Valentine's Day surprises and fun :)

After our first few years together, Luvbug and I decided to put a £5 limit on Valentine's Day gifts, so that it would be fun. Just something small and silly, we thought!

This year I bought him a chocolate Bear and a box of chocolate hearts. The hearts are individually wrapped in red foil and there were 18 in the box. I put one inside his card, and hid the rest round the house. So far he has found about 10, I think :) they're not well hidden, just in places he will come across eventually- it's fun to hear shouts now and then of 'FOUND ONE!!' :)

He went over the £5 limit as he took pity on me being curled up not well- he bought me some snug pyjamas with a hearts on, and a picture of the blue-nose 'Me-To-You' Bear on the front :)

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I also received a beautiful suprise from Stardust!
Look at this!

The photo doesn't really do this justice; the top half is filled with swarovski crystals and sparkles and glints as the light catches it. DId you spot the 'Miss Kitty' charm?

Also, she sent me this flash drive- she knows I love Miss Kitty. (It's because I grew up with Miffy, and this like Miffy but a cat!)

I had been searching for my little flash drive recently as I wanted to move some photo's onto it and get them printed in town. I couldn't find it, and then this new one arrived! Perfect!


Stardust's parcel took just two days to get from Japan to Ipswich, 15 miles from me, then twice as long again to do those last few miles! Ha! Isn't that typical?

It included a lovely handwriteen letter, too. It's a treat to get letters nowadays, isn't it?

THANK YOU STARDUST!!!!!!!!! You've been so busy and yet you thought of me! Thank you so much!



PS- thank you for the lovely, kind response I've received for my request for die-cut shapes :)

In case you thought I'd dropped off the earth....

This is the first time this year I've sat out in the garden alone. It's gorgeous; sunny and warm. I've brought out the table and chairs.

I'm not completely on my own though, as it's Scooter's 5th or 6th time out. Yep, after a month indoors I have finally allowed him his freedom. As far as the fence, that is. And he has a collar, for the first time in many years, "just in case" his curiosity gets the better of him. My reward for such generosity? A bright, perfectly formed wee mousie, delivered to my doorstep with a chortle. Well, um, gosh, thanks, Scoob. I love you too!

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Now I must insert belated thanks to my two friends Stardust and Bumblevee, who sent me lovely packages from far away, simply to say they were thinking of me. The contents were humbling in their generosity. I should have mentioned them before...... so sorry.....

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It's hard to get online. I have some lovely photo's to share. The wisteria is out and as beautiful as it promised to be, and I have also discovered a Japanese peony. Its flower is the size of my hand :)

But my days are still- up a lot at night trying to calm Fluffy's meowing- dozing in the morning to catch up with sleep- seeing mum in the afternoon, shopping, talking, trying to reassure etc.- cooking in the evening- taking mum home- then bed or an hour or so with the radio or tv, exhausted. When to blog? Or email, for that matter. Or anything else.

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I am feeding the hedgehogs still; 4 in our garden the other night. And I saw a fox across the road. And a squirrel on our fence, twice. And today, baby starlings are having their first tour of the world outside the nest with their parents. So life goes on all around. Nature is a great soother of nerves. Oh and the emergency blue pills (!). Took one last night. They do help.
Yesterday was bad. It is building up, you see. I should remember the effect that stress and tiredness have on the bi-polar doobry-watnot.... yesterday I kept crying, I felt such a dead-weight inside me. Mum says she's lonely. But I see her every day. If only my siblings would call, send her a postcard or something.

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Fluffy has joined us in the garden. Which means Scooter is going to try to show her that it's all his. Must go, before fur flies......

Sketch Saturday Challenge

It's a while since I joined in with any of the weekly challenges in Craft Blog Land. Thought I'd try to get back into the routine :)

So! Here is this week's layout challenge from Sketch Saturday:

And here is my interpretation, the "twee"est, sweetest, pinkest card I've ever produced, I think. Maybe my recent bug has imprinted Pepto-Bismol deep into my brain :)

• Colouring was done with my Derwent Water Colour pencils, with a little clear Sakura Stardust sparkle on the flower and the rabbit.
• The background papers were freebies with Crafts Beautiful magazine. They are also available to download, free, from their website, here. You just need to sign up for their emailed newsletter and get a log-on and password.
  
• The pink/green circles are made from paper I decorated with my Glitz Pearlescent Paints.
• I've added faux stitching with Sakura Souffle pens.
• The "Easter Wishes" dome sticker was a freebie with the same magazine last year.
  
• The flower is Papermania, I think.
  
• The stamp is a Sugar Nellie, which you can buy online from Funky Kits.
• Sugar Nellies also have a blog, here.
  

I bought the stamp recently, thinking I could make some Easter cards with it. What do you think? I'll have to do some religious ones, too, for people I know who'd prefer those. But for now I'll concentrate on spring colours and this cheeky bunny.

Here is another. Not tied in with the sketch this time, I just wanted to do that stamp again :)
Still not quite happy with the colours I've used for the girl's clothes, especially the shoes. Any ideas?
I like the carrot button, from my local haberdashery, as is the ribbon, which I found there for 20p a metre! MUCH cheaper than the stuff made specialy for craft shops!

Not happy with the "Happy Easter", though it looks a bit better in real life than it does here in the photo: I used a yellow embossing pen with clear embossing powder. It worked ok, I just don't like my writing!
That lovely glass, by the way, in the shape of a cat's foot and with a picture of a cat and pawprints on it, was a Christmas present from Stardust, all the way from Japan! I love it. It's too good to use as a glass though, I don't want to risk breaking it! SO I keep it on the side in the sunlight, and it makes me smile whenever I look at it. That's the best kind of present, don't you think? :)

Valentine's Day....

Belated Happy Valentine's Day!

I was delighted to receive this from Ms Peach!Dilly, lover of all things princessy, was very taken with it, too!It has lots of lovely different pages...
...and a lovely pawtrait of Ms Peach herself :)
I spotted this clever montage of hearts over on Stardust's blog. I hope she doesn't mind me borrowing it!
Here is another heart.
I bought a plain, cardboard heart-shaped box from the craft shop in Colchester.
Then I coloured it using my pearlescent glues and sprinkled fine black glitter on it.... filled it with chocolates wrapped in tissue, made a tag, and wrapped it with red raffia...... et voila. A present for Luvbug!
....And for the card...

first let me explain something:

Luvbug speaks fluent Spanish. He worked in Ecuador for a couple of years so used it a lot. Spanish has some funny little sayings, as I'm sure all languages probably do.
One is to say that someone is your "half orange"....... if you cut an orange in half, the two sides look the same, they go together perfectly. Hence the saying that your partner is your half orange. SO.......
I made the half orange out of felt. I couldn't remember what orange blossom looked like, but hope the black outline flowers look like it enough!He liked it a lot...
...once he remembered the significance of the half orange, and that no, it had nothing to do with half-time snacks at football.

Oh well! :)