News & Updates from Davina Rundle

I expect some of you will have seen the media coverage of The Man Engine, the largest ever mechanical puppet built in Britain, created to celebrate the 10th anniversary of UNESCO giving World Heritage Status to Cornwalls Mining Sites and history, making them as important as the likes of The Taj Mahal and The Pyramids!

We have had the excitement of this brewing for several months as our son in law was involved in the creation of the puppet and did most of the welding for it.

For 2 weeks the puppet is travelling the length of Cornwall visiting 10 mining sites, but little did they know how popular he would be!

An estimated crowd of 15,000 people alone came to see the transformation in Truro. The puppet is being transported by lorry, but at most destinations he transforms from crawling status to his full height of 10.2 metres tall, then puppeteers animate him using ropes.

The team behind this have worked extremely hard, and have been rewarded by the huge interest, and to top it all have gained an entry into the Guinness Book of Records.

Over the past few months we have been excitingly planning our youngest daughter's wedding which is taking place this coming Saturday.

I was thrilled to be able to design and make her invitations, and thoroughly enjoyed the job too.

Now with all the preparations complete, we are eagerly awaiting Saturday afternoon and hope the sun decides to accompany us.

My photos show my invitation design and two of the cards I have made to give on the day.

When I joined cup way back in February 2010, as a novice cardmaker, little did I know what an all consuming passion it would turn out to be!

Not only has my confidence in cardmaking grown, but my computer skills have improved too!

I've made lots of friends and met so many special people over the past five years. So to be awarded 3rd place in the competition for a second year running is truly the icing on the cake.

I'd like to thank the wonderful designers for voting for me, and for their outstanding work providing a never ending supply of designs to work with.

And I'd like to thank the cup team for their valuable support over the years. The first card is one of my older cards, but has always been a favourite and the second card is one of my more recent favourites.

We had the pleasure of visiting a National Trust property after Christmas, Cotehele, which sits on the border between Cornwall and Devon.

Each Christmas the staff at Cotehele make a beautiful garland from flowers picked on the estate and then dried. This year the garland featured some 36,160 flowers.....

They hang the garland in the Great Hall of Cotehele for visitors to admire over the Christmas period. The colours were amazing and at 60 feet long was quite awe inspiring. I am showcasing two of my favourite designs..... one floral and the other a waistcoat with a vintage floral pattern.

Hubby and me had a few days away last week and stayed in Poole, Dorset. From there we took the train to London for the day, so much quicker and easier from there than from here in Cornwall!

Our aim was to visit the spectacular Poppy Field at the Tower of London, and what a wondrous sight it is.....

And just as exciting was the plan to meet with fellow cup cardmaker, and a dear Facebook friend, Denise Murray.

We had such a lovely time with her....... lots of crafty chat and giggles, and she treated us to coffee and cakes too.

The most wonderful day.

The photo is the two of us by the Tower. And two of my favourite cards from this week