Oldie for Friday Card

Good Morning Ladies,

It's all systems go in our house this morning, well apart from Paul, who is sleeping as late as he can as he will be driving through the night tonight, it's both cooler and quieter one the roads in the early hours, the girls will probably be sleeping too.

We have the worst part of the journey to tackle first, the M40 and The M25 will both be absolutely heaving with traffic as it's a Friday and the holidays.  We are setting off early afternoon so that we can allow for delays and hopefully still have time to stop for tea somewhere. Last year there were horror stories about the problems and delays caused by immigrants trying to crossed on Calais, this year there had been barely any news about it, until yesterday when one of the tabloids did a feature explaining that there is still a huge problem and they have had 100's of 1000's of attempted crossings.  Fingers crossed that there are no issues today. 

Today's card is a very Special Card to me as it is the first Card that I had ever made totally with stamps, no ribbon, lace or dies!  I just hadn't been able to stamp up until I started with Stampin'Up and bought my 'Faux Misti'.  So I have to say I am very proud of this card, I know the person that received it will appreciate how special it is and treasure it.

I made it using some older stamp sets, Avant Garden for the flowers and background and Delicate Details for the lace border, two amazing stamp sets! 

Now I can't begin to tell you how touched I was when Sue popped over to drop off my birthday card and pick up some dies, she had bought me something so amazing, I can't  believe how amazingly kind and thoughtful and BLOODY GENIUS, Sue's husband Chris is, Sue left mine in Tuesday after our lovely day together, during the afternoon I mentioned to her the dilemma of struggling to use my crutches on the beach and she was crafting while I did some more research and called a manufacturer of ferrules, getting no joy whatsoever, I will add that Sue and I confirm have conversations about how things work and how they could be improved or how we could make them cheaper!! I knew that Sue's Dad (Margaret's Alan,) was brilliant and coming up with solutions for things and has invented some cutting edge farm machinery in his time, so we were throwing some ideas about, after Sue left I didn't really give it another thought Until Sue arrived today with items in the picture above, Chris had researched the internet looking to see if he could find anything but like me couldn't,so he put his thinking cap on and invented two special adaptions for my crutches, he went and bought parts from a Walking /Hiking shop and some special bolts that open up when tightened so will trip the inside stem of my crutches to hold in place, the added some strong foam, the look absolutely perfect for the job, I can't wait to try them out.

Chris I am so immensely grateful to you for the time and effort you put into making these for me. I really love to sit in the beach and watch my family having fun in the sea, Sophie and Lucy and 100% water babies, they spend hours swimming and playing ball etc in the sea and this year they have their Stand Up Paddle Board to master! But getting across the beach is so incredibly painful as my crutches sink into the sand and don't offer anywhere near as much support as they are supposed to, for years I just struggled and tried to hide how much pain I was in, but this past couple of years I simply couldn't hide it, I was determined to do it, it took me a long time but I would just walk, rest and continue, as a consequence we could only manage to go every other day or so, so I had time to recover, they tried to hide their disappointment but I'm their Mum, I could tell.  It has always (for past 15 years) we have been going, been a dream of mine to get up early and as soon as the beach access gate is open to and sit on the beach and have my morning croissant, up until now (as you will know with Sue), acheiving anything that arduous at 7am is impossible, my body can barely food with one foot in front of the other, let alone in the same with sinking crutches!  I am now confident that I will be able to realise my dream and fully intend to be sat eating my croissant on the beach at 7am ,(ish) on my 50th birthday, what an incredible gift you have given me Chris, thank you from the bottom of my heart, you are so kind and thoughtful, I will give you the hugest hug next time I see you!  Thank you to you too Sue, for taking the ideas to Chris, I always laugh at you and Paul and your "how can we make that cheaper' chats, but this one has led to something very special, you are an amazing friend Sue, thank you xxxxx

Sorry ladies I have waffled on a bit too much today but wanted to explain my gratitude.  

Thank you all for your lovely holiday wishes, 

Have a lovely day my lovely friends,

Love and hugs

Sandra 

Xxxxxxx