Look....

what arrived today,only a week after I ordered them from Stencil Girl 

Stencils by the very talented  Seth Apter.  I am hoping that they will soon be on sale in the UK so that I can buy the third one in the set  but I couldn't wait to buy these.  I think I  feel a gelli session coming on? Rust colours of course Seth! I love the text and all the different textures.

Another reason for celebration is the return of Australian Masterchef to my TV screen.  Far superior to the English version, no "significant looks" between the judges for a start, much more inventive challenges and on the whole a great hour of  relaxation. another favourite "The Newsroom" has also returned so with these and the start of the NFL season and the imminent beginning of Strictly my place on the settee is booked, with sewing accompaniment of course.

Also looking forward to the Stamping Show at Ally Pally this weekend.  

G.........

is for grunge (probably my favourite G word) buy not in my old dictionary, I was panicking a bit and then I found Gears, well I have gear die cuts and gear stamps so....a gelli print background to get me started, what else ?(and yes Carol I just might be addicted).  I took my stamps and built up a background with a bit of  grunge paste and Archival inks. I cut my gears, painted them and then treated each one with three colours of Treasure Gold.  Then the fun started as I cut tiny pieces of sticky foam to make them stand up from the page, doesn't time fly when you're having fun? I had chosen "Gearing" as I liked the definition " and whoops...... I have just realised that I printed out the wrong definition(gears instead of gearing), excuse me whilst I go back to the drawing board for a moment.
As I was saying I liked the definition "a train of toothed wheels for transmitting motion" so I tried to make them fit into each other.  Not sure it would create any motion but I like the illusion.

and here it is with corrected tag

Tenby 2.....

It is s good job we don't have to pay to have photographs developed these days or I would be bankrupt. These are just some of my favourites from our short stay in Tenby.  
                                                                           Lighthouse

 and  Lobster pot

                                                                          

Baskets

and towers of flowers.

Rocks

Ruins

and Reflections

Merchants House

Staircase

Seaweed

and Sunsets

Brave bathers

and the best book shop in the world........possibly.

Z.....

...the end, no,  not quite yet, thanks to the deliciously random nature of the Craft Barn Challenge.  A limited choice but decised for me when I saw "Zodiac" and remembered that I had some zodiac symbol stencils from goodness knows where. So.three gelli prints, one for the page and the other to make the circle and another for the symbols. I mixed PaperArtsy Grunge Paste with a little paint for the symbols and cut them with the Sizzix. I made little circles of the colours associated with each sign (don't shout at me if they are wrong because there are so many variations, depends where you look.) The word plate I made by putting a piece of gelli print through the printer.

Here it is with the definition tag.

Oh I do like.....

to be beside the seaside, especially when I have a view like this where you can watch the comings and goings of the tides and people.

We wanted a short break and we fortunate to find this apartment was free for the days we wanted.It is in Tenby in Wales.  I had never been to Wales before so after a lovely welcome we set out to explore. Oh my.
 There are three sandy beaches,  this is North Beach

 and this is Castle Beach which leads to  South Beach which stretches for miles

 The town has the remains of the fortifying walls and some wonderful houses, Lord Nelson and Emma Hamilton visited and Roald Dahl spent his childhood Easter holidays in the house next to ours.

The Pembrokshire coast is truly spectacular and we had some breathtaking walks to  St Govan's Head  where we counted the steps down and true to legend counted a different number on the way back up.

and to the Green Bridge of Wales and the Stack Rocks where you can see the layers of the earth's crust

Another visit was to Caldey Island . The island is owned by an order of Cistercian monks and is only accessible by boat.This is the way I like my sea when I am on it.

We arrived at this beach

and walked to the cliffs on the other side of the island

 where we met some of the inhabitants.

The quiet on the island was lovely, it is so rare these days.
Back in the harbour, our little home is marked with a cross and the building on the left is the Roald Dahl house.

 As you can see were blessed with perfect weather, a very unusual occurrence for us. Sunsets and a bookshop to come.