Gas Street Basin, BCN

A quick run home to Gas Street, stopping off in Oozells Loop for 3 hours because we had let Cathy and Dave use our moorings and we didn't want to bump them off too early.












Here is a pretty Christening Card, or it could be for a First Communion with the right sentiment.

I used an embossing folder to emboss white card which was then matted onto gold miri card, with a white ribbon and bow wrapped around it, and then onto a white card blank. The cross was die-cut in miri gold and white and fixed to the card with sticky fixers.  Three yellow daisies were added below the cross and a computer generated sentiment which was also matted onto gold miri card was added to the bottom left hand corner.

Spon Lane Junction, BCN

It doesn't really show in the picture, but you can just see Mr David on the canal as seen from the bridge at Wolverhampton Rail Station.  It's the little blue dot on the left of the railway signal.

We were on our way to Birmingham for David to get his tooth seen to.

Back from Birmingham at 1130, we set off and got to Spon Lane Junction at 4.15 and decided to make it a day, so we moored up on the off side of the lock landing.

Now for a Mother's Day Card.  Now should it be Mother's or Mothers'?

I began with a lilac card base and then embossed a piece of white card where the embossing folder had blue ink spread over one side so that it partially inked the white card.  This then had some lilac ribbon and some fancy ribbon wound around the card and stuck it onto the card base.  Then I added a bunch of silk violets, wrapped in a gauzy ribbon and a computer generated sentiment.

Wolverhampton, BCN

 Loving the colours of autumn.

We got to Wheaton Aston just as the garage was opening and filled up with diesel and arrived at the junction for 1pm. 

I had managed to get a dental appointment for David to get his tooth seen to tomorrow, so we had to go on up the locks and into Wolverhampton for the night

So it was a long hard day, 18 miles and 23 locks. Still we can still do it.

A lock full of leaf soup.

One for the ladies now.  A glittery, decoupaged lady eating strawberries.  I matted her onto a pink die-cut, glittery car and stuck it onto a white card blank.

To finish off and tied a small piece of narrow pink card around a wider piece of pink card to make a bow.

Norbury Junction, Shropshire Union Canal

Mr David in the distance, approaching the locks in the glow of another dawn!

Had to stop for a bit while it rained and then David lost a filling from a tooth!  We arrived at Norbury Junction at 1245 and went to The Wharf for lunch where we met Jenny and John on Roach.

 

This is a card made from toppers that came free from a cardmaking magazine.  It is a "diamond fold" or "tilt" card.  It was never very successful and I ended up having to throw it away.

Market Drayton, Shropshire Union Canal

 Heaven only knows what it looks like inside!!!

A short day today (seeing as we are going back and David want's to keep going).  We did a DIY pumpout and took on water at the sanitary station at Market Drayton and sailed under the bridge and were moored up at 10am.  

As is my want, I then walked into town and caught the bus into Shrewsbury for the rest of the day.  Oh! how I love my bus pass.

A nice, neutral, wedding card.  The top 2/3 of a piece of card was embossed with an embossing folder and some red ribbon wrapped around it covering the join.  This was then stuck down onto a white card base.  The "Mr & Mrs" was printed on the computer and cut out and stuck down with sticky fixers and 4 die-cut hearts were added underneath.

Below Adderley Locks, Shropshire Union Canal

 Halloween is coming....

Off early again and up through Audlum, a quick stop to shop in the Co-op for essentials and then on to the bottom of Adderley locks.

No alarms or excursions today and we were moored up  by 1230.

An autumnal scene at the top of Audlum.

This is the birthday card I made for my youngest grandson's first birthday.  He has an apatite on him like nobodies business.  I used one of Mo's Digital Pencil stamps and coloured it in with pencils.  This was then fussy cut onto a die-cut mat and matted onto a larger yellow one.  The number one was then die-cut in silver mirri card, along with his name in orange letters.

Hack Green, Shropshire Union Canal

Sunrise today! 

David was up and off at 0630 and we watched the sunrise while we did a lock.  When we got to the top of Hurleston locks I helped him down the first two locks and then left him and caught the bus into Chester whilst he went down the rest single handed and moored up in Nantwich to wait for me.

After I had done the shopping, and bought him some lovely chocolates, I caught the bus back to Nantwich and we then travelled on to Hack Green where we stopped for the night at the top of the locks.





I have a fascination with back cabins; they are so small and yet contain everything you need plus all the ornamentation. 

This is just a plain card using a black card base, a white, embossed card panel and the photograph matted onto black, white and silver card.

Wenbury Church, Llangollen Canal

 

 Left at dawn, again and stopped to buy coal at a boatyard. 

There was a half hour wait at Grindley locks while the volockies brought 2 boats up and then had to get the water levels right for us to go down. 

Saw a kingfisher today too.

We arrived at Wenbury at half past one and later had dinner in the Dusty Miller.

A couple of interesting trees that I saw from a lock today.

I love pansies, these are decoupaged.  The base card is white and I embossed some light blue paper with my Cuttlebug.  Then two lengths of blue ribbon was tied around it and tied in knots.  The flowers were placed onto a white embossed oval, then a navy blue one and finally a scallop edged white one.

To finish off three light blue pearls were added to the bottom left and corner.

Bettisfield, Llangollen Canal

A couple of lovely autumnal scenes on the Llangollen.
















We stopped off in Ellesmere to do some shopping and then travelled on for couple of hours before mooring up in Bettisfield.

We have an amazing engineer who has done some really crappy jobs for us.  I made this card as a thank-you for some work he did for us.

As he usually wears dungarees I made this thank you for him. It is a white card blank with some red gingham paper stuck on the top, but with a slit at the top to form a collar and used brads for buttons.

I made faux stitching around the edges and die-cut the tools which were tucked into the pocket.

Below New Marton Locks - Llangollen Canal

 I know we like early starts, but today was a bit excessive.  We left the basin at a quarter past SIX!!!  It was still dark and we bumped and ground our way down through the narrows, missing all the dramatic scenery, but on the other hand we didn't meet another boat until we got to the lift bridge past the aqueduct.

As you can see, sunrise as we went over.  I walked it again.  Getting really brave, no?

When I got to the 100th turn of the lift bridge I finally noticed that it was not going up any more.

The man on the other boat tried pushing, and I eventually had the nous to wind it own a bit and then up again, that seemed to work.  Still, I didn't have to wind it down.

The hire boats were out in force after Chirk and by the time we got to New Morten locks there were queues of 4 boats coming up stream at both locks - still I didn't have to do much work working them, there was lots of help.

Two days ago it took us 5 hours to get from the top of New Marton to the Basin in Llangollen and 4 hours to get back down!  I've seen a slower current on the Thames!

Another example of my expanding repertoire. 

An "exploding" box, because when you take the lid off the sides explode out and fall down.

This box contains a pair of baby stocks.

The sides are decorated with patterned paper and die cuts with a rosette on the lid.

I have made several in blue, pink and white.

Llangollen - Llangollen Canal

 The weather is still lovely, we have been so luck this trip.

The family emailed to say they would be visiting at lunch time, so we walked down the (steep) hill to meet them and eldest grandson said he wanted to go to the boat for lunch, we we walked back up the (steep) hill.

After lunch they left us and I decided to walk up to the Horseshoe Falls (the start of the canal), so it was half way down the (steep) hill and along the towpath.  I must admit, I only remembered it being about 1/2 a mile long and was dismayed to discover with was 1 3/4 miles, so it was "on! on!"  The picture proves I did it, and got back in one piece (but I did discover the back way into the marina and didn't have to climb the (steep) hill again.

We had planned dinner out with Jackie and Chris in the Cornmill, so it was back down the (steep) hill, a really lovely dinner, and then back up the (steep) hill for the VERY LAST TIME.

 
Sunset in Llangollen Basin

I have been branching out from card cards and this is a card and a box.  It is an easel card with a box in front which holds 4 tealight candles.

The front has 2 sets of patterned paper, the large one matted onto gold mirri card and the smaller one matted onto red card and gold mirri card.  The card base was also red.

The box is attached to the bottom of the card and has a flap which opens to get the candles out.

I decorated the front of the card with some die cut leaves and paper roses.

The inside has more patterned paper matted onto gold miri card and more die cut leaves and a rose, and a small white panel, also matted onto mirri card for the greeings.

The box was finished of with a red bow.

Oh! and there is another box to put it in, but I didn't take a picture.  Doh!

Llangollen - Llangollen Canal

 The usual 7 o'clock start, the current getting really strong now, especially at bridges and the two tunnels at Chirk and Whitehouses, we bumped and scraped all the way up.  We met three day hire boats just before the long aqueduct and they kindly let us go in front (as they hadn't got much of a clue) and we were up in the basin at Llangollen for 12 noon.

As usual, a really spectacular trip, the leaves on the trees are turning yellow and gold and the weather has been lovely.  Chirk and Pontcysyllte aqueducts were stunning - I walked them both - though I must admit mostly looking straight ahead and not down the sides.

So we are in the basin, the electricity has been turned on and I am on my 3rd load of washing....

I made a white panel of card and embossed it using the Cuttlebug.  I stuck it onto a white card blank and added a 3d butterfly.

The sentiment was computer generated and matted onto red card.

New Marton Br W12, Llangollen Canal

 A fairly uneventful day, we were off at 7 and moored up above the two locks (and past the water points!) by 1015.  I was absolutely knackered after the 6 Grindley Brook locks and 2 lift bridges.  I had gone to bed at 8 the night before, and I had another couple of hours when we moored up!  Must be getting old.

The cyclamen are growing wild in the garden of the lock cottage, they so remind me of Cyprus where they really did grow wild out on the Panhandle, along with the wild donkeys.

I made the embossed panel for this card using vellum paper, it is kind of translucent but where it is embossed it is white.  It is difficult to stick down though as glue shows through, so I made the panel longer than the blue card and wrapped it around and stuck it on the back.

The blue panel was then fixed to the white card blank and some ivy leaves were die cut from green card and two pink blossoms were added to the front of the card.

Ellesmere, Llangollen Canal

 Clearly someone cannot read!  And there is no excuse as it's on the downstream side so you can't use the current as an excuse.

I made the postie wait at this bridge and he was not a happy bunnie.  Must have been late for his cup of tea at the next remote farm.

A beautiful day, we saw a kingfisher (our third since we started out) and lots of squirrels on the towpath foraging for acorn.

We stopped at Ellesmere (first set of moorings after the junction so David could back out tomorrow morning and not have to wind in the tiny winding hole at the top.

A quick trip into town to get some shopping and then into Tesco for the rest of it.  It is so handy for us boaters.  David asked the butcher if have it in town had made any difference to their trade, and they said that, actually, it was better now and probably the big store has brought more visitors to the town.  So that's good.

I like these easy to make sympathy cards.  White card blank, white panel which has been embossed matted onto black card, some black and white spotty ribbon, a computer generated sentiment and 4 punched out butterflies which have been folded in half and one side stuck onto the card front.

Above Povey Lock - Llangollen Canal

 Good things about the Llangollen Canal:

•  It's pretty
• It's not too long
• There is lots and lots of piling for mooring onto

Not so good things about the Llangollen Canal:

• The by-washes
• The leaky locks
• The lift bridges
• Grindley Brook staircase
• The number of boats
• The current

 I really don't know why we come.  Well, yes I do, it is really beautiful and fairly peaceful once the boats have stopped moving.

It was the usual 7 o'clock start, but we were finished by 11.  And, only 7 locks and 2 lift bridges.

The women in David's life!   ps: I'm the little fat one in the distance.

This type of card is called an easel card because it stands up a bit like an easel, get it?

You take an ordinary card blank and fold one half in half again and fold it in on itself. 

I decorated the front parts with black patterned paper, matted onto black card and added a topper which was matted onto black and white card and a pink bow with a gem and stuck it to the middle of the card.

The base has a panel of the black patterned paper matted onto black card and some pleated pink ribbon tied around it with some silver lace.  This was then stuck down onto the inside of the card base along with a white matted panel for writing the greetings on.

Because the ribbon sticks up it stops the front of the card from folding flat.

Stonely Green Bridge 10, Llangollen Canal

Surprising what you can find on lock gear!

The morning was spent in Chester, we caught the bus just past the bridge at the top of Hurlston locks.  David bought a very expensive box of chocolates and then we came back.


So, we set off at 1 o'clock and stopped at Stoneley Green Bridge at 3 o'clock, having travelled just over 3 miles and done 2 locks.  Enough for one day.

Don't know what this card is for really, could be a birthday card, or a thank you card, or a retirement card, or a new home card, or most things really.

I just matted the picture onto blue and then silver mirri card and stuck it onto the front of a white card blank.  Three blue gems were stuck onto the bottom to give it a bit of a lift, and that was it really.

After Bridge 1 - Llangollen Canal

Another early start, and another lovely day.  We stopped off just before the aqueduct at Nantwich and I walked into town then we set off for the Hurlstone locks. 

We managed to follow a boat up the locks, but did meet one boat on the way down in the middle. 

After taking on water we moored up just after the visitor moorings, almost out of hearing of the traffic on the main road.

A red card blank, a red card which has been embossed using the Cuttlebug and a heart die-cut in the middle.  I put some patterned paper beneath the heart and stuck the panel down with siky fixers.  A flower and some die-cut leaves were fixed to the bottom of the heart and a gem stuck into the middle of the flower.  The sentiment was printed on the computer.

Audlum, Shropshire Union Canal

Sunrise on the Shroppie.  The start of a beautiful day.

We were in Audlum for 1115 and had the side hatch open all through the day.  I put my cards out for sale, but no one was particularly interested.

In the evening we went for dinner in the Lord Combermere pub in the centre of Audlum with old friends Jackie and Chris on Rainbow.  We had not seen them for several years, so it was great to catch up with them.  The meal was very good too.

One of the moorers in Gas Street likes to send friends cards with his boat on, it gets to be quite difficult to find something different to make.  This time I cut the picture into 3 rectangles and then backed each one with white card, matting them up onto the front of a red  card blank.  The sentiments were made on the computer and a butterfly was added for definition.

Market Drayton, Shropshire Union Canal

 We left at a quarter to seven (yes it was just light - just), and got to Tyerley locks as it began to spit with rain.

We got to the bottom, meeting 2 boats on the way up and just at the bottom it started to rain heavily.

The plan was to stop at Market Drayton anyway, so we did and then got a taxi to take us to Morrisons to stock up on food.  David went back in the taxi and I walked into town and then walked back to the boat

We spent the rest of the day warm, by the fire, in the boat.

This is a "card in a box".  It is a 3D card, but it folds flat so it can be posted.

I covered the sides of the box with silver card and then used die-cut hearts for the decoration, they are fixed into the box with acetate strips, or stuck directly onto the sections.  The champagne glasses are peel-offs which I cut out before adding to the front of the box and the sentiment was another peel-off.