What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 495

Hello Everyone

I'm posting early for WOYWW this week and here's why:

My desk! It's immaculate!! I thought I'd let you see it like this ... it's a miracle!!!

And here's why it is now so clutter free:

The new trolley. When I spotted this beauty in Hobbycraft's Black Friday sale I just had to have it. And now it is the holder of all the clutter that messed up the desk.

Here it is in it's new home:

On the left of my desk ready to be wheeled out when required. The EM is well impressed.

It's getting cold and frosty in these parts so I've started having a real winter warmer for breakfast - porridge oats. Trouble is the bowl gets too hot to hold - not good.  Here's the answer to that little problem - a bowl cosy.

I whipped it up this evening using very easy instructions from Happy Hour Stitches.

No book review this week. I'm downloading Christmas themed books in advance with the intention of bingeing throughout the festive season. They'll make a change from the crime thrillers that I've been sharing recently.

If you haven't participated in What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday before but fancy joining in the fun do pop over to the Stamping Ground where you can find all the information you need here. It's really too easy, post a photo of your desk, tidy or messy it doesn't matter, and add your link to all the others. It's fun, you'll see.

In the meantime, have a very happy WOYWW and a great week ahead.

November Rudolph Day

Hello Everyone,

Hard to believe but here we are at the last Rudolph Day for 2018. Despite missing a good few Rudolph Days this year I'm always pleased to join in with everyone over at Scraps of Life by Scrappymo whenever I'm able ... if only because it helps cut down on that last minute panic that's almost inevitable in December!

This is another of my thrifty makes using up scraps of supplies and stash not used before too. The topper is another of my pre-embossed ones - the folder, Winter Wonderland, is an old one, a magazine freebie that I hadn't used before. The greeting was stamped on the topper with a Memories black ink pad, and turquoise ribbon was wrapped around the lower part, before matting it on to aqua card trimmed to fit the front of a white base. The three crystals adhered to the right of the ribbon are the finishing touch.

I thought the embossed topper looked so nice I made another two cards exactly the same.

In A Vase On Monday - More Hips

Hello Everyone,

It was too frosty this morning to cut anything from the garden and I was thinking that I'd have no vase to share today. But it's warmed up since and, except for in the shadiest corners, everything has defrosted enough to find a little material for one tiny vase. So, happily, I'm able to join in with Cathy, Rambling in the Garden, after all.

While I was raking up leaves from the lawn a few days ago, I spotted these hips on the rose 'Happy Retirement'.  They are smaller than those in last week's vase but the colours are great - very bright and cheerful.

As it gets colder the roses are going over and each week sees fewer blooms but R. 'Eternity' is proving fairly impervious to the colder weather and there was one last pink bloom -  on a bush with no label, but judging by its delicious scent it could very well be R. 'Felicia'.

The brightly coloured foliage is from, R. 'Suzie' which is proving to be a climber with year round interest. The 'vase' is, in fact, a jug in the shape of an owl that suits this week's floral headdress.

If you have enjoyed this post, and would like to see what others have in their vases today, do please pop over to Cathy's where you will find links to many arrangements more beautiful than mine.

Christmas Card Club Challenge - All Wrapped Up

Hello Everyone

Challenge 24 for the CCC has been set by Carol - All Wrapped Up. This theme is open to personal interpretation so I've chosen to use these cosy mittens. 

 I've used a square aperture card - to make it look less plain it's been stamped with a snowflake from the Forest Magic stamp set that I have used several times before. The white ink is Frost White from Color Box.  

I've had the stamp set, a Christmas 'Tinchie' from Personal Impressions, for a few years but somehow, cute as it is, it's never been inked up until now. Using a black Memories ink pad, it was stamped out twice, once for the topper and the other for the embellishment, on two scraps of patterned paper from a My Mind's Eye Six by Six pack, Darling Dear (2011), and coloured with a Poppy red Promarker. The cuffs are embellished with white Fluffy Stuff. 

The greeting was stamped in black and punched out with a Stampin' Up label punch. I found a tiny snippet of red card which made the perfect mat for the greeting. I used the same punch for this but snipped the label in half before fixing it to the back of the greeting ... it's a trick I was shown at a Stampin' Up class a couple of years ago. 

As the marker bled through to the back of the paper, I stamped the mittens on to yet another scrap of the paper, coloured and then trimmed to just big enough to cover the marking on the inside left of the card. Another sheet of the paper was used to cover the inside right. 

I would like to submit this card to the following challenges too:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge #340

CHNC challenge 413

Thanks for popping in. Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday. 

Scrapbook Page - Clouds over Dunure

Hello Everyone

I wasn't able to join in with Julia et al over at the Stamping Ground for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday yesterday. I was visiting my sister instead and by the time I got home it was too late. Never mind. There's always next week.

Today is another bright, sunny and sharp day. The sky is a beautiful blue with just a few fluffy white clouds floating by, which reminded me of this page made for the summer scrap challenge.

Clouds Over Dunure

I've probably said this before but I'm saying it again, we are privileged to live where we do, on the west coast of Scotland, not least because we get to enjoy the most stunning skies. This shot was taken down at one of our favourite little harbours, Dunure. What could be better. The stunning background paper is old and I forget what it's called but it could be from a BoBunny collection. The rest of the papers are from the scrap box. The clouds and the camera were stamped with blue ink then cut out to fix to the page with dimensional adhesive. The enamel dots and titles were also from old stash. Still being thrifty.

I'm off to my craft club now - it's all go here.

Happy Christmas Card

Hello Everyone

It's another lovely day here. The sort of day that beckons me out so I think I'll be off for a wee walk after lunch.

In the meantime, I have this quick make to share.

All the supplies were rescued from the scrap mountain. I found the card used for the upper part in the 'already embossed' box.

Supplies used:
- 5" square white card base, from Papermania - used to form a tent shaped card.
the pre-embossed card for the upper part
- scrap of very old patterned paper for lower part of the card, from the Papermania A5 Penelope & Percy pack - also trimmed along the lower edge with the X-cut scallop punch
- a scrap of turquoise petersham ribbon used to cover the upper and lower join
- lacy snowflake paper trim from Siesta Craft - once self-adhesive but so old there's no adhesion left
- snippets of aqua and dark teal card for the poinsettia and greeting
- one aqua gem for flower centre

Tools:
- embossing folder, an old favourite, Kars Ice Crystals from Cuttlebug
- X-cut 4cm scalloped border punch - used to trim the lower edge, back and front, of the card base
- Xyron 150 - used to give the paper trim back it's stickiness
- dies - Spellbinders Poinsettia set and the Happy Christmas greeting
- die-cutting machine

From the two lists above you will have not failed to have noted that I've been raiding old stash. And that is true of just about every card I've made this year. I can't see the point of buying new materials and tools when I have enough of the old to last me a lifetime. Especially when the papers are still gorgeous, the trims & embellishments are still usable and the embossing folders and dies are still my favourites. The bonus is, savings from such thrift help me to Royal Mail's ever increasing postage rates!

I'm entering the card to the following two challenges:

Sweet Stamping Christmas - November Challenge

CRAFT Challenge 491

Edited Note: I did set out for a wee walk but got no further than the garden where I ended up pottering around for an hour or so. 

(Not) In A Vase On Monday - Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Hello Everyone,

Monday again and time to join in with Cathy, Rambling in the Garden, sharing what's in my vase today. Only it definitely isn't a vase this week.

I've had this Rumtopf pot for many years and have to admit that it has never contained the fruity alcoholic concoction it is designed for. Today it's filled with a simple bunch of rose hips from the climber, Arthur Bell. It's a huge climber that grows to about fifteen feet in height. Actually, I think it grew way past that this year, probably due to the very hot summer. It also flowered so much more than in previous years too giving us this lovely harvest of hips.

The pot is too big to put anywhere but on the hearth.

If you have enjoyed this post, and would like to see what others have in their vases today, do please pop over to Cathy's where you will find links to many arrangements more beautiful than mine.

Sunday Snippets with Winter Botanicals

Hello Everyone ...

... and happy Sunday too. It's another beautiful day for us - dry and sunny with just a wee bit of a chill in the air. Perfect for autumn.

I'm still beavering away at the Christmas cards - needs must! Today, I have a set of four featuring a very pretty embossed topper using one of the folders from Winter Botanicals from Sizzix - a set of four.

This is one of the smaller folders which is just the right size to create a topper. Some time ago - many months ago in fact - I had a wee embossing session with scraps of card that were stashed away in my snippet box. When I dug out the four I've used here I thought they needed a bit of colour so I painted them using Winsor & Newton watercolours. Once dry I matted each topper on to a layer of red card - more scraps from the snippet box - before fixing them with dimensional adhesive to the card base which I'd already decorated with red gingham ribbon and a greeting. 

Here's a shot of some of the supplies used. The greeting is from the Forest Magic stamp set. The flowers and buds were embellished with Dovecraft's black enamel and yellow Stickles.

I've used a selection of cardstock to emboss on - watercolour, smooth white, satin - actually whatever came to hand at the time. Interestingly, the paint behaved differently on the various finishes but I rather liked that - the cards are all the same but different.

As it's Sunday and I've used snippets of card - even the red card used for matting is from different sources - I'm popping over to Pixie's Snippet's Playground  to submit these cards to Di's Challenge #339.

Pennant Card for CHNC Challenge

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are having a super Saturday.

Here's the card I've made for Hazel's CHNC challenge 412 today. We have a choice of theme: 'either anything goes as long as it's Christmas' or something beginning with 'H'. I've opted for anything goes.

I have to admit that this is an unapologetic lift of an original design by Wanda Cullen of Cullen-ary Creations. I was struck by Wanda's card a few years ago, remembered it - and that is nothing short of a miracle at my age - thinking it was the perfect design to use up scraps of leftover papers.

Supplies used:

• white cardstock trimmed to 11½" x 4½" folded in half to create a tent style card base
• scraps of patterned paper from an old Memory Box 6x6 pack - possibly Christmas First Edition - trimmed to various widths and lengths, with ends trimmed into fishtails to create the pennants
• another scrap for the topper, with greeting stamped in black - Memories Dye Inkpad- and cut with a label die - Spellbinders Petite Labels S3-205
• scrap of smooth red cardstock, also cut with a label die from the Spellbinders set. This was used to mat the greeting onto, creating the topper
• two small metal brads for the the topper
• green satin ribbon to tie around the top of card
• adhesives - the pennants are attached with a flat double-sided adhesive tape and the topper is attached with foam dimensional tape

For much more inspiration do check out Wanda's blog - her creations are lovely.

Friday Smiles

Hello Everyone,

I'm late with this post today - we've been out on a trip into the country to take a look at the venue for our grandson's wedding a year from now. And what a beautiful venue it is too. Here's few pics.

The Lochside Entrance

The view of the loch

Inside the venue

The hotel is in the most beautiful lochside location and the room where the wedding will take place looks right down on to the loch. I can't think of a lovelier location for a wedding.

On the way back we stopped off at out favourite garden centre just to admire the Christmas decorations. 

Well, we did have a coffee while we were there too - it would have been rude not to!

And finally, on Remembrance Day we drove down to Ballantrae to give Alfie, the donkey, a treat.

Alfie is guaranteed to make us smile every time we see him. To see many more reasons to smile do pop over to Annie's, at A Stitch In Time. I'm sure she will be delighted if you shared your smiley posts with her - the more the merrier!

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 493

Hello Everyone,

Well, it's a perfect day for WOYWW here - wet and miserable! I don't know about where you are but here in South Ayrshire the weather pattern seems to one of alternating between the perfect sunny but nippy autumnal days and the equally perfect crafting days - that's the ones where you dare not step outdoors without donning wellies and waterproofs! Much better then to spend those days creating a mess on the workdesk.

Although it's not so messy this week. Oh there's still the usual pile on the right. This one is all Christmas related - a box of scraps and a stack of paper pads. The pack of sticky-backed gems is still there after the latest card making session. Top left is my 'bullet journal'. It's coming on with an index, the month, to-dos and a of list of UFOs (unfinished projects) I'm working through. What it isn't is decorated and it's not overly ambitious either - I know myself too well for that. At the front is the Creative Palette I found tucked away out of sight, sad and forgotten - why? I recall enjoying playing creating with it once or twice. However, I've forgotten how to use is so I think a trip over to YouTube is called for. Not now. Not today. But soon.

Talking of UFOs. I'm on a mission to finish as many as I can before 2019. This is the Attic Windows  quilted cushion begun at the start of this year - before the EM became ill. There wasn't much to do to finish it so I got stuck in yesterday and got it done. The first item ticked of on that list.

And now for something a bit different in the book bit. Not an audio-book - though I'm still bingeing on thrillers - but a real book, a hardback in fact.

I spotted 'The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way', by Gabriella Bennett, during a visit to the garden centre at the weekend. The word 'coorie' took me back to my early childhood in a instant ... it's a word that conjures up feelings of warmth and comfort ... so for that reason alone, I had to have this book.

If you are, like me, a devotee of hygge - the Danish way of cosy living - you'll love this book. Forget the tartan and twee that is usually associated with Scotland, this is a beautiful written and illustrated book giving a fresh perspective on Scottish culture.





If you haven't participated in What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday before but fancy joining in the fun do pop over to the Stamping Ground where you can find all the information you need here. It's really too easy, post a photo of your desk, tidy or messy it doesn't matter, and add your link to all the others. It's fun, you'll see.

In the meantime, have a very happy WOYWW and a great week ahead.

Scrapbook Pages - Wellesley Winter

Hello Everyone

It's a perfect autumnal day here today and the EM is out pruning the climbing rose down at the bottom of the garden. It's been reaching for the sky and become far too unmanageable so he's decided to take it in hand! I hope you're enjoying an equally lovely day.

I made these scrap pages whilst on holiday in Wales. The photos are from 1996, in Wellesley College, Massachusetts, 22 years ago, so it was way past time to sort them out, scrap them and get them in the album.

Winter Memories

Sparkle

Snowy Campus 1

Snowy Campus 2

The last two are a double page spread so I've put the journaling on the first page. Most of the papers were from the same very old collection, 'Sweet Winter Season' by StudioLight, purchased from an online store that has now, unfortunately, closed down. Sigh. The embellishments are from stash and from various sources. Some are made from the few punches I took with me on that holiday - mainly round and heart shaped.

Take care and enjoy the rest of your day.

In A Vase On Monday and Not In A Vase Too

Afternoon Everyone,

Monday again and time to share with you and Cathy, Rambling in the Garden, what's in my vase today. And because Cathy has thrown us a bit of a challenge today I have a 'not in a vase on Monday' too. 

First, the vase.

And for a change it is a real vase and not, as is more usual, a jug - the charity shop find with an illegible maker's mark on the base that I've used several times before. I've filled it with golden twigs from my little beech tree, centaura montana, two roses ... 

... - a red one called 'Faithfull' ... 

... and a nameless yellow one. 

And the fruit of the ornamental quince, Chaenomeles - a shrub we inherited with the garden. All very autumnal looking and very cheery at this time of the year. 

Now for the challenge Cathy gave us to 'present a (not) vase today'. Because I've not posted a vase for a while this challenge took me completely by surprise this morning. A bit of thinking - actually a really lot of thinking - I spotted this wee bowl - definitely not a vase.

I'm not sure what you would call it. Maybe a trinket bowl or perhaps, because the delicate swirl of colour through it, a finger bowl. It's one of my little collection of Caithness glass and yet another charity shop find. 

With the help of a some floral foam I've filled it with the tiny scented flower heads of the Viburnum tinus 'Eve Price' which is, after a couple of years, well established and blooming beautifully. 

If you have enjoyed this post, and would like to see what others have in their vases today, do please pop over to Cathy's where you will find plenty links to many arrangements more beautiful than mine.