Last Sunday was a busy day. First off down to the park on the waterfront for our grandsons 10th Birthday. Was a fun filled day where everyone got wet! No it didnt rain.
There is a small water park with water cannons but because of the number of other kids parties his Mum had arranged other water activities.
Water Bombs, water pistols and nerf guns. So lots of wet kids. Trying to light the candles on his cake was a mission as there was quite a sea breeze blowing and they were going out faster than I was lighting them.
So we did things a little back to front and he blew the candles out before we sang Happy Birthday.
Once it was cut it was so yummy. Then when that finished I messaged my daughter as her step daughter was playing touch football on the other side of town.
Her step daughter made the Top 8 teams the day before, so they were doing play offs.
They made top 4 so we headed off from the park to where they were playing being that we had time to get there while they were still in it.
A game was in progress which if they won theyd be in the grand final. So we got there in time to watch the girls play off in the GF.
The team they were up against had not lost a game all season so everything was crossed that the grand daughters team could pull a win out of the bag.
Five minutes to go and scores were locked at 3 -3. Then 2 mins to go our team scored which decided the final score 4-3. So proud of the effort the grand daughter put in and helped them win.
This weeks designs are both DL size cards, one for Christmas and one for Birthday
…. Had a fun filled day with our youngest grandson Austin whilst his Dad, my son, was in Derbyshire competing in the Masters Championship.
He won the Gold Medal in the 800 meters!
Hes off to Madeira in a few weeks where he will be representing England in the Masters Championship! His daughter, our youngest granddaughter Olivia was also competing in the 800 meters race in Derbyshire … where she came 2nd!
What a fantastic day for all of us!
Not an easy subject. For me, age is natural, part of life, and there is Beauty in Old Age. We have a treasure that youth lacks: experience.Getting old… Laugh at it? Get grumpy, sarcastic, bitter? Living piling up lists of what we cannot do like when we were 20?
Be sad? Launch a 24/7 crusade spending our energies fighting against the undefeatable wrinkles, loose skin, fat arms and getting frustrated because we are defeated all the time?
Drop of wisdom by the Beatles Life is very short and theres no time for fussing and fighting, my friend.
I agree.No.
I am not here to preach or even question what people think. I respect everyones views on the subject. This is my story.I am here to share what was going on in my brain when I felt the need to offer new image collections for Craftsuprint but with my very personal input.
I wanted to share my feelings on the Beauty of getting old.
As simple as that.I will be 70 next year, will not go bore you with my bio, but for the purpose of this article I need to mention that in younger days I had the luck of bumping into development seminars that helped me regain my self-esteem, destroyed in childhood by bullying from family and schoolmates about being overweight and not pretty.
The seminars opened the door to a new path, a scary, frightening one because I had to face and confront my worst enemy: myself.
Because of what others said I did not love myself.
Not an easy fight, but by loving myself the way I was, warts and all, I learned to live and fight in life, with joy, to find strength within myself first.
I was in my twenties listening to people in their 70s talking about starting new adventures in life. That stuck in my brain, but I was far from 70.
Today I am virtually there.It was then when I went through a process that was not easy by any means, full of pitfalls, learning to love myself in full.
And that was the foundation to see the aging process as natural and embrace it. Everyone has their own views and opinions and this is only mine. I say hello everyday to the new me in the mirror, have a smile and wish myself a good day.
If an ache appears I just tell myself oh well, this is only part of my body, the other parts can help the aching part.
My arms are larger, no problem, a sewing machine helps me adapt my clothes if needed. And at this point I feel gratitude for being alive one more day, birth-day is every day to me and my partner, my companion in life, similar age, similar views.
Our power for being grateful for small mercies in life is strong and give us strength to cope with whatever comes.That is in a nutshell most of the inspiration behind the collections I am offering.
The collections Would you Dance with me, You are made of Stardust, Together Forever and In my heart forever are designed to touch anyone of any age with scenes that engulf many emotions, mainly companionship, trust, love, affection, beauty, tenderness, understanding and contentment.
The images are designed to be versatile, to celebrate a special occasion like an anniversary, a birthday, just gratitude, friendship and renewed vows of love or celebrate the life of someone that has crossed the portal.
Thank you for allowing me to share these thoughts with you. Even if only browsing, your visit to my shop is truly appreciated. Most grateful for that. X Aras Wonderland
We just dodged the rain to take the dogs for a quick walk, and I said to hubby, I doubt there will be a post box topper today, as the weather today has been wet and very windy.
Imagine my surprise when we walked past this beauty just as the sun came out. I have no clue how the lady knitted a tractor, but I am very impressed. What a fabulous topper.
My 13 year old grandson Alfie has been boxing for a few years now and has been working up to the moment of having his first fight.
It finally arrived last Friday where he travelled from Oxford to Watford.
He had to weigh no more than 42kg so his prep leading up to the fight was healthy eating and trading which to his credit he really did it.
The moment came and he was ready, I was watching on video his mum, dad and younger brother were there along with his coach and other members of his boxing club who came to support him.
There are 3 rounds and each round only lasts a few minutes.
Its all professionally done. He fought extremely well and it was a close call in the end. There was only a point in it but sadly he lost. However for his first fight his coach was so pleased with him, and we were all proud. Then it was off to KFC for a treat.
… was my Mums 94th birthday recently! We lost my dad a few years ago and hed have been 99 this month! Mum is in a lovely care home and she has a lot of good friends there too. Her only real gripe ….
Is that her Mum hasnt been to visit her for a long time now! lol The care home put on a lovely festive birthday celebration for my mum with lots of treats, she sooo loved it!
Last week we celebrated Sams Gotcha Day. It was on that day four years ago that we brought him home from the breeder at 8 weeks old.
The time has flown by, but he will always be the baby.
He has grown into a big, beautiful boy who is full of fun and has so much energy. I love this picture of him in the doggy pram that we used to take him out when he was too young to go for proper walks.
He looked like he was driving it.
If anyone is wondering about the title it is a song from the musical Hair, but I thought I would use it for my article today on my 8 year old Grandson Harrys trip to Manchester with the family.
This was a specific trip for him as one of his 8th Birthday presents was a trip to the Manchester City Football Stadium.
He is a big supporter so was so excited to have the full tour, going behind the scenes and lots of photo opportunities.
Even got a glimpse of one of the players, who was being interviewed. So he was thrilled with that too.
After the tour it was off to the shop from some souvenirs. Good job he had saved up his pocket money and birthday money.
Been a busy few weeks and to end the events, it was my daughters 41st Birthday early in August. As the family has been so busy with wedding and pre wedding events we had a lunch for her on the Saturday.
A couple of her co workers and the immediate family attended with a lovely lunch at Grilld. Her partner had a gluten free chocolate cake made as her children are gluten intolerant. I must say I think its one of the best chocolate cakes Ive ever eaten.
We all enjoyed ourselves and it was great to get together (although we had all been at the grand daughters wedding a couple of weeks earlier) and be able to chat.
But so much going on at weddings its difficult to just sit and chill and talk. This week deigns are both for Christmas. Activity Books and placemats. Great to put in kids stockings or on the Christmas table to keep the kids occupied. Wedding activities also available.
Its been a horrible year for us as a family so far. I was diagnosed with breast cancer last October, so I had surgery just before Christmas.
The surgeons were happy theyd got it all, but because it was pretty aggressive, they wanted me to have chemo and radiotherapy to prevent it from coming back.
Treatment has been a bit of a rough ride, but Im pleased to say its finally finished!To celebrate, we went for a lovely walk among the sunflowers at Dunham Massey Ice Cream Farm, and of course, we had some of their delicious ice cream!My son doesnt much like photos at the moment
A few weeks ago, I shared with you about our granddaughter, Daisy, who is only five years old and is working on a school project about family trees and history.
This week, our son took a picture of her standing outside the hospital where I was born.
The hospital opened in 1854 as a school for underprivileged children and was later affected by a tragic fire in 1906.
Since then, the building has served as West Ham Sick Home, Forest Gate Hospital, and Newham Maternity Hospital. It has now been converted into a block of flats. Its mind-blowing to think that 65 years ago, I was in the same place where Daisy was standing!
My end-of-month SALE is now on! With 20% off of all my designs!
Well a week after her bridal shower (last weeks news) our grand daughter tied the knot with the love of her life.
They met in high school, went to her prom together, stayed friends until about 2 years ago when they got serious.
I swore I wouldnt cry when my son entered with Chloe on his arm but well it mustve been dusty in that little chapel.
When I first saw her I gasped, she was gorgeous, stunning and beautiful and I was so full of love for both of them.
The look on the grooms face was just so full of love as she came to join him and say their vows to become husband and wife.
Afterwards the reception was lovely and it went on into the night after the speeches, dinner, cutting the cake with lots of dancing and catching up with people.
Photos include my daughter with her brother (father of the bride) and with sons son. The happy couple honeymooned in the Maldives…….
What a wonderful start to their new life as Mr and Mrs. This weeks designs are both kits. One for a wedding with several topper and with Christmas coming a set of Santa Clause toppers. My sale is currently on too.
The Harlequin has been with us for many centuries. It was during the 15th Century, when it took the form that we recognise these days, a bright multi-colored costume with a pattern of bright diamonds or triangular shapes.
True or not, legend is that the costume was a way to relate to poor people in medieval times who had no money to buy new clothes, so they gathered scraps, causing the outfit to end up looking like a piece of patchwork.
Jumping in time to the present, the Harlequin is as alive as ever, even in comics. I love them. Looking at them makes my spirit feel lighter, happier, as if the Harlequin said do not worry, everything is ok.
The Harlequin is witty and agile.
This is the inspiration behind my collection of Harlequins in my shop. I thought it would be suitable to bring out the Harlequin to deliver your Christmas presents. The size of the images in the collection allows to turn them quickly into cards just by cutting the page in 4 parts.
That is the reason the sheets of tags have a background.
If you need to make a card last minute for friends, family or working colleagues, you dont have to find backing papers.
The backgrounds I have designed make the focal image even more outstanding. I would like to invite you to visit and follow my shop, more Harlequins will be appearing in the following weeks.
Even if you just visit for browsing, I am most grateful for that.
Its no secret my daughter loves everything Wild West and Country. What sparked it all off is when she watched the Netflix series Yellowstone and she was hooked. So bits of Western themed homeware, accessories and clothing started appearing and her latest Halloween decorations are cowboy ghosts.
Last weekend she had a girlie day out at a Country and Western style Festival. She had booked it a few months in advance and was so excited she was determined to look the part.
She didnt want to wear jeans so she chose a Western style dress, her hubby bought her the cowboy hat and she bought some boots.
Even Otto the family dog got in on the act for photos. She had a great time and Im sure there will be others next year.
… had another lovely fun filled day with our youngest grandchildren Olivia and Austin this week! Olivia doesnt like having her photo shown so Ive cropped her out of my photos!
We of course had to do some crafting! and we also fitted in baking ( a yummy Crunchy Topped Lemon Drizzle Cake) we also played board games, and fitted in a trip to our local park!
Phew …. What a lovely day!