Friends Make Every Day Special

 Good morning all!  I hope you have a nice cuppa and a comfortable chair for today's post as it's a long one!  As usual, first the card rundown.  This is a blush and black combo (I know it looks black and white, but that blush is just so pale it is difficult to pick up!)  I stamped a piece of blush card with one of the heart stamps from the Hearts Entwined set.  I used a black archival ink pad and  randomly stamped it off the edge of the card.  Atop that, I embossed a piece of black card with the Whimsical Flora embossibility folder.  To that I added a Radiant Rectangle die cut using the two outer dies to cut, then adding in the smaller dies to emboss the centre of it.  I stamped the Jewelled Frame from the Stamps To Die For Range from Creative Expressions using a black archival ink pad on blush card.  I cut it out with the Opulent Oval dies making it into a frame.  I added some mounting foam and attached it to the centre of my Radiant Rectangle piece.  I stamped my sentiment and cut it out with Labels 30 and inked it very lightly with Black Soot while still in the die.  Another of the smaller Opulent Oval dies was used for the black die cut which surrounds the sentiment piece.  I finished it with a double blush mat with an inner pierced layer.  Finished dimensions are 6" x 8 1/2" in size.  Keep scrolling to see pics from my week in Scotland.

 Here is a pic of Charlotte, the manager of The Papeterie where I demoed, Pearl, one of her staff members and her son Darren, along with the Piper that they arranged to play and escort me into the demo classroom.  I only have a few pics taken on my camera of the day, but there are more on The Papeterie blog and Kath Stewarts blog if you would like to see them.

 Here is a pic of part of the crowd while the piper plays a few tunes before the beginning of the demo.  He was amazing!

 The Papeterie set up a video camera to film the demos from the day (I made 20 cards that were then raffled off for their charity).  If you are interested in getting one of the DVD's, please contact Charlotte at The Papeterie in Aberdeen (ph. 01224 802337).  The cost is £6 with the proceeds going to their charity called Archway.

 After the demo, I met a few ladies that are regulars on my blog.  This is "Fluffy Cat" (under my left arm)and "Diane and Chipps" (under my right arm)(at least these are the names that I know them by!  I really enjoyed meeting some of the people that I see around the blog, it is great fun to finally put faces with the names!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Charlotte and her staff put together a great big hamper filled with amazing Scottish sweets and biscuits (she knew that I have a real sweet tooth!)  I am not sure who Aunt Tilly was, but she makes the best fudge I have ever had.  It didn't last the trip!

I really want to thank all of the people that came to the demo and joined in for the raffle as we raised a fair bit of money and put The Papeterie over their goal.  The day was scorching hot and the room had glass windows all the way around it so it really heated up!  Unfortunately with a building that is over a hundred years old, there was no air conditioning, but everyone was so good humoured about it.  Charlotte has asked me back for next year so hopefully we can turn it into a real event with demos and workshops next time!  I loved my visit there and there is still more that I would like to see up that way as well!

 When we left Aberdeen on Sunday morning, we headed north along the coastal route for John O'Groats.  We drove out to the lighthouse and if you take a short walk through the sheep field behind it, you can see the Stacks of Duncansby (behind me).  It really makes you marvel at nature when you see sights like these!

 We kept to the coast all the way around the top of Scotland and came across the Caves Of Smoo.  There is a bit of a steep staircase you need to take, but it is worth it.  This is the outside of the caves.

 Unfortunately the only pic I got inside the caves was a bit blurred, but you can see the waterfall in the background.  That raft is filled with people and they had to duck way down so it could fit through that low arch inside to the rest of the caves.  We were a bit tight on time, so we didn't take the boatride but I was told there are more waterfalls inside.

 This is the view looking away from the caves.  There is another staircase (even longer than the one to get down there) that takes you to the top of the bluff for the view.

 I included this pic to give you all a good laugh.  As we were driving by, I yelled "look, a baby buffalo!"  My other half was laughing so hard at me, I thought he was going to drive off the road.  I was later informed that this is a highland cow, not a baby buffalo!  It does look like a buffalo, though, don't you think? LOL

 A beautiful waterfall we walked down to see called the Falls of Foyer.  More steep steps down to it but it was gorgeous in person, my pic does not do it justice.  My legs however felt like rubber after all the climbing from this and the caves, but since I had eaten my way through most of the goodies in the hamper, I figured I needed the exercise!  Must say, I would exercise more if there were waterfalls at the end of it every time! LOL

 The edge of Loch Lomand.  Absolutely gorgeous, this is just a small view of it as it was quite large.

 Edinburgh Castle.  Was it ever impressive!  We decided to see the city from an open top bus and since it was about 26 Celsius that day, it was glorious!

 One of the buildings in Edinburgh.  Look at that sky, it looks like a painting!











Hadrian's Wall.  This was one of the longest sections of the wall and the countryside was so pretty around there.

And lastly, a stop at The Angel Of The North statue in Gateshead, outside of Newcastle.  I have wanted to see this for ages so we included it in the route we took home on the last day.  There I am next to it, can you see?

I took so many pics of the scenery as it was gorgeous!  I can't understand why everyone always says that the Scottish weather is bad!  We didn't have a drop of rain the entire week and temperatures were above 20 degress C every day! LOL   Yes, I do know, I lucked out, it was so pretty the whole way there and back.  I will fondly remember my week in July in Scotland!
By the way, tomorrow I'll post a sneak peek for my show on Sunday so don't forget to check back!
All for now, Sue x