WOYWW 178

Is it just me or are the weeks(as well as the days) getting shorter? Today is the day when courtesy of Julia at Stamping Ground we get to travel around the world dropping in to a few crafty desks on the way!
I'm afraid my is a bit of a Halloween horror today, except there's nothing really Halloweeny about it just a horror!!
I got something in my head this morning,(following a telephone conversation with my grandson last night and a vivid dream(more of that in another post)and started this before breakfast - my space looked really tidy(it did - honest) when I started, with evidence of yesterdays play with my new toy - a Bigshot- that I bought using a 20% voucher - can you see the rosette?

I stopped for breakfast then carried on till hubby made me go out to do some chores, lunch out and here I am again, late!
I hope to do a little more visiting this week and do hope you'll come to mine - I'll tidy up(a bit!), I have to really as my friend Sarah is coming round for a play day on Friday so I have to make room for two Aaaaagh!!
Thanks for looking, Chris

I don't but my grand-daughter does...

Halloween that is! It's been a while since I posted but a lot has been going on! Such as ...meeting up with Ann and Pat in Leeds!(great to meet up and spend money on crafty things as well),going to see the extremely talented Lindsay Mason demonstrate at Cardcraft in Lancaster(you should have seen what she was making-incredible baubles, which I hope she does a tutorial for on her blog-hint!hint!), spending time with family at our caravan(and out and about), going to appointments(my sugar level is up :( and needs monitoring)and trying to unpack more of those bloomin' boxes! 
So...some of the goodies I bought in Leeds went to the caravan to be used by my grandchildren - only thing is Scrabble and technology won as far as my grandson is concerned!
What did we make? Well, a few weeks ago I bought a set of Artistic Stamper jars and decided they would make super spooky halloween bunting!

Emily is becoming quite a stamping expert,she didn't think we had enough jars so just set out to stamp some more,when I told her there wouldn't be enough room on the paper she surprised me by saying she had already measured up and that she could get four more!

You may be able to see that we used an assortment of stickers, stamps and spooky colours, she was able to pick out parts of stamps(found a small TH atc stamp with a small skull on it,and she loves Lindsay's 'Henpecked and stitched up by the cat' from her 'Off The Wall' range)) by using distress markers.

We managed to make our bunting go the whole length of the caravan living room

and then scoop it up ready to take home...

...and balance a pound coin at the same time!!

Of course I didn't keep her slaving all the time - we went off to South Lakes Zoo and she got to feed some penguins

We also went on a visit to Farfield Mill near Sedburgh where she caught the weaving bug(the photos are on my phone - when I get them on to the computer I will show you pics)

Ok, enough of showing off my little treasure! I'll leave you with this picture of a wonderful sunset we had while up North!

Thanks for looking, Chrisx

I'm not here!WOYWW177

but I can(he! he! just found out how) link with Julia and WOYWW, not that there's anything going on - just these waiting for me when I get back - as I was changing crafty stuff over in my bag - not taken much this time - found these that I bought last week in Kirby Lonsdale(Oh! I love that place!)

I hope I can still come and visit, even if I haven't been able to link! Thanks for looking,Chrisx 
ps I know I'm late but I'm still hoping to come and visit some of you, don't wait up though!

Paris tags

I've still got loads of Paris paper scraps so I'm thinking more tags..... but for now, here are four I've completed.

I had intended using my Darkroom Door Paris stamps but alas don't know which box they are in - definitely not in my Paris box folder, but my Elusive Images ones were.Mind you the papers are so pretty that I didn't do a great deal of stamping in the end, just used the Eiffel Tower image and some Kaisercraft background stamps. 
We're off again tomorrow so I'm going to see if I can schedule a post again and maybe use my phone - I love battling with modern technology!
Where am I going? Well, first to Leeds to meet up with some bloggy friends then off to our caravan where we are expecting my son and grandchildren to make an appearance(a zoo trip planned as well as some nice walks and exploring!)
Thanks for looking, Chris

WOYWW 176

Can't believe a week has passed, but hey! here's my chance to have a look at a whole load of work desks, thanks to Julia, who hosts this whole fantastic link up! 
Not a great deal going on at the moment here. I have made a decision to actually use some of my lovely papers and ignore(and possibly pass on) the mountain of somewhat 'iffy' ones! Why on earth did I buy these lovely papers if not to use them! Sooo...I'm using a pad of Prima 'En Francais'(not even that expensive at £4.99) to make some tags/bookmarks.

I'm still working in quite a small space, still in the process of sorting(when I'm here LOL)To the left of my space there is the piece of drift wood I found when out with my grandchildren, going to add to that sometime! On the right is the journal page I started last week. Here it is.

I finished this while away at the caravan.
Anyone who is interested in what I take away with me can see here.
Right off to have a peek at what some of you have been doing - it really is quite impossible to visit everyone isn't it?! 
Thanks for looking, Chris 

Have kit will travel!

It's great to be back to a 'proper' keyboard, a big "Thankyou!" for holding my hand while I blogged (yes me!)from my phone - Oh! so frustrating, but I was determined that it could be done, although I need to work at at it - obviously!LOL

We had a lovely break, lots of walks by lots of flooded fields and swollen rivers and time to play with my journal! I know I've got to to get on with Christmas projects and my grandchildren's year books but this time was just to relax, we've got quite a busy time ahead(more of that in a few weeks!)

When I go away I know I always have a basic amount of crafty equipment at the caravan but some things I like to have with me at all times!

 Top right is my little kit, this and my pencil case is sometimes all that comes away with me(plus a couple of journals with prepared pages)

NeocoloursII, some chalky inks,cosmic shimmer pots, water brush, spritzer, black and white pens, and one or two background stamps.

In here, more pens, including sakura sparkly pens, brush pens in grey and brown, sharpie pens(red, green, blue, black)some pencils,little scissors, alphabet rub ons, TH distress tool, sponge, eraser, quickie glue pens and another spritzer and water brush. 

The rest of the basics that I took this time were 2 rolls of TH tape, some more background stamps and letter stamps(in cd cases),a pack of whisper pens, a pencils case full of scraps, some tags and some papers- oh! and my latest purchase a SMASH date stamp that also has little phrases on it!

My scrap case with stamped images, mop ups and all other sorts of scraps

My cupboards at the caravan have a variety of glues, paper, paint, inks, stamps,ribbon, lace etc, much of which is used when my grandchildren come up!

the yellow box contains all manner of  crafty bits and pieces, the two boxes above them  ribbons , tissue paper, lace etc.

I also have another small cupboard with paper cutter, heat tool, stamps(mainly for granchildren to use) in cd cases, promarkers, more pens, again for children and a tin full of scraps!I did take a photo but for some reason blogger doesn't want me to show you!!

I did play with my journal quite a bit, here's just one of the pages.

This was originally about using my phone, after yesterdays visit to the practice nurse this seems appropriate! Nuff said!
Thanks for staying with me through what must seem like a right ramble, I would love to know what others take with them as a basic travel kit, Chrisx

something...or nothing!

not sure what will happen!

A journal page

Did this last week while I was away.

This background had been in my journal for well over a year, neglected near the front of it. Last week while using some Alex Clark wrapping paper to cover some tins at the caravan I had this image right on the edge of the paper and I just happened to have some Graphic 45 images with this little eye test on - just couldn't help myself!!
Thanks for looking, Chris

another try!

Just going to try againi

woyww 175

Another Wednesday and I'm still here, well actually, feeling like a visitor at the moment, as we are off back to the caravan this afternoon! Came home to bring my grandchildren back on Monday, made a couple of visits to a relative in hospital, had my blood test and now we can go again!
Thanks to Julia I was able to snoop at a fair few desks last week, although not as many as I would have liked! Here's a glimpse at what I've been up to since we got back!

As you can see I'm still in the process of mounting stamps(bottom left)I've prepared a few more journal pages-one of which you can see here(I don't have many sprays at the caravan - and don't like to take them!)Top right of the piccy you can see my little box of bits and pieces that I use for printing, stencilling etc - this includes such random items as a piece of netting, bottoms cut from plastic biscuit holders, bottle tops and of course several sizes of bubble wrap! Oh! and underneath that a plastic box with newly mounted stamps - thank you pound shop!
I've just realised how messy this looks and you can see where I experimented with some ink and the little tube of yellow net(left behind by a work man) just to the left of my purple mat.
Thank you for your comments last week, I'm having difficulties at the moment, so although I was able to leave comments on some of your blogs I couldn't everywhere - you see my phone, which THE MAN said would connect with our lap top isn't playing ball so I can only use my phone and it doesn't always want to play either and as for posting a blog, well, I can do a title but it won't let me do much else as I can't see what I'm putting in and all it wants to do it put on a photo of my hubby(lovely though he is)
Until next time, thanks for looking, Chris 

woyww being daring!

Having had such encouraging comments last week - Thank You very much, I'm back again! Thanks to Julia I also got to see quite a few of your work desks last week, though not as many as I would have liked! 
Having been to Port Sunlight,Happy Stampers show I had a lot of unmounted stamps and as I wanted to take them away with me to the caravan I just had to stick at the task...sort of!!

Can you see two of my journals - yes, there you see - the other one is just peeking out at the right of the picture! Well, to give my cutting hand a break I just had to play with my inks in between! I've put some of the smaller stamps into a CD case to take - they are little quotes from Lost Coast Designs.
Want to see more...like whats behind the journal? OK!

Still to be tackled - some little boxes and my bowls that I keep dropping random items into! My sewing machine at the front and behind that my embellishing machine(this one still to be used properly)

Right, now this next view is a bit of a cheat - I'm going to show you the whole room - just about - but the photo is a reflection in my Gran's mirror! All the time she had it she would tell me that when she was gone she wanted me to have it - so here it is - I had to wait a long time for it thank goodness, she was 101 when she died!

Thank you ballerina for hiding me, must away for a shower and then off we go, it's sunny today so we need to make the most of it!

Thanks for looking, Chris 

366 SeptemberOctober

Finished this last night before the light failed but just didn't get my hands on the computer - hubby doing 'important stuff'!Like this isn't important!!LOL What is 'this'? Well, take look at the amazing Kate Cranes blog here to find out all about this fantastic challenge! I love doing this as it is really a record of my life as it rolls along!
My pages for October have an Autumny look -although I do hope this rain is about to lessen!

I've dressed Mabel Lucy Atwell's figure in blue as I had some accidental blue around the edges and it seemed to fit. I have had this stamp for some time(from The Artistic Stamper) but was reminded of her at the Happy Stampers show on Saturday. The trees are a Sheena stamp but I messed it up - and then even more so by using a wet brush over the colours(distress markers) but hey ho, it does give a watery look!Background made by distress inks through a splatter cover(for a frying pan) and the front of a posh cereal box! 
My finished September pages are here! Another busy month! I'm retired for goodness sake - but can we slow down - naah! - not yet - having too much fun!!

Thanks for looking, Chrisx