April Showers – Yorkshire Style

7 years ago

Happy Spring! While we are desperately in need of moisture, a gentle rain would be preferred! Instead we get these tremendous grey, grumpy clouds that arrive with a ton of water (and sometimes a dash of snow or hail). Springtime in the Rockies – you never know what you’re going to get!

Over the past couple of days we’ve bounced from winter to summer to spring to winter to spring. One minute I’m turning over the garden beds and complaining about how hot it is and then the next day it’s windy and the snow is on its way! While I was a bit cramped for time this week, I made a project for the latest challenge for the Frilly & Funkie challenge blog. The challenge, April Showers, is designed to get you inspired by “showers.” The challenge is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

With showers being the inspiration, I focused in on one stunning photo taken by my beloved. It’s in a little village called Muker in North Yorkshire in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales. I spent many a holiday in this little place as it is the village where my beloved’s Mum and Dad lived until they died several years ago. While the houses in the photograph are not that of Mum and Dad’s house (it was a couple of fields behind the row of houses you can see), it is the view just as you are turn left to go to the local pub, The Farmers Arms, through the hidden back pathway, and looks to the west toward the moors between Swaledale and Wensleydale. Yorkshire for me is beautiful, rugged, grey, and a bit stormy and wet. I always knew when those clouds rolled over the moor that we were in for some wet weather. On those days at Mum and Dad’s, I could always curl up with a good book in my favorite chair in the dining room next to the radiator and the west windows and pass the time while the rain and the wind were doing its best to wreak havoc on the rugged landscape and the stone-built house. Mum and Dad’s was a place of refuge for me – one filed with love and family. I miss both of them very, very much.

This project seems a bit simple compared to some of my other projects but the simplicity brought together for me the colors, the rain, and, in spring, the daffodils – a splash of bright color to remind you of Spring despite the grey, cold weather. The felt that I added to the project is my subtle ode to the rugged Swaledale sheep who seems to be a bit grey and black come springtime.

I played around with the Distress Crayons again but this time used a semi-dry baby wipe to feather in the colors in between the sections of brick. I also grabbed some of the new Finnabair Stone effect paste to give some more texture to the brick. I made my daffodils from a die cut from Elizabeth Craft Designs. And, my touch of wool felt (I have to pay tribute to the sheep) to add a touch of softness.

I hope my project inspires you to put this little village on your bucket list. You can stop by and see the Buttertubs, and perhaps hike a portion of the Coast-to-Coast Walk or the Pennine Way. A quick stop for a pint of Black Sheep in the pub and then to the Swaledale Woollens shop where you can get a nice, cosy sweater made with the wool from Swaledale sheep, one that is probably hand-knitted by someone from one of the oldest families in the dale. Mine is.

Items Used for this project:

Ranger Texture Paste, Distress Ink (Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Forest Moss, Spiced Marmalade), Distress Crayons (Pumice Stone and Walnut Stain), Finnabair Stone Paste (Pumice Stone), Finnabair Art Pebbles, Elizabeth Craft Designs (Daffodil), Tim Holtz Stencil (Brick), Taylored Expressions Felt (Black Licorice and Grey Heather), Altnew Stamps (Dancing in The Rain), Scrapiniec Chipboard (#4006).