Hello my friends. I confess I’m writing this on Tuesday afternoon as I am expecting guests to stay tonight… so won’t have time once they are all here.

So those of you of a nervous disposition should ignore this first photo – my desk!

Yes, I’m sorry, a neat and tidy desk. It’s the guests, you see, can’t have them seeing me in all my messy glory… But! That doesn’t mean I haven’t been hard at work – birthday cards, thank you cards, lots ready for the hotel – you name them, I’ve done them this week. Here’s just a few…

I’ve been having some fun doing a bit of stamping:-

Then I was having some fun with my Gemini machine and the computer printer. The larger cards are 6inches square – so quite large dies. The view on the Thank You card is of the Snowdon horseshoe in the wintertime. I don’t know how John did it, but it was taken back in the days of films and proper developing, and the sunset cast this fabulous pinky haze over the whole picture. Brilliant, and a very popular card!

I’m nearly done with the jumper I was knitting – just got to finish the second sleeve, neckline and sew it together. Then maybe I can take it away with me next week. I’m rapidly getting myself organised for Trip 1 that I mentioned last week.. and getting VERY excited!!! The first port of call is the caravan site at the end of Mrs D’s lane – ready for her Golden Wedding celebrations! So, I’ll be MIA for a while – but I’ll be back in time for the crop!

Some of you asked questions in your comments last week – yes, I’ll take photos of the places I go to – and I’ll show you some! – planning on taking my camera AND John’s, in case I run out of hard disk storage on one or the other!!

I don’t sell the cards to the hotel, Belinda – I put them there on Sale or Return – that way they keep all the money separate, and at the end of the season the local hospice gets a nice chunk of cash as well as me. Where did you buy that pencil sharpener from? I’ve been looking for one and can’t seem to find one. What is it called? Thanks for your comment on the horse chestnut photo – it just sat there in the sun, and I couldn’t resist

So that’s me. folks, this week. Last Saturday I took a trip over to Anglesey and sat gazing across the Menai Straits to the mainland. Glorious!!

So, take care, folks. God bless.

Margaret

Good grief – the girl’s been doing some craft stuff!!

Hello my friends. I hope you are well and enjoying something of Spring here in the Northern hemisphere, and the beginning of Autumn in the Southern. You find me in the throes of about five different projects on my desk today. This picture was taken Tuesday afternoon – you can see I even had to push the chair almost out of the picture in order for you to see everything. So – from the window toward the front of the photo… My CD player – love to have music whilst working, it does something to my creative soul. Below that, and spread out nearly to the top of the stairs – boxes, drawers, open, pulled out, left on the floor – paints, papers, inks, card blanks, envelopes. Still on the floor – a full waste bin, around which, scattered like confetti, lies paper poo from all the die-cuts I have been doing. Up on the desk is a clear plastic box with something black on top – that’s all my pergamano stuff, getting it together ready to take away with me in a couple of weeks. I have a couple of BIG projects I would like to do whilst away – to which end I have treated myself to some polychromos pencils. I’ve not done much with pencils before, but really wanted to try them out.

Moving toward the camera is my sewing machine – had some mending desperately needing doing – so tackled that this morning (Tuesday). There’s a pile of finished cards – awaiting being bagged and priced for the hotel, and then… the really exciting bit… a pile of paper, diaries, caravan club site book, national trust membership book – all jumbled together as I put together some plans for the summer. Believe it or not, I am having to book pitches now for later in the year, or I wouldn’t get the site I want! One told me Monday that I had got almost the last booking for the nights I needed, and they have 120 pitches!

But, it’s all coming together now. Trips 1, 2, and 4 are all planned and booked – just need to see to trip 3. Not quite settled in my mind yet about that one. It means that in the course of the next six months, I shall be travelling the length and breadth of most of England and Wales! Oh wow!! A once in a lifetime opportunity to take time out just for me. Sounds selfish? I will be going to places John couldn’t go because of his physical limitations – so I have never been either – we went where he could easily manage, and that way he (and I) had some wonderful holidays together.

So, that’s my desk – what exactly have I been doing?

A small sample of the cards for the hotel – which is already under way for the season. Some die-cut fronts, some Pollyanna Pickering, some triple stamping, I’ve been using up some spare ATCs as toppers, and using the freebies of the Country Diary recently in a magazine. Lots of other things, too; but I didn’t think I ought to show you quite all of them… the hotel already has over 70 cards!!

So that’s me here on the North Wales coast on a gloriously sunny afternoon. I leave you with a couple of photos on days out I have taken recently – a trip on the Welsh Highland Preserved Steam Railway, and some time in Bodnant Gardens.

Take care, my friends – not long to the crop when I hope to see many of you. I’ll be coming with Mrs D and Canu Camilla – all headed for a Grand Day Out!

God bless.

Margaret