Gas Street, Birmingham

Here is a new one on me.  Pre-wedding photo shoots.  It seems to be an Asian thing as since this couple were being photographed on the back of Mr David I've seen several other couples being photographed.

More money for the poor photographs anyway.

Here I Cuttlebugged a piece of white card and stuck it onto a pink card blank.  The bear was cut out from a tissue box using an oval Nestability and then stuck onto a red oval using the scalloped Nestability.  To finish off I used three felt flowers.

Gas Street, Birmingham

 Today we went to Crick.  Hired a car and drove there (my nails are just beginning to grow back!)

The dragon head was on a boat built by the Dragon Company.  Didn't notice the tiller pin.

So glad we don't need a new boat.  Don't know where we would start.  We love Mr David so much and the layout fits us perfectly that we would have to have another one built almost exactly the same.

I have made a series of cards from photographs around Gas Street.  This is Cambrian Wharf with the top lock of the Farmers Locks flight on the left.

I matted one whole photograph onto silver card and then stuck it onto a green card base.  The, using the circular Nestabilities I cut out decreasing circles and then layered them up with sticky fixers.

For this card I used the cut out bits so that the circles are holes and get smaller inwards so the top photo is a sort of frame.  Hope that makes sense.  I used a white card blank for this card.

Gas Street, Birmingham

 This morning the Hyatt caught on fire!!!!!  Lots of fire engines.

When I went to check whether I could use the pool this afternoon I was told that it was the sauna that had blown up!!  So no swimming for the foreseeable future.  Hope we get a refund.

Fortunately no-one was in the sauna at the time and no-one in the pool area was injured

This card began with a purple card blank.  I covered part of the front with some stripy paper and then added this little chap holding a bone for his dog.  He and the dog are slightly decopaged and fixed to the card with sticky-fixers.

Gas Street, Birmingham

President and Kildare were due to leave at 8 o'clock so David was ready with his camera.

This card uses a picture of Malcolm on the back of Kildare.  I matted the photo onto silver, red and black card.

I used a white card blank and cut a red card panel which was Cuttlebugged and matted onto more black card, and stuck it to the card front.

I then covered a narrow piece of black card with some red ribbon, sticking the ends to the back.  Then a strip of silver peel-off and two tiny silver brads.  The whole piece was then stuck over the bigger panel.

Gas Street, Birmingham

Coming back from the gym I noticed President and Kildare were in town - on their way to Crick.

One white card blank.
Australian stamp, coloured with watercolour pencils, matted on to black and gold card.

A piece of "camouflage" paper which has been torn.

Gas Street, Birmingham

Mr David in The Times!  Just!  The Home supplement lauding canalside living.  You just get to see the tip of the back of the boat (see tip of arrow).

We were also graced with the presence of the Liverpool football team before they went off to the beaten by Aston Villa this afternoon.

Using up the "free" papers from a card magazine. 

Using a white, square card blank I covered the front with some blue card and the yellow patterned paper.  I made a smaller panel with more blue card and yellow paper and fixed that in the bottom half of the card, wrapping some blue ribbon around it before fixing it down.

The topper was matted onto a scalloped circle, likewise the smaller topper which was stuck down onto a cocktail stick.  A piece of ribbon was threaded through a blue button and tied in a knot and stuck onto the base and the cocktail stick end stuck into the knot before fixing the top down  with a sticky fixer.

Gas Street, Birmingham

A wedding today.  Susan and Mark live on Snark in Sherborne Wharf.  They are both military people.  Susan has just got back from a tour in Afghanistan but Mark has contracted MS and is no longer serving.

They were married in Birmingham Register Office and had their wedding breakfast on one of the many trip boats we have around here.

We all wish them all the best for the future.

One cute horse towing a trip boat in Hungerford.  Matted onto silver and yellow card.

A white card blank, some pearlescent blue paper with scalloped edges and some red ribbon with white flowers on it.  To finish off, three coloured dots to mimic the colours of the decoration on the horse's reins.

Gas Street, Birmingham

 Not really got anything to do with canals, except the lorry was parked in Canal Square and I took the photo from the boat.  But what does RESTAURATION mean? 

I have not looked it up yet, but also, I have never heard it used before and the spellcheck doesn't like it either.

We took the boat around the Sherborne Wharf for a pumpout today.  How exciting!

A white card blank with some stripy ribbon tied around it, a photograph of an Old English Sheepdog matted onto white and then green card and that's it.

Gas Street, Birmingham

One of the big 4 accountancy firms (not our daughter's - she hates boats) was having a team building day out.  Down Farmers Locks and then back up again!!  Here, Mike is showing two of them how to do the first lock.  The rest are mostly drinking beer and having a good time.  

Didn't get to see them 26 locks later.

 Got an order for a card for a future daughter-in-law, and a chance to pull all the stops out.

The latest Making Cards magazine had a template for a new type of stand up card so I went for it.  The disadvantage of this card is that you need a piece of A3 card to start with, but I managed to find some from under the bed.

I covered the front of the card with some pink paper and then cut out a square from the centre, outlining the cut with some silver peel-off strips.  I printed off the Pink Petticoat digi stamp, the sentiment, the girl's name and the verse on the back.  The sentiment I matted onto some of the pink paper and then mirror card and fixed it to the top left hand corner of the card.  Two pink paper roses were added for effect.  The name was cut out with a Nestabillity die and I threaded some pink ribbon through, cutting the ends at an angle before fixing it to the bottom right hand corner of the card.  I added another rose to the right hand side of the name.  Finally a large pink paper rose and leaves were added to the bottom left hand corner, and some gems to the top right hand corner.



You can see from this picture that the card has a mountain fold in the middle and the actual card is stuck down on this.

Firstly I covered the card with patterned paper, then mirror card and then the same pink paper from the front of the card.  I coloured in the image with watercolour pencils and die cut it to an oval with a scalloped pink border and then a larger mirror card border then stuck it onto the panel.






When I stuck the pink paper on the front of the card I used the extra bit at the top to wrap it over onto the back, covering the join with another peel-off strip.

The verse (which David found for me on the Internet) was matted onto the pink paper and then mirror card before being stuck onto the back.

I was going to add another pink rose to the left hand bottom corner, but for the life of me I couldn't find them again! 

To finish off I made a box for the card to go into, 'cos I must have done something wrong in the construction as it would not lie flat.

I covered half of the top with some of the patterned paper, used another peel-off strip on the join and used some die-cut flowers and a tag which came with the papers, adding some ribbon and a sentiment to the tag.  Finally, I wrapped some of the pink ribbon around the box and tied it in a bow.

The customer loved it, but had failed to mention that it was a birthday card she was after not a wedding card.  Oops!!!

Gas Street, Birmingham

Walking around to the doctors to pick up the prescriptions today I noticed the yucky green algae in amongst the slime and rubbish in the basin.  The whole area seems to have a film of diesel as well.   Not very nice.

This will make your hare stand on end!

Love it.  One of my earlier cards, the hare is stamped and coloured in with watercolour pencils and matted onto black, yellow and more black card.  The yellow card I deckle edged with scissors.

The whole panel was then stuck onto a white card blank.

Gas Street, Birmingham

 So, we found out what the wine boat was all about.  Arniston Bay Wines have hired a boat, covered it in a vynl wrap and are travelling up to Manchester to publicise the wines.  On board is the gorgeous Craig Doyle - even better looking in the flesh!!!

It was a day for the TV cameras.  The One Show was filming a slot with Carie Grant along the Worcester Bar and on the lock side and bridge and then the ITV Central weather girl filmed her slot from the back of our boat - not to mention the interview with Craig Doyle and the wine boat.

Some day it just all seems to happen at once.

I have found another stamped card, using a free stamp from a magazine.  This one was stamped and then embossed with a pearlescent type powder so the colour changes when you move the image.  I also stamped it onto some yellowy paper that graduated to blue in one corner.

The image was then matted onto blue, silver, blue and more silver card before being stuck onto a blue card blank.  I dry embossed the right hand corner of the card with a flower and swirl type decoration.

Gas Street. Birmingham

 Back to the mundane, if there is such a thing in Gas Street.

We got to look after Rolo for the day (6 month old Rotweiller/Doberman cross).  Boy has she grown.  Still adorable and fun though.  We walked her around to the doctors and passed this boat on the way.  The whole side of the boat was covered in an advertisement for South African wine, even the windows were covered like they do on the buses sometimes.

Haven't shown a waterways card for ages, so here's one of a bridge somewhere, forget where.

It is matted onto gold and primrose card and then onto a teal coloured card blank with some white and yellow ribbon wrapped around it vertically.

Three gems are stuck to the bottom right hand corner.  Why do they always look crooked in the photo and not to the naked eye?

Gas Street, Birmingham

 We had a 5.30 and began the Wolverhampton 21 at 6.45.  A nice smooth ascent to lock 11 before the locks were against us, but we met a boat coming down in lock 9.  We were at the top for 9.45.

It being a Sunday -mobile cafe at lock 10 - so no bacon and egg butties today.

This moorhen chick was a bit lost at one of the locks.  No sign of any parents.  It was all legs and feet.

On to Factory Locks, and again we were in luck; a boat was just coming out of the top lock as we arrived.

The rest of the journey is always a bit tedious, especially the long straight bit where you can see the office blocks by the moorings in front and they never seem to get any closer.  But we were eventually back on our moorings as the clock in Brindleyplace struck 2. 

We did 496 miles, 375 locks, 51 swing bridges, 3 lift bridges and 28 tunnels (not counting any locks or bridges opened for us by others!).

I began this card with a pink card blank.

The picture of roses was matted onto silver mirror card and then onto white card.  I trimmed the corners with an inverse curve and stuck it onto the card towards the left hand side of the card.  I added four gems at each corner.  Then I cut a scalloped border in bright pink card and fixed it by the side of the picture.

The sentiment was a rub-on and the "mum" I added to a piece of card and fixed it with sticky fixers.  The finish off I added butterfly in the bottom right hand corner.

Inside, I trimmed the bottom edges of the insert with a daisy trim punch and added another butterfly in the bottom right hand corner.

I left the insert blank 'cos if you put a mushy one in the customer will want a sassy one, and vice versa.

Huntings Bridge, Shropshire Union Canal

 Last day but one (hopefully).

We got diesel at Wheaton Aston for 74p a litre, saw lots of boats on the move and managed to moor up before the rain set in.

And did it rain!  Even some thunder and lightening.




I put half of this card blank through the Cuttlebug.  It was a bit of a faff and I usually find it easier to just Cuttlebug sheets of card and then stick it onto the card front.

The crab is made from plastic and is stuck to a piece of torn handmade paper and then matted onto some orange card, cut with wavy scissors.

A blue seahorse is stuck to the bottom right hand corner.

Norbury Junction, Shropshire Union Canal

The most photographed bridge on the Shroppie?  Well, here's another photo.

"Another long day!" as David says.  A 0530 start and finishing at 1130.  Fifteen miles and 10 locks. 

A white card blank with some pink backing paper, torn on one side and stuck down the right hand side of the card.

The bowler is decopaged and fixed over the join of the paper and card.

The shield, bag and score sheet are added for decoraton.

Adderley Bottom Lock, Shropshire Union Canal

Here is the tree I photographed on the way up.  Now there are a few leaves, but not many.

Audlum was just waking up when we went through.  All the locks were against us, but they seemed so easy after the big locks on the Leeds and Liverpool and Rochdale.

I went to bed soon after we moored up (which was before noon) and slept were about 3 hours!

Later I walked up to the farm shop for more delicious sausages, bread and scones.

I have been playing with my new camera - using the zoom which is very impressive.

This picture used the zoom as far as it would go and the picture was then cropped. 

The only thing that is annoying is that using the zoom takes forever for the photograph to set, so you can't take pictures quickly.  The screen freezes for about 5 seconds.

A stamped card!!!  I coloured it in with metallic pens and matted it onto pink, cream and gold card before sticking it onto a white card blank.

Three pink sequins are lined up in the bottom right hand corner.

Barbridge, Shropshire Union Canal

 What makes you think this boat is moored close to two hire boat companies?

Another early start and through the Middlewich locks before too many boats (only one following us), and down the Middlewich Branch.

We moored up at the empty moorings in Barbridge and I took the bus to Chester.  When I got back the moorings were full and Waterwitch was behind us.

This is a very early card of mine.  I made lots as they were very popular, but I have not made any more for about 6 years now.

I used a template to make to bodice with handmade paper, edging the collar with a silver  pen.  The skirt is made from a circle of net which is folded into 4 and the pointy end stitched to make the pleats before fixing it to the back of the bodice.  I then added two silver bows for decoration.

The dress was then fixed onto some blue handmade paper which has been torn into a long rectangle and this was fixed to a long white card blank.

I added some sparkly stars for extra decoration.

Blackberry Cutting, Trent and Mersey Canal

 Into Preston Brook tunnel for 0630 and then on through the other two tunnels.

It was surprisingly quiet at Anderton - just because we didn't want to stay there! 

Then it was on to Bramble Cuttings for the night.

We past this boat - bright or what?

A cream card blank.  Torn lilac paper.  A square of embossed silver card with some white handmade paper with the edges "feathered".  A sparkly lilac cardboard heart with shiny thread wrapped around it, an organza bow and ribbon rose stuck to the top right hand side.

An iridescent heart in the bottom right hand corner.

Moore, Bridgewater Canal

Does this count for "Ducks in a line"?

 They were dozing with Mum until we moored up the boat and they all ran off into the water.

David set off at 0545 and dropped me off somewhere near Grapenhall where I caught a bus into Warrington while he went on to Moore to moor up for the night.  I joined him later after catching another bus.

Here is a get well card, made yonks ago.  I cannot remember where I found the clip art, and I have tried to find it again.  Anyway, I printed it onto card and cut it out before sticking it onto some computer generated backing paper (saying "Get Well Soon").  The edges were decorated with deckle edged scissors and then it was matted again onto pink paper which was cut with curvy edged scissors.

The panel was then fixed onto a white card blank.

Trafford Centre, Bridgewater Canal

 How to annoy a fisherman.  Travel in a convoy of 6 boats.

Today was going to be a nice easy run to the Trafford Centre where we could meet up with David's Sister, Brother-in-Law and their Grandson and David could watch the match on the TV.

No such luck.  We got to the Barton Swing Bridge at 0745 and it was SHUT!!!  No stoppage notice, no warning, no notice at all and there were four boats moored up in front of us, and they had been there all night.  One since 5pm.

We phoned Lil and Joe to let them know we were the wrong side of the bridge, so they knew where to find us and they arrived at about 10am.

Finally, at 1130 the bridge opened.  By now there were 7 boats waiting to go through.  Apparently, they closed the bridge yesterday for the ferry to leave and the bridge broke.  They worked on it all night and, fortunately, just after the ferry returned, the bridge was working again.  Yeah!  Believe that one.  Been here before.  The bridge closed on us just as we were entering it, they bridge keeper said that there was a boat going down the Manchester Ship Canal and it would only be a while.  Four hours later, he came back and another ship went through and we were finally allowed to go on our way again.

A bonus for five year old Ethan though, he got a ride on the boat and enjoyed saying goodbye to Grandad, and then seeing him go over the road bridge in the car as we went over our swing bridge, and then waive hello to him when we got here.

Two cards, same idea, using plastic dolphins.

The first one uses three squares of cards and three circles with the dolphins stuck on.  The squares are arranged in a vertical panel with strips of peel-off making a frame and a plastic heard in the four corners.

This one has one long panel with three squares of card and the dolphins stuck directly onto the squares.

Both cards used blue card blanks.

Whitehead Hall Bridge, Bridgewater Canal

 We did the last of the locks before it started to drizzle and by 10 o'clock it looked as if the heavens were about to open, just as we passed a couple of pieces of metal sticking out from the towpath.  Ideal for mooring up.  So we did.  And they did.

Later in the afternoon I went for a wander to see if I could find any orchids (I had seen some earlier in the morning).  I noticed that we were near Astley Pit Museum, and we'd actually used this spot once before.  I couldn't find any orchids though.

We went to bed to the accompaniment of a thunder storm.  Still, I suppose we need the rain.

What do you do with those free gifts you get from card making magazines?

This is how I used this one.  The chipboard bear was matted onto pink, lilac and purple card.  The topper was fixed with foam pads.

I stuck a piece of lilac gingham ribbon across the bottom, using double sided tape and cutting the edges flush.  I then took a scrap of purply glimmer ribbon and folded it in half, cutting the edges at an angle and pierced it with a flower shaped brad before sticking it onto the ribbon with a glue dot.  The sentiment is a sparkly peel-off and was also stuck onto the gingham ribbon.

Another piece of scrap purple ribbon was folded in half, after trimming the edges at an angle and stuck behind the topper before adding it to the white card blank.