News & Updates from Christine Dixon · Page 10

My niece is an extreme dog lover and will take in any strays that come her way. She's had some sorry looking hounds which she has nursed back to health and really had her hands full when she had two german shepherds at the same time.

I'm sure they probably cost more to feed than the humans in the home. Fortunately this pair of alsatians loved each other and here they are sharing a quiet moment. It's mayhem if they decide to play rough and tumble! I've gone a little bit vintage mad with some of my new designs. Here's two from my ornate mat double pyramid collection.

We recently bought a wonderful little device which allows me to scan old slides onto an SD card without sitting at the computer.

So, I've been able to get all of my in-laws old slides transferred onto my PC.

And I've been able to do this very tedious job whilst sitting in front of the TV to relieve the boredom.

I found this fab pic of an Austin Healey Sprite from the sixties. Aaah, they don't make them as stylish as this any more... The device also reads negatives, so I'll be tackling those next. Been designing some girly cards this week, so here's two of the latest.

It's such a busy harvesting time in my garden. I love to see beautiful flowers, but my passion is growing fruit and vegetables. This is today's haul of beans, tomatoes, courgettes, apple, gherkins, red pepper and physalis.

Each year, I like to try growing the odd unusual item not available in the supermarket, hence the orange banana tomatoes at the bottom of the pic.

We're not vegetarians, but with fresh produce like this coming in all the time I do make quite a lot of veggie meals and I pack the freezer with soups, curries and ratatouille, as well as bottling passata and fruit, and making jams and chutneys.

With Christmas items already appearing in the supermarket, I guess it's time to start preparing, so here's a couple of vintage xmas designs.

Have you seen those statue type ornaments you can buy, that stand on your lawn and look like a dog digging a hole? (I've shown one in the top right hand corner of my photo.) Well, here's a "live" version!

This is Daisy, my friend's golden retriever, having a whale of a time digging in our sandy menage. She's just 22 months old, so still a big puppy, certainly at heart. Every time we filled in the hole was just the start of a new game for her, a sign to dig again.

She did make us laugh. Here are my two latest card sheets.

It's all about pretty ladies this week, suitable for any occasion you choose.

Every year we try to have a fundraising event to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. It takes the form of a set of outdoor events on our property and a local footpath where visitors compete for medals and a claim to be the new champion.

This was our ninth year and our six funny events were: treasure hunt, silly walking, grub quiz, time trial and toss the chicken! (No real chickens were harmed during the course of this event.) We treat our competitors to lots of cakes and a bbq lunch and I sell my handmade cards and preserves and in return, we ask for a donation to the charity.

Everyone had a great time and this year we raised £433. This is a group photo of all of our supporters last Saturday (31 August). We had a gorgeous sunny day and felt blessed as the previous Saturday had been one of continual torrential rain and floods here in Essex.