Sunday Snippet Card

Evening Folks,

Operation CRSO (Craft Room Sort Out) is well underway and the worst is done. The old computer is gone, the new one has been relocated, and I now have a dedicated die-cutting station. The position of the workdesk has been changed and I can now look out of the window as I type - so much better than looking at a wall!

Would do a happy dance but it isn't all over yet! There's still a lot of stash to sort through, but I think I can reward myself with some actual crafting time ... oh, and time to blog about it too!

The challenge over at UKPC Craft Group this month was to create something using some of those old peel-offs that we all seem to have tucked away in our stash. A bit of rummaging through the stash mountain unearthed a small stack of sheets that had long been forgotten. Here's the card I made using one of the sheets.

Supplies used:

• the giraffe, greeting and trim all came from a sheet of Little Claire Designs peel-offs
• the snippets of patterned paper all came from my scrap box, including the 'wildlife' one which originally came in a Pollyanna Pickering collection 
• the cardstock is all from Paper Mill Direct 
• the green velvet ribbon from stash
• the wood effect enamel dots are from Studio Calico

I'm also submitting this card to Pixie's Snippets Playground where anything goes as long as there's snippets used in the making.

I was inspired by April the giraffe who finally gave birth to a boy calf on 15th April at the Animal Adventure Park, Harpursville, New York. I spent a week or so checking the webcam only to miss the eagerly anticipated birth! As you can imagine, when I discovered the sheet of giraffe themed peel-offs it was a no-brainer - the theme had to be a giraffe.

That's it for this evening, Now, predictably perhaps, I'm off to watch The Durrell's on the TV. I really enjoy this feel-good series.

Have a great week.

Friday Smiles - A trip to Crawick Multiverse and Sanquhar Tollhouse Museum

Afternoon Everyone,

I don't know where the morning has gone let alone the week but, once again, I've certainly had much to smile about.

On Saturday we took one of our trips out. This time to the Crawick Multiverse and the Tolbooth Museum in the village of Sanquhar (the name means old fort). Warning - this is a photo heavy post!

The Multiverse proved to be an amazing art installation commissioned by The Duke of Buccleuch to pretty up an abandoned open cast coal mine on his land. It took one million pounds and the imagination of the well-known landscape artist Charles Jencks to create this fantastic cosmic landscape. It also proved to be a tad challenging for my poor husband who's big toe is giving him gyp at the moment. Here's just a very few photos taken that day.

This one represents Andromeda and the Milky Way which are, apparently, converging at speed and will meet it is predicted in four billion years time. The mounds are 20 metres high - we didn't climb them!

We did walk down this very long path, 400 metres, only to find that it was a dead end! It's a North-South line which splits the site down the middle. That's the Sun Flare/Earth Shield Mosaic in the centre of the Sun Amphitheatre that you can see in the foreground. It's said to represent the 'dance of life and death' between solar flares and the protective electromagnetism of Earth,

There's a lovely video with aerial views, on YouTube showing much more of the Multiverse. Here's a link should you be interested - I promise you won't be disappointed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YnEawc7aXM

This is himself smiling through his pain.

We left the Multiverse to visit the museum in the Tollhouse where we learnt a great deal about the village's past history, including the work of the famous Sanquhar knitters.

Originally knitted in drugget - a very cheap, coarse, wool - on very find needles and usually in black and white, they are now knitted a better quality wool and in a variety of colours. The distinctive feature of these gloves is that the wearer's initials are always knitted into the wristband.

Himself again, looking quite miserable because of his sore foot. Do you think he is trying to tell me something - the quote on the bench is 'Never injure a friend'!?

In the village itself there's a shop that still sells Sanquhar knitting however these cushions were knitted on the machines that are just visible in the background.

Another craft shop window display featured these tasty treats.

And possibly the biggest crochet hook in the world - with a thistle atop it too.

Enough! I could show you so many more photos - the whole day was wonderful - and I haven't even begun to cover all the nice things that have happened during the rest of the week.

I hope you have had a lovely, smiley, week too.

Giveaway - Spectrum Aqua CD-ROM - The Winner

Hello Everyone,

Just a very quick post this morning and apologies for being a couple of days late. As there was only one person interested in this CD-ROM I didn't need to do a draw.

The Spectrum Aqua disc is now yours Valerija. I hope you find it as interesting and useful in learning new colouring tips and tricks as I have.

Please email me with your postal address and I will send it out to you as soon as possible.



Look out for more giveaways as Operation Craft Room Sort Out progresses.

Happy Crafting

Rudolph Day Cards - April

Hi Everyone,

It's Operation Craft Room Sort Out here, hence the absence of posts recently. It's surprising just how much time it is taking me to sort through all the shelves and drawers. I think I could be some time. Anyway, I decided to take a break today and make a few cards for this month's Rudolph Day Challenge over at ScrappyMo's where anything goes as long as it's Christmas themed.

Here are the cards I made.

I had a good rummage through the scrap box to make the first two cards and the topper on the second is one of many pieces of scrap card I embossed recently. The toppers on the last two are recycled from cards received last Christmas that I thought far to nice to throw away.

I'm submitting the second card to Pixie's Snippet's Playground - snippets of paper patterned paper and green cardstock used.

Well, that's my day off over and it will be back to Operation Sort Out tomorrow. Sigh. I'll be back ... eventually!

Have a great week.

Friday Smile

Morning Everyone,

Weatherwise it is not such a good one today and given all the bad news there's about at the moment you'd think there would be nothing much to share with Annie, at A Stitch In Time, today. Annie, of course, rarely fails to find a lot to smile about. And here's what's given me reason to smile this week.

First up is this cutie:

Like an awful lot of folk, I'd been riveted to the webcam set up at the Adventure Park, Harpursville, New York, waiting for April the giraffe to give birth. She went well over her due date and life being what it is I went off to do other things, as you do, so needless to say, I missed it! By the time I caught up he'd finally arrived and isn't he a beauty. I think April and dad, Oliver did well.

Next up we had an engagement:

This was a big surprise. My grandson, William, asked his lovely partner, Heather to marry him - and she said yes. Don't they look so happy too. We are all delighted for them.

And here's Callum, William and Heather's son, up a tree and looking mighty pleased with himself  too.

And with his gran on a trip to Eglinton Country Park.

Finally, I've been out in the garden a lot of late. There's so much to do at this time of the year.

We've had this trough for many years. It was planted up with phlox but last year the plant's weren't doing so well so the decision was made to clear it out and start again. Here it is newly planted up with violets, primroses, campanula, veronica, saxifrage, pinks and just showing through the foliage of Persian Pearl tulips. I'm loving how pretty it all looks.

Hope you've all had as much to smile about this week and that the weekend will prove to be full of smiles for you too.

Giveaway - Spectrum Aqua CD-ROM

Evening Everyone

I'm still sorting through my stash - decluttering the craft room - and today it was the turn of my collection of craft CD-ROMs, DVDs etc. So now I have a few to give away starting with this one - Spectrum Aqua from Crafters' Companion. The disc contains Leann Chivers' video tutorials showing how to colour using Spectrum Aqua water-based markers with hints, tips and inspiration.  It's a very comprehensive disc covering, for example, creating a customised background, stamping effects with markers, white outline stamping images, creating Bokeh effects and mixing your own custom colours from a palette.

If any of you are interested in this CD-ROM then leave a comment below. 

I'd appreciate it if you are a follower of my blog.

This is optional but it would be nice if you could add the first photo to your own blog sidebar with a link back to my blog - just to get the word around!

I'll make the draw on 26th April so if you are interested then do get your comment in before 10pm Tuesday 25th April. 

What's On Your Workdesk - Wednesday 411

Morning Everyone,

This is going to be a briefish WOYWW post today - that's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday brought to us by the inestimable treasure that is our Head Desker Julia over at the Stamping Ground. Julia loves brief posts.

But first I must apologise for my lack of commenting last week ... the holidays got in the way! Is it just me - oh, I hope I'm not the only one - who forgets to factor in all the extra visits to and from family? I got to the end of what seemed a very long and hectic weekend happy from seeing my nearest and dearest but absolutely exhausted too. Hope you enjoyed the holiday as much as I did.

Now on to what's on my desk today.

Photographs. Old photographs. I've caught the decluttering bug. Actually, I'm feeling overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that's in my craft room. It's just too much. Especially photographs. You really don't want to see the collection the EM and I have amassed over the seventy or so decades we've been on this planet. When I think of scrapbooking them - well, it's just makes me feel faint. There aren't enough hours in the day and I need my sleep - I'd be cranky without it! There's just no possibility of me scrapping the vast majority of them and, in truth, I really don't want to. But I can sort them into albums and when we're gone the kids can inherit ... they'll love that!!! So, as you can see, I've made a start by culling anything that is a waste of space, i.e. shots that are blurry, too bright or too dark, etc., - in short, the lemons. Those that remain are all going into labeled photo albums and shelved. That way, when I'm looking for a particular photo I should be able to locate it in no time - well, that's what I'm hoping anyway.

So that's my desk today. I'm off now for a snoop at the desks linked over at Julia's.

Happy WOYWW and have a wonderful week ahead.

Happy Easter

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are enjoying this Bank Holiday weekend as much as I am, despite the awful weather. Only one chocolate egg this year but it's enough ... and I'm still sure to have put on pounds by the time Tuesday comes.

On that note, I'll leave you to enjoy the rest of the holiday.

Be back soon.

Friday Smile

Morning Everyone,

I hope you've all had a wonderful week full of smiles and happy moments. Just like mine. And if you have then perhaps, like me, you will share some of your happy memories with Annie over at A Stitch In Time. 

However, it's going to be a quick one from me today because we're off out to visit our friends in Dumfries & Galloway. We're leaving in a few minutes and we don't expect to be back until late. 

No photos today, just a funny - one I think says it all :)

There's been no time for dusting in this house this week. Shame! :)

And because I'm not going to be  here today it will be tomorrow before I'll be visiting and commenting.

In the meantime, I wish you all a very happy day and a wonderful holiday weekend.

What's On Your Workdesk - Wednesday 410

Good Morning!

It's Wednesday and that means I'm joining our WOYWW Head Desker Julia over at the Stamping Ground and, like so many of our fellow deskers, showing what's on my workdesk this morning.

A wider view this week. There's not been much change in the last seven days. The embossing/die-cutting machine is smaller. Off to the left side, out of shot, is the basket of leftover card scraps and centre back is the new box of embossed scraps - last week's job done! That box is three pieces lighter now that I've made a few cards - as can be seen on yesterday's post. I know, it's obvious, all I've accomplished so far is to shift a mountain of cardstock to another, albeit embossed and therefore a more usable mountain ... anyway, that's what I'm telling myself. There's still an awful lot of scraps left in the basket which explains the contents of the other box at the back. Part of my die collection - mainly small ones that will go through the Sapphire. Those scraps are now being turned into die-cut embellishments. Well, that's the grand plan but examination of the wee black basket shows I've not made much headway. I'm far too easily distracted! The stamps, enamel dots and card blanks were used in the making of the aforementioned cards. Far back left are boxes of scrap supplies and far right are the trays of disgrace, the dumping ground for all sorts of bits and bobs - I will clear them out one day, just not today!

Here's a close up showing my total dedication to the task. I now have well-developed upper right arm muscles!

The leftover scraps of card. Wish I'd taken a before shot but I think you can assess just how big the stash mountain was from these two photos.

So that's my desk today. Will it have changed much next week? I'm making no promises - it's Easter and I could be distracted. It certainly won't change much today because I'm going to be desk hopping and commenting as much as possible. I did try last week but Blogger was having a tantrum and not letting me leave comments!!! Happily, it seems to have sorted itself out now -  of course toes and fingers are crossed as I type this.

Have a happy day and a wonderful holiday weekend,

Snippet Cards - Tulips

Hi Everyone,

I hope you've had a lovely Tuesday. After a warm and sunny weekend it has turned very chilly here in Ayrshire. I think the wind must be coming directly from the North Pole! Hopefully it's temporary but it has put a stop to the gardening for now. Still, it has given me time to catch up on the much neglected housework, and when I'd done as much of that as I could bear I beat a retreat to the craft room to finish of the dry embossing project I've been working on since last Wednesday.

Instead of having a basket of cardstock scraps I now have a box of embossed scraps all waiting to be used on cards and/or scrapbook pages.

I created the following three cards all featuring toppers made with a lovely tulip design,

Supplies used:

• card base - A6 white card from The Range
• cardstock - smooth blue, textured cream and satin finish pink, all from my stash of scraps 
• embossing folder - Darice Spring Tulips
• stamps -  Sincere Sentiments which came free with an issue of Cardmaking & Papercraft. 
• inks - Memento Danube Blue, Versacolor 54 Brown, Stazon Jet Black. 
• enamel dots - blue,from Docrafts Denim Blue, cream from Simple Stories The Story of Us, pink from Echo Park Petticoats & Pinstripes.

As can be seen, the design is pretty simple. Just a white card base, the embossed panel, a stamped greeting and enamel dots for embellishment, but that's three more cards tucked away to be used when needed.

I think the tulips are perfect for this time of the year, just when my garden is full of them.

It's late so I'll wish you a very goodnight and a happy day tomorrow.

Saturday Smiles - Should have been Friday Smiles

Hi Everyone,

After having trouble staying online for any length of time earlier in the week this was followed by not being able to access blogger. Not only could I not post anything from this blog but I couldn't view other folks' blogs too. Sooooo frustrating! Then suddenly all is okay once more and I'm a happy little poster again - I can join in, rather belatedly, Annie's meme Friday Smiles over at A Stitch In Time and share with you what has made me smile this week.

First up is this:

Our new car - that is, new to us. We were sad to say goodbye to our old car but she was fourteen years old and had just had her day. This one is only four years old, automatic, with the roomiest boot (trunk) ever, an engine that positively purrs, and what I like to call the right shade of black - not metallic anything, just plain old shiny black.

Cars, and the colours available, have come a long way since Mr Ford's day but black remains my preferred choice.

This is making me smile too:

My little nursery by the kitchen door. Full of plants just waiting to be planted up - I just have to find suitable spots in the garden for them.

And to finish:

Although these are aimed at the sewers/sewists among us a small change in the wording and they could apply to any obsessive devoted crafter.

Hope you are having a wonderfully smiley weekend.