WOYWW 602

Morning!  Another week, another Wednesday, another WOYWW where you meet up with all of your blogging friends.  AND another week closer to Christmas!  Only nine days to go and I still haven't made my Christmas cake.  Blame it on Asda - we have a delivery with them (isolating means we do not go to the shops) and each fortnight I order glacé cherries and they do not have them.  Fingers crossed they have them tomorrow in our order.  Fruit got soaking a couple of days ago so come the cherries and it will be in the oven.  No cherries means I finally give up and its a fruit cake but it's not a Christmas one without cherries, for me.

Hopefully all my Christmas cards are out now, the tree is up and I had my Christmas top up at the chiropractors on Tuesday.  Got a bit of shopping to show you - these are my latest buys:

Three pads of 8x8 papers, as if I needed them - but they are gorgeous; some Alice in Wonderland stuff, another set of Petite Dolls, some metal tags and a couple of £1 stamps to make up the amount so I didn't have to pay postage.  (The last three items came from Susan at Country View Crafts - you only have to spend £7.50 to get free postage and she has had a great sale on - not advertising, just enabling).

I have a workshop every afternoon from 4 pm starting today and going through to Sunday.  There was a lot of prep and that will be on my desk later today.  I was hoping to have it all on for this blogpost but I still have things to do so most of it is on my trolley at the moment. Hope to be able to show you next week what I made.  Another book - looks interesting so I could not resist.

Well, I had a weepy session the other day because look what came through the mail to me - a complete and utter surprise:

Someone sent me a "Hug in a Box".  I won't say who as I don't know whether she wants me to disclose her name or not but wasn't that a wonderful thought.  Made my day - my week.  And certainly got me thinking.  I am saving the hot chocolate and marshmallows for Christmas Eve and I will have the face pack that morning before I have my shower whilst having the Starbucks coffee with the Kit Kat (well, I might share it with my other half).  In case you are wondering what is in the tiny box at the back - they are Positivity Cards which I can pick out and read at my leisure or really when I need a bit of positivity.

So I decided to "pay it forward" and make up a craft box for someone who has been ill but I don't want to say too much as someone connected might read this.  But I did get another opportunity when a friend, who I miss because I see very little of her, rang the other day.  She is going through a bit of a rough time at the moment so I put a little box of things I could find (new, not used or gifted) together to make a present for each member of her family.  Then popped a tin of biscuits in, (we can order another for ourselves), a bottle of wine and a big bar of chocolate.  We took it to her house and dropped it on the doorstep with a note saying Father Christmas had sent Elvis the elf with it.  I hope she enjoys it when they open it on Christmas Day.  As for me - it made me think an awful lot more about the real meaning of Christmas.  And it all started with "A Hug in a Box".

All the Best to all of you.

Jeudi Journal - Stable

This week the quote chosen is "Stable is a place where horses live" and all I had was a Dylusion unicorn to illustrate the concept of a horse with.  So a snip at the horns and a bit of strategic colouring and voila - we have a horse.   

I really struggled with this one, perhaps because I was tired and not really thinking things out fully, or had I become jaded with all the Christmas card making of the last few days and needed a break from my untidy craftroom.  Whatever it was all my mind went to was a psychiatrist and a patient - with a horses head somewhere in the picture but when it came to weaving a story around it I struggled and struggled.  As what story I made up around my figures it just did not seem to work.  The delete button saw more action than it normally does.  In the end I decided on:

"Angelina was a typical teenager, moody, sulky, untidy, and, quite often, mouthy!  Her parents were not particularly wealthy but she had her own horse in the paddock attached to their home, much to the envy of her friends at school.  She was definitely a "daddy's girl" who had only to pull a certain face and moan that she wanted something to reduce him to reaching into his wallet and giving her whatever she wanted - well, within reason.

Her mother, on the other hand, was the one who had to put up with the sulks and mood changes and pick up after her but she had come to the end of her patience and decided that things needed to change.  Angelina had to start helping a little around the house. 

 

Take, for example, her own room!  It was always so very untidy and all Angelina did was lie on her bed and either chat to friends on the phone or read one of those trashy novels.  Well, mum had had enough on this particular morning and so she stormed into her daughter's bedroom and confronted the lounging Angelina with an ultimatum.  Either Angelina started to look after her own room, including dusting and vacuuming (which meant she had to put her books and clothes away tidily in future) or there would be consequences.  In fact, as she told her daughter,  "it's like a stable in here" to which Angelina sulkily replied "a Stable is a place where horses live".  Her mother was so angry at that retort that she threatened to make her daughter live outside with her horse in a real stable."

Told you I was struggling, let's hope I can do better with next week's quote.  Now what did we agree on?  Will it have a Christmas theme?  In the meantime I am linking this to Art Journal Journey in the hope that it makes me realise that the above describes my craft room at the moment and I had better get in there and do some serious tidying up before giving it a clean for Christmas.

WOYWW 601

Well, what is there to say after Saturday's WOYWW?  It was so lovely to put faces to names and it will be a different story today when I go commenting on the various blogs because those who were at the party I will be able to see in my mind's eye whilst messaging them.  Good to see, also, those that I knew from the various crops I have attended.  Thank you so much Julia for organising it.

Well, the last Christmas card has now been made and all are gone in the mail to be transported to various parts of the country.  Don't laugh but I have decided to begin next year's crop of cards already.  Mainly because after endless pointed circles I managed to get a couple of almost perfect ones.  So few went out this year that I am making that my card for next year and production is already underway.

The tree is up as some of you saw on Saturday, the shopping list is done for the next two deliveries so there is only mince pies and ... wait for it ... a Christmas cake to make.  Why so late making the cake you ask!  Well I have not been able to get glacé cherries from the shopping order and this last week they appeared in stock.  I love Christmas cake so much that I am not bothered if it doesn't get eaten until New Year or whenever, besides which there will be so much eating going on that it probably wouldn't get cut into anyway.

On the left are some tags I found in a cupboard - from years ago - made by friends and some of my own.  Then my box lid (I use that to stand the figures on when colouring hence all the marks), the new figures and behind them my depleted collection of Promarkers.  They have served me well but several have run out and others are getting there.

Still not tidied my desk up and been buying more of those little figures but this time via the Etsy shop rather than the stamps.

The news is full of the Covid 19 vaccine - various friends will or will not be having it - have you decided yet what you will do when it comes down to you?  Me, I am having it despite one or two little niggles.  Apart from necessary medical visits and the occasional walks I have not been out since March.  Visiting a supermarket will be a whole new experience when it happens.  So with the options being a) have the vaccine, b) stay in forever, or c) resume life and risk getting covid I think (a) wins for me.

Jeudi Journal - Sweeping Up?

Today we begin with the story:

"This is, in a way, a carry on from last week, with the same wallpaper and floor covering, where I had Fifi working in the lounge but we have moved into the kitchen where her flatmate Imelda is lying on the floor.  She is so untidy!  Her friend, Fran, has just called and is a bit appalled at the state of the kitchen and so she mentioned the "C" word.  Well, that was like a red rag to a bull and sent Imelda off into a frenzy as she shouted 

"Cleaning?????  I just sweep the room with a glance."  

"Boy oh boy", thinks Fran, "you can tell by the state of it."  Imelda is lounging on the floor by a pile of books and there are several glasses littered about on the floor around her.  She really is the most untidy of girls Fran has the misfortune to go out with.  As if that was not enough there was a questionable bucket of something by the fridge and a dirty pan had been left on the stove.  If only she was more like Fifi who was always working at something.  How on earth Fifi could stand to share a place with Imelda Fran did not know."

As I mentioned above this is a carry on from last week - it was a double page with the stitching down the centre and I carried the colour across both pages for the walls and the floor covering.  One half was turned into a lounge and the other into a kitchen.  The kitchen was made with some more AALL & Create stamps, notably the fridge, the cooker, the shelf and the bird cage as well as the incidentals such as the flowers, books, drinks and the pan and bucket.

I enjoyed linking the two posts together in this way and would love to do an entire journal that told a complete story but I think that might require a bit too much imagination on my part, especially if I was to use someone else's quotes.

I am linking this once more to Art Journal Journey in the hope that it will work for the new theme that has been chosen by the lovely Tracey - The Meaning Of ... - in the hopes that this can be 'in the meaning of tidiness'.  I know my craftroom, especially at this time of year, is looking like a bomb has hit it but with all the excitement of getting ready for Christmas I am trying to clean and be tidy in other rooms in the house,  Yesterday the tree went up (you can see it here) so the lounge had to be cleaned in readiness and then the vacuum cleaner had to slink its way down to its lowest height so that it could vac up the pine needles that had dropped (yes, it is artificial but it still drops).  So at the moment cleaning the house is uppermost in my mind as we get ready for the 25th even though it will just be the two of us!

I don't think I am alone in being like this although many crafters will say they avoid housework at all costs.

WOYWW 600

Well, here we are - the 600th edition of What's On Your Workdesk - all thanks to Ms Julia, our Queen of Deskers and on Saturday we are having a virtual Crop!!!  The first ever we have had - all because of Covid.  But do we let that stop us meeting up and enjoying ourselves - do we hecky thump!  We just change direction.

So many many moons ago Julia decided to show her desk and invite others to do the same.  I did not know about this WOYWW then but a friend told me about it, I did nothing but then eventually joined in such a long time ago.  I only missed a bit of what turned to be the biggest blog event of my life.  The biggest kind of pen friendship ever!  Now I have friends all over the world and on one of my trips to America (to CHA - the big trade show) a friend from here who accompanied me said "how do you know so many people?  It was all because of WOYWW - they were folks like me who went to the show for one reason or another and we met up - in America!  At the other end of the earth I met someone from Australia who had relatives in Manchester and so arranged to meet me there on one of her visits.  WOYWW is responsible for the many many friendships I have all over the world.  Thank you so much Julia!

So what is on my desk this week?  Nothing much because I had a workshop weekend with Tracy Evans again and tidied up from that and then I made a few Christmas Cards (well, tried unsuccessfully to make the one I wanted) so made some others in order to get them out over seas.  All you can see is my Cutterpillar and a couple of cards and inkpads.

But we have been busy putting up our Christmas Tree, well, Chas has as my back went and I just couldn't do anything.  I think you will agree he made a darned good job of it - under my directorship!

Just so that you don't go without any crafting here are some photographs of my tag book made with Tracy at weekend:

The last two (directly above) are the covers, on the left is the back cover and the cover on the right is the front one which has a clay pot on it.  I just love the colours we used (although we had a choice I followed Tracy's which I fell in love with when I saw it (rust, who does not love rust!)

Well, that is it for this week - hope you all are keeping safe and well.  And before I go can I just say a BIG THANK YOU to JULIA for bringing us all together in WOYWW.  

THANK YOU JULIA. xxx

Jeudi Journal - Working

Hi it is another lovely morning following a little bit of rain earlier - quite still and not too cold either although we have had the first frost that set the lawn aglow the other morning.  I was at the chiropractor yesterday so am hoping things might start to ease a little with the back pain which has been horrendous of late.  She recognised the state I was in and has instructed reception to make sure I get regular (mainly because the Covid numbers are dropping) appointments - fingers crossed.

This week the quote from Dyan's sheet of stamps was "I'm working so please go away" and so I did a background to resemble a room in a house.  Pink wallpaper with a scroll pattern visible in places where the light catches it and three retro plaster birds on it.  There is some furniture in the room, notably a table with a large lamp by its side and what looks like a pot of crafting tools sitting on it.

"Debbie has called with her little dog, Mitzi,  to see if Fifi is going for a walk with them.  It's a lovely evening and just about the right time to go for a stroll working up an appetite for dinner.  But sadly Fifi is not in the mood, she flutters her long eyelashes in a disdainful way and turns her head away from her friend before uttering the words "I'm working so please go away".  This is obviously a downright fib as she is just sitting on the floor having just styled her hair and put some make-up on.  I wonder if she really is staying in or has she got a secret date that she does not want Debbie to know about?  Whatever it is I think she is a bit rude."

I chose the figure sitting down because I thought this 'head' was just about the best one I had that had that look of total disinterest about it and in order to fit it on my page I had to have the body in a reclining pose.  The standing figure I could get away with being much smaller because she is in the background and the accessories (the dog, table, tools, lamp, clock and birds) all come from Janet Klein's little figures that I have recently bought and fit in quite well with the size of this figure.  The plaster birds, which are very retro I think, allowed me to make this page an entry into Art Journal Journey where the challenge is birds for this month.

So it is back to a story this week and next week too.  If you want to see what else I have done with the Janet Klein figures I published a video on my blog yesterday so it is in the post before this one.  Apologies for the voice but I have a bit of an allergy I think and I sound very breathy.  See you next week hopefully.

WOYWW 599

WOW - one more to go to number 600 - of the editions of the longest running blog hop - WOYWW.  Please go here to find out more about it.  Why not join us this week and then you will be here for the 600th edition and the live Zoom party that is planned.

Well, I have been saying for weeks that I would show you the book I made with the Janet Klein figures ins it so here  - at along long last - is a video showing all the pages.  Excuse the state of it but it was done at the last minute as per usual.  The photo below shows it when it is open and spread out

and here is the video - fingers crossed it works

and now to my desk

This is my attempt to get ready for the workshop I am doing this weekend - well three days actually.  It is another Tracy Evans one and she has kindly told us what we can get ready for it so we don't have to fussy cut on the day if we don't want to.  She will allow cutting time during the classes but for someone like me who manages about ten minutes and has to give up on account of my back pain it is great when you can get things more or less ready.  That way I can play catch up throughout the remainder of the day.  So next week I will have another book to show you.

Right, hope to see you over at Julia's desk later on.  Toodle Pip!

Health Update:

Have had a bad few weeks with my back but the good news is that I secured an appointment with my Chiropractor this morning so I won't know if my video has worked or not until I get back home.  

ps well the video works but gosh don't I sound out of breath and obviously unrehearsed.  Ah well, the ravages of time!