I saw this unmarked Egg Tree at the antiques fair at Kedleston Hall about 4 years ago, it was a case of 'going back before we leave' which we never did. One and a half years of moaning later ..... we went into Alfreton Antique's and there it was, sitting there looking very righteous for the princely sum of £12. Needless to say the Monks now sit on top of my microwave, I did use it, the eggs looking like the monks bald heads, they were devilishly hard to get out......but once our chickens started laying, I had to buy something bigger - an egg helter skelter, so now the Monks just sit and watch the comings and goings in the kitchen, turning a blind eye to the amount of alcohol I er...cook with.

I love this cheese dish, the mouse is so cute, I don't think you'd get much cheese in that dish though! Can't quite make out the makers mark, it says Great Britain and has a duck as its mark, have googled and googled to the point of finger ache. Spotted one on Ebay but again the mark was unreadable.

The harvest picture is actually a postcard we got a while ago with our memebrship package to Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, it nearly got thrown away with the junk mail, but I managed to rescue it in time, I love the richness of the berries. I kept it to one side whilst trying to find the right frame for it and today I found one. I might sand off the raised frame slighly, but am going to live with it for awhile before I decide.

This is a card I've made especially for L's  birthday, early in  this month.

two more acetate decoupage cards, I made them birthday, but I'm thinking ideal for fathers day.

the bottom one has a paw smudge on it courtesey of Murtle the Beagle - comes free with the card *lol*

Trying to get myself out of this freefall, I've started decluttering cupboards etc, hopefully decluttering  my mind and soul along the way!

Starting with my craft desk and stash up this week, I 'threw' a lot of it away, - freebie embellies and patterned papers, clear stamps et al.  I'm going to offer the bag on freecycle ; I've now got 2 empty drawers.....
I found some A5 sheets of acetate, and along with my decoupage flowers I haven't used I'm going to have a go at doing some plain and simple cards - no rush, no pressure (depressives put so much unnecessary pressure on theirselves - I'm the queen of self-pressure) and am going to go with the flow and see how it goes.....

The run upto Christmas was particlularly hard on me this year, resulting in me ringing my doctor to ask for an increase of meds, since Jan/Feb 2009 I've been able to cope on 20mg, but not lately, so I'm back upto 40mg now, at the moment its just not happening ; (
One reasopn we discussed was I could have become used to the actual medication, so might have to go 'cold turkey' and have a med free period before I can start a new sort. I think I will lock myself in a padded room if that has to happen!

UPshot of me being ill again, I mostly have lost the will to craft.( as well as life itself)... It was a hard decision but I decided to take leave of the craft groups montly swaps I take part in. Its not fair to the other ladies if I can't even manage to produce the 3  basic swaps per month. Here's hoping I'll be back soon.

This set of atc's was for January:

and the following card:

this was a decoupge set I bought from Create and Craft! My first proper craft purchase, I think I've only used two flowers from it till this card.

This is one of my favourite finds, from a shop in Chesterfield where I work, I just love this watercolour on silk, the photo doen't do the artwork justice, its so fine almost translucent but vivid clolurs. Its backed by what looks like satin effect paper and then framed in a wooden gilded bamboo frame, all together it makes it look very pretty and delicate.

On the back it has an old label on it from CLive Jones, Picture Framer, The Stables, South Street, Ashby de la Zouch, ref 7850.

I googled this but got no results for this actual address, although I did hit 'Hamptons Gallery and Framers' on South Street, so maybe they took over the business.