Snowman Challenge

 

It's been a while since I entered a Christmas card into one of Hazel's challenges, so I thought I'd better dust off  my challenge hat & give it another go :o)

 

As this week's topic is snowmen/women, I thought I'd use a stamp I've got of a teddy bear, a mouse & 2 hedgehogs building a snowman & hope that Hazel didn't mean a it had to be a finished snowman :o)

 

As well as the Snowman/woman challenge, I'm also going to put it in Hazel's July Anything Goes.

Assuming I can still remember how to linky-link-link :o)

Embosseling :o)

I like the sound of that - it's rather like embezzeling, but instead of stealing money, I've been making cards :o)

 

This month's challenge, embossing, was Liz's choice. We had to use at least one type of embossing on a card, be it embossed stamping, embossed card or embossed toppers.

 

I'm ashamed to say that I only managed 2 from Terri's parcel & 3 from Liz's. The reason/excuse is that it's been a very busy July, what with district nurses calling every other day, various hospital & doctor appointments etc. & I've just been so tired, I haven't had the time or the inclination to get going on them. Sorry girls :o(

 

However, here are the ones I HAVE made. I might be able to squeeze another out of Terri's parcel between now & the end of the month, but I'm not betting on it !! :o)

 

Firstly, the two from Terri's parcel:

 

The bird paper is all I used from the parcel, simply because I thought the leaves on it looked like the leaves on a tree embossing folder I have. I just embossed a bit of white card, stuck it on a card blank, stuck the bird paper on & covered the join with a glitter strip. I then used brown ink & stamped the sentiment.

 

 



 

The green bauble/snowflake embossed card & the dark green card came from Terri's parcel. I found a sentiment & used a recycled card as a topper & finished it off with a glitter strip. I LOVE my glitter strips :o) 

 

Now onto Liz's parcel:

The only things I used from my stash for this card were the glittery sentiment & the embossed holly corners. 

 

This little froggy is an embossed stamp - I loved him as soon as I saw him :o)  Because I decided to use him for a man's easel card, I didn't want anything too fussy, so I just coloured him with Promarkers, printed the silly play on words sentiment *Hoppy Birthday, Mick*, stuck it onto dark green card, cut into 3 separate words & popped them on the card. I then found a frog stamp of my own - not the best, but all I had - & stamped it onto the bottom card twice & then stuck some gold stars on.

 

 

And lastly, included in the parcel was this lovely white embossed frame. I found the topper in my stash & put it in the middle then stuck the whole thing to a green card blank. I then rootled around in my sentiments box & found a best wishes sentiment that went well with the green. It was a sort of paisley shape, so I just cut it to a rectangle & stuck it on.

 

Only a week or so till August's challenge, which is my choice :o)

 

 

 

 

 

Taking some time for Gazen around :o)

Well, it's been a funny ol' month or so, what with one thing & another. Life certainly is interesting & throws some curve balls to keep us on our toes, but it keeps interferring with my blogging & if it continues to do so, I shall just have to resort to doing my ravin' nana !! :o) THEN it'll be sorry !! :o)

 

Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary & we are unable to go out because the district nurse is coming in. At the moment, they visit every other day & as it's far more important that they come & sort 'imself out, so we decided on a little trip to Sandwich this morning. Partly so I could take some photos for a friend in America, whose ancestors came from this neck of the woods & partly because I had a brain wave :o) Now, that doesn't happen very often, so it's best to take advantage before said brain wave crashes to the ground & disappears forever :o)

 

A hundred years ago, well, about 7, actually, I went to Sandwich with my best friend, Julie, on her birthday. We arrived in style in *Lady Blanche Worthington, her very old & very battered Land Rover & luckily, the border guards & the police were fooled !! We managed to cross the border unharmed & undetected !! :o)

 

Anyhoo, we drove around, looking for mischief, as we did before she was exciled to France & we happened upon a nature reserve called

 

GAZEN SALTS.

 

As it was December, we decided against mooching around & put it off for another day. We never did go back, but this morning, my brain woke up & said GAZEN SALTS !!!

 

Quite why my brain decided it would be a suitable place to go with someone in a wheelchair is beyond me, but we managed part of it & here are some photos to prove it :o)

 

 We parked up & I got the wheelchair out the back, and we headed towards the sign that said *Nature Reserve*. It was on a slight wonk, so we weren't 100% certain we were heading in the right direction, but we were.

 

We thought we were actually in the reserve when we came across this tree, but no.

 

 

First, we had to walk along the side of the cricket pitch -

I just love this row of trees -  :o)

 

 

And then go between these trees & the HUMONGOUSLY large stinging nettle patch on the left :o) Gawd help the poor fielder who has to try to find the cricket ball when it goes astray !! :o)

We went through the gap between the trees & came across a gate on the right hand side & in we went to the nature reserve proper :o) As you can see, not the best terrain for a wheelchair, but I'm strong & determined :o)



 

 

Part way along, we came to the lake which was stuffed full of fish. Some of them could have fed a family of 10, I reckon, but there were *NO fishing allowed* signs. 

As soon as the ducks saw us, they made a bee line towards us, but they were out of luck. The duck food stand thing was empty & we didn't have any bread either.

 

 

In the distance there were some little black ducklings. If you click on the pic, it'll enlarge & if you zoom in, you can see their fluffy feathers :o)

This is all man made, but it looks so natural. It was so beautiful there, just watching the ducks & fish, listening to the birds singing. The sun was hot, but there was a lovely breeze rippling by every now & again.

I really don't know what plants or flowers are there, but it was full of green lushness.





 

 

The tree trunks were all different & various wild flowers - & weeds, I expect - grew all around.



 

 

 The sun seemed to reach out to us through the undergrowth as well as through the trees.



 

I loved the way this grass type plant just hung down. You can't see it in the photo, but between the last two hangy-downy-seed heads (?) there was the finest spider's web I've ever seen.  *Gossamer thread* springs to mind when I think of how delicate it was :o)

Another woodland path, leading us to who knows where ?

 

This is some sort of wild Iris - I have some in my garden, though I don't know how it got there because I know I didn't plant it & it only appeared about 3 years ago.

 

 

And finally, the path back out of the reserve.

 

We could have spent longer there, but as I said, it isn't really suitable for wheelchairs. Once we have the wheelchair accessible vehicle that can take the mobility scooter, we'll go back & will then be able to get around the whole reserve.

 

For more info on it, just click on the *GAZEN SALTS* link at the top. I think you'll find it interesting :o)

 

Now, back to my card making & knitting, both of which have been sadly ignored for a a while :o)