What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 674

Hello WOYWWers, Fellow Crafter's and All,

It's been a long while. I've missed participating in Julia's WOYWW over on The Stamping Ground while I've been taking a bit of a break from blogging . I hope this finds you all well and that you enjoyed all the recent holidays. 

And here's what's on my desk today. 

Not a scrapbook project as you might expect from me but a stamping one instead. I spotted this stamp on Instagram a few weeks ago and just had to have it. It's from The English Stamp Company - not one I'd heard of before. 

I have made seed packets before, years ago, using a Microsoft programme I no longer have since I changed computer. So stamping onto blanks seemed a good alternative. The seed packet template was found online - there's a lot to choose from, some with the design already done for you. Who knew! Not me. There's a lot of very helpful gardeners blogging just this sort of thing. 

It's springtime here in Scotland. Time to be sewing seeds so you might be thinking I'm a tad early with plans to harvest them. Well, not so. Our many aquilegia plants are just about to flower and in a few short weeks will be setting seed. It's never too early to get cutting out and making up more of these wee packets ready for the harvest. I'm thinking they will make lovely gifts. 

And talking of the garden, here's Silver enjoying playing among the weeds. 

And smelling the new leaves of a clematis.

She is enjoying the better weather, as am I. It's so good to get out in the sunshine and Silver likes the company. Saying that, today it's drizzling.

No book this week. It's not that I've not been reading/listening, it's just that I haven't prepared. I'm out of practice. For the same reason, there's no funnies. Note to self: must do better. 

An update on our health issues here. Alan is still struggling. He is in constant pain, source being investigated, and he has a really troublesome cough at night which interrupts his sleep (mine too). As for me, apart from being sleep deprived, I'm doing okay. 

I hope you are all well and enjoying the better weather - I'm so glad winter is finally over. Apologies to those of you down under where winter is on its way. 

Take care and stay safe. 

Christmas Card Club - Cards 1&2/2021 - Kraft Challenge

 Hello Everyone,

I promised in yesterday's post that I'd be back today for the Christmas Card Club Challenge. Today Kate has set the challenge for us to use Kraft on our cards if possible - otherwise it's anything goes. Happily, a search through all my bits and pieces unearthed some much forgotten scraps of Kraft cardstock that made lovely backgrounds for these two cards.

 

Materials used:

• two white card blanks measuring 53/4"x4" (Papermilldirect)
• scraps of Kraft (background) & white (topper) cardstock, 
• embossing folder - background on first card - Diagonal Stripe Background (Darice)
• scrap of alcohol ink blended card for matting topper on first card,  products used used: Adirondack Juniper ink, Gold Mixatives & Alcohol Blending Solution
• scrap of tartan patterned paper (Stampin' Up's Plaid Tidings 6x6 pad)
• scrap of hessian (Dear Lizzy New Day mixed media pad)
• snow scene& greeting stamps (Stampendous' Winter Stags set from Issue 90 of Creative Stamping Magazine)
• ink pads in shades of brown & green (Versafine's Vintage Sepia & Olympia Green and Adirondack's Noel)
• embellishments - printed ribbon, White Opal Liquid Pearls and Zazz! Honeycomb glitter glue

I had a lovely time going through a couple of boxes of past 'trials and experiments' to uncover the embossed card and the leftover scrap made with alcohol ink. Old stuff but good stuff. 

The Adirondack Noel started life as a Rainbow mix of Cranberry, Mushroom, Bottle & Lettuce ink colours. Over time, however, the colours have merged together - a lot! It now stamps in shades of brown - it's interesting if not as intended.

I'm submitting the first card to Di's challenge: Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge 393 - all those old scraps must qualify.

And also to Hazel's challenge: Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge 523 - that alcohol inked piece is positively ancient!

That's it for today. I hope you will pop over to see what my teammates have created this week. You'll find a list of their names and links on my right sidebar - as always they are so much more creative than I will ever be.

Take care everyone. 

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 533

Morning Everyone,

I'm early! Given my usual tardiness, I think that's worth noting. So another week has whizzed by. it's WOYWW day and my desk has a mess of this and that on it again - again.

The photo was taken an hour or so ago when the light wasn't as good as it is now (despite the weather forecast for torrential rain the sun is shining and all looks well in our part of the world) but I think you can see the mess clearly enough. There's a teetering pile of scrapbooky - is that even a word - stuff top right. I should move it before the sun does damage. Front right is my most recent scrap layout - I plan to file it in an album next time I go downstairs - that'll will be when I need refueling with tea. To the left of the teetering pile is a wee stack of stencilled pieces. Last week I was 'experimenting' with texture paste, paints and ink sprays, you can see them piled up on the left, for layouts so I scooped up and smooshed card scraps with the leftovers. There's also a pile of photos, behind the keyboard, printed late yesterday - the eagle-eyed will recognise that those on top are from this year's WOYWW crop. Some, all, hopefully, will be scrapped this week.

And just so you don't think those stenciled bits and bobs are wasted, here's a few cards I made with them this week. Oh, yes, it's not all scrapbooking!

The background for this one was made with Ranger's opaque matte texture paste that had two acrylic paints, Vicki Boutin's 'Blue Hawaiin' and 'Juicy Pear', and iridescent glitter paste, also Vicki Boutin, added. The stencil is an old one, That Special Touch 'Chevrons'. The topper is made with a fun stamp, 'Birthday To-Do List' from Crafter's Companion - found at The Range.

The background to this is simply sprayed with gold ink, Heidi Swapp's Color Shine. I believe this has been discontinued - shame, it's one of the best gold sprays I've found yet! The leaf, more of the texture paste tinted this time with just the 'Juicy Pear' paint, is from Dark Room Door's 'Carved Leaves' and the stamp, 'Get Well Soon' is another gin themed one from Crafter's Companion. Never let it be said I'm not up with current trends.

On this last one I've used more of the 'Carved Leaves' stencil. It's very simple but I do like those leaves as they are and without embellishment.

And now the book bit. This book is one I listened to quite some time ago but it's stayed with me - probably because I'm a sucker for any book that has a dog, or cat, in it. Kate Spicer's Lost Dog: A Love Story is about a rescue dog, a lurcher called Wolfy, her relationship with him, and the lengths she went to find him when he went missing while he was in the care of her brother. Reviews for this book are mixed. Kate Spicer is a journalist who knows how to tell a story but the prologue is perhaps just a bit too honest, describing as it does her cocaine-fuelled life-style, but there's no doubting her love for Wolfy and it's the search for him that held my interest to the end.

That's it for today. Until our next Whizzday, I wish you all a wonderfully crafty week

Gelli Plate Print card - Sweet Sixteen

Hello Everyone

I'm enjoying using up the Gelli plate prints as much as I enjoyed making them - playing with paints and inks might be messy but it's also fun.

This card was made for my granddaughter's 16th birthday. When I spotted the stamp set being given away with a copy of Making Cards & Papercraft magazine I just had to have it. The stamps reminded me so much of Shari.

Supplies used:

Front:
- base - white card
- layering & butterfly die-cuts - hot pink glitter card from American Craft's Dear Lizzy New Day Mixed Media pad
- background - piece of gelli plate print left over
- topper - smooth white card; Sweet Samantha stamp set - described as a motivational stamp set - from Making Cards & Papercraft February 2019 issue; ProMarkers - Blossom, Burnt Sienna, Cinnamon, Cool Grey 1, Ice Grey 1, Rose Pink, Satin
- Dies - Rectangle die set, butterflies from a set from a magazine
pink gems

Inside:
- Creative Dies - Number dies and Special Celebrations stamp set

Because the Gelli plate print had already been created some time ago, this was a quick and easy card to make.

This is another scheduled post while I take a break from the craft desk. I'll be back soon but in the meantime I hope you are having a great week.

Christmas Card Club - Cards 6/2019 - Festive Food

Hello Everyone,

It's another Christmas Card Club Sunday and Lorraine (Rainey's Craft Room) chose today's theme - Festive Food. 

Once again the theme threw me into a spin - another impossible challenge! I was convinced I had nothing related to festive food in my stash but, as you can see, I was so wrong. What's more festive than a cup of hot chocolate and a gingerbread man for dunking. 

Supplies used:

- a 5" square white card base

- red/white patterned paper to cover the base, trimmed to leave an eight inch margin

- a square of white satin finished card embossed with a snowflake die. This was my first try out with the thin die (from China) and it failed. The card was too thick and obviously needed the addition of a shim to create more pressure. Still, I'm glad I saved it because it made a very nice background for this card

This close up shows that I tried putting it through my die-cutting machine twice, the second slightly off - a rookie error!!!

- a scrap of blue card for matting the topper

- scraps of white card for the topper, gingerbread man and sentiment

- stamps from Winter Wonderland stamp set

- ink pad - Archival Ink Jet Black

- colouring - Spectrum AquaMarkers in reds in Crimson & Scarlet, Peacock blue & Fawn

- embellishments - dark blue gems

I cut a slit round the rim of the 'mug of chocolate' to slip the stamped, coloured and fussy cut gingerbread man into place. I used sticky tape to keep his feet in place and put a small piece of dimensional tape behind his head so he didn't get squashed when the card is in the mail. 

Please pop round to the other ladies' blogs to see their beautiful creations ... the links to them are on the right side bar. Fortnightly we post a Christmas card - the plan is to get ahead and avoid the last minute stress at the beginning of January. 

Thanks for popping by - your visits are much appreciated. 

Christmas Card Club - Cards 3 & 4/2019 - Fairy & Robin

Hello Everyone,

It's been quite a while since I've been able to blog anything - another lung infection bad enough to prevent me from doing much more than cough. Happily, I can report that I'm now almost completely recovered and normal service can be resumed!

And I have a twofer for you today because, unfortunately, I wasn't able to post a card for the last Christmas Card Club challenge. Firstly, here's the card for this week, CCC no.4, which is based on Gwen's challenge - 'birds'.

Actually, I've only managed one bird so I hope that passes muster. I found this bird stamp in a set and thought that coloured appropriately it would look like the perfect Christmas robin.One of my all-time favourite Penny Black stamp creates a very nice wintry scene.

Supplies used:

• a white A6 card base (Docrafts) portrait orientation
• stamps - Berry Red, Snow White (Penny Black); Winter Woodland stamp set (Craftstore) - leaf and bird; Forest Magic - greeting
• inks - Memories Black; Memento Rich Cocoa; Versafine Olympia Green
• card - white for stamped topper; red for layering; scraps of smooth white for bird and greeting
• paints - black, brown and red Spectrum Noir Aquatints Nos. 63, 40 & 11 for bird 
• embellishments: black 'pearl' for birds eye; Xmas Red Stickles for 'berries'

The second card, CCC no.3, should have been posted two weeks ago for GranMargaret's choice - 'angels or fairies'. I'm not a fan of either angels or fairies so I very nearly ended up going for the fallback of 'anything goes'. However, after a lot of digging around in my stash I discovered this fairy topper.

I also dug out of a box of 'experiments' the piece of embossed vellum used as a layer on the card. It started out as a sheet of plain white vellum but a long time ago, in fact two printers ago, I used desktop publishing software to change the colour to pale blue. This was in the days before it was possible to source coloured vellum - now it's easy to find online.

Supplies used:

• a white A6 card base (Docrafts) landscape orientation
• card - blue and red for matting and layering; scrap of white for greeting
• papers - red/white check from Those Characters from Cleveland (2012); pale blue vellum
• embossing folder - Snowflakes Cuttlebug) 
• topper - this cute fairy image is one from a set bought from an online store several years ago (source forgotten)
• embellishments - red peel-off greeting; red/white gingham ribbon; turquoise enamel dots

Right, that's me caught up with the Christmas Card Club challenges. It's so nice to be back and fit enough to participate again. The ladies in our Christmas Card Club will be publishing their cards too. To save the stress of the last minute dash in December we make a Christmas card every two weeks and posting it on our own blogs - see the list of links on the sidebar to the right.

There's quite a whiff of Spring in the air today so hopefully that's an end to the winter blues. The EM certainly thinks so - he's planning ahead by putting the picnic chairs in the boot of the car ready for the better weather.

Thanks for visiting - I really appreciate it.

Post Christmas Blues

Hello Everyone,

It's not that I'm feeling post Christmas Blues. We've just booked an early summer break so quite the contrary. However, it occurred to me that now the Christmas festivities are over, and before the New Year fun begins, I should change this blog's header again. And I've gone for a wintry scene that is decidedly blue.

This time, instead of relying on Serif Craft Artist to do all the work, I made the background myself using a mix of inks, stamps, stencils and embossing powders.

Supplies used:

• smooth white card trimmed to 8¼ x 3¼ inches
• stencil - Imagination Craft's snowman scene - this is quite an old stencil which features snowflakes, a winter bare tree and a snowman which I omitted from the header.
• VersaMark watermark stamp pad
• embossing powders - Docraft's Seafoam White, Wow! Bark Regular and a set of Frantage Encrusted Enamels in Teal
• ink pads - Memento's Espresso Truffle & Danube Blue
• Denim Gentle Blend (Pinflair)
• stamps: Winter Woodland - birds in branch; Forest Magic - rabbit; I cut a 'winter wonderland' stamp in two to use the word 'winter' on its own on the background
• title was computer generated

In fact, I liked the finished background so much I thought it would make a great winter birthday card.

To make it, I simply created a base from smooth white card measuring 8½ x 4 inches, matted the header piece on to dark brown cardstock and added a birthday greeting, stamped in blue on white card and also matted on the same dark brown cardstock.

All that remains of 2018 is for me to say is that -

I wish you and yours 

Health, Wealth and Happiness in

2019

Happy New Year !

Get Well Cards

Evening Everyone,

Why is it we never have any 'get well' cards when they are needed? Could be that, like 'sympathy' cards, we hope there won't be a call for them. Well, this week the call came so I set too and made one for now and one spare.

This one is made almost entirely from scraps. The topper was based on a scrap of white card with brushstrokes of aqua watercolour paint which was leftover from another project. I over-stamped using Penny Black's 'Aspire' stamp- an oldie but a goody - and two shades of ink, first in 'Peacock Feathers' distress ink and then black Memories ink pad. The dies used to cut out the topper and it's mat were from a stitched square set from The Works. The greeting is from an embossing folder and stamp set, 'Sweet Roses', which came free with a magazine some time ago.

 I stamped out this greeting - from 'The Best of Card Making Magic' free with Issue 9 of Love Cardmaking - with the intention of using it on the first card but decided it really didn't suit the topper after all. Instead, it made the beginnings of this one and the colours in the llama patterned paper, 'Cactus & Llama' 8x8 pack from The Range, went well with the aqua and teal cardstock used to mat and layer the topper. I've been itching to use the llama die, another find from The Range, for some time - they are a bit of fun. I cut it twice, in aqua and teal, and glued them together, just offset a little to allow the darker teal show through, and added two tiny aqua gemstones to the 'eye's of the llama. The upper right corner of the card is embellished with three larger turquoise gemstones.

All the cardstock is from papermilldirect online, my favourite card supplier, and the white square card bases are Papermania from The Range.

I think I've covered all the supplies used but if I've forgotten something you want to know more about do let me know ... I'm happy to answer any questions.

Hope you've enjoyed the weekend and will have a wonderful week ahead.

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. 

Winter Cottage - A Rudolph Day Card

Evening Everyone,

At last, a card! I can't remember the last time I made a card but as the temperature falls I am reminded that Christmas isn't so far away and it's time to get cracking on cards for the occasion.

This card is made entirely from scraps and snippets saved from bigger projects. The spattered background piece is the result of having too much ink leftover when making a Summer Challenge scrap page ... it would have been criminal not to use it up so I flicked it on to some white card and stashed it away in my odds and ends box.

Materials used:
- a selection of white and green card scraps
- a Scenic Stamps set, Woodland Cottage - a magazine freebie
- Memento Tuxedo Black and Versafine Olympia Green ink pads
- a selection of ProMarkers in brown, green and red colours
- X-cut Square nesting dies and The Works stitched & scalloped square die set
- Crystal Stickles

The little trees were stamped and then fussy cut out to create embellishment cluster and I used a fine brush to 'paint' the Stickles 'snow' on to the roof, etc.

As I'm not too late I'm submitting this card to Maureen's September Rudolph Days Challenge, over at Scraps of Life by Scrappymo.



 Have a lovely evening everyone.

Create Art Card - More Enamelled Letters

Evening Everyone,

Surprise, surprise! I've made a card. It's been a long time.

I'm so enjoying trying out this new to me technique for changing the colours and enamelling letters I thought I'd try them out on a card.

It's very much a scrap card. It's made from bits leftover from some of the layouts I've been working on recently. For example I made up far too much red paint for one page so I took a wide brush and brushed it in wide strokes on a scrap of watercolour paper with no idea of what it's future use could be. The black and white patterned paper used as a layer under the topper was another scrap looking for a home.

Supplies used:
- an A6 size blank white card base
- the scrap of watercolour paper
- the red Winsor & Newton paint
- Darkroom Door Collage 'Create Art'
- Archival black ink
- American Crafts Alphas Memo 'Newsprint' chipboard thickers
- a red Sharpie marker
- Stampendous Transparent embossing powder
- American Crafts Brush Tip embossing pen
- the scrap of black/white patterned paper from Craft Sensations Chalkboard Basics

This close up shows just how glossy the letters are after being enamelled.

Now I'm off to look at a sewing project now while I have a few minutes to spare.

Have a lovely evening and take care.

Sunday Snippets - Sharing a Guest Designer Make

Morning Everyone

I'm delighted to have been asked to guest on the Design Team over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop where our lovely playground head, Di, hosts a fortnightly challenge to us to use our snippets - of which, I have a mountain! If you popped over from there, thank you, and here's the card I made for this week.

This card was made using the Make A Splash die, stencil and stamp set that came free with this month’s Papercraft Essentials magazine, Issue 158. This design is loosely based on card that also appears in the magazine ... I've adapted it to use up some of the many snippets of spotty paper in my stash. I got a bit carried away so there's several more pairs of Wellies waiting to make a few more cards.

I used the following supplies to make it:

- one white card blanks, 5.25" x 4" used tent style

- the Wellingtons boots were stamped with a Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad on three different coloured spotty paper snippets and then they were fussy cut out.

- the three puddles and the raindrops were die-cut from snippets of aqua cardstock ... there’s a tiny die for the raindrops – great for the teensiest weensiest snippets.

- the greeting was stamped, again with the black ink pad, on a scrap of white cardstock, then trimmed down to size.

- the topper base is white cardstock trimmed to measure ¼" smaller all round than the card blank

- to assemble the topper I started by positioning and gluing the middle puddle and the green and pink boots to the topper. Next the left and right puddles were positioned in such a way that they just overlapped with the central puddle. The blue boots and the greeting were then attached with sticky fixers to give a bit of added dimension. Finally, I used some wet glue to position the raindrops fairly randomly.

- finally, the topper was adhered with sticky fixers to the card front.

Here's another card I made to use up a few more pairs of Wellies.

Here's what I used to make it:

- a 5" square card blank made from black cardstock cut to 10" x 5" and folded in half.

- a scrap of white cardstock trimmed to measure 4¾" x 4¼".

- Ranger's distress inks - Weathered Wood and Storm Sky - and Memento Tuxedo Black and London Fog ink pads

- as well as the Make a Splash set I used Designs By Ryn's Water Droplets (CM-T3) stamp.

- the background to the topper was made by brushing the piece of white cardstock with the two distress inks then stamping it with the Water Droplet in London Fog.

- two puddles and raindrops were die cut from a snippet of black card and the two greetings were stamped, using Tuxedo Black, on a scrap of white card.

- to assemble the topper I glued the two puddles at the bottom of the inked/stamped card. Next, the black polka dotted boots and the pink striped ones were glued down on top of the puddles. The red Wellies were then adhered using stick fixers, again to give a bit of dimension. The topper was then attached to the upper front of the card blank, leaving a ¼" margin around three sides and approximately ¾" at the bottom.

- finally the two greetings were trimmed to size, layered on to some leftover red polka dotted paper and then adhered to the card using sticky fixers.

The polka dot papers are leftovers from two fairly old 6" x 6" packs, Crafts Too Dots and Stripes Designer Pack and dated 2012 Raspberry Road Summer Goodness (the red one). The pink stripe is from a sheet of 12" x 12" Echo Park Dots & Stripes Bubblegum Large Dots. 

Here's a shot of the snippets I pulled out to use for these cards.

Needless to say, I've only used a fraction of them even though both cards are almost entirely made of scraps. I don't think there's much chance of me bottoming the scrap mountain any time soon!

Snippet Sunday

Hello Everyone,

I thought I'd have more cards to share with you for Pixie's Snippets Playground today but recent events have conspired against me. Instead I have just this two.

I used a part of an embossed sheet of card - Hunkydory I think - which came free with an order for ... it's so long ago I've forgotten what!

The base was made from a sheet of aqua card trimmed to create a 5" square tent style card. I cut the sheet of embossed card making best use of the design, trimming it to leave a ¼" border all round. The greeting topper is made up of two scalloped circles cut from a M&C Boutique die set (The Works), one from a snippet of silver card and the other from a piece of teal leftover from trimming the card front, and topped with a circle punched from a snippet of white card stamped with the greeting. The butterfly was also cut from a snippet of silver card using an X-Cut Dinky Butterfly die.

This card was made to use up the card base that I'd decorated, several years ago, with a flourish that I'd stamped in pink ink and then in Versamark and embossed silver powder. I made the topper using the tiny '4 You' embossed and die cut piece - found during the craft room sort out. I think the embossing folder & die came with the Cuttlebug and I've had that a good few years now. I wanted to layer it onto the same shade of pink as the ink on the background but a thorough search of my ink pad collection and I still haven't found it. So I've compromised with Pinflair's Hot Magenta Gentle Blends blended over a scrap of white card and cut out with a stitch edged square die, again from M&C Boutique. To finish the topper another larger square was cut from silver card.

So there you are. Two cards made from scraps and snippets and old bits and bobs found stashed away and forgotten. I can't say I'm making much of a dent on all the bits I've unearthed during the clear up but I'm enjoying the challenge and, bonus, there's now e a few more cards ready to use when needed.

Hope you are all having a lovely Sunday.

January Rudolph Day Cards

Morning Everyone,

If you've read my previous post you'll know why I'm so late posting these cards for January's Rudolph Day challenge over at Scrappy Mo's Rudolph Days Challenge. I know we are only allowed to submit one for Mo's challenge so it will be the first one but I'm adding two other cards to this post because I like them.

This first one was made using some pretty dies from The Works and stamps from the Winter Woodland stamp set that came with a Craft Beautiful magazine.

The toppers on these two cards are upcycled from cards received two Christmases ago - if I like something I keep it!

For this one I've used a selection of papers from the 6x6 paper Memory Box collection Spiceberry layered on some much treasured light green card - Di from Pixie's Crafty Workshop sent me many moons ago and believe me it's used sparingly.

This last one has such a fun topper - love Rudolph's nose. I think the background paper is from a very old Docrafts Papermania pack and the red card used for layering is from the scrap box mountain.

That's it for this month. The EM is recuperating nicely so all being well, I'll be posting earlier for the February challenge - maybe even on the 25th!

What's On Your Desk Wednesday - Week 446

Ah, the last WOYWW before Christmas and it's a super busy time for me and, no doubt, for you all too. So, such as it is, here's my desk today.

For much of the week it's been the present wrapping station hence the Sellotape dispenser and dish of labels. It will stay there for the time being, there's still some last minute wrapping to do. Every year I vow to be more organised and every year I fail ... miserably. There's a reason, too, for the fabric, old jeans and alphabet templates ...

Zipper bag made from old denim jeans decorated with an appliqued letter - the initial of the recipient. I've filled this one with toiletries.

I've also been busy batch-making cards.

I think it is safe to show these today as I believe they should have been received by now. These were for the UKPC craft group swap for Christmas - the theme being animals/birds at Christmas. They involved lots of stamping, die-cutting and gluing and it was the nearest I've ever come to a production line!

That's me done for this week. It just leaves me to wish you all a wonderful holiday whatever you are doing and however you celebrate. No doubt there will be lots of messy desks and happy photos to see next Wednesday.

In the meantime, Happy WOYWW to you all.