Catching up

I have so many draft posts waiting to be published that I decided to have a look through them all and refile them ready to publish.  It appears to be in July 2018 that my Blog began 'slipping'...... life began to take over .......soooooo

Here's the first 'delayed' post.

Back in July, after much discussion among the members, our honoured Leader, Jan, of UKATC Group agreed to host some ATCoin swaps - we so appreciate this as there were quite a few members who were interested in trying them..........

This now means that once a month now we have five swaps.
Yeah! That's right .... five.

Members are allocated a partner for each month's ATC swap and this is compulsory - we agreed to this when we joined the Group.  Jan hosts two ATC swaps and two ATCoin swaps which we can choose to join or ignore.

I love creating so I usually join in all five swaps .......

I posted about both the ATC swaps - The Colour swap is here and the Theme swap is here.

Our Partner swaps are always a surprise as the design is left up to each artist.

This month I swapped with ChrisF who sent me some delicate diecut cards.

Thank you ChrisF.

I sent some stamped teddies which I received in a 'stamped images' swap earlier in the year.

The Coins were new and exciting ......  we had decided that there would be two categories - The Sea and Pot Luck.

 I used the free stamps that came with my magazine along with some oxide inked backgrounds.

I received this little beauty from Lin - Thank you Lin.

This pretty coin came from Thelma - Thank you Thelma.

Ruth blew me away completely and I am still in awe of such an artwork ...... look at it in close up  - Thank you Ruth.

Pot Luck gave us free choice so once again I used oxides and some more magazine free stamps.

I used the same background stamp but moved it along on each coin.

The smaller Tree and birds were stamped on the same principal and TH stickers used for the sentiment.

This purple beauty came from JudithAnn - Thank you.

I received this very pretty one from JanW - Thank you.

This coin arrived in its own very special envelope - Thank you Beth.

Now I am giving up with this post as Blogger is playing up and wont let me place my pictures where I want them.......  throws toys out of pram.......

WOYWW #493

This is What'sOnYourWorkdeskWednesday - checkout the tab at the top of the page for further info - and our thanks go to Julia for hosting again.

I haven't done much crafting this week, bits here and there.  I spent Friday visiting Weston Super Mare Carnival (see previous post) and the next few days in bed recovering!!

In the weak morning sunshine my desk looks like this .....

My latest issue of Creative Stamping - comes with dies as well as stamps this month!!! - and some ideas for a new ATCs For All Theme.........

I managed to get to the Doctor's on Monday..... (he was full of cold) .... and, needless to say, I am coughing and sneezing! 
It's good to visit the Dr and receive worse germs than when you went.....FOMCL   (Falling Off My Chair Laughing!)
I shall spend the day clearing my washing loads and filing my post - lots of scrumptious received cards to relook at and enjoy.

PJ has been working on his train, had to abandon it on Monday due to Vintage Trains work.

He works from the windowsill as there is lots more light there for all the intricate pieces of wood.  He is now thinking of Christmas and will be watching UGears on Hochanda next week to see how much the accessories, track and station, will cost.


Last weeks ATCs were completed and posted off along with the rest of the November swaps.

Here are the completed Realms of King Arthur cards - anyone guess it?

Bridgewater Carnival at Weston Super Mare......

Not bad for a title eh!???

When our friends moved to WSM many years ago, they found out about this Carnival and we have been visiting on and off for many years since.


This time we used a new Coach Company and had to travel some way to their nearest pick up point but, heigh ho!, we were going to have a good day.  We arrived in plenty of time so managed to wander round a few shops.  Once on board the driver continued travelling round collecting folks till all the seats were filled and then we moved onto the motorway.
We stopped at the Services for a comfort break and so the drivers could change over.  Our new driver, Steve, was very good and drove us all the way to the seaside.  
We couldn't get too near the carnival route as a hefty charge of £150 for each coach was being made, and our company preferred to keep prices low without losing any of the comfort ..... we all agreed that this was a good idea.

We climbed out and walked along the front to the town centre.  
By the time we had popped into the Rock Shop and bought our rock, the rain had begun to drizzle down.  
Not deterred, we went for a coffee and hot chocolate (have you seen the Christmas Chocolate Drink at Costa!) and then started off to move up towards the Carnival route.  

It was raining quite heavily, we managed to find some suitable wool for my blankets on the way, and ended up at the The Dragon Inn for Dinner.

It was packed out, I think everyone had the same idea as us!  We managed to find a table and ordered the usual seaside Fish & Chips, delish!

While we ate our dinner and drank our drinks, the folks across the table came and went.  The first couple came from Hereford and it was their initial visit, they weren't going to let the rain spoil their trip!

The second couple had come down from South Wales and had been before.  The atmosphere in the pub was now building and you could almost feel the carnival there ........ then we decided it was time to venture out .....

The rain was coming down in sheets.

There was still a party atmosphere but a bit muter than normal.  The pavement was like a lake so we decided we would watch everything from the comfort of the coach.
By the time we had reached the coach I was exhausted and soaking wet.  
Carrying a rucksack of rain sodden goods on my back did not help!!  lol

We were the first back for which we were grateful, Steve turned off the lights so I took off my skirt and hung it over the back of a seat to dry off a bit.  

Don't worry, I had a petticoat on underneath so it looked like I had changed my skirt!  

PJ decided he wasn't that wet .....

So we watched the floats pass along the route, the rain pouring down all the time.  
Here's a link - hope it works - 
https://twitter.com/i/status/1061035245053579264

Slowly the coach filled back up as others decided to watch from the coach ......

We started for home just after 23.00hrs, stopping at the Services where I tried to dry off a bit more of my skirt, and arrived home approx 02.00hrs  - who cares what time it was..... another good night had by all!!!

Thinking things through on an Anniversary Day

Ten years ago today I started a Blog.  I called it 'My Recollections'.  I set up the Blog in order to recall my childhood and other stories, add photos of family members etc.
My thinking behind this was so that if ever my Grandchildren wanted to find out about their past, then they could find my version here.  I wrote my stories, I added my photos.

On the first of November four years later I started another Blog.  Somewhere to record the cards that I had started to make ......'Cardius Bloggus'

Then in March 2013 I added a Blog for my ATCs, this one.

At the beginning of this year I closed my other Blogs deciding that I would amalgamate all three Blogs.

Now, on the tenth anniversary of 'My Recollections', I am trying to think through how to change the layout of this Blog so that I can combine the aims of my previous Blogs.  I am telling you all this because over the next few posts there will be a change in the layout and content of my posts ..... I have no idea at this moment in time how the finished layout will look ......

I am not an active person at the moment, but, I do have trips out and, some days, I do have lots of photos to show for the day ...... these are not always recorded on here ...... 

I am hoping I can now record a day's events, however small, and then add in some cards or ATCs.  For a few posts the time sequences of each part of the post will be different.......

Soooooo....

Shall I divide each post into three sections ....... this could mean a long title, even longer than today's title!!!  lol


Maybe I'll post the happenings of the present, some photos of swaps .......title length could be a problem again .......


BUT  the main reason for this post is to let you all know to expect some changes round here.....sort of Spring Cleaning in November! ....

Happy Anniversary!

August Theme

The Theme this month is Scenery.

I have these two digital images in my files, I just love them.  I don't know who created them as they have been in my files for years and, back in the day, I didn't save any names etc..



I used my Inktense pencils to colour these images and then a waterbrush to give it a final wash.  

Once they had dried I added some stickles  to the tops of the mountains.

I received the the following cards by return:

Hand drawn and painted.
Thank you Lisa.

Decorated  view.

Thank you Madye

Constable's Haywain.

Thank you JanW

Coins - Alice in the Round

I tried my hand at hosting a swap - combining two of my favourites, Alice in Wonderland and Coins.
As this was my first swap I was limited to twelve entries.  The swap filled up very quickly and I soon had to set up a waiting list.
Everyone was so encouraging from the Moderators to the members.  Very soon the coins started to arrive through my letterbox ....... here they all are, in no particular order .......




Thank you Ali.

Thank you Amychelle

Thank you Ann from Germany.

Thank you ArtJunkie

Thank you Bluesky.

Thank you CiCiCreates

Thank you Karenr.

Thank you Miss.

Thank you nanvan.

Thank you Prex79

Thank you redplantlady.

Thank you smallgirl.

and then there's mine .....



Don't you think that's a lovely collection!  I sorted them all out and then posted them off.....

Thank you ladies for making my first Swap such a great swap.

Autumn Day in the Park

I haven't been to Cannon Hill Park for years.  It was a regular haunt when I was a little girl and then also when my children were little.  


PJ and I decided that we would take GSNo1 and show him our way of visiting the park, so off we went catching the first Bus at the end of his road.  
We went upstairs on the second bus and managed to get seats right at the front.

When we arrived at the entrance to the park, we were confronted by lots of different paths so we went for the middle one!!
GSNo1 wanted to feed the ducks but on the way to the pond we came across lots of squirrels .... ooh! look! Grandma just happens to have a big bag of monkey nuts in her backpack!!!
We spent a lovely time throwing the nuts across and some of the squirrels were so tame........

.... then off to find a bench so that we could sit and have our picnic lunch.

We chose a bench outside the Mac Centre and it was certainly very busy.   
We sat down and Grandad had even brought some hot drinks with him so we had a very happy meal.

Just a bit further down the path, we found a fabulous Play park, really big and not too crowded.  

Of course we couldn't walk past so in we went .......

Much running, chasing of new found friends, sliding down and climbing up ensued.

All too soon we said goodbye as the Grandees knew there were more squirrels waiting to be fed ..... as well as ducks...

.... geese ...........moorhens....

..... seagulls.....

the bridge today

the bridge 1908

Off to the bridge we walked....

Here's a couple of photos that are food for thought.....

... once on the other side there was more feeding the birds...

...the ducks.....


.....the geese .... you get the picture......

Once on the other side of the lake we made our way back to the entrance ......



..... looking over to the lake it was amazing how far we had walked ....... 

Such a lovely, beautiful day and we have hardly seen all that is to be seen ....
We cannot wait to go back and explore the rest of the park - we will have to turn a sharp right at the entrance next time!

Note to self: - bring pennies to spend, more food and drink, more peanuts, birdfood and bread for the seagulls!!!