WOYWW - In The Sun !

This week my "workdesk" is in the sunshine on the terrace of our back garden in Spain !
After counting down for 78 days we finally headed out here on Saturday - it was worth the 2am start !
I managed to squeeze some stash into my suitcase (and hand luggage - things were getting desperate !) and bring my Neocolour crayons & my journal !

 So on my desk today you can see my breakfast - fresh peaches, plums & nectarines fried with a teaspoon of butter & honey (well I am on holiday !) and served with Greek yoghurt - and some of my stash !

I was allowed to open some of my birthday presents early before we left - the parcels too big to bring - and my sister had bought me some new Crafty Individuals stamps, then I had some stamps free with my new subscription to Craft Stamper & there are a couple of Stamp Addicts ones that I also got lured by - they leapt into the baggage so I can mess around with them whilst I have time to play !

Today, however, I am playing in my art journal - finishing a page I made about how I love a bop on the dance floor when I get the chance - even though I have 2 left feet (I traced round mine for the page ! ), can't told a tune and have absolutely no sense of rhythm !! Still a girl can boogie in her own little world !!

And the second page is work in progress - my friend Lynda challenged me to create a page on the theme "Tick Tock" - so this has Birds of Time made up from various Paperartsy stamps - and is about the contradictions of time - of how it is both the primeval experience of nature and yet a completely artificial human concept !

 Just great to have the time to mess around in my journal at all !

Well better scoot now - we are off to stay in a hotel in the mountains converted from a monastery - one of our favourite places ever - for the night on Thursday so I can wake up there on my birthday Friday. They haven't had rain here for weeks - and it is due to rain Friday - just typical - must have brought it with us from Wales !

Anyway, have a great crafty week !

WOYWW - Glimmer Fest !

Hi Hope all is well with you ?

Just a short catch up with my desk this week !

The desk is piled up with a stack of embellishments all sprayed with various Glimmer Mists !

I have been looking at some of the lovely scrap pages & journal work from Finnabair (Anna Dabrowska-Pekocka) which has layer upon layer of flowers, cogs and paper all lavishly covered with Glimmer Mists - and I really wanted to try something inspired by her work.

So I have picked a picture, rifled through my stash for flowers, found a pile of book pages I had die- cut ages ago, added odd buttons, plastic flower beads, chip-board pieces, tags and so on.

Then between ironing & packing for holidays yesterday I put everything through my sophisticated spray system ( aka cardboard lid from box to spray in!) and they are now sitting all ready for me to find time to create a page !

Also just peaking out on the right are some new Christmas stamps - even I am starting to succumb to the lure of Christmas now !

And one last thing to share - my friend Jan & I's September challenge which was a combination of "use a stencil" & "include a photo" - here's my project using a flower stencil & pictures from the gardens I visited on holiday - plus my half of October's challenge - which will be "include Letters".

Hope you all have a fun crafty week !
Ali x    

WOYWW - Am I A Very Sad Individual ?!!

Hi Hope all is well with you this week ?
Question - Am I a very sad individual ? Do I need to get out more ?
Or is it okay to be excited & inordinately happy about my new craft storage unit !!!

For anyone who called by last week you will know that despite good, helpful customer service from Storage4crafts all went awry when Fedex got their hands on my delivery !
They delivered 1 of the 2 parcels on Tuesday - and despite all their promises it was Thursday before the other half of the delivery turned up !!

As we were setting off back to England for my Sister in Law's 50th birthday party on Friday after work, it wasn't until Sunday that we could put the unit together.
I say "we" - but happily my lovely Rich swung into action with a screwdriver with me only handing things to him & trying to look useful !
The unit was very well made & came with very good instructions - so he made a great job of putting it together really quickly - and with no stress or swear words !!

And here it finally is !!

I had most of the boxes already but they were wedged in a cupboard which took ages to fight to get them out to use !

And I am excited to finally (after 4 years !) have my Cuttlebug out of its box in the depths of the cupboard & poised at a handy height - ready to use as the inspiration takes me !!
So I have the stash sorted into boxes, the boxes all labelled & surley I am all ready to go !

With all the sorting out I haven't had much time to get any actual crafting done !!
So this week you can see it is all "things in waiting" on the desk  !

 I have the new Creativity magazine - ready to join the pile of my holiday reading !
A new clock set of stamps - well you can never have to many clock stamps can you ?!!
Some embossing folders ready to be labelled and popped in their new box in the new unit !
On the left is a bird & bird house gift bag that I bought in the shop at Saville Gardens on Saturday - and also some mini booklets of which I have scanned the covers & printed them out -they are destined to be cut up for my journal !
In the centre are some fuchsia & black sparkly stones that my Sister in Law had sprinkled on the tables for her party - I saved them from the bin at the end of the night - ready for when I scrapbook the party !!
And on the right the freebie Nitwit Christmas stamps & tags from Simply Homemade magazine.

Thought you might like to see the flowers I arranged for the party - you can see the pink & black theme going on !!

And one more thing I just HAD to share with you - 2012 has to have been the "Hydrangea Summer " - with the weeks of endless rain we have had all summer these huge beautiful flowers have been totally sumptuous & stunning in all of the gardens I have visited in the past month - blues & whites & gorgeous deep purples - thought you would enjoy seeing them !

Anyway - have a lovely crafty week & looking forward to seeing your desks & projects as always !
Ali x

WOYWW - Scrapping Alpacas !

Hi hope everyone is well ?
Not so much happening on the desk this week - as I blogged my weekend's projects on Sunday - so I didn't think I could roll those crafty works out again !

So today you can see me my getting my pictures, leaflets & some Alpaca Fleece ready for scrap-club tomorrow night.

As any of you who have stopped by before may know I am mad about Alpacas !

And when we were on holiday we went to visit The Alpaca Park in North Devon - they are so adorable !!

So they will definitely be getting a double page spread - so on my chair there is a a bag of papers & scrapping stuff - packed & ready to go !

I had hoped to show you something a bit different today !

I had ordered a new storage unit designed to hold my Really Useful Boxes from Storage4Crafts - and scheduled the delivery for after 1.30pm today when Rich would be home from work.

So of course Fed-Ex ignored that time slot completely & delivered this morning AND moreover decided to deliver one box of the 2 & leave the 2nd one at their depot - they really are totally useless !! Typical rubbish delivery courier service !

So now instead of being able to show you my new unit - I just have a single box which is pointless without the other one & no idea when I may get the other box !
Maybe by next week I might have an update !!

Oh & I thought you might like to see the autumn cobwebs that are draped all over the plants in my gardens the past few days ! It was a lovely Autumn morning yesterday - with the translucent shimmery special light you get on fine Autumn mornings - so I did an early morning photo-shoot !

So hope you have a fun crafty week & looking forward to seeing your desks too !
Ali x

Rainy Play Day !

Today the forecast had been good but we woke to teeming rain - which carried on 'til well past lunch time.
Unlike Monday, when we just hunkered down in the house, we did get a shift on & go swimming - having not swum for a fortnight the normal 50 lengths were a bit of a plodding affair but I got there in the end !
The shops are open earlier than normal for a Sunday for a few weeks - some unfathomable reason passed off to be to do with the Olympics & Paraolympics - so we could get some essential supplies after swimming & still be back home before 10am !!

So I had some play time between a pile of ironing - and an hour & half battling weeds & slugs in the garden when the sun finally struggled out !

Thursday night I realised I had to get a shift on to put together my September Book of Days page - as Saturday would BE September !!
So I picked a colour scheme I had seen featured in a recent craft magazine - white, black & lime green & used a big doodle style funky flower paper I had bought at Ally Pally in April & couldn't think what to do with !

I haven't stuck down the squares from the 22nd onwards as we shall be on holiday in Spain from then & taking the squares is far easier than taking the whole book !

A few weeks back I had bought a tub of Black Gesso in Hobbycraft but not done anything with it - so I had a go laying down a background in my journal.

Only to find it is fabulous stuff ! It gives a gorgeous full coverage & a touch of gloss - this will definitely be something I'll be using from now on !

So in the cause of experimentation I used my new Tim Holtz Autumn stamps (don't normally buy his stamps as they are so expensive but these are gorgeous !) - and used mica powders (had been watching Sheena Douglas on a show I'd taped from Create & Craft whilst I was ironing & she was using Mica Paints so I dug my powders out !!) to show up the stamped images on the back - and then created a journal page to show how I feel about the Autumnal mornings creeping in !

Finally I saw the challenge on the House of Bears blog - inspired by Dickens Great Expectations the them was decay & neglect - so I had a go designing my own Dia De Los Muertos Skull & printed & cut out a graveyard scene I found on the internet .. so this is my entry to the challenge about decay not needing to mean neglect of our departed loved ones if we look to Hispanic cultures for inspiration !