WOYWW - Visiting Not Crafting !

Well no crafty action on the desk this week as I was away all weekend in North Wales to visit my MIL.

We had a smooth journey there & back thankfully - which is always a bonus given the twisty mountain roads for much of the way !

 So on my desk this week are just a couple of craft magazines, my daily diary and the new Tablet I treated myself to a couple of weeks ago.




On Sunday morning we went out to the promenade to watch the sun rise .. the light was amazing, vividly bright and throwing everything on the shore into stark mono-chrome silhouettes.

Uncannily enough the topic for this weeks Journal 52 is Silhouette - so although I haven't had a chance to journal yet I have got some photos to inspire me !

We saw the morning slip from darkness to light as the tide flowed outwards ...









The sun lifted over the mountains and started to illuminate the tide line ...

We have amazing huge sandy beaches here in Wales and when the tide goes out the beach goes on forever ...

 The board-walk seems to stretch for miles out towards the receding tide ...

I decided to make myself a silhouette against the rising sun !!

Have a great week !
Ali x

WOYWW - A Winter's Tale

Just a short post as not a huge amount happening on the craft desk this week !

Just my Journal going on ...it's sort of a combo of 3 Journal ideas & challenges ...

I am making a short note each day and noting the weather ... and I am using a fun Dodo diary my Mum bought me for Christmas ...

This is then combined with a small picture inspired by the week ... this idea is from the No Excuses Journaling book.



I have done a little water colour of snowdrops .. inspired by the first ones I saw flowering bravely in Lynda's garden last weekend..
This past week has been very cold with snow on Wednesday - 2 cars to scrape clear before we could get to work !!
And Saturday was solid ice - it must have snowed in the night & then frozen solid afterwards - so we had an inch & a half thick of ice to chip off again !
Half an hour to clear one car !!
I don't how you guys who live in snowy places cope day after day - the slightest snow here and everything grinds to a halt !

Hence this week's little picture was of Icicles
I used a pearlescent texture paste .. to create the Icicles - Broken China Distress Stain for the background and sparkling embossed snowflakes ...

This weeks Journal 52 was to create a page inspired by a conversation I had had this week ... I must have a very short memory because I couldn't really recall anything !!

So I decided that my Appraisal which I had last Friday at work sort of counted as a conversation !




The Documented Life challenge this week was to use Gesso.

So this page sort of came together ... a Gesso base layer, I used Gesso through a Dylusions stencil with different sized figures of a woman ... she is supposed to represent me - but is much slimmer than me !!
The words are some of the competencies that I get judged on ... it doesn't quite feel finished but it is coming along !

Well that's all folks - have a great crafty week ! Ali xx

WOYWW - Holiday Stitching !

Well necessity proved the mother of invention on Sunday as I set about stitching for the first time in weeks !

We are off on holiday to Barbados next month - this destination has been on Much Beloved's Bucket List for ages - so we are heading out there whilst we can healthwise etc !

We had planned to take his electric scooter but we have found out they have American voltage electricity which is only half as powerful as the UK so we won't be able to charge the battery !

Thankfully we have found out in time to change our plans over to taking the manual wheelchair - so I need to get my pushing muscles ready !

And it meant that the bag I had made for taking towels and so on to the pool on our last holiday won't be any good - so I had to devise a wheelchair friendly large bag.


I went over to Lynda's on Saturday - we had a lovely afternoon with chatting, lush muffins and playing in her craftroom - whilst the Boys were out watching footie in the freezing cold - hmm - tough choice - NOT !!

She helped me plan out the bag & make a few templates - so on Sunday I was able to cut, layout the pieces to plan how to construct the bag with front & back pockets and the straps to hang neatly from the chair handles.

I have to admit there was some blood, sweat & swearing involved !

Thankfully the blood (I had forgotten how sharp quilting pins are !!) sponged out and Much Beloved didn't blush too much at my swearing !!

But happily it turned out okay - and we test ran it with the beach towels in it on the back of the wheelchair and it looks like it should work fine !!
And I can't resist using up the scraps of fabric - so I had to make a quick cover for my Kindle too !

So not a huge amount on my desk this week as that was my crafting this week .. some Lavinia Toppers I had forgotten that I had and this month's Creativity magazine - and a snowflake picture ready to copy onto a Journal card - inspired by the brave little snowflakes in Lynda;s garden !







Just a couple of journal pages to add - "Pathways" is week 1 challenge for Journal 52 2015 ....

And "Book Pages" is for the Documented Life Project Journal Challenge - they gave us this quote which I loved !

Enjoy your crafty week ! Ali x

WOYWW Journal 52 & pre-Spring Tidy !

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year !

Lynda & I saw in the new year together with our respective Much Beloveds and it was lovely to share the evening with them ! Of course it would have been rude not to see in the Midnight Hour with a glass of Bubbly !
Oh dear -the Star on top of the Tree looks like it has imbibed that New Year Bubbly a bit too heavily !!


After taking down the Christmas decorations on New Year's Day, it felt very good to finish off my Journal Your Christmas for 2013 - it is looking satisfyingly plump with Christmas memories !
 
It is now safely stowed on the shelf with my previous JYC journals - from 2008 onwards !


I have been in a tidy up mood this week - must be the thought of Spring - and the Spring Clean tradition !! - being on its way - even if it seems a good way off at the moment !
So I have been rooting out in the wardrobes, the bathroom cabinets and have a stack of bags for the charity shop, the rubbish tip and the recycling !
My craft desk & shelves are looking vaguely respectable !
And I have even dumped some stash - ugly papers & old embellishments I am never going to use !

And put the 3 randomly part filled scrapbooks into some sort of chronological order in one single album !

I have tidied up lots of part planned scrapbook pages - and feel in the mood to scrap again for the first time in months !

And I have actually done some creating as well as the tidying !

I have been working to catch up on my Journal 52 - I am feeling happy to have finished all 52 challenges for 2014 - and so this is my Second satisfyingly plump Journal book this week ! Good job I have finished the year as the folder is about to burst !! I may even get round to decorating the covers at some point !

I am not sure what my plan is for my Journaling this year - I am thinking of following the new No Excuses Journaling book I have - this goes month by month and builds up week by week - I am using the Dodo Diary that Mum gave me for Christmas instead of the Desk Diary the author suggests as I like the freedom to work on separate sheets rather than a straight into a book ... but I might still follow the Journal 52 challenges in 2015 - oh the happy choices !!!

The final theme of the year was Full Circle ... and one year ends & the new one begins !

This challenge was "Build A Snowman" .... and I do like a snowman - but snow is a nightmare combination with disabled living for Much Beloved   !!

This was to capture one of your favourite songs ...The Whole Of The Moon by the Waterboys will always be in my top 5 tunes !

T

This challenge was to Doodle a page which sounds easy enough but I am pretty rubbish at Doodling .. so I decided to make a collage of doodles and add my own colour & touches !

This challenge was glitter & sparkle - and I have had the tune of "Shine Like A Diamond" buzzing in my head since I heard it on Strictly Come Dancing last month - this seemed a good place to park up up and stop it keep running round my brain !! The photo doesn't really show all the blingy sparkle !

So on my rather tidy desk today (well tidy for me !!) is a new folder to start of some Journaling in 2015

Thought you might like to see all the ATC's that Lynda & I made for our ABC challenge in 2014 ..

But I may need reporting to the Royal Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Cuttlebugs ... look what happened to my poor C Plates when I went to die cut those circles for my Snowman !

Have a great crafty week !
Ali x