Seeing Spots - Weeks 27 & 28 Christmas Cards

Good Evening Everyone,

Just a quick post this evening. After settling back into the craft space again I've been bringing my Christmas Card count up-to-date with these two cards.

Two cards made from the same piece of card, which had been lingering in my stash for long enough. Because the pattern of Christmas baubles is so busy I really couldn't figure out the best way to use this sheet of double-sided Papermania Baubles card. However, when I saw that Hazel of Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge (CHNC) was asking for spots I thought it would be ideal. And because I was a week behind I made two cards.

The first  is made using the card as the base for a front fold square card. The stamp for the topper is a freebie from Craft Stamper, stamped on white card, coloured with ProMarkers and matted and layered onto black card and the blue/white paper,  Papermania's Bauble/Polka which teams with the card.

You can see the fold better from this angle, I think. The greeting is a peel-off matted and layered in the same way as the topper.

The second card is a tent style and I've used many of the materials from the first one with the addition of some blue Core'dinations, embossed with Papermania Mini Polka folder and sanded, for the topper base. I simply cut the Baubles card into three equal pieces and matted and layered them with black, blue and red card, same with the greeting - thank goodness for my guillotine :)

I've decorated both cards on the back as usual and the tent card inside too.

So there they are - two quite simple cards, and both fulfilling the remit for spots. I think they would both be quick to make for anyone but me - I always take so long to decide what card to use, what paper to use and what the layout is going to be that it takes me just ages to complete any one of them.

I'm off now to have a break and a brew. I hope you will all have a lovely weekend and that the weather is kind to you although we have been promised stormy rain here and I can see the wind is building already.

Happy crafting,

WOYWW 110

Good Afternoon Everyone,

Never mind the week, where has the morning gone! It was the hairdresser's today and I've been rather busy over the last week. Apart from a trip out to see the Red Arrows do their thing and the Tall Ships set sail from Greenock - if you haven't seen the photos see my previous post here - and another trip to Dunaskin Heritage Centre, photos yet to be posted, yet another corner of the craft space has been made over and that took the better part of a week to complete. Which is why there is not much to see on my workdesk today - a few bits and pieces and a print of Jo's, better known as Twiglet, fabulous Postcard from Wales collage which arrived this morning.  Anyone interested in seeing other folks' workdesks should visit Julia, Headkeeper of Workdesks, at Stamping Ground, and follow the links - but be prepared, it could take some time! What follows is, for anyone interested, the makeover:

This is the old, well worn, falling to bits computer desk. As you can see it was compact. Everything was tucked under it - originally it had doors at the front which was fine when it occupied a corner of the lounge. However, it really took up quite a lot of space when the doors were open so they had to go for it to fit into this wee room, which only measures about 7.5' x 8.5'. As you can see there's a lot of stuff packed into that corner, computer and all it's component parts, laser printer and several reams of paper - and that's just the desk. On and under the shelf on the right hand side is a TV & DVD player (to watch crafting DVDs/videos only!) and the colour printer, underneath is a drawer set that not only holds all sorts of lovely crafty stash but had yet more paper, etc., on top. It all felt a bit of a muddle and there was just no room to stretch my legs under that desk - it had to go.

And go it did! All that lovely space to fill - but only after the EM did his handyman thing and fill a few holes, etc. And here's what we filled it with.

Not a desk, but a really sturdy table which gives me more usable worktop to play with and plenty of leg room underneath. The really useful plastic drawer set is tucked underneath it, and the TV is still in the corner when needed, but I have moved the computer screen off centre so I can see the birds at the feeder outside and the hard drive is on top of the desk - easier to see what I'm doing there too. When not in use the keyboard, etc., sits on top of the hard drive leaving space to work on. I've even got a dedicated Cuttlebug Corner.

And, here is the first sight of the set of drawers recently purchased on a trip to IKEA - now just in front of the Cuttlebug corner.

Ta Dah!!! All filled up and labelled with contents. The colour printer has been re-sited on the top of the long worktop next to the window.

And this is a view of my usual perch.

Makeover complete. And I'm really chuffed with the result - it now looks a whole lot less like an office and much more like a craftroom and, a real benefit, I can stretch my legs whilst blogging. And, best of all, was what it all cost, £19.99 for the drawer set and, bargain of the week, the table was only £7.49 from our local Age Concern shop - total £27.48! How good is that? : )

Unfortunately, I only managed one scrap layout this last week and was beginning to get withdrawal symptoms so, now that the makeover is done, I should be able to get on with some serious crafting. Besides, once more I need to catch up on making Christmas cards - I'm behind again :(  But first, I'm off to visit as many of you good folks as I can - I actually did rather better last week despite the disruption so, hopefully, I'll do better again this week.

In the meantime, I wish you all well and a very happy and productive week ahead.

Red Arrows and Tall Ships

Good Evening All,

We have had a wonderful day at Greenock, near Glasgow, watching the Red Arrows display and the Tall Ships leaving Greenock to sail up the west coast of Scotland, through the islands and on to Orkney and Shetland. Warning, this post is fairly photo heavy.

The display from the Red Arrows was awesome. The weather was a might chilly but it was worth the suffering to watch what must be the most daring display of aerobatics ever. Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera ran out before I got some pics of the red, white and blue vapour trails - pity because they were spectacular!

This is the Irish Warship, Orla, which has escorted the Tall Ships from Waterford in Ireland.

One of the tugs that put on a display of 'water waves'  to bid farewell to the Tall Ships as they left Greenock today.

One of the fabulous tall ships surrounded by small vessels that came to say goodbye.

The most spectacular ship of them all, Gloria - that really is the crew standing on the masts.

The crew, mostly teenagers who seem to be having the time of their life, all wear brightly coloured tops making a very colourful sight.

What started of as a chilly kind of day warmed up as the sun decided to come out and play too. The journey home took hours though because thousands of people came out and parked up along the coast for miles to watch the procession of ships sail down the Clyde and away.

Hope you enjoyed seeing my wee record of  a truly fantastic sight that I would not have missed for the world - even though it cost us £15 at the Park & Ride!

Off for a much needed brew now.