I can sing a rainbow . . .

Anyone who knows me well, knows I have a *thing* for bright stripes. I don't wear bright coloured clothes - if I wear navy blue I'm being daring :o) - but I do love to have bright, stripy extremities & so in the winter, my hands & feet are always  covered with stripy socks & gloves.

For a few years now, I've hankered after a particular *thing* & although the makers & manufacturers made spotty ones, flowery ones, plaid ones etc., they never seemed to make bright stripy ones. HOWEVER - my quest is now at an end & I am now the VERY proud owner of these:

Have you ever seen such perfect wellies before ?! I can't wait to get out in the garden, digging over the veg patch - if they don't brighten up the neighbours' day, it'll be a very sad thing :o))

I decided to have a look around the house to see what other strippity-strippage I have & here are some of my favourites.

Scarf, 2 pairs of gloves & an 'at :o) At least if I fall over in the snow, no matter which end is sticking up, I'll be found !! :o)

My daughter bought this for me from a stall at Broadstairs Folk Week a few years ago. She said as soon as she saw it, she thought *MUM !!*  She knows me SO well :o) 

My trusty stripy brolly on the right & the fabbest brolly 'at in the world. The 'at was a present from my friend Di, in New Zealand (Hi, Brum Chum !!) & I HAVE worn it. Not very good if there's a lot of wind though, & as I don't want to lose it, I only wear it when it's just raining.

All girls need a handbag she can carry everything & the

kitchen sink in & this one is mine :o)

Socks !!! All stripy, some with toes as well :o) Lovely !!

Even hobbies have a stripy something - this stripy box holds cardstock . . .

One of my many family tree note books & an accordian file . . .

My knitting bag, notions cases & notebook.

Even cooking & cleaning can be brightened up with a bit of strippage, you know . . .

Anything to jazz up the household chores is OK with me :o)

And lastly . . . .

Who wouldn't smile at legs & feet like mine ??!! :o))

Mind you, this is an old photo - I don't have that computer monitor any more !! :o)



Christmas is coming - AGAIN !!!

Any crafter will tell you that it's never too early to make Christmas cards or decorations, so that's what I've been doing this past few days.

I love, love love stamping. No, not with my foot, though I HAVE been known to do that on occasion, but stamping-with-ink-on-card stamping :o) I'm not brilliant at it,  but I think, with practice I'm getting better. I have a HUGE collection of stamps & I've decided that this year, I'm going to make full use of them & will try to use a stamp on every single card I make, be it for Christmas, birthday, new baby, anniversary or whatever.

All the images I've used on the following cards  are from Penny Black. I absolutely LOVE Penny Black stamps. I'd rather spend money on them than on food or clothes !! :o)

This image is stamped with black ink & then coloured with Pro-markers. I then used an embossing pen to pick out where I wanted to use snowflake tinsel embossing powder & then heat embossed it. A couple of nesties, a bit of ribbon, some mirror card put through the Cuttlebug & some designer paper later &  I had my first Christmas card for 2012 :o)

This image was just as above - stamped & coloured with Pro-markers. Again, the bug & nesties came into force, a bit of background paper & a ribbon & card no. 2 was ready :o)

I love this stamp - there's something a bit Victorian-Christmas about a lamp post !! :o)

I wanted to keep this card simple  so I just used 3 colours - red, black & a cinnamon colour for the mouse. To give it a bit of *splark*, I used snowflake tinsel embossing powder, a glittery ribbon & silver mirror card.

This card was an experiment for me :o)  Normally, I'd stamp onto card stock, cut it out & then stick it on a card. But, today, I decided to go for it - stamp straight onto a card & then watercolour it. I must say - I'm quite pleased with the results :o)   I will, however, own up to putting a sentiment on where I stamped a greeting, but it smudged :o) THAT'S why I don't normally stamp  directly on to a card :o)

My trusty old Cuttlebug really had an outing today :o) This card is stamped, watercoloured, cuttlebugged & nestabilitie-d to within an inch of its life :o) I think it's rather cute - I LOVE the snowman image.

Now, this one I'm not too sure of. I stamped onto a nesty shape, watercoloured it & then used an ink pad to colour the nesty edges. I then sort of scuffed the ink pad over the nesty shape & image, but I think I might have been just a bit too heavy handed.

As well as making cards, I've been knitting tree ornaments. One of my nephews  has just moved into a bedsit & has requested a few for his tree. NOT that he has a Christmas tree yet, but at least if I get them done, they'll be ready for him when he wants them. HOPEFULLY he'll have a tree come Christmas 2012 !! :o)

This is a very simple Christmas tree - just knit a diamond shape, fold it in half , sew the sides, make a brown trunk, add a few embellishments & hey presto :o) The pattern is by YarnMiracle.

I really like this bell - it's a Jean Greenhowe pattern & it only took about 3 hours in total to make, so an evening's knitting :o)

This little parcel I just sort of made up as I went along. I knitted a rectangle, folded it in half, put some carboard inside to stiffen it a bit, crocheted a ribbon, added a silver ribbon & snowflake & that was it.

I LOVE this Christmas pud. I made one for myself last year & so many people commented on it. It's so life like, but it's quite time consuming & fiddly. The pattern is by Frankie Brown, who, in my opinion, designs some of the best Christmas patterns going.

And lastly - well done if you've managed to read this far without losing the will to live !! - a Christmas stocking. It's about 4 inches tall so a little something can be put in it on the tree.

My daughter asked me to knit her some fingerless gloves in Hufflepuff  (Harry Potter) colours & as I'm only half way through the first glove, I think I'd better stop Christmas crafting for a while & get on with them. If I don't, it'll soon be too warm for her to wear them & somehow, I don't think she's willing to wait till NEXT winter for them :o))

Sunrise

This is the view I had of the sky from my back garden about 7:30am this morning.

Mother Nature really knows what she's about, doesn't she ?  No words needed - enjoy my silence while you can :o)



More knitting



Shaun is the middle one of 3 brothers. His older brother has 3 daughters, no sons. We have one daughter, no sons & his younger brother has one daughter, no sons. All those daughters have had sons

& as another one is expected next month, I knitted this little hoodie for him :o)

I also knitted him a little 'at . . .

Some warm, wooly socks . . .

And a pair of mitts.

I love making little 'ats & these 3 berets are for Kids Co., a charity in London.

This little jumper is also for Kids co. & I'm about to cast on a beanie type 'at for a teenage boy  :o)

New Year's Day at the Beach :o)

Today, I spent a lovely time on the beach with one of my favourite boys :o)  My other 2 favourite boys were unable to come with us because their wheels - mobility scooter & a buggy - weren't really up to chugging through wet sand :o) So, they waited for us at the top of the slipway while we went off adventuring.

Before we got to the slipway, we made our way down the chine.  

This is our first - & last - view of the beach.

We left Grandad & grandson 1b at the top & made our way down to the big puddle at the bottom :o)

Request no. one was *Grandma  - can we look for pirates & pirate ships, please ?*

Unfortunately, it was a case of *I see no ships*, pirate or otherwise :o)

Request no. 2 was *Can I throw sandballs at you, Grandma ? Can I ? Can I ? PLEEEASE ???* Sandballs ? I was then informed that as there was no snow, but plenty of sand, he could make sandballs & throw them :o) The imagination of a 3 year old, eh ?! :o)

I'll move this pretty shell before making a sandball :o)

There were a few people out & about, some bait digging, some kite surfing & a fair few dog walkers, but on the whole, we had the beach to ourselves.

*Are there 'cwabs' in here, Grandma ?*

*I'm going to splash, splash, splash in the wet sand *

It's a long walk  up the slipway to Grandad & baby brother, especially when you only have little legs.

Even deserted, I think the beach is lovely & just bursting with history. I remember when I was a child, we used to have a chalet here every summer. My Mum & Nan would bring us down & we'd spend the day in & out of the sea. We'd have to walk down the steps or the slope in the morning, but we'd be so tired out at the end of the day, we went back up in the lift. It was 2p for adults & 1p for children :o)  I feel so old remembering that !!! :o))

A view across Pegwell to Richborough as we walked home. I wonder how much longer Richborough Towers are going to remain ? There's been *talk* of them being pulled down, but then there's also *talk* of them staying because they're used as navigational aids & also, birds nest in & around them, so if they went, it'd cause quite an environmental impact.

Last view of the chine - we turned around & said goodbye :o)

We made our way home & after lunch, Grandad & grandson 1b went for a nap & grandson 1a & I cuddled up together & watched *Mary Poppins* again :o)  He nodded off after a while & stayed curled up on the sofa, under Grandad's blankie, till Mummy came.

A busy, but lovely New Year's Day :o)