WOYWW - Cards Finally Finished - I Hope !

Well having plagued you all for weeks with nothing but Christmas cards, this past weekend was a final frenzied attempt to finish enough to send to everyone on our Christmas Card List !

Much beloved headed to football Saturday afternoon so I lugged all my supplies down to the conservatory & spread out over the whole dining table !


It made creating SO MUCH easier to have everything to hand & made me envy those of you that have much bigger desks or work-benches than I do !
It was a lovely sunny Winter's weekend - so it was a pleasure to sit in the brightness of the conservatory beavering away !
Have to admit I did end up with backache after sitting there for a few hours each day - but productivity was high & I finished what was needed !!!



 Not sure I would do this again - but having set myself the challenge it has been fun to accomplish it - and as I can seldom resist buying some new Christmas Stamps each year it has been such a good way for actually using them !

 More mono-chrome with a slash of red - love these Card-io Stamps & I used a couple of Clarity circular stamps too ...

 A couple more Reindeer to pull the sleigh !

And I am not sure of the official collective noun for a group of Polar Bears - but I have decided that "A Flurry of Snow Bears" suits me just fine !

Here a card with Chloe's stamps inspired by her project book ..

And finally all the cards made .... just all need to be written now !!!!
Another project in itself !

Our clever crafting friend Gill bought in her Advent project to show Lynda & I at Craft Club last week - isn't it just lovely !
Her young Grandson comes for his teatime visit once a week - so they will be opening one of the 4 Advent Chests each week until the Big Day - we think he'll love it - we certainly did and wanted to show you all her super project !

And one more thing I wanted to share - the sun was rising as I stepped out of the house this week to find the bush outside the front door already adorned ! The spiders must have decided that it was time for them to put their decorations up already ! Nature never ceases to surprise me with it's beauty in the most unexpected moments !
Have a great crafty week !
Ali xx

WOYWW - 1 Month To Go !

Well here we are with just a month to go until Christmas !
So the card making carries on at a pace !
33 done, 6 more made last Saturday and about 15 to 20 left to make !
Saturday morning was an 8am haircut followed by the normal round of errands to run,followed by the afternoon beavering away at the work-desk on these cards !

Sunday was swimming followed by a Tapas lunch at our favourite Brazilian restaurant on Cardiff Bay before we headed to the Matinee at the Millennium Centre to see The Lion King.
We were very impressed at the production and I especially loved how the clever use of lighting brought the whole story to life.
 So on my desk today you can see a tumble of Christmas activity !

Half made cards, stamps, inks & Stickles plus ribbons & metallic Pro-markers, plus 3 fabric Christmas Trees I bought at a stall in the theatre on Sunday.
As you can see I will be heading back here next weekend to finish off !!

Have a great crafty week
Ali xx

WOYWW - Christmas Still Abounding !

With November now over half way gone, the pace picks up at the Christmas production line that is my work-desk this week ! Now I know how Santa's Elves must feel beavering away to hit the Dec 25th deadline !

So on my desk you can see some Christmas stamps ready for action along with ink-pads & embossing powders !
Much beloved has very kindly printed out some photos for me to catch up on Journal 52 - this on the theme "Thinking of You" which was for the week including Remembrance Day when my Great Grandfather who was killed in Flanders was very much on my mind.

Well if you think my desk is messy you should have seen the amazing happy creative mess we made at Craft Club last week ! All of us who had been to the NEC brought along our goodies so we could all have a go playing with each others new stash !

We had a great fun evening all working on something new and sharing supplies, chatter & ideas !

Sorry I didn't get to visit many desks last week but I was away for a few days - it was rather a mixed experience !
We went to Bath Thursday which was a disaster as it rained all day & the disabled access was mostly dreadful - every shop seemed to be up two steps & so completely inaccessible for Much Beloved and the pavements had no dropped kerbs so we had to walk in the roads ! Oh the pleasures of disabled living ! We did have lovely Thai meal in the evening to redeem the day !
Friday was better - would you believe the sun came out - 1 day too late typically as we had moved onto to Bristol by then !
And we got some Christmas shopping done, had a fun supper at a microbrewery pizzeria and enjoyed our annual jaunt to see Jools Holland in concert !

Back home at my Desk more Christmas cards made an appearance as I got to play with new stamps, embossing powders and I have come to think that there is no card that can't be enhanced with the judicious use of Stickles !!

Here are some of the latest efforts !
Here Lynda had shared her fun snowman stamp which I enjoyed colouring in !

I saw cards very similar to these below on the Card-io stand at the NEC & just HAD to have this Pinecone mini stamp set .. so here's a Christmas Tree with ribbons ...

And more Pine-cones with ribbons !

Here I used the Pine-cones with some Inkadinkadoo branches stamps and some cute mini robbins from Little Claire's Designs ...

 And rather than black & white monochrome here's navy & white !

And it wouldn't be me this Christmas without a bit of cute decoupage !

I also got to play with Lynda's new Clarity stencil at craft club last week - and trudging around Bath in the rain I did find a Market we could get into which had an amazing ribbon stall.

I just loved this ribbon with the Winter Trees on it and this open weave black one too !

The idea for this Journal page just leapt to mind & insisted on being created !!

So here is my page called November, November The Year's Sad Daughter ... inspired by Eleanor Farjeon's poem - she lived much of her life in Sussex near where I hail from - so maybe this is why this poem has been lurking in the deep recesses of my mind !

 My Dad loathes November - he always says it is the dreariest month of the year - so the sentiments of this poem reflect his views !
Here's November,
The year's sad daughter,
A loverless maid,
A lamb for the slaughter,
An empty mirror,
A sunless morn,
A withered wreath,
The husk of the corn,
A night that falls
Without a tomorrow,
Here's November,
The month of sorrow.

Enjoy your week ! Love Ali xx

WOYWW - NEC Goodies !

Well, I picked up a carload of crafty-girls at half six on Saturday morning - the early start speaks of crafty dedication don't you think !!
We headed up to the NEC in Birmingham for the Hobbycraft show - 3 hours journey each way but what a fun day we had !
We arrived early enough to get to the stands we wanted to see before the crowds got too manic !
And we got to meet up with Shaz Silverwolf from amongst our Deskers for lunch which was lovely too !

So my desk this week is laden with lots of lovely goodies that I bought at the show !

Some amazing new Lavinia Stamps, a couple of Clarity stencils, plus some of the new longer thinner stencils from Imagination Crafts and a couple of Chloe stamps ...

Sunday afternoon Much Beloved went to Footie & so I had a couple of hours to play at my desk to try some of the lovely inspiring things we saw on display or being demo-ed on Saturday !

Here I have had a play with my new Lavinia funky seed-head (well I do adore a seed-head as you know !!) and toadstool stamps - and a good dollop of Stickles - sadly they haven't showed up too well on the photo !

Wow Embossing powders had a great stand and an amazing Show Special set called Planet Earth - these have proven to be gorgeous colours and an amazing deal at 6 for a Fiver !!

Then we saw that Chloe from Chloe's Stamps had been stamping & embossing on velum - I had great fun with this new technique !

Being November, Christmas was everywhere - and we saw lots of amazing stamps - this long tall stamp of a Reindeer was great fun and I enjoyed having a 1st play with the stamp on this card !

And just a few of the Mini Distress Inks we spotted at a great price - and I am finding it so handy to have all these mini ink pads on my desk and to hand !

We have planned to have a sharing session at Craft Club tomorrow night so everyone can have a play with our new stash !

Have a great crafty week !
Ali xxx

WOYWW - Still Festive !

Hi
Well the trusty old work-desk is still looking Christmas-y today - with another batch of cards rustled up on Sunday !
All on the cute end of the spectrum & using toppers & papers.







Here are more Pippenwood which I have decoupaged

And these papers & toppers were free with a magazines .... I thought these were quite unusual & very non-traditional as Christmas colours but they did rather appeal to me !

Then on Saturday I set about my November project on Lynda & my ABC ATC challenge.

I had X this month - whoa this one was a bit brain taxing !
I had to sit down with the dictionary to get some inspiration !
So this ATC is called Xantho-Xylograph !!
Xantho meaning yellow - and a Xylograpgh being a woodcut !
This Clarity stamp struck me as having a woodcut look about it - and the background was 3 types of yellow ink. The ATC's are supposed to be the same but I expect you can see my "deliberate mistake" ! 
Well as the Moorish artists of the stunning palaces in Spain always said - every art work should have a mistake as only Allah is perfect !
Well that's my excuse - not a momentary lapse of attention !!!

Then I also created a couple of journal pages for my Journal 52.
Firstly the challenge was "Use Stencils" - I have had this page in my head for weeks - the photos printed out & the quote - which I had seen on a page on the Internet - was nagging at me to be made into a page !
This is my lovely sister who, as we live 5 hours apart, I miss & never get to see enough of ...
This quote was made for us as we are completely different in looks, character & our lives - but I love her dearly !








Then the next challenge was "The Sky" - and I spotted this quote which appealed to me !
I had my stencil folder out so used a combo of the clouds & moon.
I like the way the background came out but I completely messed up the sapcing of the words !
I was worried I would run out of space & then ending up with loads at the bottom & all the quote crammed at the top - whoops !
I was too out of energy to make it all again - so it will go in the Journal as a lesson to plan better !!!!

Have a great crafty week !
I have a carload of us girls from our craft club heading to the Hobbycrafts Show the NEC on Saturday - so maybe see you there ??
Love Ali x

PS Another lesson learnt - check that nothing has fallen on the floor by your desk before you go in with your big fat feet !! Whoops again !