WOYWW #530: Two missed anniversaries, QDS and a stupid accident!

Today is the last day of July. How did that happen? I managed to miss two anniversaries this month:  my 5th blogiversary on the 2nd and my 17th wedding anniversary on the 27th. I'm just not good with dates - neither is my husband (in fact, he's even worse!) which is lucky because at least we don't hold it against each other. I'm more upset about missing my blogiversary, to be honest.

So to celebrate, I've made this collage of some of my projects in the last 12 months, which has become sort of a tradition - and a quick-fix to post something arty without actually having to do any work.

And to commemorate our wedding anniversary, here's a throw-back picture to 2002. I never realised back then just how young and slim (and dare I say good-looking!) we were. I would have made the most of it if I had known! 

So, with the anniversaries out of the way, I can now move onto QDS - Marit's Quirky Dutch Summer, where I was a guest blogger this week! I clean forgot to take a photo of my desk for WOYWW, but perhaps I can get away with it just this once (wink at Julia), so I'll only post a picture of my finished project.

If you want to see how I made these little containers, head over to Marit's blog where I describe the process. It's really very simple. Thank you so much for the invitation, Marit, I really enjoyed taking part in QDS. Watch out for our fellow WOYWW-er, Tracey's project next week! 

Hey, funny story! I fell down the stairs at work in a pretty spectacular fashion (just before Julia started issuing notes to employers due to the unprecedented temperatures). Literally 10 seconds before this stupid accident happened, someone had warned me to walk carefully (perhaps because I was wearing flimsy sandals) and I was like 'yeah right, what could possibly happen?' and then bang! I hurt my ankles pretty badly. Luckily, my job allows me to work from home and my boss is very understanding, so I've been working from home for the past week (and may I say I got more done than in the office!) My ankles are on the mend, but it might take a while before I'm back to normal and able to walk 3 miles to work and 3 miles back again. These ankle supports really help:

I thought I'd better not leave you with visuals of my clumpy feet and pinky toes, so here's a more pleasant photo I took of the roses I got from my SIL last year. They seem to be thriving by the side of the house right next to the Hydrangeas I showed you previously - thanks for identifying them, by the way - I don't seem to know my flowers, but at least I can recognise roses!

Thanks for visiting and for goodness' sake watch where you step! xx

WOYWW #528: A scrap collage and general catching up

Has it really been 5 weeks since I last posted? I seem to have taken an unscheduled sabbatical doing other things. I was going to post last week, but ran out of time. The good news is, I have all my photos prepped now, so it shouldn't take long to finally put this post together. I'll probably end up oversharing, so apologies in advance.

Let's start with the all-important desk photo for WOYWW. I have a before and after shot - I realised I had no choice but tidy up - the mess was getting overwhelming. The good thing about tidying is that you unearth all sorts of hidden treasures, i.e. scraps.

I ended up using some of those scraps in my new project. This was the biggest piece that went on the background. It's an inky piece of tea stained paper - I probably used it to mop up some leftover ink. Isn't it just beautiful? Better than anything I could have created on purpose.

And here's the final project incorporating the inky sheet of paper and countless other scraps uncovered  from my messy desk: gelli prints, diecuts, tickets, book paper, embossed paper, tissue paper and I think there's a tea bag in there somewhere as well. 

There have been some outdoor activities going on too - which was part of the reason I couldn't get busy in my craft room. We built a new shed, much bigger than the one we did last year. We decided to paint it this nice seagrass colour. It was a big job but it's now finished, thank goodness!

Gardening news: we have this beautiful shrub in full bloom in front of the house. I have no idea what it is as the previous owners planted it. Any ideas?

My avocado is doing really well too. It's about waist high now. I can just about move it around - I don't know what I will do with it next year when it gets even bigger. It wouldn't survive outside in the winter, so I'll have to keep it in the house. Last September it was only this size!

Oreo's doing well too. He's enjoying spending lots of time outdoors, sometimes staying out most of the day. Here's a photo of him I took a couple of weeks ago. After taking the photo I realised that the project I did for Marit's Quirky Dutch Summer was on my bookshelf, so I had to blur it out until it's unveiled on 29th July on Marit's blog! 

I look forward to catching up with everyone. It's good to be back! xx