Friday Smiles

Hello Everyone,

Happy Friday. Despite the, mainly, atrocious weather I have had lots to smile about this past week so thought I'd join Annie with her Friday Smiles.

I really enjoyed a cuddle from Ebony on a recent visit to my daughter.

She's big, massive actually, but very affectionate and a complete softy.

I had a foot care appointment in town on Tuesday which necessitated another visit to the Book and Bun - it's tough but needs must. I spotted this lovely little quilt hanging on one of the walls.

It perfectly sums up what the cafe is all about.

Directly opposite the cafe is a newly opened alteration shop. Olga's Alterations. Olga, who has recently relocated from another part of town, has put together two striking window displays. Unfortunately, the reflection from across the street spoil these shots but I thought I'd share them anyway.

I loved the old sewing machines and the antique wedding dress is quite stunning too. The tailors' dress-form dressed in an outfit made from men's ties made me smile. Olga tells me she sourced everything in the windows from charity shops, including that wedding dress!

After we had our lunch at the cafe we decided to go down to the shore, The tide was in and it was wild there.

Bitterly cold too.

Seems like there's another storm on the way, Jorge. Like the everyone else in the UK, we are now heartily fed-up with these storms and hoping Jorge will be the last. Despite having plenty to occupy and entertain me, even I'm starting to suffer from too much indoors and not enough outdoors. Spring really can't come soon enough.

Almost forgot this:

Who's up for the challenge!

Take care and, for those of you in the flooded areas, stay safe.

WOYWW - Week 560

Hello Everyone,

Wednesday again and, at last, I can report that it's a lovely day. There's fluffy white clouds in a blue, blue sky and the sun is shining. It's still chilly out there but it feels like spring in my craftroom and, given that it's Julia's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, here's what's on my desk today.

I admit I've tidied up after the cyber crop that took up much of my weekend. Working against the clock leads to nothing but chaos here in my room. The pile of empty Stampin' Up DVD boxes are a new acquisition, just delivered yesterday. I've been increasingly frustrated with my stamp organisation or, more correctly, lack of organisation - it had got well beyond useful. Spotting Sarah's beautifully organised stamp storage last week was just the inspiration I needed to do something about it. Time to get sorting - I just have to decide where to begin!

The layout is my interpretation of the fifth challenge from the weekend. Appropriately for today, the subject is WOYWW.

Crops 2017, 2018 & 2019 recorded with the group photos for each year. Those photos of so many happy, smiling ladies, are reminders of how much fun these get-togethers are.

I've been slowly sorting through stuff since the start of the year.

I've re-jigged the contents of this trolley and now I have all my packs of alphabets in the one, easy to access, place. They are filed, more or less, by colour - very helpful.

And now I have the mixed media/painty stuff on one shelf and markers and pens on another.  So much better than being spread about all over the place.

And finally - a few posters that have made me smile this week.

That's it from me this week. I'm off now to see what Julia and our fellow deskers have been showing us today.

Take care everyone and have a great week ahead.

Catch up after the MTS Cyber Crop

Happy Monday Everyone

Hope you are having a good day. It's not a bad day here. Dull and chilly but calm -  probably the proverbial calm before the next storm - expected any day now. Makes a nice change after what we've had to put up with over the weekend - hail, snow, torrential rain and gale force winds. Lucky for me then, that there was the Mind The Scrap cyber crop on Facebook to keep me indoors and busy over the weekend. Not that I managed every challenge - I am, without doubt, the slowest scrapper on earth - but here's the four pages I did make.

Challenge #1 - My Handmade Bags

This one gave me the opportunity to record a few of the many bags I've made since treating myself to a sewing machine about five years ago, and rediscovering the joys of making projects with pretty fabrics.

Challenge #2 - Deah Dudi

For this page I took a trip down memory lane with a very old photo of my children. I can hardly believe that it was taken 46 years ago. The page is about Alun's nicknames for his baby sister, Juli - Deah and Dudi. Coincidentally, her husband, who is profoundly deaf, calls her Dudi to this day.

Challenge #3 - Joyful

Memory lane was well trod this weekend. Going against the trend for outside shots, we had our official wedding photographs taken in a studio and, as you can see, this shot benefited from the camera's soft filter. It captures the happy occasion perfectly and is probably our favourite shot taken that day.

Challenge #4 - Tree Sculpture

The photos I've used here were taken on a day trip up the coast to Arrochar on the coast of Loch Long. We discovered this tree trunk chainsaw sculpture in the car park there - possibly the car park with the best view in the country.

That's it. Four pages in all. Not a lot considering some participants managed all 19 challenges, but I'm pleased with what I accomplished. It's the participating that makes it fun. The materials were, in the main, from MTS kits.

I'm on a roll now so I think I will keep going and see if I can complete all the challenges over the next few weeks. You never know, I might get them all done before the next cyber crop. Unlikely, but I'll be trying my slow best!

Take care everyone, and given the weather forecast for the UK, stay safe.