Paddington Basin, Grand Union Paddington Arm

 Lots of rubbish in the canal - this bit was still smoking when we went past.  David phoned BW to report it and when he gave the bridge number the guy said, yes, the brown wooden one, someone tried to set fire to that recently!

Yet another lovely day.  There was no room at the various visitor moorings on the way to Little Venice and definitely none there.  The winter moorings end today, so at least some of the boats should be moving off.

So it was on into Paddington Basin where there were about three spaces, so we winded the boat and moored up by the temporary entrance to the station.  A bit noisy, but adequate.

A new baby congratulations card. I matted the decoupaged Forever Friends bear onto a scalloped, silver circle.

Some blue paper from a Forever Friends paper pack was stuck to the bottom front of a white card blank with a silver peel-off strip across the join.  The topper was added on top.

Two sets of three glass gems were added in the top corners to finish the card.

I have left this card blank, no sentiment either inside or out so it could also be used as a 1st birthday card.

Southall, Grand Union, Paddington Arm

These two lovelies were swimming around the boat as we were moored above Cowley Lock.

Here is another one of the male, looking ravishing.

Yet another beautiful day, we had a late start after getting water and then stopped just after bridge 19.  I walked back to Bridge 20 and took a bus into Southall, which appears to have moved to the Indian sub-continent.  I sat having an Italian coffee in a Chinese palace full of stalls selling Indian wares.  Bizarre.

One of our fellow Pageant boats, President and I presume Kildare will be coming too.

I matted this picture onto silver, green and red card.

A long silver panel was cut from embossed silver card and a thinner green corrugated panel was fixed on top.  I wrapped some red and green ribbon around the bottom half of this panel and tied it in a knot.

I then added three red gems in the bottom left hand corner.

Cowley, Grand Union

Walking past the underground station in Uxbridge this morning, and who did I see?  I know the photo is a bit hazy, but I had to be quick.  It was Ken Livingstone, doing a bit of electioneering.

How is this for a floating dry dock?




Another short day.  We are hoping to buy a VHF radio for the Pageant trip and are looking for a chandlers around here.  So far, we have not found a boatyard even with a chandlers.  Maybe tomorrow.

Here is the card I have just made to order.  The card is an easel one to help hold up the weight of the dress.
I used a duck egg blue A5 card blank and scored the middle of the font page to fold it in half.  I the used another half of an A5 card blank to make the front, matting some pink paper onto silver mirri card.  The vertical panel was then added on top (using the other piece of the 2nd card).  I used a punch to decorate the sides of more patterned paper and edged all the edges with pink ink.  I added it to the card which I then matted onto more silver mirri card.  I punched a hole in the centre of the top for a pearl brad to hold the coat hanger and some more pink pearls in the corners.

On the bottom (inside bit) I matted more patterned paper onto silver mirri card and stuck it onto the card blank.  Die cut some silver, patterned and white paper for the sentiment and used a rub-on sentiment and three pink pearls to decorate. 

The bag was a Christmas tree decoration (as was the dress), fixed with glue dots to hold the card up when opened and a duck-egg blue organdie ribbon bow with a charm added in the other corner.

I then made a box, using the patterned paper, silver card, ribbon and another charm.

Below Widewater Lock, Grand Union

Heap of the week?

Took the boat across the canal to the Tesco mooring and did a bit of shopping before we set off.  Another short day, only travelling 4 miles and 5 locks.





We met up with The Cheese Boat on their way back from London.  Of course, we met them too soon, I had not made the card they wanted, so I had to walk up to the Post Office at Harefield in the afternoon when I had finished it. 

I hadn't realized how useful the stop was.  Two convenience stores, Post Office, Chinese Takeaway, Fish and Chip Shop, Hairdressers (of course, you can always find a hairdressers) and a taxi office.  There is even a bus to Uxbridge.  Not forgetting the pub below the bridge.

A card for Grandad, or a retirement card.

The stuck a piece of check paper onto a blue card blank and the added the decoupaged figure and bits.

Rickmansworth, Grand Union

 We decided to spend a couple of days here.  We took the bus to St Albans yesterday and visited the cathedral and mooched around the shops.

The weather is glorious.  Daffodils everywhere.

There is a bloke on the visitor moorings selling monkey bikes (the little ones), no trading licence, the bikes are in a little alcove in the hedge by the towpath and he lets prospective buyers drive them up and down the towpath.  How many rules is that he's breaking?

 Two cards, actually using the same topper.  This one uses a white hammered card blank.

The topper consists of a lilac scalloped oval under a white Cuttlebugged oval.  Three lilac, silk rosebuds are tied with pink organdie bow and stuck down with a glue dot.

I added some glitter glue to look like dew drops.

This one has a pink card blank.

Rickmansworth, Grand Union

OK!  You are green enough to buy Ecover, but not quite green enough to dispose of the plastic bottle!!  Bet you put the dog poo in a plastic bag and then leave the bag lying around too.

A short, very short, run into Rickmansworth today. 1 1/2 miles, 3 locks and it took us 1 hour.  Nice!

There was not much room on the visitor moorings, lots of visitors who are taking the full advantage of the 14 days, but we managed to find one spot.

This groovy chick is an old card of mine.  A white card blank with a torn "square" of beige torn paper, a sticker matted onto green card cut with deckle edged scissors, finished off with an orange spotty ribbon, tied in a knot and three gold gems in the bottom right hand corner.

Croxley Green, Grand Union

A day of incidents.  Firstly, got into the first lock of the day (about 500 yards) and then David spent 1/2 hour down the weed hatch removing rope and a jumper.







Anyone want a lock cottage - for sale at £435,000 at Kings Langley.  Being sold through Proffitt and Holt. 

Don't think I'd call my company Proffitt.














Then we found a semi-sunk canoe (but no canoeist).

 

 The second boat we met had a crew of baby Sea Cadets.  Cute or what?  All very willing, but I ended up doing most of the work!

After getting a pumpout and diesel at Bridgewater Boats we moored up just around the corner (no room on the visitor moorings- too many people living there) and enjoyed the sunshine.



We met several boats at locks today.  No-one came to help, just waited until the lock was ready for them and no-one slowed down when they went past us after we moored up.

A decoupaged train, though you can't see it in this picture.

I matted the picture onto gold and a sort of sage coloured card.

A panel was cut from green stripy card and the vertical edges were shaped with a Martha Steward punch.  This was stuck down onto a white card blank and the decoupaged panel as stuck down on top.

Three black peel-off circles were stuck across the bottom of the panel.

Sainsburys, Apsley, Grand Union Canal

We are being very, very naughty and spending 48 hours on a 24 hour mooring and saving water by not using any locks today.

I took the bus into Watford (love this bus pass) and David took lots of pictures of the swans.

The weather is beautiful, 20C, there are camellias and blossoms out in the gardens and some trees are beginning to burst into leaf.

A duck egg blue card blank with a panel made up of blue card with a deckle edge topped with lilac card and some pink mulberry paper.  A topper was stuck in the middle and a hole punched in the top right hand corner with a stripy, ribbon bow tied through it.  The panel was stuck onto the card blank at an angle

Sainsburys, Apsley, Grand Union Canal

We are being very good and saving water by raising paddles and leaving gates open.

After a short trip and a few locks we moored up on the visitor moorings outside Sainsburys then took a bus into Hemel Hempstead for a mooch.

There are a pair of swans here which loved the expensive malted bread we had left over.  

And another canal card.  I matted this photo onto silver and light blue card and then green and darker blue a bit off centre.  I added a green photo corner to the bottom right hand corner.  I put a - x - pattern on the green card and stuck it to the blue card blank.

The wording is silver peel-offs, as is the waterlily and leaf.

Winkwell Marina, Grand Union

Apropos of nothing.  I took this picture in the indoor market in Birmingham.  One day I'll find something to do with it.

The pump was delivered at 0800 and fixed by 0930, but we decided to stay another night and so get all our jobs done that needed electricity.

A simple waterways card.  I matted the photo onto silver and cream card.

Green ribbon was wrapped around a green card blank and tied with a knot.  The photo was then stuck over the ribbon, below the knot.

A green "jelly" dot was fixed to the top right hand corner.

Winkwell Marina, Grand Union

 Slipped through the open swing bridge before the workers arrived to block off the canal again and moored on the landing on the other side to await the opening of the boatyard.

Good news!  They can help.  We moved into their marina and got an electricity hook-up, so I've got most of the washing done already.

We have new batteries and are awaiting a new circulating pump for the radiators which should come tomorrow.

They can't fix the accelerator though, but 2 out of 3 isn't bad.

One more canal card.  This has the photograph matted onto silver and blue card, with a red photo corner on the top left hand corner.

I cut a panel of red card and swiped the edges with a green ink pad then stuck it onto the left hand side of a blank landscape card.  Then, using the same green ink pad I stamped a toadstool, some daisies and a couple of dragonflies along the bottom of the card.

Winkwell Swing Bridge, Grand Union

 Leaving Berkhamsted - 7am, warm sunshine but with a heavy frost!

The plan was to stay another day and take the bus to High Wycombe (don't remember ever having been there), but when David lit the fire this morning there was a loose wire in the circulation pump, so we need to find a boatyard.

So we set off, with great difficulty as the boat was aground.

The pounds up to Sewage Lock were very, very low.  The locks all had to be left empty with a bottom paddle up.  And we are supposed to be saving water!

The swing bridge at Winkwell is being refurbished/replaced and the boatyard was on the other side.  So we moored up for a 1/2 hr wait.  God job as the boatyard is closed today, so we moved back a bit and moored up on the 48 hr moorings to await the morrow.

Still, not all bad.  Dinner in the Three Horseshoes tonight!

Another waterways card.  Matted photo onto silver and red card, a yellow, Cuttlebugged panel, matted onto blue and silver card and three blue "jewels" made by punching out a blue cardboard circle and adding crystal stuff (sorry, memory gone, can't remember the name) to make them shiny.

Berkhamsted, Grand Union

A day of R&R.  A quick shop around Waitrose and then I only got off the boat a couple of times to shut the lock gates.  The pound went down alarmingly in the afternoon and we were aground
again.






I don't usually make square cards - they don't fit in my card racks or boxes well.  But I had some card blanks that needed using.

So I matted some pretty backing paper onto gold card and wrapped it around the spine of the card blank.  Then I used at topper which I matted onto white and gold card, punching a hole in the top and wrapping some pink ribbon through it and fixing it in a knot.

The two corners were also part of the topper pack.

Berkhamsted, Grand Union

 About 9 o'clock last night we realised that we were listing quite badly.  The pound (which was over a 1/4 mile long) was down pretty low, so we upped sticks and went through the next lock.  This lock had the bottom gate open and a paddle up with a sign saying "please leave this lock empty with a paddle up".  So much for saving water. 

Consequently the next pound was pretty full (though only a very short one).  So we moored for the night on the lock landing and Soddem Hall!

 We had an early start, some pounds were full, some empty, most of the locks leaking like billyo.

The last pound before the Berkhamsed moorings was almost completely dry and the one above not much better.  There was a boat waiting to come up, but waited for us in the lock.  David scraped through with help from a little water from the pound above (only got stuck 4 times) and then the other boat went on up.

There was just one mooring left in Berkhamsed - the one left by the boat going up the lock. 

There are winter moorings here, but there also seem to be an awful lot of other boats who seem to have been here the full "14 days". 

And then it rained for most of the day.

There is a craft shop in Berkhamsed, so I had to take a peak, didn't I?  And they were having a demonstration day, so I popped back to let David know where I was going to be all afternoon and spent an enjoyable couple of hours learning some new techniques and spending some money on stash.

This card is using a photo of some Buckby cans on the roof of a boat.  I matted it onto silver card and then light pink and red card to match the colours on the cans.  I added 2 photo corners to the picture which had a pieced decoration on them.

I made another panel of pink and red card which I fixed to a square card blank and then added the photo panel.  Three red jewels were stuck on the bottom right hand corner to finish it off.

Below Cowroast Lock, Grand Union

 One of the Tring reservoirs.  Some had more water than others.

We were allowed up the locks at 10am.  There was a widebeam first, then a Spanish guy in a narrowboat (who we ended up helping through most of the locks) and then The Cheese Boat and us going up together.

We couldn't work out how we were saving any water by going at 10 rather than our usual start time of 6-7ish, but hey ho!



And, because the boats coming the other way could only leave Cowroast at 10 as well, there was a 3 mile pound before they reached the Marsworth top lock, so there were no boats coming down to help share the water. 

Most of the locks were leaking quite badly, but we scraped through without incident, meeting only one boat coming in the other direction.

We said goodbye to the Cheese Boat after Cowroast lock and moored up for the rest of the day.

A card for a boy.  I actually enjoy doing cards for boys/men.  Usually a scantily clad female does the trick!!

This one I bought as a kit, so it is a total cheat.  Just decopaged the bits onto the background and that was t.

Marsworth, Grand Union

Not the sight you want to see at 0630 in the morning!

And, yes, we did miss it (the picture was taken after we'd passed).

We are now breasted up on a permanent mooring as there are two boats on the visitor moorings, both have been there for some time - one has a TV aerial on some sort of scaffolding poles and a printed piece of paper with guidance for boaters with no home mooring.

Took the bus into Aylesbury for a mooch.

The locks will open at 10am tomorrow and there is a widebeam in front who got here before us.

The last of my Mothers' Day cards using the pack of toppers of Victorian ladies.

I matted some pink and yellow patterned paper onto pink card and stuck it onto a white card blank, after wrapping some cotton lace along the left hand side.  A pink panel was made using pink, patterned paper and more pink card.  I edged the top and bottom with scalloped scissors.  The topper was then added to the panel and it was stuck onto the card in the bottom right hand corner.  3 pink pearls were added to the top right hand corner and a bunch of pink paper rosebuds was stuck down with glue dots and covered with a white organdie bow.

Bridge 118, Grand Union

What sort of moron bothers to pick up their dog turd and then leave it by the wall of a pub?

We stopped of in Leighton Buzzard by Tesco, to have a look around the town and then did a couple of locks before settling down in the middle of nowhere so David could watch the racing from Cheltenham.


I went for a walk up a couple of locks and saw this sign.

For some reason the word Warning in Polish as well.  Are there a lot of Poles around here spearing, stealing, and eating fish from the canal?

When we lived in Poland, back in the bad old days, you could not buy fish for love nor money and they have a tradition of eating carp on Christmas Eve, but I'm sure it's not that bad now.

Another Mothers' Day type card using one of the topper set.

I matted some primrose yellow card onto daffodil yellow and duck egg blue card that covered most of the front of a white card blank, wrapping some blue and primrose dotty ribbon around the panel first and then sticking it down.  I added the matted topper on the bottom right hand side and some punched green leaves, primrose and blue roses and a yellow feather on the top left hand corner.

The Globe, Linslade, Grand Union

 So, you wait at the lock for an hour for a boat to come along and it's a wide beam!!

Do you let it go through and wait for another narrowboat?  Do you heck!

 Just before Stoke Hammond we pulled in for the day and noticed The Cheese Boat.  An excuse for David to do an interview.

We had not come across Geraldine and Michael before, but were bowled over with their friendliness and kindness (she gave me some card stuff!).

After were just setting off  but stayed so David could do his interview.  We then decided to join them through the next few locks and moored up at The Globe where we all had a wonderful meal.

So I made a thank you card for my card stash using one of David's photos.  They said it was one of the very few photos taken of them together.

I matted the photo onto white, red and more white card.

I Cuttlebuged some red card and added a white strip which had been decorated with an edge punch and wrapped some red and white dotty ribbon around it, tying it in a knot.  This was stuck down onto a white card blank and the photo was added with sticky-fixers above the ribbon.

Br 74, Milton Keynes, Grand Union

Had to rush like mad to get to this aqueduct because it closes tomorrow for 3 days. 

There were not so many boats on the move today, just lots moored up with the curtains drawn tightly.

 Saw a couple of signs to day.  This one at the Stoke Bruerne Locks. 

If the side ponds save water, why are they not working now?

Or do we have to keep them stagnant for the wildlife?

The other one shows the areas where there are shortages of water.

 And here are the instructions.

How do you make a journey without passing through the red areas?

Or are we now supposed to moor up anywhere and just stay there with our curtains drawn tightly?

An actual stamped card!  The seedheads were stamped onto white card with black ink and matted onto red card.

I wrapped a thin piece of red ribbon around the top right hand corner and another one around the bottom left hand corner which was tied in a bow.

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