Tower of Babel

I'm going to be taking a blogging break for a while as we have an impending house move and a hundred other things to do - like rounding up all the dust bunnies! I'll try and get to the computer when I can to take a look at your wonderful blogs. I'd like to leave you with something interesting and some homework. Homework? Yes, more about that later and you can blame Tracey. (There's always one girl in the class who spoils it for everyone else isn't there!)

Firstly ... something interesting (not that Tracey isn't). As well as craft and decorating blogs I also follow quite disparate ones like Charlie who always seems to find such interesting things to post. Like this...

And all these following pics are from his blog too ...

(For Jen ....)

Can't wait till this becomes available in the shops ...

For the shoe freaks amongst you ...

Now you know what to do with all those corks ...

These would save a bit of money at the cobblers!

Can you believe she's not real but computer generated - creepy isn't it?!

And take yourself over to Charlie's for a virtual haircut... it's fun.

(All these images are from Charlie's blog but if I've used any images without credit or copyrighted and you know who they belong to, please let me know and I'll do a link.)

Now for the homework - can I hear you groaning? If you pop over to Tracey's post today you will see she is teaching you Chinese in 10 minutes. Clever girl. Well I'm going to teach you Yorkshire. Yorkshire dialect that is! I'd like you to have translated the following phrases by the time I get back. You may use Joseph's dialogue from Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights to help.

It helps to say them out very loudly and over and over forgetting the spelling. Probably best not to do this in a public space!

e.g. Intitot? translates as 'Isn't it hot?'

1. Giuzit.

2. Summatsupeer

3. Supwidee?

4. Astha gorrit reight?

5. Ayampt eared nowt.

6. Eesesitintin burraberritis

7. Owzeeno?

8. Nardendee wotdardooin?

9. Asta seeim ont telly?

10. Astagorratenner?

11. Eenose nowt abartit.

12. Eez gunna gerra lorra lolly forrit.

13. Lerrimpurrizaton.

14. Tintintin

15. Middadz gorrajag

16. Cantha kumtowerowse tuneet?

17. Weerz gaffer?

18. Weev gorra gerrus imbux.

19. Eez gooinoom

20. Isthemam in?

I expect full marks from Tracey as she's from oop Nawth! (Up North). And if English is not your mother tongue but you manage to get 3 right - then I'll know you are a genius! And if it is your mother tongue but you're not familiar with Yorkshire dialect yet you've already read Wuthering Heights, then I bet you cheated and skipped all the Joseph dialogue'!!

Happy blogging.

Until next time ..... Cal x

Label Tutorial (Part 2)

This time we're looking at the transfer method using this type of paper

Do tutorial 1 up to where you print and then follow instructions on pack.

Cut out your strip of labels and your ribbon or tape

Place the strip of labels face down on the ribbon or tape

Iron with a hot iron, not steam

Peel off .... and whoops!!!!

Wrong way round!

Obviously it wouldn't matter for an image. Some printers have a t-shirt or reverse text setting so you could use that. My printer just printed mine upside down on its 'reverse text' setting. I looked for hours and hours on google (literally) looking to see how you can flip, reflect, reverse, mirror text in Word and it looks like it can't be done unless you have a publishing programme of some kind. I don't. Also if you look yourself, you'll see that people mean different things by 'flip', reverse' 'mirror' etc. I found one online programme and thought I had cracked it because it gave an example which looked ok. However when I typed my text in, it reversed it but didn't turn the capital letters round as well!! So I don't know the solution to this and I could buy a lot of pre-printed labels for the cost of a programme!

We've had a lovely weekend away at DD's this weekend in Poole and look who lives at her house!

She's very coy .....Come on out!

It's Hetty!

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? ;>

I hope you've all had a good weekend.

Until next time ..... Cal x

N.B. Just want to point out that Hetty belongs to DD, I'm not such a housework freak to own 2 hoovers!

Label Tutorial (Part 1)

I have been searching for label tutorials on google for some time and there are some wonderful ones out there. However, the ones I have found all seem to assume a certain amount of knowledge regarding designing a label. If, like me, you are not a techie, but have been learning about computers through the medium of blogging, then you would probably like a tutorial that starts at the beginning. So this is my offering to you. If I have left out any steps please let me know. There are many ways of doing this and I am sure many may be easier than mine, but this is the way I know.

Labels to sew in or on your crafts can be made from 3 types of resource readily available from online craft and computer supplies shops ....

a) b) c)

a) paper backed fabric which you feed through your printer - I got mine from here

b) freezer paper which you can iron onto the back of your fabric for printing - from here

c) transfer paper on which you print your design and then iron the transfer onto your fabric - available from any computer supply or craft shop

For this tutorial, I am using the shop-bought fabric-backed paper. (a)

I don't have a design programme and therefore used Word

Open a blank page - click on 'Tools' - choose 'Labels - select 5167 (return address) - click OK

Select 'Single label' - 20 rows - 4 columns - click OK

A grid will appear - click in the first box and then go to 'Format' - select Font

Choose your font, style and size - click OK and type your label.

I wanted to insert a symbol in my design for my labels so I went to ...

'Insert' - and chose 'symbol' from the drop down menu

(you may want to choose a graphic from clipart or a photo)

Choose your symbol from the box and click 'Insert'

When you have typed the name of your label, highlight it - right click - 'copy'

Highlight the rest of the grid - right click 'paste' and your design should fill the boxes.

Click off the page to remove the highlight and you are now ready to print.

Try your design out on a plain piece of paper first to be sure it is what you want and is printing correctly. When you are satisfied with that, insert the fabric backed paper into your printer (checking it is the right way up for your particular printer)

After it has printed, you can cut your labels up and then peel off the backing paper

Dip the ends of the labels in a bit of Fray Check to stop them fraying. I bought mine from here

And voila! You have your labels ready to sew into your beautiful creations.

The lovely Penny at The Hen House emailed me with a link to a super tutorial on using freezer paper to make your own fabric-backed paper. You will find the tutorial here

And I found another super tutorial which explains much better than I can, another way of using freezer paper and you will find that here

Well, I hope all this is clearer than mud!

Until next time ..... Cal x

(I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of those of you who have been thinking and praying for my friend)

Days

Do you sometimes ascribe a human personna to objects in your possession? I recently read that we ladies spend 416 hours in a lifetime looking for our car keys - partly due to rooting round in over-large bags. I believe looking for our glasses must equal that. It is totally beyond my comprehension how I can leave my computer to answer the phone, pace round the room while chatting (phone tucked under ear) plumping cushions, loading the dishwasher etc and return to my desk to find - NO GLASSES! How can they have gone in such a brief time? I retrace my steps, look in every room I've been in, leave no cushion unturned. Nothing. Back to the shower room. But that was before computer time? Never mind, I'll look anyway. At this point my glasses have become alive! They're doing it on purpose. They want to thwart me at the computer. They've hopped off my desk and scampered away on their spindly little arms, to hide somewhere. I start having dark thoughts. If - when I find them I'll twist those spindly little arms till they promise not to hide from me again!

I blame all this personification on Henry !

If this little hoover hadn't come with a face I would never have known that objects have personalities. (With the exception of teddies, dolls and garden gnomes of course! We all know they come alive when we're not looking.) Henry isn't evil and devious like my glasses. He's just a naughty little hoover. He's mischievous, he likes to wrap his little wheels round his exceptionally long lead and laughs at me when he sees me tugging frantically to no avail.

Then when I go from room to room he doesn't always follow but bumps into doorways peaking at me from behind the frame.

Sometimes when I try to hoover the stairs, he refuses to come and rolls onto his back waving his little wheels in the air and giggling.

Now I talk to him. I tell him off and call him a naughty boy. I say that I would smack his little bottom if I could be sure he wouldn't report me to Geneva under the Children's Rights Act!

DH working from home last week in another room, said he had a pit in his stomach listening to me chastening Henry, as he naturally assumed I was talking to him .....

"You're always doing that....."

"You have to be awkward don't you....."

"Right! I've had enough....." etc. etc.

And if you're not an 'ascribe a personna to an object" sort of person, by now you're thinking I'm well and truly off my trolley. So I'll leave you with this Philip Larkin poem

Days

What are days for?

Days are where we live.

They come, they wake us

Time and time over.

They are to be happy in:

Where can we live but days?

Ah, solving that question

Brings the priest and the doctor

In their long coats

Running over the fields.

It's funny! I always read the last bit as 'men in white coats running over the fields to my house' ...I wonder why? ;>

Until next time ..... Cal x

(Wednesday's Words hosted by Jen at MuddyBootDreams - pop over to her lovely blog for more Wednesday's Words

Jericho!

"Mummy, why do we have wars?" asked Bizzie 1, who turned four at the end of August.

"Goodness," thought DD, "how do I answer this? Daddy is in the military and Bizzie 1 must be listening to snippets of our conversation or something." Going into her Mummy-answering-difficult-question mode, DD tried explaining to this bright, enquiring child why we have wars. And when Daddy came home for lunch he picked up the baton and explained a little bit more.

Bizzie 1 looked very perplexed and bemused.

Bizzie 1 said "not wars, Mummy. Walls. Why do we have walls?"

Bizzie 1 started school yesterday.

Bizzie 1 is the most politically informed 4 year old in his class!

Until next time ..... Cal x

Mosaic Monday

Images from Hatherleigh, West Devon, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon

(click to enlarge)

I've been unable to blog this week and it's not just a load of old ....

Events, situations, decisions seem to have caught up with me and I have been unable to spend long at the computer. Apologies to you if I haven't yet caught up with your blog. You are all so prolific in your posting that I might have to jump in where you are now instead of trying to catch up on what I've missed. Most certainly my loss.

I have been sent some more awards by the following lovely ladies. If you do not already follow them, please take a look at their lovely blogs, all so different and I promise you won't be disappointed.

From two lovely ladies who produce such fine stitchery - prepare to be inspired!!

....from Judit

....and from Paulette

And from two more lovely ladies who show such humour and wisdom in their blogs....

....from Angela

....and from Tracey

Thank you so much. And thank you Angela for letting me off the hook for the tagging ;>

I would like to offer these awards to all my blogger friends, all of whom write such enjoyable blogs, so please take them and put them on your sidebar if you so wish. I will be delighted xxx

Until next time ..... Cal x

Mosaic Monday hosted by Mary at Little Red House - please take a look at Mary's beautiful photography.