T is for Tins, Tins and more Tins

Hello ladies, Ive made it back , last Tuesday I went shopping and it was lunchtime before we had breakfast, I felt out of sorts all day for some reason so I just decided to chill out, I didn’t even feel like crafting either, I was fine the next day, I think it makes me stressed, crazy I know!

With all the rain we’ve had in Spain we had a small leak in the conservatory, where they screwed the polycarbonate roof in place, they seal it with a small circle of rubber, one of them has perished in the sun, and then the gas boiler wouldn’t fire up, it’s only a few months old and Steve thought it was the gas regulator, we only have bottled gas in Spain, we can’t go out to get one so he asked our friend and also our odd job man who lives around the corner if he had one, luckily he had a brand new one so he pushed the box under the gate and also a tube of silicone sealer, Steve managed to fix both the leak and get the boiler working. Hopefully now the weather has cleared we can go back to solar heating for the water

We did have some excitement, Steve saw that the local Feretteria, (hardware shop) was making home deliveries so he rang and they delivered that evening, a massive tub of white paint. We have painted the back wall on the outside of the villa, it's quite high in parts but Steve has an extending pole that the roller fits onto, some parts he could stand on his raised veg plot to get a bit of height too, who knew we could get so excited about painting.

I've been keeping busy crafting, as I think we all have, inspired by Elizabeth's recyling and Erika's beautiful tins that she covered I also started on mine.

This was a small Chocolate box, my first effort. I covered it with decoupage paper, I bought it years ago and it's been sitting in the drawer, waiting!

A shortbread biscuit tin, I got quite carried away with the lid, it started off with gold but I didn't like it so I carried on with other colours, it went on for two days, i still have to finish the sides!

This is the ribbon holder I made a few weeks ago, I still would like some silver rings to put around the holes where the ribbon comes through but unfortunately Steve didn't have any in his tool box so that's another job for "after Lockdown" seems we are saying that quite a lot!

This was our evening meal last week, Roast Belly Pork, Mashed potatoes with Swede, Rutabaga in Spanish and I know they call it that in the USA, cabbage and cauliflower, we usually have more variety of vegetables than that but we were using those up. Steve also made roasted onions with garlic gravy, it's a good job we couldn't go out after eating, the smell of garlic would have knocked everyone out, LOL Also home made apple sauce and the crackling, teeth braking but we love it!!

My drink related photo is a coffee jug I bought years ago when we were touring France, I’ve never used it but I think it’s quite nice.

The back and the front

Hope you all staying safe, it's rumored that on Saturday they may let us out for a walk here in Spain, oh the excitement, watch this space! Jan x

Friday Smiles

Today marks the end of our fifth week in Lockdown, I can’t say it’s been bad as we aren’t ones to go out that much but We’re Still missing our walks, it seems that they will be extending our total lockdown until May 10th, not official yet bit it’s on the cards. It seems many of our conversations start with when the lockdown ends, we have jobs to do but we need supplies, it would be the ideal time to get all the boring jobs done, they seem to be piling up now.

I had a FaceTime call from a crafty friend in Australia, we’ve never met but chat online, we are both from the same part of the UK too so lots to chat about. It was great fun and then yesterday she had arranged a call between the other two ladies who chat together. One in Australia, I’m in Spain, and two in the USA, it was such fun but had me mesmerised as our pictures kept moving around the screen and whoever was talking zoomed to the front, quite funny

This photo cheered me up last Sunday, from our GSs.

It seems we have found a new fun way to send greetings, saves on postage!

I had another trip to the supermarket, it was pouring with rain so I had to find my boots and raincoat, thank goodness I didn’t leave them at my sons thinking we would be back, no flour, low on butter but apart from that I managed to get everything I needed to last a few weeks. Takes such a long time as when I get back we have to take the packaging off everything and clean everywhere afterwards I always feel exhausted and pleased to be safe at home.

We should have left home last Tuesday to drive to England, we would have been arriving in the early hours of this morning, oh well maybe we will get to go later in the year.

This photo came from our DIL in the UK, our GS asked her to send this to show Grandad, it seems Grandad has become a world expert on animals since the Polar Bear story, he wanted to ask Grandad if this is a sharks tooth, he’s mad about sharks, Grandad said he thought it was a tiger shark tooth. That will make him happy.

Our GSs making cookies with their Mum, she asked the youngest why his cookies were so far apart, he said they are social distancing! LOL At least he understands what it means!

At least today has cheered up and we have sun and cloud so the washing machine is on, I've taken my walk to the bins so now the worlds my Lobster as they say!! Have a lovely weekend ladies, keep safe and keep on crafting

Jan x

T is for Time to Stop Raining, Please!

Good Morning, hope you are keeping safe! Hope you all had a good Easter, not much happening here of course, I have only had my exciting trip to take the trash to the bins, not very exciting as I didn't see one person, which is good really but it would be nice to just see some one in a garden to wave to.

I found this photo of the cake that our eldest GS made last year for Thanksgiving when we were over, it's a pumpkin mousse, it was delicious too.

He's eleven and loves cooking, Steve has shown him how to make pancakes and omelettes and he makes pumpkin bread with me but his Mum regularly has cooking sessions with him, he made bread last week and the younger GS suggested putting chocolate in some! Our DIL is really getting into it, she’s now bought a metal tray that you use to make baguettes and a gadget to make the slits, ha,ha, she never does anything by halves as my Mum would say

When we went to Las Vegas last November with our son, we did a road trip from San Francisco, it was a ten hours drive but we really enjoyed it, our son and Steve shared the driving, I was the drinks monitor, I loved the scenery as it reminded me of Spain when we went through the Mojave desert.

We had a visit to the Pawn Stars Shop as they both like watching the programme, I noticed these collages on the wall and thought how amazing they were, I think they were quite expensive but beautiful

My drinks related photo I took ages ago, a whole window full of funny mugs.

We are still having sun and rain ,for another week according to my resident weather man, we have been sitting in the garden when we can, listening to podcasts, Steve likes a British comedian so he went back to 2006, he’s now up to 2011, who says it's been a long time since we were allowed out!!!!it’s quite interesting listening to the topics they discuss, the SARS virus, Prince William and Catherine’s wedding, some of the topics have come quite true when you listen to them now!!

I will say goodbye for now as I'm meeting my crafty friend from Australian this morning, she is a fellow Brit who married an Australian and actually comes from my part of the UK. she is calling me on Facetime, we've never met only through the craft site so it should be fun.

Stay Safe everyone, Happy T Day, Jan x

Friday Smiles 366

Well today is the end of our fourth week in total lockdown, it’s not been too bad and we’ve managed to do a few jobs around the place although now we need supplies to be able to do any more.

I had a busy day making two masks, I saw the video online from Joanns, my sewing machine hasn’t been used for quite a few years and last year Steve actually wanted to throw it out but I wanted to keep it, well today I had it out and it worked perfectly. When I said I was going to use my sewing machine Steve said, please don’t, he knows I have no patience if it plays up and then he has to come and sort it out!

I had fun actually and made a few mistakes, in fact I had already started one the day before it couldn’t get it to work. When I couldn’t get to sleep I suddenly remembered a old white pillowcase, it’s really thick cotton so perfect for a mask.

It took me two hours to make the first one as I had to keep stopping video but the second one only took me half an hour, I made one a little bit wider for Steve as he has a beard! They are far from perfect but they will offer a little protection when I go shopping next time.

If you could see my craft room now, it looks as if a whirlwind has gone through it, it has inspired me to make some cushion covers with some material I found so that’s my next project.

I actually saw our friend around the corner, from a distance, I was taking the trash to the bins down the road and she came out on her terrace, I was across the road, it’s the first time I’ve seen her for nearly four weeks, she’s been really ill before all this started with pneumonia and had just been to the hospital before the lockdown. It was lovely to chat for five minutes and catch up on family news as they have three Granddaughters of a similar age to our three Grandsons.

This is our eldest son and youngest GS, our son and DIL take it in turns to take him out for a walk with the once a day rule, this is Beacon Hill in Herne Bay, Kent,he is four on April 29th, obviously we can't now go over for his party, good news is that the Hotel in Santander has finally paid a refund into our account. It's a long story but they said they didn't have our details, I told him I wouldn't send them by email as they asked so then they said they had cancelled our room free of charge, I saw red as the government closed the hotels almost four weeks ago, I told them that I wanted a refund as they couldn't provide the service I had paid for!!

So Monday morning I had an email from the hotel, all in Capitals, I think that means they are shouting, it just said, YES, WE WILL PAY YOU A REFUND!, I replied, THANK YOU!, I nearly added, that's wasn't so hard was it but their English isn't good enough for them to understand the sarcasm!

I know Elizabeth is recycling at the moment so I thought maybe this would give you a smile.

So Steve thought that he would buy this small rechargable drill with all the pieces in a tin to keep them together in one place, well as soon as I spotted it I knew I had a better idea for it, as you can see I keep my many Scribbles and glitter glues in it! A much better use for it I think. This shows the inside of my paint drawer, chalk paints, gelli plate etc. Quite tidy for once.

A couple of funnies sent by my DIL, hope you haven’t seen them already!

We’ve had calls and photos every night from our son in San Francisco and from GSs over there and youngest GS, almost four rang Grandad to ask about Polar Bears, Grandad went with the Army on I think a survival course, in the 70's and worked with the Inuits and saw the polar bear prison where they keep them when they turn up in the towns looking for food until they can be returned by helicopter to the water again after they get trapped when the sea ices up. He was very interested but was most concerned if they scratched things with their sharp claws!! The minds of young ones are amazing!

Enjoy your Easter weekend ladies, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do! Not much chance of that I can hear you all say, LOL

Stay safe, Jan x

Art Journal Geometric Shapes

Good Morning, Thank you for inspiring me to get my journal out of mothballs, it's been a long time but I've really enjoyed getting messy.

I found this book when I was cleaning my craft room, I bought quite a few years ago, It's very good and shows all different types of mixed media.

I've had some vintage maps I bought years ago online and when they arrived I realised, as often is the case, that they weren't exactly what I imagined! They only had a few maps in the pack and I think they are in Dutch, perhaps Lisca can enlighten me!

It gave me the idea to use the maps as a journal page to show how we all link up around the world every Tuesday for "T" Day, I painted the BG with chalk paints, Sage and Vanilla, some gold stenciling and a small amount of glass beads but I left them white so they don't show up too well unfortunately.

I had the DP with tea cups on so I fussy cut them out and glued them around the Circles with the maps inside, I'm not sure if the world maps are at the correct angle, re North and South, I'm sure you will be able to overlook that!! I drew dotted lines around the maps and added wooden planes showing us all flying around to visit each others T Parties.

I actually had fun but had to stop myself before I went a step too far, as I do sometimes when making greetings cards!

Hope you are all well and keeping Safe, thank you so much to everyone who came to visit last week and left encouraging comments, it was very much appreciated. Jan x

T is for Time to Play

T day again already, I'm surprised how fast the days are passing but we are trying to do some small jobs around the villa, Steve found some white paint so Saturday morning found us painting the wall along the drive, the rain had made the sand run down, it looked a mess so now it's very clean, fingers crossed we don't get any more rain.

The stairway goes up to my craft room, our roof is flat so we had a room built up there for my craft room but when it's raining heavily I can't get up there as those marble steps are lethal!

Friday I picked some Pink grapefruits to make Marmalade, Pink Grapefruit and Orange, it's so delicious on toast or on yoghurt shame I have run out of empty jars, our neighbour around the corner brings me jars and I supply them with Marmalade but obviously in Lockdown it's a no go!

Sunday with only one large Kilner jar left I picked the last of the Kumquats, there wasn't many left so I cut up one orange and made one jar!

It really is very tasty, Steve uses it when baking hams instead of honey, our son tried the recipe with the remaining jar from the batch I had taken across to his house and we had thumbs up from them, including our 3 year old Grandson, mind you that boy eats anything, we take him gherkins from Spain as a treat and he absolutely loves Chorizo, he sits at the side when his Mum is using it for cooking and it's a case of one for the pot one for JJ.

My link to the T party today is my page of Art Journal, I made the BG with my Paperartsy chalk paints, Sage and Vanilla, I've had these vintage maps for ages, I bought them online for my travel journal but besides being only a few different ones I think the country names are in Dutch, maybe Lisca came enlighten me! One says Wereldkaart

Well an idea came to me to use them to show how we all meet for our weekly " T" party from all parts of the world, I'm sorry if any of you can't see your country but they were the only ones in the pack! I also had a some DP with Teacups, I fussy cut them, I love that expression and had never heard it until I started to scrap! A bit of gold stenciling, glass beads, it doesn't show up much as I left it white, a few accessories and I had a piece I can also use for the Art Journal challenge to use Geometric shapes.

A couple of ladies asked me to show the mosaic without rain, now we actually have the sun, here it is. The pool is clean too, the sand was so fine as Steve was trying to suck it up it was floating up again, just need to sun the warm it up, only 20c at the moment, too cold for me to put my body in yet but it will be good to get some exercise when we can. I took the photo from the roof so I could get the whole mosaic in the photo.

I saw a small flower mosaic on Ground Force with Alan Titchmarsh years ago, I'm sure many will remember the programme. I thought it was a good idea, when I saw that huge blank wall and told Steve that what I was thinking he thought I was crazy but he did help by mixing cement and laying out the hundreds of pieces, smashing tiles etc, it goes further to the left, we actually made a plaque from a tile and I painted on the dates.

I hope you are all well and keeping safe, I had a shopping trip yesterday, we had to wear plastic bags on our hands as they have run out of gloves, next time I'm taking my marigolds! The weigh station stickers kept sticking to them and I couldn't open the bags to put fruit and veg in so I put the label on and passed the veg separately, the girl on the check out laughed and then one of the stickers was stuck to her glove, she was holding it up to show me, laughing her head off; They have been amazing but everyone is in line and being careful.

We also have the news that the death toll has reduced for I think three days over here which is good and they set up road blocks to stop holidaymakers coming to the coast, apparently all stopped were from this town but some were fined for going where they shouldn't and having two in the car!, the first fine is I think 130 Euros and the second goes up to about 600, must be some rich people out there!

Until next time, keep safe! Jan x

Friday Smiles

Hello Ladies, Thank you for a lovely welcome last week and thank you for all your kind comments too.

Apart from celebrating when we opened the blinds to see sunshine we also had a double celebration yesterday, 2nd April. It was the day 50 years ago that we became engaged and 17 years ago that we moved into our villa in Spain! We were getting engaged on April 1st as Steve had been away for four months with the British Army and that was the date he was due home, he was delayed and so was our engagement!! Maybe that was lucky omen instead of April Fools Day!

Makes me feel quite old but I was only 17, we first met when we both used to go to the local Youth club with our friends, I was 13 and Steve 15, eventually he asked if he could walk me home, little did he know that I had to walk home with my friends and be home by 9pm so he ended walking home with all of them tagging along, LOL

To celebrate we had Lasagne, a joint effort as Steve makes the bolognese sauce, it was actually left over from the night before when we had stuffed pasta and sauce. I made the Bechamel sauce and assembled it! It looks a little overdone but some of the cheese I was using up was the sort that doesn't melt too well! Waste not want not as my Mum would say! Nothing is wasted here but it was delicious.

This is my mini oven, we've had it about ten years or more and it's ideal for the two of us, we rarely use the main oven unless we have our family over in winter. it's seen better days, Steve has to guess the temperature as over the years I scrubbed the numbers off cleaning it!!!

My postcard collection in my craft room, mainly sent by the Grandsons from various holidays, some I bought as a reminder of holidays with them too, they always make me smile as I remember holidays and good times.

It is also what I grandly call my stamping corner, the drawers all contain items for stamping, painting, colouring etc so I have everything in one place, I still end up searching through the drawers for things, most likely because I have too much in them.

I had a Facetime call last night from our Grandson who is eleven, he makes me dizzy taking me around showing me what he is up to and then his brother who is 7 sent me an email, that was a lovely surprise, he had to have an email address set up to receive messages from his teacher and work schedule so he sent me a photo of his mini paddling pool he made on the decking!

We've just heard that we are in extended lockdown until April 26th, the good news is the death rate has dropped today for the first time, that's good to hear, they say they are blocking the roads to the coast to stop holidaymakers coming to this area for Easter and spreading the virus, makes me smile that they don't understand what lockdown actually means, that's good as we have quite low numbers at the moment in our area.

Have a lovely weekend Ladies, I'm just happy to see my washing blowing in the sun, Stay Safe

Jan x

Geometric Shapes

Hello Ladies, I msut say this has taxed my brain but thank you for the inspiration. I actually used my Gelli plate to make two pieces before I realised they were too small!!!

In the end I cut up the two pieces into different shapes and made a pattern with the pieces using gesso, I used my Paperartsy Chalk Acrylics for the background with stencils and stamps to finish. How is it that last month I struggled to make a green journal page and now when I could use any colour I used greens.

Happy Wednesday, Jan x