WOYWW 256

I do keep meaning to post more than my desk for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday but I still haven't properly recovered from the last few months and got back into a routine yet.  I did spend Saturday crafting in a good cause though at a 12 hour charity crop for Naomi House children's hospice and you can see one of the layouts I made after my desk shot.

And here it is...

 Points to note: I was finishing up some DT work (partially hidden under the letter stickers) because I didn't like it, it didn't seem finished.  I added some twine with some tacky glue and I like it more now.  I had actually put it away as finished, hence my AC album being out but every time I went to post up the photo to the DT blog I found I was holding back because it didn't seem quite right!

Anyhoo, its done now and will be up on the blog soon but it needs to dry and be photographed - which in itself is a conundrum with this incessant weather.  I usually take my pictures outside in the day time but I just haven't been home when it hasn't been raining!

There is an empty pint glass there but it wasn't full of beer - I take a soluble vitamin thingy every day mixed with another medicine that I have to take and together they taste quite nice and get me to drink more water so its a win win - except that it makes my wee fluorescent yellow which can be quite alarming the first time you notice ;-)

At the back of the table are two boxes of embellishments that I have recently been travelling with.  The Jo Malone candle box hasn't been unpacked since the retreat a fortnight ago and the clear box is everything I've been using on my Devon album.  If I don't have time or energy to gather together stuff for other layouts, I grab that box, my bag of papers and my album and I'm good to go.  It already has all the page protectors in with the photos appropriately spaced so I can pick it up and put it down and return to it as and when.

This was one of the 5 or so layouts that I completed on Saturday.

All the supplies are October Afternoon, some very old, some not quite so.  The divided page protectors are American Crafts and come in various sizes so much easier to play with in short bursts than a regular 12x12.

Gosh it feels like a long time since we first visited Featherdown Farm's Aller Farm and therefore a long time since I started this album.  I think I've broken the back of it now though... if I could just resist trying to use EVERY SINGLE picture of a cow then I would have finished by now...

Right, I'm off for another session at the gym and then I can come back and relax and peruse the other desks knowing I have done a good thing for myself - it really really helps my depression (more on that in another post).  If I can still use my arms afterwards I might even leave a comment or two so please do stick the kettle on ;-)

Bye for now

xx

WOYWW 232

I think I've just about recovered from Jennifer's Frosty Festivities blog hop at the weekend.  It was very busy!  The challenges are still open if you fancy joining in.  I haven't been able to do any crafting at all with NaNoWriMo (drastically under my word count :-(()  and the blog hop and normal life etc but I am going to a new (for me) crop at the weekend in Wilton so I am sorting out my bag a bit for that.  That's what you can see going on on the desk today.

I started packing a few bits to make my Christmas presents with - a couple of layouts for 8x8 frames, desk calendars etc, but then realised that I don't have the photos yet and I've left my owl punch for the calendars at the Artful Angels crop!  I went for plan B which is my Devon Featherdown Farm album to continue where I left off last week with the denim letters layout, but then remembered that I am due for a DT post about Christmas cards in a couple of weeks!  I've since abandoned plans for the Devon album and I'm taking my Christmas stuff instead!  Its always good to have a plan c!

I'm already feeling festive but I know that I am in the minority.  You can also see my festive planner on the side there that featured in the previous post for the blog hop.  I'm trying to do an instructional post for it for the weekend with a giveaway so do pop back if you can.

Time for a quick trip around a few other desks courtesy of Julia and What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 231

Ssshhh!  Pretend you haven't seen me here for WOYWW 'kay?  I'm supposed to be doing my 'novel in a month' for NaNoWriMo but it isn't going terribly well so I decided to take a little bit of time out and join in with the Wednesday fun.  

Of course I missed the ideal window of opportunity with which to take my photo so you've got a nice shade of yellow to the picture today.  

You can see the scrapbook page I finished off in the middle there for the album towards the top of the pic.  You can also see the 2013 diary page which has fallen out of my Festive Planner which you will be able to see if you pop back on Friday for the Frosty Festivities blog hop.

Here's the finished page.  Although the lettering took a while I'm really pleased with it.  Upcycling + memory recorded + page I love = what its all about.  I actually experimented with using some Mod Podge and some ordinary PVA to stiffen the fabric prior to cutting.  I found that there wasn't THAT much of a difference so if you fancy giving it a go without forking out for Mod Podge then that's another option for you.

The hexagons are an idea that I Pinned from JimJams - thank you!  Another memory of Aller Farm scrapped and I am still really loving all of this album and the way it is flowing.  Crafting makes me happy :-)

What's on your desk this week?  Don't be afraid to link up, whatever the state of your desk or your mind ;-)

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 229

This might well be my last WOYWW appearance for a while as we are in Wales next week (sans internet / mobile reception / TV etc - huzzah) and then we are into November.  For me this means NaNoWriMo which some of you asked about last week when I mentioned it.  It means National Novel Writing Month and the idea is that you write a 50,000 word novel (or the start of a novel if you want to write a long one) in a month.  Crazy huh?!  The basic premise is that we can procrastinate over the first sentence or a chapter or whatever for years and years and never get that novel finished.  This way you bash out that first draft using the word count / forums / collective cheer squad of other Nano writers etc to actually get it done.  Once that first draft is out of the way you can start tweaking it but knowing that it is finished, or a long way towards it, keeps you motivated.  Its going to be tough but I think it will really help to drive me forward and not keep knocking my writing down the "To Do" list.  But that is November...

This week in Crazy Towers we have been making um... crazy towers.  I was lucky enough to be told of someone getting rid of a load of 12x12 paper trays from an old scrapbooking shop so I bought some.  I've spent a happy few hours since then having a sort out and rearranging my papers and then shuffling them some more and moving them again.  This is the start of proceedings...

About halfway through when I was beginning to lose the will to live...

And then this is how it looks now.  Still a work in progress with a few piles of things to sort and put elsewhere but I am loving my crazy tower of paper trays.  The black box on the top is a box of scraps that I have to sort but my accordion file where I used to keep them (that black case to the right) exploded so I needed to find an alternative.  I've decided to file them upright in poly bags on one of the bottom shelves that is now empty, or will be after another little shuffle.

The A4 paper lid and the flowery briefcase are both Christmas stash that needs sorting more appropriately and the pile of plastic bags in the corner there are Christmas presents waiting to be wrapped.  I would have done them already but there is not much paper about yet because the shops are still full of Halloween stuff.  Don't they know time is cracking on?!

And my desk, seeing as that is the theme of the day.

Still haven't cut my denim letters but I have experimented this week with using normal PVA instead of Mod Podge to stiffen the fabric.  I shall let you know how it goes.  Stiffening it makes it a lot easier to stick the cut letters on to cut around and gives it a better finish.  The page I am doing this for will go opposite this one in my album so you can see how the denim ties in
.

Time to have a look around some other crafty spaces with Mistress Julia for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.

WOYWW 224

My desk has been a hive of activity this week and it feels good!  I went to a crop on Saturday and worked on my Devon 2012 album notching up another few back to back pages.  On Monday I was all geared up to receive some Christmassy stash for 6 on 6th but it hasn't arrived (as of Tuesday night) so I seized the Christmas spirit anyway and started creating a Festive Planner.  I've made covers and dividers and I am just computing the inside pages so that I can make a start on organising this busy occasion.  With November set aside for NaNoWriMo and my OCD side telling me I have to be ready before December, this means I need to have all my Christmas presents bought and wrapped before the end of October!

I'm using the last few precious pages of My Mind's Eye "I Believe" from my Christmas Journal a couple of years ago.  My intention is that my planner can be refilled each year so I wanted to use really special papers on it that I will always love.  You can see some of the things I have been using to make it in the RUB at the top right.

I've set it aside for the moment while I work on a card for one of Louis's classmates.  I'm really enjoying playing with my Promarkers again and thanks to you lovely lot (and in particular Kate) I managed to purchase a few more (including the limited Edition Autumn and Winter collection) and they are on their way as we speak.  I hope the cheeky birthday chappy likes his cheeky monkey card.

Well that's all from me on this wet and windy "What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday".  Don't forget to share your workspace too - because sharing is caring.

Bye for now

xx

WOYWW 214

I know us Brits like to talk about the weather but boy oh boy what glorious sunshine we are having right now!  I've barely been in my craft room this week due to the sun and other general franticness but I did manage another card (which I forgot to photograph) and to begin another page in my Devon album.  I tend to leave the opposite page in sight (the one that you can see on the desk there) so that I can choose coordinating colours even though its not a double page spread, if that makes sense.

I realise this looks fairly tidy to some people and a total mess to others so I thought I would share some other images of the mess in my craft room.

Spot the difference?

There is a new cup of tea in the second shot!  Management made it for me in between shots but then I promptly forgot about it and it went cold :-(

A close up of the mess on the desk.  You can see the scrap of paper that I put in each completed page after I have blogged it.

Various piles to my left and in the floor.  The bright pink file under the wonderful Amy Tangerine album is actually for Parent Governor business which I was supposed to be doing this week.... ooops...

Things that desperately need putting away on the surfaces near the printer and die-cutting area.

The basket that is normally on my desk that needs a good sort out.

The side view of my desk that gives you a sense of scale and mess building up on the sides.

More piles on the floor.  The yellow box is full of stuff that needs sorting and putting in its rightful place.  I shall get around to it one day.  I could do with a week of finishing things off and putting things away really!

But alas the house does not clean itself nor does the food cook itself or the clothes wash themselves or stories write themselves whatever whatever.  But no doubt I will find time to be creative at some point this week, even if its just with excuses of what I haven't hoovered ;-)

This post is brought to you in conjunction with What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday.  Clear here for more details.

Bye for now

xx

WOYWW 213 (really!)

Good morning, good yawning!  I know we always go on about how it can't be Wednesday again so soon but seriously?!  Both Smalls went up to their new schools yesterday because it is nearly the end of the school year.  THAT makes me nervous because it means we are over half way through the year already and I have only just put away my Winter coat!

Not much time spent at my desk this week, which won't help my mental state, but the sun certainly will so that's okay.  Although it ran away and hid again yesterday so I did some colouring with my girl and then almost finished another page for my Devon album.

Last Wednesday I mentioned that I was taking some photos of my niece and her baby boy.  I was rather pleased with several of the pictures, despite not being anything of a photographer really, and I will share some of the better ones in another post but I can't resist showing you this one.  Beaulieu makes such a wonderful backdrop.

Right oh, cuppa and a Slimming World cereal bar and then I will be around.  Don't forget to link up with Julia to see the rest of the desks around the world and find out more about What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Bye for now
xx

Road Trip

Our holiday to Lower Roduish Farm at the start of the month seems so long ago now.  I can't quite work out why life is so chaotic at the moment but I feel like we need another holiday!  We've spent the day at Legoland and we are all exhausted but happy.  I am loving time with my family right now.  I can honestly say that I really do feel positive at the moment and like the recovery plans are actually starting to come together and mean something.  Its taking a lot of time and hard work but I will get there.  In the meantime, with a week in Wales at Grandma's still a good few weeks away, I shall have to be content with looking at photos of our previous Featherdown camping trip at Aller Farm.

This is one of the very early pages from the album because it was the road trip down to Aller Farm.  We stopped off at West Bay for a leg stretch and some lunch and fully embraced the holiday spirit from the off!

Supplies are of course, October Afternoon, from various collections and a little stamp from Amy Tangerine.  I love that projector slide!

I think the alphas are some old Lilly Bee ones but it feels good to be using up some unloved supplies.

Is it wrong that I am having to resist making up the new Lego sets that the children bought today?  They are in bed.  I am itching to open the boxes!  I wonder if I will ever tire of that favourite childhood toy!  Is there anything that you played with as a child that you still love to play with now?  Do let me know.

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 211

Happy Hump Day!  It's time for the weekly trip around the desks across the world to see what everyone is up to at the moment.  

This was my desk late on Tuesday afternoon... untouched since late on Saturday afternoon after a day's scrapping.

I'm still working on my Devon album from last year using October Afternoon so that's what you can see scattered across the desk.  The chair on the other side was temporarily inhabited by the lovely Sarah on Saturday and she brought my order of albums with her. It was lovely to craft at home but have some company too as I'd forgotten what it was like.  I bought 2 of the Amy Tan albums in wood-grain chevron print that you can see on the corner of the desk there and I can tell you they are gorgeous so I am in the process of reloading my Devon layouts into that.  I managed a couple more on Saturday and this is one of them.

This is mostly the Sidewalks collection which I just love.  Its the facing page for a split protector about the ice-creams we all had on the way to our holiday.

I'm gradually catching up after my holiday, coursework and various other absences and hopping around lots of blogs to see what I missed.  Put the kettle on for me won't you, I'm gasping for a cuppa!

This post is brought to you in conjunction with What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday with the wonderful Julia so head on over and link up your desk and see who comes by.

Bye for now
xx

Devon, this year and last.

We are back from our wonderful holiday in North Devon!  This was the view from our amazing semi-permanent tent on Lower Roduish Farm.  You can just about see Louis and Bella heading off up the pretty stream holding hands.  All the children spent a LOT of time playing in that field and paddling in the water and floating random things in it.  

I'm still sorting through the pictures so expect to see more of them very soon but suffice to say that we were very jammy with the weather again and we had a wonderful time, slowing time (as much as we can with 2 lively children) and just being together as a family after a very busy few months.  Sadly tomorrow Management goes back to work and Louis goes back to school, Bella on Tuesday, and I have a tonne of work in the pipeline so its back to crazy busy again.  At least I have my crop on Saturday to look forward to and I can do some more work on my album from our holiday last year with Featherdown Farms!

This is the title page of my Aller Farm album.  I wonder if I will ever catch up!

*sigh*  I love holidays but I don't like coming home to mountains of washing and we miss our friends on the farm already.  Is it possible to get jet lag travelling North Devon to Southampton?  I think it is.

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 206

Good morning to you all, especially all you WOYWW-ers.  I'm twitching this week.  My cup is empty and there is someone else invading my space again.  Miss Bella takes up more and more room each time she comes in here.  However, she has been banned from my studio as of today because she refuses to put any of her stuff away when she has finished with it.  What can I say, she has just turned 4 and, I'm told, is exactly as stubborn as I was at that age, and still am apparently.  Ahem.

Lots of Portobello Road on my side of the desk, making a card for the lovely Deb at Paper Turtle to go in her box of swap goodies that you can just about see to the left there under the stamps.

I'm packing for a crop on Saturday with Artful Angels (if you are around the Winchester / Southampton area and fancy a visit then please do get in touch!)  I'm still working on my Devon album and as I've been using the same selection of things throughout, it means my supplies are pretty much sorted.  I just need to have a tidy up and make sure that all the consumables go back into my little tote bag.

I've become so used to scrapping with Sarah from S J Crafts but she is at another crop this week and I will miss her!  This layout has just gone up at the shop blog where we are talking about the different things that are inspiring us right now.  For me its my Cameo. (This cut file was inspired by this Pin).

Show us yours, now that I've shown you mine, and don't forget to link up with Julia for the bestest desky blog hop there ever was.

Bye for now
xx

Last few for NSD!

I promise this is it for NSD a few days!  I will go back to being a struggling writer and SAHM for the next few days until I go to a crop on Saturday.  I'm really pleased to have put more layouts in my album over this last week, especially those that were half finished or almost there.  It looks like I have done loads but obviously a fair number of them were completed with thanks to the challenge and not started from scratch - I DO have a life that tends to get in the way of my craft you know ;-)

This page is for the challenge to "scraplift yourself".  Its a design that I use a fair amount because it is quick but can look very different depending on colours and how much above and below the photos etc.  I probably lifted it from Shimelle at some point in the past though.  

This is the right page (yet to start the left) about arriving at Aller Farm and having to use wheelbarrows to carry all our stuff to the tent because we are not allowed to have cars on site.  Any time we had to collect stuff from the shop or take back ice-packs and rubbish etc then we had to use the barrows.  The children loved pushing them almost as much as riding in them!

All of the papers are from October Afternoon but from various collections.  I love how you can mix and match with then like that.  The turquoise paper is from Ducks In A Row which a collection I would never have bought for myself.  Its a really old collection and the bits I have from it came in a Santa Sack where you get random bits and pieces from over the years at a big reduction.  Its really great to be able to use up some of these papers by putting them together with ones that I love like the stripe and the yellow floral.

Back to something a little more current with the papers but much older with the photos.  I have no idea why Louis was wearing a red nose because I don't think they ever did foam ones for Red Nose Day did they?  Anyway, he seemed to like it!  

The papers here are Echo Park's About A Boy with matching chipboard and this layout was for the challenge to scrap using square photos.  They were originally 4x6 but I cropped them to square to get rid of extraneous details.  

Phew!  Right time to visit a few blogs and then it is back to my assignment before I get into trouble.  Only 2 pieces of writing to do and then I am done till September, woop woop!

Bye for now
xx

And more NSD

I would love to not have to go to sleep for a few days, just so I can get some stuff done that I WANT to do right now, rather than HAVE to do, know what I mean?!

This page was for Shimelle's challenge to do some fancy cutting.  I cut this polaroid frame on my silhouette but kept the picture almost at the original size so that I could use the grass in the photo to fill the negative space.  

I've been looking forward to using these October Afternoon Campfire Trails papers for literally years!  The vast majority of papers in our Devon album for Featherdown Farm are OA.

I'm also using the same range of punches throughout the album.

This next page is for the challenge to use divided page protectors and will be the only set in the album that don't use OA.  These are Echo Park Birthday Wishes like the other couple of layouts about the pizza night at Aller Farm which was fab!  We actually had two pizza nights and on the second one Management had to do all the cooking because we had done it before so they left us to it!

I lent farmer Nigel my fleece because he was trying to put his bare arm too far in the oven and it ended up getting holes in it from the embers!  He was so embarrassed but I didn't mind at all, its old anyway and now it has another story to add to its memories.

Last one for today.  Another one from the pile of "had photos and some papers but nothing else" and when I saw the challenge for adding a letter, it sounded the perfect way to round up this layout.  The picture is of Louis dashing about with his camera at a castle in Pembrokeshire and it sums him up perfectly.  

The letter inside the scrap-a-lope is written to Louis explaining what he was like at that age and how he loved this castle and everything that was going on there.  He took loads of pictures of random things but all the time with this huge smile on his face, appreciating the scale of the building and the different way they lived there.  He has such a zest for life and one day in the future when he is flicking through this album, I want him to know that I love that so much about him.

Its definitely a technique I will use again and in fact I might just do that very soon and again write about what he is like now because he turns 7 in just 3 weeks time.  My little baby is growing up fast - sob!

Bye for now
xx

Lots more challenges for NSD

Happy Saturday!  Good luck to everyone doing a Race For Life or the Moonwalk tonight!  I hope the weather stays perfect for you.

Its only 3 weeks until we go on holiday and we are going back to Featherdown Farm but this time in Exmoor.  The children are beyond excited and one of their most overriding memories of Aller Farm was keeping our 2 little chickens.

Each morning we would race over to let them out and see if they had laid anything.  We got 2 eggs each day and sometimes they would still be warm from the chicken!  They were delicious!

This layout doesn't have a title because it is part of a linked page that I haven't completed yet.  I wasn't sure how to finish it off until I saw Shimelle's challenge to use fabric on your layout.  I love using denim and its been a while since I've done it so this was the perfect opportunity.

I painted on Mod Podge to make it stiff and used the same stuff to glue on a chipboard piece.  When it was dry I was able to go around with scissors and a craft knife because it dries a bit like card.

The other bits and pieces are from an October Afternoon ephemera pack from their Boarding Pass collection.  I'm using OC throughout the Devon album.

I also made a facing page for my Balls layout to make it into a double for this challenge.   I'm definitely not in love with this one now that I have tinkered with it to make them match but it's another set of photos out of the drawer and into the albums and Bella enjoyed helping to sort the buttons.

There's more to come today and tomorrow so its a busy time for blog with all the challenges and hopping!  Did you join in with the blog hop yesterday?  There's a lot of inspiration around right now huh?!

Time to get busy glueing and cutting with the children now.  They keep taking the micky out of me for leaving the top off my glue stick and ruining it because its something I am always reminding me about - cheeky poppets!  Its hard when you are on a roll... ;-)

Bye for now
xx

S J Crafts Sketch Challenge #1

Are you ready for National Scrapbooking day tomorrow?  

How about a fun sketch challenge to get you started?  S J Crafts are hosting the first of hopefully many sketch challenges and as a special prize for NSD you will be in with a chance of winning £10 to spend in the shop.  The challenge is open until the end of May so pop on over to the blog for more details and to see the sketch and what the rest of the design team have done.

Here's my take on it.  Its a layout for our Aller Farm album from Devon using papers from the Echo Park Birthday Wishes collection.

I just need to add the journalling to the blue box about amazing pizza night at Aller Farm in Devon.  I've added some washi tape, ribbon, wood veneer flowers and pearls.

This page using the sketch will be left hand page and the following project will be the one facing it.  This collection is ideal for the partitioned page protectors that I have used throughout my Aller album.

These pages are ideal for using up smaller pieces and I've tried to ensure some continuity across the page by using the same supplies on both sides.

I'm loving the trend for wood veneers which work really well as a point of continuity throughout an album because they work with any colour scheme or style.  This one was actually broken but it was ideal for using at the top of the page.  I would never have been able to get a clean break like that myself!

Be sure to come by again tomorrow for more NSD celebrations!  What fun things will you be doing?  I hope you have a wonderful weekend, whatever you have planned.

Bye for now
xx