Yahoooooo - ToysRHere!!

Chris took me up to the post office after work last night and we collected the parcel that they didn't actually deliver... and then we went to my local scrap shop and he bought me a new heat gun, because the one I have is 240 volt and Canada isn't!!  I am slowly replacing all the electric versions of my tools and I really missed my heat gun.  Shame they were out of stock of clear Utee...
So, I have my new Zutter Kutter and my new DitrezzItAll and a heat gun and some corrugated chipboard and bits.... so now I just have to decide what I want to play with first!!  It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas...

WOYWW 29th September....

 It's that time of the week again.... when we pop along to Julia's and check out the ever growing list of desks that are unveiled for our midweek perusal.  I was sick with infected sinuses last week and didn't make it around to half the desks I should have, but I am feeling better now and even managed to finish some of the scrapping that has been laid on my desk for the last five days or so!

So this is my desk early on this Wednesday morning... very early for me, probably a bit late for everyone else!  Its just 5 a.m. but the two cats decided that they had been asleep and very quiet for as long as they possibly could be and would I now please get up and feed them and amuse them and play run up and down the stairs with them.... hmmmm, both are very lucky to still have fur.... LOL

This is the second of the chipboard Graphic 45 pieces, finished at last!  I think I will put them on the wall in the scrap room and see what they look like. 

You may be able to see this little pile of inked ephemera on my desk... they are perfect for mini books and playing about and I have to thank Scraptherapy  for her generosity in giving them away.  I just print a page of them out ink them all up and leave them in a little pile on the desk so that they are there when the muse takes me! :)

This is what is behind my work desk this morning.... Pandora, sitting in my UFO box (UnFinished Objects Box)... not sure what project she is sitting on or whether it will actually be worth getting out once she has done flattening it!

I am still awaiting the UPS man with my parcel containing my new Zutter toys.... I stayed in all day Monday and all day yesterday but he never showed up... I am going out this morning so guess what?  Yep, he is sure to knock on my door five minutes after I drive off!!  

Update on parcel.... I am spitting feathers because I just went over the road (literally over the road from my front door) and checked my mail box and there inside is a little ticket saying to go to the local post office and collect my parcel!!  Eh?  Too darn lazy to walk across the road and knock on my door?  Pfffft! $52 for postage and packing and it doesn't even warrant a walk across the street?  I am madder than a wet hen!  Chris took the car this morning so I can't go and get it till he comes home from work now..... :(

Graphic 45-itis....

I can't think of anything else... I have been playing with my Graphic 45 papers ever since I went shopping the other day.... they are so much fun!
I did this on chipboard - not sure what to do with it, its too long and narrow for a book cover so maybe it will end up on the scrap room wall when I finish the other one on my desk this morning!!

Whilst I'm down here in the basement playing, the two cats hang out with me.... in the comfy armchair!  They really aren't into sharing space much so it makes me smile when I see them squished into one chair like this... note that TomTom is bagging the greater share but Pandora doesn't care, she is only little and can fit down the side just nicely, thank you!

I am so excited.... my order for my Zutter Cutter and Distrezz It All is now placed and I await the arrival of the UPS man!!  Wooo Hoooo!  I have so many plans for these two tools.... there won't be a safe piece of chipboard in the house... what am I talking about... the Zutter Cutter slices through anything, so nothing in the house will be safe!!  Whilst on the subject of Zutter, Nan, our Queen of the Nanny Goats at Zutters, did a fabulous comparison of the Bind It All and the Cinch on her blog so anyone that has thought about getting either, check it out before you purchase!!  I personally have not seen the Cinch yet but I certainly don't have any plans to ditch my favourite all time scrapping tool any time in the future, if I wanted round holes I would use my Crop-A-Dile! ;)  The Bind It All is such a brilliant machine, it does everything I ask of it and more and I love the way it has brought mini books from 'home made' to 'hand made'.

WOYWW 22nd September

My work desk has a frame on it this morning... when we were out shopping a couple of weekends ago, Chris picked up this picture frame for the scrap room wall and though I like it, it lacked something... so I decided to take it apart and have a go at shooshing it up a bit (you like that word? shooshing it up sort of described what I had in my head but leaky elbow syndrome tends to kick in and the thing never turns out the way I imagined)!!

This is the pre 'shooshing it up' pic... its a nice picture and I love the big M and the sentiment but it looks odd... shouldn't the M stand out and the rest be more laid back?

So here is the work desk... and given the subject I think I should get points for neatness!! 

So here is the finished piece... I love those Graphic 45 Steam Punk Debutante papers, they are stunning! I threw some bling at it, inked some little Mayo Road chipboard dressmaker dummies, added some gears and beads and lace and chain etc...  I think it 'shoosed' up quite well!!  (Now to explain to Chris what happened to the picture he bought me for the scrap room.....)!!  I did meet with one problem... I hadn't taken into account that the frame was flat and I merrily made it all very 3D and then it wouldn't fit without squashing the butterflies etc.... so I had to cut some lengths of chipboard and turn it into a shadow box!

ATG Stand

I loved my ATG gun.... past tense.  I haven't used it for ages because the darn thing was costing me a fortune in tape!  Something was wrong with it, it worked fine for the first third of the roll, was really stiff and hard to use for the second third and I ended throwing away the final third in frustration because it kept snapping and unwinding off the gun tape holder windy thingibob....  mind you, it didn't take me long to get fed up with double sided tape for everything and the expense of the little snail type tape runners before I started looking at alternatives!!  I was in my local bricks and mortar shop yesterday and one of the Glue Glider Pros fell into my basket before I got to the check-out and I had a play with it this morning and its great!  I will no doubt find out what the running costs are in due course, but until then, I am a happy bunny again!

So this morning I got some chipboard out and made yet another ATG gun stand for it to rest on.  These are really easy to make and only takes about 20 minutes or so from start to finish and I really prefer to be able to pick the gun from the stand as it is ready to use, rather than lose it on my desk under a pile of stuff.

It's a very easy and basic shape.  One long piece 6 1/2" by 4" and two smaller pieces to make the 'mountain' which are 3 3/4" by 4".  I covered both sides with paper and leave a half inch extra on both the ends of the 'mountain piece, one fold under the long piece and the other folds back into the 'cave' part below the mountain.  

Now, this isn't the first ATG stand I have made... in fact its not even the second or third.. they just don't seem to survive being squashed into boxes and shipped... so this one folds flat!!  Now, I have to admit that I never thought of that... a lovely lady saw my stand and asked for directions to make it... and then added the brilliant bit of making it flat so that she could take it to crops and things!! Now, if I could just find her name I would be able to thank her for the extra bit! Yay, it was the lovely Cheryl and you can see her version here!  So I have made a couple of holes in the chipboard base and I have used brads to pin it together, which means this version may actually survive my next move!

This is the stand folded flat.

and here it is in use at the side of my cutting mat on my desk.

It's Wednesday Again...

For those who don't already know, Wednesdays are the day that a group of like-minded people decide to reveal what is on their workdesks, guided by our lovely Julia over at the Stamping Ground.  So if you are of a curious or nosey nature you can pop on over and take a look at the ever growing list!!

I have to admit that nothing has changed on my work desk since last week... I have no idea where the days have gone but gone they are and I have managed to do nothing scrapping related!  Hopefully it counts that I have been doing things that I will be scrapping in the near future...  I have my son on vacation with me and at the weekend we took a trip out to Banff and the saw the lakes and the Rocky Mountains.  What fabulous scenery, if a little cooler than Calgary, which took us by surprise!

Christopher at the lakeside just before Banff.

Lake Minniwanka.... unfortunate name but spectacular views!

Lake Two Jacks and yes, there is still snow on those mountain tops.

LOL... poor Christopher, he knows his Mother is a scrapper and there is no point arguing when she wants a photo... so he gives in gracefully.  These cute bear (oops... Elizabeth gleefully pointed out that this no bear and a moose instead - heck, how was I supposed to know, I have seen neither LOL)!! mounties were in a few of the shops and mall entrances so how could a scrapper resist?

On Monday my friend Odelia drove us to the War Museum in downtown Calgary - not my normal place to visit but I have to say that it is one of the best museums I have ever seen - superbly done displays that make WWI and WWII come alive with exhibits of the dug outs.  We were lucky enough to be able to view the Fyke Collection of Afghan War Rugs which were on display there.  As someone who has always loved Persian carpets of various types I found it fascinating that this subject has become part of the rug maker's culture in Afghanistan and though they perhaps wouldn't be an automatic choice for putting down on your lounge floor, the workmanship and history has to be recognised for its skill and a way of recording history.

WOYWW 8th September

I actually have some scrapping on my work desk today!!  A couple of pages from my Learn Something New Every Day project... though as always I am lagging behind and appear not to be learning something new every day!!  I will persevere for a while and hope that it begins to come together into something a little more cohesive as the days go by!!

When we went for the one dollar breakfast at Ikea last weekend I managed to pick up the canvas boxes for the Expedits - they have been out of stock for the last 3 weeks, so now at least all the piles of stuff on the shelves are sorted and looking a bit tidier.

I wasn't sure what colour to go with the black and white theme in the scrap room so I have gone for all three!!  It actually works quite well as my tools are mix of lovely pink ones and the aqua blue colour.

I'm afraid I am one of these people that if a tool is available in pink then I will buy it... but if I already have it in the blue... so be it, that is the way it is!!

This one is for my Mum, who likes to check my blog to see what I have been up to... so here is Christopher Mum!! He has managed to sort the blue ray DVD player, updated my computer, connected all sorts of stuff and got things working.... not sure what will happen when he leaves, as I won't have a clue how any of it works!

The lovely Toni gave me an award! :)  As a recipient of the award, I have to:

1.Thank the person who gave me the award - thank you Toni, it was lovely of you to think of me. 
2.Place it on my blog - done!
3.List 3 things about myself. Hmmmm, trying to think of some things that would be worth reading... this could definitely take some thinking about...

1.  I am English!  I have a home in Scotland as a permanent base and lots of people think I am Scottish. I tend to be in different countries due to DH's work.

2.  I was 42 when I got my BA Honours degree.  It was hard to go back into full time education so late in the day but worth the effort to prove to myself that I could do it.

3.  All 3 of my brothers are colour blind but I am not. It's a genetic thing that only occurs in males but is carried by females.

Learn Something New Every Day...

Well, what did I learn today?  I learned that even though you are sure, nay even positive, that your son's flight is arriving at 3 in the afternoon, it is best to check to make sure!!  I spent the morning vacuuming and polishing and getting the house looking nice and welcoming and Chris came home at lunchtime from work so that we had plenty of time to get to the airport to meet and greet.... when we got a text message at 1.20 saying he was at the airport and where were we????  Ooops... a 45 minute journey was done in 30 and he appears not to be bearing any grudges.... but that may be the jetlag!!
Welcome to Canada Christopher... and sorry for being such a bad Mum!!

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday and Learn Something New Everyday..

Is it an age thing or does everyone's weeks fly by and it is Wednesday again before you have turned around?  I have spent some time doing the stash shuffle this week... because when I unpacked I just sort of threw stuff onto vacant shelves without any thought... so I have been taking it all off bit by bit and now I actually know where some things are!! :)
Chris did manage to get the stuff up on the wall a few nights ago so now it is all coming together as a place to sit and play properly!!

This magnetic board for my brads was metal in a white frame and it didn't look right... so I papered it!

I did this monogram when I was in Saudi but the other day I was wandering around in the local dollar store (ooooh, I do like these) and found this black material covered canvas so I glued the monogram to it for my wall and I think it looks lots better now!

I have been sorting all the shiny bits I love for my mini books into jars and things and this wall shelf works a treat for displaying them.  I really am the sort of scrapper that if I don't see it, I don't use it!!

LOL... now don't laugh... I have tonnes of ribbon and when I saw this shelf for ribbons in Michaels I had to have it... only to find that the ribbon I bought by the roll in Saudi doesn't actually fit on the poles!!  So, until I can afford to go and buy heaps of new ribbon on a role which does fit, I am utilising it for the bags of ribbon and all the chains and beads and stuff that I amassed on my shopping trips in Saudi.

Hmmm, yes, I think have enough 'stuff' to play with for quite a while!!

So if you are still wondering what WOYWW is about... pop over to Julia's and check out the ever growing list of people who reveal their work desks to the world every Wednesday!

Learn Something New Every Day.... well, I learned this morning that if you have your toenail removed and cauterised on the Monday it isn't very smart to take a 20 minute hike to the hairdresser's and back on the Wednesday....  I will pause for sympathy.... please?  LOL  Of course, the advantage to this is that now I have the perfect excuse not to do anything else but sit at the scrap table and play for the rest of the day!!