Challenging times, Mindful Moments 8

Hello friends, here I am with my 8th Mindful Moments post. If you did not see my first post and wonder what these are do check it out here. Thank you to everyone who has been reading them. I can see from my stats that these are getting at least twice the usual traffic of my other posts, which has really inspired me to keep trying to get them written weekly if I can. I really hope you are finding them a moment to make you smile and stay mindful during these very turbulent times.

There have been some very, very small changes in Lockdown rules in England. Essentially we are still needing to stay at home as much as possible. Some workers have returned to work but my Hb is still able to work from home and I am so pleased that he does not have to travel up to London as the only way he could ever do this would be by public transport. We can also exercise outside as much as we want to and even drive to somewhere and walk. At the moment we are staying put as I think a lot of people may be flocking out this weekend, socially distanced I know, but still we need to stay cautious. What I am so pleased to see as I go out and about is that people around here are being very sensible indeed.

My garden is blooming and the sunny weather has returned.

My little potted rose has flowered on my patio.

Billy is loving having me outside in my studio and having both my Hb and me in the garden enjoying lunches and cuppas in the garden.

We even enjoyed our evening meal and a beer outside one evening as the sun was setting.

Everything looks so lush in my tiny piece of paradise but I am needing to water regularly as we have not really had any significant rain for 6 weeks.

My darling daughter surprised us on Thursday by arranging a "Dotty delivery" of afternoon tea...wow this was amazing.

 A whole box of delicious eats! It was so good to see my dear friend David at the door with our box. I miss Dotty's so much but I am so pleased to see that they are surviving  by doing home deliveries in the local area.
What a brilliant card on the front of our box, on the back was a special message from our girl.

There was more than enough for lunch so we saved the scones with jam and clotted til the next day. Oh my everything was am-az-ing. Such a treat and so thoughtful.

.My dino duck babies are down to 6 we think...there were 7 but 1 was tiny. They are such fun to watch growing up, we knew that 12 could never survive and if 6 do it will be just great.

I have found a way of keeping up my crafting with Daisy, not just by post but by Zoom Video. We are managing some weekly sessions and I just love the hour and a half we sit and chat while making. I send her a kit in the post and we put them together. Like me her first love is stamping. I am lucky to have 2 sets of some of the stamps I use to design for Creative Stamping Magazine as I also get a set when the magazine is published. I have sent the spare sets to her.

This was a photo my end with my screen up on an old music stand!

and below is a photo her Daddy sent of Daisy hard at work stamping her end. You can see my face on her computer screen!

Below are the 2 wonderful cards she made. I just sent her the 2 stamped hearts, she did everything else herself. 

I miss her and Jack (and my big babies) soo much.

Daisy and I are continuing to make ATCs and coins to a theme each week and we swap by post. This gorgeous bundle arrived for me this week including the "butterflies" themed ATCs. I really treasure all these makes so much.

I also had some happy mail from my dearest best friend too. We have been best friends from the age of 11 and she recently found some letters from me from nearly 40 years ago which we smiled over when we last met just before Lockdown. It is so good to not just email and message but to get real mail too. I will treasure this.

So my Lockdown project today is something which I was challenged to make on a lovely Tim Holtz Facebook page I belong to. The challenge was to make something using just a single distress ink colour which was randomly selected.
My randomly selected colour came out as Dried Marigold and I must admit my first thought was oh no not orange! However I had the most delightful, fun hour in my studio and this is what I made.

with a couple of close ups

 How apt these words were! Everything other than the black archival was made using just this single ink pad.

I would like to enter my tag into the following challenges;

Through the craft room door 1/3 anything goes
Not just cards 1/3 anything goes
A vintage journey beautiful blooms
Moving along with the times 1/3 Flowers
Stamping sensations 1/3 say it with flowers

So today I am sharing 2 mindful thoughts;

Being challenged in life is inevitable, 
being defeated is optional. 

Roger Crawford  

and

Every morning we are born again, what we do today is what matters most.

Buddha

Lockdown is such a challenging time but I have tried really hard to find ways to help myself. There are so many things that I cannot change and I have to accept that. However my crafting with Daisy is continuing by working out how to use Zoom, videos, messages and letters keep me in touch with my loved one and I even overcame working with just one ink pad! I really hope that life is treating you all fairly and that you too are finding ways of overcoming some of the many many obstacles and challenges we face.

These times WILL pass.

Thanks so much for stopping by and for the kind comments you have taken the time to leave me, they are so appreciated.

Please keep safe, keep mindful, keep washing those hands.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

With love, Jane x