WOYWW Week 896/116 - Trip to Callender House & The Falkirk Wheel

Good Morning Everyone,

Happy WOYWW to you all. I hope it proves to be a good day for you wherever you are, here in the south west of Scotland it's cool and damp after the storms yesterday. Just how I like it. :) 

Correction. The heavens have just opened!

On my desk today are the supplies together with a selection of photos for the next layout. I'm trying to decide which photo(s) to use for my niece's album. Decisions, decisions! On the back to the left is a wee pile of scraps and a very scruffy stamping block. I intend to punch circles out of the scraps. Circles often come in handy as the base for clusters and it's so much better than tossing them in the bin. The block will get cleaned. 

Oh, and I've just notice on the far left, by the table lamp, is a tube of Nippon ant killer. There was an attempted mass takeover from a nearby nest of flying ants last week. I've nothing against ants when they are outside but to have them swarming all over my home, that's entirely different.

I've had less time for scrapping this week but here's one of the last pages made.

One of my niece for her album. The inspiration for this layout came from a sketch by one of my favourite YouTube scrapper's, Moira O'Reilly. I think she might have said it was her first attempt to create a sketch. Of course, I tweaked it a bit - I always do. The supplies were all I found in one of my kits - not a lot, but enough. 

What kept me from the craft room was that my daughter and son-in-law decided it was time to make the trip to Falkirk that had to be abandoned a month or so ago when the car broke down. That episode was recorded in this page. 

This time all went well and we were able to not only visit the beautiful Callender House in Falkirk, but also visit the Falkirk Wheel - a fantastic feat of engineering that might just be the eighth wonder of the world! I took 'hundreds' of photos of course. Here's a just a very select few,

I could post so many more from Callender House but best I stop now. Here's a couple from the Falkirk Wheel.

All such a brilliant experience and one I can heartily recommend to any of you planning to visit Scotland one day. 

I almost forgot, here's one for those of you over the pond. Smores cake on sale in the cafe in Callender House. It is the first time I've seen it outside the US! 

Note: I did not try it this time. Next time, for sure!

Finally, here's Silver keeping an eye on me in the craft room. 

That's me for this week. As usual, if you don't already do so, I urge you to join in with WOYWW. You can do this by clicking on this link, Sarah's Craft Shed, where you will be made most welcome.

Take care and have a fabulous week.

Elizabeth

WOYWW Week 894/114 - The Rose Grower

Hello Everyone,

Happy WOYWW to you all. I hope you are well. I'm happy to report that the temperature has dropped to a much more acceptable level up here at last. 

So what's on my workdesk today? That is, apart from the usual muddle of stuff around the working area. I think I need some shelving put up above the desk to hold all these untidy yet essential bits and pieces. Something definitely needs to be done!

Well, there's  a pile of recently completed pages. Yesterday, I forced myself to sit down and add journaling to each page and now they are ready to be filed in the relevant albums. 

On top is a stack of the lists I keep with details about each page made. They come in very useful when I'm posting pages online. 

Just under those is a plastic bag containing the the bits and pieces used in the making of the last scrap page. It includes some dies I used to make heart and butterfly embellishments for this page. The blue letters used in the title are from a set that are so old they are not dated. Producers didn't date scrapbooking products until fairly recently. 

The layout is based on a Premium Sketch from Scrap-a-Sketch. The photo is of my beloved Alan posing proudly under his favourite climbing rose.  He was a keen and knowledgeable rose grower. 

And finally, because I know she has her fan club among you WOYWWers, here's this week's pic of Silver.

This one was taken just after I'd brushed her coat. A service she demands regularly! She's  a very fastidious cat. 

As usual, I'll post this to Sarah's Craft Shed where you can see many much more creative workdesks every Wednesday. If you don't already do so, feel free to join in the fun and show us what's on your workdesk today. You'll be made most welcome.

Have a great WOYWW day and a fabulous week everyone,

Take care everyone,

Elizabeth

WOYWW Week 893/113 - Visit to the Isle of Bute

Hello and Happy Wednesday Everyone,

We're having a heatwave here in Scotland. It's nowhere as hot as down in the south of England, but with temperatures around 25C degrees it's more than hot enough for me. 

Today's desk, actually Tuesday night's, is a bit messy. Nothing that can't be cleared up pretty quickly. To the left are a few layouts I started months ago, last year in fact, but never completed. Mainly because they are Project Life pocket style and I've come to realise I don't really like scrapping that way. 

In the middle are a couple of page protectors containing bits and bobs left from the last two layouts made. My system is to pop items in the protector as I finish with them. It makes it easier for me to record them once the page is complete. 

This is a page I made at the weekend. The adorable puppy, Leigh, one of my grandson's fiancée's, is 6 years old now and quite grown up. The patterned background paper is an unbelievable 21 years old. Bought from a shop that shut down a long time ago. For the princely sum of 50p! Perfect for these photos of Leigh but I can't think why I've been hording it for so long. 

Yesterday, my daughter, SIL and I, took the ferry to the Isle of Bute for the day. We had a great time sightseeing round this small but beautiful island.

We especially enjoyed visiting this lovely house, Mount Stuart, and the gardens surrounding it. 

This stunning 'hedge' of hydrangeas edges the car park!

As usual, I'll just leave you with a photo of Silver, my early morning wake-up call today, and post this to Sarah's Craft Shed where you can see many more creative workdesks every Wednesday. If you don't already do so, feel free to join in the fun and show us what's on your workdesk today. You'll be made most welcome.

Have a great WOYWW day and a fabulous week everyone,

Take care everyone,

Elizabeth

WOYWW Week 891/111 - Organising Stash

Hello Everyone,

I hope you've all had a good week whatever the weather. Here on Scotland's west coast we've had rain which has brought the temperatures down - much more comfortable to live with. 

This morning my desk is looking reasonably tidy. That's because I've been sorting through and organising papers, scraps and embellishments in the hope it's easier to make better use of it all. This started with me looking for what I call background papers, i.e. those with little or no pattern on them. I'm not sure how fascinating this is to you as it is to me all but here's where I've got to so far.

Up until now the papers in these trays were sorted by colour and I'd got into the habit of shoving all the scraps in with whole sheets. It got messy, and time consuming, to sort through. Now it's just whole sheets sorted by theme, e.g. the seasons, special occasions, and, on the top tray, suitable background papers. 

Sundry patterned papers are now easily accessed on a trolley to the left of the craft desk, out of the weekly shot. On the top shelf there's the full 12x12 patterned sheets together with a few full size sheets of stickers, and, of course, essential treats for Silver!

Larger sized scraps are now in the middle shelf and narrow strips on the bottom. 

That left all those much smaller ones that are too good to toss but difficult to file tidily. 

It's scraps like these that got me in to cardmaking years ago, but I don't make cards now so I am trying to incorporate as many as possible into my layouts. Being environmentally conscious prevents me from tossing them in the bin!

The homemade kit I pulled out yesterday included a fabulous paper from the 'Carefree' collection by Heidi Swapp which now forms the base for this layout.

The theme of the collection is of a dry sandy desert. I'm nowhere near a desert but there's plenty coastal sandy beaches. The two photos here, from 2022, are of scenes from Ayr. The boat is of MVF Watchful, a historic herring ring net fishing boat which, though it looked abandoned in the river estuary, was in fact intended to be a monument to all the souls lost at sea. Sadly, since the photo was taken the boat has been, having been found unsafe, demolished and removed.  The second photo is of the South Beach sand dune area that was used in the making of an episode of the TV series, 'Shetland'. Both photos are mounted on scraps of paper - that's a few more saved from the bin!

Finally, as Silver isn't posing in the desk shot this morning, here's a pic that made me laugh.

She clearly thinks I've no right to be laughing at her!

To see more creative workdesks pop over to Sarah's blog, Sarah's Craft Shed. If you don't already do so, feel free to join in the fun and show us what's on your workdesk this Wednesday. You'll be made most welcome.

Have a great WOYWW day and a fabulous week everyone,

Take care everyone,

Elizabeth

WOYWW 890/110 - We're Having a Heatwave ...

Hello Everyone,

Happy What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday to you all!

Oh my, but it's hot here in Ardrossan! Too hot for comfort. I thought I'd spend the day in the garden yesterday but had to give up as the temperature rose to an uncomfortable high. Today looks as though it's going to be just as hot giving me no option but to stay in the craftroom where it's cool. Oh, what a shame!

This was what was on my desk yesterday. It's what's left of homemade kit no.9. That doesn't mean I've worked my way through nos.1-8 already. I'm just pulling them out of storage in no particular order. More fun that way. This kit had some Disney themed papers and sticker sheets in it which had me stumped for a while. The only time I've ever been to a Disney park was in 1984 and the photos from then were scrapped a long time ago. 

One thing I've learned from following Shimelle's scrapbook videos, it is that it is possible to ignore the theme of a paper collection, in this case Echo Park's 'Magical Adventures', and adapt it for use with non-themed photos. On this page the photos are of Alan cuddling our great-niece way back in 2012. She won his heart from the first too. Her mum has reminded me of how his singing of a naughty ditty made Arihanna laugh much to my embarrassment! Happy days. 

This is what my desk is like this morning. Silver has given it the once over and approved the next kit I'll be using. This one is no.116 and I had the foresight to label it with details of the contents, Echo Park's summer themed papers purchased from Hey Little Magpie in 2022. Just before we moved house. 

I'm still struggling to sort out the garden after months of neglect but despite that the roses are in full bloom and this one is a real favourite with the bees. This is a rose I inherited with the garden and I've no idea what it's name is. It's beautiful whatever it's called. 

You've already seen a pic of Silver today so I thought this week I'd introduce you to Glasgow's Scottie Dogs. 

And finally the one with the cone, of course!

There's a total of 40 giant Scottie sculptures and 52 wee ones on this free art trail around Glasgow. The large Scotties were designed and painted by local artists, the wee ones were created by local schoolchildren. All in support of Maggie's a charity that provides support to people with cancer, their family and friends. They will be on show until 16th August and then the large ones will be auctioned off to raise funds for Maggie's. The wee ones will be returned to the schools. 

Well, I think that's enough from me today.  More than I intended but I hope you enjoyed those photos of the Scottie Dogs. 

To see more creative workdesks pop over to Sarah's blog, Sarah's Craft Shed. If you don't already do so, feel free to join in the fun and show us what's on your workdesk this Wednesday. You'll be made most welcome.

Have a great WOYWW day and a fabulous week everyone,

Take care everyone,

Elizabeth

WOYWW Week 889/109

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all well and enjoying time at your craftdesks. Thank you to everyone for all the lovely comments welcoming me back last week. They were much appreciated.

This was my desk yesterday morning after I spent some time reorganising and clearing a space for Silver to sit/snooze on while I work. She loves to pop up and see me at work but she usually plopped herself down on the pile of materials that were kept over to the left. I think she likes making herself snug under the shelf. She clearly likes sitting on paper so I've forfeited that 12x12 sheet for her own personal use. 

My desk just a few hours later. I had been working on a layout and these are all the materials and scraps leftover once it was completed. Notice there's no furry friend keeping me company after all my efforts to make her welcome. It took no time at all for me to clear up so it's now as organised and tidy again as in the first photo. 

The photo in today's layout is of my middle grandson, Joshua, and his girlfriend as she was then, now his fiancee, Annie. It's dated 2019 - seven years ago and they've hardly changed at all! Having finished the first homemade kit I pulled out another to work on. I will just keep working through these kits for now because it is fun to discover stash I'd forgotten I had. The design is based on a sketch from Shimelle's Start With a Sketch classes - from a few years back. 

The last few days have been a bit warmer and drier too, Just a few light showers to keep the grass green! We take advantage of any good days and get out into the garden to potter. Well, I potter while Silver chases around after bees. 

And there are plenty of bees to see popping in and out of the foxglove flowers. I grew them from seed but, as they are biennials, I had to be patient and wait until now to see them in bloom. 

Sadly, much has been neglected and the weeds are threatening a takeover but I can only do a little bit at a time. I'm not fretting about it. It is what it is!

Now, I know some of you are just here to see Silver so here she is.

 As you can see she was hissing at another cat who had the temerity to stray into her territory. You can see her hackles are very much up. This is the kitty that used to welcome all her furry friends into the garden of our last house! The episode passed off without fur flying and the trespasser left unharmed. 

To see more creative workdesks pop over to Sarah's blog, Sarah's Craft Shed. If you don't already do so, feel free to join in the fun and show us what's on your workdesk this Wednesday. You'll be made most welcome.

Have a great WOYWW day and a fabulous week everyone,

Take care everyone,

Elizabeth

WOYWW Week 888/108

Hello Everyone

It's been a while! I won't bore you with the reasons why I've been missing except to say I've gone through a difficult period health-wise which affected my ability to concentrate on the fun things in life. However, I'm doing much better now and feeling more my old self again. In fact, the last month or so has seen me starting to get back into scrapbooking, reading and even a little light gardening!

So, after all the months of neglect, it's great to be able to show you my busy desk covered with evidence of scrapbooking in progress. There's several completed layouts, a pile of paper scraps and some photographs that I plan to use on the next layout. 

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you will already have seen that I have been taking an online course, Shimelle Laine's Clear the Desk Live. I hoped it would get me scrapping again and it well and truly has! I won't post all twenty pages made so far,but here's just one because the subject is very dear to my heart.

Love this photo of Alan when he was indeed the family handyman. Here he was showing me the herb rack he made for our daughter, Juli. He also made one for our kitchen which is still in use today.

I'm keeping it short this week as it's the first time back in a long time, but I will leave you with a photo of my beloved cat Silver. 

She's proudly posing in front of the painting made for her by my granddaughter Shari. 

To see more creative workdesks pop over to Sarah's blog, Sarah's Craft Shed. If you don't already do so, feel free to join in the fun and show us what's on your workdesk this Wednesday. You'll be made most welcome.

Have a great WOYWW day and a fabulous week everyone,

Take care everyone,

Elizabeth

WOYWW Week 847 - Not a Lot to Show

Hello WOYWWers, Followers, Everyone

It's true. There isn't a lot for me to show on my desk this week, or, for that matter, any other week recently. I'm finding it tough getting back to the fun things when there's still so much other stuff needing my attention. both here in the flat and outside in the shed. Those boxes seem to be bottomless! 

Anyway, enough of my moaning. What's on my desk is the beginnings of a new layout. The photos are of my mother and her older sister, taken sometime in the 1930s. The papers and alphas are leftovers from a kit I used earlier this year to make another page.  When will the layout get done is anyone's guess but it's there waiting for me and my mojo to return.

Silver enjoying a blissful moment of sunshine. We've had a lot of rain in the last few day. I believe the slab she's sunning herself on covers a well of sorts but for her it's just the perfect sunspot. She brought me a present the other morning. A live vole! I know she was only showing me how bringing home food should really be done - there's no need for those trips to the butcher's after all - but I'd rather she didn't. I was able to catch the poor wee thing, take it out to the garden, and set it free. Hopefully, it survived the trauma. 

Finally, the funnies - these make me think of how Silver must have felt when I rejected her wee pressie this week.

A really bad-tempered cat cake! 

That's enough from me today. To see more creative workdesks pop over to Sarah's blog, Sarah's Craft Shed. If you don't already do so, feel free to join in the fun and show us what's on your workdesk this Wednesday. You'll be made most welcome.
Have a great WOYWW day and a fabulous week everyone,

Take care everyone,

Elizabeth

WOYWW Week 845 - A Busy Week

Hello WOYWWers, Followers, Everyone

I hope this finds you all well and that you've found the time to be more creative than I have these last few weeks. That's not to say I haven't been busy. I really have. There's just no scrap pages to show for all the busy-ness! Instead, I've forced myself to tackle the black hole that is the shed at the top of the garden. There's boxes in that shed, the contents of which haven't seen the light of day since October 2022. Contents like the file of stencils and box of shimmer mists that can be seen on my desk this morning. I can't tell you how delighted I was to find them again!

I've been tackling the emptying of one box at a time with the aim to clear the shed completely by the end of August. It's been quite the eye-opener too. The shed is leaky, not to mention crawling with spiders, and far from the ideal place to store anything, let alone my lovely crafty stash! The plan is to replace it with a new, clean and dry, shed once everything has been sorted and cleared. 

Rain, rain, go away. 

Come again another day.

Storm Floris and the generally bad weather that followed has meant there's been very little gardening done. Everything got a thorough drenching and was looking bedraggled following the high winds. 

But, now the sun is out again and the garden is getting over the damage, flowers like these sweet peas and cornflowers have perked up again. 

Here's a photo taken from Saltcoats this week.

I'm not sure what the RNLI were doing up our way but it's always concerning to see the lifeboat out. There's been no news report, so I think this time all was well. 

What with storms, fires and the frequent appearance of the rescue services, there's rarely a dull moment here in The Three Towns.

But on a quiet summer's day there's nothing lovelier than the South Beach, Ardrossan.

Silver hated the stormy weather.

She's over it now and off out chasing butterflies. 

And finally, 

This mirrors exactly how we both felt during the horrible weather.

Silver has perfected the above!

That's enough from me today, I'm sure. To see more creative workdesks pop over to Sarah's blog, Sarah's Craft Shed. If you don't already do so, feel free to join in the fun and show us what's on your workdesk this Wednesday. You'll be made most welcome.

Have a great WOYWW day and a fabulous week everyone,

Take care everyone,

Elizabeth