Look what just arrived!!

These gorgeous flowers arrived just a minute ago from

John. I told him not to do anything for our Anniversary as we were out on Saturday night and we're supposed to be saving to go on holiday next summer. Obviously he never listens to anything I say!!

Aren't they stunning? Yellow roses (my favourite) and perfect purple Gladioli

Another Order

I was asked last week to make another pull out card. This time by the bride who received the last one!! She wanted one for her friend who has just got married in New York. She wanted an American theme, something pink and the words Just Married. Here's what I made...................

Happy Anniversary

14 years today. Does that count as two seven year itches??

Who are those youngsters?

Relax and read Sunday

After a fantastic night out with friends on Saturday night (thanks guys I haven’t laughed so much in ages) I decided to have a relaxing day yesterday and catch up with some reading. I got two books for my Birthday. One from Samuel, Cut, Crop and Die by Joanna Campbell-Slan and one from my Mum, The Guernsey Literacy and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Burrows.
I had to start with Cut, Crop and Die as I wanted to find out what Kiki Lowenstein is up to now!! Well I sat and read all day and I finished the book. I can’t remember that last time I did that. Probably too long ago to remember!!

Now to start on this one..........................

Pink Saturday Time

I can't believe it's that time of the week again. Pink Saturday. Once again hosted by the lovely Beverly over at How Sweet the Sound. Thank you so much for doing this again Beverly. It must be a lot of hard work keeping us all in check!

This week my offering is the lovely little pile of packages I received from my Mum for my Birthday. They were all wrapped in pink paper, perfect for today.

Also "in attendance" is Ellie the pink elephant I made last weekend.

And finally a lovely pink bracelet my Mum made to help raise funds for a teacher from church who is going to Rwanda in December. Isn't it cute? I placed it on one of my favourite pieces of scrapbooking paper (Penny Lane by My Minds Eye for those scrapbookers out there ).
My blog of choice this week would have to be my sister Ruth's. Pop over and say hi. She's a SAHM to my 2 year old nephew and has a few adventures mixed in with some lovely scrapbook projects :) You'll find her here Everyday Life of a Suburban SAHM and if you're quick you can join her giveaway.

Hope you all have a lovely Pink Saturday x

The Worlds biggest Coffee Morning

Today was the Macmillan Biggest Coffee Morning in the World and at work they didn't disappoint. At break time the staff room was filled with delicious cakes and biscuits. There were so many gorgeous cakes it was hard to choose just one!!!!
And today's treats fitted in perfectly with the HSMSHS prompt for today which was........Cake!

It is also my Birthday today and I was totally spoilt. I got loads of lovely cards and presents and tonight John and I are off out with friends. We're also out tomorrow night too. I don't know....night's out are like buses. You don't see one for months and then two come along at once!!
I chose these delightful little tartlets as my Birthday cake today. The bases were like shortbread and the raspberries were huge. Shame we only had one each :(

I had a great time today and one of the teachers even phoned me and sang Happy Birthday down the phone. How cool was that? It made my day :) One of the girls I work with asked me if I was OK managing the stairs at my age (how cheeky) so I told her I was having a stair lift installed.

Thanks to everyone for the lovely gifts. I had one present back in July when my sister Ruth and I went to Summer Swing at Kew Gardens to see Bjorn Again. Fabulous night with a picnic and Pimms. Even the rain didn't put us off. Samuel said he didn't get me a present but he'd be good for a week instead..............................starting next week!!! Makes you wonder what he has planned for the weekend!!

HSMSHS - Surprise

Surprise - to cause somebody to feel sudden wonder or amazement, especially at something unexpected

This fits really well with the photo of Samuel last year finding out he had tickets to see Joseph and his Amazing Technicoloured Dream Coat in London's West End.

HSMSHS - Tower

Tower is the word for today. A tall structure, sometimes the upper part or a tall part of a building or structure and sometimes a separate building.

This is the front door to Ballindalloch Castle on Speyside. Taken on a beautiful sunny day last summer.

New front door

How excited can you get over a new front door? Me? Very excited. We've been waiting for 3 months for Derek to come and replace the old one and guess what? He's coming on Monday to fit the new one. Now my only problem is what colour to paint it!!!

We will lose the glass panel at the top that has the house name on it but I'm hoping to get a slate name plate for outside the door.

HSMSHS - Fungus

Todays word is Fungus. Any of a diverse group of eukaryotic single-celled or multinucleate organisms that live by decomposing and absorbing the organic material in which they grow, comprising the mushrooms, molds, mildews, smuts, rusts, and yeasts.

This isn't your usual fungus or mushroom as it's a lovely wooden one in the gardens at Kew. Somwhere nearby there was a huge wooden beatle too!!!!!!

Autumn is coming

It was obvious, on our walk yesterday, that Autumn is upon us. It's my favourite season. I love the changing colours and getting wrapped up for walks (before it gets really cold).

This isn't an Autumn shot but it was my favourite pic of the day. The boat was a bit worse for wear and full of water.

I spotted these lovely flowers on our way along the river. They seem to be everywhere and in varying shade of pink. I have no idea what they are but they look a bit like a small Orchid.

Pale pink (almost white) and dark pink. Anyone got any ideas what they might be?

John is amazing to go for a walk with as he finds the smallest of things all over the place. While I was busy looking where to put my feet he spotted these two little guys on a dead Dog Weed. "Get in there and take a photo" says he!! Alright for some, he's not the one scrambling through the undergrowth to get a photo!

We found some late berries and in true Terry Wogan fashion didn't pick any below waist height LOL :)

Plenty of Rose hips to go around and while John was thinking Rose Hip wine, Samuel was thinking Itchy Powder. Apparently if you squeeze the hips when they've dried up a bit they have a powdery middle which if you get on your skin will make it itch!! I learnt something new yesterday....from a 12 year old!!

And finally the changing colours of Autumn. Aren't they beautiful?

Weekend news

It's been a weekend of real ups and downs. The downs are that a friend of ours was taken into hospital after having a heart attack and is still in hospital in Aberdeen. As yet we have no other news. Also another friend ended up in hospital with anaphalactic shock from a bee sting. Thing is he's been a bee keeper for 2 years and the first time he gets stung he finds out he's allergic!!

The ups are I finished my first felt project, took a 6 mile walk along the Speyside Way, had a quick drink in the pub and made a batch of carrot cake muffins ready for lunch boxes tomorrow.

Here's my first pink elephant!! Made using the instructions in the Stitched Toys book I got from the library last week. Isn't she cute? She is already spoken for so I best get on and make some more.

Today's walk was the turn of the Speyside Way which took us from Fochabers to Spey Bay. All 6 miles of it. We did cheat a bit and take the car to Spey Bay first so that when we got there we didn't have to walk the 6 miles back!!

This sign post is right on the edge of the river where the car park used to be before the floods the other week. You can't even tell where the car park should have been!!

A few months ago Samuel and John cycled this route. It is not supposed to look like this. It used to be a path of grass and a few stones, all of which was washed away and all that is left behind now is a pile of huge pebbles. Mossy hated walking on them!! Bless.
This tree never used to be there either. We have not idea where it started life but it is now on the side of the Spey along with wheelie bins, shoes and bits of metal.

It's hard to believe, when you look at the river today, just what it must have been like to carry all those trees etc down river. It was so tranquil today.

When we got back we popped into the pub for a quick drink and to find out the football score (well John did I couldn't care less if football was banned tomorrow!!) and then home to make some carrot cake muffins. It's just a normal cake mixture but put into muffin cases instead of cake tins. I don't feel such a pig then if I have one (otherwise it would have been a huge slice!!)

I wonder if anyone will eat them? If not it means all the more for me :)

Pink Saturday

Happy Pink Saturday to everyone. Once again a HUGE Thank You to Beverly over at How Sweet the Sound for hosting.
This week, while trying to think what offering to show your for PS, I realised that back in April I'd had my own Pink Saturday. So today I'll share that with you. It was a few things that were pink that day. Who knew that 6 months later I'd be taking part in a world wide Pink Saturday?


Before I go please take time to pop over to Riet's blog Quiltin' n Stitchin' Lady She has the most amazing photos of gardens, windmills and of course her lovely family.

April 2009 -Yesterday was Pink!!

The tips of my socks were pink...........

My new crochet project was pink (and red).................

Even the flowers on the tree in the garden were pink................

Lucky for John and Samuel they don't own anything pink!!!!!!!!

Hope you all have a lovely Pink Saturday. I have some jobs to do but will be back later to leave comments :)

HSMSHS - Busy

The weekend we went to Edinburgh it was busy, busy, busy. Not only was the Tattoo on but it was also the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and there were people everywhere along the Royal Mile.

The Mass bands at the Tattoo.......

and getting ready for their performances at the Fringe.

HSMSHS - Soft

Soft - yielding readily to touch or pressure; easily penetrated, divided, or changed in shape; not hard or stiff.

What could be softer in our house than Ralph the microwaveable dog? He is just the softest thing ever and very useful for all kinds of aches and pains :)

HSMSHS - Curve

While I was at my sister's this summer we took a visit to the Botanical Gardens at Kew where I tried to take, what I call, my 'Arty Farty' shots. This staircase turned out really well (apart form the lady at the bottom who would not move for love nor money!) and is perfect for todays word - Curve

HSMSHS - Craft

Todays word is Craft and that for me could be one of a long list of things from crochet to cross stitch from scrapbooking to tapestry.

I've chosen this book, instead of the normal pictures I could have taken, as it's a new book from the library and is full of lovely things to make out of felt or fabric. I can't wait to get started.

HSMSHS - Storage

Todays word from HSMSHS is Storage and the perfect shot for me was these lovely little jars that my sister got for me to store my buttons in. The very best thing about them is they have lime green tops....my favourite colour at the moment.

Love Hearts

It has done nothing here today but drizzle with rain. After a quick run round with the iron this morning and a trip to Baxters for a pancake with Samuel and his pal it was time for some ME time.
I bought some new material last week from a lovely lady on E-bay, so armed with that and some left over felt and embroidery threads I set to work making some Love Hearts. I wasn't sure what to use for lettering until I remembered that I still had some Maya Road chipboard alphas left in my scrapbooking stash.

I traced the letters onto the felt and then over sewed them in silks.

Here's the work in progress and one of the finished hearts. I'm not sure what I'll do with them yet but I thought if I made enough I might think about selling them!!!!!!!!

Edited for my Mum - they are about 5 1/2 inches and have fabric on the reverse. :)

Another sunny day

Today was another kayaking day. This time they did twice the distance, starting off at Ballindalloch and ending up at Knockando. Samuel had a great time, as usual, and can't believe there's only one more kayaking week left this session

While he was busy on the river, for and hour or so, John and I sloped off down into Aberlour and had lunch in the pub!! (Well why not when you have no kids in tow?) After lunch we took the dog for a walk/bath along the river Spey.
Walking along the river you come to this lovely bridge. It's one of those that will bounce as you walk over it so...............................being the big kid I am I waited for a couple to finish taking their photos and walked to the middle and bounced!!!!!! Well I had to. It would be rude not too!!

The views today were stunning. These shots were taken from the middle of the bridge (once I'd stopped bouncing) and you can just make out a few anglers (who don't like kayakersbut that's their problem not ours).

It's hard to believe looking at these pictures that just last week the water was so high it flooded. The water last week was brown and disgusting. This week it's back to being crystal clear. What a difference a week makes.

It's the weekend again so it must be time for Pink Saturday. Once again a BIG thank you to our host, Beverly, for keeping us all in line. You can check out lots of lovely pinkness over at How Sweet the Sound
This week I thought I'd share a crochet cushion I made for my Mum earlier this year. It's not very big but fits perfectly on her rocking chair.

I took a look at Marina's blog this week Only Cute Things. She has some lovely paintings and loads of great photos to look at. Pop over and say hi.

I hope you're all having a lovely Pink day.