Team Teal - It's What We Do

This is a Special Blog Post.

For a Special Lady.

Her name is Marti, she's the lovely mom of Deb, one of my Blogging Friends.  She also has cancer and is fighting hard to beat it. 

Today is a Special Day for Marti, because it's her birthday - and we all like to celebrate a birthday!

So first of all,

* * * * * * * * * * * * 

Happy Birthday Marti!

* * * * * * * * * * * *

May you have a lovely day - and many more!

Shortly after Marti's cancer was diagnosed, Deb asked her friends to join her in a gesture of support for her mom and family.  She sent out a small bracelet/wristband to those who wanted to join in, with a request that we would wear it in support of Marti.  We also agreed to join with her in celebrating Marti's birthday, so she would have a circle of good wishes, prayers and support, from all over the world. 

This is my wristband.  I will be wearing it today, with pride, in honour of Marti's special day, and to show I am thinking of her, praying for her and wishing her and her family all the good thoughts and wishes that are held in the special words on the bracelet.

* * *

The bracelet says:

Hope

Faith

Courage

Strength

* * *

Marti, I wish these things to you, today and always - and to Deb, Ron, Carrie, Doug and the rest of your lovely family.  May you feel the love and support that surrounds you and find encouragement and strength to handle whatever may come.

I am proud to be included in the celebration of your birthday, along with all the other friends - especially those wonderful ladies that I  - and Deb - have come to know through our Blogs.  We may live so many miles apart; we may have different lives, with different backgrounds, cultures, beliefs and values.  But even so, and although most of us have never met in real life,  we all share the common values of friendship - interest in each other's lives and problems, trust, kindness, caring,  concern and love.   We have come to know one another fairly well and we are glad to offer support and friendship, whether life is going well, or whether it is not.

We are Friends and that is what we do.

Happy Birthday to you, Marti - from All your Friends!

Wednesday Worktable (on Thursday!)

Oh dear... forgot to post this yesterday, but I can't waste all the nice photos!

This is what's going on here just now:

A second attempt at photo-collage.  I'm learning all the time - it's not perfect, but it's getting better!

BBFS - A Day in Photos

A project with others from the Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers class with Shimelle - see the rest  here

Collage template by Rhonna Farrer - available here

Easter Sunday in Pictures (better late than never!)

We had a lovely Easter and the family came over for lunch and tea on Easter Sunday.  It was very busy and I was soooo tired afterwards. But I'm fine now and snatching a few minutes from book-binding, to post some photos of our day.

DH snatches a quick drink in the kitchen after lunch...

J. with the railway he kindly built, in a shady corner, for the amusement of our little guests...

Our tiniest guest snoozes in the shade of the big umbrella - one month old now

DC entertains the tiny people on the trampoline

Two-year-olds are made of rubber...

Relaxing in the garden...

Chatting in the kitchen...

admiring the baby...

The proud new mummy

The little ones together...

Family portrait!

It was good to get everyone together. We haven't managed that for some time, and we really enjoyed ourselves.  I must print a copy of this photo for Grandma (Great-Grandma now!) - she'll be so pleased.

Fun on Fursday 3 (that cat again...)

Well, it has to be this, really - a brand new Simon's Cat video on his You Tube channel:

It's made my day! And just in time for Easter too... Hope you enjoy it!

Saturday Guests

We have had a busy, but lovely day today.   Some friends came to visit, from London.  The morning was busy, busy, tidying up, cooking a nice lunch etc.  They were late because the M1 has been closed for two days, following a big fire early on Friday morning; they had to come by a slightly different route, but were here in time for a late lunch. 

We had a Mediterranean style of lunch today - pasta ribbons, lamb stew with tomatoes, red wine, peppers, olives and herbs, bread, olives, breadsticks, parmesan...

Then we sat in the garden, chatting, playing the guitar (well J. and our friend G. did that), drinking our coffee, jumping on the trampoline (a certain small girl was doing this!).

Lunch was yummy, but we needed a walk afterwards - to make room for pudding!

We went down to the riverside, for a little while.

It was a warm and sunny day today, so we had a lovely walk, across the field from the village, then along the riverside, to the weir.

J. talking about the bridge!

Our Little Friend

The whole family together.

Of course, once we got back we felt hungry again - lemon torte and chocolate fudge cake were very welcome, along with nice coffee. 

It was a really nice afternoon.  I hope we can do it again soon!

My Wednesday Worktable

Okay, I don't normally join in with this (there are several "versions" of this on the go around the Blogosphere...).  But today I thought it might be fun to show you what's going on in my studio just now!

I've been busy cutting paper and covering boards for book commissions:

These are two front and two back covers for middle-sized Wedding Guest books.  I am working on a commission item, for a lady called Victoria.  She's getting married at a butterfly garden, so wanted the butterflies on this paper to stand out.  I thought she'd like to choose between these, so sent her some photos.  She has chosen the top design for the front cover (left hand side) and the bottom design for the back (right hand sides).  The remaining front and back covers will become another Guest Book, to add to my shop!  I hope to finish Victoria's book very soon.

This is for a Wedding Guest book, for a lady called Kristina.  The cover is in ivory damask-effect, embossed paper.  The purple silk will form an edging for the front and back covers.  This book will have a Coptic style binding, in ivory coloured linen thread, with 20 pages of heavy-weight paper, to allow for writing and photographs.   This is also on my priority list for completion very soon.

These are covers for a large Wedding Guest book, with heavy-weight pages, for photographs.  The binding will be a stab-stitch, in red linen thread.  The customer asked for chocolate paper lining for the covers. It looks very dark in the photo, but is actually very effective and goes with the brown of the bird's branch on the book cover.  This book is going all the way to Australia, for an August wedding day.  I hope its bright and colourful covers will bring a little warmth to the day, as it will be winter then!

I am ready to stick the deep red silk edging onto the covers of this sketch book.  It will then have a Coptic binding, in golden yellow linen, with the orange tassel attached at the top of the binding.  The sketch book is a special one for Holly.  It has a Buddhist theme, and will be embellished with a little string of prayer flags and a mini-photo of a Lotus flower.  Inside are 80 pages of sketch paper.  I'm having fun with this one (so is Holly)! 

This piece of Liberty Tana Lawn fabric will soon be made into book-cloth, for the covers of another special Wedding Guest book, for a lady named Amy.  The covers will have an edging of damson or green silk - still to be decided. 

I also have the covers for another guest book like this one.  It will have a similar binding, in Coptic stitch, in either deep blue, or dark moss green linen, with ivory linen for the in-between stitching. 



At the corner of my desk, there is also a pile of cut pages, for these six books, several more guest books and albums, plus a number of photograph albums.  There are also several sets of boards, to make the photo album covers.  

The photo albums will turn out something like these.  One is destined for a friend, who recently had a baby boy, so the pages are soft blue and the cover will be in either blue fabric, or a fun paper I found, with old-fashioned toys all over it.   There will be a silk or paper edging, like the albums above.  I like this style of photo album - it looks smart. 

I think, in all, there are about 13 books on my side-table just now, with pages and covers cut; some covers are ready for binding, some are almost ready and some are just bare book-board, waiting for me to choose the paper or fabric to cover them.   Soon I will be busy making hole-pricking patterns, pricking the binding holes and sewing lots of bindings, in a mixture of Coptic stitch and Japanese stab-stitch.  

I think you could say that I have plenty to keep me busy just now!  Watch out for photos of finished items, over the next couple of weeks...

Summertime in Spring!

This weekend it was Summer!

How do I know this?

The Trampoline is back in action - we took off the tarpaulin and put up the net enclosure.

The Bouncing Season is On!

Mr LizzieMade has uncovered the garden benches for me...

...and for Sherlock.

Sherlock knows when it's Summer.  He lies in the sunshine...

... in his favourite spots...

... and explores all the interesting corners, looking for frogs and the odd mouse...

Sherlock loves the sunshine.

So do the guinea pigs!

Yet, it's still Spring!

How do I know this?

Pear Blossom - but no Ash leaves...

The Apple Blossom is not out yet...

...but the Narcissi, Grape Hyacinths and Tulips still are...

... so are the Carder Bees - they're searching for nest sites

and nectar - with their long little noses!

It was a beautiful weekend and we had a lovely afternoon in the garden.  Never mind that it's a bit rainy today, Summer was here, even if only for a Weekend.

Fun on Fursday 2

It's Fursday again! Sorry, let's try again - Thursday again.  Hummmm...

Anyway, I said I was trying to start a regular "thing" called "Fun on Fursday".  Yesterday's post could have been today's, as it was rather fun... but then, I posted it yesterday because I wanted to smile at it... so it couldn't be today's post as well, could it? 

I thought of leaving this post til tomorrow, since I've been rather busy nursing a poorly mum today (on the mend thanks!).  But then, it wouldn't have been "Fun on Fursday", but "Fursday's Fun on Friday", which doesn't quite have the same ring about it. And of course, if you're Amy, it will definitely be On Friday anyway, since it's now mid-morning in Australia. Still...

Fun on Fursday

Today's "Fun" is another Link. 

Why? 

Because I have been told it's naughty to copy other people's blogs without asking. 

Because this is my Very Favourite Blog

Because there have been two new posts recently, after a long absence, which makes me smile.

Because Everyone Needs to Know about Tummy Mountain.

Because Everyone Needs to Know about Tummy Mountain Recipes too.

When you've finished marvelling at the culinary skills of the Little Ones, why not click the "Home" tab and read some posts too?  You won't be sorry.

I hope you think this is Fun.  Happy Fursday (sorry, Thursday)!

Missing : Days

Mrs LizzieMade today reported that a number of Days had mysteriously vanished from weeks during March. 

Worryingly, this trend appears to continue, with Days still disappearing from April.

Contact Lizziemade.blogspot.com if you have any Information that might lead to the safe recovery of the Missing Days.

Mrs. LizzieMade offers a Reward for their Return.

Beautiful Babies!

I am so lucky to have three little Great Nieces!  They range in age from just 8 days old, to 2 1/2 years old. 

September 2008

April 2010

March 2011

Someone is a proud big sister...

These little girls are so adorable...

Big Sister is so lovely and fun-loving...

Her little cousin has the cutest little face - she's so sweet...

They are good friends...

and now there are three of them!

I am looking forward to having a photo with all three girls together!