WOYWW Week 437

I need a longer week! There is simply not enough time from one Wednesday to the other for all the stuff I have to do and all the stuff I want to do. That said I wouldn't want to miss joining in with Julia's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday ... I love seeing what fellow crafter's are, or are not, working on every week.

This week it's a desk of two halves for me. On the left half I'm trying to make cards ... well, I have some supplies out with every good intention of catching up on Christmas card making. I'm so far behind it's a disgrace. If I don't get a move on I'll be forced to BUY them and that just would not do! That's my new 'smarter-than-me' smartphone in the blue case - getting to know all it's ins and outs is taking time - too much time.

There are a couple of sewing projects on the right half of my desk. I've been making little dog blankets out of a fleecy blanket using an old curtain to line them. Molly, the puppy, has been keeping me very busy indeed. The little pink toy, though much loved, has been treated so roughly an amputation has been called for. Sadly, I can't do anything for it's missing tail.

Here's Molly abusing a the bag for life we keep her toys in. Just like a toddler she prefers the bag to the toys.

Except for when she's snoozing she rarely keeps still long enough to get a good photo. I keep hoping to get one good enough to add to the sidebar but so far there's not been one, despite my attempts to bribe her with treats.

Happy WOYWW and have a wonderful week.

Penny Black Poinsettias

I've been itching to try out the new Derwent watercolour pencils and waterbrushes I brought back from our trip to the Lake District this summer but, what with one thing and another, it's taken me until now to find the time.

To make the topper, poinsettias were stamped randomly over the piece of white card to create the background then they were coloured using red, green and yellow pencils and a waterbrush. When dry, it  was glued to a layer of red card which was then attached to the front of the card blank.

On a snippet of white card a single poinsettia was stamped which, when dry, was fussy cut before being stuck, with glue gel, to the central poinsettia on the background. To add a bit of sparkle yellow Stickles was added to the flower centres. To finish, a greeting was stamped in black on yet another snippet of white card before it was punched out in an oval shape. To give the greeting more definition the red pencil run round the edge before adhering it to the right hand corner of the card front.

Supplies used:

- a white A6 card blank from Docrafts Papermania with matching envelope
- red and white cardstock for the topper and greeting
- stanp set - Penny Black Wonder Collection
- ink - Memento Tuxedo Black 
- Derwent Academy watercolour pencils - Red, Dark Green and Cadmium Yellow
- a No.2 Derwent Waterbrush
- adhesives - Pinflair Glue Gel & a double sided tape pen
- yellow Stickles glitter glue
- punch - Stampin' Up oval label

I enjoyed the watercolouring so much I decorated the envelope to match.

It's been a while but at last I have a snippet card to submit to Pixie's Snippet's Playground.

Happy Crafting

In A Vase On Monday - October's Unexpected Delights

Today's In A Vase On Monday, for Cathy's meme on Rambling In The Garden, is full of unexpected delights - that is unexpected for the month of October!

After waiting all summer and finally giving up on dahlia 'Moulin Rouge' suddenly there it was this morning, just one stunning bloom. Not looking exactly as depicted on the packaging - the image had a white petaled centre with a 'skirt' of bright red - it's still a striking combination of orange and creamy white petals.

Yet more surprises were in the sudden appearance of blooms on the rosa 'Canary Bird', the yellow rose with the most attractive foliage, and astrantia 'Buckland', both flourishing I suppose because of the warmer than normal temperatures we've been enjoying lately. And geum Mrs Bradshaw, despite having the September chop, continues to produce her cheery orange flowers.

Other roses continue to bloom too, for example, creamy 'Elina' and 'Simply the Best' which is a wonderful burnt orange colour, perfect for this little arrangement. And next to 'Simply the Best' is my favourite white rose, 'Tranquility'. There hasn't been a single bloom for a month or two but suddenly there was this lone and lovely flower, just like 'Canary Bird'.

The white jug, inherited from my mother, though nothing special is really useful. Most flowers look good in it.

With a storm forecast, the downgraded hurricane Ophelia, I had, for once, no qualms about cutting everything that was still in flower this morning. The chances of them surviving the ferocious winds that are now howling through the garden are few. Better that they are in plonked in vases around the house than out there taking a battering. I've even stripped the sweet peas - they are now filling the hall with their wonderful perfume. Much nicer than being blown to bits.

For more, and better, arrangements do check out Rambling in the Garden.

WOYWW Week 436

Hello Everyone,

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday again and once more I'm wondering where the last seven days have gone.

And, in truth, not much has changed on my desk since last week. Out of shot, on the right, is all the stuff I took to the crop still waiting to be put back. The only bit of creativity I've had time to do is a some colouring though this did mean I got to try out the Derwent watercolour pencils and water brushes, brought back from our trip to the Lake District, at last. And very nice they are too. I do, however, have a seriously good reason for any lack of crafting.

Meet Molly, my new crafting companion. As you can see, she's made herself very much at home already - and she only moved in on Friday! I should say, she's not normally so restful but she's tired out after this afternoon's walk. It won't be long before she's awake again and demanding cuddles and play.

She's certainly keeping us on our toes and life won't be quite the same ever again. We are still getting used to her routine - and the complete disruption to ours - but already she's wound us both round her little paws.

That's me done for this week. Short and sweet - just as Julia likes our posts.

Wishing you all a very happy WOYWW and a great week to come.

Friday Smiles

Friday's a happy day. It's where the weekend starts and where, for many, the working week ends and, happiest of all, it's the day we exchange smiles with Annie at A Stitch In Time who always seems to have plenty to smile about.

Last Saturday we had a wonderful smiley time at the WOYWW crop - see Wednesday's post for all the pics - but all good things have to end sometime and so it did for us. We took the slow road home, quite literally as our SatNav only wanted to take us through Liverpool so we had to turn back towards Chester to reach the M6, taking two days to get here. And sad though it was to leave all my lovely friends, old and new, in Wales it was good to be going home too. It's great to go away, but it's just as nice to come home again. Here's some photos showing the stand out points in our homeward trip.

The sight of this mountain always signals that we're nearing the Lake District. It was a damp day but it still looked good to me.

Then we drove through this gorgeous rainbow! It was just the most delightful welcome to the North of England and cheered me up immensely.

We kept hitting rain and it was blowing a gale by the time we reached The Shap Summit, signalling that we were now pretty high. Though, as we were on the northbound side of the motorway, not quite as high as we would be were we southbound. For some reason the road is split there and the southbound road is definitely higher at that point.

Soon we were past Carlisle and this very welcome signpost appeared - we were back in the old country and almost home.

Finally, not the best photo ever, but I thought you might like to see our hitchhiker. This little guy hitched a lift with us all the way from Wales. Hope he is enjoying his sojourn in Bonnie Scotland.

Now for this week's funnies. I thought the first was appropriate as I'm making ratatouille today,

And this last because, after last weekend's day of sheer indulgence (check out the pic of table just groaning with goodies in Wednesday's post to see what I'm talking about) I'm on a diet and it's testing my culinary skills somewhat.

So that's some of what made me smile this week. Hope you've found lots to make you happy too.

Have a wonderful weekend.

WOYWW Week 435

My desk today!

What you see on it, that is apart from the permanent residents at the back, is what was the contents of the tote I optimistically, and somewhat naively as it turned out, took down to Wales for the WOYWW Crop. I thought I'd get a few Christmas cards done. I thought six hours is a goodly amount of crafting time - surely! Ha! There was lots of chatting, tea, cake, chatting, tea, lunch, chatting, tea, cake - and precious little crafting going on. And talking about tea, cake and lunch, many thanks to Margaret, Glitter and Glue, for making us so welcome and putting on such a lovely spread - it was all scrumptious and too tempting!

We had a marvellous day at Llandudno, (photos at the end of this post) met up with old friends and made some new ones too. The EM thoroughly enjoyed the day too.

Here's a few of the goodies from the 'Take Me Away' table. Christmas paper and stamps - I couldn't resist!! The cutest Scottie dog key ring was made by Annie (Wipso), the fabulous cat decorated pebble was from Jan (LLJ) and a beautifully covered notebook was my raffle prize (sorry, I never did find out who it was made by but it's fabulous and I love it).

ATCs were exchanged plus a super tag with images of geese on it from Sarah (The Craft Shed). From top left to bottom right are the ATCs from Dolores, Margaret, Christine, Neet, and Anne.

I wasn't being entirely truthful when I said I did no crafting all day. I did, after instruction from Annie, try a bit of 'dumfing' and this it the result ... it's a bit naive but maybe I could improve with practice.

And finally, as promised, here are a few photos taken on the day.

Julia doing her welcome speech - teetering on a chair!

Jan and Julia

Annie showing Jan & Julia how to 'dumf' 

Christine and Sarah on the left and Eva and Anne on the right

Julia's mum's stamps on the 'Take Me Away' table on the left
 and the superb lunch supplied by Margaret on the right

WOYWWers busy crafting/chatting in the hall

Julia and me enjoying a wee chat

As seen on many a WOYWWer's blog this week,
 the group photo for WOYWW Crop 2017.

A lengthy post this week but that was to be expected after the crop. Many thanks to everyone - it was a wonderful day. Would love to do it all over again.

Like Julia, my desk has post crop blues and it would seem I left my mojo down in Wales. If spotted, kindly return it to Scotland - I need it back here 'toot sweet'!

In the meantime, I wish you all a a wonderful WOYWW and a great week ahead.