A little of what you fancy!

What made me happy this weekend....

On Saturday as I've already mentioned that re-mortgage offer finally came through my door ;)

What's more the survey valuation came in the same envelope and if that chap had been stood next to me I'd have kissed him (even though he was a bit of a frog!) 'cos he put just the right amount on there! ;)...and as to the mortgage advisor who made it happen lets just say I'd be willing to do almost anything!!! ROFL :)

Obviously Eurovision was a great night and in my garden...

...the Anemone is still going strong...

...the pinks are in flower...

...the Nora Barlow is in full bloom...

...visiting cat was zonked out on the flower bed...Aah bless!...

...and I bought this fabby large (2.5 ltr) glass pitcher that was on offer at Sainsbury's to put Sangria in for my garden party that I have decided to have in June to celebrate my garden make over, life, the universe and everything! LOL

You are all invited 'cos I want everyone there who has helped me through the last couple of years.....I've got a great play list of music ready...Cava chilling...some super food planned....just hope the weather is as glorious as this weekend was....but if it's not then we will have to cram into the house instead :)

xoxo Sioux

P.S. Anyone know how I can contact Richard Armitage and invite him? He definitely does not know it but he has helped me through the last two years! ;) ROFLIA

(that's...rolls on the floor laughing in agony!)

Euphoria!

It was an enjoyable evening...even though there was no one here to share the joy with and hug! WAB (that's.........what a bummer!)...

....and what's more Pip would have almost instantaneously been able to tell me way before the end of voting that Sweden could not loose..saving me lots of nervous breathing!!! LOL

So it was euphoria for me then and Sweden ;)
I am easily excited rofl!!!

 Yep....perhaps I should have put my house on it...although I expect my mortgage adviser would have a pink fit at that !!!! rofl

I thought France gave a great performance...(I'd love that woman's body btw!)...

..others who performed well on the night were...

...Spain What a voice what a performance :)

...Germany...(even though the shrug on his head did nothing for me!! lol)
...Serbia...a dark handsome interlude ;)
...Ukraine...

...and..urm... yes Jedward...well.....they do give it their all ;)

So huge congrats to Sweden and here is to next year in Stockholm. If you go I so know you will have a great time....Pip and I went to Eurovision once and it was a fabulous night.
xoxo Sioux
P.S. Lets not forget that even though the Windies were 370 all out in the 1st innings...England came back and were 259 for 2 at the end of day 2 :)

It's A Kind Of Magic

Bet you wondered where I was seeing as it's Eurovision tonight :)

Well I have had other things on my mind this week so this is the first time on line for a while...

..the good news is that my re-mortgage offer popped through the door today..yes...Yes...YES!!!

It seems to be just as we expected but I really need to read it through properly first.

Even my fabulous mortgage adviser texted me to say Hurrah!!! The mortgage company have certainly not made it easy!
(I am sure I must owe him something extra for all the extra work involved but how do I top that shadow box?)

So here we go for the best time of the year....

......Eurovision :)

I am backing Sweden but then when I found out nearly everyone else liked it too it seemed a waste of money to back anything else for the fun of it and there is no point in wasting money on Sweden either as the odds are very short!!!

So just for the fun of it...... 'cos it is a lot of fun no matter what the knockers say....it's Sweden for me....such a spine chilling song.

Bless Englebert he is first best of luck...he was a great fav of mine back in the day ;)
So I am on the fizz for the rest of the night.....happy days :)

xoxo Sioux

Adventure in life for The Artistic Stamper

I'm sharing a tag today over on the The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog

Curious? Then just hop on over to The Creative Team Blog for all the details.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping
xoxo Sioux

P.S. I appreciate each and every comment here but time is short in all our lives so please do not feel obliged to comment both here and on the creative team post.
...I'll see your comments and share the feed back all at the same time if you use The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog post ;)
Thanks

Risque Innuendo and Double Entendre!

You may have noticed by now that my sense of humour veers to the risque innuendo and double entendre!

I have for the first time since Pip died watched a bit of cricket and more importantly listened to TMS...

...that's Test Match Special on radio 5 for the non cricket followers out there! ;)

It was a big give,........as along with ABBA,........cricket also runs through my life (heck even my wedding reception was held at a cricket club!!)...

...and I had almost forgotten how much I love the banter of it :)

...so imagine my joy when I heard one of those classic cricket innuendo's in this first test match against the Windies (West Indies)  ;)

It was on the lines of the bowler rubbing his hands on the batters crease!!!

I was convinced the first test would be over way before the end of the 5 days! But the Windies or should I say Shivnarine Chanderpaul did a bit of a Boycott grind (occupy the crease) and managed to steer the test into the final fifth day ;)

Thanks for reading this....perhaps,.....unintelligible post...

...I promise not to turn this into a cricket blog!!! LOL

P.S. OMG!!!  WTH! (That's...........what the heck! ;) ) Struass was out for 1 in the second innings!!! And...and!!....Anderson was then out for 6!!!! WTH are they doing?

xoxo Sioux

P.P.S. Whilst I was listening to the cricket throughout the day....I did do a bit of crafting and covered a box that was far too good to throw away with some K and Co scrapbook papers that until now have been a mental block in using!!! What I will store in it is beside the point ;)

See you on Tuesday for a little something for The Artistic Stamper ;)

xoxo

Artistic Stamper DT News

Some news from The Artistic Stamper

Welcome, welcome , welcome to our NEW Creative Team members!

Hey, here is news of the new Creative Team members! There was the most amazing response to the call out last month, and this made it the most difficult task of choosing the new members! We hummed and haaed over creative artwork, and wonderful blogs, and finally after much deliberating made our choices. A BIG thank you to everyone who applied, we are just sorry we couldn't include you all :(

We would love you to welcome to the rubbery world of The Artistic Stamper, our THREE new members of the Creative Team, complementing all the fantastic work created by Emma, Sioux, Alison, and Kat.

Please put your hands together for

Louise Crosbie

Tit Belsoeur

Astrid Maclean

We know that they will bring the most gorgeous artwork , and make our samples for you even more exciting.

Welcome girls, and we are so looking forward to seeing your ART very soon :))

365 pages April/May

I might be late posting my pages for Kates 365 journal but I am keeping up to date....honest ;)

Here are my April finished pages

and my May pages that I photographed a few days ago but have only got round to posting today!

Pop over to the link here where you can see many more interesting pages than mine!

Thanks for the ongoing challenge Kate...it looks like you had an awesome time at Ranger U ;)

xoxo Sioux

Killer Queen for The Sunday Stamper and Simon Says

Almost as soon as I saw the prompt at Hels' Sunday Stamper "Killer Queen" this page started to form in my head and I just had to enter this week 'cos Freddie was the best...

...and Pip did a very good impression of him....happy times!

Whatever lurks within huh? I'm afraid my slightly dark (and at times rather risque) sense of humour took hold of me! LOL I started thinking about the creatures that devour their mates after....well um.......mating!! As you can see one thing led to another in my brain ROFL.

Hey and I learnt a new word morganatical 'cos serendipity had the word morganatically married on the the bit of book page I was cutting up for the crown :)

Thanks for looking and thanks Hels....I can always rely on you to power the cogs and wheels that churn in my brain!! ROFL
Ooh! I've just realised Simon Says is "Anything goes" this week so I am linking it there too ;)
Who knows it just might be my lucky week to win the fabulous prize from the generous people at the Simon Says shop of $50.oo how cool would that be? :)

Thanks for looking
xoxo Sioux
Stamps used: Stampotique, Studio G and Inkadinkadoo.

Last day of my travels

On the last day of my holiday we went to Biddulph Grange gardens in the morning.

It is such a lovely setting and hard to believe it was so neglected until fairly recently.

The Oriental garden was delightful

With a quirky frog statue

The Egyptian part

Part of the ceiling as you go into the shop area.

I could not resist this plant...it's a dianthus carthusianorum...a new one on me!!!

In the afternoon we travelled just down the road to Little Moreton Hall....a remarkable Tudor manor house.

I said WOW! when I saw this facade

Beautiful parrot tulips

The very atmospheric long gallery at the top of the house.

There is a moat that goes around the entire manor.

And I shrieked with delight when I found a plant for sale that I have been after for some time...

...a Crambe Maritima...I know it does not look much at the moment but it grows quite tall so watch this space ;)


I started my long journey home at about 4 p.m. as I needed to be home on the Friday for the collection of that Vagabond!
I eventually made it in my front door at about 11.15 p.m. but I did stop at Ikea in Birmingham and did my food shopping at the local 24 hour Tesco in Newton Abbot too!!
I was shattered! LOL
Hope you enjoyed sharing my holiday.
xoxo Sioux

Off to Cheshire

Sorry this is a bit late in the day posting but I've been enjoying the beautiful weather out in my garden too much to sit inside and toil away at a blog post! ;)


My two centre holiday continued as I left Lancashire for Cheshire to visit with my other friend in Macclesfield.

I drove to Quarry Bank Mill where we met up and spent the day.

Fabulous gardens

A very informative talk at the Apprentices House

Wonderful kitchen garden but it looks like someone is lying down on the job! LOL

Then we just had to pay a visit to a large M and S on the way back ;)


I had seen some lovely white dip dishes sitting on slate platters whilst at the garden centre a few days previously but they were priced a bit too steeply for me....like £25 to £45....eek!
I came across some lovely little dishes in M and S and as I had some vouchers (and my friend can get discount!) I bought them because I suddenly remembered there was some slate pieces in my shed that were left overs from the fire hearth being made by the previous owner!

I just knew they were worth keeping for something LOL ;)

A laughter filled evening followed.

xoxo Sioux

My final day of holiday tales will be posted on Tuesday so do come back and see where we went :)

xoxo Sioux

My Sexy Beast is Back!

Ooh! How happy was I on Friday when my sexy beast returned?

VERY!!! LOL

I cannot fault Ellison UK for the timely collection of the clapped out model and the no quibble return of a brand spanking new replacement ;)

I just hope this model lasts longer than the other one!!!

You just don't know how much you will miss a piece of equipment, even if you do not use it very often, until it is gone!!!

xoxo Sioux

P.S. I will be keeping the original packaging up in the loft this time...just in case!!! ;)

Beside the Sea for The Artistic Stamper

I'm sharing a tag today over on the The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog

Curious? Then just hop on over to The Creative Team Blog for all the details.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping
xoxo Sioux

P.S. I appreciate each and every comment here but time is short in all our lives so please do not feel obliged to comment both here and on the creative team post.
...I'll see your comments and share the feed back all at the same time if you use The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog post ;)
Thanks

A trip to Settle

On the second trip out.......my friend and I went to Settle.

We browsed the shops.....well you have to don't you?

I got some new ferrules for my walking poles.

We had lunch in the Old Naked Man Cafe ...
...only I could manage to find myself in a cafe with a name like that! ROFL
...and went to Watershed mill.

Then on the way home with some beautiful scenery on the way.......

.......we had to call in that deli again in Clitheroe.

I fell in love with the atmospheric square and the deli "Cheesie Tchaikovsky".....I so wish it was in our town....

...I know we have a deli but is not quite as nice nor quite as cheap!!! LOL

Cue picture of me in said square...

...(don't expect pictures of me all the time on this old blog!)

A night out to the local Wetherspoons followed as I was curious to see how they had renovated the building...I learnt to type there when I was 12/13 my dad paid for the lessons 'cos I kept badgering him and it was touch and go if they would let me on the course A) because of my age and B) the fact that it was held above the pub and I had to walk through it to get upstairs!!!

...and what a grand job they have done....even the toilets are top class!

We had steak 'cos it was steak night ;) LOL

The following day I met up with Gez and Joanne for a crafty shopping day out...not forgetting the coffee and cake at Starbucks....mmmmm scrummy :)
And what do you know? I was having such a great time I forgot to take pictures again!!!

Thanks girls for a great day and here is my crafty stash from the whole holiday...
...don't think I went over the top do you?

After dropping Gez home I went to visit my aunty again....and you can never leave without her making sure you take some of the goodies she has been making.....so I was thrilled that she had made me this bracelet....

....believe it or not it is made from safety pins and beads....it looks very stylish and I love it.
I was also given some aprons that have been on the production line too! :) Good old aunty!

Tomorrow I'm sharing a piece for The Artistic Stamper so come back then and my holiday tales will continue on Sunday.

xoxo Sioux

The day we went to Downham

On the first day of my hols up North my friend Jacquie took me to a little village called Downham.

It was the setting for the TV series Born and Bred that has just finished being re-run on ITV3 and which I really enjoyed watching.

This is the house that doubles as the doctors surgery

This is the lovely church

There is usually a crowd of ducks in the stream but after a cull there appears to be only one male and one female left.....still....I am sure they will do what comes naturally and shortly there will be a crowd again!! LOL

A beautiful day in the Pennines with Pendle Hill (famous for the witches) in the background.

I had planned to have my picture taken sitting on the steps of the village cross that is outside the village pub but oh my!!! It turns out the village cross is only a prop in the show!!!

Plan B.......have my picture taken sat outside the village pub!!!

(I'm going to get myself a bit of a reputation in a minute if I'm not careful!! ROFL)

We then went to Clitheroe and had lunch and planned to walk up to the castle but we were running out of time.....and we needed to go to the deli that Jacquie uses to take some cake home for her husband for tea :)

We called in a garden centre on the way back and had our cake there ;)
I could not help myself and had to buy this Hibiscus that I hope can survive in my garden!

After tea we walked to a local pub (oh dear there goes that reputation again! LOL) as I had arranged for a crowd of old friends and relations to gather and we had a fabulous time.......so fabulous that I completely forgot to take any pictures!!!

I'll share where we went on the second day tomorrow ;)

xoxo Sioux