HS:MS repeat

Repeat: 'Say, do or show the same thing again or form a pattern. Find repeat in your space today.'

There's quite a few repeats scattered in just this bit of today's TV schedule, not that it bothers me:

HS:MS investigate

When I saw today's prompt on HS:MS: investigate: 'To carry out an inquiry, discover or examine. Show us investigate in your space today.' I didn't have to think much of what to do, because I was already on my laptop investigating articles in order to try to get a friend's computer back up and running. It was hit with a virus and refuses to boot, even with a windows disc in the CD drive. So I'm going over there this afternoon to have another go at rescuing it.

So this is my shot for HS:MS - I'm afraid it's not a good photo because as soon as I put the camera on the battery went dead, so I turned it back on and shot quickly before it went again. (I might replace it later when the battery's charged):

Cricut expression

It arrived yesterday!! (and four cartridges; another one in the post and two more to come).

I decided last night to have a go and see what I could produce. I used a piece of plain pink 12 x 12 paper that quite honestly wasn't good quality - quite thin - the reason being I didn't want to waste good paper. Oh dear! The mat was so sticky that when I'd done my cuts (and I did quite a few, because they seemed to be going so well) I just couldn't get the paper off the mat. Even when I tried using an old credit card to scrape at it, it still wanted to stick fast and only the top layer of the paper coming off, leaving white backing still on there.

I sought help on one of the craft forums and googled 'cricut mat too sticky' and found that it was a common problem at the beginning - and there were suggestions what to do about it.

So, after running the mat under warm water and scraping away with the credit card, I managed to get all the paper off. Then I felted the mat on my clothes so it wasn't so tacky and got out a piece of K & Company double sided Brookfield paper to have another go.

I figured by now that I probably hadn't paid attention to the pressure setting (something that was pointed out among solutions of what to do in this situation), so I looked at the manual (mmmm I suppose I ought to do that more!) and turned the pressure down. First time I turned it down too much and the cuts didn't go right through. Then, when I turned it up a bit, success:



I've no idea whether I'll ever actually use them, but at least it worked!

What a pity I've got other things I need to get on with, otherwise I could have another play - hopefully later.

In fact I need to make a card for my niece's birthday on 22 April (gosh, that's only a week away and it's got to be posted) so I think I'll set myself the challenge of making a card using the cricut.

HS:MS window

HS:MS prompt for today: window: 'An opening in a buildings filled with glass. Show us a window in your space today.'

I've got a poorly toe so I'm staying in today. I didn't even want to walk up the garden, so from the open back door I got a couple of shots of windows in our little summer house, zooming in on them. It's really showing neglect from the winter, but these sunnier days is making me think that it won't be too long before it can be cleaned up and put into use.

In the second picture you can just about make out the reflection of trees.




And this is our front door taken from the inside (we have a tiny porch which was quite dim when I took this):

I meant to say

Thank you to all of you who commented about mum - she was able to join us yesterday for lunch.

In the morning John and I managed to get to church together. There were some really prolonged showers - we would have been caught in one if a friend hadn't kindly given us a lift from church to the restaurant.

We were worried about mum because she moves so slowly with her wheelie frame that she would really get soaked, but, fortunately, by the time her taxi was due the rain had stopped and the sun came out.

Mum really enjoyed her meal (so did we) and said how pleased she was that she had got out. And, even though it rained again heavily when we were in there, it stopped just before we left, so mum had a taxi home and dry.

HS:MS puddle

The prompt today: puddle: 'A small pool of water. Find a puddle in your space today.'

This morning has been beautiful sunshine here and no sign of any puddles. However, early this afternoon I was sat here with the sun streaming in and suddenly there was a tremendous clap of thunder almost overhead. I went and looked out the front and, yes, it did look stormy! It then began to rain, but not for long. John needed to go to the hospital for blood test and Xray and I needed to go to the PO, so we waited for the rain to stop and went over to get a bus. As I went into the PO the rain came on again and, although it was quite a quick shower, it was quite heavy.

I came out of the PO and went to the bus stop to go back to the hospital to meet John. What did I see but a few little puddles dotted here and there. And the prompt does say 'small pool of water'. The only trouble is that there were a couple of people at the bus stop and I thought it would look really odd to get my camera out and be seen taking pictures of the road! I waited till they were in conversation and looking the other way, whipped the camera out of my bag and took two very quick shots looking each way. Then I decided that the second one would look better if I zoomed in on the puddle, so I went round the side of the bus stop where they wouldn't be able to see me and took the third picture.

What some of us do to join in!

HS:MS SOS

Sunday on HS:MS is known as SOS (Show off Sunday): 'Show off your favourite photos today!'

I make no apology for the lack of quality with these photos, but they were taken in 2002 with a poor resolution digital camera.

I've chosen these today, because yesterday would have been my mum and dad's wedding anniversary, but, sadly, dad died over four years ago.

These photos were taken on the occasion of their diamond wedding anniversary - 60 years of marriage celebrated on 12 April 2002.

The first one shows them holding the card they received from the queen:



The second one shows them with one of the huge bouquets of flowers they received - their room looked like a florist's shop within the space of a couple of hours.



To see these photos it's hard to imagine that dad was already poorly with dementia (by then he was already 84 - although I don't think he looked his age at all)and it wasn't long after this that he was admitted to hospital and then permanently to a nursing home.

I'm actually writing this Saturday evening, ready to post in the morning. Today I went over to see mum - took her some flowers - deep pink carnations (she had similar in her wedding bouquet) - dad used to buy these for her.

We're hoping that mum will feel well enough to meet us at the local Beefeater for lunch tomorrow (today by the time this is posted). She hasn't been out for quite a while - has trouble with her knees and also giddy turns and has really lost confidence, so we're hoping that she will feel up to coming out.

HS:MS SPS

Having returned to HS:MS this week, I wasn't particularly looking forward to Saturday, known for a long while now as SPS - Self Portrait Saturday. Well, the good news is that you don't have to look at another of those awful shots of me, because now the prompt says:

'Self / Someone's Portrait Saturday!!!!'

So I'm definitely opting for 'someone's portrait'.

On Tuesday I took quite a few photos when we met up with Mandy and the children. On our way between Westminster and Downing Street we stopped at a phone box - one of the old-fashioned red ones and Dani and Chloe both posed 'on the phone'. Here's the one of Dani:



What an expression on her face!

DCM butterfly, flutterby

Quite a long while ago I bought a kit from QVC - seemed a good idea at the time, but ... - lots of stuff by Craft House - all very nice, but no real crafting involved in making anything. It's just a matter of peel off the sheet and stick on a card. I sold some off on ebay recently, but still had lots left, so last evening I decided to make some cards with them - I did 21 altogether - and I've still got some more left over (watch out on ebay!).

Anyway, I had a look this morning to see what the dare is today on DCM and it's 'butterflies', so here are five cards from me that have butterflies on them, but I take absolutely no credit for any creativity or crafting, because it's just not appropriate. However, I'm hoping that some of these cards will help towards raising money for charity the next time that I have a sale.

I deliberately left a couple quite plain (temptation to add more and more)







The photos are rubbish - the light is varying so much today - April showers!

HS:MS recycle

Todayt on HS:MS: recycle: 'Covert waste into reusable materials. Find something to recycle in your space today.'

The first shot is one looking into our yukky green box which is used for recycling glass, tins and plastic - it looks really mucky - it's been raining a while ago, but I have to confess that it's dirty anyway, but who on earth bothers to clean the box (probably everyone else!):



And this is a much nicer recycling. This is what I started with:



and ended up with this (it now lives on my windowsill and is very useful):

HS:MS secure

Today's prompt on HS:MS: 'Something that is fixed or fastened so as not to give way. Find something secure in your space today.'

I've only just been able to get these shots. The gardeners were here (sounds posh, doesn't it - we have someone to do the grass cutting and hoeing etc because we can't do it) - and I didn't want to be seen taking odd pictures (it's bad enough that the neighbours see me wandering around taking strange aim with my camera!).

The first one is the padlock on our garden shed:



The next one is a little cupboard at the back of the maisonette - there's a water tap inside and a few bits and pieces. I'm not sure why there's a bolt as well as a padlock!



And, hopefully, this is the most secure of the three of them:

Salt: His Presence

It's time for another Salt challenge - and my, how the weeks go by. Last time I said that I wouldn't leave it to the last day this time, but actually it was a good job I did, because our day out on Tuesday gave me inspiration for my contribution - a LO based on some of our sightseeing with the grandchildren.

Gillian chose the theme of His Presence and this is what she said:

His Presence
what does God's presence mean to you?
Does it mean Comfort in time of loss,
Strength when you face a battle,
Reassurance that you Walk the Good Walk...

or is it something you need to accept,
is it something you want to be more open too.

Joshua 1:5
No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life.
As I was with Moses, so I will be with you;

I will never leave you nor forsake you.

there are many other verses that speak of God's presence in our lives here are a few.

Matthew 18:20, John 6:37, Romans 8:38-39

as we do each challenge the design team have created some beautiful pieces
and we'd love you to join in with us

In whatever creative form you feel lead to create in, it could be a Scrapbook LO, card, ATC, journal entry, or whatever else you can think of it's really up to you :)

Post your piece onto your blog, with a link to Salt then come and leave us a comment with your link so we can come and share your art.

Please take a look at Salt

Talking with the children about the flag flying when the Queen is at Buckingham Palace got me thinking of the kids' chorus: 'Joy is the flag flown high from the castle of my heart when the King is in residence there' and the fact that Jesus said that He is always with us, even to the end of the age.

I used Center City Designs Imagination project papers for the background: midtown south '5 minute cab ride' and 'walk on Madison Avenue' (where do they get these titles from?!?) Lots of K & Co letters, some dymo tape with my Letratag and a couple of chipboard pieces for the K and crown. The wording says:

"Yesterday we met up with Mandy and the girls and went sightseeing. At Buckingham Palace we explained that if the Queen was there the flag would be flying. Joy is the flag flown high from the castle of my heart when the King is in residence there. Jesus said: I am always with you."

I was tagged

Ruth tagged me (I've done one very similar before, so I'm probably repeating myself, although I can't remember what I wrote before!):

What I was doing 10 years ago:

Getting used to being 50!

On my to-do list today:

Tidy my craft stuff (always seems to be on the list as soon as I do any crafting), go to the chemist and pick up prescription, go to the post office, perhaps go with John to his bowls club meeting (boring, so I might stay at home and craft instead)

Snacks I enjoy:

This is a difficult one, not because I can’t answer it, but because the realisation of eating too many of them (in fact, eating too much fullstop) is causing me to think again. My passion is dark chocolate – the darker and more expensive the better (but I’m hereby declaring that I’m not going to keep giving in to it).

Things I would do if I was a billionaire:

Give to charities, buy houses for family members, generally treat as many people as possible to whatever would make life more comfortable for them, including my mum.

Three of my bad habits:

Sitting too long at my computer (it’s not good for my back and John sometimes has to nag me)
Eating too much dark chocolate (see above!)
Don’t think I’m going to confess to the rest

Five places I have lived:

Dovercourt (Harwich, in Essex)
Catford (South East London)
Bromley

Although I’ve only lived in these three towns, I’ve lived at eleven different addresses in all.

Five jobs I have had:

Secretary for a plastics firm – two different locations
Casual worker at the PO Christmas holidays when I was a student (mature)
Agency temping (secretarial) when I was a student – in a bank and a solicitor’s office
Teaching

Five people I'm tagging (although I expect some have already done this - feel free to ignore):

Jo
Maddy
Lisa
Janice
Lynn

HS:MS post

We had a lovely day yesterday. I had hoped to show some photos, but have had to deal with a trojan horse on my system this morning - grrrrrrr - I'm so glad I have a daily scan scheduled and it picked it up and has now (hopefully) dealt with it.

So I've done very little this morning and now need to get on with my contribution for the new Salt challenge for tomorrow (a fortnight ago I declared that I would do it ahead of time ... this hasn't happened ... oh dear, I am a failure!)

So, all I can offer here for now is my photo for HS:MS 'post: A long sturdy piece of wood or metal, or the delivery of letters and parcels. Find post in your space today.':

In fact, today's post is really not exciting:



However, yesterday's post was great. I received my swap cards from CBC and a super RAK from Melissa:



And I also received an order of crafty goodies (including 3 tubes of silicone glue, but I haven't shown them, because they're not that exciting!):

Great minds think alike!

Just went back to HS:MS and saw that Di had left hers - her BIA! I obviously didn't get in quick enough!

HS:MS lever

This is 'silly o'clock' for me to be doing this! I said that I would join in HS:MS again and today we are going out for the day - meeting up with DIL and children in London - to see Big Ben and 'where the queen lives'! As an aside, we hope and pray that the showers hold off and that John and I will be able to walk around as much as is needed - buses in between - particularly as neither of us have really been out on this scale for months - plenty of painkillers!

Anyway, back to the HS:MS word for today: 'lever: A bar resting on a pivot used to help move a heavy load. Find a lever in your space today.'

Perhaps it's a bit early in the morning, but I found it hard to think of what I could use for this.

Then I remembered a very important lever:



As it is housed inside a cupboard it doesn't get much attention, as you can see from the dust, but it does its job and we're glad it does.

However, the next one is a much nicer lever - on my BIA:

HS:MS moss

Once upon a time I used to do the photo every day for HS:MS and then I got out of the habit. Yesterday I showed my snowy pictures and put a message on HS:MS.

So today I'm showing some photos for the prompt 'moss' - 'A low growing, spore producing plant with no roots that grows in damp conditions. Find some moss in your space today.'







And to think that only yesterday all of this was covered in thick snow!

CBCC038 Dressed to impress

Carolyn asked us to make a card influenced by hers.

I used a new stamp that I hadn't tried yet - stamped with Brilliance pearlescent crimson and coloured in with sone if this watered down.

I couldn't find the little gem stones I wanted to use, so I made do with these little sticky flowers that I've had for ages and have never known what to do with them:

CBCC039 Template

This is the template given by Carolyn:



I decided to use some of the rubber stamped images I got on one of the swaps on CBC. I coloured in with Sakura and Marvey and edged with Brilliance pearlescent crimson, which was also used to stamp the ribbon with 'have bags of fun'.

The photo somehow doesn't show the colours as irl, but you get the idea:

Tanda Teaser 'word play'

The Tanda teaser this week is 'word play' - set by Wendy here

This card is also inspired by the minimalistic idea of the DCM dare this week, but it doesn't strictly speaking qualify for that because of the embossed background.

The stamped image was one that I received as part of a swap on CBC (thought it about time to use some of them) - coloured in lightly with karisma warm grey and mounted on a cuttlebug embossed swirls silver pearlescent sanded down - and just a bit of Brilliance starlite silver around the card edges:

DCM dare: shrink to fit

I made this card last night for this week's DCM dare, set by Kathy - a toughie, but a good challenge! Details are here

I used one of my favourite little stamps (mainly because it so reminds me of Josey - and we still miss her lots).

I used linen card (just has a feint criss-cross embossing, which still stamps OK). I used chalk pencils and Sansador to blend for the colouring and around the edges of the card and Archival Ink sepia for the stamping and card edges:



I think I'll make more cards like this - a great challenge!