Saturday Scribbles - April 2016

Little feathered friends flit madly round my garden seeking out the food I just put out - I love watching them at this time of year as they busily feed themselves before flying off with food in their mouths for the "she who must be obeyed" sitting on the nest! Their great flurry of activity excites my special feathered friend who shares my home - as he flies from window to window to watch them - he chirrups and tweets just like the sparrows before coming back to "help" me type - and then flitting off again as he catches sight of the blackbird. He does love to "help" me when I am at the table crafting - though Bertie is quite the little demon for pinching cocktail sticks - I am always finding them at the bottom of his cage!

He is such good company though - and he is so funny - he isn't very tame really, I can't get him to stay on my finger for more than a second or two  - but he can't resist the craft stuff or my fingers on the keyboard of my 'puter.












I am NOT a tidy crafter though - I have everything I think I might want - along with loads of tools all over my table - my work space just gets smaller and smaller - LOL - but I do have to try extra hard NOT to leave anything really tiny visible that he might be tempted to swallow - self adhesive gems and pearls particularly worry me - especially as they often"ping" off and then I can't find them!! Oh the joys of getting older!!

However I am enjoying the sight of our cherry blossom against the sky as I look out the window  - it is so very pretty - so there is no doubt that our island will soon be visited by incredibly high winds - and I will then have a carpet of palest pink instead of my gravel in the garden - it's no wonder the Japanese celebrate the flowering cherry - when mine is festooned in blossom it is a delight to the eye and there is no doubt in my mind that Mother Nature can decorate better than any interior designer I have ever come across.

April has been a busy month for me - a trip across to my parents - now BOTH Nonogenarians - my mum is another gracious lady who celebrated a special birthday this month. We had a lovely meal out - with as many of our small family we could muster and I think she enjoyed it. We certainly hoped so anyway -

 - -and as this post is the end of the month -a few numbers - Julie of Notes on Paper has a regular post featuring her own "Month in Numbers" - and it's always worth a read! So - from my month
APRIL - when our family celebrates 2 birthdays - Mum and my youngest daughter both have springtime birthdays.
3 days off island with my sister to celebrate mum's special birthday - 90 years young  - though mum said "I didn't DO anything - I just keep breathing". Which did make me chuckle I must admit.
126 minutes catching up with a very dear friend who I see so rarely these days. A highly valued friendship - it doesn't matter that we see each other so rarely - it is always as if we could still see each other daily when we do managge to meet up - so special.
4 hours (approximately - en route for our flights back to the island - transport links from mums to the airport always mean we have time to kill) with my sister in Manchester's Northern Quarter, exploring quirky artisan studios and shops in what was the old fish market, lunching in a cafe serving quality produce, (different, perfectly cooked and great value) and seeing this awesome street art - - - - - - - - - a real 1 OFF!! (Check out the artist, - Akse P.19 - here and also on facebook). The Northern Quarter is definitely worth a visit - not at all as I remember it from childhood - though the streets and buildings are still the same.

April was also the month in which Craft Club had their Spring Allday crafting session - so I put together 16 kits, made up 3 boxes and 12 cards - as demo pieces. We had a lovely day with 11 of  our members making it to the day. We used boxes by Candy Box Crafts as our base for our projects - and were really pleased with the quality of them and how easily they went together

I was also asked to make 1 Wedding card - which I was really pleased with when it was finished, so hope I might get a few more commissions - I love making a special design

Of course I can't do crafts without a bit of shopping can I  - so this month my treat was receiving
 in a selection of wonderful packs from Julie's Etsy shop - from her selection of Plundered Pages, Serendipity Packs and Interesting Bits - always somethingof interest - and always just a bit different! And my parcel arrived so quickly - containing and enormous 96 different items - papers and more! and that was not counting the wrapping which I have very carefully hoarded!!

Well this has turned into a very long post - an essay even - so I will finish with the 201 photos taken with my iPhone - a few more from our visit to Milntown - the colours were irrisistible. As always - thanks for dropping in - do drop in on Julie at Notes on Paper if you have the time , for her Month in Numbers -

'til later,
Bannaghtyn,  J x