Railway Bridge, Polesworth - Coventry Canal

 We left at 0615, both Glascote locks were for us and working well.  I had to wait for the Co-op at the top to open at 0700 for a newspaper - too early for the freshly baked rolls and pastries though!

Moored up at 0845 just past Polesworth and I walked back into the village to post the card below.

Still lots of lovely sunshine and some blossoms left on the trees.

I needed to make a card for a fellow moorer who's sister is expecting.  This is almost a  steal from a card I found on the internet.  Of course, I could not find my new watercolour pencils so I had to use ordinary ones, still it isn't too bad.

I die cut the circle topper and a larger one in kraft card and stuck them onto the kraft card base.  For the inside I

made the sentimen on the computer and cut it out with two circle dies.

Gas Street Basin, BCN

Snow, snow and more snow.

Two days before we left we were sitting at this table in the warm sunshine.


David has worked hard keeping a path on the pontoon and the towpath clear of snow, but it has been hard work.

The pavements are lethal.

The poor daffodils are suffering.  They have been in "bud" for 3 weeks now.
















The flowers are encased in ice, with icicles forming on the bottoms.

The snow didn't stop our daughter and son-in-law driving over from Nottingham for her birthday lunch.

She is now 5 months pregnant and is expecting a boy.

The stamp is a Kraftin Kimmie and called Caroline.  So I had to use it didn't I?

I coloured her in with watercolour paints and cut it out using a die, the edge was coloured with ink.  I drew around the die and cut out another white label and then cut out another one in patterned paper.

The backing paper was stuck to a duck-egg blue card blank, leaving a small border.  Then I added the topper with sticky fixers.

Brentwood, Grand Union

 We left early as there was a window in the river and managed to get  to the visitor moorings at Brendford before the rain.  We moored up behind Indus a David wants to interview Liz for Canals and Rivers Magazine and she will be off later today.

I walked into Brentford and caught a bus into Kingston on Thames.  Had a shock going over Kew Bridge - the tide was out.  We only ever see the Thames at high tide here.


 Here is a link to one of the boats that did the upstream tideway in the group of boats behind us Good Friday.  Enjoy.  www.youtube.com/watch?v=327hE86TW4c




Had some interesting news today.  A friend's son is expecting a baby in November and his son is expecting a baby in October too.  So the Uncle/Aunt will be younger than the Nephew/Niece. Confused?

So here is the card.  I began with a white card blank and added a panel of blue paper which the edges deckle cut.  I stamped out the bird and coloured it with watercolour paints and matted it onto white and then silver card and stuck it towards the top of the card.  The sentiment is a silver peel-off which was stuck onto deckle edged white card and matted onto silver card.

Gas Street Basin, Birmingham

 Didn't take any photos today, so here is one from the Droitwich gathering.

David was up at 0530 and we set off (well, David set off, I was still in bed).  Just after he started the heavens opened and it rained all the way back until we got out of the last (very wet inside) tunnel.

We were back on our moorings at 0915.  Don't let me do 42 locks in one day EVER AGAIN!

Another early card.  I stamped the card and coloured it in then matted it onto silver and black card.

I cut some blue paper with wavy scissors and stuck the panel onto the bottom half of a light blue card.  The topper was then fixed over the join.

The sentiment says "A little bird told me!" and I used it for a congratulations card for an expectant couple.

Dutton Stop Lock, Trent & Mersey Canal

Always a sad sight this. The boat must have had either a wooden or fibreglass superstructure as there is only the metal hull left.

A quiet run into Middlewich. I left David at the bottom of the third lock and walked into town to Tesco for a paper and bits and bobs. I had caught up with him just as he was filling the Big Lock.

Then it was on to Anderton. I dropped in to the customer services to buy some pumpout cards. Not an easy transaction, but I'll say no more and I am sorry to the next person who needs a pumpout card, I bought all 7 of them!

My brother's eldest son and his wife were expecting a baby (a little girl). So I came up with this card.

The photo is not too good because I used a white square card blank. The pink safety pin was stuck to the middle and the rub-on sentiment was added below. The wording is "Parenting results may vary". This is their second child, so we'll see.

Fosse Lock 22

We are on the move again, at last. We came up to the lock around lunchtime and were told it would open at 4.30 pm. In fact it was open by 1.30 pm. We had decided that we would wait until the morning before going through so stayed below the lock, but Slowhand went on through.








A card that I actually stamped!!! I made 2 impressions and painted them with water colours and then cut out the 2 children, the mother's head and "bump" from one of them which I then decoupaged onto the base. I then matted it on yellow card and onto flowery paper. I used my picture corner stamp and fixed it all with 4 brads. I then printed the sentiment on the computer before matting that onto the yellow card.

Tardebigge

What is going on here? We have just had several days of freezing weather and this hawthorn bush is bursting into leaf!!!

We had trouble with the internet connection after we moved into the dry dog. On visiting the Vodafone shop in Redditch they said nothing was wrong, but misterously it was working again when we got back to the boat.

The hull has been washed and repainted once, Kevin came with our new batteries (which are bigger than the older ones!) so we are almost ready.

I have to admit that I have copied this card from an American blog. But I did draw the figure and letters myself. I started off with a gatefold card and covered the bottom with spotty paper, using a gold peel-off line to cover the join. The sentiment was printed on the computer and matted onto gold card and I made the pregnant lady stick out over the opening.