Letterboxing....

Bank holiday Monday dawned bright and beautiful and after a few hours of work I decided that I wasn't going to waste the day any more sitting indoors hunched up over my computer.. I was going to pootle out to Dartmoor yet again.. and I am sooooo pleased that I did. It was magical today, the sun shone, the breeze was minimal, the colours were stunning and the scenery awesome. I called up a friend and off we set.. packed lunch, chocolate cake, flask and, of course, cameras! (Sounds like something from the Famous Five stories... unfortunately we didn't have lashings of ginger beer this time!)

I thought you might like to share the day with me and just take some time to put yourselves in these pictures, listen to the sounds of crickets chirping and horses munching, breathe in the scent of bracken and clean fresh air, and marvel at the beautiful scenery and give yourselves a minute to relax and allow your soul to be restored.....

After parking the car at the top of the hill it was a little scramble down into the boggy valley.....

... past the weathered tree ( I loved the shapes and texture of this tree... it fascinated me...!)

... yes ... more tree photos!

... and up the other side to the tor.... this one is called Sharp Tor... that is if I'm reading my map correctly!

The views from the top were just incredible... you had a 360 degree view all around....

The photo above shows the view back towards the car park...

Below you can see the views straight across to Torbay. If you are able to zoom in you will see a small white dot on the horizon... this is a very expensive ballon 'lift' that you can take from the centre of Torquay... floating you up above the town to view the scenery... I was amazed that we could see it from this tor!

I love the colours of the grey rock and the purple heather together... more inspiration for my jewellery making..

Looking back towards the car park and beyond to Yar Tor.... (above)

Isn't this gorgeous... the heather and gorse growing together, and aren't the colours just so vibrant?

There were plenty of dartmoor ponies and their young to be seen meandering over the moor... Rosie would have loved to have seen these!

After our lunch we decided to walk up the gentle incline towards Yar Tor...

For a long while now I have been wanting to try my hand at 'Letterboxing' ( Click on this link to fine out more about it) on the moor but have never really known where to start... well, with some good advice from a friend I had more of an idea of what to do and where to look, so decided that we would try to find a letterbox around Yar Tor....

... so it was with much excitement that, after stepping over a wobbly rock, I thought I'll just take a look and stick my hand into the unknown... hoping that not too many spiders, frogs, adders were be waiting to greet me....

... we found our first letterbox.......

As you can see there was much excitement and jumping around. We opened the pot to find a small film pot with a few strips of paper in them . The idea is that you leave your mark... usually a stamp and/or written comment and date, sometimes there is a stamp in the box for you to stamp your own letterboxing book (not in this one though). Well.... we hunted high and low for a pen in our bags... how unusual not to have one... I really did come very unprepared for this... I will be much better prepared next time!.... neither of us had a pen... the only thing we had between us was some lipstick... so there was nothing else to do except lipstick up and smooch away... at least we left our mark (not really sure if this is allowed but I just wasn't going to go home without acknowledging that I had found a letterbox!)

So... here's my friend Wendy leaving her mark....

S.W.A.L.K!!!

More wonderful views from the top of Yar Tor....

If you look carefully in the picture below ( zoom or magnifying glass might help) just to the left of centre you can see a very tall mast... that is Princetown where the famous dartmoor prison is situated...

Wendy and I then went on to find... and kiss(!!!!) 5 more letterboxes around this Tor....

"I found another one...."

We left our mark.....

.... and another one..... aghhhhh... it's got me!!!

We did have a laugh....

I just had to take this shot of the little blue VW camper van nestled in amongst all the brilliant yellow gorse....

One last lingering look at the moor before driving home via the river in my last post..... What an exciting, inspiring day... and many more happy memories stored away!

Time for me to pootle off to bed now.... dentist in the morning... I H.A.T.E. the dentist... it goes back along way... I ran out of the waiting room when I was 7 leaving my mum with 2 other small children and a newborn baby to see to... she was not best pleased!!! I promise not to run out in the morning but it will take everything in me to stay put... think of me! I shall have to lie back and think of dartmoor!

Weekending......

Friday evening saw the culmination of several hours work over this last week making fairy wings... yes, you heard right... making fairy wings!! We had all been invited to Harriet's friend's 18th birthday party and had been instructed that all girls had to wear fairy wings... so instead of just going to the nearest fairy wing shop... we decided to make our own!!!

So... here are my two beautiful daughters.. all winged up and ready to go...

These are all the cups and saucers that had been collected over the last few weeks... just waiting to be filled with earl grey tea as an accompaniment to the cream tea that was on offer... don't they look jolly?

The cake was made by the birthday girls 14 year old sister..... I was so impressed... it's absolutely amazing... and it was also delicious!

Here we all are showing off our wings......

... me and my girls....

The birthday girl...

Happy Birthday Bebe... it was a lovely evening... thankyou xxxx

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Now I will leave you with some pictures of a lovely day out on Dartmoor.......

Enjoy the rest of your bank holiday weekend....

xxx

... and the bride wore.....

.... Converse trainers... with tartan tongues and rainbow socks!!!!... Well... why not? Not one for girly girlie things the bride opted for comfortable footwear... much to the amusement of the guests as she walked up a spiral staircase in the church on her way to sign the register... these delightful shoes were revealed to all and there were many titters and much muffled laughter rippling around the church!!!

Enough of that for a moment... lets back up a little... remember this sneak peek back in March? Well, last saturday saw the culmination of many months of sewing, fitting and late nights.... but I am happy to report that, although the bride very rarely wears a dress and wasn't relishing the thought of wearing one on her wedding day,... when she put the finished dress on she had an enormous smile on her face... that said it all and I was satisfied that I had done a good job!

And here they are.... the happy couple......

... doesn't she look beautiful?

Unfortunately, I didn't get the opportunity to take many close up photos and what you can't see is that I hand embroidered some swirls and leaves across the front of the dress in ivory silk and silver thread. The back was also stunning as it was laced up with silver ribbon which tied with a bow at the top with long ribbon tails draping down the train... If I manage to snaffle someone else's photos... I'll let you have a look... it was lovely... ( even though I say so myself!!!)

I did manage one photo however..... the bride wanted to be able to hitch her train up for the reception so that she could walk about unhindered, so asked me to put a hook half way down the train that could be attached to the bottom of the lacing, thereby lifting the train off of the floor. I knew that I couldn't leave the hook showing so I made this lovely little dragonfly out of clear crystal beads and silver wire and sewed it in place over the hook..... what do you think? I was really pleased with it... it looked so gorgeous!

The reception was held at a local village hall which had been draped with these beautiful muslin swags. The bride and her family had spent the day before setting up the tables with the balloons and flowers ... the whole effect was beautiful...

Don't these hydrangeas look lovely..... there's a story behind these too..... the Bride had set her heart on having hydrangeas for her wedding... in her bouquet and at the reception, but hadn't managed to find enough... that is until she arrived at my house last Thursday to pick up her dress... and then she spotted the three rather large hydrangea bushes in my front garden that were bursting with zillions of flowers... well... you can guess what happened can't you....? Yes, that's right, we raided them and they went home with a boot full of flowers and my bushes looked none the worse for their pruning, they are still bursting with flowers....

Here is the bouquet... made by the brides mum... it is gorgeous......

A quick peek at the cake which was made by the groom's Gran..... simple but elegant..

One final parting shot of the happy couple...... CONGRATULATIONS to you both xxxxx

(p.s... I made the necklace too!!!!)