WOYWW 111

See I'm looking at that number up there and thinking it should be auspicious in some way, 111, seems important somehow.  Maybe I am just feeling the vibe!

Anyway, my desk is one huge pile of mess that desperately needs a sort out and I keep thinking "I'll just do this little project and then I'll have a good clear up" but with so much going on right now I am thinking it may be like this for a while!

Let's see... starting over at the left is the post crop sediment including leftovers and 7 and a half layouts, yes indeed!  The Asda notebooks STILL awaiting being given the pretty treatment for the teachers, one of the lovely tins that my friend gave me as a thank you for the pirates (it now comes to my crops with a small selection of ribbons in...).  Most of the other bits, including the pile of prettiness at the centre front is my "under construction" playbook for Shimelle's Explore class.  I will be sharing the finished thing and hopefully at least yesterdays prompt too later on today, I do hope you'll join me again.

For those who were deliberating with me about the furniture, I know it is gorgeous and this is what makes it so hard.  The problem is that the cabinets are large and heavy but not very deep and there is no flexibility in the shelves, it is made as it is.  We're thinking of moving them definitely rather than getting rid of them and I'd love something a bit more white and shabby and feminine, definitely more practical though!  Thanks for all your comments last week.  We will continue to think...

For now though, its time to peruse a whole other load of crafty spaces.  Ideas, inspiration, even laughing at someone else's mess, or those who think they have mess and just don't know the darn meaning of the word!  You can find the list on Julia's Blog as usual.  Now, time for a cuppa... :-)

Bye for now xx

Sharing some cake (well virtually anyway...)

I've been meaning to share some pics of a cake I made for about 6 weeks now!  It was for this little guy's 5th birthday and we celebrated by heading over to the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth and having lunch at a Yo Sushi! (On his request!)

The boat ride and lunch was far more exciting than the tower in the end but it was a clear day and we could see for miles.  Please excuse B's hair - she refused to keep her scarf on and couldn't see where she was going!

Then he had a party at a play centre and I made this cake for him.  Its meant to be a kind of tumbledown castle and you can just about see the cannon and cannon balls on the top but I was rushing to take the photos!

You can also just about see the gargoyles above the drawbridge door there too.  They take soooo blooming long to do that even if they were good enough to sell, I would never make any money!  And I get very stressed by any art work I do for anyone else.

The pirates I did recently were actually very well received.  I only asked for the cost of the canvasses but this morning the mum gave the money and a lovely card, a beautiful notebook and pen, and some gorgeous shabby chic tins to keep some of my crafting stuff in.  I was really pleased as I have been having a really bad couple of days and this got through that wall of doubt and sense of failure that I carry at those times.

I've been really enjoying my running on the Couch to 5k programme but as suspected, I will have to take it much slower and repeat some weeks.  I walked a fair bit this week and the steep inclines where we live have aggravated my SPD.  I did however go for a gait analysis this week and got some new trainers that suit my running style and should hopefully prevent some of the problems getting worse.  It was made a lot more enjoyable by the lovely fit young man who served me, so much so that when my husband asked how much my new runners were, I didn't have a clue!

Well I had better finish packing my bag for tomorrow's 12 hour crop.  I've made 8 page kits plus I have 3 in there already from last time, which is obviously a tad ambitious but I don't want to run out of things to do and it allows me to decide which ones I want to do at the time.  Expect some new layouts in the coming days :-)

In the meantime, have a great weekend.

Bye for now xx

WOYWW 109 - Two spaces to share today

Good morning Wednesday!  I have 2 spaces to share with you this week

 I finally finished my pirates but I'm not totally happy with them.  I picked up the wrong pen when I was doing the outline and its too thick.  I think I've decided that doing art for other people is too stressful and I'm glad its done and I will be relieved when the little boy has them in his grasp.  If they go on the wall, fine, if not, that's fine too.  Now I can get on with my art journal from Kirsty Wiseman's MIMM class!

And as for my other space.... well let's just say that's a work in progress.  I'm hoping to do an on-line crop with Kirsty this evening so I need to have a bit of a tidy up as I don't have any space at all!

I've got lots of stuff to put away including the layout that B got hold of and ahem.. altered, here. That new stash needs to be put away too which includes my new little brayer - its so cute and it has little feet so you don't put paint on your work surface.

In other news, I started the C25k running program yesterday and I am officially being ultra good with my syns on Slimming World as I'm wasting money and time by doing it half heartedly.  I'm also trying to update my iPod with some tracks that are the right rhythm for me to run to - watch this space to see if I ever make it to the 5k mark!  Today I am feeling sore and stiff from the new release of Body Balance though so I am glad of a day off, aside from the dreaded housework!

But before I start that, I think I'll have a little peruse around some other crafty spaces listed on Julia's blog.

Have fun, bye for now!

WOYWW 108

I am very excited that today is Wednesday!  Wednesday means that my little girl is off having a ball at nursery while I catch up on a few jobs, including of course, WOYWW.  Today though, Wednesday is special for another reason - tonight is the launch of Kirsty Wiseman's MIMM class which starts with a live on-line demo in some of the techniques we can use in our art journals (and anything else later on too).  With my new passion for inks and sprays and paints and messy play, I'm really looking forward to tackling a proper journal.  As such, I felt I should share both spaces this week, my craft room AND my art room.

Working in the art room during broad daylight works well and I'm loving having a sink nearby but daytime play is rare.  Last night I cracked on with the pirates, however, the light is very overhead so I ended up working in the shadows and the result was 4 pirates with decidedly orange skin!  I have just redone one of them and I'm waiting for it to dry to see if that works any better.  You can see the orange and the new tanned version in the pic and also to the left of the pic, all my MIMM goodies including, obvs, the Moleskine itself (wrapped in the pink tissue paper - (loves!)).

My craft room, with a box of new stash (don't tell hubs) and THAT layout still being tweaked.  Must finish it today or it won't go into the round up for the month on 2Peas. Lots of stuff to put away after the crop last week but the pirates and the MIMM come first this week.  Oh and I mustn't forget teacher presents...gah!

For more craft inspiration, whatever your pleasure, please head on over to Julia's blog with her guest poster Jan and her lovely Cath Kidston inspired makes.

I'm off to see what sort of tan my pirate has...

Bye for now! xx