Cyril the squirrel got his nuts

I got hubby to make a squirrel feeder by printing off some photos of ones for sale to give him an idea. The squirrel didn't have a clue, we tried leaving nuts on it, propping open the lid - nothing.

So I thought it was maybe a bad design, perhaps the flap to lift should be over the viewing panel so the squirrel could see the nuts when opening the lid. So got hubby to remake it, now it looks like a Heath Robinson affair, he didn't want to use good wood until the squirrel demonstrated it had the idea so the platform was two pieces of wood.

The squirrel used the box to climb over to the bird nuts! Half the platform fell off. The birds looked like they knew what to do if only they could do it, but not the squirrel.

We decided we had the stupidest squirrel in the country as I remember the documentary where the untrained creature navigated a number of obstacle courses and always got the nuts.

Saturday I was putting out the compost and a squirrel arrived, jumped onto the half platform and proceeded to do what we expected in the first place in the spring when we put the box up. The only thing was the nuts by now were totally mouldy and black. So I had to go and scoop them out with my fingernails and clean the box before adding fresh peanuts.

I have told hubby that the next box needs a sliding viewing panel for cleaning! I hope to get photos of this at some point perhaps next weekend.

I haven't managed any crafting this weekend, and I was going to do so much. I have just cut up a sheet of UM stamps which were sticky on the back, I didn't want them gathering dust. I have stuck them to a polypocket which might be their permanent home rather than a laminated sheet then I can pop a stamped insert in the pocket.

Does anyone know if the poly pockets are good for clear stamps to cling to and not damage them?

Pay it Forward - now closed and winners picked

I had a lovely Pay it Forward RAK from Dawn, now I am going to Pay it Forward to someone else (not the same thing you understand, I will put together another RAK package).

Just leave a comment on this post and I will pick randomly from the first 12 crafters to leave a comment.

Don't forget I moderate all posts so you won't see it appear right away.

Oh and in the interests of fairness only one comment per person will be counted.

Round up of the week and PIF

Well it is quite interesting in my boring world.

First there was defrosting the freezer in the garage. Hubby kept on about it so I said lets do it now. Course being a man he had to get the blow torch out, and scared me silly when the door shut knocking it over so it was blow torching the bottom of the freezer - haven't dared look see what damage it may have done!

Then there was a puddle on the floor, so he said pass the car washing sponge, which I did. He was mopping the floor and then I could see this coming and said don't you dare....... yes he used the same sponge on the inside of the freezer! I was livid, told him in unrepeatable words what I thought of him, then had to fetch clean cloths and white vinegar to clean it properly. Now that is my fault apparently as I didn't get the clean cloths soon enough! Go Figure.

Then I found out I had won Dawn's wonderful PIF that arrived today (my right hand was itching madly the day I won it too). I am going to offer a PIF soon, perhaps next post so watch this space! I will take a photo too. I also received Dawn's fat page so I have 3 now, must finish mine at the weekend and post them.

I received a little package from Making Memories too, a shop owner in the USA sent my details to them as being on the wait list for The Slice, which they decided not to ship the European version to the USA so they would send something by way of compensation. I got a little journalling notebook and some mini blooms, both interesting items.

I had an attempted parcel delivery, some wooden boxes and mini drawers to paint from Baker Ross, and the delivery company used were particularly inflexible. They offered to deliver it to an alternative address, so I gave my parents address, rang them to check when they were in, then rang them back to confirm it was Thursday. I was concerned because they were going to try the next day and if it got to three times undelivered they would send it back!

I did explain to my Dad it was going to his address I know I did, I did, I did, - so my parents came over to my house and waited all day, sent me a snotty text about a wasted day and went home to find the neighbour had taken in the parcel for them! Dad won't have it I told him, so we had a heated discussion about it! He also couldn't work out how it went there with my address on it! Sigh!

I bought a load more dies from Ellison in the sale, I wasn't going to do this as I have lots of dies I don't fully use now. I know the idea is once you get the die cutter at a reasonable price you then spend many times that on dies, but I have already done that and I have the Robo! The dies arrived very quickly.

Yesterday when driving back home from a meeting somewhere I don't go often enough to be confident in the dark I took a wrong turn and ended up down a dead end lane which was very steep, did a 3 point turn and then got stuck, clutch oil was burning and the handbrake wouldn't hold, scary moment. I didn't know what to do, so eventually I let the car go back a bit, sat to let it cool then tried again and luckily managed to get up that hill. I am so glad I don't live there!

I purchased a whole load more of House Mouse stamps from the USA, and although the exchange rate is low and the postage is high(well from a lot of the sellers but not all) the actual prices were really low. So I got 14 HM stamps, including 3 image and sentiments combos, and a half sheet of UMs called the Christmas Cod! All of this was £62 including post, so pretty good unless I have to pay loads of tax! Some of the stamps were ones I have been wanting for some time. The stamps might arrive before Christmas, I hope so as I have plans for the cod ones!

I have bought a "few" more stamps recently too.

I made a few more cards, the snowman one took about 30 seconds, it is a sticker on a decorated card, the Cuttlebug village one has curled when the glitter glue dried so not happy with it, and the last one I am quite pleased with, English Paper Company paper, stamped a bird on it from Inkadinkado clear festive birds set, and the chipboard sticker is Papermania as is the snowman.

Also today my Nieces' Card Making Princess prize turned up at last, she has been worrying about it since she knew she won!

If anyone can tell me how to get the photos to stay where I want them please let me know, I used to be able to do it but it seems to be out of control now!

House Mouse and Cute Card Thursday Challenge

I did this for the House Mouse Challenge blog Challenge, Polka Dots. I am also entering it for the Cute Card Thursday Challenge - lilac.

Stamped the image and heat embossed which is not really recommended for such a detailed stamp but I thought it would help with colouring it which I did with Marvy Brush markers, not that well! Finished with some Diamond glaze on the Smarties for a 3d effect.

I will try this stamp again without heat embossing.

This card has so many things wrong with it you would never believe it!

I just heard I won a PIF from Dawn

Sorry the comments and the photos are not in the right places for each other, you will need to work it out!




Male blackbird with flock of sparrows.


Robin keeping an eye on the sparrows and female blackbird on the fence. The little photo is a Dunnock sometimes called a hedge sparrow but no relation to sparrows, and it is much darker in colour - I like them.

Can you see the Great Tit? How many different birds can you find in the hedge behind? Not the greatest photo, a bit blurred sorry!

I also snapped a sparrow hovering in to land on the food, great action picture I thought!

Well I left Dawn an award and it was on the PIF post and I got picked by Pepsi the cat, how cool is that? So will have to think about doing one myself!

Blog award

Well fancy that, I have been given an award by two people at once!
Thank you Debbie and Sally, that is very sweet of you.


This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships!These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.Here are my 8 people:

Linda Wright
Dawn
Jak
Craft Fairy
Sarah
Deanne or should it be Diane (read blog to see why)?
Gaye
Kim






Next post: More sparrows.

Life is a rollercoaster...

What a week this has been! 1st I recieved the subs gift of Stamps away stamps with some acrylic blocks and an inkpad, and because of the mix up and the problems I had with my subs they said I could keep the package of goodies that I thought I had won a few weeks back, I did ask but nobody got back to me.

I chased up the stamps and they said I had been sent a Cardology gift according to the agents did I have it? I said I did and have been asking you why, even on the forum and I did get a reply telling me I had won it then another asking for details as it looked a bit like the subs gift but I didn't get any more from that person despite replying again.

So I have the stamps and the brads etc now. The stamps are quite small as you may be able to tell but there is quite a variety.

Then my brother rang to say his divorce absolute came through earlier than expected the day after he consulted a passing clairvoyent at a friends house who told him this would happen as well as a few other things. He is totally convinced.

Then my son got knocked off his bicycle cycling to work despite wearing a bright yellow jacket, my hubby was caught up in traffic and when he was driving past the police cars and ambulance and paramedic car he recognised the bike on the ground, so that was a shock.

Son was taken to A&E hubby was told before this to go on to work and he would be phoned if needed, I was totally oblivious until I got home that evening, A&E let son go telling him he needed to have someone with him all day (he bashed his head on the road, and hurt his leg, the bike was damaged too), so what did he do? Ring one of us? No, he went to catch the train home, I don't know if he walked the couple of miles to the station or got a bus.

Hubby took him and bought him a cycle helmet which we hope he will wear, he is far too old to wait for his parents to buy such things, but you can't tell them anything. I think we are all lucky he is still here to moan about his bike, could have been so much worse.

I had a fat page arrive from Australia from the lovely Sabina, it is part of the fat page swap I am taking part in on PCJs forum and I can't show you as we are not revealing any until we all have all of our pages so it will remain a surprise.

I have been busy cleaning the bathrooms today, I really should go food shopping but I found something to eat today so I will have to go tomorrow and not today now which somehow feels better to me, I don't know why!

I now have 11 blog followers, thank you all for following me!

Sparrows (and friends) aren't rare in my garden

When I took the bird photos last week I hoped to get a photo of the flocks of sparrows that visit the feeder, but they are quite shy. However when I looked at the photos again I found one sparrow, and here it is:

Robin and Blue Tit

Here are two of my favourites: The Robin on the fence then feed tray, and the Blue Tit on the fat balls the whole time.

I had my camera on the tripod in the spare room with my telephoto lens pointing at the bird feeder so popped up to take more shots, but there were children playing rugby at the weekend in the field so I thought I better not stay there in case they thought I was a perv!

On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me

Two Collared Doves

and a Woodpigeon

on a food tray!

Bootiful blog candy

I can't work out which day we are on, but this bootiful blog is giving away a bootiful stamp a day.

Rock Star and blog candy

Well here is the card for my nephew, which is a bit askew! I used a great image that the talented Debbie Moore let me use, which I coloured with Prismas and decoupaged slightly.
I embossed some card with a Cuttlebug folder, then cut it with a frame die and made that into a shaker card with stars, musical notes and beads inside. I used the star with a ribbon threaded through and one of my new enamelled ribbon tags. I found a rub on that read "You Rock". I then remembered the glittered Making Memories letters and decided they were perfect!

Now the blog candy - you can find it over at Papercraft Junkies - just click on the logo on the right to find it!

SheetLoad's Blog Candy Blow Out

Fantastic load of blog candy stamps at Sheetloads of Cards blog in a November blowout! It looks fantastic, too good not to have a go!

Wow look at this lot!

This closes on 16th November.

Crafts By Carolyn Big Weekend Challenge Nov 08

I am attempting to do the Nov 08 Weekend Challenge over on the Crafts By Carolyn forum. I have only managed the first two and I am not terribly happy with the keyring but I got the points and I am giving it to my niece with her card.

The card is an interesting fold and many of the challenges include variations of it, and we have until Friday morning to complete as many as possible! Mmmm!

Alfie dog - a Man United football supporter now?

Alfie found himself a new toy to adopt, and it doesn't even make a noise! Is he a Man United fan, or is it because it used to belong to my son who he seems to find very threatening and tries to keep him out every single day when he comes home.

Alfie hasn't ripped the red devil yet either, Sooty keeps running off with it but Alfie carries it round all over the place.


Guess what - more stamps arrived, I really must stop buying them!

I have made a birthday card for my niece in case they visit tomorrow and I can give it to my brother to take away ready for next week. I just have one to make for my 19 year old nephew now.

The stamp is Penny Black Beehave, coloured with Prismacolour pencils and blended with Sansador (and I am not very happy as I have found my new set of 120 has broken cores so I end up with half a pencil before I can start colouring), cut out with Nestie, matted on English Paper Company paper. Ribbon and MM Tag reads Hello, and Karen Foster blooms with Dovecraft brad, and chipboard letters.
Corners rounded with Paper Gator.

Craft Stamper Blog

Wow! I just found that my favourite magazine Craft Stamper has a newly hatched blog! Also there is blog candy!

I won new stash - I think and RAK from Linda

This is the package of goodies that turned up on Friday.
I don't yet know why but I know it was from Practical Publishing, could have been a give-away draw.

There are some lovely Cardology brads, cards with envelopes, sequins, wooden flowers with button middles and ribbons, more brads, mini clothes hangers, glitter, embossing powder (I think), and a sheet of greetings. So whatever the reason I am pleased with it but you would think they might have put a note in to give me a clue, it was only by googling the sender's address that I determined it must be Practical Publishing!


I also had a lovely RAK arrive from dear Linda, a gorgeous card and some lace and here they are:

Linda's Fairy card is just so lovely, love the dragon paper, and the lace is shown draped over the card. Linda's blog has many gorgeous creations on it and is well worth hopping over to.