What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday

Woohoo!  Happy New Year everyone! Let’s hope it slows down a bit and doesn’t go as fast as 2013 did, that seemed to whizz by in the blink of an eye.

Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and that Santa brought you lots of nice things to play with in the coming year.  I received two fabulous toys that both Andrew and I have had fun with.  No, no, no!!  What are you thinking!!

I got both a swift and a yarn winder (ball winder).  Here they are set up in the family room on the coffee table.

I’d like to pretend that this photo was taken on Christmas Day, hence the wrapping paper underneath the table, but it wasn’t, it was taken on New Year’s Eve and I’m ashamed to say I didn’t even know there was discarded paper under the table!!  The basic concept is that the wooden swift holds the skeins and the ball winder turns out flat bottomed “cakes” of yarn that don’t tangle or bounce around like a wound balls of yarn do.

Here’s a bunch of wound yarn, I’ve done a few more since I took this photo, and I’m about to set to and start a cowl for Andrew with that lovely browny/gold yarn at the very back.   I’ve also been sock knitting, a ribbed pair for Andrew (one almost complete) and a plain but jazzy pair for me (got the leg done of the first one), and that’s been about it in the crafting dept.  I also got some Crafter’s Companion stamp storage binders so I’ve spent a bit of time organising my stamps, starting with all the LOTV ones.

Anyway, that’s enough waffle form me, hope you all had/have a wonderful New Year, and thanks to the wonderful Julia for yet another year of WOYWW.

A Christmassy Post

Before the year runs out on us completely I thought I’d put up a couple of snaps of our Christmas house.  Your guide for this little tour is Bou, short for Caribou, as that’s what he is.  Of course, in Europe, he’d be known as a Reindeer. **

He’s a very cheeky little chappy that gets up to all kinds of mischief along with his henchman, aka my hubby.  You might get to see him again later in the week as I got a ball winder for Christmas and Bou seems to think it’s his personal merry-go-round!  I’ve caught him sitting on it holding on to the spindle egging Andrew on to give him a twirl!  But here on Christmas Eve, he was conducting a house tour for you all and I forgot to publish it!

In our entrance hall there’s a bakers rack that I decorate every year, with some bought fake greenery and some of the trimmings from the Christmas tree.

There’s also some fresh Poinsettias and a potted Norfolk Island Palm, along with lighted garlands up the stairwell.

We spend most of our time in the family room, so this is the most heavily decorated area in the house, the fireplace and mantel always look very festive, and on the main wall, the TV/display unit holds a good number of decorations too.

There are coloured lights hidden on the top that look really cozy lit up at night.

The cubbies have little bits of greenery mixed with candles and tea light holders.

And here’s the carnage on Christmas morning, with our make shift bed on the floor, the presents before opening and the Christmas tree just behind us over the half wall.

And finally, here’s the view you’ve always wanted to see.  Me on Christmas morning, along with Bou, in my pyjamas and Mrs Claus hat.  Breakfast consisted of mince pies and coffee, fuel for the present opening that was about to take place.  And in the spirit of doing things entirely our way, we cooked and ate our turkey dinner and skyped with our families wearing those very same pyjamas and Christmas hats!  They may roll their eyes at us but growing old is mandatory, growing up is entirely optional!

If I don’t catch you again, have a wonderful, happy and peaceful New Year.  Me?  I’ll probably be spending it in my pyjamas!  Chin, chin!

**Many years ago both Andrew and I worked for Aston Martin.  Andrew was a development engineer and among a lot of things, did hot and cold testing work.  One February they were doing cold work in Ajerplog, Sweden and on their day off, drove the Aston along the snow packed roads and across the Arctic Circle.  On their way back he still vividly remembers having to stop and wait for a herd of reindeer to cross the road right in front of them.  That’s a memory I would dearly love to have, and to this day, I still envy him for that experience.

My Five Favourite Christmas Cards of 2013

Happy Day After Boxing Day!  So we made it to the other side again, and are already counting down to the next one, or is that just me, lol!  I started this post in draft a few days before Christmas, it’s become a yearly thing for me to post my favourite cards of the year, starting with the Christmas cards.  It’s supposed to be my Top 5, but I snuck another one in at the end cause I just couldn’t choose this time.

I’m also linking up with the lovely Debby, who is hosting a linky party for our Favourite Cards posts, and is also offering a very generous prize for a random winner.

Penny Black cards always turn out so well, it seems like it’s impossible to make a bad card with them.  I made a number of cards in January with my new Prisma pencils that I received for Christmas last year, so I was colouring everything in sight.  Practice, practice, practice!  Not everything I coloured made it on to a card but I do love Snowy, such a happy chap, impossible not to smile when you see him!  The original post is here.

Card No2 is one of those cards that evolved over many days.  I didn’t have a fixed idea about it and kept returning to it to fiddle and tweak it about a bit!  I didn’t think it was going to turn into anything much to be honest, let alone make the Top 5 this year.  I found those vintage carols for free on Flikr.  Frantage played a large part in this card too, I think a lot of people got on the Frantage bandwagon this year, and I was right there at the head of the queue!  If in doubt through a bit of it at any project!  The original post is here, long with the link to the free printables.

Lili of the Valley became a big thing for me this year.  I bought a load of used stamps from two ladies in England and picked them up when I visited in April/May.  I then lucked out on Ebay completely out of the blue when I stumbled across a lady selling of all her craft stuff.  I went from owning one stamp and a few stamped images that kind peeps had sent to me, to owning over 40 of them!  So you might say I got into LOTV in a big way, lol!  I loved how sparkly and crazy bright this card was, the original post is here.

House Mouse, nuff said!  What’s not to love?  These stamps were a bit neglected this year but I intend to remedy that next year.   I just adored how this card came out, loved the LO, the poinsettia, the border die, the bakers twine and that lovely charm.  Everything gelled for me to make a wonderful CAS card.  And such a sweet image, who can resist it?  The original post is here.

Another Clean and Simple card.  Almost my last Christmas make of the year.  Love those Stampendous Poinsettias, and Tim Holtz Holographic Embossing Powder, you haven’t seen anything sparkle so much in your entire life!  The original post is here.

And one final card, I know that makes six and not five, but if you haven’t attempted to whittle down a years worth of cards yourself then you don’t know hard it is to pick just a few!  This one is another Penny Black card, very simply done with some offcuts of paper and a little bit if glitter.  The original post is here.

I might be back in a few days with my Top 5 non Christmas cards of 2013, if I can narrow it down to just five that is!

And Out Of The Darkness Came The Light

Solstice Blessings to you all.

Today is the Winter Solstice for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the day when the sun has reached it’s Southernmost point on the horizon. The day that has the shortest number of daylight hours.  The darkest day of the year.  But from Sunday, the sun will then begin the slow trek Northwards once more.  However, a few days before and after the Solstice the change is so imperceptible that it appears to stand still.  In fact the word Solstice comes from the Latin, meaning “sun” and “to stand still”.  The wheel of the year is turning once more towards the light.

Tonight in my home, I will light a candle to chase away the darkness and take a little time out of the hurly burly of Christmas preparation for a little quiet reflection.

I’ll leave you with a lovely poem, written by Susan Cooper, entitled The Shortest Day.  Have a wonderful, peaceful day.

The Shortest Day

And so the shortest day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive,
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us – Listen!!
All the long echoes sing the same delight,
This shortest day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule.

~ Susan Cooper

Sleigh Bells Ring Are You Listening?

A Winter Wonderland, a veritable feast of falling snowflakes!  I needed another Christmas card, there’s always one isn’t there?  For me it was a retired couple who moved to South Carolina and they haven’t sent me their new address yet.  Only they didn’t move, it got postponed until the New Year and they’re still at their old address in Michigan and I didn’t know until their card arrived!  So I needed another card pronto, clean and simple was the answer.

I stole an idea off the world’s favourite, not to mention sweetest and craziest, blogger ever, Miss Darnell.  Only I went for snowflakes, but I think the process is the same… mask an area of card, stamp your images, remove the mask and add your sentiment and some bling.  I think it’s very effective and you could take the basic concept and apply it to lots of stamps for lots of occasions.  It was also lickity split fast too!

I used two Penny Black clear sets, one for the snowflakes, the second for the sentiment, a few Versamagic inks and some little clear gems from Michaels on a single layer card, and that was it.

Card Recipe:

• Card: Blank from Michaels
• Stamps: Penny Black Winter Whites & Greens & Winter Wonders clear sets
• Ink: Versmagic Sea Breeze, Turquoise Gem, Aegean Blue & Red Magic
• Embellies: Clear gems from Michaels

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Challenges:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge ~ Christmas

Stamping Sensations ~ Free & Easy

Sweet Stampin Christmas ~ Let It Snow

Sister Act Card Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Hazel’s Christmas Challenge ~ Make What’s Urgent

Hazel’s Christmas Extra Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Holly Jolly ~ Anything Christmas

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge ~ Bling It On

Stamping For The Weekend ~ Anything Goes

Crafty Calendar Challenge ~ Cold & Frosty

Stamp & Create ~ Anything Goes

Jingle Belles ~ Link Fest & Wrap Up

Aud’s Sentiments ~ Christmas & Use A Sentiment

Heck of A Challenge ~ Colourful Christmas

Divas by Design ~ Anything Goes

My Mum’s Craft Shop ~ Winter/Christmas

A Teenage Birthday

Just what do you make for a teenagers birthday card?  Especially a male teenager!  My nephew will be 14 at the end of December so this is what I did for him.

I used the grungy technique I fall back to on these occasions!  Simply put I took about four colours of TIm Holtz Distress ink, dabbed them on to a large acrylic block, spritzed profusely with water and blended the colours together.  I then placed a sheet of card on top of the mess a couple of times to transfer the splodged ink to the paper and let it dry completely.  Next I randomly embossed a large HA cling stamp (clocks) with Stampendous Shabby White and edged the panel with DI Black Soot.

The red card was run through a Fiskars paper crimper and popped up with foam tape.  The truck image and sentiments are from the same Tim Holtz stamp set,  the sentiments were stamped with ColorBox Wicked Black ink and edged with DI Black Soot.  The truck was first stamped with DI Aged Mahogany, and then over stamped with DI Black Soot but I stamped it off one time so it wouldn’t be so dark.  It was mounted on to red and black card.

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Challenges:

Pixies Snippets Playground ~ Use Up Your Scraps (It’s all scraps apart from the card blank)

Sister Act Card Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Addicted To Stamps & More ~ Anything Goes

Stamping Sensations ~ Free And Easy

Stamp & Create ~ Anything Goes

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday – 237

Hello All – Here we are again, the final desk jaunt before Christmas.  This time next week it will all be over bar the shouting for another year, wonder if Julia is going to post on December 25th!  Wonder if anyone will join in if she does!  If you have no idea what I’m talking about, head on over to the lady herself to find out all about it.

My desk this week is even more boring than last week, and that was pretty boring.

All that’s on display are a few stamps I was using at the weekend, Tim Holtz and Hero Arts, (to finish off my nephews 14th birthday card, which is now, I’m happy to say, in the post and winging its way to Blighty as I speak), my tin of embossing powders and some stamp cleaning stuff.

There was this at the weekend though that some of you may find interesting, our first major snow event of the Winter season.

We got about 8″ of snow on Saturday and have since added another couple on to the pile.  More to come no doubt!  Catch you all at a desk no doubt.  If I don’t, here’s to a very Merry Christmas, however you choose to celebrate it.

A (Nut) Cracking Weekend!

Yes it was, but possibly not the kind you have in mind!  I was thinking more the Tchaikovsky kind.  You know, ballet, famous classical pieces, toys that come alive at midnight kind.

I can’t believe that I’ve never seen this performance before, or any ballet for that matter.  It was very good and a lot of fun too.

Winter Storm Electra popped in to town too at the weekend, snowing for most of Saturday and leaving us with about 7″ or so.  I had to drive to Ann Arbor in it in order to see the ballet.  I work in AA, so I know it only takes 30 minutes to get there normally, however, because of the snow we left very early for the 2pm performance.  It took us an hour and 10 minutes to get there and we had a quick packed lunch sandwich in the car before heading in to the venue.  The plan had been to get dinner in AA after the show but we decided against that and drove slowly and carefully home instead.  It just wasn’t worth the hassle to be honest.

Sunday morning it was still snowing gently, but after breakfast we went out and cleared the driveway.

We were wet and cold by the time it was done as it was quite windy out and the snow kept getting blown back into our faces!  We got another couple of inches on Sunday and we’re supposed to get 1 – 3″ tonight too, so I think we can safely say that Winter has arrived!  We stayed inside the rest of the day, I got the rest of the house decorated, dusted and tidied, finished my nephew’s birthday card and then made a nice roast chicken dinner before settling in front of the fire with some knitting.

I’m very tired this morning, the snow blower is heavy to push around and my shoulders are aching, so I apologise if this post is a bit disjointed but I haven’t had any wake up coffee yet!  I’ll be back in a day or two to show you the card I made.  Til then, chin chin, and keep warm!

Sparkles Monthly Challenge ~ Anything But A Card

Morning all, time for another challenge at Sparkles Monthly Challenge where we have the theme of Anything But A Card.  This should suit a lot of you who are making handmade Christmas gifts and boxes ready for the big day.

For my project this month I’ve made two little things that are easy to replicate and quick to make for last minute gifts.  I’ve made a treat bag and a gift card holder.  The gift card holder was inspired by my pal Sarn, who made these are few weeks ago and explained how to do them on her blog post.

First up is the bag, made from DCWV Christmas paper.  I downloaded a free template, printed it on the back of the paper and followed the instructions to cut and fold.  I added a punched, glittered snowflake, a button and a stamped sentiment tied on with some bakers twine.

My gift card holder was made with double sided Stampin’ Up paper and is simply a 4″ x 12″ strip, scored at 4″ and 8″ and then a diagonal cut made on either the first piece or the last piece and stuck down.

I used a Go Create die and Fiskars stamps for the decoration.

We have a wonderful sponsor this month, in the shape of Di’s Digis, who are offering a very generous $10 voucher to the lucky winner this time round.

Please pop over to the Sparkles Blog to see the super projects form my talented teamies, there really is a an amazing array of inspiration this month.

And as my gift card holder was made form snippets, I’m taking it over to the Playground to see my pals, although I’m removing the $50 gift card first!  They’re not getting hold of that, lol!!  And I’m also calling in to see Hazel at her Christmas Challenge (Whatever You Need To Make) and her Extra Christmas Challenge (Always Anything Goes)

What’s On Your Workdesk This Cold, Cold Wednesday?

-8C (7F) and three inches of snow.  We won’t speak of that again!  Not in this post anyway.

My desk, boring, boring, boring.  Mostly filled with stuff I can’t show you for either DT work or GDT work, but it’s a bit nippy up in the room so I’m sitting by the fire finishing off writing cards to be posted locally, knitting (there’s a surprise) and reading Agatha Christie, a good read for chilly nights by the fire with a mug of hot cocoa I can tell you.

There is a grungy, inky paper on the mat, the beginnings of a birthday card for a teenage boy, needed for the end of December.  Also a British knitting magazine and my needle roll cover, I intend making a start on that lacy shawl on the front cover very soon; there’s a poinsettia card at the back with the sentiment stamp I used beside it in the packet; a cling stamp on the mat, not Christmas themed believe it or not!  And not much else tbh!  Oh, by the poinsettia card is another Christmas stamp, on it’s side so probably hard to tell what it is!  It’s a Penny Black.

So this is me this week, how are you doing?  Link up your desk with Julia so we can all come and visit.  Toodlepip!