WOYWW 715

 Valentine's Day yesterday, WOYWW Day today - such a busy week.  Hope you all had a nice (romantic) meal yesterday we had one courtesy of Morrison's Meal Deal and very nice it was.  I was impressed by the Prosecco which went down rather nicely with the Coq au Vin and Gooey Melted Chocolate Centre Sponge Pud!

Tonight it is a nice simple quiche and salad but we are here to talk about our desks rather than food, so here goes with my desk:

On Saturday it was club day and we had the lovely Jo Rice as our tutor and she certainly did not disappoint.  We were reintroduced to using Brusho's and our Lavinia images as you can see from my desk above.  The ones on the left are Jo's samples which she kindly loaned me so that I could show the ladies who were absent for one reason or another, what to do.

The ones on the messy paper are mine, one is still to be finished.  I've had a bad neck, it doesn't like being in a downward position for long and a day at a workshop comes at a price.  I will be getting my Brusho's out today and finishing the last one off,  Then I bought a magazine featuring some of Jo's work so I will be doing some more Lavinia samples later on.

Talking of my bad neck, the chiropractor recommended I got a box pillow which I did, and some Tiger Balm - but this other cream arrived which we had seen advertised in the TV times.  Well, no idea which it is, the pillow or the new cream but my neck is definitely much better.  Of course, it could be the chiropractor and all the work she did on it with the hot stones that has done so well.  Perhaps a culmination of all three.  Will see what my normal chiropractor has to say when next I see her.  Lindart - I really feel the box pillow has helped - that's just another name for the side sleeper pillow apparently.)

I will leave you there for now and see you next week when we once more celebrate WOYWW and snoop on others desks.  Toodle Pip!

Jeudi Journal - Chocolate

Mmm.... a lot of hard work went into this journal page.  We had to buy and eat a Terry's Chocolate Orange in order for me to have the wrapper.   Only kidding, it was pure chance that we had bought a Chocolate Orange, and in the 'dark' form as Chas prefers milk.  I am the one preferring dark chocolate - what do you prefer?

Anyway, I did think of using a chocolate wrapper when I suddenly remembered this box in the cupboard and so it got dismantled, so glad it had not been thrown away.  I went around the figure of the girl in black pen, like some Journallers do to try to make her stand out a bit as she was dressed in red also.

As you can see I gave the page a border of hearts (yes, I was going to use a different figure and have it portrait style - oops!) from one of my Aall & Create stencils and the comment comes, as always, from one of Tim Holtz' Snarky Comments Book.  I had to smile when I stuck the figure down as I had cut carefully between her legs to allow the colour to come through from the page underneath - it turned out to be exactly on a white spot on the wrapper - drat!

and so the story goes ...

"It was Valentine's Day and Naomi was feeling a bit glum.  She had just eaten her way through a full Terry's Chocolate Orange and was halfway through a bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate.  Her boyfriend had sent her a basket, not of roses, but of chocolate. He knew how much of a chocoholic she was and he also knew that she was the kind of active girl who did not put an ounce of weight on despite her eating habits.  She was glum because Harry couldn't get time off work to take her out that night.  He was a lovely guy and was working overtime whenever he could to save up to buy her a lovely present, they wanted to get married when they were old enough, and at the moment they were looking at engagement rings.  He was sure that by the time she was eighteen he could afford the one she wanted.

Her mother, on the other hand, was not happy with her eating so much chocolate - and in one day too.  So she had voiced her opinions on Naomi's chocolate binge.  On entering her bedroom her mother had seen the discarded Terry's wrapper and was ready to have harsh words with her daughter.

"Before you start", said Naomi, "I am not going to eat any more chocolate before dinner.  I know how you get angry and think I will turn down my veggies, but I won't.  I promise."

"It's not just that" replied her mother, "one of these days you will find that it isn't as easy to lose the pounds as it is now and you will be overweight - and probably have spots.  The more you keep on eating chocolate the more you will get addicted to it."

"Oh mum, don't get carried away like that, I can give up eating chocolate whenever I want to.  Besides which Harry bought it for me because he knows I love these little treats, and it is Valentine's Day after all."

"You think that now, I can tell you, from past experience, that once you get hooked on something, like chocolate, you find it hard to give it up.  I have always had a sweet tooth and I have to be very careful what I eat.  Why do you think I mentioned getting fat and having spots?"

"Mum, you are worrying unnecessarily, I could give up chocolate but I'm not a quitter"

"That's easy to say, Naomi, but you  just wait, you will see - and by then it will be too late.  Anyway, dinner will be ready in ten minutes so you had better get washed and down the stairs by then.  No more chocolate!"

I must say I love chocolate, it is a weakness of mine and the easiest way to deal with it is not to have it in the house.  Does that sound familiar to any of you?

WOYWW 714

Back again with another WOYWW where I am showing my desk.  Saturday is Club day so I am getting things together as I have a busy week on and might not have time to get my bag all packed up if I leave it to the last minute.

Tuesday saw my chiropractic appointment cancelled owing to a bereavement with the owners but I managed to bag one with a different chiropractor and she certainly worked on the knots in my neck. She also told me to start using Tiger Balm on my neck so I got some (the red one), love the smell of it (cloves) but not sure everyone in the vicinity will.  Another thing was a side sleeper pillow from Bensons Beds so that is something else I must try.  Anything for this pain to lessen. 

Afterwards we tried the new Indian Street Food Chain Chaiwalla, ok - but not as good as Mowgli which is definitely my favourite.  (Must try the Dishoom, if I have got the name correct, recommended by my lovely niece.)  So much so that I did nothing but sleep when I got home.   Originally my old line manager was going to the same chiropractor today, Wednesday, so he and his wife were calling to see us on there way home.  Now we are meeting up and going for a meal so that is Wednesday afternoon taken care of - guess who will be asleep again in the early evening?  I'll catch up on my comments when we get back.

Thursday we are meeting up with a group of friends for another meal out, early evening and then Saturday is the class.  Going from completely stay at home, nothing happening for ages to a week like this is making me feel tired just thinking about it.  Gosh what a boring life I normally have.  Must be old age doing it to me

I did manage to do another picture, with the aid of Jo Rice, since I blogged last week.  It was all about perspective and depth.  Again not happy with the first one so I did a second one but as that is in my journal now - I will have to let you see the first one.  Also had to do a quick sympathy card for the chiropractor which is underneath too.  Apart from that we are up to date so I'll leave it there and go back to sleep.  Just 40 winks you understand.

The card above, did have a "Thinking of You" message on the front and a few nice words on the inside.   I felt it was plain and simple which is how I mainly do a sympathy card. The picture I did is below.  Guess it will get used for a card for someone sometime.  

That's it for this week folks, see you next week God willing,

Jeudi Journal - Judge

 Well, this is a new month and a new theme over at Art Journal Journey by the lovely Erika - which is "Red".  She explains it does not have to be ALL red and luckily for me she said pink will count too.  Lucky because I had my page already painted pink.  All that was left was to add lots of red and work around the Snarky comment by Tim Holtz, "Don't judge me".

"Bettina and Priscilla were best friends, best friends all through nursery school and now into senior education.  They lived only four houses away from one another and were either on the phone with one another or at one or the other's house.  They even went shopping together especially when they wanted new clothes and other girly things, and so, consequently, they often dressed very similarly.  Bettina was the younger of the two and her taste in clothes often reflected that whereas Priscilla favoured more practical styles.  They both adored 'red' and if at all possible they bought all manner of clothes in that colour.

It was a pleasant Saturday afternoon when the two girls met up at Bettina's house, as usual they spent ages getting ready in the bedroom.  Hair and eye makeup had to be just right before they went into town in case they met with some of the other girls from school.  Both were dressed completely in varying shades of red and Bettina couldn't wait to show off her new handbag which was perfect for the upcoming Valentine's day.  

She was the more sensitive of the two girls and had been somewhat upset when Priscilla arrived.

"What's the matter?" asked Priscilla, "I can see there is something wrong, obviously you have something on your mind."

"Oh, it's nothing" replied Bettina, with a slight catch in her voice.

"Nothing Betts?  I know you and can tell when something is bothering you.  Come on, we haven't been best friends for so long without me knowing when there is something wrong".

"Well, you might get angry and say something if I tell you."

"Promise I won't fly off the handle" said Priscilla, "I'll just listen and then we can work out together what to do about it, no getting super annoyed promise."

"OK" Bettina said.  "You know the twins down the road at number 11, well they have been rather nasty to me.  It's always the same when I am on my own.  So I did something rather silly."

"Oh no, what did you do?"

"You will be angry when I tell you.  Don't judge me".

"I won't' replied Priscilla, wondering what on earth her friend had done.

"OK, promise not to fall out with me.  I put a dead mouse in the sports bag of one of them, the one with the big nose because she is the biggest bully of the two of them.  And I spilt some salt on the other twin's chips at school."

"You did WHAT?  Oh I think that is hilarious", and the two girls set off in fits of giggles.  But Priscilla made a mental note not to cross her best friend, she secretly was afraid of mice, dead or alive."

As I said, I already had a pink page in my journal, waiting to add something for a background.  When I saw the new theme at AJJ I simply drew a red ribbon around the edge and dressed both girls completely in red (luckily lots of different shades of Red Promarkers in my stash) - then the story just happened.  Must admit I did not find it easy to deal with the Snarky Comment but I hope Erika is happy with the red of my page and the story is ... well ... passable.

WOYWW 713

Another week has flown by, its a new month and this time I have been busy crafting.  Making a mess for part of it.  The desk hasn't got anything on it, neither has the little table, but you might remember I said I had done a second copy of the card I showed last week and had messed it up.  Jo darkened the edges so I did the same on my second one - too much!  Back to the drawing board.  I was happy with my third attempt ... at one point, almost the end.  When I dropped a green ink pad on the card.  I could have cried.  So now we have attempt number 4.  Here are numbers 2 - 4.

No 2 with the dark edge that I chopped part of it off so it didn't look too bad.

No 3 - the one I was happy with until I dropped the green pad on it (to the left, as you look at it, of the house (note I did not put a roof on it)

No 4 - settled for this one to go in my Journal although I still haven't got the sky right.

On a brighter note I made two more cards for my craft group ladies - you know, the ones with the circle and all the crafty bits at the base.  Then I did a third for a friend who is not a crafter - hers had flowers on:

So, that's been my week in crafting.  What's yours been like?  Looking forward to seeing what you have been doing, so I'll be visiting some desks over at WOYWW,  What about you?

Incidentally - anyone know what this is for?  I found it in my drawer and I have not got clue what I ever got it for.

Jeudi Journal - Crazy

The Snarky Comment from Tim Holtz we used today is "Relax, we're all crazy ...  it's not a competition." and so I painted the background a pale blue and then added some lilac circles (Aal & Create stencil) and then an Andy Skinner one too.  I wanted the background to look like a bad headache, almost a migraine.  Because of this I decided when choosing my characters to leave them a contrasting black and white, not too much colour seemed to fit the comment much better.

"The Moggy family had been having a bad day.  The little ones were up to their normal mischief and the two older children had been left to look after them whilst Momma Cat and Daddy Cat had gone out for the day, after all, it was their anniversary and they deserved needed a break.  

Susie was the eldest cat and Topsy just a year younger.  Both were perfectly sensible girls and quite capable of looking after the young twins, which is why Momma Cat felt able to leave them alone for a few hours.  The only problem was that the little ones had been playing with a couple of balls of wool that were left in the sewing room and they had got a little, let's be kind and say, 'giddy'.  As a result a photograph of Great Aunt Thomasina had got broken.  Smashed!

"It's all Selma's fault" said Thelma, with her head tucked on one side, "she was the one who got the wool from Momma's room, t'wasn't me, honest."

"You were the one who threw the ball of wool in the first place" replied Selma, "in fact you threw both balls of wool at me at one time."

"Now, now" said Susie, hastily thinking how Momma Cat would handle this situation, and then realising there would never have been a 'situation' had Momma Cat been at home.  "I need to think about this one carefully before I decide which one of you is going to be punished.  Momma will expect me to take charge and act as she would."

"You're not going to punish one of us" chorused the twins, "you can't do that, we were playing together."  If there was one thing the twins were, it was loyal, loyal to one another.  Both were willing to take the punishment even though they blamed one another for the accident.

"You two are crazy!" shouted Susie.  "You argue who is to blame and then you both expect to be punished.  Crazy indeed!  If you two hadn't been acting crazily this would never have happened.  Oh what a crazy pair you two are at times."

Just then Topsy spoke up.  She was always the more serious one despite the gap in their ages.  "Relax, we're all crazy ... it's not a competition.  Besides which we have time to tidy up and think what we are going to say when the parents get home."

The others looked at her, that wouldn't repair the photo and Momma thought so much of Great Aunt Thomasina, she would be so angry.  They would all be in trouble, the twins for playing with wool in the parlour and Susie and Topsy for letting them.  What on earth could they do?

Suddenly the door opened, and in walked ... Momma Cat!  Oh no!  She looked so happy and relaxed having been out with Daddy.  What was going to happen now?"

Think that is where the story should end and you can make your own assumptions as to what happened next.  See you over at Art Journal Journey with the lovely Mia and her theme 'Use a Photo'.  Why not join in - but read the rules first please.

WOYWW 712

 Another week has flown by and I have a card to show you - at last.  It's cold but the snow has gone although yesterday we went to see a friend about 6 miles away from where we live and they had some little piles of snow still.

Did an online workshop on Saturday last and this is the card I made.  I've done a second one, at my own pace - and where I could stop and start the video so I could look closely at some things but ... I've messed it up ... at the end.  I can resurrect it to make another card, just a wee bit smaller, but I still want to do the card again but this time put it into my journal.  My new journal that is.

You can't really see but the surrounding card has some light stencilling on.  Something I intend to do on my journal page when I get around to doing it correctly (or to my satisfaction).

This is the kind of mess I got myself into and left ready for my second (and now third) attempt.  Not messy - a work in progress desk.

and my two girls from last week further down

Yes, I took your advice and used a darker Promarker to colour them in.  I love them.  I'll do lots more like this in future.  The eagle eyed amongst you will notice there are bits, mainly where the legs are, that still need cutting out.   That's tomorrow's job and then next week on WOYWW  I will have them in the little black concertina book that is peeking out left.  See you then (yes it's short and quick this week - lots to do).