On Monday this week, I was in town with my DD, had a minor fall and broke my right foot. Crazy, right? Now the ramifications are a bit of a nightmare… I am my DH’s carer, had just started a new temporary (seasonal) job which I was really enjoying, and also working Sundays. Well, not anymore!

That’s the outside of my right foot… not as pretty as it used to be for sure! At the time, my main concern was getting my car off the street so that I didn’t get a parking ticket, and we were lucky enough to elicit the help of a really kind PC from Bude Police Station who made me laugh and stopped me from passing out. He was probably instrumental in keeping DD sane too, as she didn’t have to worry about me so much!

He called an ambulance and I was duly carted off to Barnstaple Hospital (North Devon District Hospital) – a journey I shall never forget! (I managed to fill 3 paper bowls with the contents of my stomach, which resembled dog food and not the delicious brunch I had enjoyed!!) They got me to the A&E department at about 2.45pm and after 2 sets of x-rays, I was eventually diagnosed with a broken foot, plastered up and allowed to go home. (2 of the 3 heart attack victims brought in whilst we were there didn’t make it…) Ergo, I have no complaints at all. The NHS has always been there when we’ve needed it and the frontline staff are amazing!

Nick and I got home at 8.15pm, both exhausted and wondering how on earth we are going to get through the next 6-8 weeks. This is the temporary cast, which might be replaced today when I have been to the Fracture clinic. I’m hoping for a lighter, more colourful model, that I can alter, embellish or doodle on!!

I must admit that at 53, I never expected to learn how to manage on crutches and I am struggling! However, I am hopeful that my balance and upper body strength will improve and I may even shed those ‘orrible “bingo-wings”!! 😉

UPDATE: At the Fracture Clinic yesterday (Wednesday 13th July), the Orthopaedic surgeon said that, in his opinion, I haven’t broken the bone, I have a severe sprain and have torn the tissue and ligaments from what he can see on the Xrays… I am thankfully out of plaster and strapped up, but will have to rest the foot till the swelling subsides. I use one or both crutches for now.

I also don’t think I’ve ever been so tired in my life! 🙂

For Haiku my HeART Fridays… That’s where to catch everyone else! 🙂

Bureaucratic stuff

Makes me stress and huff and puff

It can be so rough…

Just sayin’! I hate this time of year – Tax Credit Renewals, etc. etc. and the annual chat with the “accountant”, whom we’ve had for the last 8 years. More like catching up with an old friend I suppose, but there’s never any good news. Is there?

Something new to me. I haven’t written haikus for a few years now and so this is a challenge that will tax my brain, methinks! On the other hand, the young person (DD) used to write them easily and fluidly, so maybe she’ll help out on future Fridays, who knows?

Anyway, for Rebecca’s blog – Recuerda mi Corazon – here’s my first haiku!

Bold and vivid hues

Expressing my emotion

Abstract art – my soul…

I blame my friend Marit! 😉

That was the first line of the Chelsea football club song in the 70s (I think!) and “Blue” is Ann’s chosen theme/challenge at the Three Muses this week. I had a denim box weekend and as I wear a lot of blue, I made altered 3 bangles in various ways, all incorporating blue, so they are my entry!

This is the heavy one – a sort of creamy plastic/ivory type bangle, which I coloured with Stream and a dab of Wild Plum alcohol inks. You could do much the same with permanent markers, or Sharpies too. On the subject of Sharpies, DD bought me a set of Sharpie highlighter pens a few weeks ago and they are really subtle in journalling!! 😉

The denim one was created by opening the seam cut from an old pair of jeans and wrapping a smaller metal bangle with it. I secured it in place with my hot glue gun! I must be improving, because I didn’t burn myself at all this time!

The one at the front is also a wrapped metal bangle, covered with patterned, ripped silk scrap fabric. It’s not finished yet as it was far trickier than the other two – it’s very slippery stuff and I want to stitch it in place, possibly adding beads aswell – we’ll see! I wear the other two quite a lot now and get some curious glances… 🙂

I have used this image before on collages, because she really is such fun. She’s pretty and fluffy and ideal to become a zetti-personality! Here are a couple of work-in-progress shots… as I create a spread for Take a Word this week.

I was a bit distracted tidying my workspace today and I knew I didn’t have time to doodle pretty black and white stripes on her legs, so I grabbed an eraser from one of my tubs and carved stripes in it! Voila – instant stripey legs and a quickie border…

The angel image is there to the right of her because one of my paper layers had an “angel-shaped space” and to get him round the right way to fit the gap, I just stamped him onto scrap tissue! Cool, huh?! Right, I’ll probably finish this page tomorrow, unless I am in the doodling mood later on when I’m home from work! 🙂

Edited: Here’s the finished page… “Fifi thought her new dress of wings was the bees’ knees. But the bees were not so happy. They wanted their wings back…”

With a little help from Jane LaFazio, I was able to create this lovely, functional denim-box from hand-dyed fabrics and scrap denim. Jane has some really cool Tiny Tutorials on her blog and this is one I had wanted to try for ages. If I had followed the instructions precisely, it might have been easier, but I was upstairs with the materials and my PC was downstairs. (Jane was probably in her studio!)

So, have you spied a couple of my quilted inchies? And the TAP image of Carprice? And the penholder slots are neat, aren’t they? I did use pelmet vilene for the stiffening, but I think next time, I’d probably use a double thickness for greater stability. However, it was a fun project and who’s to say I won’t make another (following the tute more precisely…?!) 😉

Just playin’ with the contrast between words and colours. For Songs in my HeART and Amber, my daughter. 🙂

If this works, I’ll show you how to make a fabulous, 5-minute Chocolate Cake, courtesy of VideoJug!!

http://www.videojug.com/player?id=d7e64fbc-afb4-8ce7-9b5b-ff0008cdbb44
Cakes:
How To Make A 5 Minute Chocolate Cake

For Take a Word – “chocolate”!! 😉

For AYITLOOAJ – “Manic Monday”, by The Bangles… and the prompt: “BUSY!”

Am I ever? Layer upon layer of ranting on paper, over and under colour and collage. So it’s nor just me that’s busy – the page is too! This is surely not the kind of page I should be sharing with you – or is it? Hmmm….

Thanks for bravely looking!!! 🙂

I was deleting old emails this morning and came across this post from WordPress itself. I think it makes interesting reading…

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. This blog was viewed about 26,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 3 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 164 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 954 posts. There were 320 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 31mb. That’s about 6 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was January 26th with 244 views. The most popular post that day was One World One Heart 2010.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com, michelleward.typepad.com, mixedmediamonday.wordpress.com, thethreemuseschallenge.blogspot.com, and sundaypostcardart.wordpress.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for altered art blogs, altered art, desk tidy, junk jewellery, and beeswax collage.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

One World One Heart 2010 January 2010
226 comments

Collaborations… May 2010
14 comments

Desk Tidy – Milk Cartons! May 2008
11 comments

Charming junk! July 2009
10 comments

Distressed scraps backgrounds… February 2008
4 comments