What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday #99

Good morning Workdesk Wednesdayer’s and what a fab morning it is.

Despite the weather forecast for rain, my little corner of the South East has so far missed it again and the sun is still shining here even if it’s not as warm as it was, so I’ve been making the most of it.

I’ve been out and about over the weekend visiting a sick cousin who’s been in hospital but is home now (Get well soon Ken) and also I was at a BBQ on Sunday with my very good friends Susan and Edd and my two God Daughters, which was lovely.

The consequence of that is that there’s been very little creativity going on because I haven’t really settled down to doing very much since.
I did come close yesterday though because I’ve finally decided that it’s time to sit down and do a scrapbook page of my dad.

I know it sounds silly but since losing him last August I just couldn’t face doing it for some reason, but now I ready and yesterday I started to sort out the papers and get everything together that I had brought to do it but I didn’t get very far.
I couldn’t find the old photos that I wanted to use and I spent the rest of the morning searching through drawers and cupboards looking for them.
I wouldn’t mind, they should be easy to see because all four of them are in quite big frames from when I had them hanging on the wall in my bedroom so they won’t have just been tucked away somewhere. All I can think is that they are still over at my brother’s house because we had them on show there after dad’s funeral.

Anyway, the long and the short of it is that after all that searching the page didn’t get done in the end and the papers and things are still on the corner of my desk waiting to be used.



The only other things of interest on my desk are two cards, one of which you have seen before but is having a bit of a tweak.

I made the Fairy card a couple of weeks ago as part of a five card order and had them all packed up and ready to post when I received a reply to an email I sent last week asking if she wanted an age on the front of the card. When I didn’t hear anything back I assumed that she didn’t and packed everything up but it turned out she was waiting for a reply from Australia because she was checking the age, so this morning I’m just adding the ‘8’ to the front and then will post them as I go out.

The other card is for a wedding and is my first attempt at making crinkled paper flowers using Mr. Holtz tattered flowers. I love the way they turned out and they were so easy to make so you can expect to see loads more in the coming weeks.

So that’s about it from me, I’m off now to drink that cold cup of coffee you can see on my desk then get that card finished.

Don’t forget to drop by The Stamping Ground where Julia has the list of everyone who’s joining in this week and visit a few blogs.

I’ll be stopping by later to see what you’re all up to, so bye for now and ……………

Happy Crafting!
Sue
x

Ahead of Myself

I couldn’t make it to WOYWW last week and didn’t want to miss it two weeks in a row, especially as the excitement is growing as we get ever nearer to the big P.I.F in celebration of the second anniversary so here I am with a photo of my desk this morning.



I’m making no apologies for the poor quality of the picture.
The sun was streaming through my window leaving shadows over everything but I’m sure you will still be able to get the gist of what I’ve been up to.

The first thing you may notice is that there’s been a little change to the storage boxes at the back of my desk.

For some time I’ve been keeping my eyes open for a new container to store my distress inks.
Up until now I’ve had them all thrown into one of the drawers at the back of my table but they were often awkward to get to because of all the stuff that gets piled up in front of them. I wanted them to be within easy reach and found just what I was looking for in Hobbycraft last week. I think it’s meant to go inside a drawer but I’ve stood mine on its end, which meant I had to have a bit of a ‘rearrange’ and relocate a few bits but over all I’m very pleased with the way it’s worked out. Now I just have to reach out and grab the one I want!

Scattered across the rest of my desk are the working of my Nephew’s birthday card. I’m feeling quite smug because I’m ahead of myself in the card order stakes and already working on cards needed for June.

You can see the remains of my Basic Grey ‘Marjolaine’ pad lying at the back of the table and also some tickets, cut with the Sizzix strip and finished off with the coordinating stamps from Imagine That
Actually, it’s the first time I’ve used them and if I’m honest I think I’m going to need lots of practice with them because I had awful trouble lining the stamps up with the die cut even though I used a clear acrylic block.

There’s nothing else very exciting on my deck this week, just the usual crafting necessities.

I’ll be round to visit as many as I can during the week and be back next time when we will find ourselves a week closed to the second anniversary bash.
For everything you need to know to join in with WOYWW and the anniversary P.I.F. please hop on over to Julie’s blog The Stamping Ground.


Have a good week and a very happy Easter
Happy Crafting!
Sue
x

Playtime at last!

Oh, I’ve had such a lovely start to my week.

My crafty pal Lythan came to call on Monday and we ‘played’ all day.
It’s been so long since we’ve been able to get together to craft and have a good natter, so you can bet that we made up for lost time. Lol!

We had a very productive day too.

Lythan was working on two 12 x 12 layouts that she had brought with her and I decided to make my P.I.F. for What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday’s second anniversary, which is coming up very shortly.
If you’ve no idea what WOYWW is all about hop across to The Stamping Ground where you’ll find all you need to know.


Now, for obvious reasons I can’t show you my P.I.F. yet but I can show you what’s on my desk this morning it’s something that I don’t often dabble with……………


I have my bead box out!

The beads may or may not have something to do with my P.I.F. but what you can see in the picture are the bracelets that I’m making for my friend Sandy.

We saw the beads in Wal-Mart while we were in America in February and it was a good job I’m not into jewelry making in a big way because I think my luggage would have been way over weight on the way home. There were so many gorgeous beads and all soooo cheap. A ‘real’ beader would have struggled to restrain themselves, I’m sure.

I picked up a big bag of various shades of Brown and Beige beads and this string of beautiful Black wired glass beads for myself.



Sandy decided on the two sets you can see on my desk……wish I had got some of those Blue ones for me now.


Well, it’s on with my day.

The ironing board is calling unfortunately but I hope to be back later to visit a few more desks than I managed last week and leave more comments.

Thanks to everyone who left comments for me last week too, they are always most appreciated.

Oh yes, my week is set to end well too, because Lythan and I are off to Alexander Palace on Saturday for the Big Stamp Show.
May see you there if you're going too!


Happy Crafting!
Sue
x

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
x

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
x

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
x

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
x

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
x

Back from the Rockies……..and a scrap lift.

Hi all, well I’m back from my much needed holiday and my desk this week is covered with bits and pieces that still need to be put away.

I’ve just had ten wonderful days in the snow having spent my break in Breckenridge, Colorado on a skiing trip with some friends and boy did we get snow….......more than 12 inches in just one night and that was just the start of it.
As it happens we arrived in Denver at just the right time because the day after we got there we heard that they had to cancel more then sixty flights in due to the weather conditions, but I’m not complaining because the most important point to a skiing holiday is snow, right!

Here are a couple of pictures

Our apartment was right on the mountain so the skiers in our party could literally roll out of bed and get straight on the slopes.


There was lots to do for us non skiers too because Breckenridge has a lovely main street with lots of interesting little shops to investigate. Sadly there was only one very small Bead/ Scrapbook shop and a Wal-Mart to satisfy my crafty cravings but I did manage to bag a couple of bargains to bring home with me so I was happy.



We also had a couple of days out and about exploring the other ski resorts in the area, namely Beaver Creek and Vale so all in all we had a busy time of it.


Just look how deep that snow is!


I got back home last Wednesday and straight away had to prepair myself for the cataract operation that I was due to have on Friday.

I’m pleased to say that's behind me now too and it all went well, so I can breath a sigh of relief knowing that all the months of worrying that my sight had been permanently affected by the detached retina are laid to rest and I can look forward to the future.

I now have perfect distance vision in my Right eye again and although I will still need reading glasses for close work it’s a small price to pay after all I’ve been through.
Things are still a bit difficult at the moment though. While I’m waiting for everything to heal I’m having to manage with an old pair of glasses, which aren’t perfect but when I go back to the hospital in three weeks time they’ll sort out my new contact lenses/ glasses and hopefully everything can get back to how it was……..crafting included!

Anyway, back to what’s on my table this week…..



As I said it’s a dumping ground for my holiday bits and bobs this week, including the crafty goodies that I brought home with me.

The first thing that stands out is the gorgeous Lilac hand luggage bag that I brought just before I went away. As if I didn’t have enough bags…........but this one was just calling out to me so I treated myself, as you do!
The Lilac theme didn’t stop there because I also treated myself to the document wallet and passport cover that you can see just behind the bag.

There was a mostly uninteresting pile of mail waiting for me when I got home too, which is now waiting for the shredder, but in amongst it was a lovely surprise, a £25cheque from a Premium Bond win, how nice was that!

And last but not least on my table is the pile of crafty goodies that found their way home with me.

Even thought the exchange rate isn’t that good any more I was still pleasantly surprised at just how much cheaper things are in the USA so I came home with two $5 Colorbok (A4) paper pads, that’s just £3.30 each, two sets of rubber stamps, rub-ons, two cards of hemp cord, blooms, chip board flowers and some beads, so that little lot should keep me quiet for a while.

So there's what's on my my desk this week.
If you want to join in with What’s On Your Work Desk Wednesday than hop on over to the Stamping Ground where Julia tries to keep us all on our toes each week and have a good old snoop around the craft desks of the world.
It’s really fun!

I do have something crafty to show you too this week.
You may remember a few weeks ago I mentioned that while looking at peoples desks I came across a layout made by the very talented Lisa


At the time I was looking for inspiration because I wanted to make something for a special friend who had just sadly lost her beloved dog Tosca and my idea was to make something around the beautiful Rainbow Bridge verse. As soon as I saw Lisa’s layout about ‘What’s at the end of a Rainbow’ and saw all those flowers I know I had to have a go.

Here's her masterpiece



And this is what I came up with



Thanks Lisa for the inspiration.


Last but not least I want to tell you about some great blog candy that's up for grabs.
All you WOYWDW fans might want to stop off at Jude’s Blog, especially if you’re a Tim Holtz fan because she’s giving away some great Half Term blog candy.




Well that really is it from me this week. Thanks for dropping in.

Sue
x

In the Pink

It’s another Work Desk Wednesday and as you’re reading this I’m somewhere on the M25 heading for Lakeside shopping centre hoping that Blogger has done it’s work and automatically posted this for me.
Darn it…..…..Blogger didn’t play the game and this didn’t get posted after all, so as you’ve probably guessed I’m back from my shopping spree and I'm having to do this myself now, so sorry it’s a bit late in the day.
Thanks to every one who stopped by last week and offered some suggestions regarding my new trimmer.
Impatient as ever I returned the trimmer to shop in the end, but not before sending another scathing email to Purple Cow. This time I did get a reply (on the same day too) saying they were looking into it. Shame…..if they had told me that in the first place they might not have lost a customer who was about to spend in the region of £60…..their loss!

I’ve had a busy few days making cards and trying to get ahead of myself before my holiday……it’s almost upon me Yah!
There’s just eleven days (and counting) until I go away and the need to be in front with everything has never been more important because I’ll be away for ten days and then two days after I get back I go for eye op, so who knows when I’ll be back to crafting again. My fingers are crossed that it won’t be too long, but you never know so the pile of cards you can see are all orders for March and are awaiting their inserts.


My desk is a little cluttered with inks and stamps and clearly the ice cream tub I use as a desk top rubbish bin needs emptying but at least for once there’s actually a gap in the middle that I've been able to work in.

The papers and card kit you can see are from one of my favorite Basic Gray collections, Cappella.
I think they have a shabby Chic feel to them and the colours although darkish are quite subtle if you know what I mean.
I’ve used the card kit, which incidentally is intended for weddings, to make an anniversary card but I don’t like just following the instructions in the kit to the letter; I like to make it my own so I've used the original card (the square on the front)and made it into an A5 size by adding the background and another greeting.


The rest of the cards I've made have a distinct Pink theme going on because I'm still trying to use up some of my old collections. The good news is that I've succeeded in using up all of this one now and with the final tiny bits that were left I made two more card blanks that are ready for an image to be added when I need a card in a hurry.












Julie is presiding over things as usual over at the Stamping Ground, so get on over there and join in the fun that is What’s On Your Work Desk Wednesday.

Thanks for dropping in and I’ll be calling in to see as many of you as I can manage later in the week.

Bye for now.
Sue
x

Stylish Blogger………..who me?

A couple of weeks back the lovely Ady very kindly awarded me this Stylish Blogger award and it’s taken me until now to add it to my blog and pass it on to no less than fifteen other ‘stylish’ bloggers who deserve recognition.

There were a couple of conditions that went with it, the first being that I share seven things with you about myself that you may or may not already know, so here goes…………

1) I’m 54 and retired.
Actually I retied at 47 when I found myself in the lucky position of being offered severance from my job with the Bank of England and being over forty I was allowed to take my pension. I can happily say I’ve never looked back.


2) My first love hobby wise is cross stitching, although I have always crocheted and knitted for as long as I can remember. But I can’t sew a straight line on a sewing machine for toffee though!

3) I’m mum to this good looking little fellow.


His name is BoJangles and he’s a 7 year old rescue cat who’s been with me for five years now. He’s very loving and would eat all day long if I allowed him too.

4) I had my first major operation at the age of four after swallowing a cherry stone. It got stuck in my appendix, which had to be removed in an emergency operation but it burst while they were removing it causing an abscess and I then needed to have another operation a couple of days later to clear up the infection.

5) My favourite colour is Lavender and has been for as long as I can remember.
I must admit, it’s not a colour that wear very often, because it doesn’t go very well with my very White hair but from a very young age my room and other belongings have been in those shades.
In fact, only this week I have brought myself a lovely Lilac overnight bag to use as hand luggage when I go away to Denver in a couple of weeks time…..and it’s sooooo scrummy!

6) When I was 7 I almost crushed my Left hand by accidentally putting it through the electric wringer/mangle on the top of my mum’s washing machine.
Bet not many people can claim to have done that!

Picture the scene………It’s Sunday morning.
Lunch is in the oven and mum is in the kitchen finishing off the last of the washing. I arrive home from Sunday school and want to help her finish up. Mum says no but I keep on worrying her so she relents and gives me a Blue face cloth to put the wringer. She waits to retrieve it at the other side but instead of the face cloth, my fingers emerge and panic ensues. Needless to say lunch was ruined because the rest of the day was spent in A & E but thankfully there were no broken bones and I had escaped with no more damage than bad bruising.

7) I’ve had my fifteen minutes of fame.
It was when I submitted a picture of one of my cross stitch projects to The World Of Cross Stitching and became their ‘Stitcher of the Month’.

The project was of my first rescue cat Emily.


I had taken a digital photo of her and turned it into a graph using a computer program. I think they liked my story because Emily used to sit on my lap while I was stitching to keep an eye on my progress. I think she wanted to make sure I was doing her justice.

Well that’s my seven facts about myself; I hope you’ve found them interesting.

Now onto the fifteen people I would like to pass the award onto…not an easy task when you visit so many different people over time. Still, I’ve managed to whittle my list down to the number needed and if you’re not on my list it doesn’t mean to say I don’t find your blog inspirational, more that I would be here all week typing this.

So here goes.


1)Slightly Squiffy
The first spot has to go to one of my very first blog mates Lythan who is not only a crafting pal but has become a very very good friend over the seven years I have known her. Her craft work is simply beautiful and that’s borne out by the fact that she has just been awarded Runner Up in the Scrapbooker of the Year competition which is well deserved if you ask me. Please pop across to her blog and see yourself, I’m sure you’ll agree.

All the rest are in no particular order but all have inspired me in one way or another over the years and I thank you for that.

2) Kathy’s Waffle
3) All That Glitters
4) A Stitch in Time
5) Twiglet
6) Paula’s Paper Playground
7) Lisa’s Craft Garden
8) Manic Stamper
9) Lynda Loves Crafting
10) Glimpsing The Past
11) Stamped Smiles
12) Simply One Of A Kind
13) Simply Sue
14) My Crafty Outlook


So there you have it.

Thank you again to Ady for thinking my blog worthy of such an award, I really appreciate it.

Sue
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The King’s Speech

Have you see this film yet?
If not, I can really recommend it.

I went to see it yesterday with my cousin and was a little skeptical about just how good it would actually be given all the hype, but I can honestly say it’s one of the best films I’ve ever seen and Colin Firth so deserved his award for his portrayal of King George VI.
Go and see it, I’m sure you’ll love it.

While I was in town I popped into Poundland and WH Smiths, so my work desk shows the spoils of my little shop. Nothing very exciting, just essentials like double sided sticky pad, staples, Magic Tape, smooth plain White card for stamping onto and two new Black Sharpie pens….last of the big spender, err?


The eagle eyed of you will have spotted something else that’s new on my desk…..yes, I’ve joined the ranks of the lucky crafters who own a glass cutting mat……and I love it! Don’t know why I didn’t invest in one of these before but at least I have it now.

And there's something else....my new Purple Cow Ultimate Trimmer that you can see in the box at the side of my table, but as it goes I’m not very happy with that new toy.

I had been specifically looking for a trimmer that measured to at least 30cm, which according to the picture on the box this one does but when I got it home (after a round trip of an hour) I found that the measuring platform is marked out in inches and not centimeters. Don’t know why they can’t put both on there as my old trimmer has, but no, just inches.
I emailed Purple Cow on Friday to see if it’s possible to buy a new measuring platform, (thinking that if there's a picture on the box of one then they must make them) rather than return the trimmer to the shop but I’ve not heard a peep and I’m still waiting for a reply from them, so I’m not very impressed with their customer service either come to think of it.

Now I’m in a bit of a dilemma because tomorrow I’m going over to near where to the shop is that I brought it from and I don’t know if I should just return it and have done with it or wait a bit longer to see if Purple Cow get back to me. Trouble is if I take it back I need to start looking for another trimmer that goes up to those measurements and I’ve no idea where to start…..it’s so frustrating!

Sorry, rant over……best get back to my desk.

There’s just the usual mess on there that I manage to leave after a card making session. Pen’s, ink pads, piles of backing off the double sided tape that I've used and a big box of cheap eye shadows. Why the eye shadows…….I use them like chalks and very well they work too!

There are also these finished cards.

I was trying to do a few birthday cards using my cupcake stand stamp but they all turned out looking almost the same, mind you the Green one standing up on the shelf in the main picture looks more like a Wedding card if you ask me.
Oh well, back to the drawing board!





Then last but not least was this easle card.



Oh well, that’s it from me for this weeks what’s On Your Work Desk Wednesday.

Pop off over to Julie’s and join in why don't you, it's all good fun and you get to have a good nosey around too!

Bye for now.
Sue
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What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday

Well, it may be another year but these Wednesday’s keep coming round faster than ever.
It doesn’t seem two minutes ago that I was telling you I had a clear desk ready to do my tax return, which incidentally is now done, and now I’m here again with a desk that’s looking a little more cluttered.

So what’s there to see this morning?


Well, there’s evidence that I’ve been busy in the last few days because there’s a box full of stamps and wet’n’dry foam that needs cleaning and putting away in their rightful places, there’s my spice rack full of gorgeous colorful flowers and there’s also my latest copy of Craft Stamper that postie brought on Monday.
I subscribe to this magazine each month in the hope that I will learn some new techniques and be more adventurous in my card making but sadly that hasn’t really happened yet and more than a year down the line I still always manage to stay inside my comfort zone.
Hopefully things will change…..one day!


The magazine is actually strategically placed on my desk, hiding the project that I’m working on.
It’s going to be a surprise gift for someone who often visits my blog so all I can tell you is that it’s a 12 x 12 layout (not something I make often) that is destined to end up in a frame and the inspiration for it came when I was blog hopping for last weeks WOYWDW and visited Lisa’s blog, Lisa’s Craft Garden

Whenever I visit a blog for the first time I like to spend a while looking back at the all the projects they’ve made. Lisa’s work is simply beautiful, especially her gorgeous boxes and the sugar craft work she does but what really caught me eye while I was snooping was this layout that she had made over a year ago.



It’s a stunning piece of work and seeing it gave me the idea for my project, so I scrap lifted it…I hope you don’t mind Lisa.
That’s all I can say for now without giving away what I’m up to but when it’s finished and the person has received it I’ll show you the finished article I promise.

Thanks for stopping by this week………and all the other weeks, your comments are always welcome and most appreciated.
I’m off to Julie’s Stamping Ground now, where our great leader Julia presides over the biggest weekly blog hop ever.
Why not come and join in!

See you all soon
Sue
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Feeling Archaic

Yes folks, that’s how I’ve been feeling this morning, old and crotchety.
I ache all over and I’m hoping that it’s mainly due to the fact that I had a restless night and could really do with a new bed rather than I’m coming down with something.

My challenge to myself this week has been to try and use up some of the rements of my ever growing paper stash, instead of keep buying new stuff, so the last couple of days have been spent making cards.
Some are needed for orders but while I had my Basic Grey ‘Archaic’ pad out I decided that I wouldn’t put it away after I’d made the cards I needed, I would use it all up instead……a scary thought! Mind you, once I had got into it I really enjoyed myself trying to use the tiniest of scraps as it goes.

So alas, Archaic is no more but on the bright side I have a little collection of ‘spare’ men's cards, which I always find hard to make in a hurry and there will also soon be room for new stash at a later date, yah!

Here’s the little collection.


And here they are close up.









On an even brighter note, I had a visit from my lovely friend Lythan yesterday.
We’ve been trying to get together for ages but all my problems, Lythan’s work load and the weather all scuppered our plans to get together before Christmas. We finally managed it yesterday, so I made lunch, we had a good old natter and exchanged Christmas gifts before she headed off home for an evening at the pictures with her family. Hope you enjoyed the film hun and thanks for my beautiful necklace……I have it on now!

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you soon.
Sue
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