What's on You Workdesk Wednesday 30th November 2011

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

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

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

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

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!!