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

WOYWW - Happy New Year 2015 !

Well where did the past year go - the weeks and months just seem to gallop past !
Here we are again with Christmas past and slipping into memories and a fresh new year ahead of us !













We had a lovely Christmas - rather different as we had decided to stay in a hotel for Christmas this year. With the loss of Much Beloved's Step-father in July my MIL had asked that we do something completely different to make the day less painful for her.
Both my side & Rich's side of the family got to celebrate together. And I got to hang out with my 2 Nephews !

We had a brilliant time at the hotel which they had decorated beautifully - the staff were so kind and nothing was too much trouble for them !
We even woke on Christmas morning to find Santa's footprints along the corridor outside the rooms ! And the food was delicious too !
So we glided happily through the Christmas break without anyone so much as peeling a sprout !
And got to spend some time with my family in Sussex too.

And came home on Sunday to an empty fridge and avoiding the temptation to munch through endless leftovers !

So no crafting done at all as we were back to work on Monday - and my desk is a complete tip !
I have just dumped everything on the desk in the desperate hope I may be able to get to finish my Christmas Journal next weekend !!

And if I do get to play I have some great new stash & books that Santa (with a little help from my Sister !) bought for me !















I try to have a sentiment for each year - for next year I have thought it might be something like - "Be The Change That You Want To See In the World".
Rather than just expecting things to change around me, maybe it needs to start with me !
I don't know why I have a premonition of change coming .. who of us ever knows what lies ahead - better to embrace or instigate it than fight it !

 We are looking forward to Lynda & Robert coming to see in the New Year with us - we'll raise a glass of something bubbly to you all at Midnight & wish you all a Very Happy 2015 !

WOYWW - Merry Christmas Everyone !

Well just a quick update - a bit early this week due to family plans ! - to wish everyone A Very Merry Christmas !!

On my desk tonight are the ongoing bits & bobs of my Journal Your Christmas - some more pages pretty much finished and I am keeping up with my daily entries !

Planning to hit my laptop each night over the next week to keep up each day !


Lynda & I have finished our ABC ATC challenge for the year - we have had great fun with this !

I had the Z as my final letter and came up with ... Zentangles !

I hope you & your families have a wonderful time over Christmas - low on stress and high on fun !

Love Ali xx

WOYWW - All Wrapped Up !

Well my desk is finally free of Christmas cards as they are all safely delivered to the post box !

This week it is covered in the components that are building up into my Journal Your Christmas project !


I have been doing this for several years now & it really makes me feel Christmassy !
I am not really following the prompts as they haven't really changed year on year - it is more of a diary this year - tracking how the month progresses.

So this week it has been about a frenzy of present wrapping over the weekend whilst Much Beloved was in Manchester for the footie ! 









Sunday night Lynda & I went to a bilingual Carol Concert at a traditional Welsh Chapel - fabulous Welsh Male Voice Choir, mixed Choir, Ladies Choral Society, 3 school choirs and a full Brass Band - given the Welsh talent for singing as you can imagine the musical sound was amazing !

Mind you we both felt seriously Ex-Pat - being English & speaking no Welsh we could only follow 50% of the service and it was a slightly surreal experience to hear all the tunes - so familiar since childhood - of all the traditional carols - but not to be able to understand a word that was being sung !

I drove home though the small local village of Llanedi - where the village green is dominated by this huge Christmas Tree - it certainly made me stop in my tracks to take a photo !!














Also saw this Brass Band in M&S at Parc Trostre on Sunday morning & immediately thought of Lunch lady Jan - as she is a Band Lady - and they were from Burry Port just like her !

 

Apart from JYC the only little bit of crafting was to make a tree ornament to be swapped at Craft Club tomorrow night - it is our annual Christmas Nibbles Night !
Hope you Christmas preparations are going smoothly & your stress levels are low !
Have a great week !

Ali xx

WOYWW - Better Late Than Never !

Well we have had internet connection problems all week - so I am only now finally able to blog my post this week !

Not too much to report in all truth !

From my feeling at the start of the month of being quite in control of Christmas - here I am with just a fortnight to go and feeling slightly panicky that everything will get done !



So on my desk this week is the start of my Journal Your Christmas for 2014 - I have been doing this for many years now and I am determined to keep up my tradition how ever busy I get !! 

So as a minimum I try to make a note of my day and make up my journal pages at the weekend !
And a new pack of photo paper ready to print out the photos for the journal pages.

We have had some bright frosty mornings this week with spectacular moon-falls and the car windows feathered with dramatic plumes of frost !









And I thought you might like to see the over the top Christmas lights on a house in our village - they do all this to raise money for the Air Ambulance Service !!

Have a great crafty week
Ali xx