Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year everyone, I hope you all had a great Christmas.

Before I get going I just want to say a Big thank you to everyone who visited my blog over the course of last year and to thank those who gave me some much needed support.

Can’t say I’m sad to see the back of last year, what with all my medical problems and then loosing my dad so quickly after he was diagnosed with cancer, so I’m keeping everything crossed that this year will be a better one with a lot less trauma.
I do still have another eye op to look forward to in February but on the positive side, I hoping it will restore my sight enough to make my card making and some scrapbooking (I hope to really get stuck into that family album at long last) a lot easier afterwards.

Anyway, it’s the start of a New Year and hopefully lots more fun over on the Queen of Snoop’s Blog, where I’m sure that Julia will still keep us on our toes by keeping a look out for what’s on our work desk every Wednesday.

Here’s the fist photo of my desk this year and I’m sorry to say it a very boring one this morning.


It’s all very clear and tidy by necessity really because it’s that time of year again when the old tax return needs to be filled in, so that’s exactly what I plan to do today.
Now if it had been What’s on your Work desk Tuesday that would have been different story because I spent most of yesterday clearing up the mess that I made while making a few urgently needed birthday cards …..and what a breath of fresh air they were after making all those Christmas cards!

The first few cards are made using the Craftworks Cards set Ooh La La papers and Die-cuts. The colours are just so scrummy and go together so well….I love them!




These other cards are made using scraps and I can’t remember what they were, sorry.





Right then, I’m going to grab a cup of coffee, hit the tax return and then hopefully I’ll have time later to do a spot of hopping to see what you’re all up to.

Catch you later.

Sue
x

Baby, it’s cold outside!

And getting colder according to the weather forecast.

I shouldn’t complain because my little South East corner of the UK always seems to miss the worst of the bad weather and on the bright side the snow will help me acclimatize ready for a trip to the snow in Breckenridge, Denver. No skiing for me this year due to bad hip and knees but lots of Après-ski and shopping I hope!

Anyway, it’s Wednesday again so that means a photo of my desk today.

As it goes, there’s not much on there because I had a tidy up after finishing a couple of cards last night.


The stuff that’s on there now is all ready for me to make my Christmas tags this afternoon and when they are done I plan to wrap a few pressies.

The card that’s lying on the table is a card for my neighbor Pat from Bo Jangles (my cat) to say Thank You for taking such good care of him and feeding him so many times this year while I was otherwise occupied with family things.

He’s such a clever cat because he also brought her the most beautiful White Orchid in a Snowflake container from M&S!

I’m so lucky to have such a good friend on hand to help out at the drop of a hat and give me one less thing to worry about....I can’t thank her enough.

Here’s Bo Jangles card.


The two cards that I finished off last night were an order from a friend.
Each year she asks me to make her Christmas cards and every year she sets me a challenge with the two cards for her twin Grand Children who are 3 this year.

Last year it was Bob the Builder and a Princess which wasn’t too bad but this year I was stumped when she asked for Christmas cards with Buzz Lightyear and Woody on them........where to start!

Seeing as I’ve been experimenting with different folded cards this year, Easel Cards, Step Cards, and Swing Cards, I decided to have a go at something different again and went for Tri fold cards.




Oh well, that’s it from me this week as I’d best get on if I’m going to get these tags made and my pressies wrapped.

Don’t forget to stop by our leader Julia’s Blog and join in with ‘What’s On You Work Desk Wednesday’, it’s good fun having a good old snoop at other crafters workspaces.

Bye for now and thanks for stopping by.

Sue
x

It’s that day again!

For everyone that’s in the know, they’ll understand exactly what I mean by that, but for those that don’t have a clue what I’m going on about, it’s What’s on your Workdesk Wednesday, the day we all converge on Julia’s Blog, grab a cup of coffee and join in the biggest and fastest growing weekly blog hop on the web.

Unfortunately I missed last weeks round of visits because I came down with germs, a really nasty chest infection that needed the help of antibiotics to shift it and I didn’t really feel like spending hours sitting in my craft room on the computer, which is what it now takes to get round to see everyone each week. But this week I’m feeling a little better, even thought it’s not gone completely and I intend to make a big effort to visit as many people as I can.

My photo shows the way I left my desk last night after a mammoth crafting secession………….I think it’s going to take me forever to get tided up after that lot!


As you can see, there’s a big muddle of inks, rubber stamps, papers and also evidence of my latest attempt to get some order into the way I store my unmounted stamps. I didn’t realize that I had so many Christmas stamps until I started to put them all together in an A5 ring binder……..and that’s without the big box of wood backed stamps.

There's a little pile of various cards on the back of the table.

The first is one that I had real trouble with, a Retro 60th birthday card.

I seem to always struggle with retro but luckily I remembered some papers that I brought ages ago for a Daring Cardmakers dare and came up with this.


Bright of what?

The next two cards are made using the new stash that I brought at Imagine That’s Forth birthday party on Saturday.


The gorgeous papers, die cut image, flowers and card candy on this 80th birthday card are all from Craftworks Cards new ‘Ooh La La!’ collection.
In addition I've added some stamping around the side edges of the card and flower using a new set of Artemio flourish stamps and a computer generated greeting.
The only other thing is that I decided to add a little colour to the image which was originally all sepia with my Promarker pens.

Next is a New Home card for my friend Tracey who lives along the road from me. She’s moving out tomorrow and I’m going to miss her loads. So will BoJangles because he goes to visit her and sleeps on her chair when I’m not around. Hope the new people like puddy cats because he's still sure to visit!

For this one I used one of the Craftworks templates for the first time, Bird ‘N’ Trees.


The last two card are Christmas ones.

I've used the beautiful Snowman Collection from Stamps Happen that I won earlier in the year.


I’ve chosen Light Blues and Lavenders to colour mine, using Promarkers and added a large Nesti snowflake and a Martha Stewart Snowflake border.



And finally, the last one is using a wonderful fun stamp from the Penny Black ‘Jolly Holly’ collection, again coloured with Promarkers.



Well, I guess it’s about time I made a start on clearing space on my table again so I can play some more today.


Oh yes, and there was one little bit of good news I have to share with you.

As some of you know, I’ve had problems with my eye sight over the last year due to a detached retina. The operation for that was a success but the outcome was that it caused a cataract to grow in my eye and ever since the op at the end of last year I’ve had very little vision in my right eye and have triple vision to go with it.
Anyway, I had to go to Moorfields hospital on Monday and I have an appointment to have the cataract removed in February, which should improve things immensely.

Right, I really am going this time and I’ll try and get round to as many as I can during the week.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sue
x

Another Wednesday..........Another Workdesk!

Well, last week I was saying how mild the weather was and this week it’s the exact opposite.
I think winter has finally arrived with a vengeance because it’s now wet, cold and windy and I even heard someone on the radio yesterday saying they were taking their dog for a walk quite close to the area where I live and it was SNOWING. Can do without that I think!

Glad I’m all cozy inside and I’ve had a couple of nice, enjoyable days crafting this week, so I think I’m finally getting into it again after the upsets of past year.

I thought I’d take the photo from the other side of the table this week to give you a better idea of my space and behind where I’m standing is my computer desk and the filing cabernet where I keep all my card stock and some of my stash of patterned papers.

Here’s the aftermath of last nights crafting session……………looks like a bomb has hit AGAIN!


I’m still working on Christmas Card Orders and yesterday I made my very first step card……I’m getting so adventurous Lol!


It was made easier by the scrummy papers that I used……the MME Christmas Glitter Book and I also used my new Snowflake nestie for the first time too.


This one was made using the same MME collection of papers and the gorgeous Papermania stamp ‘A Christmas Carol’, which was a gift from a very dear friend……Thank You Lythan.

It was stamped and embossed in Gold twice and then I’ve coloured the baubles with Promarkers and cut and decoupage them over the top of the first image. The card and the topper have been coloured with Distress inks.

The last card is another step card but is still a work in progress as I still need to add the rest of the Reindeer to the steps.


The stamp I’ve used for this one is Stampendious ‘Prancer’, embossed in Gold and the papers are again from the MME collection.

This mornings task is to get all the inserts done for the cards that I’ve already made so far and then I can see how many more I need to make, so best get on.

Don’t forget to drop by Julia’s Blog and join in the weekly blog hop and thanks for stopping by my craft room.

I didn’t do too well visiting last week but I did get round a few so I’m going to make a big effort to get round a lot more before next Wednesday.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sue
x

What’s On Your Work Desk Wednesday?

Isn’t it a beautiful day….the sun is shining which certainly helps lifts your sprits considering we’re into November now and would you believe that it’s 70 degrees in my craft room at the moment and there’s been no heating on today.
Bet your life it won’t last for long though and we’ll be talking about snow come next week, Lol!

Anyway, it’s Wednesday and that can only mean one thing…….What’s on your Workdesk Wednesday.
If you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, hop across to Julia’s Blog and you’ll see what it’s all about but for now here are the photos of my desk this morning.


It’s a rear occurrence for me to have the Pee Wee glitters out; mainly because I usually end up with more on me that I do on the project. As you can see from the picture today isn’t any different and the table is in a right old mess but I’ve been itching to have a go at a new technique I saw done at Ally Pally in September…….embossing with Brass Stencils and Embossing Paste.


I brought two different coloured pastes because apparently the results are totally different even if you use the same colour glitters over the top but so far I’ve just played with the White one.

Here’s a couple of close up’s of some of my efforts so far.




Well, thanks to everyone who stopped by my blog last week.
I don’t know about you but I’m finding it harder and harder to get round everyone now that we are into triple figures each week so I do my visits randomly and try to get around as many as I can. I’m sorry if I didn’t make it to yours but I’m sure that I will at some point.

See you all next week.
Sue
x

What’s On Your Work Desk Wednesday?

What’s On Your Work Desk Wednesday?

Yes it’s that day again ……………….and I’ve only just remembered, so here’s a few photo’s of what’s on my table this week.


I’m in a mess as usual (most of which is out of shot……namely on the floor Lol!) but at least there’s a space on my desk to work on for a change.
You will notice a small pile of Christmas cards on the corner of the table. These are for a few orders that I've been asked to make and the good news is that I’ve managed to finish my own cards too.

These are the order cards. (All A5 size)











You can also just glimpse the felt Christmas stocking that I have been hand stitching over the last week or two.

Way back in 1981 I brought two Bucilla Kits while on holiday in Florida, intending to stitch them for my God Daughters. Every year since the stockings are hung from the mantelpiece but now Nichola is married, Paul feels left out when the girls hang up their stockings so I was asked to do one for him too.



As you can see there’s such a lot of detail in it and it was great fun to stitch too.


Bucilla do some nice tree skirts too and I would love to do one of those at some point but I don’t think it will be in time for this Christmas as I’m still also stitching the squares for the hospice quilts. May be next year!

Don’t think there’s anything else on my desk that might be of interest other than my new storage from my Promarkers and Marvy LePlumes.

It’s just an IKIA CD rack that’s been given a quick Decopatch treatment, the trouble with that was that I got a bit carried away and also Decopatched my tool holder and the round tin I keep the foam for my Distress inks in……..oh yes, and a book end but you can’t see that in the photo.

Well that’s it from me for now.
If you what to join in with WOYWW and be part of the best blog hop in town pop across to Julia’s Blog and add your link.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sue
x

It’s ‘What’s On Your Work Desk Wednesday’….and the wanderer returns!

It’s not been easy but I thought it was about time I tried to get my act back in gear to some extent and get blogging again. And what better day to choose than a Wednesday, the day we all pop over to Julia’s Blog and have a good old nosy at what every one is working on at the moment.

I’ll come to what’s on my desk in a moment but first I wanted to show you the Order of Service I made for dad’s cremation and the Thank You cards that I made to send out to those who sent flowers and very generously gave donations to St Clare Hospice, where dad spent his last days.

Back in June I was feeling very guilty and upset……..the reason, I didn’t have time to make the usual six Birthday and Father’s Day cards that I have to do for Dad every year. I was forced into going out and buying cards for him, which really went against the grain and I just couldn’t get the feeling of guilt out of my mind.
So despite having to make fifty, that was the reason I wanted to make something very special for Dad’s Order of Service for his cremation.



Dad was very proud of his days in the Army, so it seemed right to have a photo of him, age 20, in his uniform on the front.

I didn’t have to make quite so many Thank You cards, but I still wanted them to be personal and special so I knew exactly what stamp I was going to use, my good old Penny Black Iris….you can never go wrong with that!




Now then, what’s on my work desk today?

It’s some of my Cross Stitching!




When Dad started his treatment at the Hospice back in May I found myself thinking about what I could do to give something back to them because the way they cared for dad was second to none.

Partly inspired by a beautiful quilt that my good friend Nicki sent over from Switzerland for dad when he was first diagnosed, I decided it might be nice to cross stitch a quilt for each of the eight rooms and one for the central seating area, with a cushion to go with each one. Not only that, I needed something to do while sitting with dad for several hours a day and this was perfect.
Dad loved the idea too and gave me some money towards the materials, which was a lovely gesture.


This meant a lot of stitching was ahead of me because I would need nine squares for each of the quilts and one for the cushion, so a total of 90 squares!
After some thought, I decided to go with geometric designs on the quilts.
They would be good for either gender but the quilt for the seating area would be different. That one will have Yellow Gerbera’s all over it because that is the hospice logo.

Nicki kindly agreed to do all the quilting for me and drummed up some more help in the form of two ladies in Holland who stitch another for another charity project. They will be stitching the squares for four of the quilts and another good friend Sharon has offered to stitch all the Gerbera’s for the seating area quilt, so we now have a truly international project on the go.

As it is such a personal project for me, I wanted to have a piece of my own stitching on each of the quilts, so the ladies in Holland will receive a pack containing all of the materials they need, including at least one of the squares already stitched by me









and when Nicki receives everything ready for making up there will also be a matching label which says ‘St. Clare’ and have the Yellow Gerbera log on for each quilt.



I've already stitched all ten squares needed for one of the quilts and cushions and these will be winging their way over to Switzerland for Nicki to get started on when she has the time.




Well, it’s been months since I blogged properly and I don’t quite know when the next one will be……… but that doesn’t mean I won’t be keeping an eye out!

Lots of Love
Sue
x

Sad Times

It’s so long since I’ve blogged and I’m sorry to say that this entry is a very sad one.

As some of you know, my dad was diagnosed with untreatable cancer back in April.

He was having his symptoms kept under control by the wonderful and caring staff at our local Hospice, St. Clare’s but sadly, dad lost his battle on Friday evening with myself and my two brothers at his bedside.

Rest In Peace Dad

Love you lots

What 'Was' on my Work Desk on Wednesday!

I wasn’t planning on posting but I really have to share with you what was on my work desk on Wednesday.


As you can see, my table has become a dumping ground over the past weeks and apart from the very photogenic BoJangles, who’s hogging the picture you can just see the contents of a box that the postie had just brought.

Look on in envy girlies because I’m now the proud owner of a beautiful ‘Dumfled’ magnet clip made by the crafty sisters Wipso and Twiglet.
It was my prize for coming up with a suggestion or two for the Wedding Shelf of their on line shop...........just look at all this gorgeousness!



There was also some ‘Annie Magic’ in the parcel too, in the form of a cute little Comfort Bear, intended to help me through what is turning out to be the toughest time for my family but enough said about that.

Anyway, my main reason for posting was to thank Annie and Jo for the flower clip, teddy and the most beautiful card I’ve ever seen. I’m going to get a little frame to put it in.

Thanks girls!

There's nothing on my Work Desk this Wednesday!

You’ll have already noticed if you’ve checked out my blog over the last few weeks that I’ve not been updating it. This has been mainly due to the fact that I’ve not been crafting, well very little anyway.

I’m being plagued by migraines caused by eye strain so crafting has been kept to only things that are really necessary and I’ve even stepped down from the daring Cardmakers design team for a while to ease the strain.
I’m really not sure at all when I’ll be able to get to it again but I’m hoping that my new vari focal glasses when they eventually arrive will go some way to helping the situating.

So for now there’ll be no photos of my work desk because there’s nothing going on there but I’ll still be round to check out what everyone else is up to, even if I don’t comment on everyone’s.
Can’t believe how may of you are joining in now and it takes nearly all week to get round everyone.

Also added to the stress of the above, my 86 year old dad was rushed to A & E on Saturday with a suspected blocked bowel and is still in hospital. He’s in so much pain, which they don’t seem to be able to control and I hate seeing him like that, it makes you feel so helpless.

Can’t say I’m impressed with his treatment so far either.
It seems that everything shuts down over the bank holiday weekend so dad’s still waiting for a CT scan so they can find out exactly what’s going on. First they told me it would be done on Tuesday and then they changed their mind and said Monday. Then it was back to Tuesday again and when I went to see him yesterday afternoon he said they had cancelled it again because of an emergency and it’s now supposed to be being done this morning. Not only that, you can’t find anyone to tell you what’s going on, so it’s a sorry state of affair if you ask me.

Well, I’m off out to do a quick spot of shopping now and then it’s up to the hospital but I’ll be back later if I get time to check out your desks. And just because I’m not join in this week it doesn’t mean you can’t so get on over to Julia’s Blog and join in the fun.

Have a good week
Sue
x

Only A Rose I Give You (sung in my sweetest voice Lol!)

Good morning What’s on your Work Desk Wednesdayers.

I’m in denial that seven days have passed already and I need to get the camera out again but I guess it’s flown by because I’ve been busy packing and posting things I’ve sold on eBay and making a few cards that have already been posted to the lady who ordered them.
When I have weeks that like this I can’t help wondering how I ever used to find time to go out to work.



My table this morning reveals a couple more of the acquisitions from my recent spending spree:-
A bargain set of Marvy Le Plume pens from eBay for £4.99 and a lovely Papermania ‘Build a Rose’ stamp set which was £5.99 but £2 of that goes to Cancer Research UK.

As you can see, I was playing with the stamps last night. It comes with a large stamp of an open rose head that you can colour and use on it’s own or there are six separate components that you can stamp and layer as many times as you like to build the flower. Here’s a close up of my first effort.


There’s a little ‘project in waiting’ sitting on the back of the table too.
You know I said that I had sorted and labeled all my Distress Inks and then put all the Cut and Dry foam into little bags to stop cross contamination of the colours, well after I had done that I couldn’t get them all back into the space between the inks in the drawer. Luckily thought I kept the round container that had my Kenco Coffee in and it’s perfect for storing them, so by the time you come back next week I hope to have done something spectacular with it…….or failing that it’ll just have a sheet of pretty paper wrapped around it!

Don’t think there’s much else that would interest you on there so I’ve had a little downwards swing this morning.


Am I the only one who has an enormous rubbish bin but still manages to scatter most of it on the floor?

Hiding to the side under the table is the Black canvas bag that is my fold-a-way lighting studio. It’s the best thing I’ve ever brought when it comes to taking photos of cards and stuff. Before I had it I could never get a decent picture without it being covered with shadows from something or the other.
Next to that is my can’t do without paper trimmer which really need a new blade but I keep forgetting to order one……..must do that now while I think about it!

Most of the other bits under there are just things I moved off the top shelf when I was making room for the spice racks, the jars of really large flowers that I never know what to so with, the overspill box of ribbons and oh yes, there’s yet another eBay bargain hiding under there.
I was looking for a new heat resistant craft sheet but for the Ranger ones they wanted around £16 for one that was 15 x 18 inches. I did a search on eBay for a Teflon baking sheet which is exactly the same thing and found one which is more than double the size for £8.99….result!

Well that’s it from me again for this week.

If you fancy joining in then Julia’s Blog
is the place to start. Leave a link there, get the coffee on and I’ll be round to two ticks to see what you have lurking on your work desk.

Have a good week
Sue