WOYWW - Week 417

Afternoon Everyone,

It's the Wednesday after the big 8th anniversary of Julia's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday and I'm here with a HUGE apology to just about everyone! To those deskers I didn't manage to visit and to those still waiting for promised ATCs. There's a good reason for my tardiness - this might even top last week's bird episode. I fell out of bed! And somehow pulled a muscle in my groin. Getting out of bed should be easy but not when you have excruciating cramp in your leg it isn't. I tried to jump out of bed, got caught up in the duvet and ended up on the floor all caught up, and not able to get up again. I did eventually manage to stand up but not before I did myself damage. Happily, it's not so painful today but I'm still shuffling about like an old woman!

And that explains why there isn't a lot on my desk today. Just my planner. When I was in paid employment I ordered a planner each year from a source over the pond but since I retired (7 years ago!) I've found most planners aren't really suitable for someone with my lifestyle. They are usually geared to students, work or busy mothers, or even working mothers, but not for someone whose lifestyle doesn't include business meetings, conference calls, etc., any longer. Happily, this year I discovered this Busy Days planner. The page layout is just about perfect. I can even be creative, in a scrapbook sort of way, with it. For example, adding photos, stickers, enamel dots, etc. Hence the colourful pens. I found these at my local Tesco supermarket. Perfect for the job and at £3 for 10 they're dirt cheap too.

I was immensely cheered this week when I received these celebratory ATCs.

This one is from Shaz, Silverwolf Cards. There's lots of lovely detail in the stamping and I love the background.

Annie, aka Wipso, at a Stitch In Time made this one. The background is a lighter shade of brown in real life - my camera had problems picking the colour up. It's beautifully sewn with the teensiest-weensiest patchwork ever.

And this last one is from Annie's sister, Jo, aka Twiglet. A perfect little seashore themed dumfling with sea pinks. Reminds me of holidays in Cornwall.

The ATCs from Annie and Jo were accompanied by one of Annie's delightful poems. She's so talented!

Thank you to you all - they are wonderful little works of art.







It's a short-ish post this week. Not a lot to report at all. I'm hoping to do rather better on the visiting front this week and, just as soon as I'm walking again, I'll get the promised ATCs in the post. Right now though I think I'll shuffle off to make a recuperative cuppa.

Have a great WOYWW and a wonderful week.

Giveaway - Paint Fusion DVD & Stamp Set

Just three of you,  1. Valerija, 2. Tina Z and 3. Marjeta, interested in this giveaway so I popped over to Random.org and asked the generator to choose one of you for me.

Congratulations, Marjeta. The giveaway is yours. Please contact me by email with your postal details and I will send it out to you as soon as possible. 

A Sunday Snippet & Rudolph Day Card

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are enjoying the weekend so far. We have, for the most part, been enjoying the hot, sunny weather, though today is cooler and overcast. A temporary condition I hope.

As you can imagine, this has meant very little time for crafting, and therefore blogging about it, but I do have a card to share today.

It's made from several snippets, one of which is admittedly quite a sizeable scrap of card, and is Christmas themed so perfect for both Di's Snippet Challenge over on Pixie's Crafty Workshop and ScrappyMo's Rudolph Day Challenge on Scraps of Life by ScrappyMo!

How the card was made:

• I cut a card base from a sheet of American Crafts card in blue. This was easy because all I did was cut a 12" x 12" sheet in half and fold it. Hey presto! One card blank. 
• The snowflake topper was cut using one of the Chinese dies bought from eBay and that scrap of white pearlised cardstock from Papermilldirect.  
• Next, I adhered the die-cut to the base front using liquid glue dotted behind parts of the design that were more solid - a fiddly job but worth the effort.
• The Let It Snow! greeting (Docrafts Penelope & Percy Christmas Greetings stamp set) was made by stamping a snippet of the same pearlised cardstock using a Memento ink pad in Danube Blue. 
• I then matted the greeting on to another piece of the American Crafts cardstock and adhered it to the card front using sticky pads to add dimension.
• Finally, Papermania Aqua Dew Drops provide the finishing touch to all four corners of the card front. 

The snowflake die makes a lovely addition to a card but I did find that once cut this particular cardstock, which is quite heavy at 300gsm, wasn't easy to remove from the die. I should have prepared the die by wiping a tumble drier sheet over it - that might have helped.

That's it for now.  I hope you've had a lovely Sunday.

WOYWW 416 - Celebrating 8 Marvelous Years!

Yes, we're celebrating! It's the 416th week of Julia's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. That's 8 years she's been turning up every Wednesday (with the exception a few when LLJ magnificently stood in for her) on the Stamping Ground to reveal her desk and encourage us to show ours too. It's an wonderful achievement and one I appreciate so very much. Where else could we crafters 'meet'up on a regular basis and share what's on, or not on, our desks and chat about crafting. It's a date I, personally, don't like to miss - I get withdrawal symptoms if I do.

There's plenty of stuff on my desk today but not much actual crafting going on. I'm still in the throes of the clean up operation. How can one person collect so much stash??? So today sees me sorting out embellishments (in the wee black basket) into colour-coded boxes. The boxes were originally intended to hold photographs but now that the photos are in albums - up to the year 2000 so far, still a way to go yet! - the boxes could have been surplus to requirements had I not thought to re-purpose them. As well as the usual bits and bobs that have a permanent place on my desk there is, for one week only, a pile of ink pads, a jar of black embossing powder and a pile of stamps waiting to be pressed into service. They're mostly scrapbook themed sets,

This set includes a stamp for the year 2014 - that will come in handy if I every get around to scrapping photos taken in that year!

You can just about see the lovely view from the window. It's looking particularly nice with the lilac tree (in a neighbouring garden) in bloom. Purple lilacs. However, I thought you might like to see what I can see if I look up.

A trio of tiny glass panels that were a gift from a friend a few years ago when she returned from a city break in Prague. The colours have faded over time but I rather like them like that.

I was going to tell you how lovely it was to sit here and listen to a bird chirping, quite loudly, just outside the window but it was much more exciting than that. It was a baby sparrow and it was chirping away on the hall landing windowsill behind me! I've no idea how it got in - there's a window open a crack in the bathroom so that hardly seems likely. Maybe it flew in when himself left the back door wide open earlier - it's a habit he has. Whatever, it had moved in and we had a job trying to encourage this tiny little fledgling to leave through the hall window ... it was having none of it. It flew into the craftroom and I hastily went around closing room doors - I'm sure it didn't need a guided tour. Eventually, himself managed to capture and release the wee thing back into the garden and it didn't seem any the worse for the experience. We, on the other hand, were quite shaken and in need of a recuperating cuppa. And as excuses for being late to the party go, I think this one is my best so far. :)

All I have to do now is link up at Julia's to join in with the ATC swap. I've made quite a few already, and I'm quite happy to make a few more so if you would like to swap me let me know, and email your postal address too.

Before I go though, I just want to say my thoughts are with the people who have suffered in any way from the dreadful terrorist attack in Manchester. The city means so much to us, it's my second home, I lived there for years and, indeed, my dear husband is a Mancunian. My heart goes out to Manchester.

 

Giveaway - Paint Fusion DVD & Stamp Set

Afternoon Everyone,

The craft room sort out is still ongoing - I have way too much stuff that I don't want anymore. This Sheena Douglas Paint Fusion DVD and a Simply Sweet stamp set - unused - are among that stuff.

The video contains 3 hours of step-by-step projects and inspiration and the stamp set includes a practice guide for the painting technique.

I'd like to give it away so if you fancy trying out this stamping and painting technique, or you know someone who might like to give it a try, then simply leave a comment to let me know.

In the event of more than one person showing interest, I'll do a draw to decide who will be the lucky recipient.

The giveaway will be up for a week, closing on Tuesday, 23 May 2017.

I look forward to receiving your comment(s).

Friday Smile

Evening Everyone,

If you have read any of my earlier posts you will know that we've had a bit of a traumatic week with Mr W having to have emergency surgery on Tuesday. However, it hasn't been all bad. Not only is he on the mend but we've been able to spend some time in the garden, doing not much of anything at all except admiring the flowers. Here's some photos of what is giving us joy there at the moment.

Clematis Nelly Moser

Clematis montana Grandiflora

The buds of Clematis Barbara Dibley

The rose Canary Bird

Angelica

One of the many aquilegias in flower at the moment - variety unknown.

And finally, because I have to stop somewhere, this is the wall that divides the front from the back garden. The troughs of pansies are a very cheery sight and the bench beneath is where we take time to sit and enjoy it all. It is also where I photograph a great many of my vases for In A Vase On Monday.



So that is just a few of things that are making me smile at the moment. Gardening can be a lot of hard work but it is so worth it at this time of the year.

Hope you have had plenty to smile about this week too.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 415

Hi Everyone,

Where has the week gone??? ... I swear I missed several days this week because Wednesday has come round sooner than anticipated! Many thanks to everyone who wished my husband well. He's a lot better today, though still requiring a lot of TLC. Of course, it will be some time before he's completely recovered from his wee op. And providing a lot of that TLC is why I'm so late joining in with Julia's WOYWW over at the Stamping Ground today. I expect I'm the last this week but here's the mess that was my desk this morning.

I did find time to take a photo early this morning but then had to abandon all hope of posting until now. What you see is the remnants of a quick card made for my brother whose birthday is on Saturday. There's also a pile of print-outs of Studio Calico printable labels ... as I don't have any matching dies that will be a cutting out job to do whilst watching TV.

The photo sort out continues. This is three filled albums and I'm part way through filling no. 4. I've just reached the year 2000 so I've still a fair way to go before I can say my job here is done!

Here's the card I made for my brother - he doesn't read my blog so no worries about him seeing it before he receives it. This is another stamp from the Darkroom Door Bright Blossoms Vol 1 stamp set I've been using recently. You can scroll down to see the one I made earlier in the week or click this link here. I used Adirondak Earthtones Stonewashed ink for the stamping. The topper was made from scraps, cut using rectangle dies (made in China but no maker's name and I can't remember how I came by them) and the stars were also die-cut, using the two smallest dies in Docrafts XCut Star set. It's a simple card but it's all I had time for so will have to do - hopefully he will like it.

That's it from me today. I hope you've had a great WOYWW and have a wonderful week ahead.

Hello - A Simple Card

Afternoon Everyone,

It's been quite a day here at Casa Worthington so not much time for crafting. Himself had an appointment with his doctor this morning which ended in a visit to hospital for a bit of emergency surgery. He's home now and making a good recovery but all I can say is, 'what a day!'

That said, I have a simple wee card made earlier to share today.

This is the first card made with the Darkroom Door stamp set you might have spotted on an earlier WOYWW post - here's the link just in case you missed it.

This won't take long but here's how it was made:

• a scrap of white cardstock was stamped with one of the floral stamps from the Darkroom Door stamp set, Bright Blossoms Vol 1 and Memento Danube Blue ink. I found it easier to place the card on top of the inked stamp instead of using a stamp block - that way I could, with my fingers, press the card all over to ensure good ink coverage.
• the greeting was stamped, this time using a stamp block, on another snippet of white card.
• both stamped images were trimmed to size and then mounted, using sticky fixers fro added dimension, on to the front of a white A6 card base from The Range.
• I chose two blue enamels dots, Papermania Denim Blue Domes, for the only embellishment.

Not much to it really but I do like that beautiful blossom stamp and the font on the greeting is lovely too.

Right must go, himself needs fed ... surgery hasn't spoiled his appetite :)

In A Vase On Monday - A Wild Bunch

The forecast for today was for rain and it wasn't wrong. It's pouring! So confession time, I picked, and photographed, today's contribution to Cathy's In A Vase On Monday yesterday.

As you can see, it's just a bunch containing wild flowers - geum, campions and hesperis matronalis - and self-seeded aquilegia - various forms. chiefly Beidermeir, Mrs Scott Elliot and the alpine ones that flower the earliest.

I love aquilegia, especially seeing the purple ones that grow in the wild, but I have seen them referred to as weeds in a few gardening articles. I think it must be because of the way they can seed themselves wherever they fancy. Despite that I'm guilty of encouraging them by sprinkling seeds in any gap in the border and just letting them get on with it. If they do become a problem I can always dig them up and donate them to a family member - there's always someone willing to give them a good home.

Geum Mrs Bradshaw. Lovely doer this plant. The yellow buds slowly turn orange and finally open up to vivid red. It's also a spreader that has to be kept under control, otherwise it would take over the border completely.

Two campions, Silene. The traditional rose red and a very pale pink,  a hybrid of white S. latifolia and red S. dioica  - both grown from a wildflower seed mix.

Dame's violet, hesperis matronalis. Another great favourite, which has apparently has been in the UK for over 800 years. Disappointingly, the name derives from Damascus and has nothing to do with dames at all.

So that's what's in my vase for this week - a wild bunch for sure, but I think they are all so very charming.

I wish you all a very happy week, in the garden if the weather permits.

Sunday Snippet Card

Evening Everyone,

Wishing all my US friends a Happy Mother's Day - I hope you've had a truly wonderful day.

I've made a birthday card to share. I made it entirely from scraps and snippets for Di's fortnightly challenge over at Pixie's Snippets Playground.

Here's how it was made:

• the card base, measuring 5¾" x 4¼"  was made from a scrap, an admittedly large one, of Docrafts Kraft cardstock.
• the topper was constructed using a snippet of lilac Coordinations card, embossed using the Folksy Circle (Sizzix) folder, trimmed to fit the front just leaving a tiny margin of Kraft showing. 
• A die-cut greeting, made with a die purchased from China through Ebay and another snippet, this time white satin finish cardstock, was glued to the centre of the embossed design.
• to finish, the card was decorated with a dragonfly, stamped and die cut, Creative Dies Dragonfly Die & Stamp Set, from the same scrap of white satin finish cardstock and also from a tiny scrap of leftover lilac Coordinations, and three paper roses, from Wild Orchid Crafts - very old stash!

A couple of close ups of the dragonfly. Silicone gel was used to achieve the dimension.

It's not often I can say that a card was made entirely from scraps but this one certainly was.

Happy Crafting,

A Christmas Card

Good Morning,

Just a quick share this morning.

It's just a card made using a leftover scrap of patterned paper and a topper recycled from a card received last Christmas. I liked the festive images; pretty packages, baubles, candles and a wreath and thought they would make a good card topper.

I made the card by trimming the paper to just a smidgen smaller than the cream 4.½" square card base before gluing it on to the front. The topper was cut down to a good size to fit the card, matted on dark brown cardstock (from the scrap box) then mounted using sticky pads to add dimension. The only embellishments are the tiny red gems in each corner and the centre of the topper.

Almost forgot, I'd like to submit this card to the following challenges:

Hazel's CHNC - Challenge 333 - anything goes as long as it's Christmas themed
and CHNC challenge extra for May 2017 - again anything as long as it's Christmas

And that's it for today. It's raining. At last. (I can almost hear the garden sighing with pleasure.) So I've planned a day of crafting ... which probably means more sorting out in the craft room but I'm hoping to sneak in some real crafting too!

Hope you have a wonderful day - with maybe a little bit of crafting snuck in too.

Friday Smile

Good Morning,

I hope you have had a very good week with plenty to smile about and share with Annie at A Stitch In Time. My husband's health hasn't been so good, necessitating a trip to the doctor, but despite that it's not been such a bad week. Here's a few photos showing what helped us smile this week.

Warning, yet another photo heavy post.

On Saturday we took a trip to Ballantrae to see Alfie at Craigiemains Garden Centre. He looked as pleased as any donkey could to see us ... the carrots helped :)

After Ballantrae we carried on down to Portpatrick where himself cosied up to this very fierce looking gorilla. Eat your heart out David Attenborough!

Also at Portpatrick was this display put on by the Dumfries & Galloway Blood Bikes. It's a charitable organisation set up by local volunteers to deliver essential blood and urgent medical supplies, in and out of hours, between hospitals and healthcare sites in South West Scotland and sometimes beyond. They were an impressive bunch, enthusiastic about what they do, and all for free!

This is my youngest grandson looking very sheepish as he shows me his sunburned arms, face and neck. This was after a walk with his college mates - they just didn't realise that you could get so burned while simply walking and not sunbathing. They are Sport and Fitness students!

Last photo. I just love this happy photo of grandson William and great-grandson Callum having fun in the sunshine. 

And finally - this sums up my spending habits perfectly :)

Hop you have a fabulously smiley week,