Anonymous

I have spent most of the day putting on the site the ProMarkers that came in today - all 148 of them.

It would probably have taken less time if I hadn't spent someof the time trying to get pictures downloaded. In the end I just had to settle for the colour chart lol. And now I have a numb situpon lol

If you need to add to your colour colelction please do take a browse around the site. The ProMarkers are in colour collections and you can see them here

Anonymous
Well everything bad is blamed on Mercury being in Retrograde amongst a group of my friends - but this doesn't happen till 20 August so it seems, so I am dreading that day coming round.

My computer hard drive has been playing up for a good few months and last Friday it locked up so I decided to bite the bullet and buy a new one. I hated Vista and couldn''t get on with it so it was passed to Richard but now Windows 7 is here, all singing and dancing. Trouble is I am well and truly fixed in the dark ages where computers are concerned so I had no idea how to transfer the data from the old XP to the Windows 7.

I contacted someone I know and he said it would take a couple of hours so on Monday morning he arrived at 9am as arranged. Eventually he left at 6pm and I was beginning to think I ought to make a bed up for him. He couldn't get the router to work so we went and bought a new one. Then he said my old printer wan't compatible with Windows 7 so I couldn't print orders etc. I told him I needed to keep all of the stuff in my email folders as they were suppliers log ins and also messages I needed to keep for the teachers requirements for the Retreat. Well they are lost and gone. And all of my photos are gone. And Richards computer won't pick up the signal to get on to the Internet etc etc. At 6pm my man left with the hard drive on the floor, empty boxes strewn about and cables going everywhere.

So on Monday evening we went to PC World and bought a new printer, which I mamnaged to install, all by myself, lol, on Tuesday morning. I also managed to reconnect all of the cables to the right places and put the hard drive on my desk in its proper place. Well I did put the phone internet cable back in the wrong connection but after half an hour and a bit of ripe language I sussed out what I had done wrong. I have faffed around but I can't find any of the stuff I needed to be kept.

Today Rachel told me that a man had come to her work place and fixed their computer so I contacted him and explained the situation and he will be along at 11 am on Monday, hopefully to retreive all of the data and get me back on course again.

I am now verging on bankruptcy.lol  Can anything else go wrong?

I hate computers.
Anonymous
Just as we were about to leave for a London trip yesterday we noticed 3 woodpeckers digging along the lawn at the side of the path. I rushed to get the camera out and of course had the wrong lens on but managed to get this picture before they flew away. Its not a very good picture but the only one I have she says sadly. I think they must be parents with a youngster. Anyone any other ideas?

Anonymous
On Saturday Jane Gill came here to teach a class on making the Punch Art Flowers.

I would like to thanks everyone for supporting the class, Anthea, Carol, Sy, Karen, Lynne, Carol, Sarah, Willy, Pat and Lynn and Linda and not forgetting Liz who turned up late as usual lol.

I didn't get to make any flowers as I was tea lady for the day but I sat and watched everyone at work, and as I had taken Jane's class before it reminded me of how much I enjoyed it. As someone said it would have been nice to have made a card using some of the flowers but I think this was a workshop to get you used to the technique of flower making and to make you see what can be done with the everyday punches that you may have in your collection.

Jane has said that if we are interested she will do another workshop, making more flowers or making some and making a card if we would like, so if you are interested in doing it all again let me know.

She will also be teaching 3 classes  at our Seaside Retreat in September and I have also asked if she could do a Make and Take or two as well.

As I said I didn't make any flowers but Linda has made some beautiful examples and you can see them on her blog http://lindascards.blogspot.com  I have also just seen Lynn's blog and she has also posted her selection of flowers together with some of the cards that Jane brought along as examples. Have a look at Lynn's blog too. Both she and Linda do some inspirational work. http://amomentintime-craftycooper.blogspot.com/

You can also see Jane's work on her blog http://janeelizabeth-flowergirl.blogspot.com/
Anonymous
After the sad demise of the blackbirds in the garage ( I don't know what happened to them but they disappeared overnight) a Swallow has built a nest right at the top of the garage out of reach. I first noticed it a couple of weeks ago and only then because of the mess down the side of the car lol. I watched the parents flying in and out and last Wednesday there was a little bird on the floor. Quite cold and dead. Then on Thursday after Anita's evening class and I was saying goodbye to her I noticed another one in exactly the same spot. Again the poor little thing was dead. Then on Friday morning there was a third one, but this time it was alive. I thought about trying to get it back in the nest but Richard said there was no way we could get up to the nest so I picked it up and found a little box for it which I lined and popped it on top of the car. The parents must have been feeding it because it survived the night. On Saturday morning it was in the middle of the car park and as we had Jane Gill's cclass I was concerned that it would get squashed by a car reversing in. So again I picked it up and put it in the box. As the sun shone on it I could see what beautful colours were developing in its wings. It is always difficult to know what to do for the best. Maybe I should have left it to take its chance but it was obviously not ready to fly. Again the parents were feeding it but sadly when I looked on Sunday morning it was dead. Life is so cruel at times.

Anonymous
After the layout of Anita Dobson I finally found a bit of enthusiasm to do the Brian May layout. I find it so difficult to do things for other people and put things off till the last minute. And Helen was getting a bit impatient. lol

Again its the DCWV Rock Star papers, a bit of bling, some snaps and photo anchors and some Prima flowers. I don't find it easy to do masculine layouts having a family of girls. I got Richard to paint and crackle the frame as I thought he ought to suffer too. And he did. lol  here is the final result.

Anonymous
Following on from the Brian May post I have completed the layout of Anita Dobson. Basically red and black with some bling it is a simple layout.  The pattern paper was from a DCWV stack and the swirls were Prima crystals. Red and black layered flowers with brad centres. I bought a box frame which was a natural wood colour and I wasn't that keen on it so I painted it white, put a layer of crackle glaze on the white, let it dry and then put a coat of black paint on top to produce the crackle effect. I finished off with a coat of varnish I found in a tin in the shed lol. Here is the result. Its not a good photo as I kept getting glare from the glass so I had to take it at an odd angle - but you get the idea.

I just hope that Helen likes it.