Home is where your Big Shot is....

Hi you all, got back home this morning after an uneventful journey. My neighbours were pleased to see me - and I was happy to see them again, too! My next door neighbour had a pot plant to care for while I was away, and he brought it back, covered in lovely flowers and at least twice as big as it was before - what do I do wrong?? I think I'll have to ask how he looked after it!

I have been happily re-united with my big shot, my paper cutter, my cropodile, piles of lovely stash and my wonderful coffee maker. Now all I need is a good fairy to pop along, do the washing, and tidy everything back into the closets here!

I am off to get some shopping after I have drunk my coffee, I will have to cook for myself again! But perhaps I will bring a grilled chicken from the take-away today as a back home celebration.

I will miss the nice people I met in the clinic, and will definitely stay in touch with some who really became friends in the time we spent together.

Take care of yourselves, and thanks for dropping by!

Monday Monday

Hi you all, Monday again, the time is flying, and I am happy that I will be going home on Wednesday. I am looking forward to the reunion with my big shot, and my paper cutter, and my printer etc....
This weekend I got several things made, which I want to give as little gifts to staff here. The first one is a mixed media piece using lots of texture and paints which I mixed with stickles to give some sparkle. The second piece is a little collage with painted background.

Have a good day you all, have fun and thanks for dropping in!

March Calendar Challenge

Well, I am rather late with posting my calendar for this month, but I couldn't do it before today. I am not happy with it, as I have stuck the days on all wonky. I didn't intend to put them in straight rows, but neither did I intend them to be all at different angles! And my glue stick didn't help. I bought a no-name one from the local supermarket, and it was not only no-name, but no-stick, no-use and no-good. On Monday I will buy a decent one!

I painted the background in blues and greens, to give me some spring feelings, and did some stamping and embossing and some doodling before putting on the days. Next week I will be back home, and hopefully able to cut and stick straight again! I am linking up to the *Kathryn Wheel*

Okay, that's all for today. Have a good Sunday, take care, and thanks for dropping in!

Postcard Challenge # 9 and PPF Week 51

Good morning you all. It's another double party today, week 9 of Darcy's postcard Challenge and week 51 of Paint Party Friday hosted as always by Eva and Kristin.

On arriving home after his visit to Cuba, Jason is rather disgruntled to discover that Cissie loves cigars – she just doesn’t usually smoke because she likes to live healthily, and he has to watch as she uses his rum to make *Rumtopf*, fruits conserved in rum....which need to soak for weeks before they are ready to eat!
But as she treated him to a double portion of fish and ships at that fave shop, and promised him tea and cream cakes in the afternoon, he cheers up a bit.

This week Cissie is off to Switzerland with her best friend Thelma. Thelma has hardly spoken to her all week, because she would have preferred to go to Hungary, which reminds Cissie of HUNGRY, but by the time Jason heaves the cases of the two ladies into the coach at Victoria, they are happy again. After boarding the ship, they both put on the life jackets they have brought with them, as Cissie is rather worried after hearing bad news of some cruise ships that had problems. The captain tries to tell them that it is absolutely not necessary, but they refuse to remove them, even when he invites them into the bar for free drinks. They arrive safely in Ostend, and the captain is glad to see the back of them, saying *Those two barrage balloons couldn’t sink if they tried!*

After a long drive they arrive at their hotel in Geneva, where they spend 2 days before going on to Basel and Zürich, and visiting an alm, where the tourist guide has to push the two ladies by their generous butts to get them from the coach-park to the restaurant in an *Alm Hütte*. They do some sightseeing in the towns they visit, but ignore all the wonderful museums and sights to give them more time to eat and shop. Auntie Cissie and Thelma each buy themselves a *Dirndl*, the traditional dress with blouse and apron, although Auntie Cissie is rather concerned that it makes her look a little fat.... The shop assistant assures her that she looks very fetching - *Nein, nein, Madam, a Dirndle must goot sitzen, and you have the goot body for it!*

Before they go home, Cissie buys masses of swiss Gruyere and Emmenthaler cheese, and of course, enough chocolate to sink a battle ship. Here is the postcard she sends to Jason. She had her photo taken in front of the wonderful panorama of Zürich and the Lake.

For PPF I want to share a mixed media piece that I painted last weekend. Once again I have used lots of green, blue and gold.

Sorry I haven't been around this week, my cold was sooooooo bad that I had to stay in bed for a few days to avoid more complications, but I'm up again today, and am feeling a lot better.

Have a great day, take care of yourselves, and thanks a lot for visiting!

Fantasy Tag

Hi everybody, hope you have all have a good weekend, and are ready to get dug in to the new week!!

I spent most of yesterday in bed, I still feel very grotty. I haven't had a cold as bad as this for a long time, I think it must be man flu!

The tag is for the new challenge over it *The Cheerful Stamp Pad*, where land of fantasy is the theme. I have cobbled a tag together using bits and bobs flying about my table. The background picture has been cut out of a free magazine from the chemist's, the little girl is from Scrollswork, and was stamped and cut out, but not used, for another project, and the rest was in my stash.

Have a good day you all, and thanks for visiting!

Valentine Post and Blog Awards

Hi you all, I'm a little bit late blogging today, my nose is still running faster than I can and I need some rest! Apart from that, and coughing and sneezing, I don't think I will be up to much today. Why does a common cold make you feel soooooooo bad?

First of all, here are the pretties I got from Carolyn. She always does such lovely work, and makes her things with an incredible attention to detail. And in the little bag is another bag full of hearts - a bag full of love! Thanks again Carolyn!

Then I have been given the *Liebster* Blog award from 2 people:

Jeanie and Andrea. Jeanie makes wonderful layouts, and Andrea makes a wonderful selection of horrible things, but have a look for yourselves....

There are some things to do for this award, but it will have to wait till I feel better!

And Natasha May gave me this award:

Natasha's blog is also well worth a visit to see her lovely art.

I am soslow today, I have needed more than an hour for this little post, so I think I had better stop. Take care, and thanks for visiting!

Silk Scarves

On Tuesday evening one of the nurses here did a silk painting class with a group of us. I I made 2 scarves, using a sort of batik Technic, which was quick and easy. We had to leave them to dry overnight, and then iron them to fix the colours. It's the first time I've had an iron in my hands for a long time! Then the scarves had to washed to remove any excess dye, and ironed again - phew! Here they are:

Next week she is doing another class, so I've signed up already!

The weather here is mild and sunny, saw the first snowdrops when I went for my walk yesterday, so I very much hope that more will follow, I've had enough of cold and winter!

And before I close, here's another joke from Narda:

Kidnapping

A blonde woman was having financial troubles so she decided to kidnap a child and demand a ransom. She went to a local park, grabbed a little boy, took him behind a tree and wrote this note: "I have kidnapped your child. I am sorry to do this but I need the money. Leave $10,000 dollars in a plain brown bag behind the big oak tree in the park at 7 a.m.. Signed, the Blonde." She pinned the note inside the little boy's jacket and told him to go straight home. The next morning, she returned to the park to find the $10,000 in a brown bag behind the big oak tree, just as she had instructed. Inside the bag was the following note: "Here is your money. I cannot believe that one blonde would do this to another."

Have a good day you all, take care and thanks for visiting!