Shh, do you think....

...anyone will notice me?

I wonder what I can get up to.

I see that 'Mum' has a new mug for her breakfast coffee...

 ...but there doesn't seem to be a picture of me on there.
Okay, so the seeing out of the windscreen isn't a problem...

 ...but I'm not sure I can reach both the steering wheel and the pedals. Perhaps it's better if I sit here...

 ...then I can navigate.
Help!!!!...

 ...I'm being swallowed by mum's bag (I wonder what she does with all this stuff).
Phew, managed to get out of the bag...

 ...let's see what is on the 'web' today.
Oops...

...I didn't mean to drink it all - do you think she will notice?
I wonder what is in here...

 ...gosh it's dark!
Look who I found...

...looks like Sniffer wanted an adventure too. Perhaps if we both climb back into mum's bag we can have a snooze (and we can hide because it looks like she is coming this way).

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a fun Red Nose Day on Friday. Didn't they do well raising over £73million. They had a cake competition at work and then sold the cakes and I know some folk had children taking part in various things at school so it looks like everyone had a great time for a very worthy cause. Now I wonder where that monkey has got to as I was hoping to take some photos....................................................................................

Have you got...

...your Red Nose?
 Yes, in case you had forgotten - today is "Red Nose Day". The day when folk do something 'funny for money' to raise cash for good causes.




There have been some weird & wonderful performances by celebrities on the BBCs dance & sing programme and I'm sure there will be plenty more fun things to watch tonight.



There are 9 regular noses to collect this year and then there is the 'grey' limited nose of a Frankenstein type character. I've managed to get 7 of the main 9 noses but no sign of the limited edition.

A colleague kindly gave me a PG Tips Red Nose Monkey (PG Tips is a teabag brand). I must remember to take some photos of what he gets up to today.

If you have events going on today at work or at school, I wish you all well with your fundraising and hope you have a fun time..........................................................

When did 'creme' eggs...

...get so small?

I wanted something quick & easy that the "Knit & Natter" folk could make as fun items ready for Easter and this is what I came up with...

 ...a little knitted egg-cosy made into a character by adding some big eyes. Inside the cosy & eggcup would be an Easter treat...

...but it came as quite a shock when I popped the chocolate egg into the eggcup - it disappeared right down inside **frowny-face**. Gosh they really have shrunk over recent years (but the price hasn't).

Still, the general idea was sound.

The folk at "Knit & Natter" loved the idea and have been merrily making little hats to decorate so they can hide them around for the kids/grandkids to have an Easter hunt over the coming holiday.

I found packs of assorted coloured plastic eggcups at my local bargain store - a pack of 4 was just £1 and there were blue/pink/green/purple. Their suppliers sometimes pack them as 4 colours to a pack or 2 colours to a pack so it depends on what they have as to what I can get.

The cosy uses very little yarn so is a great way of using up any scraps that you have.

You need DK (double knit) yarn and 4mm knitting needles.

Cast on 30 stitches.
Knit 4 rows in garter stitch (each row is knit/plain stitch).
Then starting with a knit/plain row...
Knit 10 rows stocking stitch (alternating - one row knit/plain, one row pearl).
Next row, knit 2 stitches together right across the row - this leaves you with 15 stitches.
Next row pearl.
Next row, knit 2 stiches together until the last odd stitch which just gets knitted - you now have 8 stitches.
Next row, pearl.
Leaving a long tail (enough to stitch up your cosy) cut your yarn from the ball and using this 'tail' threaded into a tapestry needle, thread the yarn through the remaining stitches and remove from the needles.
Pull gently to gather the top and with the wrong side facing out, stitch up your seam to create the little "hat".
You can add a little loop or a pom-pom to the top if you wish.

To create the 'face' I just drew some large eyes onto thin card, cut them out and applied using 3D foam pads.

There you have it - a quick little idea for Easter.

Although, I intended mine to contain 'creme' eggs you could put any type of treat in these as a surprise......................................................

"Spring is sprung...

...the grass is riz.

I wonders where the birdies is.
The birdies they is on the wing.
Now ain't that absurd?
I thought the wings was on the bird."

I learnt this rhyme when I was young and never knew where it came from. A quick search of the 'interweb' shows that there is some debate as to whether this is one rhyme or two that have become linked over time. The author(s) is another question that seems to cause debate.

All I know is that I learnt it as a child and thought it was fun.

 

The "Thurrock Blooming Marvels" have been hard at work getting the town planting ready for Spring...

...and this bed is already starting to catch the eye...

 ...the mini 'tete-a-tete' daffs are bobbing about in the breeze...

...and providing a lovely splash of colour.

Spring is one of those times when I wish I had a dash-cam in my car because the 'Blooming Marvels' have done a wonderful job around the area with masses of daffs of all sizes & shades on roundabouts and along the duel-carridgeways - if there was somewhere safe to stop I would take some photos but as this is the route in & out of the Gateway Port it is a 'Clearway' so no stopping.

So I can't share all the wonderful planting in the area with you but I can assure you, the 'Marvels' have done a fabulous job and it certainly makes me smile as I drive by these 'fields' of daffs.................................................................

In between the...

...knitting and the crochet - a couple more cards were made.

"Fabulous Fashionista" is a super paper pad from Craftwork cards.

The only additions to this card...

 ...was gold mirri to matt the image and some gold coloured gems.
The flowers were all punched from the same background paper...

 ...and the gems added as centers to the blooms.
There is gold foiling on the papers which the mirri helps to pick out...

 ...and the image was actually cut from one of the PPs in the pack.
This card used a couple of the images from the same sheet as the previous card (there are 4 characters on the sheet - I haven't used the remaining one yet)...

...again the gold mirri to pick up on the foiling and some gold gems.

I was very pleased with how these two cards turned out and will be playing with some more of the papers from this pad..........................................................

More photos...

...from our walk on the beach.

You might want to grab a cuppa as this is quite photo heavy.

Considering we had downpours all morning, when we went to the beach...

 ...the sun was glorious and the skies beautifully blue.
Camber Sands is known for its drifting sands as it tends to be very windy...

 ...so I'm not sure I'd want to have a property right on the beach like these ones.
Although Rene had her hat on she was still struggling with the wind blowing her hair all over the place...

 ...but that blue sky was not to be missed.
Alison was trying to get some shots of the horses...

 ...not easy to do when you are facing into the sun (see her shadow).
Despite the wind, it was so lovely being down on the beach...

...but the photos of the horses were pretty much a case of 'point & shoot' and keep your fingers crossed. I didn't quite get my timing right with Alison & the horse...

 ...but this one was much better even though it was the result of more luck than judgement.
We were all having fun trying to get photos of shadows...

 ...some came out better than others...

 ...especially as the sun had started to come and go as the wind blew more clouds in land.
Here was one of the better results of pointing the camera towards the horses...

 ...and just hoping that they would be in frame.
Rene & Chris looking a bit worse for the blustery wind...

 ...but still enjoying the bracing sea air.
Folk in the UK may remember that there were a few serious accidents at Camber Sands last Summer...

...one of the problems is that folk don't keep an eye on the tide as it starts to come in. There are gullies that fill behind sand banks and if you don't stay alert you can get cut-off by the tide.
Some more shadows...

 ...this time in the reflection of the sand pools.
As you can see here...

 ...the tide was starting to work its way in land.
Another shadow on the water...

 ...and more...

 ...this was about the best I could manage...

 ...of a shadow showing all five of us.
The beach ahead of us was gradually being covered by the tide...

 ...and the gully in front of us was starting to get quite deep so we started to make our way off the beach.
Just a short distance from the beach we came across this...

 ...it looks a bit like something out of the Hobbit...

 ...I wonder if anyone ever sits there?

The clouds were certainly starting to roll in and we timed it really well because it was just starting to spit with rain as we arrived back at the house. Within a short space of time the rain was chucking it down.

No more venturing out for us. A phone order to the Indian take-away and we were settled in for the night..................................................

Some bits & pieces...

...that we made during our weekend away.

Rene had a cute Woodware stamp of a little patchwork elephant...

 ...she was on a bit of a roll with paper piecing the image as you can see.
I had picked up some clear stamps from the Range just the week before...

 ...and for just £2 the set contained a scene, a figure...

...and a small scene along with some sentiments. The large scene stamp was stamped directly onto the card blank...

...and jus a faint wash of colour was added to the sky.
The figure was coloured and then fussy cut...

...and the small scene was coloured with a bit more detail.
 I'm not too sure about the end result...

 ...but I think the stamps are wonderful and such a bargain for just £2.
This was a little decoupage topper that I had prepared but hadn't used...

...a bit of gold mirri to matt the topper and some PP along with some toning ribbon and a quick & easy Christmas card was added to my stash.

The lovely thing about the craft weekend is that you can do what you like, when you like.

Everyone had a good selection of crafting goodies with them and there was card making, scrapbooking, knitting and crochet going on throughout the weekend......................................

Blowing the cobwebs away...

...with a stroll on the beach.

The sun was glorious...

 ...but as you can see, we were well wrapped up.
Views along the beach showed the surface of the sand moving in the wind...

 ...and it certainly looked like the owners of these properties would be clearing sand away from their walls yet again. The surface of the sand may look a little hazy here...

...but that was because it was moving and blowing across the ground.
This chap didn't seem to mind...

 ...he was out for a bit of fun dashing about on the beach.
The water was pretty choppy...

 ...but folk were enjoying a stroll along the waterline.
There were others enjoying the water's edge...

...this was a horse and rider doing a sharp turn.
Rene was trying to get a few shots of the horses without the sun's glare...

 ...but it was very difficult taking photos with the strong winds. I didn't event know whether I had caught anything with these next two shots...

 ...I couldn't see anything in the viewfinder...

...and had to wait until I found some shade until I could see what was actually in the shot.

I'll share some more beach shots another day.......................................................