10 Crafty Things For 2010

OK. I give in! Everyone seems to be posting either a 2009 Year Review or their New Year Resolutions. Who am I to go against the flow?

So here is my list of crafty things that I would like to achieve in 2010. Note: they are NOT resolutions. In my whole life I have never managed to keep any of those. I have learned not to make any, and therefore, not to set myself up for failure!

TEN CRAFTY THINGS FOR 2010

1. Attend a big craft show in London (I never have)
2. Do not spend any money on stash in 2010 (this one's going to be tough!)
3. Make many more scrapbook pages than in 2009
4. Take many more photos than in 2009
5. Learn to use Photoshop (definitely a challenge!)
6. Post more often on my blog
7. Regularly take part in challenges - maybe Project 12 - Scrap Weekly in 2010 - 52 in 10
8. Set aside more time for crafting (also a difficult one to achieve)
9. Set a Challenge on my own blog
10. Reorganise my Stash so that it takes up less room.

Phew! Nothing like making a list is there to clarify your thoughts? Even better when you can cross them off as they are done. Have you any burning crafty ambitions for 2010? I am going to keep this list in my computer cupboard and if I am still posting in a year's time, and haven't had a stressful-job-related nervous breakdown, I will let you know how I have done!
Happy New Year to you all.

Before you all shout at me 'No!'..

It's New Year's Day afternoon and what am I doing? Making New Year's resolutions? Composing lists of things I'd like to achieve in 2010? Eating stale leftovers from Christmas?
None of the above!
I am sitting in the Lounge. A warm, cosy, best-place-to-be-Lounge with my darling youngest daughter, who has control of the remote to the TV. Big mistake!
So as this is the warmest room in the house and I need something to take my mind off boring TV, I am making Christmas cards.
Now, before you all shout at me 'No! Never! Not on New Year's Day!' I will explain two things. Firstly, they were a Sale bargain and therefore not to be passed over, and secondly, I strangely enjoy doing mindless die-cut decoupage on rare afternoons like this, when the ironing can happily wait until tomorrow, the hoovering and washing-up is done, and it's too late in the day to get all my crafty stash out to play with!

I freely admit I would much rather be stamping and making my own cards  - and I will later in the year I promise - and I know I'm letting everyone down admitting to this heinous activity, but I'll be back on track tomorrow - on the straight and narrow - as it's the last day of my Christmas holiday and I will definitely be crafting from scratch!
Honest.

WOYWW

Christmas is truly over in our house when the decorations and tree are down (planned activity for this afternoon), and the Christmas cards are cut up to make next year's tags. So here is my Christmas Wednesday desk - a tray - with the remains of an hour's crafting. I've been cutting up said Christmas cards with fancy scissors and the result is the little pile on the right of the photo. When the girls were at school and everyone in their class sent them cards I had plenty of tags for the next year, but now they are away from home my supply is much depleted! I may have to make some next December - any excuse to craft!

You can also see my Christmas cacti in flower and a Yankee candle scenting the Lounge very nicely with 'Home Sweet Home' smells.

Join in with WOYWW madness over at Julia's and let us see your craft desk today.

I'm off now to check the dinner as it's another Christmas Lunch today in honour of Jenni and Tom who are staying over for a few days. Actually my husband is the cook in our house but he might need help with something or other. Our Christmas is not quite over just yet!

December 18th 2009

No, I've not got the date wrong! I know we've had Christmas - weeks of preparation and all over in two hours! December 18th is all about the layout above.

The worst snow for twenty years fell overnight in Sussex and everything ground to a halt. No buses running, and with no grit on the Coast Road, I had to walk into work. Our car couldn't make it up the hills. (You don't usually need a four-wheel drive on the South Coast, therefore we don't own one!) Totally unprepared for a long trek in foot-deep snow drifts, it took me an hour and twenty minutes to get to the hospital! Of course the patients couldn't make it in either, but in-patients still needed their scans doing. And people were falling over everywhere and ending up in Casualty.

Having to work the next day, and knowing the freeze overnight would turn the roads into an ice rink, I slept on a trolley at the hospital. The day after that, supposedly my Sunday off, I had to work again, as the person meant to cover the shift could not get out of her drive! To say I've had enough of the snow would be an understatement! I feel sorry for those who spent Christmas in plaster casts because of fractured limbs, and there were plenty of them!

I'm glad to say it's all melted now - and I won't mention the weather forecast for this week predicting more snow or I'll start grinding my teeth!

Anyway, those who didn't have to go to work (i.e. my daughter and her boyfriend) really enjoyed the snowfall and had a great time. Snow on the beach is something of a novelty here, hence the scrapbook page.

I used Bo Bunny papers and some stamps to make 3D elements for the layout.

I think 3D might become my 'thing' in 2010 - it adds dimension to a layout, but more importantly, I find it fun to do.

The only good thing about snow, in my opinion, is the photo opportunities it creates! Bah Humbug!