WOYWW 288

Hello there WOYWWers! I have not been here for a few weeks, I began to feel so guilty about not getting back to comment to folk who had been kind enough to leave a comment on my blog that I decided to stay away! I know - silly aren't I? The trouble is that if we go away to our caravan the connection is now so bad that sometimes I don't even have a phone link(fortunately hubby has, but is only on pay as you go)and I STILL haven't got around to changing my phone!!
Okay, enough ranting or I'll be in trouble with Julia who really wants us to link up and show our desks - you can find her at the Stamping Ground and there are details there about how to join in if you are just popping in to see why the strange title!
My desk has the last of the cards for posting….

…(oops! a bit out of focus!)and then I must get on with some Birthday cards - we're a bit of a December bunch(including my own) and I have 4 to make before Christmas!!

No cinema today but I'm off for my Diabetic eye screening today(stinging stuff in my eyes - ugh!!!!)

Last week we went to see 'The Imitation Game' which we both really enjoyed - it is the story of Alan Turing who invented the Enigma decoding machine leading to the invention of the computer.

Edit - just come back to say that if there is verification number box to fill and you are on blogger please ignore it and go straight to publish - don't know about other blog providers - for some reason blogger seems to think we need it - huh!!!

Hope to get to visit soon, Chris

Wishing in my journall!

I needed a break from finishing my Christmas cards so started a page but didn't get around to finishing it! Today with most cards either written or waiting, I needed another break but had forgotten what I intended to do to finish the page! Ha! Then I remembered seeing that there was a challenge over at 'That's Crafty challenge blog' - 'About face'…..of course,

 this is who the hare was looking at….an ice maiden..come to grant him a Christmas wish! So here he is in his Winter wonderland and I would also like to link this to the 'Stamping Sensations December Challenge - Winter Wonderland'


Thanks for looking, Chris

Curiously flat!

In my attempts to make flatter cards to go through the post I used a  Tim technique - the details cannot be revealed but the direction to the page I used is here at Linda Ledbetter's Compendium of Curiosities 3 - challenge 16 along with the rules.
The challenge is being sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique

The light is dreadful even though these were taken before three o'clock - a rain storm was on it's way - I had to resort to the daylight lamp overhead!
Although I used the tree stamp from Tim's Just Believe collection I decided not to fussy cut as I liked the conical shape.
As you can see I've been at the copper paint again to do some faux gilding! 

I am attempting to get around to returning some comments but having been away for a few days(who said 'Again!"?)I'm on  big catch up!

On 'baby' sitting duty tonight so I suspect some X box practice will be required!!!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Journey's end!

I have finally found time to post this last part of our holiday to Austria! As our flight was cheaper and direct from Budapest we ended up with part of an afternoon and evening(if you missed it it's here)
We also had most of a morning and were lucky enough to be only a short walk away from the Danube! It also turned out that an art/craft shop was on the corner of the first road we turned down(oh yeah!)
This was just around the corner - 

and this

It had rained over night but by the time we had eaten breakfast it had started to dry up and was still quite warm!

One man and his dog

We walked down to the Parliament building to see it in daylight,

 then down to the bridge and looked at the view we had seen illuminated the night before

The guards seemed very relaxed!

We saw a school group leaving the parliament building and heading for a river trip ( sorry, we were both teachers and it brings back memories - just standing observing we both agreed that children on school trips are the same the world over!)

Bibo Istvan - who was famous for being the last man to leave the parliament building in the 1955 revolution.
From here we could see Margaret Island through the bridge

and hubby's camera got a shot of this - St Matthias church over the river in Buda

Then we though we had better head back…...past this,

I have still to find out who these people were!
We also passed this florists booth

 Oh! How I would have loved to bring one of these home!

Fabulous cakes...

and of course the art shop - no photos - forgot in my rush to get through the doors!

We had a wonderful trip, of all the places we visited Innsbruck was my favourite, but I will also look forward to planning a return visit to Budapest - we only saw a small part of it(although the transfer taxi driver was kind enough to point out some of the sights as we went to the airport) and I definitely want to get across that bridge to Buda!! 

Thanks for looking, I may still have a few random photos to show you,but for now I hope you enjoyed sharing our trip! Chris

It's Chriiissstmassss!!!…...

…and it's not just creeping nearer - it's less than a month now and guess who hasn't made nearly enough cards!!!?
I have been determined that most of my cards will fit into an envelope to go through the post without extra cost.
This time I've used a stamp by Inkylicious that I bought at a show.
I stamped it three times and then coloured in the leaves, birds, flowers and buds using Sakura gel and sparkle pens plus a gold Pentel.

Lacy grass at the bottom and a hand cut stamped Woodware sentiment.

I must say I'm quite pleased with this as it's not my favourite way to make cards!

I would like to enter in -
Stamping Sensations Challenge -  "Simply Christmas"
and Try It on Tuesday - "Christmas is Coming"

Thanks for looking, Chris

Dreaming with an 'X'

Oh boy! When I saw the title of this challenge at Dragons Dream I had a panic moment until I read that Julie Ann wanted an 'x' somewhere in a word! The challenge is 'The letter x and the colour purple' - well you must know by now that I'm happy with purple in any of it's shades!
Once I knew the letter x could be anywhere I don't know what made me think of it but the word 'Elixir' came into my head - so now what??
Well, at that point my Mojo upped and left me in the lurch. I still had the word going around in my head but not a clue what to do! A few outings and I had only been in my craft room to poke at things - nothing came to mind - should I think of a different word?! Over Saturday and Sunday I decided to sit at my desk and prepare a few die-cuts….and that's when I thought of this(of course by now the place was covered in bits poked out of holes and lots of mess to clear out of the way!)

I started by rubbing a combination of purple shades of Distress inks over the tag and then used a water soaked sponge through my TH 'Rays' stencil. I wanted a bit of the 'Elixir' splashed over the corner of the tag - a little bit of runny black gesso, and then when it had been heat dried to make it bubble a bit I rubbed in a combination of magenta and aquamarine Inca Gold hoping it would make a shade of lilac(it did!) The bottle is an Artistic Stamper one that I've had for ages - doesn't get used nearly enough!I stamped it onto a piece of kitchen roll that I had been using as a shim - it had totally flattened it! The edges were torn and had just enough texture around the bits that hadn't been under a die!I coloured the bottom part of the bottle to give the impression of something being in it. A Crafty Individuals perfume label was stamped by picking out the edges with a distress marker and I hand wrote the label.
At this point I didn't feel it was finished so used a small text stamp around the edges.I also added some 'Brushed Pewter' Distress Stain to the lid and dried off the brush by painting over the bottom of the bottle.
I left it over night and then this morning gave the elixir something to run across the tag to 'cure'….some crackle paste tinted with Dusty Concord Distress!

So here I am on time again (it won't last!!) with my entry for Dragons Dream 180 "Letter X and the colour Purple" 

Thanks for looking, Chris

November….ahem!!!

I know November is nearly over but I clean forgot to post this despite it being ready on time - I blame my two GD spots - think they addled my brain!!!
Doh! I'm talking about my 365/12 calendar journal - Kate started all this a few years ago now and it's something I love doing.
Here is November - before I started to fill it in - as you know if you've seen my blog it's been a busy month!

There's more on this page now but you'll have to wait!

Octobers all filled in!

We're out tonight for our Scrabble challenge - we play with  small group of friends here at our retirement complex. We say it's for fun but we can get quite serious especially when you find yourself losing against 90pluses!!!

Thanks for looking, Chris