Dragonfly

Tag Tuesday's theme 'Tales of the Riverbank' was a bit of a challenge this week 
but I had a bit of a rake in my workshop through the scraps, beads and cuttings and came up with a two layer tag featuring a dragonfly

the image in the bottom tag is a northern Scottish wetland or peat bog as it's known near Forsinard Nature Reserve, a habitat of the dragonfly

Tag: bottom layer image from National Geographic magazine, top layer recycled greeting card

Dragonfly ~ handmade metal beads, crystal beads, wire organza and cotton layers machine stitched with metallic thread.

Tie: silk waste yarn

Happy Girl!

C has been making lots of wishes about getting a bike of her own, 

and a little search on Gum Tree again came up trumps!

 first try

 out and about

 she took to it very quickly, a natural!

happy girl!

on her little Honeybee :)

Green generations

This weeks Tag Tuesday theme is 'Green'
My tag is very simple,

 I wanted to display these beautiful stamps to be admired on their own

I thought they were quite apt in celebration of this diamond jubilee year

three generations of royal monarchy

the queen and the young queen,

her father King George VI and his father George V.

Tag: Recycled brochure cover

Embellishments: Organza ribbon, four original postage stamps, paper rose with yarn.

Tie: Satin ribbon

Sweet little bike

I decided last week to sell my lovely Claud Butler classic bike, a beautiful bike it was, silver and gleaming it sat day after day in the shed, I have used it only a handful of times since I bought it 18mths ago. 

I took C out for a ride in her seat on the back last week and when I did, I knew I was making the right decision. It was too big for me, I purchased the bike on line and never tried it out before I bought it......lesson learnt. Needless to say it sold very quickly and as the buyer left, C was watching from the window upstairs       looking a bit sad she asked if we were going to get another bike, I felt terrible, she had really enjoyed the cycle ride the day before, giggling with excitement 

:( :( :(

I was now on a mission to find something to replace it and it wasn't long before my relentless searches every day on Gumtree provided the answer. We needed a smaller bike that would get us out and about, a lot more often, fun to ride, and also be able to take with us in the caravan

and this is it !

A sweet little vintage Raleigh Universal folding bike.

 I'm so pleased with it and was thrilled to find out that C's seat fits on the back just fine. 

Her seat is one that simply clamps on to the pannier rack and is quick and easy to remove.

It's a solid little bike, it's perfect for our needs, C is lower down and closer to me so we have little chats and sing songs along the way :).....she has a smile on her face again...me too!

The little basket on the front used to hold hats and scarf's in Cs wardrobe, but we needed something to carry our books to the library.

 I attached it onto the handlebars with two little leather buckle straps saved from a pair of ankle strap shoes (nothing gets wasted in here!)

Last night I gathered some fabrics and made some pretty bunting for the front :)

This was taken in my workshop tonight, couldn't get a better picture outside as it has rained all day!

Still,  I bought the bike 3 days ago and we had two lovely sunny days of fun 

 and I'm sure we will have many more ...cant wait !

Glamping

I didn't get to finish and post my tag on Tuesday :(
I took ill and had to go to bed in the afternoon, not 100% yet but did get it finished tonight.

This theme is very in keeping with our current project at the moment, restoring our old 1980's Monza 1200s

It's been bit of a journey for us but it is almost complete you can read all about it on the projects page.

Decided to go textile with this one and feature our little Monza caravan

Fabric painted background (scraps from my recent flower quilt project)
layer of green organza ribbon, machine applique and embroidery with French knots to finish.
We look forward to spending many happy days in our little Monza

Apologies for the picture quality the light was fading fast by the time I got it done.
I might post a better picture tomorrow.

Yx

Grab your shades ..... it's bright!

Last year we spent a couple of months working on an old 1980 Monza 1200s

which turned out to need much more work than we had expected.

You can read all about it here  
It took us until August to finally get it to a reasonable enough condition to be able to get a couple of trips away, most of the inside was painted and refurbished but the restoration was far from finished.
Much of the paintwork on the outside was still to be completed and the front box needed repaired.

With a few days off and a full weekend of Jubilee sunshine here in Fife,
 Kevin did an amazing amount of work on it.

 First on the box, the messy duct tape fix up was given a full fibreglass repair.

 and a couple of holes around the other side

where a stabiliser bracket was removed

undercoat and painted

next the jockey wheel and hand break got a rub down and a coat of silver
not bad !
the wheels got a rub down and a coat of silver also
we got really excited with a timely find on ebay last week

original Monza chrome hubs!
we were thinking white with the chrome but ran out of the white paint, these might get a coat of white later.

 looking much better

a big change to how it looked when we bought it a year ago

Paper circles

It was my Mums birthday at the end of May 

 I made her a wreath like the one I made my sister Theresa for her birthday, 

only a little smaller with 2 butterflies on. 

 and some rosebuds I dried

I made her card too. I tired out these paper pinwheels 

I'm I bit out of practice with the embossed writing.

Diamond Jubilee

Hi everyone! I hope you are all having a fab time

 on this lovely extended bank holiday weekend here in the UK.

This weeks Tag Tuesday theme is of course 'Diamond Jubilee'

 Here is my tag to mark this wonderful occasion,

 it has two layers

some glitter and a little bit of bling!

 the stitched diamond layer underneath

Tag: Printed card 

Embellishments: Austrian crystal & glitter

2nd layer: Vilene with organza overlay & trapped Angelina fibres and iridescent sequins.

Tie: red white & blue ribbons & a clear bead.

Did anyone spot this in the supermarket this week ?

 a retro style box of Frosties! .....as soon as I popped it in the trolley I spotted the beginnings of a tag......grrreat :)

Here in Fife we have really lucked in with the weather it's been so nice and it has kept us busy out in the garden and getting our caravan ready for the summer.