Physalis, ponies and dies…

Morning everyone. Stuart here with your Clarity Matters daily blog post.

Sometimes life goes so fast you forget the immediate past… I actually had quite a nice weekend, but when my colleagues asked me about it on Monday I had very little to say… Mind elsewhere… Other concerns crept in and I’d almost forgotten how nice it was. Now that I’ve got my big TV guide job out of the way, I’m a bit more relaxed today, so I thought I’d share my weekend with you all. Quite simply, we went to the forest again. It’s good to let the chickens burn off their energy so that they sleep well and we had a great time. We initially went there to go conker picking because boy wanted to go and get some. A friend recommended Ashdown Forest for that, but I think they confused Horsechestnut with regular Chestnut… There were no conker trees, but there was an abundance of chestnut trees… So we collected a massive bag full of them and roasted them at home and ate them whilst watching a film in the afternoon… Decent, that! Although as I got them out of the oven, one exploded in my face… That happens. They are quite volatile are chestnuts.

Wife and boy

Oh yeah, and there were some wild Exmoor ponies roaming the grounds. That was quite fun. There are often cows or deer in the forest, too. The ponies were rather dinky.

Wild Exmoor Ponies

Boy still wanted some conkers, though. So I took him to another local park and we cleared up underneath on tree. I think we brought home 50 or so conkers… Great fun. He was so excited. All because his friend had a conker and he wanted one, too. Sweet, really. Didn’t take a picture of the tree for some reason, but on the way back to the car there were some lovely planted beds full of physalis. Seems a bit of a weird thing to see in a flower bed, but they look pretty cool and creepy in their autumnal orange colour.

Physalis looking rather creepy

So, that’s my weekend. How was yours? Do leave comments below, we do read them even if we don’t reply always. And it is really great to hear from you all!

We’d also like to hear from you about this week’s YouTube video. Let me tell you about it. It features our Designer Card and our Hare In The Meadow Fresh Cut Die and a very, very clever technique involving adhesive sheets. I won’t give the game away, but there really is more to dies than just cutting the design out of a piece of card. There is usually so much of what might be considered ‘waste’ when it comes to die-cutting, unless you have the creative mind of Barbara Gray and can make use of every part of the process… Really worth a watch and hopefully it is the kind of tutorial that will expand your mind and inspire your own creative potential!

So, do have a little look at this week’s video by clicking here or the banner above to watch, and don’t forget, there are some bargains to be had as we’ve lowered the price of essential items used in the video. We do like to make it easy for you, and 20% off should sweeten the deal, right?

AND, don’t forget to share your artwork with us. If you get around to completing this project or just want to share another of your own creations, we would LOVE to hear from you – simply send photos into gallery@claritystamp.com and if you’re happy to, we’ll even feature it on the blog as inspiration for others (and, if you send us something, we might just send you something back 😉 ).

14 thoughts on “Physalis, ponies and dies…

  • 13th October 2020 at 12:09 pm
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    Glad you had a great weekend – you are very fortunate to have such lovely forests nearby and ponies too, fantastic!!!
    I enjoy reading the Clarity blogs, although I don’t always leave a reply, so thank you for doing these each day!

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  • 13th October 2020 at 12:30 pm
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    Nothing better than a lovely walk on the forest. Its not so far away from me. The Physalis are a pretty plant especially this time of the year, so delicate. May go off to Nymans this afternoon to get some autumn photos x

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    • 13th October 2020 at 1:13 pm
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      Ahh, Nymans is good. I enjoy a little trip round there. Although my wife always seems to gets ‘trapped’ in the little book shop there… It’s always so hard to get her out…

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  • 13th October 2020 at 12:33 pm
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    Thank you for sharing lovely to see people still enjoy going to the forests and observing the countryside .We have beautiful countryside here in Yorkshire and so often we don’t appreciate where we live x

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  • 13th October 2020 at 12:36 pm
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    What a fantastic weekend you had. I love your photos. This time of year is so photogenic. Have a great week. Take care. Hugs xxx

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  • 13th October 2020 at 1:42 pm
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    It sounds like a great weekend. Glad the chickens could run off their energy. It brings back memories of eating hot chestnuts from street stalls. I know – you’re too young! I bet there are other people thinking about it too though.

    Thanks for all your hard work. I love all your posts. They really cheer me up.

    Great demo. I have that die. Trap the scrap is a useful technique.

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  • 13th October 2020 at 2:51 pm
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    Brings back memories of the hot chestnut man on the street corners in my youth! In the spring they would be replaced by the person selling bunches of violets!

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  • 13th October 2020 at 2:59 pm
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    Clarity is my company and thank you for that. I always recommend Clarity products, answer peoples queries (recently re light boxes), and take part where appropriate. Technology is not my thing, but , boy oh boy, I have had to negotiate my way and learn fast as I have not had my lovely “children” and grandchildren to help me. ..in fact I have only seen four of them once in six months and that was in the garden. They live four hours away and usually come to stay every school holiday.
    Barbara’s shac Shack is great, three times a week is perfect, enough for Barbara too I guess , with so many other things to do. I, and many others are very grateful to her. I came across a craft buddy living nearby ,through the comments. One of these days we shall meet up. So thank you all at Clarity, for being in touch and keeping me interested and busy.

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  • 13th October 2020 at 4:27 pm
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    The physalis was clearly put there for Halloween! Lol. They look like miniature pumpkins! Lovely wee family you have. Glad you had a good weekend. I enjoyed seeing that youtube particularly the bit where no one was looking!! Lol. Enjoy the rest of your week.

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  • 13th October 2020 at 5:39 pm
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    Beautiful photos and glad that you had a lovely walk. We have lots of conkers around here but some time ago I heard that children weren’t allowed to take them to school tp play with anymore. Shame.

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  • 13th October 2020 at 8:08 pm
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    My dad used to roast chestnuts in the ash tray underneath the coal fire. This was in the days before we had central heating. He had “asbestos” hands (could handle anything hot) and peeled them for us so they were still nice and hot to eat. Those were the days !!!
    I don’t think Physalis are creepy although I have never seen them in such profusion, perhaps it is because we are so close to halloween that you think so.
    Stay safe 🍒

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  • 13th October 2020 at 8:12 pm
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    Hi Stuart
    Sounds like a good weekend. I must admit I came back from our walk the other day with a pocketful of conkers, I only stopped to pick up one but they were so shiny and irresistible a few more followed. Supposed to be good at warding off spiders! Have fun playing conkers with your son.
    Love Diane x

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  • 14th October 2020 at 12:30 pm
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    I have Chinese lanterns in the garden, great for Halloween time, they grow like weeds though and I have to thin them out a bit. I put some heads in a vase with lights which is quite effective. Trying to remember the weekend, we had a quiet one and went to friends for dinner which was good, also did some pottering in the garden when weather allowed. Have fun with the confers ! X

    Reply

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