WOYWW - It's Starting to Feel A lot Like Christmas ....

Hi fellow WOYWW's - hope all well with you this week !
Last weekend I had a "home alone" weekend as his nibs went to footie in Manchester on Saturday & then at Swansea on Sunday (didn't even come home in between !!) - I was very much surplus to requirements !
So I made a determined assault on Christmas !
Saturday was Christmas shopping - hardly found anything I wanted in the shops in Carmarthen & ended up soaked & fed up after 3 hours trudging from shop to shop in the rain!
So I headed home & did an Amazon order online instead !
I tried on posh frocks for a Ball I have in London next month - nothing within my budget looked right and I wasn't going to pay out a fortune for something I would only ever wear for a few hours ! So looks like I am rummaging at the back of the wardrobe to recycle an old frock !!
Anyway once home I wrapped up all the presents I have bought so far & wrote 30 cards.
I am ashamed to admit to all you card-makers out there that they are bought ones not hand made ! But they are to support the Meniere's Society and as my DH suffers from Meniere's Disease, I have placated myself with that thought !

Then I tackled some Christmas crafting - so on my desk this week you can see a few bits & bobs .. this is my Project Box all ready to start this year's Journal Your Christmas - which is the daily journal project that runs from December 1st until 12th Night on Shimelle Laine's website.

This is my 5th year (you pay once & then are joined up for life!) and experience has taught me to be organised in order to keep up making a page every day in what is usually a busy month !
So I set up a temporary craft table in front of the telly in the lounge & watched slushy Christmas films whilst I made my covers  & cut all my pages to size ready - I like to work on an 8"x 8" sized page as I find this just right for the photos & journalling I like to include.

This is my front cover - I love the whole Nordic/ Scandinavian Christmas that is everywhere this year - but it doesn't suit any other decorations I have for the house - so I am going to enjoy it in my journal instead !
This is mount board (cadged as a freebie from the framing shop !) wrapped in one of the papers I have chosen. I am using (Papermania's "Home For Christmas" collection and the tag is what I made at the "let's get inky" night at our Scrapbook club last week - the tree stamp matches the papers.

Thought you might like to see what a work-desk can look like when 6 girls get inky !
So here's us in action ..

We all agreed it was a great fun night & declared we must have play-dates more often !!
And yes we did clear all that mess up !!

The final bit of Christmas on my desk is my last "Book of Days" page for the year - a Christmas-y December page - and Nordic again - can you tell I like the look - with wrapping paper & a scrap strip of scrapbook paper too !!

I have enjoyed doing the Book of Days this year - and have written one of those 2" squares each & every day ! But I don't think I shall do it next year as it's been a big project - I might have a go at a Smash Book or just do more art journalling & normal scrapbooking -or some of all three !
But I am glad I have done it & that in years to come I'll have a day by day snapshot of my life in 2012 to look back on !

Anyway enough of my ramblings - several of you asked me last week what the tag on the Friendship Bag that my friend Lynda gave me for my birthday said - so I have tried a close up - hope it's a bit more readable !

Hope you all have a good week - and have avoided the floods that are taking their toll across the UK in the past week !
Looking forward to seeing what you have all been up to !
Take care Ali xx

WOYWW - Art Deco Cards

Hi there - hope everyone is keeping the flu bugs & tummy bugs at bay ?
Both are doing the rounds here in West Wales - not hit us yet - keeping fingers & toes crossed we dodge them both !

The trusty Work-Desk is relatively under control this week, as I had a good tidy up at the weekend. Well if I can see the middle of the desk I count that as tidied !
I sort of tune out the clutter across the back !!

So on my desk this week is a half finished journal page - I saw this image & couldn't get the first line of this poem out of my head - Lord knows how long that has been filed in the depths of my brain - since school - so that is over 30 years !!
Anyway it kept sneaking into my conciousness when my concentration lapsed on something else - so I had to give in & look up the poem !!
It obviously wanted to make it into my journal - so I am using the first stanza - but this is all I have managed on the page so far !

I also have a Christmas card I am part way through making .... I'm not really a card maker as you may know, so am struggling to think how it will go together & how to Christmas it up ! Think I just need to sit & play around a bit !

Most of my limited crafting time last weekend was spent finishing off my Art Deco decoupage cards - they are A5 which is huge compared to what I have made before !!
So it was a bit of a leap of faith to put them together !
The images were big to start with - and a frenzy of matting later they were even bigger !!

Also on my desk I have a Friendship bag which my friend Lynda gave me for my birthday - it was so cute & I appreciated the thoughts behind it so much, I have kept it on my desk but I thought that the sweetie was likely to go sticky & spoil everything else - so I thought I better eat that bit !

And here on the floor by my desk are my bags packed to take to Scrap Club tomorrow night - we are doing inky techniques onto tags - which should be some good messy fun !!

Hope you all have a fun crafty week & looking forward to seeing what you are all up to !!
Ali xx

WOYWW - Gorgeous Goodies !

Well last week was the big Hobbycrafts show at the NEC in Birmingham - and on Saturday I took 3 other friends from our little Scrapbook Club up there for a fun day's shopping !
It was a long day - 2 3/4 hours driving each way & 5 hours walking around the show - so I was pretty shattered by the evening - but I found some really lovely goodies so it felt all worth while !

So here on my desk are some of my new playthings !

There are some stunning masks & stencils available now - and I have found some great Autumn & Winter themed ones & I am looking forward to working on some scrap pages, art journal pages and cards with these over the next few months ...

As you may know I have a passion for stamps !
And the stalls had such an array of great stamps to choose from .. I have a cute one from Little Clare with owls on a tree, some nature & art journal ones from Inkylicious - do check them out - they offer some lovely stamps .. http://www.inkylicious.co.uk/

And a couple from new designers - a new young designer called Chloe who has only just finished school but now has her own business (http://www.chloescreativecards.co.uk/) & Jo Firth Young at Paperartsy - I have met Jo at various Artsycrafty weekends & she is a lovely lady .. http://shop.paperartsy.co.uk/jofy-collection-286-c.asp

I also love Lavinia Stamps http://laviniastamps.com/- I mainly have her nature stamps but she was the first to offer fairy silhouettes - and although many have copied her - I believe Tracy's are still the original & the best !

So I succumbed to a fairy stamp and had a little play !

We had a gorgeous crisp, cold, azure-skied winter's day here on Sunday.
As we drove in the early morning light, to go to the swimming pool, we went through the forest.
The morning mist was rising wraith like from the damp ground & over the river valley and the sun was slanting through the russet trees making the glowing leaves come alive with Autumn fire - it was one of those "great to be alive moments" & I really wanted to share a couple of my photos with you !

I hope your week brings you a "good to be alive moment" - it may just be a moment but do take the time to savour it - I find it feeds the soul ! have a great week ! Ali x

WOYWW - Art Deco & Club Projects

Hi hope everyone is well ?

For those of us in the Northern half of the world the dark nights are totally upon us - it's virtually dark by 4pm on wet days - oh and boy did it pour all weekend !
Never mind it was nice just to huddled up in the house  !
On Saturday I had a lovely quite afternoon with my new crafty goodies whilst DH was off watching football in the lashing rain & with hail stones thrown in !

Then on Sunday we were happy "cwtch up" (as they say here in Wales !!) together & watch the episode of Strictly Come dancing we had recorded - whilst the rain pounded on the windows !

On my desk this week are a mixture of things - from projects ready to take to Scrap Club tomorrow night to some new extra long plates from my Cuttlebug & some leafy dies ..

I have bought some 13" plates & some long dies - they are Sizzix & I am trying to get them to cut through my Bug - I am not getting a great cut - so I think I need to play with some shamming layers - any advice very welcome !!

 We are having a challenge night at Club - we are all bringing along something that we think the rest of the group would enjoy doing - and we hope to plan the projects all we fancy doing in for the meetings to come next year.

My first idea are to scrap "My Life Right Now" - we often scrap our holidays, big events & our friends & families - but I think in years to come it will be fascinating to look back on the everyday things - our handbags, our shampoo, our lunch, our favourite TV programme, the book we are reading - in fact just snippets of our daily lives - I hope to do one each year & it will be fun to compare them !!

Then I have a couple of ideas for mini tag books - I have played with making one from a single 12"x 12" sheet of paper - but it was a bit small - so I messed about with one from made from 2 sheets.  Lets see if the rest of the girls fancy my ideas !!

This week I have delved back into my Wellington Bear card making stash & whipped up a card for my nephew ...

And last but not least I have been layering up the decoupage pieces from the new Art Deco Docrafts kit I bought on Saturday (went in for Nordic Christmas stash but got lured in my this !!) - I'm not sure if my card making skills are up to using these - but I am taking the kit to Club tomorrow in the hope of some advice ! So any tips or ideas you have for me would be much appreciated !!

Take care & have a great crafty week - hope I may see some of you at the NEC Hobbycrafts show on Saturday ?

Ali xx