Monday 19 October 2015

Autumn in the mountains



We're enjoying a long weekend at our very favourite place away, Tyn y Simdde in the mountains of North Wales. I've blogged about it here and here on other visits so won't bore you by raving about the cottage again. Suffice to say it never disappoints and we regard it as "our" cottage as I just can't imagine anyone else being here - even the owners!!!!  (Who are lovely lovely people by the way.) However reading the visitors book I see I'm not the only one who thinks of this place as their own private paradise! ;o)


Anyway, we arrived on Friday night and I soon realised I had left the bag with my crafting supplies in it on the chair at home! Oh no! I'd planned to get a start on some Christmas gifts and had bought yarn especially for these few days.


However I knew there was a savior nearby in the form of Knit One, a tiny wool shop just down the road in Dolgellau. I could buy crochet hooks there and luckily I did have a couple of balls of cotton yarn in my bag so could get on with some snowflakes for Christmas fair bunting.  And as I was on my holidays I couldn't not treat myself to some yarn at the same time - could I?! I went for this beautiful lavender fingering I'd seen on the Knit One blog. Unbelievably its 450m of 100% YAK! and is so so soft. It will be my Christmas project for myself when everyone else's gifts are done and I can enjoy choosing a pattern.


We leave for home in the morning and as usual don't want to go! The weather has been dull but dry and very quiet, making for pale grey days and dark dark nights with no sun, moon or stars to be seen. Yesterday we took a trip to Harlech to see the castle and the new Caffi Castell Harlech I'd seen and heard so much about.


I may be biased towards my homeland, but I don't think there are many cafes in the world with better views - even on a dull day. And the cakes were to die for!!!  Its a very modern building sitting next to the 800 year old castle but I don't think it detracts from the drama of that looming front gate. In fact it rather compliments it as it would be difficult to resist buying a ticket and exploring those high walls when you've been sitting right next to them enjoying tea and cake!


If you are interested you can read more about this castle and other medieval castles in Wales here. You can see some spectacular photos taken on sunnier days too!!!!


One of the best things about Harlech Castle is being able to walk those high walls and on a dry day climb to the top of one of the turrets - if you have a head for heights and the puff that is! I took this photo from there and you can see the lovely sedum roof of the cafe way below.



Anyway, we've had a lovely few days here; seeing Titch explore the great outdoors again, feeding and watching the birds, and enjoying the autumn colours all around us. 


And yes, there was a hint of a sunset on the mountains on Saturday evening for a few minutes, though I have to confess to a slight photoshop enhancement colourwise!  My pocket camera is not the best in near darkness.


See you again next year Tyn y Simdde!

Sunday 4 October 2015

World Card Making Day.............just!!!


Didn't realise it was so late in the day! However as a cardmaker I thought I really must post today.  I don't think I'm going to make it by midnight UK time, but as its an American celebration there's still time, right? And I have been cardmaking this week using some of my old favourite Christmas stamps and a fab new set from Clare at Waltzing Mouse stamps.


Clare comes up with a design I can't resist every year and this year its Scandi Doodle Christmas. I'm a real admirer of Scandinavian design, especially at Christmas. You can probably guess which are Waltzing Mouse stamps in this picture! There are some other brands though. The two little elves are Hero Arts Stamps by Lia and the All is Calm set is from Neat & Tangled's 2014 release. The other designs (Father Christmas, Christmas Pud and Reindeer) are so old I can't remember where they came from but are real favourites I use every year.

Well its now half past midnight here in the UK so I have missed the boat big style, but I'm going with US time - its still 3rd October there! As you can see its been stamping in the sunshine here - not very Christmassy but glorious just the same.


More like midsummer than Christmas, but with the added bonus of Autumn colour! Just fabulous!


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