WOYWW - 217 Crafting is taking place

For anyone who has just landed here by accident, you may be wondering what WOYWW is all about.  Briefly, it stands for "What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday", and lots of us like minded crafters take a photo (or many photos" of just how our desk looks, without deliberate tidying up, and then we show all our other crafting friends what we are doing.  It is the brainchild and hosted by our leader, Julia, at Stamping Ground.  Anyone is welcome and all we ask is that you leave us a brief comment on what you see, so that we can call on you in turn to see what you are doing.  Any craft is welcome.  One warning though, it is very addictive.

This is the first time since April that my desk has really been used for its proper purpose of crafting.  quite a mixture, as you can see.  All these photos were taken on Tuesday morning, while the light was good, and I even had the window wide open (the scaffolding has all gone).  You may remember that, way back at the beginning of May, I went up to my son's presentation ceremony for his Chief Constable's Commendation for the work they all did during the Riots.  I took a video of the whole thing, and then burned it onto DVD for him, but I never got round to printing the discs or doing the covers for the cases (one for him and one for his pal).  I had also put together some small videos of his eldest daughter onto DVD, and needed to finish that off too.  You can see the work in progress on and around my lovely Tonic Guillotine.  

There is also a birthday card, which just needed finishing for my son-in-law.  All I really needed to do was the insert, and to put my label on the back.  If you want to know more about that card and a couple of others I have done, just look back at my previous post.

All my shelves are going to be cleared off, cleaned and everything sorted before the important stuff goes back.  That is where I need to start my great sort out and tidy up, before I bring back all the things that got dumped in the other room while work was going on.  The bright pink thing on my desk is my new phone.  I chose that colour of case so that I could find it more easily, and also no-one else would even want it.

This is now the view from my desk, to the side, with no scaffolding cutting off the view or restricting the opening of the window.






The dogs seem to be happy to settle down on the floor while I am working/playing, which is very helpful of them.  Flash, in particular, looks for the sun to relax in.







Gemma just has to decide that only one chew is on offer and when that is gone, it is time for a nap.  I really must make a serious attempt to keep the floor as clear as possible to give them room to stretch out, and to give me a chance to craft in peace.

Suddenly realised they were both lain down happily behind me

If you have had the patience to get all the way down to the bottom of this post, then thank you, and must send you on your way to visit some of the other desk on show this week over at Julia's place.  Have a great week, all of you.

PS Not a good start to the night and definitely not conducive to sleep. As I was about to get into bed, I saw it - the most enormous garden spider, less than two feet away. Well, she had to go. Catching her was the easy bit, keeping her in the pot was the difficult bit. I covered the pot with a piece of card, but as I got to the door, she forced her way out and jumped out onto my arm. You could have heard the screech throughout the land. Fortunately, I was saved by a spider eating dog - I just had to hope that she wasn't sick afterwards.  My next action was to log on to Amazon to search out a turbo powered spider vacuum, and, yes, they do exist -The Spider & Insect Vac with new Turbo Booster by Bug Buster.

Elizabeth's Comforting Blog Hop - T is for Tuesday

This may not be the most exciting drink to be sharing, but this bottle goes everywhere I go now, full of cool water to ensure I do not get hydrated.  I have decided that I am allowing myself to craft for as long as this bottle of water lasts.  After that, I must do something else for a while, then I can go back with another bottle of water and craft again.  Being a Thermos, it keeps the temperature just as I like it, and it does not leak, so if it falls over, there is no problem.  I am linking this post to Elizabeth's Comforting Blog Hop - T is for Tuesday.

As you know, my crafting has been seriously limited in recent months.  However, panic really set in this week. You may remember that we went to a wedding in Spain a couple of years ago.  The young couple had a beautiful baby daughter in May this year.  It has taken me till now to do them a card, but as they were coming down to stay with his family this last weekend, I thought that I really must finish it.  The trouble was that I knew what I wanted to do, but could not find the pattern, so it ended up as a major panic on Friday and Saturday to get it done.  When I was at college years ago, I could cope with very late nights and very early mornings to meet deadlines, but these days I need my sleep. 

This is a decoupage from the Crafters Companion Flower Fairies, mounted on white pearlescent card.  It was a bit too white so I applied a little chalk around the edges to soften and blend in.  I did the same to the date and her name before glueing them in place.  

I sprayed the whole thing with fixer to stop the chalk smudging, and added a little glitter on her wings.  If you peer very hard, you might just see a sparkle.

This card was not quite such a rush, just needing the insert doing and my label stuck on the back.  The stamps were from Hobby Art and are a mixture of three different sets all mixed in together.  They are good landscape stamps, although they are not as robust as my favourite Clarity stamps, so they need a little more care.

If you peer very hard at the signpost, you might pick out the name on there.  My first attempt gave me an upside down wall with the fence underneath the stone wall.  Don't think that would work very well in real life.

It is all coloured in with my Derwent water colour pencils, and mounted on pearlescent card.

Having had dinner and finished yet another bottle of water, I think it is time for a short power nap, otherwise known as an afternoon nap.  I have visitors tonight so I need some snooze time to last out without being so rude as to yawn all through their visit.

Roof's DONE!!!!!!

Saturday morning!  Two scaffold lorries arriving, with two full crews so they could remove everything in double quick time.  It was all done in an hour, leaving the builders to just remove the protective boards from the top of the conservatory and sweep up.  By midday, it was all done and dusted.

It was quite strange when everyone left.  One thing is good though.  I can now go to the loo without having to sing in case someone else needs it, and I can go and soak in the shower at any time, without fear of interruption.

However, I still cannot bring the caravan home as the builders will be back in two weeks to do some more smaller jobs for me, and yet another skip is required.  When those jobs are done, then I shall be after the decorator.  I want all these things done before the winter, so I can open doors and windows to get rid of the smell of paint.  However, as my daughter reminded me, a cut onion placed in the room is a very effective way of removing those sorts of smells.

So far, since Saturday morning, I have completed three cards, which I will show on a later post, as I have not yet downloaded the photos.  The one card was something of a panic as it was needed for Saturday afternoon.  I knew what I wanted to do but could not find the pattern, so I had to settle for something I could lay my hands on.  The delay caused by that meant I did not get to bed till 2am and was up again by 6am.  I cannot function on that level of sleep.  However, it did get done and delivered on time.  This sort of panic working was how I used to function years ago at college, leaving everything to the very last minute and burning the midnight (and much later) oil on a regular basis.  Now, my ageing brain and body cannot cope.

I NEED SLEEP!

No chance of sleep yet.  My cleaner is due any time now, so I do need to do some clearing up to give her any chance of doing what I need.  Then, I have a delivery from Ocado (food etc) due at about the same time, so I need to clear the fridge and sort it to get the new stuff in.  I also have a surfeit of eggs and milk so I need to make an egg custard to use some up - that is perfect for this weather, especially when it goes cold, silky and easy to swallow.  Lots of nutmeg on top to finish it off properly.  I shall not be doing a pastry base - far too many calories in that.  My one grandmother used to make an egg custard with a pastry base.  She would prick the base properly and bake it blind, but the pastry always came out on top of the custard.

WOYWW 216 - How can they work in this heat?

If you are wondering what WOYWW is all about, then where have you been for the past few years - you have missed so much fun.  If you go over to Julia's place where you will find all the explanation you need to join in.  the first few of my photos are really not a lot to do with my desk, other than the fact that it shows some of why my desk has been so inactive over the past few weeks.

These were the photos taken last week by my DD after we got back from swearing at the solicitors - not the nasty kind of swearing, but just the one where you take the Bible in your right hand etc.  So the probate is almost sorted now, just a case of waiting for the final paperwork to arrive before I can finally finish the job.

I do not know how my brilliant roofers could carry on working in the terrific heat and humidity we have had over the past few weeks.    They have just kept going steadily, up and down the ladders.

This week has been totally crazy.  Monday morning, I came down early (couldn't sleep in the heat), opened the cupboard door to get a packet of porridge out, only to be attacked by a large number of jars of chutney, mayonnaise, jams, and tins various.  The shelf support had given way, twisting the shelf and throwing every thing at me.  The astounding result was not one crack or breakage, not even the six brand new glass tumblers that it all landed on.  Even the one jar that made it to the tiles floor survived intact.  My daughter came to the rescue again, stealing the builders' tools to do the repairs herself, much to their amusement.  She then turned her attention to the problem of getting into my craft room, so the roofers could get in to make good the ceiling in there.  Anything that was on the floor was just moved wholesale into the next room for me to sort properly later before bringing it back and putting it away in its own place.

As you can see, Flash is a little happier that there is somewhere to lie in there at the moment.  It is certainly unusual to see any of my floor.

This is the view of my dining room roof - I cannot get the window open any further as it hits the scaffolding.  Hopefully, that may come down tomorrow, depending how much they were held up by the torrential rain yesterday.

The big blue file on the left is for indexing my stamps, which is one job I need to finish off up to date.  You can also see my brand new pen and stuff storage unit.  The bottom drawer is perfect for those long pens that have to lie down.  In fact, I like this storage unit so much I have ordered another one for the computer table downstairs.

The bright red cylinder is a retrieval dummy for the dogs and I am not quite sure how that got classified as crafting materials.

I have written far more than I intended - sorry, Julia, I will try to be good next time.  Now it is time for you to wend your way round lots of other more interesting desks, all on show at Stamping Ground, otherwise known as Julia's Place.  I also must apologise to all those lovely friends who left me such encouraging comments last week, for not returning the compliments.  I do feel bad about that, but things like vicious kitchen cupboards rather took over my life.  I will try to do better next time.

WOYWW 215

As you can see, the roof is progressing well, but there is still a lot of work to do.  This photo was taken a couple of days ago, and things have moved on since then, but there are still two smaller roofs to be done.  I am so glad I have had this job done as I found out at the weekend that the adjoining house has already had leaks coming through into the front bedroom.

However, you have not come to see my roof, fascinating though it may be.  This is the day we all visit each other to see what we have all got to show on our desks, courtesy of our great leader, Julia, who resides over at Stamping Ground. 

This is the first time for a few weeks that you have actually seen my desk, and I am thoroughly ashamed of it.  It is in the state it was in over three months ago, but I did get in there on Sunday and find enough space to make two cards. 

I do need, very urgently to clear the desk end of my craft room as there is some remedial work (as a result of the roofing) to be done, and, at the moment, they would not get there to do that work.  So I finally found a few minutes to get in there today.  This is the shot before I started.  It is not really proper sorting out as I am just gathering everything up into big boxes and taking those into another room (I do intend to sort them as I bring everything back later).

You have seen the front of the house.  this is the view from my craft room window.  Even the window will not really open properly as it hits the scaffold planks.  Hopefully, the level of the scaffolding will be lowered next week once the main roof is complete  and so that they can come down to work on the two smaller roofs over the dining room and the front porch. 

Remember, I did say, this was not a proper sort out yet.  However, I thought it would be a good idea to keep all the Clarity things together, the ones that don't have a real home yet.  Two of my shelves are filled with crafting cd's and dvd's, which don't need to be accessible, as they are already copied onto my crafting computer for ease of use.  So the originals will be removed and stored elsewhere, allowing me to move the extra Clarity boxes onto those shelves, once I have indexed them.  At the moment, though, my desk looks just as bad as when I started - just with a different stash in place.  You can also see a couple of new acquisitions - a couple of Spellbinders, some Pinflair glue gel, and a set of Distress marker pens. 

It is unlikely that the tidying up will continue tomorrow as I have to take Flash for his jabs first thing and then go to the solicitors later.  The afternoon is far to hot to work in there in this weather, so it will have to wiat another couple of days.

Hope you are all surviving this intense heat over here, and getting some good crafting done.  I hope to visit you all later.  Meanwhile, have a good week, and thank you for visiting me. 

WOYWW 214 - What have I started?

This is my view from the desk at which I am currently sitting.  Yet another pallet of tiles has just arrived, all ready to go up the mini conveyor to the roof.  I have lost track of how many tiles have had to be taken up there and laid in place.  I am on skip no 2 so far, full of rotten and disintegrating roof felt and rotten shaling tiles, which have only just about kept the water out for the last couple of years. 

Just look at this shot. I keep getting very long suffering looks from the two dogs, just wishing it was all over and we can get back to some form of normality.  What a dirty look!  Flash is an expert in delivering these long suffering looks of disgust.  "Mum, make it stop".

I am glad the caravan is safely off the premises, as I do not think I could get it out of our road at the moment.  The Gas Board have taken over, digging up both sides of the road at the same time - clever, that, don't you think?

As I write this, on Tuesday, as usual, so that I can get it done in time, I am wondering what hornets' nest I have stirred up.  Over many years, we have had problems with our main sewer (sorry if you are just having your breakfast) which is old and runs through our front gardens instead of along the roadway as most do.  As Geoff is no longer here to rod the drains clear, I decided to ask the question of Severn Trent.  Now they have just rung up to say that a team is coming out today to assess the situation and decide who owns what, and to perhaps find out why the sewer keep blocking.  I just hope it does not involve digging up everyone's drives.  If it does, I shall move house to get away from irate neighbours who have just had block paving laid.  After two weeks of tiles flying down the chute, lathes and tiles being nailed into place, and AA man blocking the road and making a row on Sunday (right in the middle of the tennis)  I don't think I am the most popular person in the road right now.

Oh yes, the AA man was here to change the wheel on the Disco after a neighbour pointed out that I had a very flat tyre.  Oh joy!!  Still, I was lucky there in that the tyre was repairable and not too expensive. Just a pity that the AA man did not realise that the Disco has transmission braking (it acts on the prop shaft and not the wheel), until I shouted at him that it was moving down our drive towards the scaffolding as he was jacking it up.  After it had then been put into gear and two hefty wheel blocks put in front of the wheels, things went a little better.

I am off now to make another drink for the hard workers, then the plan is to vac and shampoo the hall carpet, before actually going upstairs and starting to clear my craft room, for the remedial work to be done in there, and then I might (yes, really, I might) get some crafting done.  I am suffering from withdrawal symptoms.  Watch this space!  In the meantime, our beloved Julia is waiting to see you over at Stamping Ground, where she will have a whole host of wonderful desks for you to study and drool over.  I apologise to those, I still have not got round to answering.  I have read all your lovely messages, and if technology and roofs allow, I will get there in the end.

PS I knew it was foolish to make plans.  Halfway through shampooing the hall carpet, the machine conked out and refused to let go of any of the water and solution.  Despite the usual cleaning and de-hairing it, nothing seemed to work, so the job is half done at the moment.  I did finally get an email from Bissell with instructions on a possible fix, so, do I feel strong enough tonight?  Not sure, it might be for the morning when  it is cooler. 

PPS The fix did not work and the smell is telling me that something more radical and technical is required - a trip to the carpet cleaner doctor, I feel.

Ooops - I won't do that again!

I was quite pleased with myself today.  I decided the living room carpet needed a really good going over and a shampoo.  to do that, it needs to be vaccumed at least twice to remove the maximum amount of dog hair to avoid clogging the shampooer totally.

After that, I looked at it and decided that there was still too much dog hair wovern deep into the pile and thought it was tie to investigate why the Dyson was not really doing its job.  The filters have all been changed very recently and I had emptied it, so the only thing left was the front brush roller.  OK, turn it upside down to see how it comes apart and managed to drop quite a bit of dust all over me and the floor.

Did I learn from that experience .... well, not really.  I found the right size of screwdriver to undo the three screws that obviously needed undoing before removing the sole plate.  Next time, I will be doing that job either outside or inside a black sack.  As I removed the plate covering the roller, a dead dog fell out - so much dust, black dog hair and general detritus all stuck together in a thick felt.  Most of it landed on me and the rest on the floor.  However, it did reveal that it was a miracle that the brush would go round at all, it was so tied up with bits of thread, carpet backing and rubbish.  Twenty minutes later, it was all back together and in operation, almost like a new machine.  The carpet changed colour as it was cleared of all the ingrained hair.  I have now ordered a new roller as I reckon the bristles are so worn down over the years.

Anyway, I succeeded in vacuuming the carpet and then shampooing it thoroughly - result!  One more little success for me.  (I vacuumed myself as well and came up quite clean)

Tomorrow morning is sit down to watch Barbara Gray in the Classroom, and Sunday will need a good dose of valium to get through the final of Wimbledon.  Can he really win this year?

PS I did have a good afternoon today when a neighbour invited me round for a cuppa, sitting out in their lovely garden - a really relaxing and welcome break.  It was good to get away from the noise of the work on the roof.

WOYWW 213 - not my desk but the closest I can get

What a day!  Rachel (KatzElbows) remarked last week that she felt tired just reading my blog.  I am writing this on Tuesday afternoon as I very much doubt if I shall be in any state to put one word after another by tonight.

As you can seem I am in the middle of having my house roof completely replaced - and not before time.  This was something that Geoff and I were well aware needed to be done.  The builders are known to many friends as being good and trustworthy, and I have been waiting since April for them to be free.  The scaffolding arrived at pig-squealing hours last week, which was a real shock to the system.

The actual work on the roof started on Monday morning with the arrival of the skip and the setting up of the chute, and the two of them have worked hard ever since, fuelled by tea, of course.  The dogs are dividing their time between barking at the strange noises and hiding in a dark corner.

The next person to arrive was the pest control man to deal with a large nest of bumble bees in the one corner of the bay, before the roofers had to do that bit.  (The local council will not do anything but rats, unless you are in receipt of every benefit known to man)  I tried bee keepers to see if they could remove the bees safely, but they were not interested.  My next try was Defra, who put me onto the National Bee Unit. A very nice man there told me that they could not be relocated, and I would need to get a pest control company in to do the job.  I was shocked to find out that it is not possible to relocate bumble bees, and they are not protected anyway.  I was also shocked when a huge one escaped the collection bucket and landed on my trouser leg - my heart failure for today.  Apparently, this particular variety are not native bees and have arrived from the continent somehow.  I still feel bad about them being killed off, but my roof will not wait till the autumn when the colony will die anyway. 

I just about managed lunch before realising that the gardener had arrived as well.  He always brings his dog with him, who is very well behaved and so much calmer than my two hooligans.  He was followed swiftly by the delivery of my tablets from the pharmacy - I usually collect them but time is against me this week, not to mention the problem of my Achilles. 

While writing this, I have had so many phone calls, including one from Severn Trent, regarding our sewers.  Instead of running up the roadway, ours all run through our front gardens, and our house is the lowest point on this part of the system, so blocks up with everyone else's "stuff".  As Geoff is no longer here to rod the drains to clear them, I needed to clarify things - Severn Trent have assured me that it is their responsibility, which is good.  

I now have to get ready for my Tuesday visitors.  That also involves shampooing the lounge carpet where dear Gemma was disgustingly sick, no warning!  Then, I shall have to get the alcohol tray ready - and I shall be drinking (probably sloe gin) to hopefully sleep tonight. 

Sorry Julia for gong on a bit this week, but I must just say that I have finally finished with the bulk of the paperwork.  I still have a minor mountain to shred, and six A4 files to archive in case I need them, but I can see most of this desk downstairs.  I still have a number of letters to send out, but they are not urgent, and the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter all the time.  I can give myself permission to take a little time to craft, that is, after my massage and hair do on Thursday.  Yippee!  

If you are still with me, thank you for sparing so much time, and I am sure you are ready to visit lots more interesting crafty spaces, courtesy of Julia at Stamping Ground.  See you all soon. 

PS this link came via Barbara Gray of Clarity Stamps, and while going through it doing my voting, I found there is a section for Best Crafting Blog.  http://mailer.eonic.co.uk/t/r-l-bstlo-jyegjydj-n/

No contest is there, it has to be Julia every time - get voting, folks.

PPS Hope this rain clears up - never mind Wimbledon (although that is great), but I am more concerned with my roof.

Help - Bumble bee nest in my disintegrating roof

Does anyone know how I can find someone who will remove a bumblebee nest from my roof?  I know they will die off in the autumn but my roof will not wait for that. The area they are nesting in is the most urgent for repair. The tiles are rotten and the felt has disintegrated.   If the roofer cannot get on , I shall end up with huge bills for damage to the rest of the house.

The Bee Keepers Association only wants to deal with honey bees. Some people suggest using a pest control company, but surely the bees are protected, and I don't really want them killed anyway.

Any help gratefully received.  Why can't anything go smoothly?  xx  

PS Having rung the council and been told they will only deal with rats, unless I am in receipt of all benefits known to man and beast, rung Defra who put me on to the National Bee Unit who told me that bumblebees are not protected anyway and I would have to get a private pest control unit to remove them, I now have someone coming this morning to kill the nest.  I hate having to do that, but it seems that I have no alternative.  It seems so wrong that they are not a protected species when we are told how endangered they are.

It's too early!!!

There really should not be two six o'clocks in one day.  The scaffolders arrived at seven a.m., ready to set up and get going.  I only just got downstairs and fed the dogs and got them back from the garden before the lorry was here.  (Bet I am popular with the neighbours now) Big dog has now decided the only safe place to escape the noise is in the knee hole of my desk, no room for my feet now.  Little monster has gone to ground in her enclosed cage.

On the plus side, I did get the caravan off to the dealers for its post service work yesterday, first time towing for about six years.  Once I worked out how to release the hand brake, it was a doddle.  There was no button on the end of the brake lever and all the handbook said was "Release the handbrake fully" - not helpful.  A phone call to the dealer sorted that for now - brute force and ignorance seems to be the way you have to do it.  On this occasion, I was lucky enough to have a friend with me who could do it, but I do not want to be dependent on others for these silly things.  As I don't have the physical strength, I foresee a lengthy correspondence with Bailey, the caravan makers, to sort that out and find a solution for me and any other woman who still wants to continue caravanning.  I cannot be the only one with this problem ... and I won't be beaten!

Towing is no problem in itself.  It is just watching out for idiots who think cars and caravans can stop in 2 inches.  Going through Studley (a busy village) yesterday at the speed limit of 30mph, I was passed at speed in the narrowest part by a fool doing around 50mph, and he proceeded to do the same to the vehicle in front of me.  I was quite pleased (highly delighted) when he did the same to someone else while passing the speed cameras (which are live), so he will get done.  There is some justice in the world.

OK. Time now to make the tea for the workers.  I even ordered an extra bag of sugar on my last Sainsbury's shop.

PS I am now wearing magnets taped to my heel and they do seem to have calmed down the pain and inflamation from my injury, without any increase in pain medication.  I now have a new method of getting into the motor which involves tying a dog lead round my exercise stepper, putting that by the door, standing on it, then I can reach to sit on the driver's seat, pull the dog lead and haul the step into the motor after me.  May look daft, but it works.

WOYWW - 212

You may notice a distinct lack of a photo this week.  That is because absolutely nothing on any desk has really changed over the last seven days.  I am still ploughing through reams of boring paperwork and cannot settle to anything else until it is all sorted and put away sensibly.

I managed to wrench my Achilles last week, just getting into the car, and have been limping more than usual since then.  On the positive side, I have had an Indian head massage and some deep massage on my neck and shoulders, which has eased the tension there.  Also on Monday, I had a call from friends, who now live on a narrow boat touring the waterways, to say they were close by at a point where I could get to with the car, so we met at the waterside pub and had a lovely meal and chat.

Today's main job is to tow the caravan down to the dealer to have some warantee (sp?) work done, and hopefully to persuade them to store it free of charge while the house roof is being done, starting tomorrow.  A friend is coming over to help with the hitching up and setting the towing mirrors, checking lights etc.  So I am off now to get ready for that.  Then I might spend this afternoon catching up with visiting everyone who has been kind enough to leave me comments over this past week, in between watching Wimbledon with my local Evesham strawberries close at hand to nibble on.

I will go back to dealing with British Gas and annoying insurance companies etc tomorrow.  Meanwhile, I am sure Julia has many fascinating desks on show over at her Stamping Ground centre.  Have fun and I hope to see all your wonderful creations later today.

WOYWW 211 - A different desk but just as bad.

Not my craft desk this week, but just as messy.  However, this photos does not show it at its worst as you can see some of the desk top for the first time this week.    Having finally forced myself to do the necessary to achieve probate, I decided that I would go through all the files of paperwork to see what I needed to keep and what I could dispose of in some way (the shredder is working overtime).  The probate was a nightmare - why do you need 40 pages of notes to help you fill in a 4 page form?  Surely that should tell the powers that be that things are far too complicated - or is my theory too simple? 

With the help of my very kind daughter, I cleared out the Freelander which is off to the dealer tomorrow as the first stage of changing two vehicles into a comfortable one that will do all I need it to do.  Then, it was hunting for all the paperwork that must go with it, and putting together both sets of keys.  The second stage will come if and when probate is cleared.  

This is In Tray no 1 - a Sainsbury's shopping box, and that is after the first sort when I got rid of millions of envelopes and the rubbish that comes with everything in the post.

As I said, nothing changes, even more stuff overflowing onto the floor.  

I do wish that people will turn up at about the time expected.  Sainsbury's delivered an hour earlier than arranged this morning - not too much of a problem as I did get help from daughter to put it all away in double quick time.  Then, after we had done the motor and she had got my suitcase down from the loft (ready for the Clarity workshop in August), I settled down for a relaxing lunch and coffee to watch Doctors, only to get a phone call to say that the engineer was in the area and could he come and service our alarm system in ten minutes time.  Ok, one good job done and the paperwork got up straight on that one.  Time for an afternoon tea break, when the dogs went into overdrive.  The gardener had arrived, unexpectedly, to gather the hay again, with his dog.  That means my dogs have to be shut in in case they do a bunk out of the gate.  It also meant a search through my purse and the car park money retrieved from the emptied car so I could pay him his dues.

On a more social note, I took myself off to a favourite haunt at Eastnor Deer Park in Herefordshire on Saturday afternoon to visit friends from the Land Rover Club - a really nice time, chatting and catching up with news and gossip.  I got plenty of offers of help when I finally take the caravan out on my own later this year, which will be to a club event.  Note to self - don't be the first one there!!!!

Right, I am off now to prepare for visitors, so I will let you slip away (if you managed to read this far) and see some of the more interesting desks on show this week over at Julia's  Have a good week, all of you.  xxx

Craft A Scene - Realistic Forest Animals

I had already done this card, so it is my first contribution to getting into crafting again.  Red squirrels are some of my favourite animals of the UK, and I have many happy memories of sitting under trees on both Brownsea Island (where scouting started) and on the Isle of Wight, watching these beautiful animals scampering around up in the trees and on the ground.  They are our native squirrels, which are under threat from the disease carried by the invader grey squirrels, and also from loss of habitat.   They are so much prettier than the greys, too.

 

I don't have a stamp for red squirrels (not sure if there is one anyway) so I drew this pair playing in the trees, and coloured them with my favourite Derwent watercolour pencils. 

 

I was not sure I could post this card today, as my craft computer is undergoing surgery and recovery, but, fortunately, I had remembered to back all my craft files on the other computer.  So it was just a case of finding where I had saved it.

Remember that to take part in this Craft A Scene challenge for June, you must show a REALISTIC forest animal in its environment.  I chose to draw mine because I had not suitable stamp, but the medium you choose is your choice.  Come on and join us.

WOYWW - 208

No picture as yet as I forgot what day it was again (hope to put one up later), but I had to just say

Happy WOYWW 4th Anniversary.

Well done to Julia for her brilliant idea and her hospitality for all these many weeks.  It is a wonderful achievement and long may it continue.  I know I am not the only person to have received unparalleled support and encouragement from all you wonderful crafters out there.   Your generosity is wonderful.

Hopefully, I will be back next week with a photo, even if it is only the space where my computer was until it went for emergency treatment.  I also have another project to start, but more about that later.

PS I have just re-read what I wrote on my Kindle last night, and predictive text does have a lot to answer for, especially when you are half asleep.  Hopefully, it all makes sense now. 

PPS Sorry, folks.  I was going to take another photo today, but I seem to have spent all day on the phone or dealing with other things so I never got round to it. I got the estimate for having the complete roof done, and everything took off from that.  I accepted the quote which was the easy bit.  Then I needed to organise what to do with the caravan while the work is being done.  Part of the time, it is going back to the dealer for some warranty work, then one of our neighbours has offered to have it on his front garden until it can come back.  I am also trying to arrange to have an automatic levelling system fitted to the corner steadies so that I can just stand there with a remote, and position the caravan on site, then another remote will lower the legs with no effort from me.  

My chiropractor also told me that I needed massage on my shoulders and back to relieve the stress and tension there, and I managed to book that for the same time as my cleaner comes in, so that needs to be altered.  I would not mind but all this is on the calendar and I still manage to get it wrong.

I am also chasing an electrician who has been recommended to me to have a new door bell fitted.  I am totally cheesed off with these wireless units you buy from B&Q etc, which work beautifully for about a week and then die.  After five of those, I want to go back to a proper old-fashioned mains powered unit which works.  

None of this is craft related but that is where my day has gone so far.  I did manage to look up  the Travelodge at Nottingham which is just down the road from where my craft day with Clarity will take place in August.  I think I shall book in for two nights, one before and one after, so I don't have to worry about fighting the motorway traffic on the way there or going home after.  I can then relax and enjoy the day.

I did have a crafty box delivered as well, of which there will be more later.  Enjoy the rest of your WOYWW celebrations.

WOYWW 207 - What a mess!

As the title says - what a mess!  Not surprising really, as there has been no work attempted in here for nearly two months, and anything that is crafting based has been aimed into there from the doorway. The only thing I have done in there was my personal card for the flowers, and squeeze past the heaps of stuff to put my Kindle on charge in the morning and to take it off charge at bedtime. 

THINGS MUST CHANGE!!!!!!

OK, it will probably be a long time till I get back to real organisation, and settling down to working properly.  I need to clear spaces elsewhere in the house to store things like my CDRom's, which I do not need close at hand.  They are all downloaded on the computer to make them quicker and easier to sort through and use.  Once they are moved, I can use their space for my new Clarity stamps so they are easy to grab to use.

Having read Julia's post about poor quality stamps, I quite agree that we should not waste our time trying to work with companies like that.  Having had some cheap or free ones in the past, I tend now to stick to companies I know do quality.  There is nothing more frustrating than spending hours trying to create a design and for it to go wrong due to poor quality tools and card.  I also try very hard to stick to British companies, where possible, and I like my stamps to be see through, which helps if you are trying to create a landscape.

If you have had enough of the distressing mess that is my craft room, then just nip over to Julia's, where you will find more desks and rooms that are probably rather tidier and productive than mine.  I shall not be taking part in the ATC swap for the 4th birthday WOYWW celebrations, but I look forward to seeing what everyone shows.  Have a good week, all of you.  xxx

WOYWW - 206

Still no photos to show you but I am now desperate to get back into my room and create something.  Just need to set up a barricade to control the dogs and stop them creating mayhem while I create masterpieces - I have a new stairgate for the purpose so I am just waiting for that to be fitted, although I think I can prop it in place for now.  Then the other necessary step is to clear a passage from the door to my desk, which could take longer.  I will take a photo of the mess to show you next week, hopefully with a photo of a much tidier room afterwards.

I am gradually rebuilding some kind of routine, which as many of you know is not easy, but it has to be done.  A trip to see my son and his family was something different, although it was hard to do it on my own this time.  In company with over 100 other officers and staff, he was presented with the Chief Constable's Commendation for the professional and efficient way they dealt with the rioters of 2011.  Apart from the fact that I was already in an emotional state, I did find that it brought back to me how frightened I was at the time for his safety, and how angry I was that the criminal rioters could make me so frightened in my own country.  Listening to the speeches and to some of the calls that came into the control room that night, I have a great deal of sympathy with Theresa May's call for heavier penalties for those who kill a police officer (Sorry, Julia, I am being controversial here).  Those rioters went out carrying petrol bombs with the express intention of maiming or killing police officers, even firebombing one of the Police stations - you can find video of that on the internet still
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-18235676
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0CYA7exchI

On a happier note, it was lovely to be greeted with such delight by his two little girls, especially when Rosie, who is two, told me I was pretty when I was "poshed up" for the presentation. 

Right, I am off now to my daughter's to help her sort through her craft stuff, so I am sure you will be off to back to Julia's place to see some interesting desks on show there.  Hope to visit some of you later.

Craft A Scene - Ships in the Night No 2

This is my second offering this month as member of the DT for Craft A Scene.  The theme this month is "Ships in the Night", meaning that it should be a night scene and have a ship in it somewhere.  I had been playing around and trying to draw what I wanted.  Sadly, I was only using cheap copy paper which did mean that the image was not as clear as I would have liked, but I knew I could not have redrawn the scene, so it was down to a bit of computer trickery and cleaning up to get rid of the paper imperfections.  Then I could print the drawing out again on to watercolour paper, ready to colour in.

My favourite summer holidays as a child were mainly down at Newquay in Cornwall, and I remember going on a boat trip round the bay on one of the fishing boats.  I also enjoyed mooching round the harbour when the tide was out looking at all the little boats moored in there.  That was what inspired this picture.  In fact, the numbers on the boats are the numbers that belonged to two of the little boats from that time.  

The moon was created by masking with a post-it-note before brayering with Adirondacks  The rest of the colouring was done with Derwent watercolour pencils.  I also added a few highlights with a Sakura white pen. 

I hope you are all going to enter your own creations this month, and have fun making scenes to show Ships in the Night.  Go on, have a go.

WOYWW - 205?

No picture today - well, not yet, anyway.  My excuse/reason is that I completely forgot the day again.  Not surprising , really, as everyone seems to be conspiring to upset any ideas of organisation I might have aspired to.  I am not going to complain though, as I have a lot of very good friends who are all determined to do their bit to support me at this time.  Good family and friends are such a blessing, and something to be cherished.

I am still knitting and crocheting for all I am worth, and I will show you all the results when they are done.

In the meantime, thank you once more for all your wonderful messages of support, which mean so much to me.  I will endeavour to actually answer some of them this week.

Craft A Scene for May - Ships in the Night

 This is a scheduled post.

This is the first of my offerings for the DT for the May theme for Craft A Scene, which is Ships in the Night.  I took inspiration for this one from Anna-Karin's beautiful offering for the Tropical Shores theme, using only one stamp, although her colouring is far more dramatic than mine.  The stamp used is the Galleon from Clarity Stamps., a beautiful silhouette stamp.  The other two ships in the background are just sketched in after everything else was done. 

For the background, I used my brayer, Adirondacks and Big and Juicy inkpads,  and Splodge Away Mat, with a little masking for the setting sun.  The SplodgeAway mat is just so perfect to get rid of any stripes in your brayering.  It also allows you to go back to the ink you have stored on it to reload your brayer and darken your scene. 

The sun across the sea and the shadows of the ships was added using a make up sponge, just dragging the colour across.

I had to take myself in hand for this theme, having done another card with boats on that I intended to use, then I suddenly realised that I had not fitted in with the brief.  There were boats, but it was daytime not night time.  I had done exactly what I complain when others do it - I had not read it properly and thought it out properly.  So, remember, learn from my mistake.  Read the brief for the theme and then stick to it, and stretch yourself. 

It does not matter whether or not you have a boat or ship stamp.  You could use a digi stamp, a decoupage image or draw on for yourself.  Even just one image can make a scene with the way you colour your background.  Go on, join in and have fun.

WOW 204

As you can see, this is not my normal desk.  As yet, I have not managed to get back to crafting in my normal way, but I needed something to keep my fingers and mind occupied in the evenings, so knitting and crochet seemed to be the answer.  This is a jacket for an imminently expected baby.  I chose to do a 2 year old size as they have so many of the new born sizes.  I am also ringing the changes by doing a ripple crochet blanket (thanks Jo for the pattern).

I am keeping this post short and sweet this week, but I do want to say to everyone how grateful I am for all the support I have had from so many of you.  It means more than you can imagine.  I know that I will never get over it, but with your help and the help of my family and friends, I can endeavour to cope and build my life in a different way.  I am sorry that I did not respond personally to all of you, but I know you understand, and I have read everything.

 

Thank you.

Craft A Scene April 28th - Farm Scene

This is a scheduled post.

This is the final chance to join in this month's challenge over at Craft A Scene.  The theme is for a "Down on the Farm/Ranch" scene.  The idea is to give everyone a chance to produce a scene that is familiar to them, no matter where you live.  Your scene should include a background and a foreground and show a complete scene.  What media you use is up to you, whether it be stamping, decoupage or draw your own.  Use what you have with your imagination, and have fun.  That is what crafting should be about.

If you have seen my two previous offerings on this theme, you will have noticed that I have been using Hobby Art Stamps to create this month's cards.  I have three different sets of farm stamps, and this card involves bits from all of them.  I had not realised just how many different sheep stamps there were between the three different sets.  I mount all of my stamps on Clarity mounts which are so easy to use and to place accurately.  they are excellent if you have any dexterity problems, being perfectly balance.

I also used pencil lines to join different scenery stamps to make them one and to draw in in some field boundaries.  All the colouring is done with Derwent watercolour pencils, which I love.  Some of it has water applied but not all.  I also used a Twinkling H2O on the stream and pond, and also for the rays of the sun.  As usual, you cannot really see that on the photo, but it is there.

This farm scene is not really like most farms these days, but I wanted to try to recreate what farms used to be, a mix of arable and grazing, small fields with hedges, with a village close by.  Most arable farmers these days would have a fit to see bright red poppies in the middle of the corn and wheat fields, but I remember that from my childhood, along with grass verges full of beautiful wild flowers, full of busy insects and birdlife.  

Although I have not used any of my favourite Clarity Stamps on this image, most of the techniques used have been learned from watching the very talented Barbara Gray.  I heard her say recently that when she is travelling (and she does an awful lot of that) she is constantly seeing the folds of the hills, the way trees grow and generally picking up inspiration.  While I do not pretend to have a fraction of her talent, I have caught myself seeing the landscape in a different way, and planning scenes around what I see.  I bet you do the same if you think about it.  So come on and join us, show us something of what your eyes can see as you go about your life and travel through the countryside.  Have fun.

Thanks to some very good blogging friends, many of you will now be aware of the terrible shock that hit our family on Sunday, when my wonderful husband, Geoff died so suddenly.  We are all so grateful for the hundreds of wonderful messages and cards we have received so far.   I have been gradually working through all those message online, on blogs and on Facebook, and I hope to thank you personally when life settle down a little.  In the meantime, thank you all so much.  Your support means so much to us.  xx

Take time throughout your life to laugh and make good memories. In the end, they are what hold you together in the bad times. My wonderful husband died suddenly on Sunday, and my happy memories and all the wonderful tributes and memories are a great comfort. I am lucky to have incredible children and friends and we will get through. Do all you can to fill your lives with joy from the simple things of life. If anyone tries to put you down or upset you, remember that they are not as lucky as you. xx

Craft A Scene - April 7th - Farm or Western scene

Here we are at the second week of April and the second week of the latest challenge at Craft A Scene, which is to create a scene of Farms or Western scenery, depending on where you live or what stamps you have.

I am lucky enough to have three different sets of Hobby Art stamps, all on the theme of the farm and countryside.  They are really good and will mix together to create different scenes.  There are three or four different groups of sheep to make quite a good flock.

Just take care when you start a scene like this and make sure you have your fences etc the right way up.  How do I know this?  Oh yes, I managed to get the wall on top of the fence - don't think that would work in real life, and there was no way to get out of that one.  Just take a deep breath and start again.  The other thing I have learned is that you do not need to colour every leaf on each tree separately, a little white space between gives a better effect.  I was never taught that in art classes at school.  It was only by listening to talented people like Barbara Gray that I understood that.

Any farmer would have a fit (unless he was an organic farmer) if he saw the poppies in the corn or wheat fields in the background, but they do brighten up the view.

Another gem I heard from Barbara Gray was how she now looks at everything with a different eye while travelling round the countryside.  I know just what she means, I find myself looking at things in a totally different way now, looking at the way the hills fold and change colour for example.  When I was teaching a few years ago, I encouraged the children to look carefully at things and draw what they can see, not what they think is there.  I very much hope that I did not put them off drawing in the way I was put off in my own time at school.

I also hope very much that seeing  what I can do will show you that anyone can do it.  Come on, take a deep breath and join in with our challenge over at Craft A Scene.  I know you can do better that I can. 

WOYWW - 200

Cheat! I hear you saying.... and you would be right.  You have seen this shot before but as nothing has really changed since then, nothing that I can show you anyway, I hoped you would not mind too much.  Sorry Julia, I hope you will forgive me this liberty.  For those few in the world who do not know Julia, she is the brilliant lady over at Stamping Ground who holds court each Wednesday to allow us all to visit each other to see what goodies our desks hold.

However, I have got a card for you to make up.  I actually made it a while ago, but could not decide who might like it, so it went straight into my stock box to await developments.    The flower is a digi that I printed on to parchment, heat embossed and then painted with mica powders.  The moisture caused the parchment to stretch between the embossed lines, but I quite like the effect of material it gives.  Cutting it out was a bit of a beast, and then I attached it with a good dose of Crafters Companion adhesive.

The three oval mats were cut out with my Silhouette Cameo and then mounted on black pearlescent card.

As you can see, some of the bits were very thin and quite difficult to hold together when they were cut out.  In fact, I think it was only the embossing that held them in one piece. 

If you have got all the way down here, it is time I sent you on your way back to Julia to find all the other desks to visit.  All we ask of our visitors is a short comment to tell us you have called in, and then we will know where to go to return the visit.  Hope to see you all very soon.  Have a good week, and lets hope for some good weather wherever you are.  xx

Silver leaf and acetate

This is  the Silver Birch stamp from Clarity Stamps, one of my favourites.  It is stamped with any black ink on to the reverse of an acetate sheet, the rough side made for printing.  Once it was dry, I sprayed the printed side with spray adhesive and then applied silver leaf and burnished it.  Then it was back to the spray adhesive to attach it to black pearlescent card, which gives more depth to the solver.

I kept the mounting simple, with silver holographic card, black card and then onto a white pearlescent card to finish.  A simple silver peel off provided the sentiment.

The slightly grainy reflection from the silver leaf brings a good texture.  The biggest problem is remembering not to breathe anywhere near the silver leaf (even worse with gilding flakes), otherwise it gets everywhere.  Rubbing baby powder into your hands is a good idea too, to stop it sticking to you instead of the adhesive. 

If you wanted to, you could add some colour behind the trees before applying the silver leaf, but I rather like it simple.