Peaceful Sigh!

Well, the end of the world didn't happen - thankfully. I still have far too much fabric to chop up and sew back together before before I'm ready for the end of the world.

Christmas has been and gone and I did manage to spend some short but precious time with some of my family which was lovely. I didn't take many photos either but I do have a couple on my phone which I'll scrap and post later.

Today though I've had to take a poorly girl under my wing - no pun intended. She is one of the farm chickens and has been attacked by one of the farm dogs. They have taken nearly every feather off her back and she looks really sore. I have her in a basket of straw in my dog's old cage along with food and water. The owners are away on holiday still. I suspect that one of the young cockerels has met an untimely demise as well. Loads of feathers all over the place and no cockerel to be found anywhere.

She was very stressed and cold when Ian found her lying on her back, but she seems a bit warmer now and her breathing is slower. she's even eaten a bit so we'll see how she is in the morning. I may yet take her to the vets. Ironic really as her owner is a vet.

Here's a picture of the poorly girl. I'll keep you posted on her progress. She's going to need a wooly jumper to keep her warm.

 

I am looking forward to 2013 as I have a few plans that I want to get off the ground.

 

See you all on the other side. Ciao for now xx

My Thoughts on 2012

I don’t think the world is going to end anytime soon at least not in the way that most people think but I do think things have got to change. This picture sums it up though.

Blue Hydrangeas

Occasionally I like to take part in the Oscraps monthly challenge. I find it stretches my creativity quite a bit and it’s also interesting to see just how different all the other uploaded images are from each other given that we’re all given the same design brief.

This month we were given a layered template to play with. I used it pretty much as it was but I could have done anything I wanted with those layers. Here is my attempt.

I took the pictures of the hydrangeas in a garden centre on my iPhone. I love hydrangeas especially when they are starting to die off. The colours in the flower heads are just gorgeous. These aren’t dying but they were both on the same plant. The pale blue being the newest flower.

And……. I found the lovely poem on the above picture on the internet. It’s by Gillian Clarke. I hope she doesn’t mind me using it.

I have a few pictures of a gorgeous pink one too so maybe I need to scrap those as well.

Technorati Tags: Oscraps,blue hydrangeas,digital scrapbooking

Where has this year gone?

I can’t believe this year is nearly over. I can’t believe just how fast the hours, days, weeks and months fly by and I don’t seem to feel as if I’ve achieved anything apart from learning how to pack boxes and move very quickly.

I’m trying to remain positive but I’m finding it very hard. We moved to a farm that is very isolated and there are days when I don’t see another living soul except my dog and husband. And whilst the area is very pretty it’s also very lonely. I miss not having neighbours to chat with and I miss the beach where we were before. I miss not being able to just pop and see friends and family. AND I know what you’re all thinking – get out and make friends - which is good advice, but it does take time to find quilt or craft groups or a group I want to join and then when I’ve joined and made a few friends the other half gets disgruntled with his job and wants to leave.

There don’t seem to be very many jobs about up here but I keep looking. I actually feel as if my life has no real purpose at the moment. I’m not needed by anyone on a daily basis and I just feel redundant. I know I am going to have to try and alter the way I think about my life otherwise I could quite easily slip into a dark depression and I’m not that way inclined and refuse to walk that path.

The house we have moved into is also so cold it’s unreal. This doesn’t help my Raynaud's disease at all. I’ll have to get creative in my efforts to stay warm.

BUT to top it all, the husband has already said he wants to move on as he doesn’t like it here. I’ll be honest, farmers are a funny breed. Full of bullshit and lies but I really don’t think I can keep this moving lark up for much longer, in fact I have had enough. I really don’t think my OH knows just how much this moving around affects me. I really want to put down roots and call one place home. I’m actually not sure he really cares what effect it has on me but we’ll see.

After Christmas I am going to get some rescue chickens, at least I’ll have those to look after daily. A far cry from being an Adult and Further Education teacher that I was when I first met Ian eight years ago. I feel as if I’ve been dumbed down. Whether this is intentionally or not I don’t know. One thing is for sure 2013 will be very different even if it means I have to go it alone.

I’m not trying to be depressing here I’m just trying to make sense of how I feel right now and see if I can turn my life around and stay positive in a world that feels like it’s falling apart.

Teabag over and out.

Challenging Behaviour

Just lately I’ve been immersing myself in some digital scrapbooking, well not so much books as pages. I have been using a mix of Photoshop Elements 10 and Serif’s Craft Artist Professional.
I am familiar with layers, masks and blending modes but apart from that I am not overly familiar with the very powerful capabilities of these two programs.
Sooooooo I have been finding tutorials and challenges to help me get to grips with some of their features and these are what I’ve done so far.

This picture came about from an Oscraps monthly challenge whereby you had to lift another layout with the name or tag “coffee” in the title. We could either do something coffee related or not, as in my case. This is actually November's challenge no 6.

This is challenge no 1 where by we did a tutorial on using the “Minimum” filter. It sort of converts a photograph into a pencil sketch using layers and inversions and things. No idea how it works mind but I like the effect.
There are six challenges each month so I guess I’ve got to go and do the other 4.
Catch you all later. xx

Autumn Ramblings

My last few posts have been very intermittent I have to say. But I guess I do have an excuse as we moved yet again. Still in Scotland but closer to England. I hadn’t totally finished unpacking from the previous move either. We weren’t even at our last house 12 months before we had to move again. I had 4 days notice to pack a whole house and move. I also had my two eldest grandchildren staying with me at the time and was still working. Talk about stressed out or what.

I’m not sure if where we have moved to is going to be for very long. The house is literally in the corner of a bunch of derelict farm buildings. It’s cold and damp in parts. Let’s see how it is during the cold winter we have been forecast. On the plus side there is a nice view from our lounge window and also a lovely view over the old Mill Pond where there are two resident swans and a family of ducks and assorted other water fowl. 

I am finding all these moves (9 in 8 years) very stressful. I don’t ever feel as if I can call anywhere home, it takes me a while to make friends and find quilt or craft groups to go to and I keep losing the continuity of my medical care.

I keep trying to continue with my small soap business although I lost most of my trade customers when we moved from Shropshire as the people I sold to were committed to buying local. I try to keep sane – although my sanity is questionable at the best of times – by sewing and making things for me and my family. I’ve even done a couple of craft stalls but it’s never going to make me rich.

I did join the Galloway Craft Guild as they have a little shop in town where you can sell your crafty bits so I have put a few things in there.

My soap book has been updated and has gone off for a reprint. 2500 copies this time so I hope they sell well, the first book did. I have added 8 more recipes (I think).

I have been doing some more digital scrapbooking and I think I’m going to start keeping an art journal.

I did this picture for my hubby yesterday. I may print it off and frame it for him for Christmas.

 

I am trying to stay positive about my life but I feel like I keep having the rug pulled from beneath my feet all the time. But whilst I draw breath I will keep going.

I’ll try to post more often more for my benefit than anybody else's really although I do have some nice things to show you.

Moan over

Blessings

Joy x

Summer fun

I can't believe tomorrow is the longest day of the year and the Summer Solstice so soltice blessings to you all.

I really don't know where the days go to. I have had my eldest son, wife and children here for a week and it has been lovely to see them all. The babies grow so quickly.

Rhiannon is just starting to talk and it's lovely. She has really taken to our dog Moss. She can't say Moss yet and it comes out as Moosch but we know what she means. Moss loves her as he does Zachy Man. There were plenty of cuddles and doggy snogs.

I have scrapped a few pics of their stay. I'm still learning this digi scrapping milarky but I love it.

Croap Queen

As our Queen Elizabeth 11 has been in the news a little bit just lately I thought I'd introduce you to a very good friend of mine, or at least she was but I suspect I may not be any more, Sigh!

Meet JoJo, the "Oneandonly Croap Queen"

Oops!

I can't believe it's been 4 months nearly since I posted anything on my blog, this isn't to say nothing has been happening just I've not known if I've been on my head or my elbow. The days just seems to go so quickly. I can't believe we're in June already.

Lots of things have been happening on the farm, I've managed to reduce the mortality rate of the calves to very few now, still not 100% success rate but certainly not like it was when I took over feeding them.

I'm still sewing like mad and making things. I am trying very hard to declutter and get myself more streamlined, well not me personally although that would be very nice but my crafty stuff etc. I've managed to move on about 100 quilty magazines to some girls at the local craft group as well as other crafty bits.

I've started doing some more digital scrap booking which i've always dabbled in but never done anything very serious with it but I'm quite chuffed with my  recent creations of which I shall show you.

The photos were taken by my son Robert and the digi papers are from Cottage Arts and Scrap Girls mostly.

I like digi scrapping as I don't have to store masses of crafty bits and it's cheaper that paper scrapping.

and now a few of my grand kiddywinks.

Further Update on What I’ve been Up To!

I have been very bad at updating my blog as of late. I don’t know where the days and weeks are going to. One day just seems to roll into another and before you know it another week has gone by.

I started a new job just after Christmas feeding the calves on the farm where my OH is Herd Manager. It’s hard work but on a plus side I’ve lost nearly a stone in weight without trying.

I have been doing some sewing and have done a bit more on my wallhanging. So here’s some more pics. I want to add some beads, lots of beads and some embroidery stitches. It’s been a long time since I’ve done something out of my head, for me, that I can go OTT with. It’s very liberating!

  

The background fabric seems greyish in these photos but it really is more green.

What I'm up to.

It's been waaaaaaaaaay too long since I last updated my blog. I've been so busy but not entirely uncreative.

Anyway, I bought myself a Sizzix Big Shot machine and a die to play with. I did toy with the idea of buying an Accuquilt Go! but the price of that cutter is like 5 times the price of the Sizzix. The Sizzix will actually take the Accuquilt dies so I have the best of both worlds.

I belong to a Facebook group and one of the challenges was to make something for Valentine's Day. Now I know this isn't exactly romantic but I wanted to use the heart die cutter so it is HEART related. :-)

It's still a work in progress and the colours aren't true but at least you'll get the idea.

I'll add beads and other stuff eventually. I've had fun with it so far.