WOYWW #417

It is Tuesday evening... I am absolutely shattered... the grandchildren (all FOUR of them) have worn me out... but it is Wednes-YAY! tomorrow, and so I just have enough energy left to get my post read for the ultimate in nosiness, yes it is time for....

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday

That little space at the back is only there because my laptop is being used to take the photographs lol

Yes, I AM a messy crafter  - I seem to have so many ideas at once that I like to have something out to remind me of those ideas. That plan doesn't actually work - I am so forgetful... but there IS craftiness in my messy desk, and that does make me happy :)

 Some of the papers I will be using in the 'Raven' album... I just have to wait for my new chipboard/greyboard shipment to arrive so I can decide on how to design the cover.

 Behind me to the left seems to be a bit messy too with stacks of paper and just 'stuff'. And coffee, of course... I so need my coffee. It is not on my desk any longer, because I had a mishap and spilled a freshly poured cup all over my desk and ruined a whole ton of papers and pages. So I've learnt my lesson and will be keeping my coffee out of the way of any projects I am working on. Until I forget that new rule, and probably end up spilling it again lol

Now... as mentioned, I have had a visit today from my grandbabies. My eldest, Lily, made me a surprise card, and she asked if I would show it on my desk for WOYWW. She made me absolutely promise to show the inside of the card so that (and I quote)..."every one will see how amazing you are and how much I love you". My heart melted... so here's my special card...

"Nonna...Ultra Genius, you know best, you know everything. Best Ever! From Lily"

And it is sat on my new acquisition... I finally got a new Fiskars paper trimmer :)

I also have my new OTTlite, and am loving them both.

Oh, just to say (in case any of you don't know)... my name is NOT Nonna -  it's just what my grandchildren call me, as I am the Nanny that says "NO!" lol. I have found that saying "NO!" earns me a little respect, and a whole lot of love as the grandkids (and my own children when they were growing up) knew their boundaries and felt safe.

Well, that's it for my Wednesday desk (as well as Tuesday, and probably Thursday too lol)

Have a happy and crafty Wednesday everyone!

Oops... nearly forgot my special gift from Mr Linky...

Today, after Mr Linky got his tickle, he gave me number... 31

Join in at: Stamping Ground

Learn about Mr Linky HERE

WOYWW #416

Wednesday has now been renamed... from now on I shall be calling it Wednes-YAY!!!

The once dull midweek has been perked up with the usual round-up of nosey-parkers taking part in 

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday

Apologies again... my desk is uber-boring this week with nothing to show, save for a notepad and pencil.

And apologies also for the dim photograph :(

Tuesday evening and this is how my desk will stay for a few days. I'm making a new album - the Raven one - and I've decided that I will design each page first (- hence the pad and pencil) and figure out how I want it to look. Then I'll be preparing each page, and filming as I put it together.  The camera is still hovering over my desk - and it has been used already (see previous post), and the craft caddy is full of the bits and pieces I will be using when I start to make the album

If I hadn't used my laptop to take this photograph, you'd also note that the screen of said laptop is showing me watching Amazon Prime... well into the second season of Lucifer and I have to say that I am easily distracted and ever so slightly hooked lol
I do have another really good excuse for my slow rate of crafting and empty desk... I broke another bone! Left collar bone this time - thank goodness! Because I don't think the right side would have taken well to being broken again lol. Well, you got to laugh at my little mishaps - I told my mum that if I were a horse, I'd probably have been shot by now :D

Want to join in? Hop on over to the Stamping Ground, where our host Ms Julia will explain everything. Add your name to 'Mr Linky', get your number and you're off!

This week, I'm running late, and after giving Mr Linky a tickle, I am number 36 :)

Have a wonderful and productive Wednesday everyone!
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I thought I'd put here that my daughter is currently at a work convention in Manchester - but thankfully she is okay and unharmed. Thoughts and prayers to all affected by this atrocity - but we WILL prevail and just get stronger.

Alice In Wonderland Mini Album

Yay...I finally figured out the webcam, editing software, and how to get a YouTube upload channel. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out the microphone settings, so the sound quality isn't good - but at least I did it - all on my own! lol

I've uploaded a few albums I had made in the past - but the Alice one is here.

WOYWW #415

Time trundles on, and brings us all round once again to a Wednesday... the middle of the week where the only thing to look forward to is...

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday

YAY!!

Get ready for the most boring WOYWW post that's ever been...

My desk is empty... well, sort of :)

I've finished the Alice Album after deciding against any extra 'flaffy' bits inside and so I've cleared my desk ready for the next project. EXCEPT...

I guess you can't help but notice the tripod sat jauntily on my desk, hovering over a blank workspace... I'm waiting for a new webcam, and the tripod is set up expectantly so I can mount the said new webcam (when it eventually arrives!) and record the albums I have made. It's got to be easier than taking photographs, surely? 

My ever-patient son has given me some links for the best video-editing software for absolute technophobes like his poor old mum (that would be me lol), and I'm hoping to get recorded and edited, and then uploaded before Friday. Stress on the "I'm hoping"" lol.

There's my WOYWW post - short and sweet this week from me (makes a change!)

Want to join in or figure out what we nosey-crafters do every Wednesday? Click on over to the Stamping Ground, where our Leader will reveal all.... lol

Happy Crafting, and a Beautiful Wednesday to ALL!

Oh... I'm number 22 this week :)

Album Closure

I finally decided on the closure for the mini. It was a tough choice because I really wanted to use the antique military buttons I have - but it didn't look quite right. So, after much thought and deliberation, I put together a chain and charm closure ...

As usual, I have overdone the charms - but I do so love the feel and the sound of them as I open up the album :)

So far there's a pendant, the rabbit, a key, a rose in a heart and a little dangly charm I made for the front of the closure. The pendant reads: "Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop."

For the actual charm and chain closure, I managed to dig up the same chain as I'd used on the back of the suitcase. Here's the list of what's on that part:

• Metal 'Eat Me' bottle with cake and small mushroom charms attached
• Royal flush hand of cards with hand-made blue dangly charm
• Large toadstool charm
• Small pendant with Alice photo with a tiny key and padlock charms attached
• Little pocket watch charm with hand-made blue dangly charm
• Metal 'Drink Me' bottle with teapot and cup and saucer charms attached

Both the back and front are attached with a lobster clasp - just a tiny one at the back though. All the metal fasteners (including the ones I used for the corseted spine detail) are large ones bought online, and I daubed them with adirondack silver alcohol ink.

I have also decided that the inside covers of the actual mini album are going to be left plain... it's a nice size and will take quite a few photographs with ease - but the added bulk of detailed inner covers will possibly make the album just too hefty and unable to close comfortably.

I'll do a flip-through of the album and post some photographs - but still haven't decided on whether to add red embellishments to the pages... I think I'll wait until the rest of the stamps and dies I ordered arrive and then make up my mind :)

Album Spine

The album spine is done - I knew I wanted a corseted ribbon design on it, but had no idea how to achieve this at all. So thank you YouTube and especially Scrap Queen :)

It's quite strange, but for all the hassle I've had trying to finish this album, now it's almost done I'm kind of missing the creativity of it already :) Maybe these last few tweaks and 'adds' will last a few weeks to get finished :)

A Special Day

I thought I'd add this here... today is a special day.

Twenty-three years ago, I got married to the most amazing man on the planet. I love him just as much now as I did then - only now that love is stronger. He is a wonderful father, protector, husband, grand-dad and friend.

Okay, so he isn't actually the perfect man... hes just the perfect man for me.

WOYWW #414

A welcome midweek hiatus is upon us nosey-parkers once again - yes, it's time for ...

(insert drum roll here... )

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday!

The two weeks previous, I was soooo good - visiting everyone who signed up on MrLinky at the Stamping Ground... and then last week I didn't manage a single visit :( So sorry to everyone for not managing a little peek at your desks and work spaces - but I do have a good excuse, honest! I actually lost a day or two. I have no idea what happened on Wednesday or Thursday last week - they have just disappeared from my life. The doctors are baffled (always a bonus when you can confuse a medic or two lol) but I am being lined up for tests to see if I am epileptic. Unfortunately, those tests aren't available until September! How ridiculous lol  Ah, well... never a dull moment, eh?!

So, explanation over, and I am back to my own desk this week.

I'm getting close to finishing the Alice album... and though it's taken a while, I have quite enjoyed it. I am making the four large 'tag'  inserts for the pockets, then it's just the cover to decorate.

I've had to rearrange my desk a little - well, the window sill. Kitty-Belle (our middle cat) has decided that the sill is HERS to sit upon, and if she doesn't get to perch her scraggy little bald bottom there to keep a watchful eye on the world outside, then it must be her mission in life to destroy my craft room instead. As you may also notice, I have gone back to using my Purple Cows guillotine. That Fiskars of mine is so old, the strip of foam that holds the paper in place has all but worn away, and the blade is so blunt it is about as much use as a chocolate teapot! 

 Centre-top of the picture you can also see an extra addition to my craft room... more on that later :)

 Here's a couple of the pages of the album... this one is mainly blue, with the gussets in the binding hinge and the reverse of the pocket tags being red. I'll be adding a few red embellishments later too - but the main album I really wanted to keep to a blue theme.

 Creating the four pocket tags... and as I am making little pull-tabs with small  intricate dies, I thought I would use my newest toy - the "Tool 'n One" from Spellbinders. It's to get all the little bits out of intricate dies easily. At last that's the theory. As you may notice, I went back to using my (very old) pokey tool and a pair of tweezers lol. I'm sure the "Tool 'n One" works really well in it's sideways-bottle-brush sort of way on larger dies - but for the littl'uns I'm sticking with what I know :) Also on my desk are some antique military buttons. I do love buttons! My Nan used to have a tin full of odd buttons of all shapes and sizes, and the sound it made was like heavy raindrops falling on a shack roof. I just like to hold the buttons in my hands and enjoy the sounds they make, and the feel of them. Little things please little minds lol Anyway, I digress as I reminisce on childhood memories... the buttons are there because they make brilliant album closures. Military buttons are best because they are metal, with the little metal loop at the back, and are pretty robust :)

 And here's the latest addition to my craft room. Meet 'Ed', and his friend 'You Can Call Me Al'. I have an obsession with ravens and crows (amongst a lot of other things lol) and this figurine I totally fell in love with. Not everybody's cup of tea, I know...

 But I adore them :)

Obviously, they are named because of the beautiful and haunting poem "The Raven" by EDgar ALlan Poe. I thought I was being clever lol

So, that's my little workdesk today. It's only left to add here that I am number 13 again this week :)

Many thanks to  the awesome Ms Julia for being our WOYWW host. Take a nosey around HER workdesk and see how to join in the nosiest fun on the crafty internet :)

Have a wonderful  Wednesday everyone!

WOYWW #413

Yay! for another What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday :)

Today, I'm doing something a little different; not so much as to what is on MY workdesk, but rather what is on HIS workdesk - the 'his' in question being my wonderful hubby, Colin :)

He has a workspace in his shed where he potters about, fixing everything I break, making useful things out of rubbish and generally having fun taking his numerous motorbikes apart :)

 He's a busy man with so much on his workspace, there's actually little room for actual working - I have no idea how he does it! This is the aftermath of him making a fine net to help clean the fish pond in the garden - which is coming along quite nicely now :)

 When all the grass grows it will be lovely - with wild flowers growing in the bank around the pond. Here's hubby testing out his net - and it worked brilliantly (I had no doubt it would - hubby is so clever).

The lilac is just beginning to bloom, and the camellia is just finishing. The camellia has been over-abundant with flowers this year, and it's still blooming after the first bud opened way back in December!

So there it is - something different for my WOYWW this week :)

And, for my Mr Linky number... this week it's unlucky for some, number 13 :)

Want to join in the snooping? Hop on over to the Stamping Ground, where our ever-patient host, Ms Julia, will tell you how to play along.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Shopping!

I thought I'd do a quickie post in between making the pages for the Alice album... 

I've been on a couple of shopping trips, and apart from a corner punch and the cheap papers at the £1 store, I think I managed to get everything I needed (and more!)

This photo was taken after my trip the The Range last Wednesday. This is just a small part of what was bought :) Papers, dies, more papers... another 'Frozen' embossing folder which I shall never use (I have two now lol). I think I'll make up a load of crafting goodies and then do a giveaway on my 500th post or something similar.

This little haul was from an unexpected trip to Pickwell Farm. I really wanted a branch-shaped die and found the Tim Holtz one at a bargain price. Those three dies were just £2 each! The spray was £1 and that paper (that I have already used in the Alice album) was in a box marked "3 for £1" -so I grabbed a load :) The flowers will be perfect for the Poe/Raven album, so they were snapped up too :) I also bought other papers, ribbon, lace, chocolate, fruit, and a load of other crafting goodies. Look, chocolate is an essential crafting item, okay? lol

Pickwell Farm is right next to our local pub (well, a mile and a half walk), so I left hubby nursing a pint, 'borrowed' £20 from his wallet and sauntered off to see what goodies I could buy at Pickwell :) I bumped into a couple of people, and had a lovely chat. The only 'downside' was that I didn't manage to spend the whole £20 lol

So... there's the result of my shopping trips, and I now have to find space in which to stuff my recent purchases. The album is coming along slowly, so I shall get back to that now - page 3 is done and I'm thinking about page 4. I'm taking a LOT of inspiration from Scrap Queen, and I'll try and get some piccies up soon :)