Great Grandma Jessy

So everything is stuck in its place now and I can reveal the lay out that was strewed across my table first thing this morning when I showed you what was on my workdesk.

The WOYWW post is below this one)



As I mentioned before, I wanted this page of me Great Grandmother to match & complement the one that I had previously made for my Great Grandfather, so I’ve used the same K & Co papers from the Blue Awning pad…….I just love these papers, so much so that I even made the paper flowers from them.

I’ve also used some of the same embellishments on both Lo’s to tie them together, but I didn’t want the layouts to be exactly the same, so I’ve used this week’s sketch (231) from Pencil Lines.



I’ve used their card sketches many times before but never a 12 x 12 sketch, so this is a first for me and that’s because I’m a card maker rather than a scrapbooker and never feel confident when doing layouts so the sketch was a great help. With lots more of my ancestors pages still waiting to be made I can see myself coming back for more, time and time again.

WOYWD #95

Snooping day is here again and it’s a good excuse to grab a coffee and take a tour of everyone’s desk.
I bet Julia didn’t realize when she blogged a photo of her desk for the first time that it would go ‘global’, but it has and now she’s getting on for 200 of us joining in each week, which is amazing.

If you fancy joining our merry band of Workdesk Wednesday’ers then visit The Stamping Ground for all you need to know and maybe I’ll see you next week!

I’ve had a very quiet crafting week since last we meet, only making one card, which in fact isn’t even finished yet.
I kept getting distracted by the lovely weather and wanted to be doing things in the garden, drinking coffee and reading being two of them, Lol, but I did do a spot of gardening as well and I still have the aches and pains to prove it!

My evenings too have been taken up by another distraction, the hospice cross stitching project I’m working on.
It’s getting quite exciting now because seven of the quilt and cushion sets are completely finished and the project is nearing its end. I’ve just finished stitching all the squares for the eighth set and they will be winging their way to Nicki in Switzerland to be made up very soon. My good friend Sharon is working on the squares for the final quilt set and now my stitching is done I’ll lend a hand to get them finished too.

Here’s a sneak peek.

These are the squares (all the same) for the second Brown quilt.

Photo temporarily removed  - submission to The World of Cross Stitching

And this is one of the squares for the seating area quilt.

Unlike the other quilts, this one will have different squares on it but they will all be Gerbera’s because they are the logo for the hospice.




Photo temporarily removed - submission to The World of Cross Stitching







The good news is that it’s dull and miserable this morning and the garden isn’t calling me at all today so I’ve finally made a start on the LO of my Great Grandmother that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.
I want it to match the one I’ve already finished of my Great Grandfather which you can just make out on the back Right-hand corner of my desk.


I’ve decided on all the bits I want to use and sorted out where I want everything to go, with the exception of the flower. I don’t like that one very much and think I might make cut some distressed flowers with my Tim Holtz die, we shall have to see.


If you’re interested in heritage scrapbooking, visit Family Footprints in the Sands of Time where you can see some of the other pages I’ve done and read a little bit about their lives. I still have a few other finished pages to put on there but need to do a little bit of research first.

Well, the kettle has just boiled, so I’ll be off to make my coffee and then I’ll be round to see what you’re all up to this week.

Have a good week and ……….
Happy Crafting!
Sue
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Spring is sprung, the grass is ris (WOYWW #94)

Well once again the sun is shining this morning and for some reason it brought to mind this little ditty that Spike Milligan used to recite quite often…..showing my age now Lol!

Spring is sprung, the grass is ris.
I wonders where the birdies is.
They say the bird is on the wing.
Ain't that absurd?
I always thought the wing was on the bird.

It certainly make me feel better when the sun is shining and the opportunity to finally get out in the garden and have a tide up is a welcome one.
I even had the help of a little Robin sitting by my feet yesterday as I was working out there. He was obviously looking for some tasty morsel to eat to be honest and not really craving my companionship but his presence never the less was a welcome one.

It’s hard to stay inside and work when the sun is shining the way it is but needs must and my desk today shows why.

On a follow up to last week’s desk, when I was franticly trying to get the Order of Service booklets finished after my blunder, I’ve now been asked to make some Thank You cards for the flowers.


Sandy's asked for something similar to the ones I made for my dad, so the old faithful Penny Black Single Iris stamp has come out again.
I just love this stamp and never get fed up with using it.

As you can see from the photo I’m just in the process of cutting the card to postcard size and then I’ll get onto the stamping.


Pushed to the side of my table is what I was working on earlier in the week…….yes, it’s another page for my family tree album.


This one is of my Grandmother (mum’s mum) and I think of all the pages I’ve done so far this has to be my favourite.
The colours are beautiful and the papers, Basic Grey ‘Curio’ are perfect for heritage pages.
I especially loved the flowered paper, which I’ve cut round and decoupaged and then added a little more interest with seed beads threaded onto wire to make the stamens.

You can read all about her on my Family Tree Blog Family Footprints in the Sands of Time.

Just sitting under the layout you can glimpse of yet another moment of weakness.


When I popped to Hobbycraft for extra card last week I just happened across these beautiful My Mind’s Eye, ‘Lost & Found’ papers that are also earmarked for the album.
They are almost too gorgeous to use and deserve to be stroked for a while before I find out if I actually have the courage to cut into them…..we shall see!

Right then, the sooner I get these Thank You cards done the sooner I can get back the garden with my little Robin friend.

Don’t forget to call in and see Julia, over at the Stamping Ground where you’ll find all the links to those join in with What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday.
It’s really great visiting all the different blogs but there are so many taking part now that it’s near impossible to visit and comment on every one, so I’ve come up with a random way to visit as many as I can.
Hopefully that way I’ll get round to everyone.......... eventually.
I hope that’s ok with everyone.

Special thanks to everyone who takes the time to call in on me and leave comments, especially those who stop by regularly. Your comments are always most welcome and often encouraging.


Have a happy crafting week until we meet again.
Sue
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WOYWW #93

Well, here we are at Wednesday again and a wet and soggy one it is too, here in Essex.

As you know, Wednesday’s are the highlight of the week here in blog land because Julia takes us on a tour of the craft desks of the world.
If you’ve no idea what I’m going on about, that’s nothing unusual, but if you go visit the The Stamping Ground all will become clear and you’ll find the details of how to join in.


So my desk today is how I left it in the wee small hours of this morning after a very manic crafting session.


I’ve been making the Order of Service booklets for Rene’s (my friend’s mums) funeral which is this afternoon. Talk about cutting things fine!

I only got the final draft for the service on Sunday evening and because I had to be places on Monday and Tuesday, one being the hospital about my eye which I will tell you about in a mo, I had very little time make them in the end and it was all a bit of a rush really.

I was up until very late on Monday night setting up all the templates for the pages and I sent a copy to my friend so she could give it the once over…… I’m not known for my good spelling and this was all done in a hurry so it was best to get it checked.
When I got the ok from her yesterday afternoon I made a start on the printing and had just finished folding the fifty double sided covers when the phone rang.

It was Sandy with some bad news.

Her brother had just come in and spotted that there was a mistake on the front with one of the dates. I could really kick myself for missing it but then again several other people had looked at it too by then and nobody had noticed I had put the wrong month on it.
It was a complete waste of time, card and ink but I so glad it was spotted before the service because it would have been so embarrassing.

Anyway, I reprinted all the covers (luckily I had brought extra card and spare ink cartridges) and did the inserts which all come out ok in the end.

There’s something very satisfying about all those little piles of Order of Service don’t you think?

Now all we need to do is hope that the rain stops before the service this afternoon.


Now my eye………

I’ve been discharged from the hospital……Yah!

It’s been sixteen months of hell really, from finding I had a detached retina and needing emergency surgery the following day and a second op a year later, to my discharge on Monday but my consultant said that the outcome has been extremely good, given the severity of what I've just gone through.

Now all I have to do is go to my own optician to sort out my new contact lenses (this Saturday) and then it’s onwards and upwards and I won’t be boring you all anymore with my eye problems ……........I can here you all saying, thank heavens for that Lol!


Right then, I must go get a wiggle on because I still have a couple of things to sort out before going to the funeral.

See you soon and thanks for stopping by

Happy Crafting!
Sue
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WOYWW #92

Just a very quick one from me this morning as I’ve lots of jobs to get done today.



Here’s my desk and if you look closely you’ll see that my threat to do a scrapbook page last week actually did happened, although I’ve not yet put it up on my other blog, Family Footprints in the Sands of Time

The page is of my Great Grandfather James Gowers, who was born, in 1863.



Now the reason it’s still out on my desk this week is because last night I decided that I would do a coordinating page for my Great Grandma to go next to it in my album.


As you can see the pad of papers is out and I think I’ve settled on the Blue and Green stripy paper for the background and then it will tie in with the other LO because I’ve used some of it on there too.

Oh well, on with my long list of jobs……….…I can only put them off for so long!

Don’t forget to go over and visit Julia’s blog if you haven’t already and join in with ‘What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday’ and I’ll be over as soon as I can to see what you’re all up to this week.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving such nice comments and ………

Happy Crafting!
Sue
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WOYWW #91

Good morning all you WOYWW’ers!

You know, I never believed my dad when he used to say to me that as you get older the time just seems to fly by but he was right you know because another week has gone in a flash and here we are at the start of March already……….it’ll soon be Christmas!

It also means that Wednesday is here again and it’s time to hop around the craft desks of the world, courtesy of
Julia and the phenomenon that is ‘What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday’.

You’ll be pleased to hear that I finally managed to put away all the holiday leftovers that were still on my desk last week so my table is looking very tidy for once.


I’ve been busy making cards too but I had some very sad news yesterday that my good friend Sandy’s mum, whose birthday cards I had just made, had passed away suddenly, so I had to stop making the birthday cards and make a sympathy card as well.
It’s come as such a shock because I only saw Rene just before we went on holiday and there was no sign that anything was wrong.
Sending love to the family Sandy (if you’re reading this) and I’m thinking of you all at the sad time.
R.I.P Rene.


I always worry when I make Sympathy cards that I go a bit OTT so I tried to keep it as simple as I could by just using Mauve and White and adding the detail with the embossing and the little crystal flowers which I colour tinted with Promarker. Hope I got the balance right with this one.


I won’t show you the birthday cards I made for Rene but here are the other two I made.
Didn’t realize I had a bit of a ‘Blue’ thing going on until now!

The first one is for my God Daughter.


She in Thailand at the moment, volunteering at an Elephant rescue centre so I thought a card with a paper pieced elephant on would be apt. The Basic Grey, Marrakech papers were perfect too, with all those little elephants over it.

The second card is for an old work colleague.


Again I’ve used Basic Grey papers, this time from the Marjolaine pad and a stamped flower image.


Now I hope you’re sitting down............... because for the rest of the day I plan to try and do a page for my Family Album. I’m not really a scrapbooker so I never find these at all easy to tackle but when I see the beautiful pages that Angie makes over at Glimpsing the Past, I always feel a tinge of guilt for not making more of an effort, so today’s the day.
Hopefully I’ll have something to show you very soon!

In the mean time, I hope you all have a very crafty and productive week and thanks for stopping in to see what’s going in my little corner of the world.

Sue
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