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.