Friday 14 February 2014

My comfort zone

 

It's not home cooked in my home but it's as delicious and tastes just like it might have been but it's not just any ordinary meal. It is fact a delicious salad lovingly prepared by none other then one of the Baker Bros. I feel privileged to live in such a beautiful area so to discover that one of the best lunch time haunts in the Corswolds is on my doorstep, is a real treat. Today I had a fabulous salad which was dressed beautifully, certainly better than yours truly, with wonderfully soft curd cheese - yum!

 

The rising waters of Bewdley!

Wild and very wet, today we were mad enough to walk in the pouring rain to visit the swollen river Severn at Bewdley.

 

Sunday 9 February 2014

My friends and other animals, swans in fact

I'm really fortunate to have the most amazingly, fab friends. Last weekend for example, five of us sat down for lunch. There was my adorable college friend Fi, who has me to blame for her crafting fetish. Her husband, Rob, Top Totty, who is a wizz at money-saving tips! His cousin, Karen, who I'm getting to know gradually, little by little and who brought me lovely tulips and a bottle of apricot brandy. That scores her brownie points in my book! And her partner daredevil Tom who oozes charisma and always fits in and seems to smile a lot. They're all sporty, which is enlightening for me. They all eat well, which makes me feel my efforts are worthwhile. They all get on with each other well, which means I don't have to try. Which in turn means I can have a lovely time too. Win, win, win!

Fi has the photos of my lovely friends!

My Baker lunch!

There's a tiny piece of sanity in my world and this is it! A cup of coffee, a tasty light snack and something to read. It's not much to ask really but knowing it's not possible unless I'm at home makes it all the more special. Do you know that feeling you get when your head and heart are simultaneously happy? If you do, you'll know what sanity feels like.

My crazy work/life has taken over 14 hours + of my day, which makes treating myself immensely important. When I leave for work on a Monday, it honestly feels like I'm holding my breath. Nothing is quite the same again until I'm working from home again, which could be 3 days later. I'm up before 6am, in work just after 7am and I'm on the hamster wheel then until at least 4pm, when I'll get into my car, drive home and usually enjoy cooking a meal before I start work again. Honestly, it's no life for a girl like me! But hey, it's the life I've chosen for now so I just need to find how to shift it, twist it, just 5% is all I need to make a difference.

Happy days ;)) x

Sunday 2 February 2014

My Honeycomb Hello!

Woo hoo, I love a challenge! Ginger Claire and myself had such a fab weekend last week playing with paper and glue that we've decided to take part in the Papertrey Ink Make it Monday Challenge every single week! It may be pouring down with rain here in the UK, but it's definitely a sunshine day for crafting. Here's my pretty honeycomb hello ;) using a PI die to reveal PI text style paperstock beneath. I've stamped using my PI natural beauties stamp set (on loan from MGC) using hibiscus pink ink and added a sweet PI hello from Trendy tree tops stamp set. All in all, a triumph of engineering, stamping and a fitting start to our PI Make it Monday challenges!

PI stamping is my most favourite stamping in the whole wide world. It's just so easy, everything works a treat and results are guaranteed, which for me is a real bonus!

I enjoy the creative process of making a card and whether it takes me an hour, a day or a whole weekend, that doesn't matter to me. I definitely subscribe to the quality over quantity scenario. I love th precision of this gorgeous diamond patterned card. Every tiny details is covered in Nichole's blog, even the colour and positioning chart so I know what to stamp where and in what colour. How fantastic is that?! It's not quite finished yet, but it's so pleasing to look at that it's made it onto my blog already! Roll on some 'me-time-craftime'...! ;) x

T