WOYWW - Snow Day Scrapping

Well its an ill wind - or snow storm - that blows no-one any good !

So being snowed in last Saturday was a perfect excuse to huddle up in a snuggle fluffy top & spend the day scrapping my Christmas photos  !

 Here's my back garden in the snow on Saturday !!

And here's my Christmas 2012 finally scrapped

                                       

I used up as much of my Christmas papers & embellishments as possible & then disbanded by Christmas Project box - it was time to make something other than in red & white !!

So it was great to take up the CSI Challenge for this week.

I loved the colour combination and would never have thought of putting the dark chocolate brown with the chartreuse green and the pale blue and cream !

And I was planning to scrap my teasel pictures - so this seemed a good opportunity to get that done !

And I also got to have a play with my new Gelli plate & create some printed pages - just messing about as yet - but can see the possibilities !!

Hope you have a great week ! Looking forward to seeing what you are all up to this week !

WOYWW - Back Scrapping !

Hi & welcome fellow WOYWWers !
Just a few scrapping things on the workdesk this week !

When I was visiting your desks over the past couple of weeks I saw that girls were taking part in a "CSI challenge"- it stands for Colour Stories Inspirations and is a scrapbook challenge website.

When I investigated, I found they have a weekly challenge based around just that - they give you a palette of colours, a theme and prompts for embellishments & journalling. And they offer freebie papers & downloads for you to use.
This week there was even a layout sketch to follow.

It looked fun and just what I needed to get back into a scrapbooking frame of mind !

So on my desk this week is my completed layout for CSI Challenge 54 ... the theme was all about hot drinks ! And I loved the colour combinations they suggested !
So I rooted around in my stash & found papers, ribbons & these little polka dot hearts that all fitted in with the colour scheme and used a couple of their papers too.
  

Having entered this for the challenge I then set about printing out all my photos from Christmas & New Year .. 

Rather perversely I decided to start scrapping with New Year rather than Christmas - and I got on with a layout for our New Years Eve with our friends.

I had bought this clock page ages ago - and as I am on a stash busting mission for 2013 I am determined not to just keep looking at my lovely stash and stroking it (tell me it's not just me who does that !!) but to actually use it up !

And rather than throw away the place name cards I made for New Years Eve - I thought I would pop them onto the page !

And tonight I have my bag all packed & ready for Scrapclub tomorrow night ! 

Loaded up with my Christmas pictures and the project box with all the stash leftover from my JYC journal last month - using this up is another stash busting plan of mine !! 

I'll keep you posted how it goes !

Have a great crafty week & looking forward to seeing what you are all up to this week !

WOYWW - New Year Tidy Up - We Must Begin !

So I have actually managed to have a tidy up & clean down on the trusty old workdesk last weekend !
The Christmas Journal is finally safely finished & tucked on the bookshelf with it's companions from previous years !

I have tried to create more surface space to work on by moving the box that I had full of all my inky pieces of cut & dry foam for my distress inks - off my desk !
The pieces of foam are now in the 12" x 12" box where I keep the inks - a bit conventional I know - but surely handy !

And I have an extra 5" at the back of the desk to play on !!
Yes all that clutter is AFTER the tidy up - you should have seen it before !!

My laptop & external hard-drive are perched somewhat precariously on top of my printer for a good reason !

When I went back home at Christmas my brother in law was telling me that his laptop had crashed - and  they have lost all the family photos from the past four or so years !
He thought he had backed them up on the family computer - but it turns out that he had put them on a previous hard drive but never on to the new one when they upgraded.
So that's four years of memories of my nephews' lives lost forever.

It reminded me that I keep thinking "I must save a copy of everything on my external hard drive" but good intentions on their own don't get results !!
So I actually got my derrière in gear and did the back up last night !
Now I feel virtuous - just need to do it regularly !
A new year's resolution !!

I have some lovely new crafty reading lined up ! 

Suddenly - as if a backlog was clearing after the Christmas post - 3 of the magazines I have on subscription (whoops can you tell I'm a bit of a magazine junkie !) arrived in the same post last Friday ! 

And I have the new book from the Sketchbook Challenge blog that Santa brought me still waiting to be explored !

Here's my "Scrappy To Do List" so far ! 

I have a lot of Christmas stash left - so that & New Year's Eve top the list - some of the others projects date back from pre-scrapping days but I really want to make the effort to go back & scrap these good memories ! 

So there's my favourite holiday ever which was in Western Canada in the year 2000 - all the stuff we collected on the trip still stowed away in a box !! 

And the girls weekend trip I arranged as a surprise for my sister's 40th birthday - she was 46 last July so that gives you an idea of my backlog !! 

And there's Florida and ... 

No, no I can't face them all - just one at a time will be fine !!

All this planning needed a sugar fix - hence the sneaky bag of fruit pips sweeties - a treat from our local farm shop !

And I actually started a journal page on Sunday ... 

The quote "we will not know unless we begin" had been lurking on my desk since last spring - but it caught my mood of "let's get stuck in to some new projects & hope it makes the spring seem like it will come all the quicker" !!

A bit of stencilling, some letters & chipboard flowers from my "must use up my stash" campaign - a goodly splash of champagne mica spray - and I'm waiting for it to tell me where it wants to go next !!

Anyway - hope you all have a fun week & looking forward to seeing what everyone out there in the world of WOYWW is up to !

xx

WOYWW - Ready for New Projects !

Hi Everyone - late joining today but somehow the New Year crept up on me & I haven't kept on top of which day was which !!

Hope you all had a fun New Year celebration ?

We had friends over for a meal & to see in the New Year together - we had a lovely fun evening with them !

Then the men went to footie yesterday & we girls went to see The Hobbit film - so we all got to do something we enjoyed then too !!

My desk is poised today - between the month that was - and the year to come !!

I have finished my Journal Your Christmas - the prompts go on 'til Twelfth Night - but personally I am "through it " by then & have my "what's next" head on !
So I like to finish my journal on the 1st January. 

All the pages are done - I just need to sit down with my trusty Crop-A-Dile and punch all the holes for the book rings I like to use to hold it all together.
Then I will drift through the pages adding a few embellishments & maybe a few gems for some bling, get some ribbons tied around the book rings - and off it goes to sit on the book shelf with it's brothers & sisters from years gone by !!

I had a quick look in the Hobbycraft store sale - not much to excite the paper-crafter but I did pick up a few bits & bobs such as the punches & houses die reduced by a few £ !
And I saw this lovely seed-head stencil.
If you stop by regularly you will know I am addicted to seed-head stash - stamps, stencils - I just can't resist any of them !!
So obviously when this stencil just leapt into my basket all by itself  - how could I not take to a good home !!

The interesting Chronology stamps were free with the new Creativity magazine - they look like a great fun new Art Journal page in the making, me thinks !!

I am ready to see what new projects pop into my head for the year ahead - and I am determined to USE MY STASH !! That is my resolution for 2013 - STASH BUSTING !!

Oh and to stitch a chocolate & mocca coloured quilt for our back bedroom,
to end 2013 weighing less than I started it
and to enjoy the year which will bring both my 20th wedding anniversary (May) & my 50th (gulp!) birthday (September) !!

Hope you all have a brilliant 2013 & looking forward to sharing our creative time together each Wednesday !!
Ali xx

WOYWW - Back to Work Blues !

Where did Christmas go ?
One minute it was 5.30am on Saturday morning & I was heading back to Sussex to my family all full of anticipation - and then suddenly it was time to go back to work at half seven this morning !
But I did have a fun weekend with my family & a lovely Christmas Day with Rich's family too !

Just a very short post today - to show you the crafting goodies that Santa brought me - clever of those Elves to know just what I wanted !!

Hope that you enjoyed your Christmas & wishing you all Peace, Good Health & Prosperity for the New Year of 2013 !
See you in the new year xxxx

WOYWW - More JYC

Well not much time for crafty things this week - so a rather bare desk !

But amongst the shopping & wrapping I have managed to keep up with my Journal Your Christmas !

It has been a big help to have everything collected together into one Project Box - it has top spot in my new storage unit !

As you can see by Day 18 my box is looking well rummaged !!

And in the background my Christmas CD which keeps me company whilst I am JYC-ing and wrapping presents too !

And I have found some stitched reindeer in Hobbycraft - we are having "Festive Jumper Friday" at work this Friday - wear something Christmassy and make a donation to our local hospice !
One of these chaps will be pinned to my red jacket !

And I picked up the Winter limited addition Promarkers in the sale - really soft pretty colours !
So will be decorating these cut out canvasses for my Journal ..

And here are my JYC pages
Last weeks Scrap Club Christmas get together ...

Our Food Safari  & night out at the Glitter Ball at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane.
My friend, who invited my colleague & I to the ball, sadly lost her Dad very suddenly on Sunday - so my thoughts & prayers are with her this week.

This was a prompt about the weather this month ...

And pretty Christmassy things ..

Well - wishing you & your loved ones a very Merry Christmas - looking forward to seeing all your projects & desks in the New Year !

Have a lovely Christmas !
Ali xx

WOYWW - JYC So Far !

So hello everyone - hope all those of you who celebrate the season are starting to feel suitably festive !!
The week seems to be careering past at a rate of knots ! (Well the whole year has - so why should I be surprised !!)

So just a short post today as the only crafty project on the go on my desk this week is Journal Your Christmas ! Check out Shimelle Laine's blog for more details of how to join in ! http://www.shimelle.com/

I thought I would show you where I have got to so far !

The pages are a bit plain & functional at the moment, but I have evolved my own little way of keeping up !
As a minimum each day I try to read the prompts - both the Journal Prompt & the In Focus Photography challenge one as well.
I endeavour to type up my thoughts about each day's prompt into a PowerPoint presentation (I use these all the time at work so it's my comfort zone for writing & printing out !) and save them.

Then I try out a few of the photography challenges when I have a camera in my hand & capture Christmas images too - I drop all those photos into the PowerPoint too & size them to what I think will fit nicely onto a page.

When I get a spare hour I print out a few days at a time & get the basics done on each page.

I'll go back at a later date & add embellishments & a bit of Christmas bling for good measure.
But not getting much time off this Christmas plus away for most of that so this may be a bit of a challenge !
After it is all done I bind the pages onto book rings, add festive ribbons & trimmings and pop it somewhere safe for future years of looking back !

Anyway - here are the front cover, welcome page with my 2012 Christmas manifesto & pages 1 to 3

Here we go with the next 4 pages

And the last one's up to the 11th ...

Anyway - that's it from me for this week !
Looking forward to seeing what you are all up to & hope you have a fun Christmas-sy week !