2017

Take time to pray...

it helps to bring God near and washes the dust of earth from your eyes.

Take time for friends...

they are the source of happiness.

Take time for work...

it is the price of success.

Take time to think...

it is the source of power.

Take time to read...

it is the foundation of knowledge.

Take time to laugh...

it is the singing that helps with life's loads.

Take time to love...

it is the one sacrament of life.

Take time to dream...

it hitches the soul to the stars.

Take time to play...

it is the secret of youth.

May God shower you with His Blessings in 2017

WOYWW #395

This is What'sOnYourWorkdeskWednesday - if you want to find out more then checkout the WOYWW tab at the top of the page - and our thanks go to Julia for hosting this weekly meet up.
THIS IS A ONE TIME OFFER!


         Please step up and view this desk ........

..... and view this desk ......


 Like I said ... a one time offer of two TIDY desks!!!


I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, I did ....

I shopped, created, wrapped, parcelled up, placed into bags, labelled the bags.....

........ and was left with ........

Looks like I will have to buy some more ....!

Seriously, I hope everyone had a good Christmas, we did.

Little Soldier learnt the meaning of  'take the paper off'  and loved every minute - which lasted all day so that he had time to play with his presents - we loved watching him and joining in!!!


He soon learnt to play hide and seek, popping up above his tent .... which he tipped on its side so he could have more fun!!!

Dinner fitted in between the playing ...... although the hat came off for his afternoon nap!

What a superb day, good fun, good food and good company.  Thank you DDC and family.

We spent Monday chilling out with DDN - grown up presents, grown up food, grown up telly and lots of catching up!  Thank you DDN and A.

Now we look forward to the New Year and

Here are My Wishes for You in 2017...

    Hours of happy times with friends and family

    Abundant time for relaxation

    Prosperity

    Plenty of love when you need it the most

    Youthful excitement at life's simple pleasures

    Nights of restful slumber

    Everything you need

    Wishing you love and light

    Years and years of good health

    Enjoyment and mirth

    Angels to watch over you

    Remembrances of a happy years! 

12 Days of Christmas 10,11 & 12

The last ones of 2016, this swap has flew by ..... maybe because Christmas came rather fast ..... some of the decs came out of their boxes on Christmas Eve!

Day 10



Beautiful vintage image.
Thank you Mel.








Day 11



Cute snowman button.
Thank you Barbara.






Day 12



Love this cutout Father Christmas!
Thank you SueF.





Thank you Jan for organising another year of super swap colours and themes.

25th December 2016

Amen

12 Days of Christmas 7,8,& 9

A few days later, three more days nearer Christmas!
Day 7



Golden glitter, musical letters.
Thank you Lin.




Day 8





Decoupaged snowman on a blue background.
Thank you Barbara.





Day 9




Such a lot of hard work, a lightly glittered background plus some snowflakes and decoupaged Father Christmas.
Thank you JanW.

12 Days of Christmas 4,5 & 6

Onto the next three days .....
Day 4



This photo dies not do the actual card any justice at all.  The pink deer is shiny and holographic and is attached to a bright pink card!  
Thank you SueF.





Day 5

A vintage Father Christmas on shiny background.

Thank you Kathleen.

Day 6




Another vintage card - isn't she cute, look at the tiny buttons!
Thank you Kate.





Now you see why I join in this swap - so exciting to unwrap all these small presents.

WOYWW #394

What'sOnYourWorkdeskWednesday - if you want to find out more then checkout the WOYWW tab at the top of the page - and our thanks go to Julia for hosting this weekly meet up.
This is the 'Have a great Christmas, one with plenty of hugs and laughter.  If you can't have one of those then have one with plenty of food, drink and warmth' edition!!

 .... and the days flew past so quickly that before they knew it .... all had returned to the same old..... same old .....

I hope my days will not return to same old, same old ......

This is the desk .....

...... loaded with STORAGE BOXES.

Someone had a birthday and guess what she asked for!!   
I am determined that my room will be tidier next year so I chose the boxes and I have already started reducing down - two mushroom baskets have been cleared.  
Thank goodness it's recycling next week!

I have not started to fill any of the boxes yet because I hit a problem when trying to clear these shelves .........

Some of those blue mushroom baskets contain plastic takeaway boxes full of ribbons, but my new boxes will only hold about four of those plastic boxes so I am searching for a new way of storing my ribbons - or at least a way that doesn't involve mushroom baskets!!!
Those baskets worked fine in my smaller room, looked rather neat on the shelves but now .......... messy!

I hope that 2017 will be a much more peaceful year for us all, happier and healthier .......

12 Days of Christmas ..... Days 1,2 & 3

The cards started to be opened on the 14th of December ..... last year I was ready but this year I was off gallivanting ..... celebrating my birthday so several days  passed by before I opened my first one, two and three.... so let the funtimes begin......

Day One


The excitement mounts as I open up the first card...... it's a labelled envelope..... a red envelope and then ....


Surprise!    Love it!
Thank you Mel for being my first card.





Day Two



Is all Christmassy and glittery.
Thank you Kate.








Day Three




Is just sooo cute.
Thank you Jan.




This is a great start to the run up to Christmas ........
Thank you so much Jan for organising this great swap.

12 Days of Christmas update .....

Back in October I decided to join in with the 12 Days of Christmas swap and I thought I would post an update ..... like how they were finished ...... what my returns were ....... general interest sort of thing ......


After I had completed the masterboard I cut it to ATC size, using the most suitable parts.

I attached the cards to bases and labelled the backs with my details.

On the fronts of the completed cards I added different embellishments:


a glittered felt angel

a glittered felt ornament

a decoupaged image




an embossed sentiment with an ornament on one and a ribbon on another.

A felted Father Christmas on one and a glittered sentiment and robin on the other.

A tartan Father Christmas on one and an awesome 3D sled on another.

A simple 3D card for this ATC

I rounded the corners on the next card after adding the sentiment.

A chalkboard sentiment for this card.

I wrapped each card as 'a present', using black background wrapping paper, red/gold ribbon and a gift tag diecut from a paper pad.  I added peel off numbers to each present so that the recipients would know on which day to open them.

They were posted off and, once I have received my returns, will be opened 12 days before Christmas .... one day at a time.....

WOYWW #393

This is What'sOnYourWorkdeskWednesday - if you want to find out more then checkout the WOYWW tab at the top of the page - and our thanks go to Julia for hosting this weekly meet up.

Another week, lots done, Christmas is getting nearer, all good crafters are panicking ........
Well, maybe not all of them.......some of them...... a few??!!

I was panicking and then it all seemed to fall into line ..... I'm out today doing the last of my Christmas Shopping .... presentwise......

The cards are finished and posted and after today I hope to start wrapping the presents ..... only one thing missing really .... The tree!      never mind .... next year .....  maybe .......

The desk is in 'left over' mode, not quite push back, not quite tidied up.......  more the 'shall I carry on making some more?' style .......

Well, I suspect it won't move much over the next few days!!!

Details of the Paris trip can be found here.... starting with Day one and then you will have to scroll through a bit... ..... just a happy memory ...... very happy......

Thank you to all my visitors last week, sorry I didn't get round to everyone - will try to do better this week - but in the meantime ...... have a good and happy week.

WOYWW #392

This is What'sOnYourWorkdeskWednesday - if you want to find out more then checkout the WOYWW tab at the top of the page - and our thanks go to Julia for hosting this weekly meet up.

Take my word for it ..... my desk is the same as last week.
Why? you ask ..... because .... I've been busy ......

I will be posting about this short break on my Recollections Blog but for the time being, let me tell you we had a fabulous time!!!  
I wrenched my right knee a couple of days before we left and I was dreading this holiday - no walking far ..... how can you be in Paris and not walk far?..... no steps .... how do you access the Metro?
Well, I'll tell you!  
You catch a bus..........
We visited places we hadn't been!?!?!  
We had an exploring time .... after all these years visiting Paris .... new places!
We bought the lace curtains, at last, after all these years, finally!  So it turns out that this was our last visit to Paris ....... honestly! ......  for the moment you can catch up on my other Blog.

WOYWW #391

This is What'sOnYourWorkdeskWednesday - if you want to find out more then checkout the WOYWW tab at the top of the page - and our thanks go to Julia for hosting this weekly meet up.

What a super day we had at the Crop!  Thank you again everyone who made it so much fun.

My desk is very boring as it is sortof getting ready for the next project which should be ....... Christmas Cards!  yeah!

For the moment I have had a quick clear up after finishing my Film Stars ATCs begun at the crop - see previous post - and my new postage stamps are flung there.
They are for a Chinese New Year swap which is for  ... next year!!!  
I have bought them now as I can use the stamps, without the labels, on my Christmas Cards .... which I will make soon - honest!!


I'm signing in late today as me and the boys have been out shopping ....

..... I caught this happening as I came out of one shop ....

That's in then, if I ramble much more it will be Thursday!

Have a good week, craft much and stress less.

December Colour Swap

I thought I would use some more of my Steampunk cards for this swap - I didn't realise there was a 'Green' swap when I created these.


I have used my Gelli print backgrounds with embossed Chocolate Baroque stamp images.  

I added a few PC printed sentiments, edged with green ink and several different die cuts, inked with green inks again.

Yep!  I definitely like these stamps - hope there are some in a New Year sale!

Love, love these cards.

I received the following swap cards:

The extra embellishments may be tiny but they add so much.
Thank you JanS.

A lot of matting had gone on here.

Thank you JanW.

Stamping and heat embossing.

Thank you SueF.

December Theme Swap

Film Stars
I spent most of my Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons at the Cinema during my teenage years, watching films was my favourite hobby!!!
I went to the Crop with my papers, glue and photos.  I did manage to make a couple of cards, finishing the other two at home on the Sunday.
I used a sheet of paper from my paper book which I thought looked very sixtyish ...... then decided I would cut out some of the flowers to 'pop' the image. 

Here is Rita Tushingham.  
I first saw her in A Taste of Honey.  This film dealt with the kitchen sink drama of the times and even now when I hear the songs .... the memories come flooding back....
The title was pc printed and fussy cut before glueing to the card.

Here is Dirk Bogarde and he was just ....whoar!  

I loved all his films, was devastated when he died and even now, looking at his picture, my knees do the wobble bit!

Spending Saturday evenings watching the 'Carry On' films was, I believe, a British pastime.  
I loved them all, have them all on disk and, when you're feeling down, have a quick watch ... honest ...watch one and see how it cheers you up!!!

This card says it all.  

Two beautiful stars, one gone too soon and the other .... lived life to the full!  

Marilyn with Tony Curtis in Some Like it Hot ...

Elizabeth with Richard Burton in Cleopatra.

Once I had finished these cards I inked round all the sides of each card with black and shades of green inks.
These cards are really bright in reality and I am very pleased with them.
My return swap cards arrived safely:

A beautiful decoupage of a Beautiful Lady.
Thank you Barbara.

Isn't he the cutest?  Long lasting film star.

Thank you Margaret.

True Classic Film Stars.

Thank you Pat.

Cropping WOYWW!!

Late on the Thursday before The Crop I decided to make some ATCs as mementos of the day.
I cut some card sized gold, silver, red and green papers/card.  I sorted out the Christmas tags and cut them down to size.  It was just a matter of attaching papers and tags to the cards, attaching backing papers and writing them up.

I completed thirty card fronts by lunchtime Friday but then had to stop as Little Soldier came for a few hours.  After tea that night I returned to 'Bertie' (we finally decided on a name for the room - Bertie, as in Allsorts!) and completed all the cards but decided to just write on the backs as time was running out - there was still packing to be done.

We loaded the card and left home about 07.00hrs, taking the back roads out of town.  We do not favour the motorways and were very pleased to see so little traffic on the roads.  
We had hoped to stop at a 'greasy Joe's' but forgot it was Saturday, there were none about!!!  
I loved all the Autumn/Winter scenery, beautiful at every turn.

One part of our journey was through a village of 
thatched roof cottages, the chocolate box kind.
We arrived at our destination about 09.45hrs but could not distinguish which building we were supposed to be in, thinking it was a community hall.  
No matter which way we drove we still came back to 'The Ram' public house - no we are not going to have a drink!!  

Just before our meeting with Darnell some weeks back, Shaz Silverwolf gave me her phone number and now we chose to use it.  I cannot state how grateful we were for this, it would have taken much longer to get to the Crop without this helpline - 

Thanks again Shaz.

Inside the hall, crafting had already started .... much laughter and chatter emanated from the room ..... there they were!!!

My photos were taken early on, I call them action photos .... definitely not posed!   If any of them offend by not showing folks in the best light ..... I'm sorry ..... I just took a few photos on my phone.




That's PJ in the hat FYI - painting butterflies through stencils.  I think he is the only one who stayed in his seat - except for lunch!!






There was Erica and Shaz .....









...... Then HelenH - concentrating - and Glitter and Glue......

..... LunchLadyJan and ScrappyStinkyInkyMess ....chatting about ....?





Don't ask me why these are the only photos I have .....  I think I became caught up in crafting .....

I managed to make a couple of ATCs, chattering away to KathyK (PurplePrincessDiaries) and Margaret (GlitterandGlue), small chat times with others and a catchup with PearShaped Chris, (we have another joint interest besides crafting .... Paris .......)  
Thank you all for being there and sharing all your crafting with us, I loved all the different work being done.





During the course of the day I received four mementos ...

A pretty star from Mary Anne (scrappstinkyinky mess) - hope you'll post the pattern.

ATC from Erica - Love that silver stamp BTW

ATC from Margaret (glitterandglue) - beautiful card.

ATC from Cardarian - good to meet up with you again.

Lovely mementos for which I am truly grateful.







I collected some Distress Inks and stamps from the free table,  I could not believe that those inks were there.  I soooo wanted to add some more to the few that I had but pennies have to be watched this side of Christmas ..... Thank you so much Shaz.

I used a couple of dies, thanks again Shaz and a big THANK YOU to Erica for all her help with the Big Shot, and the use of her cutter.

I also collected some very useful papers from the table that I stowed away in my box, and then cut them up into usable sizes for my ATCs.  Thank you so much whoever you are.

Packets of mica powders could not be passed by, I will store them all in one of the stackers pots when I get home.

I left some magazines with stamps and some other stamps sheets.  
PJ brought a couple of boxes of stackers pots and managed to donate the leftovers to Morti and DH - Thank you for helping to give me more space in my hallway!!!

I want to say a big thank you to all the men for their efforts in releasing us womenfolk to craft. They were the icing on the cake, the best cups of coffee and tea, the cleanest plates, the best sharers of laughter .... THANK YOU all.

But surely the biggest thank you goes to Julia and Jan - for everything.