Gas Street, BCN

For once the weather people got it right, a lovely hot, sunny, bank holiday Monday.

Sima, one of our moorers is making a film about Canada geese so we took Mr David out for a trip around the bay, visiting Soho, Icknield Port and Oozells Loops.

 These two goslings were still at the cute stage.  It doesn't last long and they will soon be s***ing all over the place.

The trees were just bursting with bright green leaves and we found these two goslings.  NO ducklings, moorhen or coot chicks though.






I made this card using a photograph which I matted onto white, pink and silver card before sticking it onto a pink card blank.  The pink ribbon was then tied around the spine and tied in a knot.

Gas Street, BCN

 The re-opening of the guillotine lock on the Stratford-on-Avon Canal



We moved down to the guillotine lock early, reversing the boat from the junction (stopping 3 times to go down the weed hatch).  Eventually everyone turned up, including the Timothy West who was opening the lock.

The working boat Scopio took the VIPs through the lock (after getting stuck in the mud and then glancing the side of the lock (which ITV Central pointed out on the evening news) before eventually going through for the ribbon to be cut.

Sorry, couldn't resist this picture.  The discarded bit of ribbon left over from the ribbon crossing the lock.

After supplying Timothy West with a whiskey and a black coffee we set off back home, seeing our first ducklings (lovely) and Canada goslings (not so lovely).  We even had some lovely warm sun to see us on our way.

I have to make 50 cards for someone who runs a spa.  This is one of the samples I made up.

I cut out the feet in some pink hand-made paper and the toenails in pearlised pink card.  I stuck the feet onto a matted die-cut label, one silver, the other purple and fixed it to a lilac card blank.

I used a paper flower to cover the ankles and four pink pearls in each of the corners.

One down, 49 to go....

Cadbury Wharf, Worcester and Birmingham Canal

 Just a quick dash out for a couple of days while we await a date for my little op (three weeks and still waiting!). 

We just managed to squeeze into the security pen at the wharf.  One boat was here when we went past at the beginning of March.  Now, I am sure it has been away all that time and they just popped in again yesterday, but the ropes are pretty slack and stretched, so I don't think so.  Then the couple on the other boat bought three of my cards.

I walked around to Cadbury World - it was miles away - right around three sides of the factory.  Bought some chocolate but baulked at the £11 entry fee.

We caught President and Kildare on they way back from Alvechurch having watched it go down on Saturday while we were still in Gas Street.

So here is another of the cards I made using a previous picture.

I matted this one onto silver, red and green card.  Then I Cuttlebugged another piece of green card before matting it onto red card and then tying a piece of red ribbon around the bottom, finishing it off with a knot.

The panel was stuck down the left hand side and the picture above it and finished off with three green gems.  Why do they always look crooked in the photo, but not when looking at the card?

Gas Street Basin, BCN

Well, as long as you are sitting inside, with the fire on, it is a beautiful day.

Sunshine and tell tale piles of snow still hanging around, but a cold, cold, biting Easterly wind that cuts straight through.

Been keeping up with what has been going on on the Basingstoke Canal assault.  So sorry we didn't make it, but we were not the only ones.  And it seems a landslip blocking off the complete route too.








Still the flowers have started to bloom at last.

Walking down the towpath just past the Worcester Bar and I noticed this.

Someone has been chipping away at the plaster and the ghost of a bridge has been etched out.  It leads through to the side of the ITV building.

This will see if Andy is still reading the blog!

A picture of warmer times.  I matted it onto silver, red and blue card to match the livery of the boats.  I then made a red card panel, which I Cuttlebugged, cut out a silver strip, edging one side with a Martha Stewart punch and wrapped some navy ribbon around the join, tying it in a knot before adding the picture.

Gas Street Moorings, BCN

 Easter Saturday, the sun should be shining, the trees in bud, bulbs and blossom blooming, lambs gamboling, ducklings duckling and birds singing.  What have we got?  An ice bush ice in the water, yet again and a cruel East wind whistling through the cracks in the back doors of the  boat.

We should have been down on the Basingstoke Canal, pioneering its opening to the tunnel.  But here we are stuck in Birmingham.

I'm not sorry we turned around and came back 2 weeks ago.  There has been snow most days and the wind has been bitter.  We probably would never even have got onto the River Thames.  The red boards are only just coming down to yellow ones so we would have been stuck in Brentford anyway.  Not the most salubrious of places to spend a week or so at, even if there was room to moor (last year was pretty tight, if I remember rightly).

Anyway, I suppose we can dream of warm days and cruising with the sun on your back, the steel on the roof too hot to touch and a towpath that is not 4" deep in mud!

This lovely ballet dancer is foiled and decoupaged.  I just cut the edges of the panel with deckle edged scissors and matted it onto blue and pink card before fixing it to a blue card base.

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.

Gas Street Basin, BCN

We set off at 7am as we were meeting Cathy at the bottom of Farmer's locks at 11am.

We got to the next lock and I went up to open the gates and was met with this sight.  It's a long pound so I couldn't just run a bit of water down; we had to call out the CART emergency team.

The were with us within the hour and sent some water down and, bless them, they opened the bottom gates to all the locks on the flight.  So we flew up the locks.

The water pouring down the bywash.

We sold Cathy that we would now be at the bottom of Farmer's at 1330, but were there by 1200.  I popped to the cafe across the road for a toasted sandwich and a coffee and when I got back to the canal the boat had gone.

David had set off and met up with Tony, the Volunteer Lock Keeper who helped us up all the locks.

Cathy met us as we were coming into the top lock!

So a trip into Sherborne Wharf for a pump out and diesel before going back to the mooring.

A Cuttlebugged panel in white with a black and white floral paper band across the bottom.  The sentiment was done on the computer, including the boxes and finished off with 3 black buttons.  This panel was stuck onto a black card blank.  Because it is a black card I stuck in a white insert for any sentiment.