CUPBOARD CRAFTER

Tea Break Layout

2011-02-13T16:41:00.000Z

Taking inspiration from The Scrappiest Sketch 109 but changing the theme from 'Valentine's Day' I've made a layout this afternoon featuring a very old photograph of me working, or rather, taking a tea break at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Aylesbury.

It was my first job after qualifying as a Radiographer in 1980 and this photo was taken about a year later.

The shot was taken by a colleague who was a keen photographer and he developed his own photographs in the x-ray darkroom after hours. If you look very carefully you will see my wedding ring on my right hand. He obviously reversed the photo by mistake before developing it.

I've included a tag, attached to the clock face cut-out, which can be pulled upwards to reveal the hidden journaling, highlighting his error.

For the layout I used K&Co and Tim Holtz papers and stamped clock face images over the background.

As I am determined not to increase my scrap-booking stash this year, I delved through my many boxes and found some items I had forgotten about. My collection of punches hasn't seen the light of day for ages so it was past time that I used them again on a page.

Can you spot the three I've used from Martha Stewart?

I think it's as much fun rediscovering old techniques as it is in using new things - or am I just trying to convince myself?!

Simple Knitting And Crochet (Or Not)

2011-02-06T08:12:00.110Z

Having spent my spare time lately, not paper-crafting, but busily having a personal knitting and crocheting revival, (I've just finished another scarf, the pattern in this month's 'Inside Crochet' ) I thought I'd tell how I first came to learn these crafts and am taking part in From High In The Sky Storytelling Sunday.

I used to watch fascinated as my Grandmother knitted in her armchair, and must have been about 7 when I asked her to teach me how to knit. With the occasional input from my Mother, she willingly tried to teach me the age-old craft that she felt every young girl should know. It wasn’t long before major problems surfaced! Not with my aptitude or keenness to learn you understand. No, the problem was my left-handedness - or cack-handedness as my Mother always called it.
However hard they tried neither woman could teach me to knit left-handedly. They couldn’t work out how I should hold the needles or which way to wind the yarn around. It was probably quite amusing to watch but I became very frustrated at the lack of teaching going on! Eventually I decided that in order to learn something that I really wanted to do, I would have to learn it their way. And so I held the needles as they did and learned to knit exactly as they did. In no time at all I was knitting and purling happily.

Next came my desire to learn to crochet, but neither my Grandmother nor Mother could face teaching me. I had to wait for my Great Aunt Hilda to pay us a visit from London. Although she had been primed in advance about my left-handedness, she was totally unable to show me how to crochet with the hook in my left hand. Having already learned that compromise was required on my part to learn new things I watched and learned how to crochet ‘her way’.

I remember being told that in my Grandfather’s day it was not permitted to be left-handed and he was forced to sit on his left hand at school. Although we are not so strict these days, the majority of people are right-handed and it’s still difficult to find teaching materials or tools specifically for people like me, although the Internet is a valuable new tool for left-handers. Over the years right-handed tasks have become easier for me and I could probably call myself ambidextrous in some things, but I doubt that even I could teach someone left-handed knitting or crochet if I were asked! This raises some questions for me; are left-handed people more easily able to adapt to this right-handed world than right-handed people are to a left-handed world? Or do we left-handers all give in and use our right hands?

Scientists know that the brains in left-handed and right-handed people are different. Perhaps there was a genuine scientific explanation for my female relatives' difficulties teaching me simple knitting and crochet.

First Scrapbook Layout of 2011

2011-01-09T13:48:00.000Z

Some of you spotted this layout on my WOYWW post this week. I had started with a sketch from Scrap-A-Little and produced my first scrapbook layout of 2011. My first page for months actually.

Having no new photos to play with has really affected my creativity and I need to get out with my camera and take some more. Unfortunately, I do tend to be a 'fair-weather photographer'!

The layout features photos of DD2 at a Halloween party. The photos are taken from Facebook and had already been put through an ageing process before being uploaded there, so they are not the best to use for scrapbooking. But as I've already said, I'm lacking new images to play with so these were better than nothing!

Using Tim Holtz paper, I drew a large cobweb starting from the top right-hand corner. Some black velvet ribbon, buttons and jewelled brads completed the page. Before I actually saw the photos, my daughter informed me she had dressed as a Victorian Vampire (whatever one of those looks like!), hence the words in the poem I made up instead of having hand-written journalling.

I must admit I'm much quicker making pages with a starting point like a sketch. If I'm trying to make my own design from scratch I can take hours to finish one layout!

But I'm sure I'm not the only one with that particular problem.

WOYWW 2011

2011-01-05T07:20:00.001Z

Happy New Year WOYWWers!

Thanks to our Great Leader we get to rummage around everyone's workdesk again. Hop over to her blog to leave your link if you want to take part in this madness. We're a friendly crowd, just excessively nosey!

Here's my desk this week. Not too much mess but I notice that the TV remote is visible!

There's nothing new to be seen today. I'm trying not to buy anything new this year (I tried last year and failed) so you can see my purple magnetic mat and large guillotine. There's a plastic box filled with brads and a couple of small drawers with ink pads. And the scrapbook page I made with lots of spare photos that I didn't use.

Does anyone else always print too many? I have an idea in my head for the layout but it rarely turns out that way, hence the wasted photos. I also print the them out in different sizes too.

Maybe that should have been my New Year's Resolution - to only print off what I will absolutely, most definitely use!

Matchbook Cards

2011-01-03T15:59:00.000Z

What have I been up to today? I've made some matchbook-style cards. Nothing new, but if you've never made them before, I thought I'd show the very easy steps to making one. You can make them any size you like but mine start off as an A4 piece of card.

1.Take an A4 piece of base card and score and fold it down the centre to make an A5 card

2. Score 1.5cm in from each of the short edges

3. Cut off one of these edges

4. Fold the card in half along it's centre fold and fold up the remaining scored edge to enclose the front panel of the card

You now have a matchbook card to decorate.
I like to cut the A5 card in half to make two smaller cards like these;

And here's some I've decorated today

mainly with Paper Adventures papers and stickers.......

standing up (above) and lying flat
with the fold-up bottom edge

Two more...

I hope you give them a try and have fun decorating them!

2010 New Year Resolutions

2011-01-02T14:14:00.000Z

Around this time last year I posted this page with a list of Resolutions.....

TEN CRAFTY THINGS FOR 2010

1. Attend a big craft show in London
2. Do not spend any money on stash in 2010
3. Make many more scrapbook pages than in 2009
4. Take many more photos than in 2009
5. Learn to use Photoshop
6. Post more often on my blog
7. Regularly take part in challenges
8. Set aside more time for crafting
9. Set a Challenge on my own blog
10. Reorganise my Stash so that it takes up less room.

Did I actually achieve any of the goals I set myself? Nah! Although I tried.

This year I aim to do better and will carry the same Resolutions over to 2011. After all, you never know, I might just manage to achieve one of them! I can live in hope.

Now, if I had included knitting and crochet in 2010's New Year's Resolutions I might have done better. In the past few months I have completed my ripple blanket .....

.....and a snowboarder's hat,

made up my own patterns for leg-warmers and wrist-warmers,

and knitted this....

....an easy Sirdar pattern with lovely chunky yarn.

Karen nabbed the waistcoat when she was home for Christmas and Jenni now wants me to knit one for her! I'm quite happy to knit another one, but before I do, I need to finish my third pair of wrist-warmers!

Papercrafting has taken a back-seat lately but I'm sure I'll be Scrapping in 2011. I just need some new photos to inspire me.

And for that I really need much warmer weather to get out and about with my camera!

Post-Christmas Tradition

2011-01-01T15:36:00.000Z

Happy New Year Everyone!

I haven't posted in absolutely ages I know, but as the Christmas Tree was put away today, along with the lights, baubles and tinsel, it seemed time a good time to join my friends in Blogland again.
We are always the last house to put up and the first to take down the Christmas decorations. Hubby's OCD prevents him having too much 'mess' around without him getting anxious to clear it away. But one task I always sit down to after the decorations have been cleared, boxed and hidden away, is cutting up the seasonal cards and turning them into tags for next year's presents. A post-Christmas tradition that the children used to enjoy but now I do on my own.

From this...

........to this......

...in front of a warm fire

with a mug of hot tea ....

Shame it's not a real fire!

Knots And Flowers

2010-11-21T15:59:00.000Z

I get very irritable when I am partway through a knitting (or crochet) project and one ball of yarn seems to have knots every few yards. I hate knots. I understand why the manufacturers repair broken yarn this way. They want to sell the yarn after all. BUT why do we as consumers accept this practice? Can they not (no pun intended) put these balls to one side and sell them at a reduced rate?

It's like buying a stack of scrap-booking paper and finding ink stains over a third of the pages.

Anyway, to change the subject slightly, today I have made a snowboarder's hat for a Christmas present. Happily the yarn I used was one and a half balls of Sirdar Crofter (Fair Isle Effect) Chunky and there was not one knot anywhere to be found!

I used a very easy pattern on CocoKnits

I also wanted to share with you a couple of items I bought from an online company called Bloom. They are a UK company making very realistic-looking silk flowers and flower arrangements.

Firstly, two Hanging Hearts made with ranunculus flowers.....

.......... hanging on my wardrobe door

... and a close-up view.

Secondly, a cute arrangement in a glass bowl:

I am very pleased with these purchases.

Much more so than with my knotty yarn buys!

WOYWW - Troy And The New Cushion Covers

2010-11-17T07:18:00.001Z

It's Wednesday again and time for WOYWW . Join in and post a link at Never-To-Have-A-Website Julia showing your work desk for others to rummage around. We are a nice bunch of Nosey-Parkers, I promise, and we love finding new friends and hidden talent in Blogland.

Here's my WOYWW offering for this week......cushion covers.

Despite not being that old, just a matter of months actually, they are looking tatty and tired. Buy cheap, buy twice as they say. So instead of sewing on the button that had fallen off, I decided to set about making new covers. At best, I am a reluctant machine-sewer who mutters and grumbles to herself until the job's finished. I'd much rather be knitting or crocheting, or better still, paper-crafting!

Anyway, here is my work desk in action, a fold-up table that gives me the space I need to be creative.

My sewing machine, 30 year old Troy, has recently had an (expensive) service so I needed to prove to Hubby that it had been money well spent. I have a few fabric offcuts from a shop in Brighton from which I chose a brown silky material and an abstract flower pattern for the job. A couple of hours later, Troy had proven he was in tip-top condition, sewing beautifully. No more tension troubles! And I had two new cushion covers with a pattern on one side and plain silk on the other, plus an envelope-style one, again silk on the reverse and patterned on the front.
Hubby seemed marginally impressed, and when pushed, agreed they were an improvement upon the old ones.

As I've said before, sewing machines and I do not get along. I am very happy to have completed this simple project without any tantrums. And if you were wondering, Troy has been put to the back of the garage again..... probably for another year or so.

I just hope that my cushion covers last longer than the shop-bought ones!
I'm looking forward to poking around as many work-desks as I can manage later this evening, when I've finished work.

Rainy Afternoon Project

2010-11-15T07:32:00.001Z

My knitting needles have been stored in a plastic bag under the bed for years. So long in fact that the needles have made big holes in the sides of the bag.

I've been ignoring this sad situation for ages... out of sight, out of mind .... but decided I finally had to do something when they all fell out over the floor this weekend when I was rummaging under the bed for some fabric stored there.

I decided to make a knitting needle wrap and cut up an old blue cushion cover so that I had just the front, co-incidentally the right width for the longest of the knitting needles. Then I formed an off-cut of blue fleece fabric into pockets for the pairs of needles and pinned between them (I've yet to tell my daughter I've used it as it was her material).

I sewed where the pins were to form the pockets and stitched the two pieces of fabric together, leaving a long piece of fleece trailing (it's hidden under the cushion front on the photo above) so that it could become a tie for the wrap when it was folded up.

A simple project for a rainy afternoon. No pattern needed. And no needles all over the floor in the future!

Incidentally, I found some really old needles in my collection which must have been my Mother's or Grandmother's. I had forgotten I had them, and they are labelled sizes 10 and 12, from a previous UK sizing method I think.

Christmas Is Coming.....

2010-11-14T15:17:00.001Z

It may be a wet, dreary Sunday outside but I can tell that Christmas is coming soon.

Many of the summer birds have flown away.

The colourful autumn leaves are all on the ground and slippery underfoot.

And the evenings are dark once more.

But the big clue in my house is that my cacti are blooming.

All three of them.

It's a very small sign, but I look forward to these flowers every year....and suddenly....here they are.

Time to start thinking about buying Christmas presents I think.

What makes you think that Christmas is coming??

Home-made Granola, Vase Jackets, Cushions etc

2010-10-31T14:04:00.000Z

I started making EasiYo probiotic yoghurt a few years ago as I liked the idea of the 'good bugs' and it being freshly made rather than sitting on the supermarket shelf for days. I used to eat if with fresh fruit each morning until I was introduced to Granola by my daughters. Now I also make my own granola and as it disappears very quickly ( Hubby has also started eating it) I usually need to make it alternate weekends.
Here's today's effort.

I don't follow the recipe too strictly and this week I discovered a snack packet of mixed fruit, seeds and almonds in my local Co-op, so I added that in for a change. So long as it all clumps together it's fine!

If anyone is interested in the basic recipe here it is:

GRANOLA

300g rolled oats

100g flaked almonds

100g pumpkin and sunflower seeds

100g dried fruit or berries

2 tbspns pine nuts

50 dessicated coconut

2 tbspns vegetable oil

2 tbspns runny honey

1 tspn vanilla essence

120ml maple syrup

Add all the dry ingredients (except the coconut) to the wet ingredients

and mix thoroughly. Spread out about quarter inch thick onto lined baking

sheets and cook in a hot oven (160 degrees C) for approx 10-15 minutes

until just browned. Remove and stir in the coconut.

Return trays to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes or until crunchy.

My tip: keep an eye on the trays in the oven as they can quickly get

burned. I do like my granola to be crispy - but not scorched!

Allow to cool before storing in an air-tight container.

I think the shape of maple syrup jars can be quite unusual.

I had one with it's own glass handle and regret throwing it away.

So to do my little bit of recycling today, I washed out my

empty jar and used it as a vase.

But I'm still deciding exactly where it should go!

I quite like this idea too of covering glass jars with

pretty knit or crochet jackets.....

....I found these on Ravelry

I might just give that a go one day.

I also love these free patterns from Rowan

There's not enough hours in the day for what I would like to do!

One In Two Million

2010-10-18T21:21:00.000+01:00

Just reading a magazine, a new one to me today which I have not seen before, an edition of Coast I spotted the following statistic;

2 Million people in the UK

can see the sea

from an upstairs window

Amazing! And I am one of the lucky ones. When we moved to Brighton sixteen years ago now, there were few houses we could afford. We had a choice of one really, so we bought it. It's a town house within walking distance of a cobble beach, and it was only after we moved in and the grey skies changed to summer blue ones, that we realised we could see the sparkling sea and yachts from our bedroom windows, and hear the motor boats go past with the windows open. We were thrilled with our house, and still are, although the number of stairs is trying for my arthritic knees.

I've been hunting through my old photos and came up with these from when we first moved into the house, but you'll have to forgive the image quality as they are not digital ......

the house itself

the distant sea from the front of the close

....and the view of the sea from one of the rear bedrooms.

Do you consider yourself lucky with the location of your home? Are you one of the two million too?

Modification

2010-10-17T18:58:00.000+01:00

Today I spent time modifying the Baktus Scarf I knitted a few weeks ago. I felt it needed to be less plain and decided I would add a crocheted border. I must admit I do like the look of crochet and knitting together.

Somehow the crocheted border makes the whole scarf look bigger than it is, but it is certainly keeping my neck warm indoors at the moment! Yes, indoors! Our gas fire in the Lounge has finally died (it is 16 years old) and I refuse to put the central heating on until it gets much, much colder.

Today's been a day for wool-crafts as I also started knitting Jenni's scarf with the same simple pattern I used for mine.

She chose purple of course, and a 4 ply yarn rather than double knitting but, hey, it's a challenge and I enjoy a challenge. It will just take me longer to knit up.

I think hers will get the crochet-border-treatment too!

Memories and A Lucky Find

2010-10-10T19:38:00.000+01:00

I was brought up in the Buckinghamshire countryside next door to a family farm. Climbing up the five-bar gate and leaning over the fence, I loved to watch the cows in the yard and the noisy pigs in their sty. I wasn't so keen on the horse flies that caused huge lumps to appear where they bit me!

A childhood playmate also had a pig-sty in her garden, which we were sometimes allowed to go into and play with the piglets and to feed them. I don't remember the smell or the mud, just the wriggly pink pigs we held in our arms.

Mum taught me when I was a little girl about how intelligent cows are. She was in the Land Army after the war and her job was to milk the cows morning and evening. The herd had a Hierarchy, going into the milking shed in the exact same order every time. If a cow tried to cheat and go into the shed early, the others would kick it until it went back into it's proper place. Each of her cows also knew its own name.

Perhaps, because of my upbringing I became a vegetarian in adult life, who knows?

What I do know is that I have a soft spot for images of either cows or pigs to this day, and for the animals themselves of course. So this little milk jug was a lucky find in the local market.

It's glaze is cracked, and there's a few chips in the china,

but I think it's Delightful.

It only cost a few pence and I've found a use for it already .........

.....as a cute Crochet Hook Container.

WOYWW - How Much?

2010-10-06T07:03:00.004+01:00

Here's my desk from Saturday. A bit messy, with the evidence of a crafting session, but not the results! The cards I made are in my previous post. But you can see my box with Cuttlebug bits and bobs, small dies mostly and the embossing mat. Alongside is a Xyron for putting glue onto papers and embellishments. There's my pink scoring board, ink pads, non-stick craft sheet and magnetic cutting board.

Looking at all the stuff on my craft table, and then the wider view as well......

...with even more crafty stuff on view, it makes me wonder just how much money I've spent over the years. I have two whole wardrobes of stash. Lately I've not bought anything, trying to save cash, but I'm astonished at the number of items I have actually collected!

My father still keeps a black book itemising everything he buys for the house. It goes back to what he had when he got married and moved into a rented house, right down to the cost of his hairbrush! And he still has that hairbrush at age 86. It makes very interesting and eye-opening reading at the cost of things years ago.

I think I would definitely be shocked at what I've spent on Stash if I'd done the same thing and kept a running total.

Out Of Fashion!

2010-10-02T17:05:00.000+01:00

I'm not an avid follower of fashion, be it clothes or crafty stuff. So when I choose to do something new in my crafting session it usually means the technique has been around for months, maybe even years!

And so it was today, when I decided that I would make a new design of card for me, that the writing was on the wall for that technique. Easel cards have had their day!

I do so love stamping. It's my favourite card-making technique and I enjoyed all the stamping this card entailed this afternoon. I used a Tim Holtz Distress ink pad, Graphicus hydrangea stamp, 'Happy Birthday' stamp from I know not where (it's that old), and had a play with my Cuttlebug and Spellbinder dies.

I enjoyed making this style of card so much that I made two more.........

A paler blue version and .......

............ an in-your-face

Cranberry version.

(with another Graphicus stamp).

So, you have all been warned. It is now too late to make easel cards. They are out-of-fashion as of today!

Another Year Older

2010-09-21T20:31:00.000+01:00

The keen-eyed among you may have noticed that I've had to update my Profile. Yes, another birthday has been and gone. Another year older, but am I wiser as I'm supposed to be?

Probably not. To be wiser after the event is scary. I'd rather not have an Event to be wiser after! Any regrets for the past year? Happily I can say 'no'. I like to live life without regrets and when I make a decision I try very hard not to go back over it and pull it to pieces. The choice has been made, why grieve over it? That's just me.

But look what a lucky girl I am - this book came in the post as one of my birthday presents.

I've been taking this off the display every time I've set foot in a bookshop lately (and I love bookshops) but I've reverently placed it back on the shelf as I thought it was an Extravagance and not an Essential. How lovely then to be given it as an unexpected surprise.

Now of course I need to decide which flower to make first!

You can also see the Ripple Blanket coming along nicely - just under half-way - and not bored with it at all. Perhaps getting older and wiser means I'll stay with a project to the end?

Possibly.

Easy Knitting Pattern

2010-09-19T07:22:00.001+01:00

Yes, I'm still crocheting the Ripple Blanket but a long project needs a few small detours going on as well before finishing, doesn't it? I think so. Or is it that I'm too easily distracted? Anyway, I spent a few hours on something else this week when I came home from work. I came across a very easy pattern and decided to knit it for my eldest daughter..... but I may just keep it for myself.

It's a simple Baktus scarf, that can be tied any number of ways.....

...you'll have to excuse my scraggy neck in the photos!

Here it is folded in half.

It can be any length, depending upon the amount of yarn you use. The free pattern is here on Flicr.

OK, I can hear you Jenni! I'll just have to knit you another one.

And I know it has to be purple.

Is The Iron Your Enemy Or Your Friend?

2010-09-18T17:06:00.000+01:00

When everyone is outside, enjoying what could possibly be the last good weather of the year, what am I doing? The ironing! Not my most favourite pastime. Unfortunately I cannot ignore it as Hubby's OCD means I have to iron as soon as the washing's dry.
To keep me cheerful whilst doing this chore, I have lit a candle and dug out an old Michael Bolton album to listen to. Well, that's the idea...

Trouble is, the steam iron's trying to imitate a steam engine and the music's being drowned out by all it's hissing and spitting!

As I'm standing here, wishing that ironing had never been invented, I wonder what you Ladies do to get through the task. Do you wait until the ironing basket's full before finally tackling the job? Do you watch TV, listen to the radio, compose Blog posts in your head or listen to music? Do you stand at an ironing board like me or sit down more comfortably?

Is the iron your Enemy or your Friend?

Or ..... do you never iron anything because it's a waste of precious time?!

By the way, the ripple blanket is progressing albeit slowly - I've been doing another project as well - but that's a post for another day.

WOYWW

2010-09-08T07:30:00.002+01:00

'Join us - show us your desk, what you're working on, where you're doing it - doesn't have to be a craft, doesn't have to be a desk, we're just fascinated by your everyday' - you said it Julia, Esteemed Leader of WOYWW.
So,taking you at your word, here's my current desk!

Yes, it really is my lap...

and I'm relaxing on my bed!

My latest project is crocheting a blanket and it could take a while, but I'm really enjoying the challenge. I'm following Lucy's Neat Ripple Pattern which is not complicated to do when you get the hang of it, it certainly looks very pretty after a few rows, and it's definitely addictive!

My felt 'basket' is from Paper And String ........ and for those of you who oooh and aaaah over other people's craft supplies, here's a photo to make you smile.......

The colours of yarn I'm using

(from here)

Enough of me, it's time for you to mosey over to Julia's and link a photo of your desk for all of her followers to come and see. I'll be around when I've put my crochet down.

Another Mini Book

2010-08-30T16:58:00.000+01:00

Having all my photos on a computer is better than them gradually fading in a shoebox, but they are still in a place I do not really care for. For a start I have to turn on the desktop computer to see them, and that's in my tiny cupboard, and it's too small space for others to squeeze in to view them!

I don't know if you feel the same but I need my photos to be more accessible to everyone and I like to be able to dip in and out when I want to. Hence I am a scrapbooker. And a mini book maker!

That being the case, a mini book of our day trip to Arundel in July was bound to happen....more about that later.

August has been too dull and wet to make any new photography excursions, so my apologies, this post shows a few more of the shots I took on our visit to Arundel (previous post here). I took lots of photos, both around the town and in the Castle grounds, and it turned out to be the hottest day of the year.

Yes, that is a crown balancing on top of a fountain! It spins with the force of the water, but what is not immediately obvious from this photo are the hundreds of shells on the wall behind.....shown in the next shot.

On to the Arundel mini book and here are a few pages. I kept it very simple, using Tim Holtz papers and journaling with a black pen. Not only do I like photographs to be accessible but I also like them to be 'interactive', not just stuck into a plain album. So, I made two of the pages into a pocket to hold extra photos on pull-out cards and, of course, the essential tourists' guide to the Castle.

As I had to appear in here somewhere, the final photograph is of me.......

......... sweltering in the 30 degree heat and taking a well-earned rest from all that exhausting Photography!

Ugly Papers

2010-08-22T16:15:00.000+01:00

I have finally scrapped a page today, after weeks of a dry spell!
What tempted me back into the fray? A Challenge on The Studio Challenges Blog that asks you to use two 'ugly' papers in your layout. We all know there is no such thing as ugly papers, don't we? We are all paper addicts after all! But I'm sure, like me, you have a few patterns in your stash that you wish you had never bought. And it seems too wasteful to just throw them away. So I was inspired to use of a couple of my least favourite ones today, pictured below, along with a recent photo of my Mother.

I am usually a fan of K&Co but I cannot abide large patterns on scrapbook pages, hence the flowery paper, and the pink and brown one is just so ....well.....dull!
Anyway, here's the finished layout and the journalling says it all I think. It's a simple page with tearing and doodling and some cut circles. Oh, and a heart stamp.

I miss Mum as she used to be. Fiery and out-spoken. She is a shell of her former self now. I can see her but I do not know her any more.

Dementia is a cruel disease, but to be honest, I do not think she is aware of it herself and that is a blessing.

Right Side, Wrong Side

2010-08-22T11:41:00.000+01:00

'Right' side

I haven't posted in ages I know, but time has been short, what with work and too much other stuff going on to be creative. Not only that, my Creativity seems to have run away for the summer. Must be the awful weather this August that's prevented me taking photos, making layouts, creating cards.... that's my excuse anyway.

But I haven't given up. All is not lost. My sewing machine is finally getting it's service (30 years late!) and I've been doing some Tunisian crochet to keep my crafty fingers happy.

'Wrong' side

For anyone who hasn't heard of Tunisian, it uses a long needle, similar to a knitting needle but with a hook on one end, and horror-of-horrors, there are many stitches on the needle, not just one!

I love the way it turns out, just like knitting with a right side and a wrong side, and is thick and textured.

I'm using a brown cotton thread to make a bag. It doesn't look much like a bag at the moment, just a rectangle shape but, don't worry, it will all turn out in the end - and I will get my Mojo back - sometime soon.

WOYWW - Messy Me!

2010-07-21T07:23:00.001+01:00

Here's my workdesk snapshot for this week's WOYWW. Talk-For-England Julia is the instigator of this weekly madness and I know she'd love you to join in on her blog.

I love getting messy when I craft, but crafting sessions don't happen often enough for me as I work full-time. Last Friday when this photo was taken I had just finished cutting up my 'A4 Artwork' to make some cards. On my desk you can see acrylic paints, a cheap sponge cut into three pieces, ink pads and stamps, plus the cards I have made. I won't show you my sofa this week as I could hardly find space to sit amongst all the stuff I consider essential for an afternoon's play.

Much better that you look in this direction instead. Beyond my fold-up workspace is a wooden coffee table and beyond that the fireplace and blue plant pot. You know already that my favourite colour's blue. Not that you would guess that from the bright colours of these cards!

You can see my pot holding Sakura pens as I used the clear glitter pen on areas of the cards to give a sparkly effect. And there's my craft mat, essential for messy techniques like this one.

It took me ages to put everything back in the cupboards this week as I decided to have a sort out and label where things were.... Hubby was very pleased to see my diligence...... but I won't be volunteering to do that job again for a quite a while! I've no idea how I manage to get soooo much Stash into two wardrobes.

Painted Canvas Cards

2010-07-16T16:16:00.000+01:00

It's not obvious from the photograph but these cards are made from inkjet canvas. Inspired by a card on the front of Craft Stamper Magazine this month, I've been getting thoroughly messy again today!

I bought a few sheets of A4 inkjet canvas ages ago and have only ever used it once. So, out came a sheet of canvas, along with acrylic paints, stamps and Staz-On ink pads. I set about creating a piece of 'Art'.

I'm not an artist but this technique was fun to do. I used scarlet, vermilion and yellow paints, watered down, to paint blocks of colour onto the inkjet paper, allowed it to dry, then stamped randomly with stamps from my collection (rediscovering stamps I had forgotten I had!). Some images were stamped using the acryllic paint, others were stamped using purple and brown Staz-On.

The result was a very bright piece of original artwork, or 'mess' as Hubby called it. Once I had made up the cards though, he did say he thought they were OK.

Since taking the photos I have added interest with paper border strips in the same colours and some buttons. (I couldn't find the sequins I wanted at the time and had to 'make do'). I've also added stamped sentiments and included a Wedding Day insert in the large square card below. The couple this card is intended for are not having a traditional wedding and will appreciate, I hope, a modern style of card.

The cut-up piece of canvas made a total of four cards: one large square and three smaller ones.

This final photograph shows the large card, and my messy work table - but more about that on Wednesday's WOYWW post.

Sussex Sights

2010-07-12T18:53:00.000+01:00

We've lived in Sussex now for over 16 years and visited very few of 'the tourist attractions'. Those in and around Brighton we have made the effort to see, but any further afield have been sadly neglected. As Hubby doesn't drive far and will not go away on holiday due to his OCD, I dragged him out for the day last Friday on a trip by train. Somehow I managed to choose the hottest day of the year to go to Arundel. It was a scorching 30 degrees, but we had a lovely day walking around the pretty town. Here's a few of the sights.....

The Cathedral

The Castle

The Castle Gardens

...The Hubby!

The views from the Castle Keep over Sussex were spectacular but unfortunately, despite taking two sets of batteries for my camera, I didn't get all the photos I would have liked. Me and technology at odds once again!

I've already decided where to go next time Hubby is amenable to a trip out. Chichester sounds like a good spot. Has anyone been and can recommend what we should see there?

I'll be sure to charge the batteries this time!

WOYWW

2010-07-07T08:05:00.001+01:00

A few changes are immediately noticeable I think. A different sofa for a start. And a minimalist amount of stash on the craft table. What's going on?

Yes, it is my house. I've not moved. But just this once I decided to get what I needed out of the cupboard as I needed it rather than grab everything I might use! It meant a couple of extra trips to the cupboard, but much quicker putting everything away at the end of the crafting session! And a happier OCD husband, not fretting so much about all the mess to clear up!

This weekly madness where crafters 'Show and Tell' about their workspace is all the fault of Julia, MBE and you're welcome to join in too. Just visit her website and add your link. I'll be round to check out everyone's desk this evening - I'm away until then.

Doesn't Time Fly?

2010-07-04T19:02:00.001+01:00

I can't believe that I've not posted here for a month! I have been so busy lately. Work and life in general (i.e. visiting Jenni, fetching Karen from Uni, and a busy period at work) has meant there hasn't been time for crafting. So, I'm back today with two quick scrapbook pages in my favourite colour - blue - to show that the photographs still need scrapping and the mojo's still there to do it! Thankfully.

The first features some photos from a sunny day spent at Shoreham-By-Sea with DD1 and her partner Tom. They met at college and have been together now for three years. Doesn't time fly?

I used Papermania and Tim Holtz papers, Graphicus stamps and some orange brads.

The second layout shows DD2 and her friend Ginny in Cannes in May. They were there for the annual Film Festival and were very lucky with the weather. It seems like a 'home from home' with the seashore and McDonald's! Karen's back home now for the summer, with her first year at Uni completed. Doesn't time fly?

Again I've used Tim Holtz papers, and stamped on them with Papermania alphabet stamps.

I'm away after today for a few days, but I will be taking part in WOYWW this week. The 'time manipulation' wonders of Blogger allow me to set the post up in advance, but I'll be back and checking everyone's workspace Wednesday evening. I hope to see you there!

Red Flowers Do It For Me

2010-06-08T20:32:00.000+01:00

I've had a busy day today but wanted to quickly capture these poppies in my garden in the evening light. They are very large blooms, but having waited a whole year for them, they only last a couple of days! Seems such a shame.

Fleeting in their beauty. Already they are fading from their best.

The edges of the petals are starting to change colour and take on a hint of gold.

The centres of the flowers are Nature's artwork.

Red flowers are my favourites: be they gladioli, roses, poppies, amaryllis or anything else you can think of.

My father knows that I love red flowers and he designed and made me this lovely glass picture a few years ago. It hangs in my bedroom so I that I can see it every day.

It should be in the window to catch the light but I think it is gorgeous where it is.

It's very tactile due to the lead holding the pieces of glass together.

Natural or man-made, red flowers do it for me.

WOYWW Anniversary

2010-06-02T07:30:00.001+01:00

There's a real buzz of expectation around the web as Queen Julia celebrates her Official Birthday (as opposed to her real one) and one year of WOYWW.
I'm not one of the original participants, but I wanted to join in the project-making fun to celebrate the event anyway.
So, here's my starting point. A very uninspiring juice carton with the top cut off! Empty of course!

And with the edges painted black.

Then, I cut 4 panels from white card, one for each side of the carton, and ran them through my Cuttlebug machine with the swiss dot embossing folder. I also cut flowers, letters (WOYWW) and a tag with Sizzix dies and chose ribbon and buttons, playing with their positioning until I was happy.

I stitched the buttons on with contrasting thread and adhered the panels to the juice carton. Next, I made holes for ribbon at the top, stuck the letters onto the tag, and there it was....

.............my new Button Box.

I've Julia to thank for my new storage because I would never have bothered making it if she hadn't invited me to her party today!

Now, I'm off to to see who else has come and what they're wearing. Actually I'm off to admire what I'm sure will be varied and beautiful work from all the talented followers of WOYWW.
Oh, with all the excitement I nearly forgot!
Here's my WOYWW photo for this week.

Happy Birthday WOYWW

2010-06-02T07:13:00.002+01:00

Metallic Paint Effect

2010-05-31T17:31:00.000+01:00

It's been a dreary Bank Holiday Monday. Ideal to just sit indoors and get messy! Out came my Viva metallic paints, paintbrush, water and paper flowers. Yes, paper flowers.
It's a technique that Glenda at Graphicus demonstrated on Create and Craft TV years ago, that I have copied once before. Today I decided to have another go.

The technique is very simple.....but very messy. Using a large paintbrush loaded with metallic paint, paint over a large paper flower as if you were trying to colour the flower to use it on a project. The 'scrap paper' beneath the flower becomes your art work to cut into smaller pieces to make cards with. I used two different size daisy flowers and two colours of paint for my playtime.

Using metallic paint really makes a picture that sparkles in the light. I'm afraid my photos don't show that effect very well, so you'll have to use your imagination - or even have a go yourself!

Four cards from the blue metallic painted paper........

.............and four from the blackberry metallic paint.

The final photo using a flash, gives an idea of how sparkly the cards are when made up. I stamped Graphicus sentiments to add to some of the cards, but I usually wait until a card is needed before stamping the appropriate words.

The reason I got messy today? Well, I need two Father's Day Cards, and haven't got anything suitable already made. Both of the Dads like gardening and flowers, so most probably a couple of the blue ones will do the job. But I haven't decided which ones yet!

What should I do?

2010-05-30T14:52:00.000+01:00

Following on from yesterday's post, I decided I quite liked the chunky yarn for the T-shirt hem and went ahead and crocheted it. And stitched it on to lengthen the T-shirt.

And made up a flower in the same yarn for the neckline which is rather bare.

But I stopped at that point and the flower is only pinned on. I'm not sure I like the flower now. Perhaps I should sew a button in the middle. Or just do without it and wear a necklace!

Indecisive as ever! So, what do you think?

There are very many creative ladies out there and I really would value your opinions.

Procrastination and Crochet

2010-05-29T20:47:00.001+01:00

I have dithered for weeks now about what to do for a 'One Year WOYWW Anniversary Project' and it seems as if I could procrastinate for England!
Today, with ideas floating around my mind, but nothing finalised to the point where I knew exactly what I would be doing, I finally made a start. Obviously I cannot reveal anything until Wednesday but here's a peek at some of the mess the project involved.

And, yes, I used my Cuttlebug, but that's all I'm going to say.

I am a great procrastinator, even more so when there's no deadline to meet. For example, I have a plain T-shirt that shrank slightly in the wash, but I do not want to throw it away. I would like to 'decorate' it myself. Maybe with a bit of crochet. Well, it's taken me a year to get around to borrowing some books from the Library to get ideas for a border around the hem of the T-shirt. So now I'm getting there, but then I'm distracted by the lovely flowers I could create and the patterns for Irish Crochet ...... see, I'm doing it again.

So, this evening I took myself in hand and dug out some cotton and crochet hooks to practice a couple of borders.

I think this will look good but the yarn is too thick and there's not enough of it, so once again it has to wait.

I know my husband will say 'Why bother? Buy another T-shirt' especially as he was the one who shrank it! But I'm sure you know what I mean when I say, it's a challenge and when it's done I can say to myself 'I made that'.

Something I discovered how to do from the library books is a technique of crocheting over thin wire so that flower petals can be shaped and bent to look more life-like. That sounds like something I should try. And crochet on canvas, that sounds interesting too.

But they should probably wait until after I've made that T-shirt border!

WOYWW

2010-05-26T07:11:00.004+01:00

Isn't it just the way? I was getting my stash out of the cupboards when I dropped my box of buttons. Unfortunately the plastic storage case didn't bounce! So now I have to find something to put them in, all muddled up too.
Anyway, here's my desk on a beautiful sunny Sunday. Why Sunday? I'll explain for new participants in this weekly madness organised by Soon-To-Be-WOYWW-Birthday-Girl. I work full time and have to put all my stash away after every craft session as Hubby has OCD, so I only get the craft table out at weekends.

One door is propped open with cushions, and the light is flooding in. Ideal for crafting.

No, I haven't been watching the TV. Hubby left the controls on the table in case I wanted to turn it on. But I've had a peaceful afternoon playing with a couple of scrapbook layouts, the only sounds were those coming through the open door, i.e. traffic, but I tend to not even hear that after a while.

On my desk is my purple magnetic crafting mat from We-R-Memory-Keepers and the bits that go with it - a magnetic ruler, straight line cutter and circle cutter. There is a knife and blades that come with it too but they're not in sight. There's photos and cut papers and not a lot else. The rest of what I've been using is on the sofa .......including a whole load of homeless buttons.

Now there's an idea for a WOYWW One Year Anniversary Project. Hmmn.

Necessity being the Mother of Invention, and all that.

Student Footwear

2010-05-23T18:07:00.000+01:00

My youngest daughter, Karen, loves to hunt for clothes in Charity Shops. In the past she has managed to root out bargain items from Karen Millen and Topshop, among others. Her latest find at Easter was a brand new pair of Converse trainers (her favourite) in pink, and they've hardly been off her feet since!
Looking at her most recent photos, with her wearing the aforementioned trainers, I spotted that her male University friends also favour brightly coloured shoes, and there was the idea for my layout.
Here's the work in progress..........

.........and here's the finished page.

I used Papermania scalloped cardstock, free papers from Scrapbook Magazine and a sheet of K&Co flowered paper to make a bright, Spring background. A few buttons and ribbon, a quotation from Oscar Wilde, and plenty of doodling completed the page.

Call me old-fashioned....and I know you will....Karen loves wearing her trainers the way she does, but they look to me as if they should be worn as boots!

Sewing Machine Wars

2010-05-22T14:50:00.000+01:00

My sewing machine and I do battle now and then, as seldom as I can manage, and last weekend was a full-on battle! I avoid my sewing sewing like he has the plague. To say we hate one another is an understatement. I swear Troy (so named because he's made by Toyota) deliberately makes my life difficult.
My parents bought him for me for my 21st birthday, aeons ago. I had such wonderful plans for projects we would do together, the clothes I would create, the cushions and curtains I would make etc etc. But it wasn't to be. We took an instant dislike to each other and it's been War ever since!
I know there are a lot of wonderful sewers out there who never have problems, but 'tension' is what causes me the most aggravation - it's either too tight or too loose....I can never get it right. I usually give up after wasting half a reel of thread, and resort to hand-stitching, which takes soooo much longer but gets the job done.
Anyway, I promised my elder daughter that I would use her spare material to make some cushions for her new flat. So out came Troy and.........the same old story. He flatly refused to sew a decent stitch, I twiddled the tension knob back and forth, cursed the stupid machine and...........eventually........ produced these.

Nothing special to you gifted sewers out there. Just two cushions: black one side, cream the other.
But to me it was a small Victory!

I need to remember that 'It’s not who you are that holds you back, It’s who you think you are not.'

Bird Houses and Storage

2010-05-09T19:57:00.001+01:00

Today I've been tackling a Hunkydory kit and making lots of cards. And bird houses, of the paper kind!
The bird houses come as die-cut white card which you can then decorate with the papers provided, or any way you choose. I chose to use messy inks and my hands are stained to prove it! With hindsight I probably should have used glimmer mists or something more sparkly and eye-catching. Anyway, here they are, one with a resident bird already.

I used Tim Holtz Distress ink pads and Graphicus stamps.

I think I'll use them in my computer ~~room~~ cupboard for storage (the roof comes off each one). I can always make use of extra storage.

And here's the cards I made from the same kit.

Now though, I need to find storage for these until I send them to people. Oh well, it kept me amused for most of the day!

WOYWW

2010-05-05T07:18:00.000+01:00

This was my craft table on Monday when I finally got crafting again after what seemed a very long break but was in fact only three weeks. It's looking pretty tidy as I only made one layout and then packed everything away again.

I don't have many pens that write on photos or are safe for scrapbook pages. I have a black Zig pen and this set of Vellum markers. The thing is, I don't like the colours of these very much. They're too bright and garish. The brown marker is the only one that I take out of the packet on a regular basis. Can anyone recommend anything they use and wouldn't like to be without?

If you're wondering what WOYWW is all about, hop over to Duchess Julia's blog and join in the fun. She has a huge following of nosey people who'd just love to poke around your craft desk.

King For A Day

2010-05-03T16:22:00.000+01:00

At last I've been crafting again! And here are some details from the light-hearted page I made this afternoon, showing my dear Hubby after he had finished the Brighton Marathon last month. I used a sketch from The Scrappiest for my inspiration.

You can see the 3D elements of the flags and the crown, and the brown circle tag beneath the main photo. This pulls out to reveal a second photo, shown below.

The title 'King For A Day' is a bit of fun because Hubby's surname is King, and it seemed appropriate for the layout.

Firstly, I cut out the background shape from plain blue card and then used a Versamark pad to create a watermark effect with the Hero Arts clocks stamp. I also stamped onto white card the crown, the Papermania alphabet title and the clocks once again. Then I distressed everything with Tim Holtz distress inks. The journaling card is from My Mind's Eye and the orange card that I used for the flags is from my box of scraps.

At the end of the event, the King decreed that he will enter both the London Marathon and the Brighton one next year. They will be just one week apart in 2011.

Personally, I think the King is mad!

Thank you, Ladies

2010-05-02T19:21:00.001+01:00

Lancing March 14th 2010

So much for my date with crafting today after a three-week wait! I've not been feeling well. I must have picked up a bug at work yesterday, but at least I've eaten something now and I hope it stays down.
Not being up to crafting I've been blog-hopping. Something I don't get to do often enough, and the afternoon has passed very quickly. The sheer variety of craft and the talent displayed by everyone I've visited amazes me! Where were all these people before they went online? I would never have 'met' them had I not joined Blogger myself. All those people quietly enjoying their craft, but in their own way, changing what I do too. Thank you, Ladies.
Anyway, here's a few blogs for you to look up if you've a mind to ....

Create It Green encourages crafty recycling using various items. I particularly like the flowers used to decorate a paper bag.

Neat-N-Crafty shows a fun way to use a die-cut sheet. Wish I'd thought of that!

GezzyB's Crafty Bits where you will find instructions to make the 'most outrageous cupcake' of them all!
and if you click on the Blog Candy photo in my sidebar, you could win at Crafty Goings On......

.. and hopefully, I will have something of my own to post soon.

WOYWW

2010-04-21T19:39:00.001+01:00

Sorry I'm late! Been at work all day and have only just been able to sit down and write my WOYWW post. This was my desk on Sunday (Brighton Marathon Day. Hubby did finish it by the way) with very little stash as I was in a rush to make a card. The sun was shining through the windows and it was a beautiful day.

The only 'new' thing for you to see is the pen pot, which is quite old really, as I made it when I started crafting 5 years or so ago. Baked bean tins really can be useful you know. I have three of the used tins, all decorated with scrap paper and they are very handy to hold small stuff tidily.

I have to apologise, not only for being late, but also for my lack of posts recently. This weekend I will be away and the following weekend I have to work, so I really will be getting crafting withdrawal symptoms (CWS) by then! Have I just invented another acronym? Or a backronym for the Co-Op? Who knows? Who even cares?

If you want to nosey around everyone else's desks, hop over to Miss Acronym Accumulator's Website and join in the weekly fun. She's planning some prizes for the One Year Anniversary of WOYWW!

Quick Post Today

2010-04-18T09:56:00.001+01:00

Just a quick post today as it's the first Brighton Marathon and as Hubby is mad enough to take part, I need to make my way to the centre of town. Not an easy thing to do with most of the roads closed and the buses changing routes for the day! He left this morning at 6.15am and managed to hitch two lifts to get to where he needed to be for the start line.

Anyway, Jenni and Tom are moving into a new flat very soon. They will be living in Shoreham-By-Sea in West Sussex, a small town with the South Downs to the north, the Adur Valley to the west, and the River Adur and Shoreham Beach on the English Channel to the south. Their flat has a balcony looking out over the River Adur and the houseboats moored there. It's a beautiful spot and they are very lucky to get the flat.

I made this card quickly this morning to give them today as we are meeting up in Brighton at lunchtime to watch the runners and take some photos.

I used a Hero Arts stamp and Tim Holtz ink in Cranberry, dragging the colour around each clock face with a water brush. Inside I included a quotation that I think is very true about what makes a house into a home.

Gotta go now as I have to put away my crafting stuff and find a bus that's actually running into town!

Behind The Scenes WOYWW

2010-04-07T07:07:00.003+01:00

straight out of the cupboard
(mug stain included)

with the first few tools added

plus more essential items

the end of a craft session.

Just for a change, I thought I'd show 'behind the scenes' of a craft session on my worktable. When finished, I simply reverse the photo order to put it all away. But it's always much quicker getting stash out than putting it back!

This weekly gathering of Nosy People is hosted by Dame Julia so hop over to her place to join in. I'm going there now to poke around everyone's workdesks.

Heritage Layout

2010-04-05T16:54:00.000+01:00

Luckily, I've had lots of crafting time this Easter, and this is the final layout I have time for before starting back to work tomorrow.

I started with a sketch from Pencil Lines and used up yet more 'old' patterned paper from my stash. I cannot remember who the manufacturer is, but at a guess it's K&Co. The circle border was done with a Martha Stewart border punch, and if you cannot recognise the pattern it's the double-loop, but with the second set of loops hidden under the square of paper.

The photos are of my father and his younger brother, and they were taken at a photographic studio in Bedford, probably about 1925. The photos are held in place with clear photo corners so that they can be removed in the future.

I've also caught up with reading everyone's blog posts and enjoyed the break from routine. I hope you've had an enjoyable Easter too.

Scrap Weekly in 2010: Yellow

2010-04-05T10:12:00.000+01:00

This week's Challenge on Scrap Weekly in 2010 is to use yellow on your layout. Yellow is my least favourite colour and I cannot remember ever using it on any of my pages. So this week's challenge was harder for me than usual.

I dug out a really old K&Co daisy paper from my scrap box and teamed it with a newer brown one and an orange dot from manufacturer unknown. As I was planning my layout, I heard on TV a quotation that I thought I could use sometime, so I scribbled it down on scrap paper. Then I realised it might work for the page I was making. I debated writing out the quote neatly or printing it on my computer, but in the end I decided to use it as it was, as it seemed to fit the doodled theme.

I also used a Martha Stewart butterfly punch and yellow ribbon from American Crafts.

The page will be going to Jenni and Tom along with a 12x12 wall holder so that Jenni can display it in their new flat when they move in. As she is also a Scrapper, she will be able to change the layout on show whenever she wants.

After doing this challenge I realise that yellow is still my least favourite colour!

Happiness

2010-04-04T15:58:00.000+01:00

I've made this page using a sketch on Pencil Lines as my starting point. As you know I usually make layouts with two or more photos but this sketch called for just one. I found a shot of Karen aged 6, taken in our back garden. She has always loved dressing up and even today she has her own inimitable sense of style.

For this page I brought out my somewhat neglected Cuttlebug. I used a flower die to create tone-on-tone white cardstock, leaving just one flower falling over the edge of the cut shape. Then I used a Sizzix Alphabet for the title and embossed the letters with a dot embossing folder. I also used the stamp dye and love embossing folder that came with the machine and tucked this square behind the photo for added layers. The papers are K&Co, the journalling spots are My Mind's Eye, and the ribbon is from American Crafts.

I think this tone-on-tone technique gives an added dimension to any layout but it is very time-consuming to do. Luckily, today, I had 4 hours to myself. Plenty of time to play!

Simple Pleasures

2010-04-04T08:12:00.001+01:00

I adore ribbons. Anyone who has followed my posts for a while will know that I rarely actually use ribbon on projects. I like to keep it and admire it...... I'm happy just knowing it's there. I'm sure you know what I mean. Perhaps you're the same with patterned papers or your collection of stamps.

But lately I have found myself adding ribbon to layouts as if there's no tomorrow! Must be something in the air. So I have had to add to my stash - just replacing that which I've used of course - and the photo above shows some of my new American Crafts supplies. I ordered these from Paper And String and they are gorgeous. American Crafts ribbon is not cheap but it's the best quality I have found and there are lots of designs to choose from. If only I could have them all.

Yesterday I found myself using the ribbon with colourful trees printed on it for this layout.

My daughter, Jenni, and her boyfriend, went for a walk along the seafront when they stayed with us this week and it was really, really windy! Tom took a couple of self-portraits hoping for a good shot. I don't think they turned out too badly and they certainly show they were facing the elements! I chose a sketch from The Scrappiest as my starting point and used scraps of paper from my scrapbox, mainly My Mind's Eye and Basic Grey. The rest was completed with a small piece of cork, some doodling and, of course, the tree ribbon.

Not only do I love ribbon, I also love quotations and I included this one on the page as it fitted the story I wanted to tell.

'It isn't the big pleasures that count:

it's making a great deal out of the little ones.'

Jean Webster.

Origami Flower Tutorial

2010-04-03T16:00:00.000+01:00

I'm having problems uploading to Blogger so my apologies for the quality of my photos today.

Here's what I have been playing with this afternoon. It's the start of a layout and you might have noticed the paper circles cut from My Mind's Eye papers. There are eight of them and I'll show you how I turned them into an origami flower. I cannot claim this to be my technique. I found it a long time ago and have never attempted it before, but I'm happy with the result, so here goes....

For each circle you need to fold it in half and then again so that it is quartered. The pattern you want to see the most of when completed should be on the outside. (My paper though is only patterned one side).

Fold back two edges as shown, from one fold line to another.

Fold the circle inwards so that the folds you have just made are inside.

Now fold up the bottom edge to the top. Turn the paper over and do the same for the other side to form this shape.

Open out to form this petal shape. Keep doing this to all eight circles.

Finally, the eight petal shapes can be adhered to a scrap piece of card or directly onto your project in the shape of a flower, as below.

Now you can make a centre for the flower from paper, a button, or small punched flower and it is completed.

Here then is my finished layout using the origami flower and some American Crafts ribbon. I wrote the words on my computer and printed directly onto the paper....

So, why not give it a go? I hope I've explained it so that it looks as easy as it really is. If I can do it, anyone can!

Lesson One

2010-04-01T11:35:00.001+01:00

Clivia

I love photography. I admire other people's work and believe that every picture tells a story. Sometimes though, the story can be enhanced, or even changed. Photos can these days be made to lie!

Inspired by everyone's photos of spring flowers, and needing to get to grips with Photoshop sometime in this life of mine, I've been playing with a couple of shots of my indoor plants that are blooming beautifully at this time of year.

Clivia Photoshopped

This is relatively simple to do - changing colour saturation, contrast etc. Along with changing the size of the image ready for printing, it's very basic stuff, that even I can manage.

And I'm very chuffed with what the software can do.........

from this..

......to this!

I know... I'm easily impressed, and you've all seen it before, but I'm a very happy bunny (Easter pun intended) discovering what my humble photos can look like with some help from Photoshop. Now all I have to do is get to grips with 'Rasters' and I'll be well-away.

But Lesson Two will have to wait while I go and look after my visitors, staying over for a couple of days. Have a very happy and peaceful Easter everyone.

WOYWW

2010-03-31T07:40:00.001+01:00

It's Wednesday again and time for 'What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday' with Julia's Cenacle. You can hop over, leave a link to your desk photo and also see who's taking part this week.

Here's my desk (looking away from the window) and for me it's relatively tidy. Honestly, I've not tidied up before the photo, except to remove the TV remote! On show are the leftover items from making a 12x12 about living in Brighton and Hove.

Another shot, this time looking towards the window. These are all Essential Tools that I use when crafting, and the first to come out of my cupboard, after the fold-up table of course.

You can just see at the far end of the table, on the floor to the right, my high-tech method of taking photos. The aforementioned 12x12 layout has been left there after my photo-taking. It's a very expensive technique and quite exclusive. I will only tell you if you promise not to patent my design. Promise?

Well, it's a large piece of white cardboard upon which I place the 12x12 to be photographed, then stand over it with my camera as square-on as I can manage. The light from the window is usually bright enough to get a good shot. I find that using the flash causes too much reflection from the photos.

Now I've told you my Big Secret, I'm off to nose around everyone else's desks, and snaffle their ideas!

Living Here

2010-03-28T16:56:00.003+01:00

Today I made a layout with some of yesterday's photos. My visit to Hove Seafront made me think about living where I do, and my journaling reflects my thoughts about this city. We've lived here 16 years now and my daughters do not remember very much about Aylesbury where they were born.
Aylesbury was very flat, with little to do unless you drove somewhere else, like the Cotswolds.
In contrast, Brighton and Hove City has something happening all year round, has a Metropolitan atmosphere..... and of course... it's by the sea (or rather the English Channel!) and the chalk cliffs of the South Downs.

I kept the colours on my page to white, blue and green and managed to use up scraps from my scrapbox. A Martha Stewart border punch and Papermania alphabet stamps were also used to make this simple layout.

I will link my layout to the Scrapbook Challenges Blog, the first time I've entered one of their Challenges. They have lots of sketches and challenges every month, all entries are due before the month end, and you can enter as many as you like. Go on over, take a look around.

City By The Sea

2010-03-27T21:29:00.000Z

So, I have a new camera. What should I do today? Of course! Take some photos and try it out. Hove Seafront, here I come....

As you can see, the colourful beach huts are very close to the city of Brighton And Hove

In fact, they look rather out of place in the photos, as they are

obviously overlooked by blocks of flats.

Pretty colours though don't you think? Even if they are a bit weather-beaten.

So, how far away is the sea then?

The next shot should help put things in perspective........

No wonder Brighton is known as The City By The Sea!

(I'm quite pleased with the shots from my new camera

on this dreary March day)

WOYWW

2010-03-24T07:05:00.001Z

Thought I would start with the sofa this week for a change! There's just enough room for me to sit alongside this mess. There's lots of 12x12 cardstock and paper, Thickers, ribbon box and the open container holds all my brads.

And so to my craft table. Not too bad this week. However, the photo has reminded me that I ought to be doing a bit of 'maintenance' i.e. cleaning stamps and acryllic blocks, sharpening pencils etc. But that's the boring stuff! Far easier to ignore it and carry on crafting. And the Ribbon Ball from last week? It's been stuffed back into the box, still in a muddle!

You can see I've been using my magnetic circle cutter. It works very well - after a bit of practice - even when you're left-handed. And there's a Martha Stewart punch in sight too. Love them, along with every papercrafter ever born, probably!

If you would like to take part in this week's madness hop over to Julia's Stamping Ground (blog name indicates she has temper tantrums!) and leave a link to your workdesk photo. We'll all come round and take a peek.

Playing With Paper

2010-03-21T16:41:00.000Z

I've been playing with paper this morning and enjoying myself. I've made a layout for Your Scrapbook Stash using their Friday Sketch and a mixture of My Mind's Eye and Hot Off The Press papers.

I've stamped letters onto paper and cut them out
I've cut rounds of paper, distressed and inked them, stacked them up
I've stamped journaling blocks and cut those out too

I've torn a paper border and punched another
Finally I've cut a circle of paper using my magnetic circle cutter from We Are Memory Keepers (I had to use it sometime!). Great fun and a light-hearted page featuring my daughter and her boyfriend.

WOYWW

2010-03-17T07:20:00.000Z

It's Wednesday, so it must be WOYWW. I missed last week's because I was busy at work and my weekend was busy too, meaning I've not had any crafting time for almost two weeks! So I made up for it on Monday and this is my desk on that day. There's the usual clutter including ink pads and scissors but there's a stapler there too. I was using it on my scrapbook layout. I always worry about using staples. Aren't we supposed to use acid-free and lignin-free blah blah? How safe are staples? I have no idea and that's what worries me. My layout could be ruined in a few months' time by rust!

Anyway, on the sofa next to my space you can see my Purple Cow paper cutter, more scissors and a box of chipboard shapes. I spent ages sticking chipboard letters to patterned paper, cutting them out, sanding and inking the edges, only to decide they didn't look right on the page and shoved them back in the box!

You may also have spotted the colourful mess on the sofa. It's my beautiful ribbons.

I am really ashamed of this. Somewhere under there is a plastic box that usually keeps the ribbons ~~tidy~~ together. But I was trying to find lengths of cord for my project and had to pull everything out to unravel them from the rest! There's a message there somewhere ...... but I'm studiously ignoring it.

If you'd like to join in the WOYWW fun, hop over to Madame Julia's Chateau (she's not really French as far as I know) to meet everyone taking part and leave a link to your workdesk photo.

My Place And Yours: Pink

2010-03-16T20:17:00.000Z

My Place And yours has a new host, Danielle, and this week's theme is 'PINK. What part does pink play in your life?'
Actually, to be honest, it doesn't! Not much anyway. I think that girls either like pink or they don't - and I don't. There's very little to see around my house that is pink. My favourite colour is blue and that seems to be everywhere indoors..... not surprising really.
There is one thing in the house that's pink this week and that's my Mothers' Day present from my daughters.

These beautiful flowers. And if there's one thing I really do like in that colour (I can't keep repeating the word pink any more in this post!) it's flowers.

The tulips make me think that winter really is over and spring is just around the corner. They are very, very much appreciated. Thank you girls.

Sorry, but there's only one way to make more pink in my life, and that's to take multiple photos!
If you would like to see what 'My Place And Yours' is all about or to join in, flutter over to Hello Owl

Beach Huts

2010-03-15T17:30:00.001Z

Yesterday was a lovely sunny day, if a bit breezy, as we drove to Worthing to meet with Jenni and Tom. On the way we stopped to take photos of the beach huts at Lancing. Never having stopped there before I didn't know what to expect and was a little saddened by the atmosphere of neglect we found. Obviously the beach huts were boarded up to prevent winter storm damage but most of them looked tired and unloved. There were a few whose felt rooves were torn, and with rotten wood and rusty hinges, they looked as if summer couldn't come soon enough so that their owners would reappear and put right the damage. Perhaps even give them a new coat of paint.
There's a notice at the edge of the beach welcoming people to 'Lancing Bathing Beach', a grand title for a very forlorn, out-of-fashion area, overlooked by tourists on their way to the more popular shoreline at Worthing.

But having taken the photos I wanted to create a scrapbook layout with them and here's the result. The white-painted beach huts look a bit plain so I used K&Co papers with shells and fish in greens and blues to add colour to the page. I attached a folded paper border and cord with staples for an unsophisticated look, and there's a journaling card tucked beneath the top photo. The inspiration for the layout came from a sketch at The Scrappiest
I must say I enjoy taking photos of beach huts. They bring to my mind images of a typical British summer and always cheer me up, even when the wind is blowing straight off the Channel at 30mph!!

A Bit Of Bling!

2010-03-06T21:09:00.000Z

Not the usual Bling you think of when you're a papercrafter! Rather, a small flight of fancy in an otherwise decoratively boring house.
Today I went shopping and bought ............ a shade for our bedroom light. Not very exciting you think but for me it is. I'll explain.
Hubby would paint every wall in the house Magnolia if I let him, and apart from the flowers he loves in the kitchen, everything indoors has to be uncluttered, wipe-clean, and preferably, cleanable with disinfectant or bleach. Ours is not a house with nik-naks and framed photographs gathering dust. Ours is a house with very little decorative detail at all.
The exception to this rule is our bedroom and it's my favourite room. I persuaded Hubby last year that a new bed was long-overdue and I threw out the divan and bought a white metal bedstead which I love. It's taken me eight months to get around to buying the 'bit of bling' that the room needed and Hubby adamantly resisted!

It's nothing expensive. Nor is it even worth a mention by anyone else. But I'm very happy today to have 'persuaded' the-old-pot-and-pan that the room needed something other than a boring cloth lightshade.
It's a victory if you like. It's a statement by me that I live here too and I like to see pretty things around me. My vision is not complete however. Now I have to get him to let me paint the bedroom duck egg blue. I love that colour!

And then there's the Dorma Hermione bedlinen that I'll need to fit in with the new decor, of course. But I won't be holding my breath for any of this. From experience I know it's going to take quite some time to achieve!

WOYWW

2010-03-03T07:20:00.000Z

I really don't know what's happened this week. I seem to have taken almost everything out of the cupboards to craft with in the Lounge. The resulting mess is shameful, even for me!
But I know a few people who will relish nosing around. People who cannot wait to see the destruction on my workdesk. They include Empress Julia who masterminds this weekly display. Hop over to her place to join in and be nosey too.

Here then is this week's photo. My desk has so much stuff on it I cannot find anything I'm looking for! I can at least see my box of punches and the new ones from Martha Stewart. And you can see from the photo that the mess overflows onto the floor. Just to show you how untidy I've been, here's a bird's eye shot of the stash on the floor.....

.... and the sofa too is covered with more boxes.
Sadly, there's not a lot to show for all this mess. Maybe that's why there's more stuff in the Lounge than usual, I can't decide exactly what to do! Indecision reigns today.
Well, now that I've finished crafting it serves me right to be so untidy. I will have to pack up early as it will take at least half an hour to put it all back in the cupboards again!
As neatly as possible, of course.

The Scrappiest Sketch Challenge

2010-02-28T15:39:00.000Z

Late as usual, I've just finished a layout using the sketch from The Scrappiest challenge blog.

Karen sent me some photos this week of her at work in the HD Studio at University, so I've based this page around a couple of them. I've used Prima flowers, scraps of card, and punches to make embellishments. Also, I got out a variety of stamps I haven't used for ages and stamped on vellum tags and the offcuts of card. I think it's a good exercise to revisit old stash, otherwise I forget what I have... and dare I say it in present company...... it's a waste of money not to use what I already have rather than buy more. There! I said it!

Finally, I doodled around the edges of the page. Funny how I'm starting to add doodling to many craft projects these days. It's another layout out of my comfort zone, but I enjoyed the challenge.
Speaking of using old stash in new ways (as I'm sure you've not forgotten I was just doing) I've spotted a new class on Shimelle's Blog that might be worth a look as it aims to help everyone do just that!

Common Ground

2010-02-28T11:21:00.000Z

If you live in a household with only one male, you'll know where I'm coming from when I say, Hubby's feeling lonely. He's never had a son to play football with, although the girls would kick a ball around with him when they were younger. He's never had to watch football practice in the pouring rain or had a kindred male to watch sports on TV with. Not that he has ever complained. He loves his daughters to bits!

But since the girls have left home he has no-one to meet from school, ferry around in the car, wind-up constantly or tease about their outfits. The girls never were much into football or rugby, neither were they particularly keen to sit and watch gymnastics or the Winter Olympics, but they obliged to keep Hubby happy.

Now he has only me to tell how well or badly his favourite team, The Arsenal, are doing. I'm the one who hears who's injured and out of the match, how near to relegation Brighton are this season, and his commentaries on the Six Nations Rugby, most of it going in one ear and out the other!

I do feel sorry for him and try to appear interested and knowledgeable, but I draw the line at standing for the teams' National Anthems when I'm crafting in the Lounge!

So, when I came across an old photo this week I knew just what I wanted to say on the layout.

The photo is of Hubby and our eldest daughter, taken in 1993 when he was dressed to take part in the London Marathon. Jenni is looking a bit scared and unsure of him as he's wearing a brightly-coloured clown suit and white make-up.

I used My Mind's Eye and K&Co papers, MarthaStewart punches and Prima flowers to make the layout. The journaling tells why Hubby's wearing the costume and how Jenni (in 1993) doesn't know yet that she too will take up running and join a running club.

They do have common ground after all.

Mother's Day Card

2010-02-24T15:59:00.000Z

I've been getting ahead again and have made Mum's Mother's Day card. She has Alzheimer's and has severe memory problems, but at the moment still lives in her own house with Dad as her carer. She likes anything flowery or glittery, but five minutes after receiving a card she cannot remember who gave it to her or why.

I've used a picture I saw in a magazine as inspiration for this simple card, using My Mind's Eye papers and some ribbon. The Martha Stewart punch came in handy again for the decorative bottom edge and I've added some sparkle with a glue pen and pink glitter.

I know Mum will like it - for the short time she remembers these things!

And.... if you'd like to win awesome crafty stash, Stephanie has a HUGE blog candy giveaway at Pink Star Creations that closes on February 28th. So, go have a look, you could win all this gorgeousness!

WOYWW

2010-02-24T07:30:00.001Z

Same old workdesk I'm afraid, this week with an almost-completed page for my 12x6 album. My new Martha Stewart punches (Julia's gonna be soooo disappointed in me!) are on the sofa, out of shot.
I may have failed on one out of my ten craft pledges for 2010 but I still have nine as yet unbroken. Yes, I know, I haven't even started learning Photoshop yet! The manual's been in my computer ~~cupboard~~ room for a while now, languishing untouched in front of me every time I sit here. I'm feeling very guilty about it and I can hear Julia's voice nagging me too. Not that I've ever heard Julia's voice.
There's plenty of time to learn yet Julia ...... I hope.
On the table are some pages torn from a magazine and the card resulting from them I will post tomorrow.
So, who managed to resist yesterday's Tim Holtz special on QVC then? I know you were all watching ;)
If you'd like to nose at everyone else's workdesks this Wednesday, hop over to Princess Julia's and join in the fun if you want to.

Fate Took My Hand

2010-02-23T08:24:00.006Z

I've just completed another challenge on 52in10

This week's challenge is about your role model, a person who has influenced your life, or who you would aspire to be.

I've never had a mentor or anyone I greatly admire enough to aspire to be like them. Oh, Martin Luther King maybe, but I'm not a political activist, and no-one of his ilk has entered my little sphere of the World for me to copy. But thinking about this prompt reminded me of how I came to choose the career I did, and the influence of Fate in that decision. So there was the makings of a layout!

I have made a scrapbook page about training as a Radiographer before and blogged about it here so I took the words from that post and turned them into the hidden journaling on my Challenge layout. I printed off an old newspaper article about the expanding careers of women in society and decoupaged the centre image. I aged the papers with distress ink and ceated a border with ribbons and a heart punch at the bottom of the page. I then cut a slit in the page to form a pocket for my journaling tag.

The photo of me dates back to 1993 when I was working at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, just before I moved to Brighton.

The hidden journaling reads:

So, how did I choose Radiography as a career? I think Fate played a part in it.

When I was twelve I was knocked down crossing a busy road and my ankle was broken. I was taken to hospital and an enduring memory I had thereafter was of the Radiographer (not that I knew what her title was then) taking x-rays of me to show the fracture. It was only when I had to make a career choice and I definitely did not want to go to University like most of my classmates, that I discovered Radiography. I read all about it and applied to two Schools of Radiography to train. I was accepted by Oxford and started training in 1977. When I did my practical training at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, who should be there but the very Radiographer who x-rayed me after my accident!

Her name was Julie, but I never told her the influence she unwittingly had on my life.

A Confession and White Space

2010-02-22T17:51:00.000Z

Firstly, I have a confession to make. I've failed on my pledge not to buy more Stash this year. I couldn't resist the Martha Stewart punches on QVC the other week and bought one set. So, that out of the way, here's my layout for this week's challenge on Scrap Weekly in 2010 The challenge is to use lots of 'white space' on a page. The photo's not that brilliant due to the poor light in the house. It has been raining non-stop all day here in Sussex and a few local areas have flooding.

I've said before that I'm not a fan of 'white space'. I tend to use more than one photo and lots of papers or embellishments to fill a 12x12 layout. However, I'm fairly happy with this attempt.

White space doesn't have to be white but I've taken the challenge quite literally and used white cardstock for the background. I used My Mind's Eye 'Pretty Please' papers, my new punches and Papermania alphabet stamps, with some doodling and journaling in black ink.

These photos of Summer 1999 make me long for warmer weather and an end to the rain and snow!

Advance Warning

2010-02-19T21:43:00.000Z

Technology and I have a very uneasy relationship. As in, I don't like things electronic/digital and they don't like me!
It could be a computer, mobile phone, heating timer or SLR camera, it doesn't matter, they know just how to wind me up. I approach them all with caution. Despite working with £1,000,000 MRI scanners every working day (I kid you not, they do cost that much) I have a thorough dislike of everything computerised. Computers cannot be trusted.
They have minds of their own, and when they think it's time to wind Ann up again, they do just that! They don't care that I am known to be a patient person or that I taught myself how to use their programmes. Nor do they care that I never saw a computer until I was over twenty and learned their DOS language just to communicate on their level. Oh no, Let's Just Have Some Fun At Ann's Expense is a regular sport!
So, in advance of Monday, when I change telephone and broadband supplier, and will have to personally set up wireless broadband in the house, having never done said task before, and knowing it will all go terribly awry as anything involving me and computers has a habit of doing, I hereby announce:
1. I will be in a 'do-not-talk-to-me-I'm-too-stressed-out' mood all day and will growl if approached
2. it may be quite some time before I am blogging again
3. I might turn my computer off and on one time too many and need emergency repairs
4. the repairs might be for the computer...... might be for me!

A Revealing WOYWW

2010-02-17T07:15:00.037Z

Here's my workdesk for 'Teacake Tart' alias Julia at Stamping Ground who hosts this weekly madness. Hop over to meet others in this group, be nosey and join in if you like.
The desk is not too untidy this week but there's more mess on the sofa as usual. You've caught me in the middle of catching up with pages for my 52in10 album. There's no new items on the table, but you can see my hole punch, Tim Holtz distress ink and tool, book rings from my disassembled album and the green glue machine. And I made sure I removed the evidence of eating-whilst-crafting!
You've seen the sofa before so now I had better give you a glimpse of my er-hem drawers, as promised last week. They are in our bedroom, well-hidden behind the door because they don't match with anything in the house and were a cheap find at a flea market. In fact, Hubby found them and brought them home, probably because he was desperate for something to keep all my inkpads from falling down inside the cupboards!
This should make sense later.

Voila! My drawers! Each is stuffed with lovely inkpads, except for the bottom one which holds my embossing powders. I should probably paint the wood and freshen it up a bit, but I haven't got around to that yet.

On the top there are three boxes you've seen before on my craft table. Two hold my punches and the third contains my Tim Holtz distress inkpads. I know, I know, there's no method to how I store things.
On the left is a glimpse of my wardrobe....... and within.....

.....lies some of my craft Stash. This photo was taken mid-crafting session so there's lots of things missing and on my craft table or the aforementioned sofa! Things like boxes of paper, ribbons, embellishments and the bag holding all my essentials like scissors, rulers, glue etc.
But wait! I said, 'some of my craft Stash' so where's the rest of it?

........Here, in Hubby's wardrobe of course!
There's stuff missing from here too and bear in mind that these are double-sized wardrobes! When I fold up my table at the end of each crafting session, this is where it goes. It fits in very nicely at the front.
Perhaps now you can see why I cannot buy any more stash. There's nowhere to put it!
It would be nice to be able to leave a project half-way through and go back to it or to leave something out overnight and see it with fresh eyes the next day, but as I've explained before, Hubby has OCD and his excessive tidiness prevents me doing that.
Now then, which box are those metallic paints in?

Catching Up

2010-02-14T16:21:00.000Z

I'm playing catch up with pages for my 52 in 10 album. I've been so busy at work this past week that I've not had any crafting time. Today I set up the table, pulled out loads of stash from my cupboards and set to work. Happy times ensued for a couple of hours.

This first page is last week's prompt about what traits you've inherited from your family.

Do you look like a family member for example.

Well, I definitely look like my mother. I see her image in the mirror whenever I look. Be that good or bad, it's the way things are. But character-wise I'm more like my father. He is patience personified. I can rarely remember him getting angry when I was a child. He also loves photography and I take after him with that. Finally, he is artistic and creative (as previous posts have shown) and my sister has inherited that from him, but I believe that is where I also get my love of crafting from.

For this page I used the packaging showing bits of each paper in the My Mind's Eye pack and cut it into strips. Then I cut a pelmet-style strip for the top of the page from one of the papers and hand-wrote the journaling. The layout template was provided by Karen at '52 in 10' for this week's prompt but I used it on last week's page instead.

Onto this week's prompt. Week 7 (can you believe 6 weeks of 2010 have gone by already?) is about Family Traditions. I didn't want to make a Christmas tradition page in February so I thought about any others we might have. There are very few I could think of, but today being Valentine's Day, there is one that ought to be written about I guess.

Hubby and I have our own unspoken Valentine Tradition.

He always buys me roses and perhaps some chocolates or perfume. I always make him a handmade Valentine card and buy him a present that is what he needs but doesn't want to buy for himself. It could be anything at all - within budget of course! - and is always a surprise. This year was no exception!

Now, green and pink would not be a colour combination I would readily choose, but the green pattern appears on the next page in my album. Don't they say 'Need is the Mother of Invention' or something like that?
So a photo of this year's handmade Valentine card appears on the layout, along with more hearts and some pink ribbon!
And this year's gift to Hubby is named on the back of the heart tucked under the photo.........but I'll keep that a secret between him and me for now.

Kitchen Love

2010-02-13T19:56:00.000Z

This week's fun theme for My Place And Yours is 'Kitchen Love'. Our host, Vic, says, 'Whatever it is you love most in or about your kitchen, we want to see it!'

There's not much colour or clutter in our house and that's why I really like our kitchen. There's nothing quirky or unusual about it, there are no nic-nacs on display or bespoke kitchen units, but it still manages to be welcoming.

With my husband's obsession for cleanliness, where everything has to be put away in a cupboard immediately after use, nothing can be left out on any of the the worktops. Every surface has to be sprayed with disinfectant and wiped clean countless times each day. But the room's terracotta and off-white pallette was my choice and the kitchen manages to be sunny and bright, despite the lack of utensils on show.

Happily, my husband loves flowers and there's always a vase full of them in the kitchen to welcome visitors, and the huge picture of sunflowers was a bargain he found a few years ago which now hangs in the kitchen. It was a lucky find and is the ideal focal point, adding a cheeriness to the room.

If you would like to join in the fun, hop over to Punky And Me otherwise known as Vic's Place and add your link.

WOYWW

2010-02-03T12:22:00.000Z

Well, you asked for it,Your Majesty,Wondrous Queen of WOYWW!
Here's the whole sorry mess of the table and Sofa, as requested by Julia. It has been worse but this week I had only spent a couple of hours at the table.
Pity my poor husband with his OCD and this mess! He's like a cat on a hot tin roof until I've finished and cleared it away. Only then is he happy, but of course he has to hoover the Lounge before totally relaxing.
You can see the messed-up throw at the far end where I sit, and the rubbish bin in all it's glory. Never let it be said that I don't recycle, because that's a plastic carrier bag in there, which gets emptied after a craft session and eventually goes in the rubbish itself when it's sticky and gunky enough!
On the sofa there's a box under the guillotine that I don't think you've seen before. It holds my supply of alphabet and word stickers. Another new-to-you item is on the table itself with the ruler resting on top. It's a box of brads, another of my loves, along with buttons and ribbon! The box is full of brads in every colour and size, from every manufacturer known to man (and woman). Under the 2010 album is my box of American Crafts white cardstock - yes, that Bargain Buy is still here, and I have half a box to use up! I'm always open to ideas.
If you'd like to join in WOYWW madness, hop over to see Queen Julia and leave a link to your craft-table photo. We'll all be round to take a look.

52 in 10; Prompt 5

2010-02-02T19:49:00.000Z

This week's prompt for 52 in 10 is Family. I'm half-regretting (if there's such a word!) my choice of 12x6 format for my album as the size of page doesn't give me enough room to explore each Prompt in detail. To get around that choice today I used two pages, making a 12x12 layout, but split into two halves to fit in the album.

I used Bo Bunny and My Mind's Eye papers along with green Provo Craft word stickers (which don't show up very well on the photo). There are journaling tags under the girls' photos describing each of their characters. As I've said before, they are so different in appearance and character too. Jenni is chatty, bubbly and The Scrapbooker. Karen is quirky, creative and The Photographer.
I sometimes wonder how people choose their childrens' names. How did you choose yours? I was going to be Andrew but that was hastily changed to Ann when the expected boy turned out to be me!
I chose Jennifer's first name because I have always liked it and Hubby was tasked with choosing her middle name. It seems that the oldest girl in his family is always called Ruth (I think I was taken for a ride with that tale!) so Ruth she is. But, for our second child, roles were reversed and Hubby got to choose the first name. Never give a man an important job, I say! I had Elizabeth ready weeks beforehand for the middle name- we knew she was a girl - but she remained nameless for three days, poor thing, because Hubby couldn't decide!!
Eventually she was named after Karen Carpenter because he liked her singing voice. That's the honest truth.
(I've just Googled Karen Carpenter and discovered her middle name was Anne - now there's a coincidence!)
Perhaps I should have devoted the 'Family' page to how our family got their names?!

Scrap Weekly in 2010: Week 4

2010-01-30T16:47:00.001Z

This week's challenge from Ruth at Scrap Weekly in 2010 is to use tags on a layout, preferably in a different way to normal. I've thought about the 'different' part all week and only came up with one idea which was to turn 6 or 8 tags into a flower. However, I tried that today and didn't like how it turned out, so I admitted defeat and made a standard two-page layout - with vellum tags a part thereof.
I so liked my photos of a walk around The Lanes this week, especially the one with old sewing machines, that I wanted to make a layout featuring them. I changed the photos to black and white and knew I needed a two-page layout to include as many as possible. But I changed my mind - again - and printed the ones of choccywoccydoodah in colour, creating a layout in two halves: one black and white and plain, one red and white and bling!

The Lanes, Brighton

There is journaling on a tag under one of the photos which reads:

'Amongst the deserted cafes and months-long Sales of the deepest Recession since the 1930's, can be found a quirky, colourful, extravagant shop with stunning chocolate sculptures; Choccywoccydoodah.'

It took me a very long time to put this layout together today as I haven't done a two-page layout in ages and found it challenging. But enjoyable just the same!

WOYWW

2010-01-27T07:22:00.005Z

This is more like it! This is how untidy my desk should look, especially when I've been getting my fingers dirty! There's distress inks and applicators, stamps and a spritzer bottle and lovely Glimmer Mists. All evidence that I've been making my own backgrounds and enjoying the process.
I don't seem to make this much mess often enough. Getting all the necessary items out of the cupboards is daunting enough to put me off usually, but not this time. Of course the mess has spread even further than you can see - there's all the ink-covered newspaper in the bin and some backgrounds drying at the other end of the table. I find it very satisfying to create from scratch and to produce something I'm happy with, from what is, if the truth be known, a very hit-and-miss affair!
I'm off now to check out everyone's WOYWW posts. If you'd like to join us hop over to meet 'Her In Charge' at Julia's place and see who's taking part.

Do You Have A Favourite Shop?

2010-01-25T16:05:00.000Z

Do you have a favourite shop? One that's too exclusive and expensive for you to even set foot inside? A shop where you gaze through the window in awe at what's inside and dream that maybe one day you could afford to order something? I do.
In Brighton there are lots of little touristy shops, expensive boutiques and jewellers, spread across the Old Town in streets known as The Lanes. It's an area with an eclectic, even eccentric, range of shops. I went there today with my camera for 52 Walks in 2010 and, once again, found myself outside my favourite shop.
My favourite is a specialist shop which is world-renowned for what they do. What is it famous for? Do they design dresses? Jewellery? Leather goods?
No........What then?

The clue is in the name; Choccywoccydoodah.
They make chocolate sculptures, be they cakes or anything else and they made all the chocolate for the Tim Burton film 'Charlie And The Chocolate Factory'. The window display in this outwardly unassuming shop is 'to die for' whether you are a chocolate-lover or not!

Would you believe that the two dresses and the central rose creation are all cakes, covered in sculpted white chocolate? The attention to detail is fabulous. A few years ago a doctor retired at the hospital where I work and Choccywoccydoodah were commissioned to make a huge dark chocolate cake (which was the best I've ever tasted) and a life-size white chocolate skull. The skull was so life-like I could hardly believe it was edible!

Here's another of the cakes in the window today, completely fashioned out of chocolate. How do they do that?!!
I'm like a child with my nose pressed up against the glass. I just look and dream.

Getting Ahead

2010-01-25T08:11:00.002Z

I often try to get ahead with card-making. I've made Christmas cards in July, sometimes straight after Christmas! And I just hate to be caught out and have to make a card in a hurry for someone's birthday. I need time to come up with an idea that's personal to the recipient or in a style they will appreciate.

So what's next on my calendar for getting ahead? Valentine's Day of course!

Am I really going to be sending two Valentine's cards this year?? Does Hubby know about this? No and no.

One card is for me to give to Hubby and the other is for my eldest daughter to give to her boyfriend.

So which one's for Hubby? Would you believe the frilly one? I know no other man who likes flowers and frills as much as my dear husband. He often gives me a bunch of flowers and then proceeds to arrange them in a vase and centre them on the table - you see he's actually buying them for himself but pretends they're for me.

I stamped the card background myself with Tim Holtz distress inks (Faded Lipstick and Shabby Shutters)and a small heart stamp, then sprayed with two colours of Glimmer Mists to get a sparkly finish, which doesn't show very well on the photo. The large hearts are cut from My Mind's Eye paper and backed with cream card. The sentiment stamp is from Graphicus and I also used some American Crafts ribbon.

I just love the effects you can create with the new punches from Martha Stewart, but with my self-imposed ban on buying new stash, I had to dig out my Fiskars border punch instead to make the frilly border.

Maybe I should have made three Valentine cards as my younger daughter has a new boyfriend? Hmmm, maybe not. Something this pink and girlie would probably frighten him off!

Musical Memories

2010-01-24T19:35:00.000Z

This is my 12x6 page for Prompt 4 of 52 in 10 which is about the music that rocks your world! Again I have too small page format to go into great detail about all the musicians I listen to and the songs that bring back memories for me, but I've named quite a few artists on the page, and given a brief few words about how important music is to me. I've included a photo of me for the last three weeks so I avoided that this time. The music is printed onto acetate which is why there's a strange reflection in the bottom left corner. The back of last week's page and the stitching I did is on show but I promise it will be covered at some point with another week's offering.
I cannot play a note nor sing in tune but I love to listen to music. I remember snaffling my sister's records and record player when she was out and pretending with my friends that we were on the TV programme 'Hit or Miss'. We would listen to a song and give it the thumbs up or down sign. She had a lot of Beatles singles, and to this day, I cannot stand listening to them after playing them so much! Do you remember where you were when you heard that Elvis had died? You might be too young, but I was in Bedford shopping with my family when the radio presenter made the announcement. Elvis was my favourite singer back then.
These days I have an i-pod and listen to it as I travel to and from work. There are many artists on the playlist, dominated by Coldplay and Michael Buble at the moment. Quite a contrast in style, but I like many singers and bands, both old and new, male and female, and I regularly change what I listen to. The fun of digital music for me is that it's portable.
I've listened to 7" singles, LP's, tape players (with fiddly rolls of magnetic tape) and danced to cassette players, Video players and CD's. I'm listening to i-tunes now as I type this post. Music definitely brings back good memories for me.
I wonder how long we'll have i-pods (or the equivalent) before something new comes along?

My Place And Yours: What I'm Reading

2010-01-23T20:50:00.003Z

I could be Bookish and tell you I'm reading a classic novel - but Jane Austen is as classical as I get!

I could be Trendy and tell you I'm reading the latest Best-Seller - but I always wait until they're in paperback and borrow them from my local Library. And I never read a book just because everyone else has!

So, what am I reading? It's a book I found on the shelf at work where staff leave books so that others can borrow them. It's a bit grubby on the cover and has obviously been read more than once, which is often a good sign, I think, that a book will be interesting. It's entitled 'Who Gets Fluffy?' and was written by Judith Summers. It probably did make the best-seller list in 2008 when it was published but it passed me by then. It travelled home with me yesterday, and I've only just finished the first chapter... but it's looking good...

'A house without books is like

a room without windows'

Heinrich Mann

'My Place And Yours' is back, with a new Host and a new theme this week called 'What I'm Reading'. If you'd like to join in the fun, hop over to Vic's place at Punky and Me .

Unadopted

2010-01-21T21:25:00.000Z

Very sad that word; unadopted. It conjours up images of orphaned, crying children, but in this instance I'm talking about unadopted roads!
My walk this week for 52 Walks in 2010 was along the cliffs at Peacehaven, East Sussex in the early morning mist to take photos of the Meridian Monument. The Monument marks the end of the imaginary Greenwich Meridian Line on land and the start of it's long journey around the World. (I just happened to snap the ferry leaving Newhaven too).

Walking along the cliffs in the summer is not a problem as the ground is dry, but this week, after all the snow had melted, the ground was very wet, and as I discovered, extremely muddy! Much of the road along the cliff edge is unadopted, not looked after by the Council but by the Residents, and the potholes are enormous! Some must be 4 inches deep and it's a shame to see it that way.

The Monument is supposed to be a tourist attraction but this is the state of the road where it is sited. Peacehaven is infamous for being mentioned in a Food Guide as a place to pass straight through and not stop at. The town was also briefly seen on Eastenders as the place where Sharon's ashes were thrown out to sea. The Monument bears a couple of plaques about when it was erected, but the most interesting thing for me is the brass plaque upon it commemorating where the line passes through on it's journey around the globe. It lists all the countries it crosses and how far away.

The one good thing about the unadopted road is that it is very quiet and uncommercialised. The Monument and the pebble beaches at the base of the cliffs remain a well-hidden secret, enjoyed by the locals.....and me with my camera and muddy boots!

WOYWW

2010-01-20T09:38:00.000Z

This is starting to hurt already! My pledge to not spend any money on Stash in 2010, that is. My workdesk is definitely looking similar to last week, especially as there's no new stuff to play with! ...and I know that Julia Dunnitt will spot anything she's not seen here before and hound me about it!

So, shall I wax lyrical about my craft scissors? .. No? .. Perhaps the double-sided tape would be more interesting to describe? Only kidding! ...but how on Earth do those presenters on TV talk endlessly about different items in order to sell them? I couldn't talk for an hour on the merits of.... umm ....a battery operated toothbrush .....or a steampress.... or a cordless drill!! Maybe you could, but I would be boring myself stupid before ten minutes were up!

You can see a couple of my 12x6 pages for a weekly challenge I'm taking part in. The three boxes of sewing threads are out of sight on the sofa - of course I need every colour they make so I can find just the right shade for sewing the ribbon to the latest page. I think I probably, just maybe, have enough ribbon to complete this 52 week challenge! The box has hardly been touched so far.
And it would be sooo nice to have a Bind-It-All instead of book rings for the album. But no, Julia's got her beady eye on me, so I had better stop moaning and get crafting instead!

If you want to see other people's workdesks on Wednesdays just hop over to where Julia hangs out to meet everyone taking part. You can join in too by posting a link to your workdesk photo.

Marathon Man

2010-01-19T06:50:00.006Z

Here's a layout I did a few years ago with Hubby dressed as a clown for the London Marathon. He has run it 6 times in total and lots of half-marathons too. I used to be a Marathon Widow, left behind as he travelled around the country entering running events.

All that ended when the children arrived and he became a house-husband. Did you know that is a recognised job? When form-filling we were often able to enter his occupation as house-husband. But I digress...

His heyday was twenty years ago, bless him, and now he's entered himself to run in the first Brighton Marathon, taking place this April.

Here's a more recent layout of him. I don't think he can claim that the hair loss makes marathon running any easier! But who am I to say? I cannot run 100 yards without the need for resuscitation!

A lot has happened since he gave up jogging, not least that his waistline, like mine, has expanded exponentially! He's had surgery for cancer and been diagnosed with osteoporosis. He also has Meniere's Disease. I question whether he should even be contemplating running 26 miles, but he is determined to do it. I am secretly proud of 'the old pot and pan' for giving it a go and hope he makes it to the finishing line.

He's a bit old for a 'Midlife Crisis' but if he's ever going to have one, I think this is it!

Awful Photos

2010-01-18T10:11:00.000Z

This week's challenge at Scrap Weekly in 2010 is to scrap those awful photos we all have hidden away somewhere. I have exactly the photos they mean and spent Sunday afternoon trying to make a layout with them! They are the sort of photos I would never bother to scrap. To be honest, they would be destined for the rubbish bin, torn into tiny pieces so no-one could see how bad they were! However, I didn't get any decent pictures of the family at Christmas this year - not one single photo! - so these are all I had to play with to record Christmas 2009.

I used K&Co papers and American Crafts Sparkly Thickers for the title. The centrepiece is a paragraph copied from a book I read leading up to Christmas and really enjoyed. It is called 'The Gift' by Cecelia Ahern and the excerpt sums up our Christmas this year.

We spent it indoors!

No Regrets

2010-01-17T17:30:00.001Z

I try to live my life with no regrets. After all, you cannot go back and change anything. What's done, is done!

This week's challenge from 52 in 10 is to scrap about Life's Lessons - what life has taught you and the advice you would give to your younger self if you had the chance. And to include a quotation in your journaling.

It's a difficult subject. To open up your inner thoughts for everyone to see. It's not easy for a private person like myself, but here goes...

I do have one regret, an event that I should have handled differently as it has coloured my whole life.

I was very young, probably 6 or 7 years old and at Nanny's house. My cousins were there too. When it was time for them to leave, my Aunt told my cousin Roy, one year older than me and someone I idolised, to kiss everyone goodbye. He dutifully kissed everyone on the cheek until he came to me. He refused to kiss me and turned away. Of course everyone laughed and they left to go home.

A minor, silly incident, but it had a major effect on me. I learned that day that I was not a pretty girl. I grew up very shy and lacking in confidence. Throughout my teenage years and beyond, that one event changed me into who I am. To this day I do not draw attention to myself, hate meeting new people, and have a very real fear of making public speeches. At work I am a different person, hiding behind my profession, but I actually enjoy meeting patients and talking to them. In my home life I will go to any lengths to avoid unfamiliar social situations.

The advice I would give to that young Me would be to ignore my stupid cousin! - what does he know? - and to be confident in myself and my abilities. To make the most of the looks I have been given. Not to be shy, but to put myself forward at every opportunity and experience life to the full. Most importantly, not to accept second best because I believe it is only what I deserve.

Because of the page format I have chosen, 12x6, I cannot include more than one Life Lesson really, so this is the one I have scrapped today. The journaling is hidden behind the photo which I have hinged so that it can be lifted to reveal 'the story'.

And the quotation I chose to include?

'All things are difficult before they are easy' Thomas Fuller, MD.

Paper Doll Chains

2010-01-16T17:24:00.001Z

Did you ever make paper-doll chains from newspaper? I did when I was a child. Just folding newspaper and drawing figures on it and then cutting them out in a linked chain kept me amused in those days. I had to make certain that the drawing always touched the sides of the folded paper so that the dolls linked arms.

I also loved the dress-up dolls that came in a book format with tabbed clothes that you cut out and dressed the dolls with. Great fun when I was about 7 years old! It didn't cost much to keep a child entertained and happy in those days.

Anyway, this is my entry to The Creative Type Challenge . The challenge is to use newspaper on the layout and I've done this with a chain of newspaper dolls and another with flowers. The background paper is by K&Co and I've used Tim Holtz Spiced Marmalade distress ink and an orange pen. Orange is not a colour I like very much but as the paper included shades of green and orange, I decided to step outside my 'comfort zone'.

My title, 'Crafting Sisters' and the hidden journaling shows how, although my sister is 6 years older than me, we still have something in common.

The journaling reads: 'Maureen was an art teacher and is a gifted artist and sewer (she made my wedding dress) whilst I enjoy scrapbooking, card making, cross-stitch and knitting as my hobbies.'

I'm the one on the right by the way!

WOYWW

2010-01-13T07:18:00.001Z

Not a very interesting craft table this week maybe, but if you want to see others in this Mad Group who post a photo every Wednesday of their work area, hop over to Julia's Stamping Ground where you'll find them in ever-expanding numbers!

Hello All. What an awful couple of weeks weatherwise. Too much snow, not enough grit, no buses, no way of getting home from work etc. etc. Anyway, I did get to craft a little on Sunday, only to have a phone call from work to say there had been a pipe burst on the roof overnight, the roof had fallen in and the scan room was flooded!!! Argh!

Needless to say, this photo was taken very hastily as I packed up my Stash. I couldn't concentrate on anything after a message like that.

Back to the photo.... there's the front cover and first page of my 12x6 album for '52 in 10' in the making. The 'necessary equipment' on the table includes a corner rounder, American Crafts ribbons and Thickers, hole punch and box of Tim Holtz inkpads. And I've caught myself out again by leaving something on the table for all to see! The TV Remote this time.

OK, I admit it. I often watch TV as I craft. Preferably murder mysteries, sometimes cooking shows (not such a good idea as they make me hungry!) but on Sunday it was the news channel to watch the weather forecasts. I had to be sure I would be able to get into work at 7.00am on Monday to sort out the flood chaos. I just can't seem to escape the effects of the bad weather!

52 in 10....Late Starter

2010-01-10T15:28:00.000Z

I admit I'm a little late in posting these photos but I do have an excuse. I've had a bad week with no buses running here to get me to and from work, so I've had to sleep over at the hospital twice more this week. I am fed up with the snow and fed up with sleeping on a trolley! But it looks as if the thaw might begin this coming week - fingers crossed. End of whinge!
I'm taking part in 52 in 10 as I have pledged to take part in more Challenges this year. Here is my first week's entry. I decided to make a mini album (although after 52 weeks it won't be all that mini!) and chose a new size of page for me - 12x6. The first week's prompt was to review the past 10 years. My journaling lists the main things that have happened over the past 10 years, that I can remember. I never think of things in terms of decades though and I needed to think hard about events that had happened. And the start of a New Year is nothing special to me either, it's just another year, but I saw this challenge as an opportunity to keep me scrapping throughout 2010!

Above is week 2 where I had to think of the year ahead and what I want to achieve. I have listed my Crafty Goals For 2010 and tucked them behind my photo. The sharp-eyed among you have probably spotted that this is the reverse side of Week 1 as the punched holes are on the right-hand side this time. I was challenged to include stitching on the layout, but with Week 1 already completed, and not wanting to make holes through the paper, I drew faux stitching instead.

For the mini album itself, I was limited by my Crafty Goal number 2 of not spending on Stash this year, so had to use what I already had. I chose papers by Bo Bunny and My Mind's Eye and cut them in half for the 12x6 format, punched the holes and used book rings to keep it all together. It's easy to disassemble every week when I need to make another entry, and I can also swap the pages around at the moment if I prefer to use a different pattern for each weekly prompt.

Finding the time to craft with a full-time job is never easy, especially when I have to get everything out of the cupboards and put it away again the same day, but having made a start on this Challenge, I'm hoping to see it through to the end of 2010.

WOYWW

2010-01-05T08:42:00.005Z

What's on my workdesk Wednesday? Actually it was last Saturday. I've been at work since then and not been able to craft, but as I wanted to take part in the first WOYWW of 2010, I took a couple of photos that afternoon! Julia runs this weekly madness and you can take part too by heading over to Stamping Ground and leaving a link to a photo of your crafting area.

On my desk there are three purchases made before the end of 2009 and they are the box of ribbons (gorgeous), the packets of American Crafts Thickers (sparkly gorgeous) and a 5inch Xyron (indispensible!). Luckily for me I got the Xyron before I decided to stop spending on craft stash in 2010 as it is brilliant and I don't know how I've managed without it! No more spraying aerosol glue everywhere and the smell that goes with it. No more glue sticks, rolls of double-sided tape, wet glue or tape pens when I need edge-to-edge stickiness, the green machine does the job! It's probably more expensive but I'm as careful as I can be to not waste any of the glue roll, and what matters to me, is that it does what it says on the box.

You can see a few decoupaged images on my desk too. I have managed to eke out my bargain-buy decoupage pack (of 40 cards) and made a total of 78 and I am DONE WITH decoupage now, probably forever! I have bored myself silly with it!

Anyway, it's all done except for the stamping of sentiments and addition of glitter, and I can make my own Christmas cards later in the year when I can face them again.

By the way Julia, I hadn't thought about not spending cash when attending a craft fair in London this year, but with a little lateral thinking I reckon I could probably still get some Stash. Assuming I get to such an event ----- I simply take my husband/daughters with me and ask VERY nicely for birthday presents!!! What do you think?

10 Crafty Things For 2010

2010-01-02T09:15:00.000Z

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!'..

2010-01-01T19:25:00.000Z

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

2009-12-30T11:21:00.000Z

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

2009-12-28T16:20:00.000Z

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!

WOYWW

2009-12-16T09:13:00.000Z

It's Wednesday already and time to show What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday at Julia's Stamping Ground.
Here's mine with crafting stuff spreading onto the floor and sofa as usual. In fact, now that I've finished making all my Christmas cards, and signed and sent them in the post, I'm a bit short of inspiration for my papercrafting.
There's evidence on my table of stencilling with paste (first attempt) and then glittering the images i.e the cupcake cards on the left of the photo, the roll of low-tack tape and the knife I used because I don't have a proper pallette knife (which would have been much easier!). I wasn't very happy with the results and made some Christmas tags instead as I've run out of cut-up- Christmas-card ones made last Boxing Day. I used some offcuts of card and stickers my husband bought me. I'm definitely not a 'sticker girl', but am a stamper at heart, and would never make cards from stickers. I have told Hubby this more than once but he still comes home with them..... I think he secretly likes them himself! Anyway, I've made good use of them and the tags will go on some presents for under the tree.
The green box contains lots of pots of glitter (amongst other things) and it very rarely comes out of the cupboard. If I'm honest, I don't think I would miss glitter if I didn't have any, not least because of the mess I make with it! Is there anything in your crafty stash that you could get by without?

2006 Mini Album

2009-12-13T15:04:00.000Z

Front cover

First page

In 2006 I made a 6x6 mini album about the decorations we put up every year in our house. I chose red and green for the colour scheme and kept the page design very simple. I was actually following an online class but I cannot remember which one.

In the album I talk about the tree which was from our first Christmas together after our wedding in 1981 - that tree was replaced two years ago as it was falling apart! And the glass ornaments handmade by my father - we have candles, baubles, butterflies, bells and characters from Wind In The Willows to hang on our tree. All different colours. Because they are glass the tree lights shine through them and they look very pretty against the green boughs. They are unique and I love them. They will be passed to the girls at some point, but not just yet!

Did you know that red glass is the most expensive to buy as it has gold in its making? There, now you have a bit of trivia to impress everyone with at Christmas Lunch!

On the final double-page I talk about the Advent Calendar that I hang up every year, including this year when the girls have left home. It was made by me and I actually used a sewing machine. This is notable because??? I actively avoid using sewing machines as I struggle with every stitch! Adjusting the tension is beyond me on those things. I much prefer to sew by hand, and if this calendar falls apart, I will definitely not be replacing it!

What Makes It Christmas?

2009-12-12T13:30:00.000Z

Karen working in the Sound Studio at Uni

The run up to Christmas seems to get longer every year. The shops display their Christmas stock in August/September, then the lights are switched on in October. It's such a shame that the magic seems to have disappeared as the commercialization of Christmas has taken off. Or maybe it's because I'm too old now to get excited at the approaching festivities.
My youngest daughter, Karen, was asked this week (and recorded while she answered) what made her think it was really Christmas-time. She replied, 'I think it's really here when the Christmas Coca Cola advert comes on TV.'
An advertisement, but that's what starts her thinking of Christmas each year. She'd never get organised in time if they ever take that advert off the screen!
I thought about what makes it seem like Christmas to me, and I think it must be when they start playing all the Christmas tunes on the radio. I soon get fed up with hearing them, but it does make me think that the holiday season is upon us. Also, when I see the Salvation Army Band playing in the street and hear them singing traditional carols, that too is a reminder, but it's nearly upon us by then!
How about you? What makes you think that Christmas is really here each year?

WOYWW

2009-12-09T09:31:00.001Z

Well Julia, you asked to see the mess on my sofa when I'm crafting, so here it is!
Not the worst it's ever been, but still there's only just enough room for me to sit down. On the sofa there are three boxes of 12x12 papers and a HUGE K&Co paper pad bought from QVC. And my precious tub of lovely ribbons.
I didn't see the red clip on the table until after the photo was taken so I'm caught out! It's from half a packet of nibbles I had been eating. Ooops.
There are My Minds Eye papers and stickers, my small guillotine and larger purple cow one. There's also a copy of Shimelle's UK Scrappers sketch which you can find here and which I had just finished using to make a layout. And, most important of all, my green carry-all that does what it says! It's filled to the brim with glues, scissors, rulers and pens.......the necessities any crafter cannot do without!

I thought I'd let you see the Christmas tree as we put it up at the weekend. Anyone else got their decorations all ready for the holiday? Unfortunately, the decorations are all that's finished in my house in preparation for Christmas!

If you want to join in the fun and show us What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW) just visit Miss Nosy of Blogland, Julia, at Stamping Ground where there are links from everyone taking part in this weekly madness.

Christmas Scrapbook Page

2009-12-08T15:16:00.000Z

This photo was taken of me at Christmas 1965 when I was seven years old. I don't look very happy, do I? I cannot remember the doll I'm holding but I do remember the one behind me. My Mother still has her but she lost her socks many years ago and now has one wonky eye!

I've been meaning to scrap this photo for a while. Unfortunately it is the only one I have of that Christmas, and being averse to scrapping single photos on layouts, it's been on my pinboard for ages, waiting for me to be inspired. Luckily, at the weekend, I came across Ruth's Christmas Challenge and decided to follow her rules today with this layout.

I have used DaisyD's papers, cards and alphabet letters from my stash which are all in vintage style and in Christmassy colours, layering up the papers and elements to make the page 3D. I printed the quotation onto one of the cards in the DaisyD's set and layered the green brackets on top.

As part of this challenge, I wanted to record my childhood Christmas Memories, so I used a second vintage card to write on, added a pull-tab, and this will slide underneath the carol-singing paper, to be read by anyone in the future.

I seem to be doing a few Christmas layouts lately, and with the those that I have done in the past of my two daughters at Christmas, I think I may have to start another album to keep them in. Hmmm ...... an excuse to buy more stash I think!