Wednesday 28 December 2022

WOYWW 708

 Happy WOYWW everyone, (at least I think it's Wednesday and I think there'll be a WOYWW!)   I hope you enjoyed your Christmas.   

I don't have a desk to share today so I'll add a few photos from Christmas at my brother's.  

there were lots of presents under the tree - they took a long time to open as it is always one at a time rather than a free-for-all   
my niece likes to spread out present time!!
my brother opening one in between cooking dinner


the table was smartly laid - Christmas at my brother's is about the only time I eat at a table these days (can't get to my dining room table)


my niece and my SIL on either side at the front, my SIL's mum and dad and my nephew on the right.

brother is taking another photo at the same time...


I had rather an uncomfortable night on the air bed on the floor.... hence only staying one night (but my brother was driving his in-laws home today 
so wouldn't have been able to bring me home then too)





I had some lovely gifts, (plus a bottle of wine from my nephew which is missing from the photo)
the handbag is from my boss, the colouring book from someone at work at the rest from my brother and fmily.




Tuesday I went to Kew, pretending it was Saturday and confusing Julia, sorry!  

I'm hoping to get some time to craft today - I have to wait in for a new lens for my camera as when I got to Kew and tried to take the first photo, the auto-focus wouldn't work, and I could only take photos on manual mode.  Luckily although the camera is now several years old, the lens is still available and good old Amazon will deliver today! 

  I should at least be able to get to visit you all in a timely fashion and in the meantime will wish you a Happy New Year .  Wonder if 2023 will flash by as fast as 2022 has done!  

Wednesday 21 December 2022

WOYWW 707

 Good morning fellow deskers and welcome to the last desk before Christmas....I'm still not ready!  

But, tis Wednesday, tis time for WOYWW  and time to meet Julia and fellow deskers to see what crafty wonders they've been up to...

I am sharing the "desk" this week, slightly stages with a wrapped gift ready to have a label added,  

and I folded a scrap of leftover masterboard I was using for Christmas cards, to fashion a little "purse" to hold a monetary gift for my niece.. loosely tied as I haven't yet got the cash from the bank to add to it!


had the light been better when I was rummaging in the ribbon box I might have found one that matched better....



I've had a last minute invitation to my brother's for Christmas (he's quite local, but due to Covid we've not got together for the last few Christmasses...) so my planned Christmas dinner for one will wait until I am home again.  It will be good to catch up with him, my SIL, niece and nephew and my SIL's parents.. 

Last Saturday was the last pre-Christmas visit to Kew (they are shut this coming Saturday, Christmas Eve)  and there was leftover snow and much beauty... here's a sneak peak in case you don't have time to visit the whole blogful!

the dogwoods round the pond were stunning in the wintery sun
loved the icicles on the statue's hand
my mate Kim and I did laugh at the gulls sliding on the ice on the lake as they landed! 

so that's all for this week,  just time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and good wishes for the new year - hope to see some of you next week in between the festivities.

thanks for visiting. 

Wednesday 14 December 2022

WOYWW 706

 Well, another week has flown by and it is time for WOYWW again..

I don't have anything remotely crafty to share with you this week... nothing, nada, zilch..

I tried to photograph my window sills decorated for Christmas... this is the living room with the battery operated flashing lights (can't have ones that need a power supply as I can't clear the space to a socket...


forgive the reflections in the window, can't do anything about that ! 
the huge piles of crafty overflow supplies don't do much for the look either!



I decided to write the Christmas cards and post them after all, as I was starting to receive some in the post so figured that some "proper" mail was getting through the backlogs.. so fingers crossed!







Last Saturday at Kew it was really cold, and very frosty... 
the resulting photos were worth it though.  

the cold did for my phone though, the battery shut down and I couldn't get it to work until I was on the way home!  It has a habit of doing this though so I think it is soon time for a replacement.





Since then, we've had snow and oh, it would have been magical to be there in the snow (we've not had much, luckily so can still get to and from work, and, strikes apart, transport is still running 

I am looking forward to another visit of course this coming Saturday, which will be the last before Christmas as they close on the 24th and 25th.  

Hope to see some much more interesting crafty spaces from all of you, I'll be round soon. 
Happy WOYWW.  

Wednesday 7 December 2022

WOYWW 705

 Welcome again deskers,  time for another WOYWW with Julia and the gang. 

I've kind of abandoned Christmas card prep as I don't think I'm going to post any due to the constant postal strikes and the pictures of all the mounds of undelivered post - according to a girl I work with who's husband is a postman, they've been told only to deliver packages and signed for post.

There's not much of a desk today as a result -  a rapidly wrapped Secret Santa gift as Thursday is our office party and the gifts need to be ready!



Don't even ask if I've done any proper Christmas shopping!







Saturday was of course Kew, a cold day but at least no rain.


monkey puzzle tree

ginko leaves
feeding frenzy at the lake 



Thanks for looking,  I'll be round to visit probably after work and probably after I've decided what to wear to the party (it's a meal at a restaurant so nothing over fancy, thank goodness)  

Wednesday 30 November 2022

WOYWW 704

 Welcome deskers for another WOYWW . Yet another week has flown by and it's the end of November.. Not sure how that happened!  

I've still been trying to batch make Christmas cards for speed.. 

I dug out some old favourites last weekend - grumpy penguins,  and a snowman for a bit of festive fun.





I decided most of the cards needed a bit of bling..




so dug out some sparkly glitter glue.  I found 3 different bottles, 2 of which actually let me release some of the contents onto cards.  
and then had to find flat surfaces to let them dry....


you know they say you shouldn't touch it to check it's dry...  

I've still got loads to glitter.  (and loads more to make)

We'll finish as always, at Kew.  


there was blue sky
and colourful salvias


Thanks for dropping by,  I will catch you and your crafty spaces as soon as I can.  


Wednesday 23 November 2022

WOYWW 703

 What?  Wednesday again?  it must be time for WOYWW  then... head to Julia's for the link and the desks..

I took this view from the sofa on Tuesday evening whilst watching the football...  evidence on the "desk" of Sunday' batch of Christmas cards and to the left of the photo the as yet not cut up masterboard for some more...
I should be doing more each evening but can't summon the enthusiasm!

Time is fast zooming by though and I am very behind with them this year...






Saturday is always Kew though, and last week was no exception.




as will the one coming... possibly in the rain again.  

Thanks for visiting, it will probably be evening before I get to visit back unless lunchtime at work happens!  
Happy WOYWW  




Wednesday 16 November 2022

WOYWW 702

 Hello again deskers... time for another WOYWW  .  the happiest day of the week when we share our crafty workspaces.

There is less on mine than there should be,  I should be making Christmas cards every night...

my new Distress, Lumberjack Plaid, arrived,  and as you see I ripped off the wrapping on the ink pads to try out the colour... yum!!  



I did spend part of Sunday making some -  few more backgrounds - using the new ink pad
and then spent some time cutting up some of the masterboards

and turning them into Christmas cards - well you saw some of them last week but I've added a greeting to the front now

I die cut some deer (Tim Holtz)   from the red masterboard that I shared previously so they match in reverse the background.  










Angela (Crafting with Jack) asked if it was multi stamping or stencilling -  stamping, Angela - 2 of my favourite Magenta wooden stamps -  

the one on the right, especially as you can multi-stamp it much better and as you can see, in different colours too.


I'll do lots more of these they are speedy fast.  










Kew on Saturday turned out to be gorgeous again,  not that it isn't always... 

look how blue the sky was (eventually)  








and Kim and I found some giant mushrooms too, which several of you saw on FB  (Kim is one of the other every week regulars and we tend to walk round together these days) 


me included for a sense of scale!  



thanks for visiting, I'll be round after work to catch your spaces.

Happy WOYWW  

Wednesday 9 November 2022

WOYWW 701

 Happy desk sharing day one and all.  WOYWW again  head to Julia's for the details

first the floor shot...I haven't used the background from last week yet,  think it needs toning down.. 


made another couple of masterboard backgrounds...
and actually assembled the start of some Christmas cards.. just needs a greeting for the fronts 

I'll probably do another one in red when the new Distress ink pads arrive (yes, I succumbed) 



It's a very red week,  all over....


my wet trip to Kew (although it did stop now and then)

saw me colour matching the trees...

it was a brolly and welly day!  



the forecast this weekend is a bit better - but the ground will still be muddy!  




I hope you've all had a good week.  see you soon!  Happy WOYWW  

Wednesday 2 November 2022

WOYWW 700

 Welcome to week 700 of What's On Your Workshop? Wednesday... a big number deserves a full title.  A big thank you must go to Julia for keeping going all this time..   

I've been scrolling back through my posts for the first time I joined in - couldn't , due to lack of labelling but found one in feb 2010  and then going back to Julia's blog found it - 27 Jan 2010 but no week number!  

nothing's change though, still working on my knees on the floor and still surrounded by mess!  possibly a bit more of that now than all those weeks ago.  

So, let's see what's been happening this week.  

oh, shopping!! now there's something else that hasn't changed!
more Dina goodies...stencils, new brushes, transparencies..



I have my eye on the latest Tim Holtz distress colour, a lovely red.  I might go shopping before next week! 


It rather belatedly occurred to me that I should have started making Christmas cards some time ago!  so at the weekend, after seeing the new distress colour I got out some reds of my own..


and some overstamping with one of my favourite Magenta wooden stamps 
I'll cut it up for some card backgrounds - it's a start!  

and because it's "desk" sharing day... a "desk"  




Kew on Saturday was beautiful, warm, really warm for late October... and so much funghi.. 

this weekend the forecast really is for rain!  ah well...

So, happy week 700 to us all - not an anniversary as such but a huge achievement. - put the kettle on, see you soon!  


Wednesday 26 October 2022

WOYWW 699

 week 699 - wow!  another milestone next week in the blog-fest fun that is WOYWW   Join the fun at the Stamping-Ground    I can't quite believe it's November next week... 

Before that though, is this week's desk.  

I finished last week's journal page -  combined the Halloween (bats) with the autumn leaves 

when i was doing the page above and trying to darken the top circle I poured out too much ruby paint so used it up on my A5 journal - I still love this journal size even though the pages are quite thin

added some more brush strokes and some stencilling ; on the left page is one of Dina's face stamps, on the right some of her collage tissue. 

As usual, I have yet to finish it...

Was lucky at Kew last Saturday that the rain held off (but had rained a lot beforehand so my feet got very wet)  

the mushrooms were out in force too
and the entrance was covered in the most gorgeous red of the Virginia creeper


Thanks for looking,  I'll be round to catch your desks soon (although once again possibly not until after work)




Wednesday 19 October 2022

WOYWW 698

 Not sure how it's Wednesday already again - but here we are meeting for another WOYWW - week 698.  Do come and join in the fun.  

You'll be surprised that not a lot of crafting has gone on since last week... just a start to another journal page.  i suppose it's better than nothing.

there was already the sage green stencil (reverse stencil actually, from the leftover paint on the stencil from something else)  on the page

I took one of Dina's stencils which has lots of different circles on it and used one of the larger ones with a graduating orange colour 

added some black blobby dots from another Dina stencil... and kind of got stuck! 

the intention was to do more on Tuesday evening but Bake Off won out....


the orange paint I used is one of the newer colours, Tangelo, from Dina's range,  and added varying amounts of white, before realising I should have started top right with the  most orange, so had to try and darken it!  

It has struck me since that it has a kind of halloweeny feel to it, not that I really "do" halloween, so might have to try and use that to finish it off.

Last Saturday was another beautiful autumn day at Kew.. check here  

lots of shadows... double shadows as regular Kim and I often walk round together now..

I'm the bulky one on the right with my large rucksack full of lenses and stuff I lug around with me!


Having seen the forecast for this weekend (and indeed, the next one too) I am not sure there'll be many shadows - more umbrellas!  

but it wont stop me going and getting out in the fresh air!  

Happy WOYWW  - see you soon!