Cards for Easter and More . . .

Hello Friends!

I'm afraid I haven't felt much up to blogging lately, but I thought I'd share with you some cards I made recently.

I've used a mix of Mirricard, matte metalic card, and American Crafts card. I made them using the Entwined Cross collection of dies by Leonie Pujol. I have had them for quite a while. They were still in their sleeve, unopened, when I went to use them this week. They were a bit fiddly and faffy to stick down, but I got there in the end.

They started out as Easter cards. However, looking at them, they would make suitable cards for baptism, first communion, sympathy, even wedding cards. As a result, I've decided not to put a sentiment on them and to leave them blank inside. It's always useful to have multi purpose blank cards on hand.

 

This one had a slight mishap while glueing in place . . . 

so I resorted to the old trick, if you make a mistake stick a butterfly on it . . . 

The top card here didn't cut out quite good enough so I trimmed it to even it up and to make it useable.  After all, Mirricard is not cheap!

The crossbar should have the same flourish as the top and bottom

but if I hadn't pointed it out, would you have noticed?

As always, I am well behind in posting, so must get a wriggle on today!

Until next time

Stay safe, stay well

Debbie xx

Festival of Christmas Trees ~ The Wreaths

Hello Friends!

As promised in my previous blog about the Christmas trees, which you can read here, these are the decorated wreaths in the new associated competition.  I think you will agree they are just as creative and inventive as the many trees we've seen over the years, and I think this gives us hope that there will be so much more to come in this new category.  If you look close enough I think you will see a couple of wreaths that may be made by the same creators as some of the trees as they are very similar in concept.  We've got hand crafted, recycled, natural materials, and some with glitz and glamour, even a sprout wreath ~ love them or hate them, they are very much a part of Christmas dinner!  I think the lady who came up with bringing this as an extra dimension was very clever indeed!

THE WINNER!  Papier Mache hand painted wreath by Amy at the National Trust Shop

Which one is your favourite?

Until next time
Deborah xoxo

Springtime ~ in which flowers emerge

Hello Friends!

I love Spring! There's just so much to love as the Earth awakens from it's long, slow regeneration over the cold, dark Winter months; the light returns bringing a few precious minutes more with each new day; leaves and flowers sprout, grow and flourish; and we look forward to warmer days ahead that put an end to the cabin fever days of Winter. If we are lucky, we get a taste of Summer days ahead, which is especially good over Easter when almost everyone has time off work.

Here's what's happening in my cottage garden as the weeks of the year turn slowly into late Spring.

I haven't decorated my front porch for a number of years. Alzheimer's is a strange disease, and while Mum ordinarily loved to see what I had made, as her illness progressed the disturbance to her environment caused by the simplest of things would bring on a change in temperament.  So, it was best not to decorate and disturb the familiar surroundings.  This year, it took everything I had to do anything at all, but I know she would love it, and hope she was smiling as she looked down upon my Easter buntings.

I've pottered about with some pots, and underplanted the slate trough with violas. I am slowly doing away with pots, everything will eventually find a new home in the evolving borders, but you would not think so to see the patio this year!

I love my white Pasque flower. It came into it's own, full of pure white blooms just in time for Easter.

It's now in that stage where the earliest of the blooms are turning brown and the temptation is to dead head and tidy it up, but I know that if I do I won't see the reason I grow this lovely plant, and that is to see, and photograph, the simply fabulous seed heads which provide a great point of interest for many weeks to come.

One of the things you will notice about me as I putter around the borders is that I am not fast, oh, no, I am a slow gardener for I like to give the awakening wildlife a chance to wake from their lazy, sunny afternoon dozing amongst the weeds, giving them an opportunity to escape to another spot, but not before I have snapped them!  Here is a beautiful Angle Shades moth.

Not moving in haste also gives me time to find mosses, worts, and lichens that scatter in the soil or on plant pots.  I think this is a liverwort but it looks more like something from outer space!

Last Summer, my village hosted a charity fundraising open gardens weekend. It was a relaxing two days, popping into every open garden for a peek, a chat, and often a cup of tea and some cake. A few gardeners had potted up small cuttings to sell to generate more money for the cause. I bought this, a Libertina, and completely forgot all about it until I found the pot yesterday afternoon. It's a striking plant, I love the bright, vertical stripes of colour, and I think my camera and I will have a lot of fun with this one as the Summer progresses!

Finally, for today, the Aquilegia have started to open, and I am pleased with this photo I took of the earliest bloom to break bud, looking forward to many more in the coming weeks!

Thank you for stopping by today ~~~
Until next time ~~~
Deborah