WOYWW 252

It's time for another WOYWW and I have missed the last couple of weeks thanks to my madness.  That doesn't mean that things have been quiet here at Crazy Towers, oh no no.  

Our house goes on the market today so I have had to clean up my craft space ready for the photos.  I have no idea where anything is because I just boxed it all up and hid it away!  Doesn't look too bad though does it?

I haven't actually done any crafting since our Artful Angels retreat a few weeks ago because of how bad I've been feeling - normally it would help.  I even missed our regular crop last Saturday because of a stupid vertigo type attack.  I finally went in my room to craft at 7pm last night!

Because of my recent "blip" and the lack of any medical treatment that works, I have had to try something different, a different sort of crafting if you will...  I'm planning a post on this in more detail but you get the idea from the photo...

This is my amazing niece - she has literally saved my life in the last couple of weeks.  She is my Personal Trainer and people find it hard to believe that she lifts all these weights because she is even shorter than me and I barely scrap 5'2"!

She has really really helped me and as such, I felt I was able to finally go back in my craft room and mess it up again!  I had to do a very speedy card for Miss Bella because she is 5 today!

Hopefully once this very busy week of birthday celebrations and house marketing is out of the way I can get back to regular blogging and regular visiting again.  Put the kettle on, I'll be around soon ;-)

This post is brought to you by the powers of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Bye for now

xx

One Little Word - Part 1

For my One Little Word project and documenting my 40th year, I knew I wanted something vibrant that I would love using for a long term project.  As part of my birthday present I treated myself to the Daily Grind collection by Simple Stories.  I first saw it when Sarah bought the S J Crafts shop to the local crop and I totally fell in love.  Alongside the full collection pack of papers, cut apart sheets and 2 sets of stickers, I also bought the 6x4 Snap cards, the ephemera pack and the chipboard pieces.  Having everything coordinating like this means I can keep it all together for the year and it also makes for speedy scrapping - win win!

I wanted something striking for the title page to separate it from my normal pages in my 12x12 album (instead of the conventional albums used for this class by Ali Edwards).  The dark woodgrain with the printed elements was perfect for this page which doesn't need journalling because the written parts are all to follow.  

I used the circular calendar sticker to signify the year long project and I obviously used lots of hearts because that is my word for the year.  The little woodgrain letters are part of the collection pack and I added a few Thickers for dimension.

The printables that come as part of the class are meant for specific page protectors but I wanted to make mine work with my normal size of album.  This means I have to tinker with the arrangements a bit and fill in blank pockets etc or, like here, use the printables on a standard layout.  I matted the Intentions page onto green cardstock and then matted that onto that fab speech bubbles paper.  The red frame is the reverse of the title page.

 I am really enjoying using the bold happy colours and I know this will help inspire me to keep up with documenting this project through a year which I hope will be full of positive changes.

I've almost completed the next couple of tasks which are in pocket pages so I'll share that here soon and then it will soon be time for February's prompts!  I'll let you know how I'm getting on with actually living with my word then.  Wish me luck!

Bye for now

xx

WOYWW 242

Brrr!  It's definitely staying in and crafting weather here at Crazy Towers.  It is also staying in and catching up on the cleaning that hasn't been done since I was first feeling poorly at Christmas!  I'm feeling much better now after all your kind wishes and a course of antibiotics and a steroid nasal spray - yuk!

I've been busy in my craft room this week - putting things away and getting other things out!  Top left is the rest of the decoupage from last week.  After the super speedy card I thought I may as well make a couple more with the rest of the kit.  Central is my current album with the beginnings of my One Little Word project.  I am loving using Simple Stories Daily Grind for this - isn't that rainbow chevron paper just amazing!  I've also still got my Christmas stuff on the go in my cake stand to the right and then a new project beginning to the left.  That collection is Echo Park's For the Record 2 and I've pulled that out for Shimelle's class that starts this week called Return to The Collection.

Some of the things I have put away this week include my Christmas and birthday presents.  The Promarkers are in their new aluminium case and next to that is a very solid glass photo frame with a pic of Miss Bella in a rugby shirt and tutu!  That pink box there came inside a vanity case at Christmas filled with Soap and Glory bath stuff.  I love the box and the vanity case and the bath stuff - everyone's a winner!

The last new addition there is a pink glass cake stand which was a birthday present from a very good friend.  I put it together but it needs a little adjustment and it being glass and me being accident prone, I thought it a job for Management :-)

I'm gradually finding my feet again so I hope to be able to visit a few more desks this time on our weekly nose around crafty areas.  Why not join in?  Its fun and easy - just link up with Julia over the Stamping Ground for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 241

Oh dear... this is the state of my desk after a rather eventful weekend.  I managed a few hours at the crop before I gave up with this stupid virus and came home.  I didn't even unpack the car, Management did that.  Other than the fabulous surprise party that I got dragged out to (and thoroughly enjoyed!) I've pretty much been laying flat because my sinuses are so painful that my head feels too heavy to lift for long.  I can't use a screen for long either - dagnamit!

So we have boxes of punches from the car, my Selphy printer (that Management is very cross with because they have no intentions of being compatible with Windows 8 and you can't buy a computer without that these days...), a gift bag from the lovely Paula from Artful Angels and my new aluminium case (see below) and then my Jo Malone box.  A wonderful friend bought me a Jo Malone candle and perfume for my birthday and the box smells fabulous.  It's very sturdy too so ideal for transporting embellishments to crops.

Please excuse the following photo - new lap top means new software and getting used to things again.  Its a bit different for me because I've never done decoupage before but it was an emergency.  I was so wrapped up in my own birthday that I forgot to get a card for the little girl that Louis was going to a party with!  I had fifteen minutes to find something so I grabbed a pile of stuff that was free with a magazine.

Ta da!  My new aluminium box for my Promarkers!  Management is on the case with a remedy for the floppy insides but I love it anyway!  I can carry them about too which is what I wanted.

Have you got transportable pen storage?  What do you use?  What else is on your desk this week?  Link up with WOYWW and see other creative spaces.  Hope to see you around!

Bye for now
xx

One Little Word

So far being forty has been a bit of a mixed bag.  I'm still suffering with this awful cold but I think it is finally on its way out - hurrah - so that wasn't so good.  On the very very up side, my wonderful husband threw a surprise party for me!  Boy was I mad at him, making me get dressed up and go out for dinner when all I wanted to do was have a takeaway in my onesie.  He was so determined to get me out that I suspected he had managed to arrange a late dinner with someone.  Little did I know that it wasn't last minute at all - he'd been planning it for nearly 4 months!!  After lots of hugs with some wonderful people and a couple of glasses of wine, my nose stopped running and my head stopped pounding for a bit and I had a fabulous time with lots of dancing.  

Its a bit odd having a birthday just after Christmas because there's the whole healthy eating / must get fit / New Year's resolutions thing going on.  Not for me though.  I've learned that any new start type things have to wait until after my birthday celebrations have finished!  For me this year with the very extended celebrations it is after next weekend but it won't be a new start with resolutions such as "Run 3 miles every day" or "Only post on Facebook once a week".  No.  Both of those would be very silly for me indeed.  No.  

I wanted to make some big changes this year and I needed some sort of guidance and accountability without the failing side of things you get with very definitive resolutions.  I'd heard things about Ali Edwards One Little Word class before but this year it really grabbed my attention.  You choose a word to kind of "live by", something that embraces the things you want to develop.  People choose words such as flourish, patience, health, up, focus, smile etc, whatever is the area of your life or your self that you might feel needs a bit of work.  

My word is heart.

To...
live with heart
look after my heart
be true to my heart
put my heart into it
make time for love
do what I love
love what I do
love what I have
and to absolutely follow my heart

Each month we have various tasks to try help us live with our words and embrace the changes we want to make.  As the year goes on I'll be sharing more about what my word means to me and how I am living with my word and using it to help my fortieth year be the best year ever.

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 240

Happy New Year!  Lets get life back to some normality shall we?  The children went back to school yesterday but I am suffering with a horrid virus so it doesn't feel quite like normal yet but it is getting there.  Also I am 40 on Friday *twitch* so there are still a few celebrations to come.  I shall be spending the day in my studio, crafting for me, not making things for other people but me!  There will be lots of cups of tea too.

Don't worry that there is no tea in this picture, it was taken in a hurry this morning and I have hardly been in my studio since Christmas.  This photo is as new to me as it is to you!  Lets take a look around.

Top left is my Christmas present - a Selphy printer.  Not had time to try it out at all yet but hoping to very soon.  Sellotape dispenser, which I wouldn't be without, that it looks like Management was using for my birthday presents and couldn't "manage" to put away.  Next to my ATG gun is a Christmas card with what looks like Elvis on.  Its actually a picture of Lord and Lady Montagu dressed as Elvis. In the middle there is my Festive Planner. It is looking a bit worse for wear because it had an entire glass of Bucks Fizz tipped on it on Christmas Day.  Thank goodness for the Mod Podge!

My cake stand with my bits and pieces for Journal Your Christmas is still there and that is ongoing but I do have another project on the go too.  This year I really wanted to make some changes in my life so I signed up for Ali Edwards One Little Word - I thought it would be cool to do this for my fortieth year.  I'll be working on that on Friday, accompanied by tea and biscuits - well it is my birthday ;-)

This post is brought to you by the wonders of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday with the lovely Julia.

Bye for now
xx

She makes cards...

Well at least she does sometimes...  I've made about 8 in the last couple of weeks and barely remembered to photograph any of them!  They were all a bit.. erm.. last minute!

I made 4 very similar cards for my Dad, my husband, my step-Dad and my Father-In-Law.  2 were in a dark green and 2 were in orange but all in this sort of steampunky feel.  The papers are Chronology by Papermania and the dies are by Tim Holtz.  I do still have one of the green ones so I will endeavour to get that photographed and posted up.  I thought I had taken a pic of it already but I can't find it.  Maybe its with my gym card that I haven't seen since last Wednesday or my large bright pink purse that I haven't seen since Thursday...

This card was for Louis at the start of the month.  I was really ill with another cyst the day before we went on holiday which was the day I had planned to make the card.  I asked him if he wanted a special Mummy card (which he would have to wait until we got home for), or one from a shop and he wanted to wait.

As it happened, this was a great choice as this sticker from Echo Park was perfect!  You might remember from this post that we stayed at Lower Roduish Farm for his birthday.  They played in the field of sheep with  a walnut tree at the top and a tyre swing!  The children collected lots of bits of wool from the fences so I used this to make some sheep and Louis was in hysterics when he saw the card!  "You've used REAL wool from REAL sheep!"  Of course, then he opened the card and realised I had stuck it all on upside down and he laughed even more!  Not very professional....

In other news, I have finally joined Twitter!  If you are a tweety sort of person then you can find me @paperheartcraft

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW213

I'm pretty sure that time is on warp speed at the moment and I wish someone knew how to turn it down a bit!  Things were supposed to get easier once my course finished but obviously I stacked up a load of stuff for "after" and still haven't quite caught up with myself yet.

I have managed some time at my desk this week, to make a card for a lovely friend's 30th birthday.  I hope to goodness that she likes pink!

We went out for a drink for her birthday last night and the night before that I went to see Strictly Confidential with another couple of friends.  Seriously, I go for months without going out at all and then I go out two nights on the trot!  

Today I am doing a photo shoot in Beaulieu with my lovely niece.  She has some great ideas for her and her baby but I hope she is not disappointed.  I get a lovely shot once in a while and then people think I can do full on shoots!

We've also been busy with Bugsy Malone recently which is now finished.  Here is my boy sporting the remains of his pencil moustache after his performance.  Considering they are only just 7, they did amazingly well.

Please link up with the rest of the desks at Stamping Ground if you want to join in the fun.  In the meantime, keeeeeeeeeep dancing!!

(and if you were interested in the viewmaster reel from the scrapbook layout in the previous post, it was in an ephemera pack from October Afternoon.)

Bye for now
xx

Adventures in Exmoor

Warning - photo heavy post!

It seems like months ago since we came back from Lower Roduish Farm in Exmoor.  Of course its only been a week but the sun that shone for us all the time we were there has been sadly lacking since we came back and it feels more like Autumn than summer.

So, our adventures at this years Featherdown Farm location were just as wonderful as last year's in South Devon.  The tents were closer together but there was not such a hike between the showers and the tents and the children could play quite happily in the fields with the sheep right in front of us.

There was a bigger mix of animals here too.  Obviously there was the sheep, and let me tell you that sheep with lambs are incredibly noisy!  We ended up having little conversations with them because we listened to them for so long that we thought we could identify words!

They have a few cows there and this wonderful beast - Marcus the Bull.  He "works" for one month of the year having fun with his girls.  Its a tough life... ;-)

They have 3 larger pigs and then a little brood of piglets turned up in the afternoon.  The children absolutely loved throwing in all our food scraps for them.

It was Louis's 7th birthday while we were away so he had a few presents in our tent.

We were able to eat breakfast outside every morning.  Bella and I certainly enjoyed our fresh eggs from the 2 chickens we looked after for the week.  We are both big fans of "tappy eggs"!

The birthday boy chose to spend some change in the amusements at Minehead.

He ate LOADS the whole time we were away.  No more children's portions for this growing lad - yikes!

We walked up on the moors and looked for deer and The Beast.

The children were taught to groom ponies.

We had a delicious stew cooked in a cauldron.

Louis's birthday treat was to go pony trekking.  Can you believe they just let us walk off with two children and two ponies!  We expected someone to come with us but they told us the route and off we went.  They absolutely loved it and can't wait to go again.

We looked after 2 guinea pigs for the week.  This little one is Eilish.

I'm not a fan of these animals but I really fell in love with them and probably held them as much as the children!  One of the other children on the farm wanted to have a pet show so we all got our guinea pigs out and paraded them around and he judged a winner!  It was hysterical!

We were able to have camp fires and toast marshmallows on long sticks.  The close proximity of the tents meant that the adults could put the little ones down and then chat around the fire with a bottle or two of local cider.  Perfect.

We visited several beaches.  This one is Porlock and the stones were all huge and very rounded which made walking on them pretty fun!

Its a pretty little area with some really quaint houses and a tiny harbour.

Basically we had a ball just being together without work / school / coursework / housework etc.

Even though the tide was pretty much out, the children managed to catch 21 crabs in about 25 minutes!

 We hunted for fossils on Doniford beach.  There were quite a few set into large rocks on the beach.

You literally can't go more than a few feet without finding one.

 

We brought a few home for our bathroom collection but had to leave behind some truly beautiful and large ones too.

The kids had a great time on the farm with the huge walnut tree and the rope and tyre swing.  They played for ages with the friends they met, just romping around the field but where we could still see them.

Our other guinea pig was called Podge and she was the winner in the parade!  She got a carrot for her prize from the little boy - bless!  I have to admit that I rather fell for this soft little bundle.

I think our favourite thing was the little stream that ran through the field that they played in.  It was shallow enough that they could paddle happily with their wellies or crocs but flowing enough that they could race daisies and dried sheep poo along it!

It was wonderful.  All of it.  The relative peace (other than the wildlife!), the fresh air, the sun, the s-l-o-w way of life, the cream teas, the campfires, the Pimms, and generally just being together without the normal every day stresses.  Coming soon to a scrapbook near you ;-)

Happy days!

Bye for now

xx

WOYWW 208

Happy Anniversary to all of you WOYWW participants!  (Just a quick note that I don't have any ATCs to swap, sorry!)

My desk is ALMOST in use this week!  I am putting the final touches on my last assignment and then I can play!  We go on holibobs to Featherdown Farm very shortly and the children and I are making our own Smash style books to take with us.  Its a good way to use up the papers that come free with certain magazines that you don't particularly want to use yourself :-)

I've got my Bind It All out but I've never actually had chance to use it as yet so we have to change our plans rather!

This little lot here is from the lovely Kirsty for a Sian's "Very Big Swap of Very Small Things".  I am absolutely in love with the big buttons and the teeny red ones too.  Thank you Kirsty!  My parcel is on its way to Deb in the States.

We've been busy with birthdays here too including a bowling party for Louis's best friend.

I hope everyone enjoys their swapping and the crop if they are able to attend that too.  In the meantime, don't forget to link up with Julia to see the rest of the desks.  Happy crafting.

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 207

Its a bit of an empty desk this week.  Management and I swap cars when I go to a crop rather than have the kerfuffle over the car seats and all my stiff is STILL in the boot of his car.  I just about got through the crop but I didn't feel right.  I had a headache all day and I was so so tired.  I was in agony with stomach pains by the time I got home and it turns out that I've got another ovarian cyst.  I've pretty much been under a blanket since then but I'm managing without painkillers now so it looks like it is buggering off again thank goodness.

I've also moved my writing stuff out into the study now that it has all been decorated in there and that makes the desk look really bare here!  A few layouts that I'm in the middle of but need to be finished at home, Scrap365 to be read, the pink folder is my Parent Governors information and the Jiffy envelope had those circular frames in which will be the labels for the side of my albums.  I got this idea from a fellow WOYWW-er and I'm so sorry that I can't recall who it was!

That khaki bag in the middle there was just delivered and it is very exciting!  Its a Real Adventure Den Kit for Louis for his birthday, sshhh!  His birthday is while we are away at the farm which is a perfect place to try it out!

And here is the full layout that I gave you a sneak of last week.  This was for an Inspiration post for S J Crafts and I just love the way it turned out.  

What's on your desk this week?  Show us what you are up to and link up with Julia over at Stamping Ground.  Have a great week!

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