Scrap Happens Here

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday 25th January 2011

2012-01-24T22:37:00.000-07:00

On my work desk this Wednesday is my new cutting mat!! Pretty eh? Chris bought if for my birthday and I hate to make it dirty and all cut up... it is from the new range by Ingvilde Bolme... and as you can see I also picked up some her inks... they are like teeny weeny irons!! :)

I managed to finish the second little book of secrets and it is now winging its way to the UK so hopefully by next week I will be able to show you them both.

On my desk you can see the makings of a birthday card... male cards are even more of a challenge to me than normal cards... so hopefully our friend Alister will like this one.

I have heat embossed the letters and clock gears and they look quite nice now... not too glitzy for a malae card, I hope!!

On my other desk - where the old mat now resides is Alister's birthday gift... which brings me to the subject of Pinterest. Anyone else spend hours pinning all and sundry items to their Pinterest boards and never actually get around to doing any of the stuff that is pinned? Don't get me wrong, I love Pinterest, I think it is a brilliant way to organise all the things you take a fancy to and to be able to go back and find them without delving into your computer history.... but I pin and I pin and I pin... I never actually do any of the stuff!! So my resolution for this year is to work through my boards and actually try some of the ideas and tutorials... which is why Alister's gift is wrapped in brown paper and has popsicles/lollipop sticks on it... I have had the idea pinned for ages and never got around to trying it out... I quite like it!! :) Of course, it only works with rectangles and squares... wrapping round objects is always a nightmare and popsicle/lollipop sticks wouldn't really work.

Don't forget to pop over to Chief Inspector of Desks aka Julia for the linky list of noseyness!!

Curiosity and the cats...

2012-01-24T11:33:00.000-07:00

So there was a ring on my doorbell and when I opened it there were these two very large boxes sitting there... and I then heard the sound of an engine revving up and driving away... this is how things get delivered here in Calgary... no waiting to see if someone answers the door, needs to sign for the delivery or needs help getting the boxes to the inside of the house!! ;) This trunk was inside one of the boxes... I fell in love with it when I saw it online and thought it would look pretty good as a bedside table to go with my American daybed.

I opened the drawer in the middle of the trunk and guess who turned up...

A small dark space is too good not to investigate...

and inspect the internal quality...

then a little miss decided that she should get in on the act...

and figured there surely was room for one more...

but Tom-Tom was having none it... it's his secret drawer!

What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday 18th January 2012

2012-01-17T22:29:00.000-07:00

This is what I have at the moment... and it is Tuesday evening here so I have -49 degrees C with the wind chill to look forward to while everyone is waking up in the UK!! Aaaah!! I was taking the garbage out this evening and by the time I had wheeled the two bins to the edge of the road I couldn't feel my fingers anymore... so I think hibernation with the two cats for company is the answer!!

A friend sent me this... it made me laugh at least!!

So this is what my desk looks like... another book for the swap I am in so you'll have to wait to see the finished articles once they arrive back in the UK... that is if I ever manage to get out of the house to mail them!!

Don't forget to check out the linky list at Madame Julia's abode!!

Home Alone and Mission Impossible

2012-01-14T14:39:00.001-07:00

Nope not the movies... just the challenge of putting something together when it gets delivered straight after Chris goes back to Fort Mac to work!! (one would almost be led to believe that these things occur deliberately but I can't blame him as I placed the order)!! I have wanted an American daybed with the trundle bed that goes underneath for years... we just don't see them in the UK so whilst here in Canada I decided that this would be my only opportunity to get hold of one!!

So this is what I have...

and you can see that I have assistance of the furry kind...

No breakfast and a while later...

Viola!! It even has the feline seal of approval!! Now I just need to put the trundle together and wheel it underneath... I may be a while but in the words of yet another movie... I'll be back'!!

Edited to say...

Tada!!! I love it... the trundle bed underneath is on wheels and it whizzes about beautifully!! ;)

What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday - 11th January 2012

2012-01-10T22:54:00.000-07:00

Where did that week disappear to? I have been busy making some books for a swap I am in... the first one is finished but I can't show it to you as it supposed to be a surprise for the recipient.

So it is hidden underneath that white sheet of paper. I went with Julia's trick of standing on a chair to take the photo... it does make it a different viewpoint when seen from the ceiling!! You can see on the desk at the front a teeny weeny little book that I am playing with... I am trying to teach myself how to sew signatures properly... it would have perhaps been smartest to learn on something a little bigger but I love how it has turned out and now I know that a normal size book will be a piece of cake!!

Isn't it cute? All sewn and stitched by hand...

This is the front cover and as you can see it is teeny!!

I forgot to add the photo of the gorgeous Doone art doll that arrived in my mailbox last week... she is lovely and resides hanging from my windowsill.... so far the cats have ignored her which is brilliant!!

Don't forget to go over to Julia's for the linky list... and I promise to get more visiting done this week... straight after I shovel the driveway of the snow... it's a bit nippy out there at the moment at -11 degrees C.

What's on You Workdesk Wednesday 4th January 2012

2012-01-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year!! I have been a bad blogger... I sort of disappeared into Christmas and having Chris home and haven't even played at my desk with anything so had nothing to say that would be slightly interesting to folk!!

Tom-Tom looking slightly bemused with the amount of wrapping paper and ribbon to play with...

and Pandy checking out the goodies that may be available to steal when I am not looking..

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a lovely New Year and I know that many returned to work this week. My decs are down and put away and I am trying to get used to that bare dull look of the lounge which is the after effects of removing all the bling and twinkling lights.

The only thing on my work desk is my Christmas Journal.... and oh ye of little faith... all my little tags fit!! Just some writing up and maybe a bit of tweaking here and there to do!!

Oh and it is my birthday today!! Another year older and hopefully wiser... I plan to make a trip to my local scrap store who give you a discount on your birthday... yay!! ;)

These are my present from Chris... $50 gold coins... one for each year I have been in Canada. I have just reminded him that I spent 5 years in South Africa and Krugerrands are quite pretty... ;)

Don't forget to check out the linky list to crafty desks held by our wonderful leader, Julia!!

What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday 21st December 2011

2011-12-20T22:41:00.001-07:00

It's nearly Christmas!! Without any further ado... this is my desk...

Just a couple of last minute bits... making some cardstock wallets for gift cards that are going to a friends young boys... my sewing leaves a lot to be desired but young boys will probably forgive me a few crooked seams, you think?

Why do I leave things to last minute...

and this is it folded and snapped shut with a little magnet.

and to leave you all in the Christmas mood... this is Tom-Tom inspecting the tree...

and all ready for Christmas..

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas... hope you all have a fabulous time.

Don't forget to check out Julia's for the linky list!!

What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday - 14th December 2011

2011-12-13T22:22:00.000-07:00

A big fat mess? Not totally, I am working on my Journal Your Christmas book...

I have been making these little folders to slip into the pockets of the Christmas tree... I know... this is going to be amusing as I don't think there is enough room between the pages to make them all fit!!

and this is what my floor was like a little while ago...all those white spots? Glitter... lots of glitter... a certain little fur person stole a packet of glitter off my desk and had a lovely time with it all over the carpet...

then went to bed and pretended it had nothing to do with her...

Don't forget to check out Julia's for the linky list of desks... you'll be amazed at the wonderful stuff you find!

Christmas Fairy Swap

2011-12-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

I joined in with a Christmas Fairy swap and received my fairies back in the post last week and they are beautiful!! When Chris and I were in Michaels the other day I picked up a large canvas to put them all on as I couldn't really think what else to do with them and a couple of the other swapees went the canvas route and they looked fab.

I think it will make a lovely addition to my walls for the festive season.

This was my Yellow Pages fairy.

This was Lou's fairy.

This one is from Shirley.

One of mine made from transparencies.

This one is from Irene.

This one was from KJJC.

This is from DorothyAnn.

My Christmas Tree fairy.

This purple wonder is from New2This.

Another of my Yellow Page fairies.

This one is Netty's fairy.

This was Honeypip's fairy.

What's on You Workdesk Wednesday 30th November 2011

2011-11-29T22:59:00.000-07:00

Whoah!! This will be the last WOYWW for November... eeeeek, you know what that means? Crimbo is coming.... Crimbo is coming!! I've had quite an interesting week here in Calgary... on Monday we had some weather... in the form of grade 1 tornado winds!! The house next door lost half it's roof tiles, the one over the back lost half it's roof tiles... the cats and I were getting pretty worried there for a while but it seems that the only damage we have is a lot of roof tiles in the garden via my generous neighbours ;) and a corner of the tiles above the garage got lifted but not torn off... phew!!

This is the house across the road... such a shame as they only had that roof done about 4 weeks ago!!

So I have been down in the basement playing with the tray that I picked up at the thrift shop a couple of weeks ago... the bright yellow one...

It really didn't have much going for it in that colour... but I could see it had potential as one of those 7Gypsy type trays that cost about $20... this was $2.... which was fine by me!!

I gave it a coat of brown paint...

then a coat of bronze paint... and a coat of crackle glaze...

then painted it black and watched it crackle... I like that bit best!!

So that is what is on my desk today... all the bits and pieces to go into the sections...

and to add a bit of interest I took a shot of the corner where I sit and play

and then a swing to the right to reveal the wall... which is dire need of a tidy up!

and a close-up of the tray as it is now... it just needs glueing into place before I change my mind again!!

Don't forget to pop over to Julia's for the linky list!!

Journal Your Christmas

2011-11-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

Wooo Hoooo! I am ready... bring it on... I am normally still putting my journal for this together at midnight before it begins on the 1st December... and that means I am behind before I get started. This is not a good thing, as I am then playing catch-up and it means when something crops up I get even further behind!!
Not this year... this year Annette is taking the KISS route...(KISS = keep it simple stupid) anyone who has seen my journals of the past will know that they get bigger... and fatter... and nearly explode with being stuffed like the Christmas turkey. Nope, this year I am going to have a skinny latte of a Christmas Journal and what is even better is that it cost me almost nothing!!

It is made from the free magazine my supermarket gives away... and this is the seasonal version with all sorts of Christmas recipes and ideas in it. Perfect for the base of my journal.

I added chipboard covers to make sure that it would stand the test of time but used the covers of the magazine to keep it as original as possible.

I have wired the two chipboard backs together and attached metal jingle bells down the seam so when you pick it up it makes a lovely Christmassy sound.

I took each folded page and cut a pocket directly into it so that I can slide the tags into place. OK... that was a bit of a faff and it took me ages to do but I know how fat these journals get and I am trying my best to be thin this year!! ;) All I need to do is dates to the chipboard circles at the bottom of each page and slide the tag out... make my journal entry and slide it back... voila!!

What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday 23rd November 2011

2011-11-22T22:04:00.000-07:00

Oooh, that's the first time I have written the date down for a while and I just realised how soon Christmas is!! So much to do and so little time... haven't even started on the dreaded Christmas cards... maybe I should just buy some and be done with it? I guess if we have another cold spell like a few days ago I will be hibernating again and could get some done... it was -27 for a couple of days and I had to shovel the driveway on one of them... brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!! We are back in positive numbers again now though... let's hope it lasts!!

My word desk today is extremely tidy... because it was such a mess I couldn't actually do anything and my green mat was so badly scarred and marked up with paint and glue that I have swapped it out for the much larger version that normally sits on the other desk... at least when I try cut a straight line now it shouldn't go off at a tangent!! You can see the prototype of a book I am working on... with matchboxes that slide out for hidden secrets...

This is what was on my desk earlier... I am easily distracted and as I had a couple of new Yellow Pages land on my doorstep a few days ago I thought I would have a play... it's supposed to be a tree... just in case you are wondering!! It is going in one of my birdcages that live on the high shelf at the top of my stairs...

Hmmm, it does look better in real life... honest!! LOL Of course, as soon as I was on the shelf playing with the bird cages I was joined by Tom-Tom who likes to take every opportunity to see if he can get at the fake birds that live inside them!!

and little Pandy sitting at the bottom looking up to see what was going on and was it going to be worth investigating???

This is what me made grab the Yellow Pages... it is going to be my version for Journal Your Christmas this year... I made it from one of the supermarket free magazines that come out almost every month... I thought this would be a fun way to remember my Canadian Christmas! Each country we live in I have to get used to a new supermarket... and supermarkets are such a big part of our lives... at home I tended to be a Tesco shopper and in South Africa it was Pic n Pay, in Saudi Arabia we used the Giant store and here it is Sobeys...so I thought it would be fun to use the Sobeys magazine as the base and I can put pockets on the pages to add my journalling... which I am hoping will make the JYC thing nice and quick an nd easy to keep up with!! If I fancy doing more elaborate pages I can finish off last years project!! LOL

oh and anyone remember the styrofoam/polystyrene head from last week from the thrift store?

This is her now...

and when I showed a photo of her to my son he said she was rather cool.... so I told him I would make him one for a shelf in his lounge...

So I did!

so what did he say??? 'She's better than the little evil dolly thing' I made a few weeks ago.... ;)

Don't forget to pop over to Chief Inspector of Desks, Julia's to check out the linky list!!

What's on You Workdesk Wednesday 16th November 2011

2011-11-15T22:48:00.002-07:00

I'm back!! I haven't really had anything on my desk for a couple of weeks as Mum and I have been busy doing other things so I hope you missed me! You didn't? Poop... LOL
We did go to charity/thrift shop the other day and I picked up some bits that will be lovely to alter and play with so that is what is on my desk today... I have ideas for each item so that should keep me busy in the coming days now that Mum has returned to France and Chris is off on Thursday to Fort Mac for two weeks.

The polystyrene head was not my idea... Chris found a huge rack of them in the thrift store and came and found me saying he had found something he knew I would love.... he was correct!! I picked up two of them... I am going to have an experiment to see what sort of finish the polystyrene will take...

the flattish tray was for holding a dolly and magnetic clothes but the both the dolly and the clothes were MIA but it reminded me of the 7Gypsy trays so I am hoping with a little paint and paper it will turn out looking something like them and the little set of drawers were too cute to leave behind.

Don't forget to pop over to Julia's for the full linky list to desks everywhere!!

What's on You Workdesk Wednesday 2nd November 2011

2011-11-01T22:39:00.000-06:00

OK, seriously now... not only are the days disappearing and Wednesdays appearing at a frighteningly fast pace but the months are too! When did it get to be November for goodness sake? You know what that means? Yep... the C word has to now be seriously reckoned with!!

Does this look suspiciously similar to last weeks desk? It does... but that is because I have been playing with steampunk dolly all week (she is on the previous post if you want to look at her) and now reverted to the LP book covers... and I sorted the binding problem by attaching chipboard edges to the cut side of the old 78's... so now I can either use my BIA or choose to fasten them down together and fold them back... not sure which route to go yet but as you can also see on my desk I have made a start on the circles of inside pages.

I put my Mum to work on the other desk with some material and my sewing machine... producing little stockings for gift cards.

and if I pan right from desk you can see the display shelves for the odd bits that I make... which is where steampunk dolly is now living.

and behind my desk is this.... Pandy and Tom-Tom obviously patiently waiting for me to go get them some treats from the kitchen!!

Don't forget to go check out the linky list of desks at Julia's!!

Steampunk Dolly AKA 'SuperMum'

2011-10-30T14:19:00.000-06:00

I finally finished her... and she is kinda cute in a not very cute way and she has been named SuperMum!!

and she appears to have some 'borg-like' features.... (wonder if Chris will like her as he has always had a thing for 7 of 9 from Star Trek) ;)

Her 'body' is made from a Bisto Gravy granule tub... yep I have a heap of them so they get pulled out for all sorts of projects!!

No dolls were harmed in the creation of this project.... oh alright... one little dolly got hurt!!

This is inside the dolly... being a supermum meant she had to have a huge heart

and that special feature that all supermum's require... an eye in the back of her head...

Now I need to get back to the LP mini book... I think I have a plan!!

What's on You Workdesk Wednesday 26th October 2011

2011-10-25T22:53:00.000-06:00

I have missed a couple of weeks of WOYWW but know I can spend some time blog hopping, so am joining in again this week. Nothing ultra-exciting on my work desk at the moment... I am a bit stuck.... when I was at the heirloom sale the other day and picked up the typewriter I also found a couple of old 78's (one of them is an old Nat King Cole record) and bought them immediately... they are the perfect size for covers for a mini book!!

I managed to cut a section off of each for binding the edge with my big Zutter Cutter.... but when I practiced with the BIA on the offcuts it just shattered into lots of little pieces!! Eeeek... now I am trying to figure out how I will bind the pages and covers together without making holes in the records. I have tried the obvious things like heating them and covering the edges with tape but these are pretty old and thick 78's... and they are very brittle. I perhaps should have bought the thinner 33 LP's they had there instead!!

Also on the edge of my desk is a dolly...

I had to buy a new from the supermarket (i know, it is a crime but needs must and the local charity/goodwill didn't have even one old dolly.... not one and an old stuffed toy just wasn't going to give me the effect I am looking for)!! This one is going to be beheaded... and steampunked... and I am not sure if she is going to become a part of the typewriter yet... it depends how she turns out....
Don't forget to check out the linky list at Julia's for all the desks to nose about in this week!!

Look what I got....

2011-10-23T08:10:00.000-06:00

Chris, Mum and I went to an 'Heirloom Sale' yesterday and there it was... an old sit up and beg Underwood typewriter!! I learned to type on something quite similar to this and the price tag was $25 so Chris bought it for me... and then had to carry it to the car... and I had sort of forgotten just how heavy these things were!! It is now plonked (quite unceremoniously, I might add as Chris had also forgotten how solid they were and is now used to carrying a super thin laptop) on my scrap desk. I promptly went into ' the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog' mode.... but the ribbon is pretty dried out.... hmmmm, wonder if I can still get ribbon for it? I have an idea... just a little idea... of steampunking it for my scrap room... think it might look pretty cool then, don't you? I'm still looking for a smallish old dolly... couldn't find one at the goodwill!!
It's kind of sad in a way... that things I used to earn a crust or two a couple of decades ago (oh alright... maybe more than a couple of decades ago) are now deemed 'vintage' and 'heirlooms'.... I suddenly feel very old....

Donna's 'Art' Journal - sort of... kinda, maybe...

2011-10-17T15:31:00.000-06:00

It is now in the post... I can't change it, add to it, alter it, make it better... which is rather a relief in an odd sort of way!! I have had it sitting on my desk for the last two weeks and I would go and turn the pages and think.... it looks a bit naked and bare... (ignoring the small voice in my head that says an art journal is sent to be completed by the arty farty type of recipient that would play with it) so I had a brain wave (yep, you should be scared) and thought I will add a couple of completed pages so that the ever arty Donna would know where I was going with it... so I did. It still looked bare and naked.... so I did a couple more... all on the same theme of songs from my dim and distant past... and I left it on the desk.... and returned to flick through with Donna eyes... and it was not good... so I added some more pages... filled the little pockets with tags and the envelopes with odd bits... and left it for a couple of days... to flick through the pages and thought... hmmm... I think it needs something.... so I got the stamps and ink out and went through the pages... and my Mum said that if I didn't post it off soon it would require a second mortgage to post it.... (Mum was right about the postage... but then Mum's usually are) ;)

Front Cover

First page inside cover

pocket page and fold out map

I tried to be art journal-ish... adding weird bits... ;)

pocket page and one ready for Donna to add her thoughts (hopefully nothing to do with what she thinks of my attempt)

My page using the lyrics from the Sounds of Slilence.

More attempts at arty pages.... hopefully to be enhanced by Donna!

My page using 'Just another manic Monday' as my theme.

Donna must save these pages from my 'arty' attempts...

Paperbag page and pocket page with tags.

Paperbag page for California Dreaming by the Mamas and Papas... (yep, I am that old)

This old house by Neil Young was the theme for this page... this song is strangely as relevant today as it was in the mid 70's when I first heard it...

an envelope page

Tina Turner's 'I can't stand the rain'....

Knocking on Heaven's Door page...

and Donna, you were right to get me to finish it... because as much as it stressed me out and went against all my instincts, I really enjoyed making it for you and I know it isn't a 'proper' art journal but it did make me think outside of the box and try new ideas.

All the leaves are brown....

2011-10-16T08:02:00.000-06:00

and the skies are gray.... yep, you can join in and sing along with me... Autumn is here... oops... I'm in Canada... Fall is here!! ;)

I have my Mum visiting me at the moment - she wanted to see if Canada did any colour other than white because last Christmas when she came to stay we had snow on the ground for the entire 6 weeks (she thought that was bad until I explained to her that I had it for an entire 6 months)!!

So before all the leaves fell off the trees we took her along the road to Kananaskis and visited Elbow Falls.

It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and the leaves were lovely shades of gold.

Elbow Falls

Mum at Elbow Falls

Chris and Mum

and we found this little squirrel in a fir tree munching on pine needles...

Mum and Chris - the trees were fabulous.

I always find it so surprising that I can drive 10 minutes out of Calgary and be surrounded by such beautiful scenery...

Road to Kananaskis with the Rockies in the background.

What's on You Workdesk Wednesday 5th October 2011

2011-10-04T22:49:00.000-06:00

It's that day of the week of the again... the one that comes about at the speed of light and catches me on the hop!! If you have no idea what i am talking about... pop over to the Guardian of the Desks, Julia, and you will find all the details and the links to all the fabby desks to snoop into!
Chris is home this week so we have been busy catching up on the shopping and this evening we went to the airport and fetched my Mum home to stay with us for six weeks... she has just gone off to bed as it is silly o'clock to her being on French time.

This is what my work desk looks like this week... it has the pieces of Donna's journal there... it really needs tweaking and putting together but I have to admit to not really being an art journal kind of gal... I love them when other people do them and I would love to free myself to be able to smear paint on magazines and glue stuff willy nilly and then do arty farty stuff to the page to make it look awesome.... it really is a lot harder than it looks but this journal... well, the makings of it, have been sat at the side of my desk for a couple of months and I had sort of decided to put it down to experience but then I mentioned it to Donna and she asked me to finish it....

I have to admit I love the cover... it turned out exactly how I wanted it to... which is something of a surprise!! It looks almost metallic and bronzed but its only tissue paper painted onto the chipboard with black paint and then a bronze paint smooched into all the crevices but its really fab looking!!

See? Isn't a lovely finish?? Now if I could just get that to flow over onto the pages... hmmm! LOL

WOYWW and Yellow Pages Fairy Tutorial

2011-09-27T22:54:00.000-06:00

This could be regarded as a bonus feature or whatever the opposite is to a bonus feature... but it is Wednesday which means that it's that time to reveal desks in all their gory detail to be perused by like minded souls and you can find all the details at the desk of our leader, Julia.

So on my work desk is an empty cup of tea.... where's a good tea making fairy when you need one?? Also there is the pile of freshly cut golden dress forms ready to be turned into Yellow Pages fairies!! Looking at my green mat I think a new one could be top of my Christmas list... it is looking decidedly grim with ink and cut marks!

So Neet asked if there was a tutorial for making the Yellow Page dress forms and as I have 9 of them to make I thought I might as well document it so if anyone wants to have a play, they can!!

Yellow Pages Fairy Dress Form

You will need:

to 'borrow' a copy of the Yellow Pages from somewhere.

a Tim Holtz Sewing Room Die

a butterfly die

a Cuttlebug

a glue stick

Glimmer Mist

Inks or metallic felt tip pen

Grab your Yellow Pages and cut strips about 3” wide from your chosen pages. Do not feel bad about the Yellow Pages, this is a form of recycling... you Google everything you want to know anyways!!

If you are making one fairy you will need about 25-30 Yellow Page forms and one chipboard base form. I found that about 10 forms of the Yellow Pages can be cut at once without any problem at all.

Cover chipboard base with your chosen paper... I used a piece of the Yellow Pages for my original one because you really aren’t going to see very much of it. If you use a glue stick and stick the paper to the chipboard and then put it through the Cuttlebug you get a perfect cut out already papered... you can choose to cut both individually and faff about getting it on their perfectly if you wish but I have 9 of these to make...

Cut the stand and the little nob at the top off of your paper dress forms leaving yourself with a torso. oooh, that sounds all CSI and grim...

Take a slurp of your Capuccino Mocha and tell yourself that a few hundred of these dress forms will be a piece of cake (go get yourself a piece of cake if it helps and whilst you are in the kitchen get me a piece too)!

I tried inking the edges and it was a bit hit or miss.... the paper is very thin so I opted to using a copper marker and drawing around the edge of the forms.... all of them... (then take a painkiller because your tendonitis is really giving you jip at this point)...

Once you have your lovely little pile of outlined forms you can start!!

Fold each one in half longways...

Get your glue stick and take the first YP form... run glue stick along the straight edge... not too wide or your pages will glue together and that is not the look we are going for...

Put next form on top and then glue stick that along the straight edge... and keep going until you have done all of them... you will find that you have excess glue stickiness along the border and this is good... it helps to hold it all in place.

Place your pile of body forms on the centre line of your chipboard form, it will sort of stay in place because of the excess glue ;)

Fold out the bottom right hand half of your pile and glue onto the chipboard form. Do the same for the left hand side and now your pile will splay out evenly. Voila!!

I used a butterfly die cut in half for wings and glittered them up a little and attached them to the back of the fairy.

You can now decorate it as you wish... a little Glimmer Mist sprayed over it adds sparkle.

You now have your Yellow Pages Fairy... and I have 8 more to make...

That dress form once more...

2011-09-26T12:17:00.000-06:00

Are you sick of it yet? No? Neither am I!! ;) I was looking at the chipboard cut out of the dress form this morning and wondering what else I could do with it.... as one does.... and did you know that if you chop her off at the waistline you have a really good lamp? No? Just me then.... and if you then chop the neck bit nice and straight you have cute little dish and a lid!!

How cool is that??? You could leave the lid off and fill the top with little flowers...

and I gave the yellow pages fairy some wings and I really do like her now.

and I found some lovely bright papers and made a '60's style fairy...

Umbrella Man and Dress Form....

2011-09-24T11:51:00.001-06:00

OK... you can relax... they are not on the same project!! ;) Mind you, now I may have to figure something out that would incorporate both... LOL
So... I bought brollie man... it's all Dan's fault as he has been tempting me with fabby images of brollie man for a couple of years but we both know that I don't 'do' Dan's style, well, not so much don't as 'can't' as it always turns out looking like I have dumped whatever 'it' was in a mud puddle. But... that didn't stop me buying brollie man when the opportunity arose so I thought the right thing to do was make Dan ~~pay for luring me into brollie world~~ something with the it... and I did masking.... and sponging.... and spraying of mists... and I actually quite like it!! ;)

and now back to normal me.... and the dress form!!

I'm still working on Christmas fairy ideas for the swap... the Yellow Pages fairy is probably the one but I have to try a few options before embarking on destroying all the Yellow Pages in the street...

That dress form again...

2011-09-23T12:25:00.000-06:00

I have been playing with the Tim Holtz dress form all day... trying to come up with a version that I can use for a Christmas Fairy swap I have joined...

For some reason this one reminds me of Blackadder...

How about a fairy in a gold ballgown aka the bird cage die!!

I tried to do something with the book page version... I love the colour!!

My personal favourite is definitely the Yellow Pages version... it needs fairy wings though...

Tim Holtz Dress Forms

2011-09-22T11:09:00.000-06:00

I have been playing with my Sir Tim Sewing Die with the dress form on it... and at 2 a.m. this morning I had a thought... so I got up and tried it out...

I tore pages from a Chinese version of Gone With the Wind and had a play with them... you see, I have no problem ripping pages out of books in Chinese... I figure I am never going to want to read them!! ;)

I wasn't entirely happy with her... she still needed something so I gave her a spray with some Tattered Angels glimmer mist... hmmmm, still not sure....

So then I went off to Chris' study and dug out the Yellow Pages... the paper is already a lovely aged yellow and its very thin... so I cut heaps of the dress form shape and I like this version much better...

What's on You Workdesk Wednesday 21st September 2011

2011-09-20T22:40:00.001-06:00

Jeepers creepers... I have been a busy bee today!! I woke up and decided that I needed to move the scrap room about so that I got some actual daylight on my desk.... so I have pushed and dragged and shoved and emptied and refilled and it's done!! OK... nearly done as I am still sitting at my computer desk which is in the same place and needs to be moved but I am a scaredy cat... Chris is away for two weeks and if I don't put the pc back together properly I will be without the interwebs until he gets home.... 2 weeks without the interwebs is not something I wish to even think about... maybe I'll just wait for some poor unsuspecting visitor to ring the doorbell and then get them to help me move the entire desk with everything still connected...

So this is where the desk started the day off...

and under that window is where I want it to end up...

and this is the mess I made moving everything about...

but by mid afternoon things are beginning to look a bit better and Pandy decided to investigate all the new spots that can be climbed up...

and here she is trying to decide if she could make the leap to the other work desk...

but most of the time she sat quietly...

and TomTom just wished I could do all the moving quietly...

So this is my new corner set up... and the window light makes a huge difference!

and the other desk which gets used for larger stuff that requires laying out.

and here it is all tidy and sorted once more...

and the lounge area is now moved over to where the desk used to be.

I did manage to finish my cotton reel made from a gravy tub before I started moving everything about.

It's Graphic45 Le Cirque papers

and when you lift the lid there are some hanging bits... a penny farthing is in the centre.

Don't forget to check out all the desks over at Julia's!!

Alice in Wonderland Jigsaw Swap

2011-09-17T14:58:00.000-06:00

I joined an altered jigsaw swap at UKScrappers... to simplify things we all make the same pieces on our jigsaw and then send them to Netty who gets the fun job of dividing them up and returning them. I chose Alice for my theme, others are doing the Mad Hatter, the talking flowers etc.

So this is what mine looks like with all the Alice pieces!!

This is an close up... I used texture paint on the chipboard and then coated this with tissue paper. I printed the Alice image onto tissue paper and added to the background. Made some flowers from 7Gypsy map papers and embedded a mirror (to represent the looking glass) and then got little glass phials and filled them with beads and coloured liquid. I added the 'drink me' tag as the final touch and now I can post them off!!

What's on You Workdesk Wednesday 14th September 2011

2011-09-13T22:38:00.000-06:00

Gosh... a whole week and it has disappeared on me... I have been playing with some large jigsaw pieces that are for a swap... the theme is Alice in Wonderland so that is what is all over my work desk... a big fat mess of Alices!!

Hmmm... they don't look much at the moment, do they? I have done the paint them with texture paint stage, and the cover with tissue paper stage, and the add Alice printed on tissue paper stage... I am at the sanding all the edges stage then I have to do the flatten like a pancake stage.... then comes the fun bit of actually making them look pretty (hopefully)!!

Speaking of Alice... have you seen the new version of Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton? You should... it's brilliant!! Chris and I watched it yesterday in the hope that it would give me that extra inspiration... we will have to wait and see if it worked!! ;)

On my other desk are some of the purchases that I got from my latest trip to the scrap book shop.... I was in search of a Bigshot die of angel wings but they didn't have it! :(

but they did have the umbrella man and the tattered florals die and they just fell into my basket!! Can't wait to play with umbrella man... just need to finish the jiggie pieces first!!

Don't forget to pop into Julia's for the linky list of fellow crafters who reveal various desks in various states of tidiness and lots of lovely things to look at!!

What's on You Workdesk Wednesday 7th September 2011

2011-09-06T22:43:00.000-06:00

My work desk is looking relatively tidy this week as I have just finished playing with my Graphic45 Le Cirque papers...

Just a few bits and pieces left out that I haven't quite decided what to do with... that is one of my problems, I have no idea when something is finished... if I leave it there I will go through and add some more... and then some more!!

This was a fun project that I have been meaning to do for ages now... well, ever since I went to buy paint and picked up a huge wadge of paint chips (in fact, the wadge was so fat that Chris decided he wasn't really with me and made go through the check-out on my own)... in the UK they are skinny stripes of varying paint colours but out here they give you BIG one colour chips.... they are gorgeous!! This brand of paint (Behr) even has little leaf shapes that pop out of each chip and let you have plastic rings so that you can snap them all together... it's almost as if they want you to collect them all!!

See what I mean? This particular make is my favourite.. the rectangular ones are about 3 1/2" x 8" and the lovely shaped ones are about half that size.

So I simply covered the backs of them with the le Cirque papers...

and made a pair of chipboard covers in the same size...

I decided to use a bookring to hold them all together as I wanted them to be able to move freely.

Added lots of ribbon and chipboard shapes to the pages...

Made flowers from the papers and used more paint chips for the stamped words.

As you can see, I didn't want to disguise the fact that they were paint chips, I think it adds to the circus feel of it that it is unusual to have the names of the paints on the pages.

It was fun to make and is fun to flick through.

Don't forget to pop over to Julia's for all the details of WOYWW and the links to all the fabulous desks!

Drumheller and the Bad Lands...

2011-09-03T19:38:00.001-06:00

The day before Christopher was due to fly back to the UK Chris took us out for the day to Drumheller, which is about an hour and half away and is the dinosaur capital of the world but I wanted to see the hoodoos!!

So we got to Drumheller and walked up inside the huge dinosaur... this is Chris with the foot.... or claw... do dinosaurs have feet?

and Christopher... with foot.

and we looked out of dino's mouth over the town...

and yes, I made Christopher have his photo taken in dino's mouth...

Then we pootled down the road to hunt for hoodoos and found this suspension bridge that the miners used to get to the coal mine...

Christopher and Chris on the suspension bridge

and those are my feet... to show how awful it was to walk across it!! I don't mind bridges if I can't see thru' them!!

Then we found the hoodoos!! Oh my, they are fabulous... Where do hoodoos get their name? The name hoodoo comes from the word voodoo and was given to these formations by the Europeans. In the Blackfoot and Cree traditions the hoodoos are believed to be petrified giants who come alive at night to hurl rocks at intruders.

A hoodoo (also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, and earth pyramid) is a tall, thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. Hoodoos consist of relatively soft rock topped by harder, less easily eroded stone that protects each column from the elements. They typically form within sedimentary rock and volcanic rock formations. Hoodoo shapes are affected by the erosional patterns of alternating hard and softer rock layers. Minerals deposited within different rock types cause hoodoos to have different colours throughout their height.

More hoodoos....

This one at the front is beginning to crack.... I guess at some point this sleeping giant will fall over...

and Christopher decided to go climbing...

and more climbing...

I can see why they call these the badlands... farmers wouldn't be very impressed with all that rock!!

Christopher with a batch of hoodoo to be.... it was a fabulous day out and we finished it off with a trip to the Dinosaur Museum back in Drumheller before heading home again.

Niagara Falls...

2011-09-03T14:30:00.001-06:00

Mostly this post is for Elizabeth.... because she is the only one who specifically asked to see the photos of our weekend in Niagara... most other people who visit my blog would prefer if I stuck to mini books and stuff.... so feel free to click away now as it's pretty photo heavy!! LOL

Christopher, Chris and I standing on the road next to our hotel with the falls in the background... as you can see, it was a bit breezy and yes, I did put Christopher's feet in growbags when he was a kid... what other explanation could there be for his towering over us? Actually, he is the same height and build as my brothers... and I used to be skinny like him too! :)

Christopher with the falls in the background.

This was taken from our hotel suite... we had a fabulous view of the horseshoes falls.

This was the view from the window... without son and heir in it!! How brilliant is that? We were on the 19th floor and looked straight down onto the Canadian side of the falls. (The Canadian Falls or Horseshoe Falls are by far the prettier and more magnificent out of the two and I am glad we chose to see them from the Canadian side rather than going over the border to the US of A... which would have been difficult as Christopher has the old style passport and they aren't accepted in the US anymore).

These are the US Falls... taken from the Maid of the Mist boat.

This is the Maid of the Mist heading into the falls.... and yep, we got very wet!!

See? Very wet... and those bin liners they give you to wear don't help if you get caught in a rain storm prior to doing the trip... in fact, if I had fallen in, I could not have been any wetter...

This is the Spanish car that carries you over the Falls... it was great and I wasn't scared at all!!

Chris and I when we broke for lunch... I'm a scrapbooker... it is mandatory to have lots of cheesy photos!!

Then we did a helicopter flight over the Falls... it was a great way to see them!

Coming in to land...

Christopher down at the edge of the falls... the week before we arrived a young Japanese tourist fell in from this area and they didn't find her body for 4 days... we still saw people that were prepared to climb and get really close to the edge, which just seemed insane to me! Poor Christopher... he knows he can't argue with me and the camera and the majority of the time just gives in gracefully!! ;)

This was the view from the helicopter... it was amazing viewing it from above and the spray goes so far up in the air... the entire town is very humid from it.

Me in the helicopter... and not looking at all scaredy cat for someone that doesn't do heights!

We also went up the Skylon Tower and had a fantastic vantage point for both the US and the Canadian Falls.

and the Canadian Falls from the Skylon Tower.

Christopher up the Skylon Tower overlooking the Falls.

We had a fabulous time and managed to see the falls from almost every possible angle!!

Final Two Tip Ins!!

2011-09-01T09:35:00.000-06:00

Hmmmm, yes, you can tell that these were the final two... but they are mine and I can sort them out properly when they come back home to roost...

All the worlds a stage... one of my fav Shakespeare quotes... oh yes, my subject for this group was 'theatre' but I also wanted it to tie in with my other subject...

which was Shakespeare... and I had another sheet of that pretty brown and gold paper out on the desk so that is what I used!! LOL I think it matches his brocade jacket with the braiding quite nicely.... that's my story and for the moment.... that's the one I'm sticking to!

OK... got to go and put some clothes and get these little beggars in the post!!

Tip In Swap Pages....

2011-09-01T08:37:00.000-06:00

It's the final countdown... just a couple more to go and I can leg it up to the post office and get these in the post!!

This is jainethepain's page on positive thinking... I figure love is a very positive thing and these papers haven't photgraphed very well as they have some lush gold in them that doesn't seem to show up...

This is MrsMcF's page and she chose 'on this day in 1861'.... well I was stumped as I couldn't figure out how to do a page on the birth of Italy or the American Civil War and then Chris phoned me last night and made a couple of suggestions one of which was the first colour photograph!! That will do nicely dear, thank you very much!! The first colour photograph was of a tartan ribbon... and with a name like MrsMcF I am sort of banking on the fact that there may be some Scots heritage in her family tree...

The negative (which is actually a paintchip for coloured stains and see through plastic and I thought would work for a large photo negative) lifts up to reveal the journalling information which reads:

The first colour photograph, 1861

The first colour photograph was produced by James Clerk Maxwell (1831 - 1879)

Maxwell's photographer took three different photographs of a tartan ribbon, each with different coloured filters; these were used to make three positive slides lantern slides which then projected together on a screen to make a colour photograph.

Two more to go.... and they are mine.... so anything goes!! ;)

Tip In Swap Pages contd...

2011-08-31T13:41:00.001-06:00

This is T-Ann's page - her subject was sun and moon... so I took her at her words and have given her just that... it took ages for the texture paste to dry and then I coated the sun and moon with silver and gold relief paints which added some more depth.

This is Netty's page and her chosen subject was the seaside... I'm hoping she doesn't have heart failure when she sees it as I never draw and I cannot paint... so why the heck did I decide to do both on hers??? Blame the fact that I picked up a packet of acrylic paints at the dollar store and they were sitting on the corner of the desk when I sat down to her page... LOL

What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday - 31st August 2011

2011-08-30T22:58:00.000-06:00

I just typed the date... and realised that the year is 3/4 over!! How did that happen... I was going to do so many things this year and the time is running out!! Last week I missed WOYWW because we were away in Niagara Falls, had a lovely time with my son and have heaps of photos... but I will make that a post for tomorrow.

well, OK... here's one for a laugh... I mean to say... why did the photographer want us to put our hands in the air like that?? What twit wouldn't be hanging on for grim death to that barrel if it was going over the falls??

Anyways... you aren't here for my rabbiting... I had better show my workdesk... which is a bit of a mess as I am still working on the tip in pages for the swap...

The tip in is supposed to represent the sun and moon... but said I am waiting (very impatiently) for said sun and moon to dry because I have coated them with texture paste...

and if I swing left and behind me this is the mess I have made...

and this is my desk corner...and the piles on the floor next to my desk are all the bits I brought back from Niagara and will hopefully turn into a mini book!!

Don't forget to pop over to our fairest of desk inspectors, Julia, for the complete linky list of desks to snoop into.... you really never know what you are going to find from one week to the next!!

More Tip Ins...

2011-08-30T12:57:00.000-06:00

As the deadline for these gets closer my panic to complete gets worse... and though a deadline is a great motivator it doesn't always mean that the execution of the work is what you would hope for!!

This dragonfly jane's page on graveyards/cemeteries.... it didn't turn out very cheerful and bright... might be because I had a skull looking up at me from my desk...

This is Tinkerhamilton's Apothecary Shop/vintage beauty.

I'm at the halfway mark.... yippppeeeeee!

Tip In Swap Pages

2011-08-29T13:08:00.000-06:00

I joined a swap on UK Scrappers for tip in pages and the deadline is now looming... and my mojo is still travelling around the Badlands of Alberta, hiding amongst the hoodoos. Darned mojo is never around when you want him...

Alice in Wonderland page for Weaselwise

Peter Pan page for bettybadger

Another Peter Pan page (because like an idiot I signed up for two groups) for Nicci24lego

With book mark lifted out of the way of the words.

Steampunk page for Mistyrat

OK... back to the desk... just a few more make.... well, maybe a few more than 'few'....

Off to Niagara Falls...

2011-08-19T22:21:00.000-06:00

We are off to see the Falls!!

and going to do the Maid of the Mist boat ride.... the walk behind the falls.... a tram thing over the falls and a helicopter flight above.... if I don't get a couple of decent photos out of that lot... I will be as mad a wet hen!!

What's on Your Work Desk 17th August 2011

2011-08-16T23:28:00.000-06:00

Yep... that's all that is on my work desk this week... a couple of "lav" people which need to be painted and papered to match my friend Odelia's newly painted downstairs half bath!! All I have is the colour to go on and a request that I don't make them have faces.... which is good... because I don't do faces at the best of times and I can only imagine what spooky types they might end up if I tried!! LOL

Don't forget to go to Julia's and find the linky list of craftyness around the world!!

Yay.... he got here!!

2011-08-14T06:43:00.000-06:00

Christopher, that is... had a delay at Gatwick for about 5 hours whilst they fixed the plane (fixing the plane always makes me nervous... but not fixing the plane would obviously be worse) but he is here!! Almost a year since we last saw him... so where the heck did that year disappear to? He is staying for two weeks so we have made plans... a trip to see Niagara Falls next weekend once Chris is back from Fort Mac... have always wanted to see Niagara Falls... another thing ticked off my bucket list!! We did Victoria Falls 5 years ago... so if I visit one of the big falls around the world every five years.... I'm gonna be a very old lady before the list is done!!
My Smash book was on the Bind It All blog earlier this week so I can now pop it on to here!

Hopefully I will have lots of fun things to add to it whilst Christopher is here!

Made index pages so that I could divide it into sections of trips, art etc

This is my Calgary Stampede page.

Some fold out pages for extra pics or journalling.

ATC pages for small artwork.

My page for our trip to the the theatre to see Wicked.

Pocket pages and the tags are paint chips from Martha Stewart!

More pockets and more paint chips... I love these as you can match the colours so easily to your project!

OK... I am off to make pancakes for breakfast... I get to play Mummy for two whole weeks!! (LOL... by the end of it he will be glad to go back to his flat I am sure)!!!

WOYWW 10th August 2011

2011-08-09T22:27:00.001-06:00

On my work desk this week is the second project from the templates I bought from Beetroot Tree... yep, I got my sewing machine out and had a play... it's not finished, need to add some bits and bobs to it.. maybe some buttons and beads... if you want to see the other template which is a house, it is in my previous post.

Not sure what I am going to use it for...

but it's quite cute... maybe put some tags inside with favourite quotes...

Don't forget to check out the linky list at the Queen of the Desks, Julia, for lots of nosiness and bucketfulls of inspiration from around the world.

I have to say that what I have managed to see on the riots and looting back home saddens me... what a stupid waste... and the reports say they are protesting against cutbacks and poverty... so instead of actually making a difference and doing something useful with their lives, they go and destroy their own streets and steal from the local businesses that employ people. I just don't understand it.

A Memory Box...

2011-08-08T11:47:00.000-06:00

When I was hopping blogs the other day I dropped in on Donna and she had the prettiest little memory box thingy with a link to the template from the Beetroot Tree... with money donated to the Alzheimer's Society when you purchased it. So I bought the templates, there are two different memory boxes, one a trunk sort of shape and a house. I didn't feel like getting the sewing machine out so I thought I would have a go at the house version and decided to use chipboard so that it was a bit more sturdy for my intended purpose. Did I ever mention that I am terrible at following directions/instructions?

So this is my version of the house template... which takes me back to the instructions subject! I read them, really I do... I don't think I inwardly digest them very well though... and I definitely have difficulty following them! Thought I would mention it... because my house is a lot bigger than the template version... and the roof isn't quite the same.... and making it from chipboard set up a lot of problems because I couldn't just fold and glue.... but I like the end product and will be making another one of these!!

This is a memory box of my Grandmother...

The roof comes off and inside I have a mini book and a chipboard tag.

and in the roof is a little hanging bird cage and bird... my Nan always had canaries...

So this is the box and it's contents... the little tag with the dress on it is a reminder of visits to my Nan, we would sit and sew dolls clothes... little tiny dolls clothes for little tiny dolls and she taught me to hand stitch neat seams and make button holes... good memories of a lovely lady.

and the mini book has lots of little sewing bits and bobs in it... so when all I have to do is sew a button on I know where everything is to do just that!

Just need to find a small pair of scissors and a tape measure to pop inside and I have the perfect little house for those little sewing jobs...

WOYWW 27th July 2011

2011-07-26T22:40:00.000-06:00

Another week whizzes past at the speed of light... though I have managed to finish a book I have been working on and I have loads of stuff in the pipeline to play with.

This is my desk... with the almost finished book... I have wanted a bigger version of the books I make for keeping ATC's... so made myself this one. The first half is for ATC's that people have sent to me and the second half is for storing ATC's I make ready for swapping. Also on the desk are a couple of lovely finds I bought this morning... the Tisane box is going to 'altered' to sit on my desk with little embellies in because it opens front ways and will make getting to stuff super easy and I love the To Do list... its a frame with a clipboard at the top... I'm thinking of adding a pic of a melon to the To Do title.... a honey dew melon.... get it? Get it? Hmmm, not sure Chris will appreciate it either!! LOL

Clever eh? Just need to find the papers I want to use on it...

On my other desk are a couple of ampersands I found... as soon as I have time I am going to have a go at changing their appearance!! ;) In the front of those is the cardboard from a new set of sheets... I unwrapped the sheets and pulled the cardboard out and looked at it.... yep... it looks just like a book! I grabbed the cardboard and headed off to the scrap room with it... only found the sheets discarded on the bed a couple of hours later... you know you have a problem when everything looks like the makings of a book...

Here is a close up of the ATC book. Graphic 45 Curtain Call papers...

I have put a normal paper page between each set of the ATC holder pages.

I put these together quickly because I didn't like empty pages looking back at me!!

Another paper page...

and another quick set for the book!

Don't forget to pop on over to the Queen of the Desk Inspectors... Julia, to check out the list!!

What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday - 20th July 2011

2011-07-19T22:19:00.000-06:00

Here we are with another Wednesday creeping up on us!! Don't forget to go and check out the linky list at Madame Julia's for loads of inspiration.

On my desk is some chipboard which is about to turn into book covers... and at the back left you can see my latest storage spinny thing which Chris got me.

To the right of my desk is a set of drawers and some more storage... I had a move about during the week but I am not sure it is going to stay like that as I miss the flat surface for putting stuff down whilst I am working.

and this is a sneak preview of a book I have been working on... this is my page about the show we went to last week - Wicked. It was... well, wicked, really!! LOL The only downside to the evening was that this man who had to be at least 7'6" tall came and sat down in front of me... and he had big ears... so I spent the first half giving myself a crick in the neck trying to see around him!! It just goes to show that you can pay $118.00 for a seat and not be guaranteed a view of the stage!! Chris was a true gentleman and swapped seats with me for the second half so I had a clear view and he had a crick in his neck!! :)

Home Alone...

2011-07-17T09:49:00.000-06:00

Altogether now... aaaaaah.... it is our 12th Wedding Anniversary today and Chris is away on site for two weeks so I am all on my lonesome for our wedding anniversary. We did do our celebrating last week when he was home so you don't have to feel sorry for me really!! :)
This is what I got....
Isn't it fabby dabby doo? The chairs close in and make it a complete oval of books and it even has a secret compartment!! (OK... not such a secret now then eh)? It's for our home in Scotland and I have just the spot in mind for it... we have a sitting area at the end of the kitchen which at the moment has two old fashioned wing back chairs and a coffee table in it... this is going to look brilliant there!

and this wall clock!! Isn't that stunning? Sort of steampunky but ok for the house too?

It does say that linen is the gift for 12th Anniversaries... but I didn't want new sheets!! :)

and he bought me this spinny storage unit for my scrap desk...

and it spins and has space for ribbons and a pull out drawer and a magnetic board too!

So I think I made out like a bandit... spoilt brat that I am!! :)

Calgary Stampede and Breakfast...

2011-07-12T11:26:00.000-06:00

Howdy Partners... it's Stampede week here in Calgary and people that are perfectly normal all year suddenly turn into cowboys!!

Chris thought that with a cowboy hat people might mistake him for Wills... (completely ignoring the fact that he didn't have a Kate on his arm which might give the game away)!!

We took ourselves off to Chinook and enjoyed a free stampede breakfast of pancakes and sausages...

yes... that is a cement mixer filled with pancake mix... that's a lot of pancakes!!

Then in the afternoon we went to the Stampede and wandered about the grounds and finally in the evening enjoyed the chuckwagon races.

Here is a pic of the Fluor chuckwagon... which came in 4th.... which doesn't sound bad until you know there were only 4 wagons per race.... LOL
Had a wonderful day and the weather stayed lovely... we didn't get home until 1 a.m.
Tonight we are off to have a meal to celebrate our 12th wedding Anniversary (which is next week but Chris won't be here so we are doing it early) and see Wicked at the theatre and tomorrow morning is Fluor's stampede breakfast...

WOYWW 6th July 2011

2011-07-05T22:40:00.000-06:00

Good grief...(in a typically Charlie Brown sort of voice) it can't be Wednesday again already!! Don't forget to pop over to Madame Julia's desk for the linky list of fabulous crafty desks all being revealed in their glory!! My work desk this week looks like this...

Yep, Graphic 45 Le Cirque papers... I have had these a while and really couldn't figure out what to do with them as I am not really a circus type of girl but then I saw Linda's version of a book which is a box for hiding stuff on her blog and I told her that I was going to ~~steal~~ borrow her idea because I had picked up a dark and dingy one with some damage at a garage sale for 50 cents.

This was the before photo... it really didn't have a lot going for it.

and this is it now....

I'm not sure you can tell from the photograph but the box side is layered up with the posters and fence so that it has a 3D effect... it's sitting there waiting for me to figure out whether to leave it or play some more... I'm thinking some bling wouldn't go amiss... LOL

Once Upon A Time....

2011-07-01T13:19:00.000-06:00

A modern fairy tale.... I finished the material book and I quite like it!!

Sat watching television and sewing beads...

First page...

I made a paper page and then a material page...

Added lots of lace and bling...

and pearls...

and more beads and flowers...

and bling...

I did mention it was a modern fairy tale?

On the backs of the pages I added definitions for key words..

and ribbon and lace...

and more flowers...

you get the idea now...

Hmmm, one recipe I don't think I will be trying...

oh and buttons!!

and more lace...

and flowers...

Canada Day

2011-07-01T09:54:00.000-06:00

Happy Canada Day

We have a lovely sunny day to celebrate Canada Day... with William and Kate visiting Ottawa... I liked her red maple leaf fascinator and the maple leaf brooch (if there is a mother-in-law to borrow jewelry from, it's gotta be a good bet to have the Queen's stuff to borrow)!! It's a shame that Chris is working away in Fort McMurray so I won't be about seeing what Calgary has to offer. Today is also Chris' 37th anniversary of working with Fluor... that's quite some achievement... 37 years of tootling around the world earning a crust or two!! LOL

In three days we will have been in Canada for a year... obviously a week of celebrations!!

Me? I'm going to spend the day playing in the scrap room...

WOYWW 29th June 2011

2011-06-28T22:58:00.000-06:00

Yay... summer is here!! A lovely 27.7 degrees C this morning and looking like it may last for a few days too!
Here we are with another week flying by and Wednesday arriving at the speed of Ryan Reynolds in the Green Lantern.... is it only me that doesn't really see him as gorgeous???
I have had a terrible week... I have cleaned out drawers, done housework, scrubbed floors... and still my mojo is AWOL!! So I got the sewing machine out and decided that if paper wouldn't play nicely then perhaps material would!!

and decided to have a go at making a material mini book...

so now all I need to do is figure out what to put in it and how to bind it...

Don't forget to pop along to our lovely Chief Desk Inspector, Julia, for the complete and exceedingly long list of craftyness to nose about in!

WOYWW 22nd June 2011

2011-06-21T23:34:00.000-06:00

My desk is pristeen... all sparkly clean and tidy!!

I scrubbed and put away and scrubbed some more... well, it did need it, as I had bits and bobs all over the place from working on the book all week!!

Yes... that book!! I hadn't heard from my niece about supplying me with the photos I wanted to put it into it and then I thought... well, do something else!! So I did....

Here is a close-up of the dangly bits hanging from the wire.

A few days before I left Saudi Arabia, the ladies gave me a going away lunch and photoshoot... and so I have now claimed the book for me!! ;) I can't think of a better gift for a scrapper than lovely photos to scrap as reminders of the friends and fun times we shared.

Inside front cover.

Page with a lift up flap.

Smaller booklet section in the middle.

Page with envelopes slotted into a pocket.

Fold down flap with photos behind.

Large pocket with envelopes and tags.

Clapperboard page

With a folder with more photos.

Pocket with envelopes and tags.

We had a lovely time playing about!

Photo pocket with tags.

Inside back cover.

Don't you love this stamp?

Don't forget to pop along to Julia's to check out all the lovely desks!!

WOYWW 15th June 2011

2011-06-14T22:58:00.000-06:00

My workdesk is looking pretty bare at the moment... sort of between projects and I needed to clear it because it was a big fat mess!

Empty except for the Graphic 45 album I made... which is still waiting for photos of my drama student niece... who hasn't responded to my request, which puts me nicely in my place, doesn't it? LOL

On my other desk is some stash that fell into my shopping basket this morning... well, it was a neccesity because Donna is making lots of fabulous journals with video tutorials and I want to be able to play along.... and I didn't have the stuff to do that...

Someone asked me what I did with all the mini albums I make... well, most of them go to good homes but the ones I make that are personal, I store in this set of Ikea Expedits... yep... its mini book overflow!!

Don't forget to go to Julia, chief inspector of desks, and check out the list of fabby desks to visit!!

Fat Page Swap Stand

2011-06-13T18:42:00.000-06:00

The parcel with the fat pages arrived in my post box this morning... and as you can see, they are very fat!! So a conventional book was not really going to protect all that lovely art work... they would get damaged and dusty so an alternative had to be thought up!

Voila!! A fat book page stand!!

I can look at the pages on the stand or if I want to study the different techniques then I can remove it from the stand and use it as a normal book.

This is the back of the stand... and as you can see I managed to use some of those beads I bought at the garage sale last week!

This is a side view.... with a few more beads... I had to get little chipboard circles and paper and ink them to match the stand and glue them on the ends of the beads so that they would hand nicely as the centre holes are very large.

Honeypip's page using 3 dimensional flowers and buttons and crackle glaze.

Nettyb's page used flowers cut from watercolour a paper, inked, stained and glimmer misted.

Kitty Crafts' page used calico, inked and printed on with a sepia tinted image with stitching and distressing.

Paddy's page used serendipity squares, cross stitch, stamping and embossing.

She's page used stamping, clear embossing, melted wax and crackle glaze.

Irboo's page is a mixed media collage on fabric with stamping and stitching.

Leigh's page used hand made paper, shrink plastic embellies and alcohol inks.

Kiarama's page used random pleating on silk and chiffon with beadwork.

Dragonfly Jane's page used a digital stamp and dry embossing with inking.

My page which used printing on tissue paper and various embossing techniques with stamping and distressing.

Thank you to all the lovely ladies in the swap, I now have a completely unique and beautiful book of lots of different techniques to play with!

Smashing New Orleans

2011-06-12T18:21:00.000-06:00

Technically this is probably not your typical smash book for various reasons... the main one being that the idea of the smash book is to take it with you and fill it with all your bits and pieces whilst you travel... well, I wanted to make one and use up all the bits that I had hoarded from my trip to New Orleans so it wasn't going to be filled during the trip but after the event. I used chipboard for the covers and 1" o'wires and bound it with my Bind It All.

I always buy lots of postcards when I go anywhere... sometimes it is the best way to get a good pic!

I bound some of them as individual pages and used the backs for photos or journalling. Pockets are another good way to be able to hold all the brochures etc that you pick up while on a trip.

Maps are also quite fun and the right hand side of this is a map folded.

I added pics and journalling to the back of the map to strengthen it.

and you can mark the places you visited and where you stayed.

I kept ads of the restaurants we ate in and photographed the menu of the local alligator place but didn't actually eat in there!

Both these pages have pockets to hold tags with photos.

Fold outs are always handy for adding extra bits and pieces.

This is the page opened fully.

This page has a pocket of sorts... made from the chipboard covers you put on your hot drinks from places like Starbucks.

I used the back of the postcard for a photo and added a thinner journalling page.

Another pocket formed by folding and glueing which has tags and leaflets in it.

I had to laugh because the museum had less African masks than I do...

Normal pages with a postcard bound in the middle.

Back is used for journalling.

I kept some adverts and used these on the pages.

Another pocket page for leaflets.

Made this postcard into a pocket and added some tags.

Photos and journalling of the cemeteries - nobody is buried under ground in New Orleans because of the risk of flooding.

Postcard back for journalling and photos of the Mississippi.

Rear of postcard for photos and journalling.

Large photos of the city.

Another of the coffee holders made into a holder for tags.

What's on Your Work Desk 8th June 2011

2011-06-07T22:25:00.001-06:00

I keep seeing how people are melting in their personal heat waves and wondering where the sun has gone... we seem to be having a very wet and rainy spring (please nobody tell me its summer because that would send me into a spiral of depression)!! LOL
On my work desk today is my first attempt at a smash book.. they appear to be the latest thing in the scrap booking world and have taken off like hot cakes... which makes me laugh, as they are exactly the sort of stuff I made before I started scrap booking and then got into making mini books!!

I'll let you know how it turns out...

Oh and I went to a garage sale at the weekend at my neighbours church... they snuck me in the afternoon before the garage sale was to start so I had a lovely time mooching about without the distraction of hoards of people looking for a bargain!! Look what I found!

I saw this box of beads... wooden beads and asked the lady how much the beads were... she looked at me oddly and said they were hoping to sell the entire box.... eeek, that's a lot of beads!! $3 for the box!

and these are hand made pottery beads... $2 for the entire biscuit tin!

and this tub of lovely coloured ones was $2 too!! I think I will be using beads on my next few projects.... lots of beads....

Curiosity and the cats.... don't worry, she got her head out fine!!

Any suggestions for using up beads??? Please?

Don't forget to go and check on Julia and her linky list of desks to be perused!!

Fat Book Page Swap

2011-06-03T12:14:00.000-06:00

I joined a swap on UK Scrappers of fat book pages and they are just about to return home!! Yay!! I have still to make the actual covers etc so that it is ready to put together when they arrive in the post.

This is my attempt...the idea was to try out different techniques so that we have a set of ten different ideas to play with in the future and my theme was Time Flies. I painted the background chipboard brown and then coated it with crackle medium and then added a final coat of black paint. I then stamped a time image and heat embossed this in bronze (some are in gold) and then sealed it with Mod Podge. The chipboard clock face was papered in dictionery paper then the clock image was printed onto tissue paper and coated with Mod Podged. The small clock images were printed on tissue paper and attached with Mod Podge. I added brass wings to the clock face to represent the 'time flies' theme and hung a silver time piece on each which was filled with liquid embossing fluid.

Hanging from the chipboard page with chain is a little bottle of beads/glitter and a brass key, a little chipboard mini book and a chipboard watchface. I really hope my swappees like them, this is my first attempt at fat book pages!

WOYWW 2nd Anniversary!!

2011-05-31T22:32:00.000-06:00

Two years!! Yes, two entire years of WOYWW!! Bet Julia never had a inkling that it would become so huge or continue so long and achieve so much in the land of us crafty bloggers. Well done, Julia!!
Now anyone who follows my blog regularly knows that I have been away on vacation and when Julia announced the date of the second anniversary I was really upset that it coincided with me being away.... because last year on the first anniversary I was in the middle of moving from Saudi Arabia back to Scotland before then packing up again to come out here to Canada.... which made it impossible for me to join in the celebration. So finding out that I was also going to miss this one was pretty disappointing.... I asked Julia if I could make a PIF and send it to her as she wouldn't be on the linky list and then she could PIF me back... so that's what we did.... but then someone actually got a calendar out and announced that the second anniversary wasn't going to be two weeks ago but this week! Poop... too late, already done the deed and sent the PIF's in both directions!! So this is the lovely canvas that Julia made for me....

and I love it... so many lovely quotes and bits, thank you Julia!!

This is the canvas that I sent to Julia...

and when she gets bored with that side she can turn it around...

and of course, the WOYWW letters hang from little chains on the side...

and sitting on my workdesk this week are a few of the bits I bought when I was in New Orleans... which is the home of the Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau. I picked up a couple of Voodoo dolls and a fabulous notebook and some pens and stuff... woo hoo!

Isn't the notebook fab? I think it will make a great journal for my trip!

and the coffin with the little Voodoo doll inside!!

Happy Second Anniversary of What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday!!

Costa Maya - Mexico

2011-05-31T11:32:00.000-06:00

At Costa May in Mexico, Chris and I went ashore and explored the Mayan ruins of Chacchoben which is surrounded by jungle. We visited the sacred temples and almost died from heat exhaustion after climbing the steps of the Gran Basamento which was above tree level.

The next day we docked in Roatan, The Honduras and had my favourite excursion of the entire trip which was playing with the bottlenose dolphins.

Who could resist this happy smile?? Margarita was a star, only 3 years old and considered an adolescent in dolphins terms... they don't reach maturity until they are 6 years old.

The Cruise

2011-05-30T09:26:00.000-06:00

So on the Sunday we finished our quick trip around the French Quarter of New Orleans and then got ready to start our holiday proper... a quick taxi ride to the port and onto the cruise ship, the Norwegian Spirit. Now, you will see from this photo that I was unaware of the fact that the cruise line takes every opportunity of snapping photos of you... for blatantly commercial purposes!! This photographer stopped us, told us stand in a spot and snapped this... heck, if I had known I might I have brushed my hair and put some lippy on!! And yes, I am blonde and I also suffer from senior moments but I'm not completely daft and spent the rest of the cruise side stepping the camera at every opportunity!!

We were given out 'stateroom' keys and headed directly there... the ship was huge and I knew with my complete lack of any sense of direction the next couple of days were going to be 'interesting' to say the least. Luckily, Chris does not suffer from this and had the place figured out pretty quick... well, the restaurants anyways!! LOL

The room was a good size and we had our own balcony with sliding patio doors onto it, a huge bonus and I really think if we did it again, the balcony would be a must have... I don't think a small room with a port hole would be much fun after a couple hours!!

So I sat on the balcony and watched New Orleans go by...

and a few paddle steamers!

the Mississippi was very high and there were flood warnings... you can see the trees on the waters edge... with no trunks... the water was a couple of feet from the top of the bayou and if I had one of the people in the beautiful homes the other side.... I would have been exceedingly worried!

Chris and I on deck of the Norwegian Spirit... trying to find our sea legs!

This was the pool and bar area in the evening...

Me in the moonlight on the top deck with the moon up in the background.

Our Holiday - New Orleans.

2011-05-29T10:42:00.000-06:00

My desk is a mess of all the 'bits' from the cruise, postcards, leaflets and itineraries... which should in the next few days actually turn into a mini book of sorts so I will just do a quick run through of the trip!
We arrived in New Orleans on the Saturday afternoon which was warm and noisy... gosh yes, noisy! People are permanently in party mode in this town! We were told to eat at Deanies for the best sea food menu and turned up to find the huge restaurant filled to overflowing... undaunted we went to the front desk and waited for a free receptionist who promptly handed us this handheld device that flashed and vibrated when your table was ready... which meant we could go outside and snoop in the shop windows for a half block in any direction. We found lots of shops with the colourful Mardi Gras costumes in the windows and luckily for Chris they were closed at this time of night or I might now have a heap of those gorgeous masks that are all sparkly and pretty!!

We had a fabulous meal, the food was yummy and came in humungous portions which in normal circumstances would have fed a family of four!! In the following days I was going to understand that in the US portion size was akin to 'value for money' - whilst in my view, quality not quantity is probably the way to go... this is not to say that the quality was not there, as it was, just heaps of the stuff sitting on my plate tends to have me beat before I start eating, as I know I will be unable to do it justice.... and I did see lots of people taking their left overs home in bags.

The next morning we headed off into the French Quarter so that I could see all the beautiful iron railings on the buildings - the architecture is so French, it was fun to go along reading all the street signs.

The street performers were totally amazing...

This is me with a mime.... oh to be able to stay that still!!

Not sure what the other guy was.... but he scary!!

Chris insisted that he had to have his photo taken at this landmark.... we didn't go in for coffee because the queue was about 3 blocks long!!

I left my hat in Belize....

2011-05-21T09:20:00.000-06:00

sung to the well known tune of I left my heart in San Fransisco.... LOL... serves me right for leaning off the balcony in a gale whilst wearing it... I quite liked that hat too! It is now doing it's own little cruise around the Carribean...

This is Chris and I hugging Margarita the dolphin... this was our favourite thing this trip.... would go back to play with the dolphins again!

Chris getting a kiss from Margarita...

and me too!

Having a great time... a bit sunburned and probably a few pounds heavier...

WOYWW 101

2011-05-10T22:42:00.000-06:00

Another week disappears in a flash and its time to reveal the state of my desk.... which actually looks pretty similar to last weeks desk because I am still working on the book I am making using the Graphic45 Curtain Call papers...

I am at least on the home stretch and the fun bit of it now. I'm not sure how other people make their albums but I do it in layers... pages, backgrounds papers, photo mats, ribbon, lace, chipboard all gets done in a sequence so all my pages tend to be in the same stage of progression... I am now at the 'add the fun bits and bling it' stage.

Now it is all bound and easier to work with...

I love the way that bird cage turned out... all glittery and golden!

I have a niece in Paris who went to drama school for about 7 years and I figure this would be a perfect way to display all the photos she has of different plays and shows she has been in.... so the call has gone out to email me the photos... hopefully she will manage to translate the email and actually send me the pics but I have learned through experience that I could be waiting a looooong time!! LOL

The papers are so beautiful it is hard to actually chop them up or cover them up so I have gone the route of using them as flaps and lift ups to reveal the photo mats and journalling spots.

Loads of space to add the pics and story...

Have used lots of pockets for tags and envelopes...

and another pocket pages with envelopes...

and I made this clapperboard to go with the movie theme...

which contains a pull out with extra pages and mats for pics and journalling.

Pop on over to Julia's for the linky list of desks to snoop about in!!

I won't be here for the next two Wednesdays as Chris is taking me on my very first cruise!! Wooo Hooo! We are off to New Orleans and then pick up the cruise ship which is going to take us to Costa Maya, Mexico, Belize, Roatan, Honduras, Cozumel and back to Mexico.... and we are going to swim with dolpins!! I will try and get online and blog some pics of the sunshine and stuff.... ;)

It's a BeauTEAful Tuesday!

2011-05-10T08:25:00.000-06:00

Here comes the sun... da da da da..... hmmm, ok, I won't give up the day job ('what day job?' asks Chris) just yet because tone deaf and me have quite a lot in common!! It's only 8 a.m. and its sunny and 16 degrees and sunny and I am having my tea on the deck.... and did I mention the sunny bit? ;)

Now, having morning tea on the deck sounds pretty hifalutin' doesn't it? LOL It is a very small deck... the type of deck you get up close and personal with your guests.... but when Chris was home last week we went to Ikea for the $1 breakfast and picked up this little table and two chairs so that when the sun finally decided to pop out in this neighbourhood I would be ready for it!!

Tom-Tom and Pandora watched me through the patio screen door... as you can see they are not terribly impressed that I am out and they are under house arrest!!

and yes.... it is 16 degrees!! Wooo Hooo! I always want to refer to this gadget as a thermometer but I know that's not correct (I certainly would not want this put where the sun don't shine if you get my meaning)!! I am not sure if barometer would be correct either.... so weather gadget thingy will have to do....

If you want to see what the other Tea on Tuesday ladies are up to, pop over to Kimmie's for the linky list.... I am going to pour myself another cup of tea and soak up the rays.... it's been a long cold lonely winter....

WOYWW 4th May 2011

2011-05-03T23:12:00.000-06:00

One hundred WOYWW's!!! That's a lot of Wednesdays.... and even more desks!! LOL I had to turn my pc off because there was thunder and lightning (not to mention hail stones) so I'll be quick....

Not looking very tidy but that's because I am in the middle of making a mini book...

This is as far as I have got with it.... the covers!! Chris is home for 5 days and so I haven't spent as much time in the scrap room playing.

though I did manage to find this in the local dollar store.... LOL I have no idea what I will do with that humungous roll of tickets but it was cheaper than buying the die and making my own!!

If you want to see the very long list of What's on Your Work Desk participants go to Julia's and check it all out.

What a lovely day for a wedding.... and a draw!

2011-04-29T11:08:00.000-06:00

I got up at 4 a.m. here in Canada and watched the wedding of Kate and William... what a lovely day it was and everyone looked like they had a great time. It's snowing here again... so glad it managed to stay dry and sunny in the UK!!

Now to draw the name for the little teabag book I was giving away on Tuesday...
So I printed the names out and removed duplicates to keep it fair...
Put them into the pyramid box I made...

its one of those UFO's as I have yet to figure out how to get a book to open inside it.... and I am here on my own except for the cats.... so I let the cats choose the winner...

now... I have to admit that neither of them seemed overly enthusiastic about the honour bestowed upon them...

Tom-Tom did oblige in the end.... and then Panda ran off with the stick with the bead on it...

So Halle it is!! Congrats Halle, if you can let me have your address I will pop the teabag book in the post to you!

I Got Post!!

2011-04-28T20:50:00.000-06:00

It snowed today.... yes, that is correct, it snowed, to say I was unimpressed would be an understatement... it's the Royal Wedding tomorrow... we want sunshine!! (Completely ignoring that the wedding is back in the UK and I am not, it's beside the point... I want sunshine)! But the snow coming down made me forget to check on the mail box across the street till late so you can imagine the happy dance I did all the way back when I opened the mail box to find a big yellow envelope completely covered in beautiful stamps from Elizabeth! The pretty exterior gave way to even better and prettier contents....

This is the journal front cover.

and the back... it is stunning! The colours and textures are lovely.

the lovely journal that I won on the One World One Heart blog hop was inside and I love it!

Elizabeth has put so much thought into this journal, it speaks to me... the odd piece with a putty cat, all the sewing and little pockets, it is a gem indeed and the covers are gorgeous.

Then I find my jigsaw!! Oh my goodness... I sent a jigsaw to Elizabeth and kept one for myself, we had to alter them and then send them to each other....

Elizabeth has raised the bar on this little project which I haven't actually started yet! So much work in these little pieces and she has all the things I love on them!!

Little meeces for the fur babies from the lovely Bleubeard, and some stencils and a little toy doll outfit to alter... oodles of loveliness, thank you Elizabeth, I am one happy dancing bunny!! ;)

WOYWW 27th April 2011

2011-04-26T22:28:00.000-06:00

Another Wednesday has come around at break neck speed and its week 99 of the 104th!! My PIF is done and dusted so that bit is out of the way. It rained today... which is fabulous!! Why would I be doing a happy dance about rain? Because you don't have to shovel rain off your driveway and sidewalk...
On my work desk today is a tin....

It looks very much like any tin... but its not the tin that excites me but the contents!!

I was talking to my neighbours and asked if there were any junk shops as I was looking for watch bits and other odd bits of throw away stuff and Arn said, no problem if you want watch bits and disappeared into his house returning with the tin....

It seems that Arn repairs and builds clocks!!! Wooo Hooo.... Happy Dance, Happy Dance!!

Oh my word.... I am just chuffed to bits with them all..... I have a steampunk session planned for later... I have the papers and the now I have enough cogs and wheels to sink the Titanic so it should be fun! (and I may even decorate that tin)!!

If you want to take a peek at an exceedingly huge number of desks and see what people are up to then pop on over to Julia's for the Mr Linky list and start nosing...

Tea Tuesday

2011-04-26T08:15:00.000-06:00

I think spring has finally sprung as the sun is shining and there is just a narrow strip of snow left to melt in my garden!! Yay... it was a long winter, especially as it was my first in Canada and I am so glad to see the end of it!

I still have my Easter table cloth out... it is so cheery I don't want to put it away too quickly and I made carrot cake so there is a slice of that to go with your tea if you want.

In fact, there are two of them... so help yourself!! ;)

and my tip for getting a frosted cake out of the tub without getting frosting all over? I lay a piece of aluminium foil along the bottom of the tub and drape it over the edges... that way it lifts out perfectly! ;)

So to celebrate Spring and Tea on Tuesday I made one of my little teabag books to give away.

It has little pockets with 6 different teas...

and all you have to do is leave a comment on this post and I will pick a name on Friday and pop it in the post. No rules, no have to do anythings, and I will post to anywhere... of course, if you don't want the one I made you can make your own with my instructions if you wish!! ;)

Click your heels and whoosh.... over to Kimmie's for the linky list of Tea on Tuesday types!!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T10:04:00.000-06:00

Thought I would bring out the Easter tablecloth with the rabbits and chickens on... it doesn't get much use otherwise!! LOL

Chris is still away working in Fort Mac so I am home alone... well, except for the two cats!! My neighbours felt sorry for me and have invited me for Easter turkey dinner this evening, so there are bonuses to being home alone!! I thought I would make her a tea bag book as a thank you. Not sure she drinks tea but its the thought the counts... I hope!

Nice sort of Eastery colours?

Little pockets that contain different teas...

I had to laugh this morning as I couldn't find Pandora...

Not in the posh cat bed in the bedroom...

Not in the pink sheepskin bed in the scrap room...

Not in the cat tree in the dining room...

Not in the twin beds next to my desk....

Not in the small cat tree in the bedroom....

Aha! With all the available options she chooses to squish herself into the bottom of the condo.... typical....

Happy B(earth) Day Elizabeth!

2011-04-21T23:41:00.000-06:00

Sadly, the birthday I card I made for Elizabeth went via Pony Express instead of airmail... so it's still trying to get there!!

and as her birthday is also Earth day I thought this was appropriate!! ;)

I love the way the earth turned out... I used dimensional paint on the chipboard to make the lumpy mountain ranges and then printed the earth onto tissue paper and mod podged it over the paint.

Sorry it didn't get there in time Elizabeth.... :(

April Dress Up

2011-04-20T09:34:00.000-06:00

The challenge for Dress Up this month was to use Art Deco as the style for the dress... I have had a real problem with this theme and I really don't know why as I love the glamour of the period. I abandoned my first attempt and almost abandoned this one as well but in the spirit of the challenge I am going to say it is done and move on to something else and hope that I can do better next time!

Don't forget to click the link and see all the other dresses at Angela's place Sew Loquacious.

What's on Your Work Desk 20th April 2011

2011-04-19T22:46:00.000-06:00

On my work desk today is another attempt at the Dress Up for April!! I abandoned the first try and this one is going pretty much the same direction as it just isn't saying Art Deco to me... I don't know why I am struggling with this one as I love the high fashions and glamour of the stars of this period but leaky elbow syndrome has snuck up on me and what is in my brain is not translating all the way to my fingertips!! :(

When this happens, I normally start tidying the scrap room so I gave that a go as well.... when we were out shopping last week Chris picked up these fab containers for me to put 'stuff' in and they stack one on top of the other and I think they look quite nice on my shelf filled with metal bits and pieces.

Being square means they take up less space too! Oh and look what I found the other day... aren't those penny farthing bikes just too cute??

I have sorted the containers by silver, brass, cogs, clock faces and keys etc so it should be easy to see what I have when I am making something.

So this is how the shelves now look.

If you are wondering why I am showing you my work desk, pop on over to Julia's where you will find the explanation and the links to all the people that once a week reveal all the lovely details of their desks... it is great fun to snoop freely and you are sure to find some brilliant ideas as well!!

Hope you all have a lovely Easter weekend!!

Tea on Tuesday

2011-04-19T10:34:00.001-06:00

I hope that everyone is basking in Spring sunshine and enjoying a nice of cup of tea... I have the sunshine this morning but there is still snow all over the ground from the last bout of weather that had me shovelling the driveway. I have been MIA for a couple of weeks, it got a bit manic here and I had Chris home with me... neither of those things is conducive to a quiet cup of tea on a Tuesday morning!! ;) Now Chris has left for his first stint of two weeks working away in Fort MacMurray and the house is quiet except for the cats fighting over the sunny spot on the lounge carpet.

This is my cup of tea, a plain old Yellow Lable and my attempt to persuade myself that Easter is a few days away and everything will be springing into green-ness soon!!

Don't forget to pop on over to Kimmie's for the links to other tea partakers!!

Edit: Psssst.... no I do not have hundred dollar bills sitting on the table.... it is a paper napkin!! ;)

WOYWW 13th April 2011

2011-04-12T23:02:00.001-06:00

What's on your work desk Wednesday is here again, this week seems to be going at a rate that makes my head spin. We have had a few nice spring days and most of the snow has melted which is lovely. What is not lovely is the fact that we are due 14 centimetres of the white stuff over night and during the day... so those poor little daffs and tulips that have bravely poked their heads through the frozen earth are in for a bit of shock!

This is my work desk this morning, I have been playing with the Bisto Gravy Granuals tubs again!! I wanted to make Donna something as a thank you for making and sending me my little hoodie doll, Kruger. The project I started sort of stalled as I was trying to make it in Donna style, which just didn't seem to work when I did it. Then she said she would like a snippet roll.... so I have made a cotton reel to hold it.

Now MaryAnne left me a comment a few weeks ago saying that the gravy tubs might work with the Tim Holtz bird cage die, the first attempt of making the entire thing a circle of bird cages is still in pieces on the side of my desk... it was not going to be very sturdy!! So I had another attempt with this and cut the cage shape from the side of the tub leaving the rest of it intact.

This is the top with all the 'bits'.

Whilst at the dollar store on Monday with my friend, Odelia, I mentioned that I was looking for the little flickering tea light candles that work on a battery.... and voila, she found them!! So if Donna wants to hang the snippet roll she can have a little candle holder of a cotton reel....

Only I can't decide whether to leave the cage bare so you can look inside as in this photo or back the cage with the alcohol inked transparency as in this one below???

What do you think?

and I got my prize from Graphic 45 today - such lovely stuff to play with... :)

Don't forget to pop over to the Chief Inspector of Desks, Julia to get the links to all the lovely desks!!

Hoody Arrived Safely!!

2011-04-08T21:44:00.000-06:00

Kruger, my hoody doll from Donna was in the mail box when I checked it today... she didn't think much of the trip over the pond and I am putting the 'attitude' down to jet-lag, I am sure that after a nap and a chip butty she will feel more at home in the school room - and the pile of books she kicked off the chair are just fine!! ;)

Here she is in the little school room I made for her.

She is so cute... in a weird sort of way and I love her stripy stockings and little grey boots with the buttons and she really has the wildest hair you can imagine. Donna, thank you so much, I promise to let her play in between lessons. All work and no play makes Kruger crankey...

Graphic 45 Challenge Winner! Wooo Hooo!

2011-04-06T10:26:00.000-06:00

Guess who's doing her happy dance???? Yes, moi!! The lovely peeps at Graphic 45 have chosen my altered mailbox as the winner of the Metal Staples competition... happy dance.... happy dance.... and the prize is loads of lovely Graphic 45 supplies to play with!!

WOYWW 6th April 2011

2011-04-05T22:55:00.000-06:00

Looking rather boring today... I have had to hide the fat book swap pages that were on the back of the desk... finished but for one small thing which is hopefully winging its way to me in the mail... but I have the start of my April Dress Up laying there... not sure what I am going to do yet! and another piece of chipboard which I was playing with to see what the new Mod Podge with a glimmer in looks like... it has a beautiful sheen and I think will add something extra to odd bits and pieces!!

and look what arrived in the post today!! Thank you Julia... you are a star, I love the chippie house and I will truly enjoy every single one of these foam bananas!! LOL I saw some on her desk one Wednesday of snooping and was so jealous as I haven't seen those banana sweets since I left the UK!!

On my other desk are some finds from Michaels where I went shopping this morning... Easter is coming... yes, really it is!! So we may still have snow on the ground and it doesn't feel very spring-like but I had to buy these...

aren't they cute? Little paper cupcake favour boxes!! Perfect for my cake stand and calorie free!

and these large EAT letters were on sale for $3.50... probably because of the yellow colour... but that's fine by me... they can stay yellow till Easter is over then I will alter them a bit!

and backwards they spell TEA... which is fun too!

and it spells ATE if you happened to allow one of the Easter eggs to fall into the wrong hands!! I think I will have some fun with these over the next couple of weeks.

Don't forget to pop over to Julia's for the linky list of desks to visit!!

WOYWW 30th March 2011

2011-03-29T22:52:00.000-06:00

My work desk today has small bits on it... I am trying to make up some dangly charms so what you can see are my efforts so far!

The little bottles were a brilliant find last weekend when Chris and I went to a new Dollar store that has just opened in Okotoks, which is about 25 minutes away from Calgary.

You get 6 wee bottles all filled with decorative beads or glitter and each packet was a $1.00!! Yes, Tim Holtz fans, eat your heart out... these babies were a bargain!! ;) Bet they aren't there the next time I go...

Short and sweet this week, I have a pile of chipboard squares that need my attention after I finish playing with the bottles and mini books!!

Pop on over to the Queen of the Desks, Julia, for the list of people who reveal all on a Wednesday.

Tea on Tuesday

2011-03-29T10:36:00.001-06:00

Happy Tea Day to everyone... I really need my tea today as it is not looking good in the scrap room!

I'm having plain old tea down in the basement surrounded by stuff that isn't going too well...

Honestly, I followed Amy's destructions to the letter - ok, not quite, as I missed out the swearing bits because my mouth won't do that, but I did all the rest and all I have is a bunch of washed out images on packing tape... that can't be right, can it? Do you think it was the lack of swearing? No? Lack of something though... artistic abilities springs to mind!! LOL

On a brighter note the printing onto tissue paper worked!! I just need to do something with them now.. but I need all the cheering on I can get today... a pile of chipboard 4" x 4" squares sitting looking at me that somehow need to end up looking like fabulous fat book pages is adding to the stress!!

Join the other ladies, who hopefully are having a better Tea Day than I am by going to Kimmie's and following the linky things!!

Spring has sprung all over the world...

2011-03-27T11:13:00.000-06:00

Well, in most places perhaps... at least we are all back to the same time differences that I am used to now that the UK has also sprung forward an hour!! Weatherwise... it really isn't very springy at all in this part of the world... in fact it's downright Christmassy! Chris was home today so he helped me shovel the snow off the driveway, which was a bonus!!

This is the street one over from ours.. and this is what it looked like Friday morning.

The hoar frost fascinates me and I have now figured out that if we have a foggy night and then it gets cold, this is the after effects if you get a slight breeze...

We drove the cats to the vets 10 minutes up the road for their yearly shots and the world had turned into a winter wonderland of spikey frozeness...

It's so beautiful to look at... but some warm sunshine and some daffodils peeping through the ground would be pretty welcome about now too!

Just shades of white.... oooh just reminded me of a song from youth... a whiter shade of pale... who sang that?

So I woke up Saturday morning expecting it all to have disappeared, as the hoar frosts are very temporary...

but no, everything is still spikey and frozen!

There were long icicles hanging from the shed roof - but my camera doesn't appear to have captured them very well.

All the fir trees are looking very festive... as though Santa were about to pay a visit!

I took this one of my deck to show the spikes... I call it hedgehog snow!! ;)

So here I am with my pastel papers and my little chick hatching out of Easter egg stamp and I really can't get my head around making Easter cards whilst outside looks like December...