One from Anna

Hi folks.
Well I think we seem to have had the best of our summer.  Rain and gales today.  Marvellous!! I wouldn't mind so much but the dog walking becomes a chore when we get home with all the paw cleaning.
This pretty card was literally knocked up by Anna.  All I did was assemble the parts and add the bling (something Anna would have resisted I'm sure.)  The flower was coloured in with chalks. I think the stamp was a freebie on a magazine. I also made holes all around the card and drew in 'stitches'.
Getting back to the dogs - two of my regular walking doggie companions have gone down with kennel cough, so I am hoping my charges have not already contracted this unpleasant illness. 
I am having a very easy week at the school, as the majority of boys are either camping or in France with the teachers.  Last weekend, I went to The Hobby Art craft workshop.  Another great day with like-minded crafters and we made some super cards ~ which I will put here on the blog.  It was all organised so well and we were as usual inundated with fab refreshments. Jenny and Anna's family members made our day very special.  Jenny tutored us in the morning and Helen Meighan had us for the afternoon.  Helen does the Helidot cards, although that's not what we did on the day.
The garden's coming along nicely and looks very pretty ~ thanks for asking!!
More soon.  Gill x

Away with the fairies

Morning!!
And we have a summer's day - at last.  It was quite cool first thing but promises to be a great day - week in fact.  I am going to meet a friend for lunch in Teddington later - so we may sit outside to eat.
I made this card for my sister Marilyn.  I stamped the fairy image onto some hand made background I had made earlier.  I cut an oval into the front of the card and mounted the stamped image inside the card. I made a scalloped frame to put on the front of the card and smothered it with diamonds.
A little distress ink around the edge took away the whiteness.  In fact before I posted it, I put some faux stitching around the front of the card.
I started back at school yesterday after having a nice week off.  But getting up at 6 am is no joke. However, I normally see two of my neighbours leaving at the same time, so that makes me feel a little better.  And the boys make it all worth while.
Mike and I are making some changes to our garden and have been invited to look in someone's back garden later today - with a view to choosing some new plants.  I know this garden to be just wonderful - so I guess we'll be ordering lots of new stuff.  We started our garden 16 years ago and planted everything but over the years, things have spread too much and other shrubs are too close to each other, so many things are coming out and new things going in.  Back then I was a keen flower arranger and some of the shrubs were planted for that purpose but now we want more seasonal colour.  I'll let you know....