Happy New Year -WOYDTW !

It's more of What's On Your Dining Table this Wednesday - today my friend Lynda from Scrap Club came to play ! It was a really foggy & gloomy day but we had a fun few hours getting really messy with paints & Glimmer Mists - painting & stamping boxes & tissue boxes in the conservatory where the light was actually quite good.

So what with lunch & naughty cream cakes & lots of chatter - we had a really enjoyable day !

So its been a good crafty year ... I've kept to my resolution to be more adventurous with my projects & just to get stuck in & not to dither about worrying it won't go "right" .. and it doesn't always go "right" but hey its not the end of the world .. learn & move on to something else ! Have fun & get let the creative urge have its way !

So hope everyone has a very Happy & Crafty New Year - get messy & have fun !

Feeling Christmas-y !

I don't really know what this feeling is - this "feeling Christmas-y" - we were debating it as we walked around London yesterday looking at foodie inspiration places before we went to the IGD Glitter Ball last night. I think it must be the creeping sensation of appreciating how lovely the buildings & shop windows are as dusk draws in & the Christmas lights twinkle & shine .. the getting dressed up for a night out - the frosty clear mornings, Christmas trees in the hotel & even at Paddington Station - and the firms prompting us to buy buy buy with their Christmas point of sale materials & all the goodies on the shelves of course.

So here's a montage of past couple of days & yes - whatever it is - I DO feel Christmas-y now !

Christmas Journal Underway !

So on my work desk this week I don't have much in the craft line but I do have the pages I am working on for my Christmas Journal.

Each day Shimelle sends us a prompt to give us inspiration for that day's page & this year we are also getting a photography prompt with new ideas & techniques for

our Christmas photos. I'm really enjoying it & how it makes me take time out to consider the little things about this month that might just slip past unmarked.

I find it takes me a few days to get a "feel" for how the journal will develop & gradually it takes on it's own character - I quite like the little note cards Shimelle has given us this year & so far have been using them to give the pages a rhythm & continuity. Not sure if this will work throughout the month or look a bit boring - but so far I like it !

Today I had a little 13 hour trek setting out at 5.30am to present to a customer & en route we stopped for coffee just as it got light. In the car-park were the trees in these pictures - I have never seen anything like these ice crystal which almost look like an exploding starburst ! Amazing what this winter is throwing our way already !

Have a happy Wednesday & a fun crafty week - hope if you are in the freezing UK or somewhere equally icy you stay safe & warm !

Snow & Ice - Christmas Anticipation !

So here we are with December about to start & we have already been frozen in our snowy little cul de sac since Friday ! No where near as bad as up North & in Scotland but snow & ice are not compatible with disabled living & make my DH's life a misery.

Still we have decided to crank up the heating & try not to let it get us down !

Christmas feels like it is a hovering breath away !

With a new year of Journal Your Christmas about to start, I am feeling all tingly with anticipation of what the next month may hold & looking forward to creating my journal !

My lovely Mum has sent my advent calender & I am really looking forward to opening the envelope to celebrate the 1st being here - yes I am in my late 40's & yes my Mum is still buying me & my sister Advent calenders & I for one am unrepentantly happy that we keep this as a family tradition !!

I have already made inroads into the Christmas shopping, the cards are all written (sorry they are just shop-bought ones - which puts me to shame when I see everyone else's lovely home made cards but it just isn't my thing !) - and ready to post this week.

On Saturday I really enjoyed my annual Christmas shopping trip with my friend Joanna to Narberth - a lovely village in Pembrokeshire with loads of individual shops full of crafts, jewelry & art - and a Spanish Deli where we have a Tapas lunch & a glass of Cava to kick off our Christmas spirit !

On my desk today you can see I have finished my Christmas shadow box - still not sure it isn't a bit dull but I have tried to use a bit of gold to liven it up ! Think maybe fundamentally the brown was a bad choice with the red frame - but you live & learn !! Comments on what you think I could have done to improve it gratefully received !! I can always recycle it into something else after Christmas !!

I have the metalwork I am working on from the new Ten Seconds Studios Christmas Kabuka mold & when I have finished it I hope to add the 4 tree panel to the front of my Journal.

I have a few new stamps that I tacked onto an order for some cute chicken stamps that'll be part of what my parents are buying me for Christmas - and a leaflet we picked up on Saturday of Scandinavian style decorations - I succumbed to some ribbon in the red & white with Christmas Reindeer & Tree motifs on it - so the leaflet is for inspiration as to what to make with that !

Well that's my desk & snippets of life for this week ! Looking forward to seeing your desks this week - have a great crafty week & stay warm if you are somewhere snowy like us !!

WOYWW - Christmas is coming - help !!

OMG ! This time next month it will be Christmas Eve ! And I have barely anything Christmas related done !

We are not entertaining at home this year - so thankfully at least I have that pressure off - but I have to get my act together on the present buying front !

On the work desk this week is a little Christmas shadow box in the making ... I had this idea way back at the Artsy Crafty weekend in October & I have been messing about with the pieces but have decided it's tipped the balance from being "colour co-ordinated & tasteful" into "all a bit dull & muted" !! So I need to have a re-think as to how I get a bit of - still tasteful ! - Christmas pizazz into it ! I think some metal work might be called for - or making some mosaic tiles from polymer clay ??

Anyway something to play around with ... and a week today Journal Your Christmas starts again - so I need to get my Album cover underway & I am determined to get all my date labels done up in advance - that prep paid off big style when I did Learn Something New in September - so if I really DID learn that particular new thing I'd be silly not to act on it !!

Oh - and place cards for the Christmas table are on my TO DO list too !

Anyway Happy Wednesday & looking forward to a snoop around your desks this week !

Finally Scrapping !

So at last I have had my 1st weekend at home since September - not that I'm complaining about all the fun things I have been doing - but it was nice just to have time to fuddle about !
I managed to catch up on some scrapping - I have had the idea to scrap a page about how exceptionally stunning the trees have been this Autumn sloshing around in my head for weeks - so here's my attempt - a photo I took looking out from the ramparts of Windsor Castle, grunge board leaves from Tim Holtz Tattered Leaves die, a tree I decorated at an Artsycrafty Weekend but didn't really like the end project (so have teased off all the elements to recycle them !), and some Glimmermisted card stock & a bit of journalling. Maybe does do those stunning trees justice but at least I've had a go at homage !

Next up is a double page spread of our trip round Windsor Castle - hard to capture the vastness of the place - but a fun reminder of our girlie weekend ! And I tried something a bit different with the journalling - a sort of script of the conversation between Michaela & I deciding to have our weekend away - inspired by the True Stories course I did to experiment with different journalling styles !

So now I have these Autumn snaps finally safely scrapped I feel I can move onto a few Christmas projects with a clear conscience !!!

Sisters Doing It For Themselves !!

Finally getting round to scrapping some photos from the past month !

Here's the first page of my sister Michaela & I on our "let's leave the menfolk at home" girlie Sisters weekend in Windsor last month.

I am trying to do something on each layout that's just a bit beyond just sticking the photos down album style - which is what time constraints seem to be having me do lately !

On this layout I have used my new Martha Stewart "Iron Gate" round the page punch to create the paper strips behind the photos - thought the design of the punch reminded me of all the fancy railings surrounding the Castle !

A happy page of a happy weekend spent touring the Castle, eating, drinking posh coffee (& cava !) and shopping !