year, leaving her British husband over there as his teaching job has limited leave.

If you saw the bead-doll brooch I showed a couple of posts ago it was for Kinuko and she loved it.  Here she is wearing her brooch with Sorrel keeping her company..

They all came bearing gifts so I was a very lucky girl, with flowers, wine, perfume and some beautiful presents from Japan, including this batch of antique kimono silk fabric, some of which is 100 years old.

Not only a beautiful present but wrapped in some gorgeous washi paper that you can see in the background.

The best present was this little crocheted fish, again wrapped in washi paper.

It was made by a woman who lost her home and all her belongings in the Tsunami last year and is part of a collective fund raising scheme for the people affected by the disaster.  The postcard explains all about the scheme and the reverse is signed by the maker - or so I'm told as it is all in Japanese.  I love it because it is bright and cheerful and is full of hope for a better future.  It is meant as a washing up aide but this is one fish that won't be going near water.