A Spoily Day

Today I had a day of spoilies as my hubby calls them – he has been waiting to give me a spoily day ever since I’ve felt better after the last chemo, but I’ve been too busy with my mystery projects and had no time to go out.

Our first port of call was the Ricky Grant Day Unit for my bloods (not that that was particularly spoily!). For once I wasn’t kept waiting very long at all, and a nurse I hadn’t seen before called me in, and in no time at all, she had the gripper needle in, the port flushed, and the blood out – I hardly felt a thing! It was the most painless and hassle-free ever. She was very nice (as they all are) and very friendly. I asked her for more of the cow cream and she gave me a new pot, and I handed in my MRSA swabs. Back again tomorrow for chemo session #5.

Last time I was there for my chemo, I got into conversation with a lovely nurse who told me that her husband and her daughter were in the army, in the Royal Engineers. I told her that my grandfather had been in the Royal Engineers in the First World War, and she was very interested in that. Before going today, I had a rummage in my buttons box and found the Royal Engineers uniform buttons I’d inherited from my grandfather with all his other buttons, and took out two to give to her. She was totally overwhelmed and thrilled with this, and said her daughter and husband would be thrilled too – she said I had made her day! Actually her lovely response made my day – it was so touching!

Over a year ago I started making a large album about my dad, but had to set it aside in favour of the smaller one that I wanted to make for our niece. This large album is a project I want to take up again as soon as I can. All I have done so far is the ancestry pages, one of which is about Grandpa in WWI, and I am going to take this page in for the nurse to see tomorrow. On it is one of Grandpa’s buttons!

After this we came home, and made plans about our lunch out. My hubby had suggested we went out for lunch today, and our original plan was to go to our favourite place on the sea front, and then trundle along looking at the sea – it would have been the first time I’d been out on my buggy for months! However, the weather was awful today and it was more like November than August, so we had a change of plan. I asked if he would take me to Hobbycraft in Newton Abbot so I could pick up some of their own brand polyester filling for my angels project – I’ve been recommended this as one of the best around, and it will certainly be better than the awful lumpy stuff I’ve got!

So we went to the Passage House Inn, right down on the River Teign, where we have eaten lots of times in the past. My hubby had the carvery, and I had steak and otter pie – I was a bit worried about eating otters until they reassured me that it was Otter Ale!! It was absolutely delicious. I was very good and didn’t have a pudding – I’ve put on 4 lb in the last fortnight and I’m anxious not to gain too much weight. Although I have abandoned my diet until I’m through all the surgery and chemo, I have been trying at least to maintain my weight at a constant level!

Hobbycraft was brilliant. I hadn’t been before, and there was loads of great stash there! I got my polyester filling and then had a good old rummage through the whole shop. After a while my hubby went and sat in the car to read his book, and I am afraid I succumbed to temptation despite my resolution not to spend any money on more stash this month lol! There’s no hope for me – I’m an addict.

Here is what I bought.

At the back, the polyester filling. Middle row L-R: Tim Holtz tissue tape, Twinkling H2Os (I’ve wanted these for years!), a glue stick, some clippy attaching thingies by Tim Holtz. Front row: 2 packs of fat quarters with small prints to make angel clothes. Love how they are packaged with the ribbons and labels!

I signed up for a loyalty card and got £5 off my order.

In the shop they had quite a few different embossing and die-cutting machines, and I saw the Sizzix Big Shot Plus for the first time – what a dream machine! I am soooo tempted… I have had an old-style Cuttlebug since I started and it works just fine, but it is very small, and the idea of being able to emboss up to A4 is extremely attractive! Has anybody else out there got one, and what do they think? I’m not thinking of doing anything straight away but it did look gorgeous.

Then it was time to come home. I was pretty tired by then, and had a cup of tea and a sleep.

I saw something that amused me today – while I was waiting outside the hospital for my hubby to come with the car after my appointment, I was sitting outside the Physiotherapy Department and through the open door I saw this crutch:

You can see it propped up against the wall in the corner. Anybody using a crutch like that must need physio lol lol!!

Tattered Time Mini-Album Part 7–Page 1 Completed

I am hoping to get hold of some photos of my grandmother from my parents, but until then, page 1 of my album in honour of my Dad is now pretty well finished.

I have completed the wallet which contains most of the small photos of the ancestors; having followed Kathy Orta’s video, I have decided that if I make this wallet again, I am going to dispense with the multi-pocket insert because once the wallet is assembled, it is actually extremely difficult to slot the various folders and tags into it, and it also adds quite a bit of thickness to the finished wallet. All that is required is a single pouch, which would contain the tags and prevent anything falling out of the sides of the wallet. You live and learn!

The front and back of the wallet has been matted with papers from the Tattered Time and Lost and Found stacks. I made a plain belly band from black cardstock to hold the flap closed. (“Belly band” always makes me laugh – it makes me think of my less-than-slim belly these days, and what a very large belly band I would need to keep everything neat and tidy!!)

I decided not to put all the tags into it because it was already pretty bulky, so one of them is now located in the bottom flap of the main page, along with the tiny photo folder and the large journaling mat that I made at the beginning. This is what the wallet looks like open, with the pockets and tags inside.

The final part needed to complete Page 1 was a large photo mat to go in the full-sized pocket formed by the original bag. In this photo, I have pulled it out slightly so that you can see how it goes.

The front of this mat I have decided to dedicate to my grandfather’s service in World War 1.

When he died, I inherited, amongst other bits and pieces, his button box – all these buttons went into my button collection, including several First World War Royal Engineers buttons from his uniform which I have always treasured. I decided one of these must find its way into my album, so I cut the back off to make it lie flat, and glued it down with Pinflair gel glue, along with one of the poppies I made for my Remembrance page in my art journal last month.

I also managed to find an image of a Royal Engineers cap badge which I printed out, cut out and hand-embossed from behind, and stuck down onto the page, also with Pinflair glue.

The central part is a montage of two First World War images faded together in my photo editing software, Serif PhotoPlus. After printing this out, I tore around the edges, and distressed it with Tea Dye Distress Ink. I printed the two photos of Grandpa in his Royal Engineers uniform and distressed them with Tea Dye Distress Ink and stuck them down. These pictures were taken in Dover in 1914, where his first job of the war was to wire Dover Castle for electricity. When we visited Dover Castle a few years ago, I looked carefully to see if I could find any old wiring or junction boxes and point out his handiwork!

The final item on this mat is a small journaling folder made from an offcut of some gorgeous vintage script background paper from the Tattered Time stack.

Opening this up, the journaling is revealed.

One thing I forgot to mention before is that whenever I have done any journaling with my white Uni-Ball pen, after it has dried, I have applied Tea Dye Distress Ink over the top using an Inkylicious Ink Duster to tone it down a bit, as the white was very stark and bright against the vintage look of the pages.

Turning the large mat over, you can see the larger piece of vintage script paper from the Tattered Time stack, onto which I have matted the portrait photographs of my great-grandparents Henry and Eliza. I edited these in Serif PhotoPlus to give a more sepia-tint, and also distressed them with Tea Dye and a tiny amount of Vintage Photo Distress Inks.

I need to design and cut some file tabs, after which I shall put one on this large mat, so that it projects beyond the page and gives you something to pull the mat out with.

I keep thinking of other bits and pieces that I should put in! I have just remembered some of the stories Grandpa told about his work at the foundry, and the fine example of an apprentice piece of bronze casting in my possession – more tags needed! I doubt if this album will ever be fully complete…