Happy First Anniversay to my wonderful hubby for last April 16th

 and thanks to all our our family and friends for the special cards and messages you all sent, you're all very special

Special anniversary wishes too (for last April 17th) to my lovely sister, Cathy and Garth and to Annie and David on their 30th year,

love to you all.

Gav and i had an amazing weeks holiday to celebrate (as you know we couldn't go far because of the shop) but my gorgeous girl did a grand job here of holding the fort for us and we managed a week of complete relaxation in luxurious accommodation, with long walks and nice meals, it was just what we needed.

This was our hotel in Portmierion Village (The Portmeirion Hotel), we had two nights here and the weather was beautiful.  There's something really nice about being able to explore the village in the evening once all the visitors had left for the day.  We managed to get one of the lookout points to ourselves one evening and took wine, glasses and cheese and crackers to watch the sun set - very romantic!!!

Views from our hotel room window

Part of the lobby

another part of the lobby

Gav in "the Prisoner" chair in the reception area

One of our lovely long walks around the park

Hide and Seek

Boo, "bet you didn't know i was here!"

me being brave, there was quite a drop behind me

Self Portraits

Tarzan? ...........possibly?

After Portmeirion we went to Aberdovey overnight, had more long walks along the beach, visited a lovely gallery and looked forward to our evening meal. Didn't manage to take any photographs of Aberdovey as the batteries ran out on my camera.

Then we went over to Aberaeron for a few days.  I love all the houses here, they're all different colours ranging from Strawberry, raspberry, mint, pale blue, dark  blue, orange, red and peach.....no plain whites or even a brick in sight, very colourful.  Not much to do at Aberaeron though so we had a day trip out to Cardigan and found a lovely gallery, where i bought a handbag (I know, another one, but Gav offered to buy it and I couldn't refuse......could i?......)

 

This shop at Aberaeron made us laugh when we arrived, I guess thats inflation for you.

In the meantime, Blogger has changed it's look and i've found it the most frustrating thing ever. I'm all for change if it's for progress but come on, saving what i'm writing after every three words is a bit much, it freezes the screen whilst it does this so i spend a lot of time waiting - i'd rather just save it at the end in one go.  The new way of doing things is not user friendly i don't know whats going on wit them.  Posting on my blog used to be relatively quick, easy and enjoyable and even relaxing (as it should be), i now have to prepare myself for the frustration blogger causes with it's constant, ridiculous and unwelcome changes. 

Sending all my love and thoughts to my dearest and bestest friend Ange.

Helen was a much loved sister and i hope you all find the strength and comfort you need from her precious children and family and friends to help you through this difficult time.   xxx

As she danced in the light with joy,
her love lifted you. As she brushed against
this world so gently, she lifted us.
T.C. Ring (adapted from the Butterfly)

"I am not a number..."

We're really enjoying the sunshine here in Mid Wales at the moment, even though it's still a little chilly, however, we've got to the stage whereby if we don't have a break we'll have a breakdown!!!!  It's that serious.  So, after a quick discussion and much searching on the world wide web, we're heading off for a few days for a much needed re-charging of batteries. 

I'm so looking forward to it. Today we're travelling up to Portmeirion and having a few days in the Portmeirion Hotel, nice coffees and walks around the village and through the park.  It's very near Criccieth Castle so perhaps a visit there too.  I'm just about old enough to remember "the prisoner" of 1960's fame, filmed there.

Then...we're back on Friday night as Nicci has an interview on Saturday Morning and we're off again in the afternoon to Aberaeron for a few days as it's our wedding anniversary!  Can't believe it's been a year since that lovely day.

Aberaeron

Nicci's having the shop for us and looking after Lizzie, she's such a darling, and so used to it now, so hopefully we can relax properly.

I've not had much time to do any creating recently as we've done loads more work on the house.  We started on the top floor these last few weeks, there are still a lot of unpacked boxes from when we moved here two and a half years ago so we're busy doing that and getting rid of stuff.  The Armoury is looking so much better these days it's been nice to walking around and not tripping over boxes or to have to manouevre your way around dressers and wardrobes in places they have no business being!!!!

Hopefully when we get back we'll have the energy to push ourselves to finish it all ready for all our lovely visitors through the summer, the first of which is Gav's Brother and family in June!

Indigo Moon has been really busy over Easter, a lot of people are still finding us for the first time, we're having to be very innovative getting people off the square and round the corner to us, but it seems to be working.  Gav has some more new shelving almost ready to go up in the shop so i'll do lots of photos when i get back.

In the meantime i'm going to enjoy and make the most of my precious few days away with my lovely husband.

xxoxx

Assemblage Jewellery

I bought these gorgeous Stampington magazines last week following my jewellery making "inkling", they're almost like books (hence the price - £14 each) but they're well worth it.  I've been having a go at making some "assemblage" jewellery, in the style of Nina Bagley and Deryn Mentock, it's not been as easy as i thought it might be, working with wire is not what i'm used to, but at least i'm finding my own style and having fun practicing the techniques.

 

  i decided on a design and put together these supplies from my stash of treasures: the dyed and stamped muslin (and satin ribbon) i made last week, a piece of pretty victorian lace ...

 some stunning glass beads in lovely greens and blues

 a tiny tin that holds pen nibs

 and this is what i made

 It's not finished yet, but i'm quite pleased with how it's turning out

I made the fabric part from circles of different fabrics the centre one being a watercoloured piece of muslin and hand stamped.  Then i dug out my little sewing machine (which i haven't used for ages) and stitched the circles together...

i made the wrapped wire nest using Deryn Mentocks tutorial I bought on Etsy for £5, it takes a bit of practice and i haven't got it entirely right, but i'm working on it.  I'm hoping i can get it finished completely over the next week or so, along with some others i've started working on.

It's been a busy few days here at The Armoury, Gav and i went down to Swansea on Friday night to George's 30th Birthday party, it was nice to meet up with everyone and was very relaxing until we noticed the flat tyre on the car and had to get the RAC out (not having much luck carwise lately, the exhaust fell off last week!) and when i twisted my ankle and done my back in again! 

More tidying and work going on...this is what the corridor looked like this morning, a complete mess...

 but, thankfully, was all orderly again by the afternoon

 nearly all the middle floor is done now, we have a few bits and pieces to finish off but nothing urgent.

 new mirror...

 and...the guest bedroom last Monday....

the Guest bedroom this Monday

All in all it's been a productive few days and we're always pleased when 'home' things get done.  After the hard work clearing the corridor today we thought we deserved a treat and popped over the Ivy House cafe for coffee and cake.

"Give your stress wings and let it fly away"

~Terri Guillemets