WOYWW #509

This is What'sOnYourWorkdeskWednesday - checkout the tab at the top of the page for further info - and our thanks go to Julia for hosting again.

Into March we go ...... dashing headlong as it seems .......the daffodils beaten down by wind and lashing rain.....

One busy desk for the perusing of ....

Two pretty china mugs now sit in front of the Coffee Maker - bought on holiday last year.
Box containing finished cards and received cards, a new pack of wipes sitting in front ready to wipe the workspace clean!
The matchbox is the current project, I have some pale pink card ready as the theme is Spring.  We fill the matchbox with tiny goodies - such fun to receive.
Moving on there are some packages which contain Replica Trivia.  I bought several while I was visiting the Railway Museum in York some years ago - It was the Titanic package which caught my eye so I had to have a closer look.  

Some Titanic Pack contents

Each pack contains some wonderful memorabilia (can I call it that as they are all replicas?!) and, having just found them again, have spent a wonderful couple of hours going through what is left of them.
Each pack contains newspaper, tickets (as in the Beatles pack), cigarette cards, train tickets, postcards from the time.......so nostalgic Britain.

The Titanic story has always held a special place in my heart for me because my Mother told me that her Aunt (or Great Aunt) went down on it.
Researching on Ancestry, I found all her Aunts and that one of them DID go to America but a few months later.  No wonder her Mother (my Grandmother) had been so upset at the news of the Titanic .......
Well, I had better close before I drown in family stories!!  lol

Here is another completed ATC Swap for February


The Theme was Hearts and here is my selection ......

Philippa, Liz and Alex

....... and here are my return cards.

A wonderful selection don't you think.
Thank you Philippa, Liz and Alex, my thanks also to JanW for a great selection.

WOYWW #508

If you would like to share your mess desk with like minded friends, please link up with us at Chez Julia (Stamping Ground).  There's lots of us over there, sharing all our little (or not so little) hobbies.  Come on over and join in............

My desk, you will be pleased to know, has been in constant use up until yesterday.  Yesterday everything was cleared away, all projects finished and ready to post.
Today is a different story!!

On the right of the photo, an envelope, opened but still full of Christmas goodies.  Bought in a sale, dumped to view later.
Just above that, disappearing out of sight, on top of the printer is an old page I used to pin up now and then on the wall by my desk at work.

Says it all......

On the left you can see..... ta! da! 




My birthday present from two years ago! 

I promised myself that this machine would go into my craft room so that I no longer had to go downstairs every time I needed a coffee......look!  There it is at last.



Disappearing out of view on the lower left ....

Some souvenirs that I brought back from Malta (don't ask me how many) years ago ....

All these found items ...

... and I have more baskets/boxes to go yet .... but I will get there.

I think this sort out bug has spread a bit more than I thought ....
PJ has found the shelving he bought (don't ask me how many) years ago and has started erecting it in his workshop.

Woo!  Hoo!  Go PJ!

I'll leave you with a couple of photos of some ATCs I have been working on this week.


I have been working with some wallpaper samples - found while tidying - and am quite pleased with the results.








I had already received these from my swap partner - Thank you Thelma - they're quite something aren't they?

WOYWW #507

WOYWW - All the deets on how to link up etc. and, more importantly, why you should, can be found at the top to the page.  Thank you Julia for hosting another week of fun and mayhem.

Well, that didn't take long did it?!?!?!?

there it all is .....
ATCs, Coins, paints, punch, guillotine, buried laptop ..... all the signs of one very happy crafter.

I do admit that in order to craft I have set myself the task of clearing a box beforehand.  
One box sorted and/or gone = crafting for the rest of the day ....  

Thank you to everyone who has visited over the weeks that this has been a continuing saga, I have appreciated your encouragement, your jokes, your sympathy.  It has been a big help to me.  

Valentine Meal

Not really!!!

PJ has never been the romantic type, he did warn me before we married.
Sometimes there's an after thought.
We had been out to Solihull on Friday and when we came back home, I was very tired and hurting.  PJ offered to cook the tea, an offer I gratefully accepted.  PJ's 'trademark' dinner is Toad in the Hole, roast potatoes and baked beans so I knew what to expect ......

Not quite so ....

"I'm giving you a special potato - a heart just for you!"

Heart on a plate, I suppose.  lol

WOYWW #506

My week is marked by the passing of the WOYWW .... week by week we gather here and have a chat and share and ....... have a look ..... have a laugh .... then it's back to normal days .... or as normal as can be!  Thank you Julia for this great meet up..... if you want to join in dear Blog readers, then the deets are at the top of the page.

I have been working extremely hard for this post ...... when I went down poorly with the head cold, I thought it would take a lot longer to get the studio sorted but ..... as you can see ..... almost there!!!

I am so relieved to see 'The Desk'..... and happy of course!
There are still lots of boxes to open and sort, lots and lots, but they will get done as and when.  I am aiming for at least one box to be cleared per day..... lots of bags to be used for the usual... keep, donate and chuck.
The small piece of paper on the desk was wonderful to find .....

The Chinese New Year brought the usual swap in the ATCs For All - 

Here are mine which include a 'Thank You' card to the Hostess of the swap.

These are the ATCs I received back....

Thank you VickiZ, PouringDiva and ShanS11

Another great swap under the auspices of our Hostess, VickiZ, thank you so much.

Off to buy some more containers so that all the boxes can finally go.........

WOYWW #505

If you would like to share your mess desk with like minded friends, please link up with us at Chez Julia (Stamping Ground).  There's lots of us over there, sharing all our little (or not so little) hobbies.  Come over and join in...........

This Wednesday finds me still working away at restoring my craft room to a usable state ......

All the shelving is in (and filled) and all the boxes of stash back ....... just the need to sort it.  This was the view of the corner unit late on Monday night .....

I had hoped that the room would be finished  by next weekend but ..... I have been poorly with a really bad head cold and had to spend yesterday in bed.  I am on the mend now and so will be up early and starting again tomorrow .......

In the meantime, I thought I would show you a completed ATC swap.

Remember the teabags?

Here are the ones that I sent off......

..... and here are the ones I received back......

Aren't they super?

I am so pleased with them, I will definitely make some more and hopefully find another swap to join.

Random Thoughts

1st February 2019

I never daydreamed when I was young of what I would be doing when I was such and such an age ..... too busy doing 'things', living life, trying to survive.  One thing I did know was that I would not survive into the next millennium.  How did I know this?
My life was a pretty stressed and lonely.  My parents were quite old and I arrived long after the other children were young people.  I was loved that I did know, I may not have been up to 'standard' but my parents loved me.  I always managed to keep myself amused and even found wonderment in the raindrops running down the windows, drawing the trees outside the window......
I didn't make friends easily and often only had one at a time so if the friend wasn't around then I was on my own.  
I was content within the restrictions of my life, I have always been content with what I had.  It may not have been what I wanted but it was what I got ...so....

1st February 2019

The wind is blowing at a fast rate of knots, a bitterly cold wind so I watch through the window as it tosses 'things' around.  I am pleased that I don't have to go out in this wind .....

I have just finished painting my boiler cupboard and know that to achieve anything like my dream, the hard work will now begin.... check this out......

Imagine that wall is a window ......
I follow Susan Raihala's Blog (see link above) and have been watching her refit her basement so that she has a workable space.  She is inspirational when making cards but more so now.
This is going to be a lot of hardwork ..... 

MY present workspace!

See what I mean?!?!?!??

I am living in hope that by the end of this month - February - I shall have changed the photo on the right to something similar to the photo above ...... I am not taking bets ........