Gas Street

Probably the most cultural week we have ever done.

It started on Tuesday when we visited Walsall (free using our bus passes on the train!) to see the Jacob Epstein Collection. There are some wonderful drawings and paintings from various artists as well as sculptures.



Then on Thursday we saw Caberet in the REP. I love going to the REP Theatre as it is so close to the boat that you can come home to go to the loo in the interval and not have to queue up!

Cabaret was fantastic (and lots of scenes of nudity!). Anything to do with Berlin for us is always interesting (that's where we met 37 years ago!) and I once visited a nightclub there where there were telephones on every table.



Then it was the ArtsFest Weekend with performances going on all over the city. Friday night we were at the Cathedral waiting for the Burne-Jones window to be illuminated (we waited 1/2 an hour in damp clothes (it had been raining again) and nothing happened so we came back home disappointed.



Saturday we were back in Centenary Square to see the CBSO, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Birmingham Opera Company performing various works with a glorious finale of The Ride of the Valkyries" and "Starwars" accompanied by fireworks. And to top it all we were back on the boat before the last notes had hardly finished. Who would want to live anywhere else?



These are the cards that I made to welcome our two incoming moorers. The first one was for Calum. He has an old Springer boat adapting and it has a lift-up roof like some camper vans. For some reason he has covered it in camouflage netting. I told him about the boat in Devizes which is also covered in camouflage and so I made the card using a picture of it.

I found some camouflage tissue paper which I tore up and stuck onto the card and then matted the photograph a couple of times. I then covered the picture in some green netting stuff, fixing it to one side so that it can be removed. It looks a bit like more camouflage and I was well pleased with myself for thinking of it. The sentiment was printed in an army type stencil font and matted onto more camouflage tissue.







The second card is for Hugh and Ivy on their new Liverpool boat which they named after Ivy. It has lovely signwriting with wreaths of ivy on the sides and bow flare. David took a picture and I made two copies, cutting out the ivy swirl and the word from one which I stuck over the other with sticky fixers. I then matted it a couple of times before fixing it over yellow ribbon. Again I made the sentiment on the computer and matted that up too.

I am quite willing to do a card like this for your boat if you send me a picture in jpeg form. They make lovely thank you notelets and will cost you just £2 each plus postage.

Gas Street

What rain!! It rained most of yesterday and it has rained most of today.

Amber Moon paid a flying visit Sunday night which was a good excuse for a meal out at our local Thai restaurant.

Then we had the Cabinet meeting here at the ICC yesterday - though no-one came this way. The canal was not closed off like they did for the conference in the Spring, we just had the armed police.

Two more boats have moved into the basin, Calum on Mystic Magic and Hugh and Ivy on Ivy. Mystic Magic has had several reincarnations (pic soon) and Ivy is a brand new Liverpool boat.



Here's a card for a United fans. I made the backing paper by getting the names of the team from the Internet. I found a football dingbat which I put in between all the names. I cut the backing paper on the diagonal and stuck it down the left hand side of the card, covering the join with a gold peel-off strip.

The Club badge was printed out 3 times and decoupaged with sticky fixers to make it stand out and the sentiment and name were printed out in a football font and matted before sticking down with sticky fixers.

Gas Street

He's back and we're back!!!

We have just had a few days in Bordeaux, France, and when we arrived back yesterday morning the first thing we saw was the North American Wood Duck who had been missing all Summer(?). He must have gone somewhere warm - so why come back? We have had rain ALL day today - in fact we have had rain almost every day this year.

Sorry I haven't blogged for a bit. I was really busy getting cards made and ready for the IWA Show and then getting ready for the holiday.



My venture at the IWA Boat Festival was not too successful,
though it was nice to see lots of old faces.

This card is a DL size card. I started with a photograph and matted it onto silver, red and blue card. I tore the silver and red card at an angle and tied some blue cord around the bottom.

I have been adding lots of cards to my shop at ArtyMiss Barter here but there are lots more to go - so please be patient till I get them all up. Please go and have a look.

Gas Street

Not only do we have two beaches in the centre of Birmingham - we also have a jungle! Well, a gorilla anyway.

There are lots and lots of boats about at the moment with people heading off towards Wolverhampton and the IWA Festival.

Old friends are passing by so we have been catching up with the news and gossip.

The first of the new moorers arrived on Thursday and their daughter and boyfriend are going to live on the boat - so that has brought the age level down with a bump.


My bus pass arrived on Friday and has been used!!! We went for a celebration lunch on Saturday with Caroline in the Jewellery Quarter. Caroline now lives half way down Farmers Bridge Locks so we can walk down that way to get to their flat.

This is the welcome card I made for them using a photograph of boats in the basin which was matted onto silver, red and yellow card and a yellow ribbon. I printed the sentiment and matted that onto silver and red card.

Gas Street

A picture of just some of the 50 odd Canada Geese that we house in the basin. People will insist on feeding them. There were about five when we first moved here. And the mess they make on the moorings is disgusting. Someone was telling me that they crap three times more than any other living creature. I believe it.

Sadly we have been back on the moorings for almost a week and only had one visit from a newspaper reporter! This time it was from the Birmingham Evening Mail. She has promised to let us know if we get into print again.

We never heard from the lady who was doing an article in the Observer - so I suppose that went by board. The Editor probably has the same mentality as the management at British Waterways - in that boats don't matter.

While out on our mini-cruise we met a couple on a boat coming up the Aston locks. They were complaining that someone had put pipes through the locks and they couldn't get them to work without bashing these pipes with the windlass!!!

The mind boggles. Where have they been? There have been anti-vandal keys on those locks for as long as I can remember. It also appears that if you are a vandal, all you have to do is knock the bars out with a hammer and then you can play with the locks to your heart's content.

I have bitten the bullet and applied for a stand in the Craft Tent at the IWA Boat Festival in Wolverhapton over the Bank Holiday Weekend. I must be made as I said after the last time that I would never do it again. But there you go!

So I have been busy making cards, making cards, making cards!!!

This one was made from a white card, white handmade paper and a bought topper of dried flowers and seeds. A lovely simple card but quite effective.

I had an email from Joanne Quinney of Making Cards Magazine to tell me one of my cards is featured in the Readers Cards Page of the September magazine. Now there's an excuse to buy another card magazine...

Tamhorn Park Bridge

Couldn't resist a photo of this sign. The laminated paper one is actually covering the metal one that is fixed underneath. They both say and picture exactly the same thing!!

We managed the Curdworth Flight in 2 bits, stopping after Lock 7 last night and then doing the rest this morning.

There had been a car in the cut at Drayton Manor Bridge, but as we arrived there were lots of BW and a big skip type lorry with a crane and lots of muddy water - so we missed all the fun.

After shopping in the little Tesco at Fazeley we headed on to the Coventry Canal stopping after Hopwass.

David has been putting his best photographs on a blog here and his travelogues here . He now has three blogs going, along with his Bernie The Bollard stories

We had a text from the IWA today wanting to know if I was interested in running a stall, selling my cards, at the IWA Festival during August Bank Holiday.

I thought about it, and against better judgement I have agreed, so I will be making cards like mad for the next couple of weeks and David will be moaning about lack of housework, food and attention.

This one started out as a yellow foam heart. I covered it in pretty white handmade paper with rose petals in it. I then mounted it onto pink mulberry paper and added a pink rose and ribbon. The final touch, three pink gems.

Minworth Greaves

Yes! We've escaped the joys of Birmingham. After all the fun with TV and Radio and hassle with noise from the bars and drunks, and then an obnoxious visitor on Pipe Dream who, when told that the mooring was private, told David to "F*** off!".

We set off early as usual but still got to Farmer's Bridge Top Lock just as a boat was going down. But with help from Albert we were soon on our way. The picture shows David trying to get back onto the boat under the tunnel in the bowls of Mawdor. Not easy with the barrier.

Lots seems to have happened since we were last out. There are now signs on all the locks showing a boat stuck on the cill, and some lovely new seats that BW have put by the locks on the Aston Flight. I don't think they are meant to be seats, but I cannot see any other use for these blocks of wood; though I understand they are for tying the boat up when you go up and down locks, though I thought you were not supposed to tie up your boat when you go up or down a lock.




Now for a card for Liz who will be 65. I was not allowed to put the age on the card, but the wording inside said: "If you were a man, you'd just be getting your pension!".

I stamped the roses onto watercolour paper and embossed them in gold, then coloured them in. Then it was matted onto white and gold card; then onto some white and gold tissue paper with a pink feather and finally onto some pink card which I edged with a gold pen. Half the white base card was covered in rosebud paper with a gold strip down the join and then I added the name of the recipient.