Switching off.

Switching off.

Hi there.

Thanks for popping in. I hope you are ok, safe and healthy. Once again, it has been quite an intense morning at Clarity Towers. There’s so much to consider, so much to think about. Still lots of laughter and hilarity with Clarity. It’s an excellent coping mechanism, laughter. And we’ve got quite a few team players who could double up as stand up comedians !

At one point Debby and I were larking about in the stamp room, singing “You can leave your hat on” and properly cavorting. You know the one…

Time to dig that film out!! It is a classic….

Came home early to blog. Switched off. No radio. No TV. Got completely engrossed in working my way through various arty processes, and before I realised, it was gone 6. Missed the news. Well, I can’t fix it, and the more I obsess , the more angsty I get. So, perhaps I’ll just take a break from it for an evening. Just to recharge my batteries. How about you? It won’t go away, so we may as well leave it outside for the night.

Here’s the artwork I started on. It’s not finished yet, but I am! I shall carry on tomorrow and step it up.

Can you figure out how I made it? See if you can work it out before tomorrow xx

Hahahaha! Now you know why Debby and I were singing You can leave your hat on!! I love LOVE this Stampset! In fact, I actually LOVE the whole collection! Maybe you aren’t quite ready to be buying stamps just now, but what do I know! Just in case, we have reduced the whole collection by 50% plus your Club discount. Hey!! In a minute, we will have all the time in the world to craft – so I’m just putting it out there for you!!

CLICK HERE FOR THE SPECIAL OFFER

Remember when I did this one with the boot?

There’s a blog step by step for this one….
If you find it, can you please tell us where to locate it? Thanks xx

But for this evening, it’s light a candle and eat time. No. Not eat the candle. I’ve got a kilo of smokey tasting Chickpeas to chomp through! Burnt the bejeebers out of them last night. But I am NOT binning them! They were the last chickpeas on the bloody shelf!!

Take care.

Love and Hugs.

Barb xx

22 thoughts on “Switching off.

  1. Hello Barbara and the Clarity Team I wish to thank you for the lovely letter you sent out to everyone today. It was very much appreciated. I wish everyone all the best for the near future.

  2. A lovely piece of art work and my first thought was ‘how has she done that!’ Not sure my brain will sort it out so will look forward to find out tomorrow unless I have an Eureka ! Moment …. I read about the chick peas, good luck with them! It was omelette and salad for us tonight, I’m carefully juggling the best before dates on things in the fridge ! Love the shoes and bags, have the groovi versions and I’m sure I’ve got one stamp somewhere ….. Have a peaceful evening and weekend if possible xx

  3. Barbara,
    Have found Step by Step: ‘These Boots were made for Walking’ in your blog of 18 February 2017. Maureen

      1. Barb, I just want to say Thank You in fact a BIG THANK YOU,you make me smile and crafting is keeping me sane at the moment, God Bless You xx

  4. Hi Barb,
    Lovely piece of artwork, look forward to seeing it completed. I don’t blame you for switching off and getting arty, it is a horrible time for everyone and I imagine worrying for businesses. I am doing my best to keep Clarity going! Been doing some cards with Tina’s floral spray stamp today and am pleased with them although I haven’t been brave enough to try and do the drop shadow . Decided to go and do my shopping today instead of tomorrow as I thought it might be manic tomorrow. Have to say it wasn’t very busy, but then again , there wasn’t much to buy! Even the beer,lager and cider shelves were empty! Not a bit of meat in sight. I can’t fathom it out at all. Fortunately we have a meat wholesaler close to us, so I did manage to get my week for the week there. Did have some good news though, my sister and brother in law have managed to get an early flight home from Switzerland so they will be back home tomorrow. I was getting worried that they might not get home. Enjoy your smokey chickpeas! Love and hugs,Alison xxx

  5. Oh, I love that movie too, Barb. I watch it every time it is on, I think it was Christmas it was last on. Singing that song now, and playing the bit at the DWP office in my head while I do. I have all those sets of stamps too. Love your new artwork with them. i’d like to try this kind of art. I’ve only done paper piecing with mine, how imaginative, not…!

    I’m assuming delivery of non essential things is still allowed then? That’s good. I was wondering if I’d still be able to do my other shopping as I need things, it’s the only option I have for getting things.

    There are positives out there, not just the brilliant finance package for all the workers who have no jobs now. What a relief that is, as is shutting down all the public places. Positives like the latest video of the care workers and some of their elderly residents who are in wheelchairs playing their version of hungry hippos, it’s so funny, and the residents are laughing away so much. Check it out. I was watching funny cat clips on youtube last night to make me laugh before going to bed. didnae make me sleep any better sadly, maybe tonight I will.

    I love chickpeas too. Much tastier buying dried ones than the rubbish stuff you get in tines. Sounds like it was your turn to have a HARD boiled egg scenario!!! Do you have a pressure cooker? Soak the chickpeas overnight, then they only take 25mins to cook in a pressure cooker. Soak beans like red kidney ones overnight and they cook in 15 mins. Lentils don’t need soaked, they only take 10 mins.

    Hope you enjoy your switch off night. You sure need one. Love you xxx

    1. It’s my turn to have comments removed!!! I wrote a long one yesterday and it has disappeared, I was being good honest, nothing bad in it!!! And again it looks like it is going to be removed too. Ah, methinks there’s a filter for weeding out things with links in them… Ok, lets do this another way without links.

      For Karen, and anyone wanting to start doing video calls, this is what I have found out.
      I would suggest the best options are facetime if you have apple devices, and skype for all others. I am basing this on them being developed by Apple, and microsoft, respectively, so in theory should be safer to use than Whatsapp, which is owned by facebook, and has a record of being hacked so I’m not sure how safe it is to use. Also both of these claim to be easy to use. Plus, you should already have them loaded onto your macs and pcs.

      Facetime is best, if you and the person you are speaking to, has an ipad, iphone, or mac. If it isn’t already on your devices you’ll be able to get it from the apple app store
      here is how to use it – if you google macworld how to facetime. the top one should be the right place.

      skype is available for all devices, easy to use interface and is probably already on your pcs. Google skype, the top one should be the skype website.

      whatsapp pc and smart phones
      reviewed as the best free Skype alternative
      check it out here – google whatsapp, the first one should be the right page. If downloading the app, google filehippo (it’s safe for all downloads, my first go to place). Otherwise you’ll be able to download the app from your app stores

      All you budding singers and musicians among us, this is for you to sign up to do. It’s safe, it’s Gareth Malone setting up a virtual chorus of voices and musical instrument playing. Alison, get practicing that Ukulele!
      google – great british home chorus. The first one that comes up, the decca one, is the one you want. This too is safe.

      1. Not sure he’d have me , I can only manage Sloop John B and Blowing in the wind!!! Love and hugs Alison xxx

      2. Cheers Brenda, very useful info, I will get cracking on it tomorrow in time for Mother’s Day. Mum rang today to say she had received my surprise gift, a rose which is called Sheila’s perfume, as she is called Sheila. She loved it and sounded very chipper, so that made my day. I love ideas around at the moment for virtual communities, I too saw the clip in care home, hilarious. Once again Brenda, many thanks, you are a star. I did wonder if everything was OK when you didn’t post yesterday, glad it was just a blog glitch. Keep well and safe, great you are able to keep us all going. Karen xxx

  6. Have these stamps, look forward to finding out how you did this card. Love the background.
    Hoorah for hilarity with Clarity. The video put a grin on my face 😊 which made hubby wonder what was amusing me. I’ve left him guessing……….
    Watched the update from Boris & co. at 5pm and this was informative. Looks like they are getting their acts together now and if everyone complies then health, income and jobs should be protected, at least in for the near future.
    Worked hard on the conservatory today, forgot how big it was until we cleared it out as it had been used as a dumping ground by ‘he who shall remain nameless’ since we moved in. I can not only see my art table but can get to it to paint. Might even try some messy crafting now as I also found a huge marbling tray which will protect my table from my messy efforts. ( I do like clean….)
    Thanks for all your encouragement during these trying times. Keep safe and well everyone.
    🍒🍒🍒

  7. Saw your request to find the blog for the boot & went searching to find Maureen had beaten me to it !! I used the technique that Jordan suggested this morning on the claritymattersblog.com
    I just put boot in the search bar – a trick I must remember for future use. I have the stamps & stencil so will have to dig them out ready for the step by step tomorrow.
    Thank you for the email earlier, with the wonders of the internet we can all stay in contact & swap ideas & inspiration with our crafting. I have even managed to finish a couple of workshop pieces off this afternoon.

  8. I had my emotional day yesterday, feel more grounded today now we have a plan at school. Tough today though to say goodbye to the children with no idea when they will be back… 🙁

  9. Love that film, one of our feel good films and we have a fair few, Calendar Girls, Sister Act & Sister Act 2 are among them. The old ones are the best. Lucky me I have those lovely stamps so looking forward to seeing how you did it. The background looks fantastic. Still couldn’t get eggs, orange juice or flour when we shopped today but there were toilet rolls and pasta which we didn’t need ha!ha! Nevermind we can manage with what we have. Hope you enjoyed your chickpeas. Hope it’s still ok to put an order in, must have the fairies and the beautiful Linda Williams Garden plates. Keep safe Barb, Dave and family and all your team and all of you on this blog.xxx

  10. Looks like a fabulous piece of artwork. As you say we can’t change anything , it all got to me today , purely for that reason I reckon. As a mum I want to put it all right for my kids. I hate the thought I am not going to be able to hug them all for at least 12 weeks. The other big worry is that Fred is offering to cut my fringe. This might not turn out well. xx

  11. Put the chickpeas out for the birds and get the pizza out of the freezer!!!
    Im limiting myself to how much news I listen to or read. Others wise I was finding I couldn’t sleep or was waking from having the most terrible nightmares! So now I listen to the 7am news on radio 2 and read the headlines on the BBC news app at lunchtime… And that’s it. I know it’s important to know what’s going on but when there is absolutely nothing I can do to change what is happening it made me feel as though I’d lost control of everything. So I have to take back control of what I can. I can limit contact. I can keep things clean and hygienic. I can wash my hands… A lot…. And now I can stop them chapping with my handcream I bought. I can still go out for a walk if I want to. I can craft and read and sew. All these are positive steps to keep me thinking positive thoughts and I’m grateful that I can.
    I do hope you find another bag of chick peas Barbara.
    Love and hugs xx

  12. Thanks for keeping us all so positive and inspired Barb. Hopefully the Chickpeas were not too burnt. Going to have another look at that step by step. Take care and stay safe everyone. BX

  13. Thanks so much for cheering us all up.
    Only listening to the news on the local radio, gives me enough info. without frightening me!!
    Please take good care of yourself as we need you.

  14. Had to say thanks for your email letter, Barbara – uplifting, as always. I’ve had to cancel all my clarity clubs, so it’s good to keep in touch with the blog, and to be included in the emails. Take care. I hope you and yours stay safe and well. I love seeing your new artwork every day. What would we do without crafting, eh! 🙂

Leave a Reply to Susan Gudgin Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *