Scavenger Hunt : Part 9 : Duplicates

I bagged all the items for the Scavenger Hunt earlier this month but have still been keeping my eye out for better shots.

 
#13 The Moon still captivates me and one morning when I woke before dawn I watched it track across the sky as the birds began to sing and the sky lightened.




Another frequent finding were #01 Wild Hearts. A Potato, A Petal, some Tendrils from the Wisteria and bubbles in the kitchen sink.













At last a quiet moment in a church and a beautiful #12 Window.


The chance sighting of a foal by the River Mole for the second alternative.  A Baby.



My latest #08 Art Project, A Fairy Jar.

My #21 July Calendar shot.

And to top it all the latest craze to be sweeping the nation, I have been doing Pokémon Go for the past 11 days.

I wrote a blog post about Geocaching vs Pokémon Go so here is my #16 Map of a Trip and me #09 Playing by Water (you'll have to take my word for it as I haven't got into this selfie thing much yet).



So yes, despite having bagged all the items, the Scavenger Hunt goes on.

Thanks Rinda.

WOYWW #373 - Fairy Jar

Inspired by yet another WOYWWer and UKPC member Cindy, I made a Fairy Jar this week.

I'd bought a fairy die earlier in the week and also used my mushroom, grass and star dies.


Here's my desk as I was covering the jar with lilac tissue. My first attempt with white tissue had gone horribly wrong so it had been scraped and washed off prior to this!




In the process I got out my glitters which hadn't seen the light of day for simply ages.

I also got out my handmade paper stash to cut out a load of flowers from my other new dies. Some for the jar decoration some for spare.





So here's the finished Fairy Jar with a battery powered LED tea-light inside.

Medical Update

I'd like to say thank you to all those who commented on my medical condition last week and the use of Norethisterone. I am nearing the end of my 10 day course which did the trick of stopping the bleeding but I don't feel that well with it and have had backaches, nausea, and feeling quite down. I'm not really looking forward to what may happen next and wish Mother Nature would take a hike as it is about time at my age.

Glad I managed my post today despite feeling rotten. I'm having a Nerve Conduction Study done on my arm this evening. The last time I had this done it was quite horrid so I hope the doctor is better at it this time.

Geocaching vs Pokémon Go

Well let's see, I have been Geocaching for the past 7 years but only Pokémon Going for the past 7 days!


I started Geocaching in March 2009. I used a Garmin GPS device but we even used the car's SatNav to get the first few caches before the GPS arrived.

You just need something that can use GPS coordinates to get you going. I changed to a tablet in October 2013 then Smartphone in April this year!

It is easier with the App for the iphone or android devices which was £6 back when I got it but seems to be free now.

You will need to register on the Geocaching website www.geocaching.com but basic membership is free.

I upgraded to Premium member in August 2014 the cost there is £24.99 a year.

The guide to it all is here, but basically, people, that is anyone who is registered, hides a cache and sets up a page on the website with the coordinates of its location and other interesting information. Then other people look for hidden caches and go and find them, write in the cache's log and then log their visit on the website.

Caches come in all shapes and sizes. From nano to quite large. But quite a lot are in 35mm film canisters.

The bigger ones contain goodies for swapping, which great of the little ones.

Some even have travel bugs which you take away and then replace in another cache for them to rack up miles on their logs.


An advantage of Geocaching is that you can look on the website or the App, at a location anywhere in the world, and plan where you'd like to go. (The smiley is one I've found in this location)

To navigate to the cache it will tell you which way to go and how close you are to it too.

It surprisingly takes you to lovely walks in the countryside but also to urban areas, but that is your choice.

So I guess if you have a smartphone or tablet with GPS, download the app, register on the website, then off you go.

So where does Pokémon differ from that?

Well firstly it seems to have hit the headlines, possibly for the wrong reasons, but unless you have been hiding under a rock you should have at least heard of it by now.


It is quite similar, in that it gets you out finding stuff, the stuff however is virtual not real.

It is only configured for smartphones not tablets, but still you download the free App, create your avatar (always wanted purple hair!) and off you go.

A downside for me is that it only shows you 360 degrees around your current vicinity so you can't really plan where to go. It doesn't show you which direction the Pokémons are lurking in just that they are close or not so close.

As a result I have just been walking around hoping my phone will vibrate to alert me to a Pokémon presence, not so good for battery life.

I believe the Pokémon are concentrated in busy areas, like towns and parks so not so good in rural places.

There are interesting places set up called Pokéstops, e.g. churchyards, parks, libraries, where you can collect virtual stuff and I have found some quite interesting too.

There are Pokégyms where you can battle other Pokémons but you need to be at least level 5 for that and not sure I can be bothered as not a gamer as such.

So I guess I need more experience with Pokémon still but I can have it running when I go out urban geocaching and collect whatever I find then.

Yes another string to the bow.

WOYWW #372 Relief & Inspiration

Relief - a cool breeze today as the past few days have been scorching!

Relief - We're back with Julia today - Horrah.

Thanks to Jan for hosting these past few weeks.

Inspiration - I was so taken by my anniversary ATC from Diana Taylor (on the left) that I had a go making one like it, I blogged that earlier in the week here > Flower Study.

Inspiration - How to make dark brown Liquid Pearls? Mix Platinum LP with Walnut Stain distress ink, works a treat, although have since ordered some Dark Chocolate LP.



Inspiration - The ATC led me to a journal page which I have dedicated to all those who lost their lives in Nice last week, what a tragedy!








Inspiration - Made a few birthday cards this week, well added numbers to previously made cards.

Also received a gorgeous Celestial SWAP card (below) and can show you mine too.

Inspiration - My latest venture is Pokémon Go, yes I know I'm 52yrs and my teen son thinks it is lame, but why not? I chose purple hair for my avatar which is called BJKaraway.

Relief - Had my ear irrigated yesterday and the nurse did it in a jiffy. So much better than my experience last year which left me with an ear infection.

Relief - Some of you might remember I hadn't been too well of late. Well after three weeks (yes 3) of a heavy period, making me house bound, I finally "bit the bullet" and since Monday I am on medication (Norethisterone) which has nearly stopped it! Horrah. It is only a 10 day course so we'll have to see what my peri-menopausal body decides to do next, but it sure is a relief for now, especially in this hot weather.

Relief - I'm seeing a surgeon about my Carpal Tunnel this evening too.

Oh and you might have noticed a couple of scrap pages on the go too. I lacked inspiration for those so am using some papers and various ready made bits and bobs too from collections for a change.

So yes Relief & Inspiration all round this week, and if you made it this far, congratulations!

Happy WOYWW everyone.

Flower Study

I bought some new dies this week.
 
I got them from CountryView Crafts on-line. They arrived really quickly.

The flowers were in their "Flash Sale" for a fiver - bargain!

Here they all are cut out.

After a bit of inking and moulding (and lengthening) By lengthening I mean I snipped the foliage pieces in half so both ends showed behind the flowers.

I used them all to make up this card.


Then I thought I'd see what single flower dies I have altogether.

I have Timmy's Tattered Florals,
some old Quickutz ones,
a poinsettia,
some from a spellbinders set and
my new Sizzix thinlets.
I think I have a good range there.



Anyway, totally inspired by the ATC I received in the WOYWW 7th anniversary from Diana Taylor

I thought I'd have a go, in Timmy Tag style, using what I have to recreate the ATC.



Here we are then.

Diana's on the left and mine on the right. Now was that what drew me in to getting the foliage die? Who knows!

Thanks for the inspiration Diana.

WOYWW #371 - Goodies & Scrapping

Nearly forgot myself today, whatever was I thinking?

Here's my desk with some new goodies as I thought I'd treat myself to some dies instead of just buying magazines with freebie dies!!

Could have done with the Picket Fence Distress ink for my rainbow ice page below, had to use my stain for the white.








I have my next set of photos ready for inspiration and have done the following double LOs since too.



Geocaching on Leith Hill back in March this year. 

Loved all the carved animals on the signpost.



Then on Easter Monday to Leigh for some more geocaching where we got jolly wet in a field as it bucketed down on us. The River Mole was running very high due to all the rain but the sun came out as we traveled back through Brockham.



Finally, here is my sunflower in full flower, thought you'd like to see it too. It's way taller than me now!

Happy WOYWW everyone.

Geocaching in Croydon

Dropped my son off to do his Driving Theory Test in Croydon City Centre last Saturday and wondered what to do with myself for an hour?

This is the mural opposite driving theory test building!

So I tried the, "Find Nearby Geocaches" on my phone APP and voilá a couple close by.

The first took me to the High Street via a lovely old building, The Grants Building, a former department store.

Then on to The Hospital of the Holy Trinity, A Whitgift Almshouse.








Not so pretty with all the scaffolding, so a couple of close-ups through the central doorway.

Dare I say you can actually "see" the nano cache in one of the photos, such fun.

Of course the obligatory tram was a must too.























My second cache was a "multi", first taking me to a mural to get some clues and then on to the cache itself.

Here's one mural which so happened to be back on the wall of the car park we parked at!




And here's the location of the cache itself. Another nano cache.






And finally this is the sign outside the building I got to on my way to a third cache but my son called to say he'd finished so I abandoned my caching for the day.

Oh and YES he passed! Yippee!