Roses

I have just been deadheading my roses...they have nearly finished flowering but we have had a lovely display this year. Hopefully the pictures of some of my best roses do them justice....

Seaside chic Folksy friday

Having lived in Weston Super Mare for 20 years, we have seen some major changes to the town, some not very positive, like the central pier burning down, the farce of the tropicana redevelopment and the terrible tragedy, of the magnificent victorian Birnbeck pier being allowed to deteriorate and literally fall into the sea. But at long last then the town is coming alive again. They have redeveloped Knightstone island, sorted the sea defenses out and the owners of the central pier, have magnificently come back with a fantastic new pier. We are immensely proud of the new pier which I think is very chic, so I thought would find some seaside chic to go with our lovely new modern pier. Can't wait for it to open.

weston pier

Natural Sea Glass Sterling Silver Necklace

Tideline Designs

Seaside mug

Julia Davey Ceramics

Graphic - shells

Sadaqards

Seaside

Cinnamon Hill Signs

Blog mentions

Wow I'm a happy bunny, 2 more mentions in blogs and I also believe I am going to feature in a Natalies Folksy Friday blog

check them out...

http://damselflygemma.blogspot.com/2010/08/august-team-days-twenty-three-to-twenty.html

http://bohemianbluez.blogspot.com/2010/08/whats-happening-on-folksy-in-august.html

Fingers crossed I will be here tomorrow
http://nofkantscurios.blogspot.com/2010/08/team-25th-august.html

While you are here you can take a look at some of the items I have listed on my Folsy shop this month

Folksy A Team

I have been very lucky this week and I have been mentioned in 3 blogs.

One was an advertising giveaway I won at Button and Bows

http://zoeanddrew.blogspot.com/2010/08/advertiser-spotlight-wellydog-designs.html

and the other was a lovely mention in

http://esmedodsworthdesign.blogspot.com/2010/08/dont-be-mad.html

The other was a folksy friday all about me...which I was well chuffed about

http://jesselulabug.blogspot.com/2010/08/folksy-friday.html
....have a look and let me know what you think.

So as I love being mentioned in other peoples blogs, I thought it was only fair that I had my own little feature on some of the A teamers I love to look out for every day. There are of course far to many to mention and so have just picked a few of my favourites

I love Blue Daisy glass, everyday Apryl lists something, I want it. I am hoping to get some more sales soon then I will treat myself to one of these

I love the gothic glamour and fantasies of Miss Bohemia...and I just love the name of her shop and theseare the item in her shop, I am currently lusting after

and as I absolutley love recycling so I had to show you Esme's newspaper jewellery at Esme Dodsworth Design

And finally....if you want fun, fun, fun, then take a look at Jesse's craft corner

Seriously relieved

I am going to get very serious today. I have had a some very good news this week....well not me, my 24 year old son, but it has been something thats has stressed us as a family for over a year and although not over yet, there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.

It started with an accident. My son was driving on the motoway with his window open. Something none of us think twice about, but a stone came through the window, probably thrown up by a lorry on the other carriageway and hit him in his eye. He was lucky as it struck with such force that he nearly crashed but just managed to control the car long enough to pull over. I have to admit by the time I saw him he was calm and had a small scratch mark on his eyelid and so we didn't fully take in the seriousness of what had happened. We were just pleased he seemed to have escaped unscathed. But a couple of days later he said his eye seemed blurred. He went to the eye hospital, but by the time he got there, he had just about lost all the sight in his right eye. They were reassuring, and said that it was just bruised and the sight should come back, but it didn't and 6 months later they were starting to get worried, tests showed no signal was getting from the brain to the eye and we suspected the optic nerve was dying. They decided that it must be something more than the accident causing it and started doing genetic testing for LHON ( Lebers Hereditary Optic neuropathy).

This is a dreadful disease that comes through the mothers side of the family. Young men between 18 and 30 are mostly affected. One eye will suddenly go blind and in ALL cases within 2 years the second will follow, no cure just complete sudden blindness. As it goes through the mothers side of the family it could also have meant that his sisters and any future children they had , could be affected. It is extremely rare and Genetic testing for it takes a long time, The first tests were unsuccessful ( not sure what that meant) but after 6 months of waiting we had to go through it all over again. Initially we were having to drive him to and from work as he

couldn't drive. He was no longer allowed on the shop floor at work so was office bound, and although he knew once he had adapted well enough he could start driving again ( yes it is perfectly legal to drive with one eye), he would never be able to ride his beloved motor bike again. So he had to sell his new pride and joy.

Then my son realised his other eye was getting blurry, so he had to start wearing contacts and glasses and he has to be tested regularly to see if he can continue to drive. Thats when real panic set in , every phone call from him, I worried would be him ringing to tell us he had gone blind or the hospital to confirm that he had LHON's. We started to put our life on hold to be able to be there if anything happened.

But that hasn't stopped him. Now nearly 18 months later, he is back, driving, working on the shop floor and he has left home and become very independent.

And best of all this week he went to the hospital. The great news is that he is negative for Lebers.... Phew, I can't tell you what a relief that is for all of us. His good eye is only strained by the changes in is bad eye which to everyones surprise is getting better. But to top it off, he realised in the tests he could see more than he had noticed before. The improvement, although he can't really register it yet, is massive. His doctors are now anticipating that he will regain full sight within 4-5 years.

I never now drive with my car window fully open unless I have glasses on. I have also come to realise how precious our eye sight is, and for those than do have Lebers I feel great sympathy. But I have also read enough to know that some young people cope with these terrible circumstances and live full and active lives. I am so very proud of how my son has coped and dealt with such a heavy burden and I hope no one else has to go though what he has but if they do, please know that there is always hope.

x

Dressing up, Folksy Friday

I feel like dressing up so put my virtual outfit together from folksy items...Hope I have great time x

Roses Chocker Necklace

ArtFairies Accessories

Baby Blue Swaroski Diamonds

Tights For Sore Eyes

Silver grey & Plum Faux Fur Wrap, Stole

Talulahblue

Black and white birthday dress card

Gems Gems Handmade Cards

love your shoes

Cherry Blossom Candles

Raffique

Lilac Raffia Breton Style Handmade Hat Medium

Flowers

Look What I picked in my garden,

We have had the curly willow for some years and I can't think why I have used it before with flowers, the Cala lilies were a new addition to the garden this year so I am pleased they flowered.

I love picking flowers from the garden for my house x

Wellydog Folksy Friday

If you haven't already seen my Wellydog Challenge take a look here, so as inspiration, I thought I would pick out some lovely dogs from my folksy friends.

Sophie Martin Illustration

Mucky Pup Greetings Card

Klara's Craft's

In the Dog House canvas

sara norwood

Cushion featuring dog illustration

Hollowbourne

dog with long legs

TO VEE OR NOT TO VEE

lady and dog double brooch

Cherry Tree

Wonky Dog Albert

Soap

My eldest daughter started making soap earlier this year. She is now experimenting with different fragrances ingredient and colours and is attending a course soon to learn more, and will eventual be selling what she makes. She of course needs a cosmetic license to be able to do this, but while she saves for this, I am very lucky benefiting from her creativity as se gave me some for my birthday, they were beautifully presented.

When I visited her recently she let me have a go, with her help I created these lovely cup cakes, the other bits she gave me to bring home. xShe is currently doing some market research about what people need in soap, so if anyone is interested in taking part leave a comment and I will contact you when she is ready x

A team Folksy Friday

As I am taking part in the August A-team on Folksy, I thought I would show you some of my favourite A team items listed this week.

Beaded Red Painted Daisy Pin Pot
Granny Ruth's Gift Emporium

Flower fabric buttons
Cwtch

Bebe the Circus bear
Northfield Primitives

Turquoise keyring / bag charm
Buttons and Beads Gifts

Purple & red foiled resin cuff links
Just K Jewellery and Gifts

Forget me not studs
Damselfly Gemma

A team

I must be Mad to do this A-Team, listing an item a day!! I did have a sale yesterday so maybe it will work.

I am not going to blog everyday about what I put on, but I am quite please with today's necklace, so am showing off a bit And I was tempted to keep my bag from yesterday all to myself....