WOYWW - Jetlagged Desker !

Hi Welcome to my WOYWW this week - missed you all last week with my trip to San Francisco for the Food Inspiration Safari.

You'll be happy to know that despite taking 1,238 photos in the week I am not going to inflict any of them on you !!

We had an action packed week with activities scheduled from 8am to up to 10pm each night !
But all worthwhile as we saw some amazing Farmer's Markets, Food Stores and Restaurants ranging from new wave Korean to modern Mexican, street food, contemporary Italian and the fresh produce displays were mouthwatering !
So as you can tell we got to try some wonderful foods !

On my workdesk today are an accumulation of magazines which arrived whilst I was away - can you tell I am a bit of a maga-holic ! Really looking forward to working my way through these !

Obviously having been away for 10 days, there is not much crafty action to show you but I did have a dabble on Sunday at catching up with my pages for Documented Life -this one was "include an envelope" and Journal 52 - this is "What Makes You Smile"  - still have more to do but I am enjoying playing !

Here is a pile of memorabilia which I have ready to scrap - if I can get to sorting out all those photos !!
On the last day we squeezed in a trip to Alcatraz just before we had to head to the airport - well worth the trip - a very strange place indeed.








And finally, I managed to grab an hour out of the schedule to pop into Michael's craft store - couldn't go mad as I was worried about my luggage limit but I did get the new smaller Project Life folder & journal pages and some Inkadinkado stamps that will work with my Stamping Gear sets - these were a steal as they were in their sale - equivalent of £2 a set !

Anyway am going to head off now - the old body clock is all over the place - the 8 hour time difference has been challenging with so much going on !
I am going to be very happy when the jet lag disappears as I have had enough of wandering around the house in the early hours trying to stop my mind from buzzing in overdrive despite feeling exhausted !!

Have a great crafty week ! Ali x

WOYWW - New Year - New Projects Underway !

Just a very quick post today as I am off to San Francisco on Friday for a week - I am going on a Food Inspiration visit as part of my job as head of Product Development for my company.
It's going to be an action packed, hectic week (and an 8 hour time zone difference to deal with !!) but it should be very interesting & hopefully we'll come back with lots of ideas for new products !

So last weekend was all about getting a couple of new outfits & sorting out everything around the house ready to abandon the poor old Much Beloved for a week !

So crafting time was limited  and so on my desk this week are some works in progress !

Here is this month's ATC in the ABC challenge I am doing with my friend Lynda - I have D this month in case you haven't guessed !
This one is still being put together but is called "Every Dog Has His Day".

I read about new online challenges around the WOYWW blogs last week and decided to have a go at a couple !

One is called Journal 52 - and there is a theme given every week so we can create a journal page. Week One was Up Up & Away !

Then I am also playing along with A Documented Life - the idea is to document the small things in your life that you wouldn't normally pay much attention to - they give you the theme each week & suggest that you use & alter a "week to a view" planner diary as the book to work in.

I have decided that even if I can't finish pages over the next couple of weeks because of being away, at least if I start them I can always backtrack & finish them later !!

So far I have just put the basis in for the first 2 weeks topics - so hoping not to get too far behind !!

Well - hope you have a lovely week & might have jet lag the next time you stop by but hope to see you soon !!
Ali xx

WOYWW - It's an ill gale ...

Well what a week of relentless storms !
I woke during the night - at 10 to 3 in the morning !!- to dazzling rips of lightning & roaring thunder - just another day in a seemingly endless string of days of these storms !

It's been over a fortnight now and although we have the odd days lull, back they come !

In my home town of Hastings a huge section of the cliff - in an area we call Rock A Nore down in the old part of town - collapsed dramatically into the sea ! The videos on line show the scale of it !
Along the Welsh coasts, nearer to where I currently live, we have also had extensive damage & flooding - with stones & sea walls ripped up & deposited onto roads & homes flooded - poor people struggling on everywhere !

Anyway Much Beloved & I decided that we would stay hunkered down in our nest the whole weekend - we ventured out for our weekly trip to the swimming pool and that was it !
We even got our groceries delivered !

So I had a luxury lie in until half 8 Saturday morning & then a very indulgent weekend at my craft desk !

First I set about remaking the calendar I had ripped apart last week - I decided to replace the photos with some collage and quotes - here's where I started ...

And here's the 12 page for each of the months ...

It was quite time consuming but I really enjoyed messing around with the lovely new papers I found as a bargain in Homesense & dipped into my stash to add die cuts, stamps & distress inks.

It is rather bulging now but I am very happy with it !!

With this completed, I then got inspired to set about some Finnabair style projects - I wanted to use the techniques I learnt on the workshop I attended - and the embellishments & paints I had for Christmas - and found in the bargain bucket at the Dunelm store on Boxing day ! So I had a number of UFO's (unfinished objects !) that had been looking accusingly at me from the top of my storage unit - nothing I had tried to finish them looked right or pleased me ... but once I set about using this style of embellishment I was much more pleased with the results !

Here's a letter A (my initial !!) which I had painted months ago but could decide what to use next !

   

Then I had a clock I had played with to try crackle paint - but it never quite looked right - but I was much happier with this ...















And finally a frame - also bought months ago & abandoned when what I had done failed to inspire me !

Now I just have to think what I put in each part of the frame !!

Quotes maybe ?
I think photos or stamped images may look a bit overwhelmed by the frame - what do you think ?

This colour looks a bit "flat" in this photo but the paint (Luminate Silkarts Cinnamon Brown) has a lovely lustre sheen to it & the highlights are Treasured Gold rubbed on !


Anyway it was an ill gale that blew me no good - a weekend at the craft desk was a happy place to shelter from the storms ... hope you are all safe too !
Have a great week .. Ali x

WOYWW - Out With The Old - In With The New !

Well a belated Happy New Year to you all !
Much beloved & I saw in the New Year with our friends Lynda & Robert over a leisurely meal which we managed to spread out from 7.30 to 11pm with lots of chatter !
We watched the Fireworks over London on the telly, took photos & sang Auld Lang Syne - well it had to be done ! So lovely to have made friends here in Wales to spend these significant times with.





I sneaked an hour whilst cooking to make a little ATC for Lynda & I to mark the turning of the year ...

So despite not getting to bed until gone 1am, by 8.15am I was up & packing all the Christmas decorations away. Four & half solid hours of wrapping, packing, running up & done the step ladder to the roof space to the storage boxes, vacuuming & cleaning later I was done ! Only the lights on the outside of the house remain up as the day was one of relentless stormy rain & gales !
The house always looks bland & stark with all the lights & Christmas-y things gone !

It has been a hectic week as we had Much Beloved's family to stay for a week - and I only had christmas Day & Boxing Day off work - so it was a manic week of caring for guests - cooking, washing up, washing bed linen & generally trying to make sure they were enjoying themselves !

This afternoon I finally got to attack my craft desk - to finish the old & make way for the new !
Despite all the duties of entertaining the family, I had made sure I wrote an entry for my Christmas Journal every night. From experience I know this is the trick to keeping up ! I can always sort out pictures & memorabilia later - but if I fall behind writing my thoughts down, the project is doomed !

So I put the last week's pages together & ring bound the book - always a sense of accomplishment !
And a plump little journal it is too !
And also emptied the Project Box of all the Christmas paraphernalia - so it stands empty & poised for the next projects !







So what's coming up ?
First I have ripped all the photos out of the perpetual calendar I have in the lounge - at 5 years old it was looking tired & dated - so time for a revamp - maybe not even using photos this time ! I have some lovely papers I picked up as a bargain at Homesense - so these will be my inspiration !







Next I have proposed a Journal Challenge with Lynda - inspired by the idea of a Rainbow Journal I read about in the Pages magazine - we are going to make a freestyle/ junk journal working through the colours of the rainbow & we have added in a second idea to work with in each colour just to spice it up a bit !

And we have our Alphabet ATC challenge running too

So that should be enough to keep me busy for a while !

Wishing you all a safe, healthy & happy and creatively inspired New Year !
Love Ali x

WOYWW - New Festive Friends !

Not much time for crafting with our Christmas preparations in full swing !

The house is starting to look festive - I love it when all the Christmas lights are hung up !


My hand is still sore & achy after my fall so stitching has been slow & laborious - but I was determined to finish my 2 new festive friends !

Meet Angelina - the ice skating angel - I really enjoy making up these Tilda patterns !
The fur on this pattern was a new challenge !
















Now here too is Herr Penguin - taken from the pattern I bought in Germany - resplendent in his Christmas hat !

















What little time I have found for crafting has been focussed on making sure I keep up each day with my Christmas Journal - I really enjoy my annual month of journalling !

So there is a collection of JYC pages on my desk this week ..

Although there are email prompts each day, I seldom stick to them in order and just write about whatever captures my imagination that day.

Here's my cover !
So far it has seen an eclectic mix of  subjects !

Here's a record of how I have wrapped my presents this year ..

My record of the most talked about advert of the season - John Lewis' Bear & the Hare ..

The phenomen-owl rise of the owl in every form of crafting, clothing, home-wear & accessories ...

And how a festive pie is bang on a whole range of consumer trends ...

And I never bind the pages to the end when the journal is finished - you just never know how dimensional & bulging the book will turn out !

Hope all your Christmas plans are going smoothly !
Have a festive, fun & stress free Christmas !
Love Ali xx

WOYWW - Christmas Catch Up !

Hi
Many thanks to everyone who left a kind message for me after my accident last week - sorry I didn't get to visit as many desks as I would have liked but I was laid up pretty much for the whole week in a haze of painkillers & bruises !
Happily all is on the mend now -so the weekend was a frantic Christmas catch up !
I had a frenzy of wrapping to do, as I am meeting my side of the family this coming weekend to swap presents because we won't be together over Christmas :(
Then we had Christmas shopping to do plus putting up the Christmas Tree & decorating the house to look Christmassy as we are entertaining my "in laws" this year.
So a collection of Christmas clutter on the desk this week !


The one thing I have tried to keep up with is my daily Journal Your Christmas for 2013 - I have found that the secret to keeping to a daily schedule of journal pages is preparation !

So at the beginning of the month I had cut a lot of pages to 8"x8" (down from 12"x12"scrapbooking papers) which is my favourite size to work on for this project, then I cut a lot of Project Life sized cards from the off cuts - so I have them right on hand to journal before I go to sleep each night.
I find if I can just get the words down on paper each day, I can always catch up with photos or some relevant embellishments or stamping etc later on !!
I have some lovely Christmas stamps this year & would love to add some extra little crafted bits but time isn't on my side ! So only this one so far !















So here are a few Christmas cards I can now show as they are safely posted & with their intended recipients !

How cute are these guys from Lilli of the Valley !

These are Chloe's stamps - embossed with WOW Vintage Jade sparkling embossing powder - my favourite of this year - you can't see it very well in this photo but it a lovely colour & so sparkly !

 I liked the effect Jo Firth Young had done with this stamp of her's - stamp onto three types of papers - then cut & reconstruct the piles of presents with the different papers - a bit of red Stickles & voila !

This card was using a wooden embellishment plus some Christmasy ribbon !

Also here is my Scrapclub Secret Santa entry - Lynda gave us all a mini canvas and we each created a Christmas themed mini project which we then wrapped up, put in the centre of the table & each selected one as our gift !















And this month it was Lynda's turn in our ABC ATC challenge she had C - so here is her lovely vintage Christmas style ATC for December - great isn't it !

Have a great week & I hope your Christmas preparations are all serenely underway with no stressing for you ! Love Ali x

WOYWW - Finnabair Fun !

Well after months of waiting, finally the day dawned for me to head off for my workshop in Derbyshire with the talented Anna - aka Finnabair or Finn.

I have admired her style on her blog & in articles from afar - so it was wonderful to have the chance to find out how she goes about creating her lovely highly dimensional designs !


The weekend was ably organised by Jamie & Sharon of the Artist's Trading Post and the venue an Eco Centre in the Peak District - we enjoyed good facilities & the room was just the right temperature all day which is always a blessing at a workshop !

The only small feedback would be that the space we had to work in was very cramped given how much glue, paint & embellishments were involved - but when so many people want to attend I suppose it is inevitable !

Our main project for the day was to create covers for a journal - we were given great big kits of goodies to play with - loads of dimensional embellishments from Prima & were free to choose our own colour schemes - just encouraged to make sure we had a bold colour & a contrasting a highlight colour.
As you can see I chose deep blues, greens with a hint of purple and gold as a background. I was very happy with how my designs came out considering it was my first attempt !!

I always much prefer this as it is rather dreary to work a whole project up in a colour scheme that doesn't appeal just because you have been allocated it !

Finn was a charming tutor & clearly explained each step before we set off to complete it .. we had a completely free hand to create our design exactly as we desired - and we were kept seriously busy all day !

It is always great to see how everyone in the room, whilst ostensibly creating the same project turns out a complete different creation - each composition was unique and every colour scheme completely & utterly different !

After we had created our covers we went on to create a couple of Finn style journal pages - it was good to have some inspiration on new ways to compose a page as it is so easy just to keep trundling round in a loop & getting stale - this is what I love about classes & workshops - as well as the fun of the day, you get the inspiration & spark of new ideas to take home !

So when Journal Your Christmas started this week & it came to creating a cover - are you surprised it is looking Finn style !!


Feeling a bit sorry for myself today as took a fall in the dark carpark at work last night !
So apart from going to an emergency appointment at the dentist to have the big cut inside my mouth checked out, I have been huddled in the house nursing black & blue knees, aching hands & arms & a swollen face that looks like the result of a bad botox session !!
I'm hoping the swelling will go down by tomorrow so I can get back to work - and eat something solid !

Hope you all have a great crafty week !
Ali xx