WOYWW 453

Again, I can’t show you what’s on my desk, but I can tell you that my mystery project is coming along very nicely and I’m enjoying it very much, and I can’t wait to share it with you!!! It is soooo great to have my mojo back.

I can give you another sneak peek, though. This stuff was on my desk on Monday. Another background created by adding stuff to a sheet of boring paper in a different colour from last week.

I love combining materials. Here I mixed Distress Inks with Infusions. I’ve also been having a lot of fun combining Distress Inks with Distress Oxides and Infusions.

Health Update

I’ve been doing a bit of cooking in readiness for going on the low residue diet. I made salmon and broccoli bake, and I’ve got chicken pieces defrosting, ready to cook some chicken pies – I’m boiling the chicken with carrots, onions and herbs to make delicious clear chicken soup, and cooked this way, the meat is extremely tender and absolutely delicious. I won’t be able to eat the onions but at least their flavour will be there. They will be frozen, ready to make soup later on. I am planning on adding the chicken to a white sauce cooked with some of the chicken stock, and add some broccoli florets and carrots, and top it off with mashed potato and cheese. I’m also planning on making up lots of cauliflower cheese. Both these dishes can be pepped up a bit with the addition of bacon lardons. Freezing them separately in foil containers, it will be easy for my hubby to zap them in the oven. I’m hoping it won’t be too long before I’m able to do that myself, and if I’ve done all this in advance, we’ll have a good supply of home-cooked ready meals with suitable veges all in.

I still haven’t got an admission date for my operation, but last Friday I had my second pre-assessment appointment, this time with the anaesthetist, and everything seemed to go OK – I wrote about it at length here, but the main thing I came away with was that he was reluctant to agree to a PICC line from the outset, but that’s not to say it definitely won’t happen. It will be up to my surgeon and the anaesthetist on the day. At least they have my request on record, and the reason for it. I also re-emphasised the need for the ward staff to be patient with me and make extra allowances for my ME which makes it hard for me to sit out of bed post-op for as long as most people.

I am just wanting them to say “Let battle commence” now, and to get on with it.

My hubby has gone and got himself a cold so I’m giving him a wide berth. The last thing I want is to get a date and have to cry off because I’ve got a cold!

He is taking the boot off on Thursday, and going back to the fracture clinic at the beginning of March. It rather looks as if he won’t be allowed to drive before then, but at least he’ll be fully mobile on his feet. He’s already doing lots more.

I am really enjoying having things much more back to normal, and I feel as if my life is back under control again. December and January were horrendous and I never want to go through a period like that again!

Kitties

I’ve been so busy with my mystery project that I haven’t had time to edit the kitty videos I’ve taken recently, but I’ve got some nice photos of our girlies for you.

The box they did their deconstructive art on is now even more reduced, but that didn’t stop Lily settling down in it yesterday. Ruby looking on.

Ruby washing her sister.

I’ve got some sweet video footage of this. She holds her down with one paw.

Lily dropping off to sleep, with Ruby keeping a close eye on her.

My hubby gave them an empty paper bag yesterday and they are making short work of it. They’ve already destroyed one. And what is that mat doing there? It belongs by the door into the patio!

There are constantly bits of cardboard and paper all over the floor and I’m forever sweeping up. Not to mention to cascades of cat litter in the kitchen – when my hubby is driving again we are going to B&Q and getting some deeper boxes! Lily is the worst for this and sometimes I think her vigorous digging is going to take her to Australia.

Ruby has gone off cuddles with Mummy. She used to come running, and as soon as I picked her up, would go off into paroxysms of purring, but all she does now is squeak at me in protest, and wriggle. They have both turned from adorable little babies into adolescent thugs who would definitely play their music too loud and not do their homework, and they certainly don’t keep their room tidy. My hubby says when they grow up a bit more, they will be more loving again. When they are relaxed after eating, they are cuddling up with him as he sits with his leg up, but at the moment Mummy is NOT flavour of the month I’m afraid.

As for the clicker training, I have had to abandon it for now, because after about 2 seconds they are bored and go off. None of the websites mention this – they all say it works, and the videos show great success, but they are obviously not dealing with rebellious teenagers who just want to do their own thing! I am not giving up entirely, though, and plan on going back to it when they’ve settled down a bit.

WOYWW 362–Kitty Castle

Nothing on my desk this week except a bit of a mess. I’ve had such a busy time recently and it’s all caught up with me a bit and I keep feeling really tired so I’m resting as much as I can this week to try and recover. See my previous post for details of our tea party, and the completion of our sitting room now we’ve got the new chandelier installed.

I thought I’d share some kitty pics with you this week, with some creativity from my hubby instead of me. When we had supper out with the family last week we were told that one of the younger generation has just acquired two kittens, so my hubby decided to make them a present. Two generations of kittens of ours have had a kitty castle to play in so he decided to make one for these new arrivals. This is my hubby’s own idea and I think he should patent it! It consists of a series of cardboard boxes stuck together with parcel tape, with holes cut between them, and holes and doors on the outside. It works best with more than one kitten because they love chasing each other through the different levels and playing through the various holes. Banana boxes are particularly good because they have air holes to keep the bananas fresh, and these are just the right size for little paws to poke through! Endless entertainment value for kitties and humans alike.

We eventually got rid of our kitty castle once ours had grown out of it – I remember towards the end of its life, Phoebe getting stuck in the hole on the top because she was getting too fat to get through – after much flailing of back legs and tail with her bottom stuck up in the air, she eventually forced an entry! The kitty castle was starting to show distinct signs of wear and tear and had been chewed a lot by Beatrice who was very destructive in her younger days! It eventually had to be thrown out as it was starting to collapse.

My hubby finished the new kitty castle last night and showed it to our two to see if it met with their approval. They were immediately very interested indeed, and I am sure they remembered playing in one in their younger days! Here are some pictures.

Showing definite  interest when he first brought it in:

Beatrice taking possession, with Phoebe looking on. This kitty castle is a superior model with pictures drawn on it!

“Come on, Beatrice, get down – it’s my turn now!”

“The holes are a bit small for me to fit through.”

Phoebe Queen of the Castle.

Convenient holes to poke one’s paws through.

Looking through the kitty castle, showing the holes.

A view down into the kittty castle from above. High rise housing for kitties.

They were definitely interested, but after a short while they got bored – far too old and grown up for such kittenish pursuits these days! Still, they have given it their seal of approval and it will be off to its new home soon.

Phoebe had another fit on Sunday night. My hubby took her back to the vet on Monday morning and they’ve increased her dose once more, and we have now been told to split it between morning and evening instead of her having it all in the morning – she has always had the fits in the evenings and having some phenobarbital with her supper might help prevent them. It’s very distressing for the poor little thing. In between she is fine and is her usual affectionate self, and enjoys playing a bit, and lying about in the sun, and she’s eating quite well and has gained some more weight.

Other news – I sang in church for the first time on Sunday and I think it went down pretty well – I got some nice feedback. I am singing again on 12th June. Also, I have a hospital appointment tomorrow morning for my first year follow-up with my surgeon. I am sure he will be pleased with my progress. I am looking forward to seeing him again – he was consistently charming, caring and friendly throughout, and after he laughed when he heard my stoma was called Kermit, I shall enjoy telling him about Kermit’s birthday!! I am seeing the oncologist for my six-month follow-up on 2nd June.

Have a happy WOYWW everybody and I hope to be back in business soon.

Narrow Boat Painting on Flower Boxes Part 1

Today I made some art! Yaayyy!! It’s been so long… This morning I spent some time in the studio trying to tidy up and made some inroads into the chaos, providing a bit of space to work again.

Over several years my hubby has been given a bottle of port for Christmas, in a wooden gift box. These boxes were so nice that he didn’t want to throw them away, but couldn’t immediately think of a use for them. He has been working very hard in the garden this year, and it’s so lovely for him that our garden is small enough for him to be a bit creative as well as just doing maintenance and keeping the weeds down. We have a shed/summerhouse at the top of the garden, and this year he had a brainwave to paint these boxes and hang them by their rope handles on the front of the summerhouse. They are not big enough to put real plants in, so he got some little pots with silk flowering plants in them which fit nicely inside the boxes, and they look very nice hanging there, visible from the house.

I suggested that it might be fun to do some narrow boat painting on the front of these boxes, and he agreed – they have been hanging around for ages waiting for me to get down to it, but we have been so busy, and then having the sitting room decorated, that my poor studio reverted to its usual dumping ground status when it’s not being used, and it is only this week that I can find no further excuse for not getting in there and getting stuck in with some art again.

So far this evening I have mapped out and planned what I am going to do. I took some ordinary copy paper and pressed it onto the front of the two different sized boxes and cut these shapes out.

Many years ago when we were on a canal holiday, I bought this gorgeous book on narrow boat painting, which is a traditional English folk art. The book has plenty of illustrations of this style in use on boats and the many traditional objects carried on the boats, and it has instructions on how to construct the basic flower shapes.

I have been interested in the history of this art style for a long time. Many years ago my mum and I went away on a short mid-week break to Budapest, where I bought a black felt waistcoat in the traditional style, embroidered with brightly-coloured flowers in the style of the “Matyo rose.” Google this and you will see how attractive it is. I was wearing this waistcoat at a lecture some years later, and the lecturer, an Indian gentleman, approached me at the coffee break and asked if the waistcoat was Indian. I was intrigued by this question, knowing the history of the style, and explained where it had come from. The original true Gypsies originated in India and migrated westwards across Europe, carrying their beautiful art work with them and influencing the local culture as they went. Their caravans were traditionally decorated in this brightly coloured naïve style, and when they started to migrate onto the canal boats, known as “narrow boats” because of their long, narrow shape designed to fit in the narrow English canals, carrying the cargo which fuelled the Industrial Revolution, they began to decorate their boats in the same way. Like the caravans, the boats were home to these travelling people, living on the job, carrying the coal and iron and manufactured goods across the country.

Living in a caravan or a narrow boat, space is at a premium and many of them dreamt of living in a castle – hence the traditional “roses and castles” designs so characteristic of the style. It is very romantic and decorative, and the style has been revived in recent times and is immensely popular, on the canals (now restored to their former glory, for tourist use rather than for industrial transport) and on many objects which find their way into people’s homes.

I have done some of this painting myself in the past. It is surprisingly easy to do, with simple strokes of the brush, using bold and bright colours.

Here are the templates with the roses and daisies mapped out roughly. They will serve as a guide to painting on the boxes.

Here is a sketch of the flowers with a plan for the colours – I may change my mind once I get started – we shall see.

Watch this space to see my progress. This is going to be fun.

Final Two Lavender Sachet Boxes

Warning: LOTS of pictures!

Today I had a lovely morning meeting up with my two friends whom I met while we were all in hospital together. We were all very pleasantly surprised to see how well we each looked! Only one of them is undergoing chemo as I am – the other’s cancer was sufficiently confined for her not to need it. The one who is having chemo has the same oncologist as me, and she has her treatments on the Mondays following my Fridays; we are receiving the same infusion and are at the same stage on our journey, so we can compare notes and support each other along the way. Like me, she has had her dose reduced, and is feeling the benefit of that. We had such a lovely chat and laugh together over a cup of coffee, and I gave them the little gifts I had made for them.

I had two lavender sachets remaining from when I made them for my fellow chemo-ites on the day unit, and decided they would be for my two friends, so I needed to make little boxes for them. I am so pleased to be feeling so much better this week, and yesterday I spent the evening in my ARTHaven working on the two boxes, and managed to complete them in time.

Both are made from watercolour paper which is great when you are likely to be using a lot of water, because it is designed to take this level of punishment without disintegrating. It is also heavy enough to make a nice sturdy little box. For both, I used clear embossing as a resist, and different Distress Inks, with a combination of blending with Inkylicious Ink Dusters, blending pads, and smooshing with water, to give a nice random effect.

The Green One

I smooshed the outside and inside of the box using Evergreen Bough distress ink on my non-stick craft sheet, spritzed with water, and pulling the piece through the ink to get a good random effect, drying in between and repeating until I got the result I wanted.

Then I heat-embossed the pieces, using a stamp from my new Chocolate Baroque set called “Harlequin Fragments” using clear embossing powder. I did not put the stamp on an acrylic block but used it unmounted because I didn’t mind it having a less defined look. I stamped once on each of the four flaps.

To bring out the resist, I inked the piece using Pine Needles distress ink.

For the inside, I repeated the process, but this time used silver embossing powder. I chose a stamp from my Floral Doodle Dallions set by Stamp attack for a motif for the centre of the box.

The final step was to distress the edges of the inside and outside of the box, using Forest Moss distress ink and a blending pad. This added a slightly yellower green to the mix because it was too blue and didn’t match the lavender sachet so well.

The finished green box.

The green sachet.

The Blue One

I began by covering the entire surface of the outside with Tumbled Glass distress ink, using an Inkylicious Ink Duster.

The stamps for this were from the Stampin’ Up Papillon Potpourri set. I chose a larger and a smaller butterfly, and again, stamped with Versamark and clear-embossed the images to create a resist. I chose another stamp from the Floral Doodle Dallions set for the centre.

The next colour of ink to be added, again with the Inkylicious Ink Duster, was Salty Ocean.

The final colour was Faded Jeans.

Once this was done, I wasn’t entirely happy with the result, which looked a little flat and boring, so I decided to have some fun with it, and experiment with coarse sea salt. I spritzed the surface well with water until it was very wet, and sprinkled the coarse grains of salt randomly over the surface and left it to stand for a few minutes.

Then I dried it gently with my heat gun, holding it well back so as not to re-melt the embossing, and so that the piece did not curl up and dislodge all the salt grains. I spritzed it again, and repeated the process. This was the result. A lot more interesting, I think you will agree.

For the inside, I again began with Tumbled Glass distress ink, covering the entire surface but not going for too even an effect.

This was followed by patches of Salty Ocean distress ink.

Finally, Faded Jeans. Again, keeping it fairly blotchy.

I then repeated the process with the sea salt.

You get gorgeous swirls and patterns with it, and darker spots around the place where the salt grain was.

To complete the inside of the box, I added some silver gilding flakes, being careful not to cover up all the patterns from the sea salt.

As a finishing touch, I went around the edges of both the inside and the outside of the box with a silver gel marker.

The finished blue box.

The blue sachet. On both sachets I have used little embellishments recycled from other things. In this case, the two little discs of abalone shell came from a cannibalised necklace I bought once at a village fete.

The Two Boxes, Complete

Both my friends were very thrilled with their little gift! For the one having chemo, I slipped one of my lavender chemo cards inside.