Brass Stencils and Chat

Well I didn't quite get the afternoon of crafts I'd planned the other day because that virtuous housewife mood seemed to carry over somehow. Instead of making some cards or doing a little stitching.......... I went through my boxes of DMC threads and swapped the numbered sleeves that were slotted onto the bobbins for the little sticky number labels I bought a while ago. The sleeves had a nasty habit of dropping off the bobbins and I'm no good at guessing which colour thread is which! Maybe not overly thrilling but it was very satisfying to do and my thread boxes look so much tidier for it. :0)

At least I managed to stay awake until after I'd had my tea. LOL BTW Christine: the rabbit and venison stew tasted just as good as it smelt, even if I do say so myself. Extra pleased with it as I didn't use a recipe but went by instinct as to what to put in there. It must have been good - my two thanked me afterwards!

Yesterday I spent a fair amount of the day getting used to the new look JA/S&S forum, which has moved to Yuku, and catching up with everything on there. After initially feeling like a fish out of water at having my comfort zone changed I seemed to get my head round the technical bits reasonably quickly: I have a new siggie and avatar pic and (after a little help from Diana) links to all my albums and blog set up. Although the site profile map has me in a totally different location to where I actually live - have no idea how they've done that or if it can be altered. All told I reckon I like the new forum but I'm gutted at losing my Supreme Chatterbox status. ;0)

Cleo got a little attention last night and now has a mouth, as well as eyes - not enough to warrant a picture yet though, will save that for another time. Yes, Helen, that eyeshadow is definitely dated but they did invent the look long before the 60's and 70's models took it up. LOL

Today got off to a good start with the arrival of the kit I ordered from QVC.

It's a combination of paper pricking and embossing that can be done on light card, paper or thick vellum, then embroidering some of the motifs with the metallic threads. There's lots of choice with this, as you can make up a central panel as the focus of your card or just add borders or occasional motifs to be combined with decoupage (3-D layering of pictures) or other images (rubber stamped, stickers or other 3-D embellishments). Basically, it'll add another dimension to my cards and I can make it as easy or as complicated as I feel like. :0)

This is the original kit I bought, that set this craze off:

Those are decoupage papers at the top and I reckon I can guess who will like those. :0)

DH was out bright and early this morning, off on a fishing day with some of his work colleagues. He isn't normally in to fishing but this is one of those male bonding things: they realised they only got to see each other at work, usually in quite stressful circumstances (Disaster 5 is the jinx job on the Works) and that it would actually be nice to get together for the occasional social session outside of work. When he phoned me at dinnertime he'd caught a fish - not a tiddler but a reasonable sized one........ or so he says. I know all about those fishermen's tales - my Uncle and cousin regularly go angling - so am hoping he brings back a pic of his catch to back up his claims. :0)

DS was also out early as it was Brigg Farmers Market today. He's come back with lots of our favourites: smoked salmon; smoked and peppered mackerel; three lots of fresh fish plus crayfish tails (go well in kedgeree); lots of organic fruit and veggies (looking forward to sweet strawberries and creme fraiche later); a rolled beef joint; butty bacon; various types of cheeses; venison and other assorted sausages; bottles of sweet chilli sauce from the Gringley Gringo and some chocolate earthquake and choccie flapjack. Are you feeling hungry yet? LMAO

DS is now getting ready to go out, as he's babysitting for Alex and her husband tonight, and DH won't be back until around 7.30pm. The TV remote will be mine for a little while at least and I'll continue to make the most of the peace and quiet while it lasts. After I've had my tea it'll be feet up with a good documentary on TV and some stitching in hand......... bliss!

Hope everyone has had a great start to the weekend - enjoy the rest of it. Many thanks for visiting. :0)