WOYWW 26th January 2010

Here we are almost at the end of the first month of 2011 and the weeks seem to speeding by!  My work desk is looking pretty tidy for a couple of reasons, the first being that I haven't had a lot of time lately for sitting and playing and the other, I tidied up after a project a few days ago!

A couple more envelopes which are now finished and should be going in the post in the next day or so.

The close up pic doesn't do the colours justice as they are far more vivid - as you can see from the desk photo.

This is the other side of it - not a proper envelope as one end is open for a large tag.

The colour is washed out in this photo too - it's very difficult to get proper colours in the light I have here... I think I need to invest in a proper lighting box setup.

This is the back - love these papers but I have lost the front cover so haven't a clue who made them! 

Here are the close ups of the letters in frames I did last week.

and speaking of dream.... we went to Lake Louise in the Rockies on Sunday to see the Ice Festival.  The scenery was spectacular, the chateau is huge and overlooks the Lake - which was frozen completely solid and people were skating on it.  the ice sculptors had done a magnificent job of carving the humungous slabs of ice into magical forms.

This was a huge castle carved from blocks of ice actually on the frozen lake.

This dragon looking in the mirror was carved by the British team - called 'Who's the fairest of them all'.

This was a rabbit pulling a child from the hat!

and look who managed to get her photo taken with two Mounties???  I didn't realise just how tall they were till I saw the photo... I think I must be shrinking... (eat your heart out Toni)!!

Don't forget to check out the other desks - pop over to Chief Inspector Snoop of the Desks - aka Julia.

Dream and Envelope

I had quite a fun time in the scraproom yesterday and managed to get a couple of things I had started completed!  Wooo Hooo!  This is the envelope that was on desk yesterday.

Anyone bored with the bird cage yet?  Eh?  I'll take that as a no and carry on using it then!! LOL

I keep forgetting that the idea of these envelopes is to post them and then I go and put bumpy stuff like a bird cage on them... and add ribbon that will get caught up in the mail.  Best laid plans of mice and men?

I also finished the letters in frames... I went with some new papers I had bought by DCWV called Street Lace, they are lovely, have foil and glitter on some of them so they actually did all the work for me and I left the letters and frames alone except for some bling... and a girl can never have too much bling!!

I woke up this morning and there was the weirdest layer of icicles on all the sides of the trees... fluffy icicles that did not fall from above but must have been blown on the wind and stuck to all the sides of the branches.

See?  Fluffy icicles!

It says on the weather channel (yep, we have an entire channel devoted to the weather here)!! and its the Brits that are supposed to be obsessed with the weather, yet we only tag it on to the end of the news broadcast!

that we are to get snow this afternoon.... so my nice snow free driveway will be covered again...

WOYWW 19th January 2011

I had a clean up during the week and sorted some stash out so it is looking relatively tidy at the moment.  I have lots of things I should be doing and a few things that need finishing off but I am sitting playing at making more envelopes!! I gave up on the collage effect and decided to make some 'my way' in the words of Frank Sinatra!!

OK... maybe not that neat and tidy...

This is one done 'my way'...

and this is on the other desk... I found some black frames at the dollar store and now have to decide whether to go with colour on the background or black and white papers.

Before my Mum left to go home we went to the pet store for cat food and this fell into Chris basket for Tom-Tom.  They already have the very tall version so this one was for Chris' study where Tom-Tom sleeps beside him in a cardboard box.  Now, these things don't come cheap and anyone that has a cat knows that they will do the opposite of what you want them to... and yes, Tom-Tom was not impressed that his old cardboard box and blankie had disappeared and been replaced by the new addition and chose to sleep on the floor in front of it.  Mum decided that it was unfair to leave Pandora out of the equation and picked her up a pink sheepskin bed for the scraproom...

Pandy thinks its the bees knees and spends hours in it..... mostly because of this

Yep... it's the ceiling heating vent and the hot air blows down on her... she is a true Saudi cat and loves the heat and plonks herself down on top of the floor vents in whatever room she happens to be in.

And the new climbing frame bed for Tom-Tom? It has moved upstairs into our bedroom and Pandora thinks it is great! LOL  (I found Tom-Tom another cardboard box and replaced his blankie and he is quite happy again now)!

Don't forget to check out the list of fellow What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday folk over at Julia's!

Tipping.... as in gratuities... I really, really wish that this practice was stopped.  I hate tipping, I figure I have been charged the market rate for whatever job has been done and figure I shouldn't then have to sit and try and work out what would be an acceptable amount to tip on top of it.  I look at it that I wouldn't tip a bus driver for getting me from A to B so why do I have to tip a taxi driver?  I don't tip in MacDonalds but have to in a restaurant but they both supply me with a meal? I am expected to tip my hairdresser and manicurist but I would never tip my podiatrist or chiroprator.  

For my birthday Chris arranged a surprise meal with our friends - 13 of us in total in the restaurant - the restaurant that mislaid the booking but was luckily not full so could accommodate the number when they all turned up ahead of us.  After the meal, Mum and I headed for the car with Chris bringing up the rear, but he took a while so we waited in the cold until he came out.  I asked him what the hold up was and he said that the waitress had stopped him as he was leaving and told him he hadn't left her a big enough tip.  Eh?  Yes... she explained that it was an industry standard to leave 15% of the total bill and went on further to tell him that the restaurant only paid minimum wage and therefore the tips were required to make up her money.  I sat in the car open mouthed... what?  Never!  What did you do?  I asked.... gave her the rest to make it up to 15% was his reply.  LOL  You have to give the girl some credit, it takes guts to do what she did.... but I so wish it had been me instead of kind, nice Chris, because I would have taken back what had been given and left her with nothing for the cheek of asking for more!  

Envelope Fun....

I was sitting mooching through YouTube clips last night and watched a lady make a collage envelope from a file folder, it was very pretty so I thought I would have a play, the first problem that arose was that I couldn't find a manilla file folder in the scrap room... nope, not a single one!  Now, I know I have about a gazillion of the darn things... because I bought them when I was going through my 'I will be better organised' phrase - which was about 5 years ago!!  Obviously when I was packing to come to Canada I figured I had no need to be organised and left them in my scrap room at home... but, all was not lost, how hard is it to make an envelope??  So I got a piece of A3 cardstock and folded and cut and stuck a couple bits down and voila!  Who needs a manilla file folder!!  The next problem arose when it came to putting the collage together.... now, the lady in the video clip appeared to just tear odd bits of paper up in weird and wonderful shapes and slap some glue on them and then transfer those in a higgledypggedly fashion onto her manilla folder and it looked fabulous!!  She then added some bits and pieces and even got her sewing machine out and ran a couple of lines of thread through a photo and there it was, completed and looking very arty farty.... so it can't be that difficult can it?

Obviously the answer is yes!!

and the back didn't improve with practice either....

But... I haven't given up... I'm going to give the idea another go 'cos I'm no quitter!!  I might even get the sewing machine out...

Winner of Zutter Zister's 11 of '11 Blog Hop!

Congratulations to AlwaysCharlie!!

Charlie, please email Nan@binditall.com with your name and address so that your prize can be posted off to you.

I would like to thank everyone for joining in and making this such a fun blog hop - especially Zutter's for supplying the prizes!!

WOYWW 12th January 2011

Another week has flown by at the speed of light... my Mum is in her last few days of her 6 week visit.  As its an absolutely freezing -26 outside at the moment, I am guessing she won't be overly sad to return to France!!
On my work desk this week is my latest playing with the Tim Holtz Bird Cage die... yep, again... I am not quite tired of trying it out yet!!

This is the first attempt and it is made from glitter cardstock so my next one will be chipboard, I think the thicker medium will be more substantial as a finished item.

I did mention it is a prototype? LOL  I even made a little wooden perch for the birdie to swing on!

Along with the Bird Cage die I received for my birthday last week, Chris bought me the most beautiful Inukshuk in jade from British Columbia.  I love these things, they are so unusual.

It came in its own wooden box which I am itching to alter...

and my Inukshuk now sits on my mantelpiece.

What is an Inukshuk? 

The mysterious stone figures known as inuksuit can be found throughout the circumpolar world. Inukshuk, the singular of inuksuit, means "in the likeness of a human" in the Inuit language. They are monuments made of unworked stones that are used by the Inuit for communication and survival. The traditional meaning of the inukshuk is "Someone was here" or "You are on the right path."

A few people have asked to see the Pandora bracelet I got for Christmas and my Mum and Chris managed to almost fill up for my birthday!

It is lovely, isn't it? Chris even found me a Canadian maple leaf bead!

Another first this week was to go to an ice hockey match... it was snowing and blowing and freezing so we went and sat in a huge ice rink.... yes, full of ice!!  It was fun to watch though, and we all went for a fish and chip supper afterwards!

They were under 12's and on the team was my friend Brigette's son, Clayton.  'Our' team won 6 -1 and I put it down to my new Yetti hat and gloves which were cheering them on!

Yetti Nette and Brigette!  Did I mention it was cold???

Dress it Up

I was having a play with the dress forms and had a light bulb moment with a Tim Holtz bird cage die cut!  So this is what happened....

This is the front, with the birdcage over the dress and little brads and embroidery thread to give the illusion of a bustier.

This is it from the side.  I can so imagine the lady sweeping into a ballroom with her red and black gown.

and here is the rear view, with the two birdcages cut and joined together to give her a lovely bustle effect.

I don't know about anyone else but a couple of decades ago I would have worn this!! ;)

Tim Holtz Bird Cage Die

I was extremely spoilt for my birthday with lots of lovely things, including some more beads for my Pandora bracelet from both my Mum and Chris - it has filled up awfully fast as I only got it for Christmas!!
Went scrap shopping with Mum and Odelia and got the Tim Holtz bird cage die (thank you Odelia)!!  Well, it is gorgeous, I love it to bits and haven't stopped making little bird cages out of any spare bit of paper or chipboard since popping it out of the box!  Mum has an envelope full of various shades to take home with her to France and has been sitting in the scrap room with me making cards.
Anyway, I had to have a play with it, not with the intention of making something specific, just to make anything!

I decided to go with a prison break theme and have the wee birdie on the outside of the cage!! In real life it has a gorgeous shimmer from Glimmer Mist which my camera has entirely failed to pick up.

The maple leaf danglies are from a necklace I bought in my fav shop in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, for about 2 Riyals and I think work really well on this.  

These are some of the cards that Mum has been making and having fun with. Right, enough of this blathering... there is a bird cage on my work desk begging for my attention... 

Zutter's 11 0f '11 Blog Hop!

First of all, I have to point out the flashing Zutter's logo on the right... Jennifer made it for the blog hop and gave instructions on how to put it on the blog - and make it flash and by jove, I managed to follow them and it does!!
I hope you are all suitably impressed - both with Jenn's cleverness and my ability to follow instructions! ;)
So have you made any scrappy resolutions for 2011?  Mine is to be better organised and hopefully complete more than half of what I start! LOL  With this in mind I decided to make Chris a book to keep all his web stuff in.  It is almost impossible to remember where and what you have signed up for on the old Interwebs, all those web addresses and passwords to try and remember.... so I have made him a book to keep track of them.

I thought by using the Kraft coloured papers it would look a bit more masculine.  These were by My Mind's Eye and called Life Stories.

I started by printing about 40 pages on A5 paper... which in real life is cream but due to the terrible light in the scrap room has come out a weird pinky white... it's cream and suits the Kraft colour, honest!

I then made up some cream page dividers and added file pieces so that he can designate sections to his hobbies.

I cut the covers from chipboard and added the two extra bits to the back cover so that it would fold over onto the front cover.

I glued the chipboard to the chosen Kraft paper, ensuring a gap between the two additional bits so that it would fold nicely.

Make sure you get the fold working before adding patterned paper to the other side.

Lay the front cover chipboard down on the paper and then use your blade knife and cut round it.  Sand the edges to make them smooth and ink if you wish.

Then turn them over and paper the other sides of your covers.

Both inside covers are now papered, you will need to run your pokey tool along the folds so that the covers bend easily.

The paper needs to tucked into the fold so that it will bend over the front cover.

Put all the pages, dividers and covers into order.

I added a large bead and some leather twine to make a closure and used 1" o'wires in two pieces to bind it and it is finished!

Leave a comment to be in with a chance to win a Zutter supply pack of wires, covers, Cover-Alls and surprises.  Don't forget to visit the other blogs to increase your chances as each blog will have the Zutter's supplies to win and you will get some lovely inspiration for projects to play with as well!

Original Zutter Zisters

• Annette West: http://scraphappenshere.blogspot.com/    You are here!
• Vicki Flinchum: http://texasscrapaddict.blogspot.com/
• Nan Paturzo: http://www.scrappynan.blogspot.com/
• Jennifer Priest: http://hydrangeahippo.blogspot.com/
• Lea Sanders: http://leasanders.wordpress.com/
• Emeline Seet: http://scrapvilla.blogspot.com/
• 
  

Design Team 2009-2010

• Lynne Forsythe: http://lynneforsythe.blogspot.com/
• Shelley Haganman: http://scrappergirl.typepad.com/scappergirl/
• Pam Sandy: http://pamseclecticstuff.blogspot.com/
• Fleur Smith: http://fleursbydesign.blogspot.com/
• Bind-it-All Blog: http://www.binditall.blogspot.com/

Don’t Forget To Order Your Fave Zutter Supplies At Www.Binditall.Com For 11% Off Everything (That Isn’t Already On Sale).  CODE: Zutter11 Valid Through January 31 Only.