WOYWW 69 – the long wordy one.

Well! It’s that time of the week once more when we head off into the ether to snoop at everyone’s desks, courtesy of the Desk Discovery Diva, Delightful Mrs Dunnit. *did you like what I did there? Cool, eh? A little bit of alliteration never hurt anyone.* I’ve not been too good of late at getting around all the desks. I’m determined to rectify that this week, especially as we’re having a quiet (!) and inexpensive (ROFLMAO) weekend at home. Gardening. And swimming. We have Lil Miss B with us this weekend, and Friday sees her visiting a few local schools to see which one she likes best, ready to start there after half term (which is the last week in October, for our overseas readers). It will soon be upon us, that’s for sure!


I laughed at the inexpensive comment above because we were at Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally) for the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show (BSSBS) this weekend just gone, and now we have to live on bread and water for the next month. Or at least, baked beans on toast. My waistline thanks my crafting habit. Even Mr B got in on the act and hasn’t quite yet worked out where all his money went that day! More on Mr B in a mo – some of you that were there may have encountered him without even knowing it!

I met up with Jennie and Hels, and also Alison (aka CraftyTrog from UKSTampers, in the pic below.  I promise I'm not a giant really, just that Ali is quite petite). I got a couple of odd looks from folks, but I’m guessing that might have had something to do with my T-Shirt! See Julia, I did fly the flag after all, even if it wasn’t deely boppers! I even put the Stamping Ground blog address on the bottom under the WOYWW bit.  Mr B did comment that he wished I HAD worn the boppers, because then he’d be able to find me easily in the crowd. Normally he looks for the person wearing purple…. ROFLMAO.

So here, for your delight and delectation, is what is on my desk this week. Lots of crafting supplies.

Doesn’t look like much does it? No? That’s cos the rest of it is on the floor behind the desk….

That’s how you know you’ve overspent – when you start displaying it on the desk for the obligatory “here’s my stash haul from Ally Pally” shot, and discover that you’re probably not going to have room for a decent shot. Oops. I was good with it while we were there, but then I got home and the guilt started to set in. Bless Mr B – he said:

“did you have a good time?”
“yes”
“will you use the craft stuff you bought?”
“yes”
“will it enhance our crafting for time to come?”
“ye-es”
“Well stop feeling guilty about it then”

I love my man…… LOL


As I said before – some of you may have encountered him without knowing it. At lunchtime we were queuing for food in the Palm Court, and the flat screen telly was showing a Manchester City vs Chelsea football match. Now, Mr B is a Liverpool supporter, so what happened next was really funny. He was studying the telly intently, and then suddenly let out this really manly whoop of delight. Man City had scored! He immediately realised where he was (partly on account of the echo in the court, and partly because all conversation ceased, to be followed immediately by laughter on all sides) and clamped his hand over his mouth. Bless. Why did he cheer? Because he didn’t want Chelsea to win, and if they lost it meant that Chelsea were no longer unbeaten this season! LOL. All the ladies around us were most amused, apart from my mother in whose ear he had shrieked and darned near given her a heart attack!

We split up during the day to divide and conquer. Mr B and Mum sat in on a couple of demos downstairs, and I joined them for a demo by Barbara Gray of Clarity Stamps. I always try to go to her demos, because she’s so much fun. It’s like watching a cross between Graham Kerr (The Galloping Gourmet) and Marti Caine. Even Mr B commented on it.

“This lady must be popular”

“She is – what makes you say so though?”

“Well, this room was only three-quarters full for the last one, and now look”

Lo and behold, not only were all the chairs full, but there must have been about 50 people stood around the sides and back. It was like that all day too – I swung by the Clarity stand at 16.55, only to find Barbara like this:

I figured I should get a shot of Hels hard at work too (sorry Hels, I know you hate your picture being taken, but you did look as happy as Larry!) Tired but happy, eh?

Right – I’m off. Watch out for the girl in the T-Shirt!!!!




Morti
x

Not quite WOYWW 68

Greetings again fellow WOYWWers.  A great big huge huggy welcome also to Wipso and Sylvia-Anne who have joined the lumbering train that is the Mad Ramblings blog....

Wow, what an epic week (#67) for desks to view!  Unfortunately for me, life got in the way and I only got to about 60 desks.  I would take a picture for you this week (and may yet do so anyway!) but it would only be the same as last week's!!!

What we DO have on our desk this week though, *so I suppose that does in fact make the desk different* is a copy of the script for Peter Pan.  Yes indeedy.  Panto time is here again.  Verwood Panto Society are putting on a splendiferous production with no less than 6 - yes SIX - members of the cast flying, and it generally promises to be a good night out.

So I do hope that the great Desk Diva, Ms Jooooo-lia Dunnit will forgive me if I put in a blatant plug here for VPS and a picture of the lovely poster.  Not that I'm expecting to sell any tickets via my blog, but you never know!  Even if it's only one extra ticket, it's an extra ticket.  And Lord knows that this show is costing a lot to produce. 

Coming up this weekend is the Big Stamp and ScrapBooking Show, lovingly referred to henceforth as BSSBS, at Ally Pally.  Me and Mr B are off up to London on Friday night to stay with my Ma, then all three of us go to BSSBS on Saturday, and Sunday we go to visit my sister (who also happens to be doing Panto in Braintree, Essex, and in fact has written theirs as well as being the director!). 

Some of us on UK Stampers are arranging a meet up at The Artistic Stampers stand at midday, to head off for a girly lunch.

Me?  I'm contemplating doing my bit to plug WOYWW by wearing deely boppers with WOYWW strung between the "antennae".  So if you're there, and you do see someone who looks slightly lunatic, that's probably me......

WOYWW 67 - the pictoral version....

OK folks - I know you're going to be a little disappointed cos the *ahem, coff coff* description was SO good (rofl) that your imaginations ran a little wild.  I lied.  The CJ isn't on my desk at all.  Something else is though.... thanks Julia - it came today!!!!

And just because I love him, and I want to celebrate him being so great to me, for my own droolability (after all, t'is my blog)  here's a pic of the hunk himself, Mr B.  Taken on... nearly forget then!.... Sunday morning when we were on a soil sample collecting expedition to Cley Hill.  I know.  I lead such a glam existence!



Last item of news for tonight - I managed another 32 lengths tonight!  Woohoo!  I'm loving it!  If you don't know what I'm talking about, go here...

Ok - time for bed methinks!

WOYWW 67

First up = thanks to Needlewings, Spyder and Doone who like my oddballiness and have opted to follow me - welcome to the nuthouse!

As for WOYWW 66 - I only managed to get around to about 65 desks last week.  It seems everyone crawled out of the woodwork, but I'm going to blame it on back to school.

Um.

Yes.........

You might notice the absence of a photo today.  It's coming.  It'll happen tonight.  Mr B took my camera into school yesterday *because he's done this really cool frieze of Odin and Freya and I HAVE to see it!* and then promptly forgot to bring it home again.

Doh.

So, let's put my powers of description to the test.  On my desk is the usual, coupled with an empty wooden block for the beads which went in the post and completely surprised the recipient because she'd totally  forgotten I'd promised to make her some.  ROFL.  Then there's the CJ that should have gone in the post last night but which I haven't actually started.  oops  Where did the month go?  And lastly, there's a load of coursework and text/study books for my A level English Language.  Not sure how I'm going to fit that in, because Panto has started - we had the read-through last night and auditions are Friday.  T'was indeed a late night, as it's 75 minute journey from the rehearsal hall to home.  Ouch.


OK, so check back later for the photo.  I have a schoolteacher to go and chastise.....


*Tsk.  Forget me own head next.  I've popped back on because I promised Nikki C I would thank her properly for the fabby Stamp Addict button.   And I've also totally forgotted LOL to put that this whole WOYWW madness is down to the effervescent and somewhat racy lacey Ms Dunnit.  You go and see what she's up to.....

UPDATE - pictures can now be found - HERE

Swim like a....

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but Mr B is a bit of a fish.  As is Lil Miss B.  They love to play in a pool, and whenever we go to an adults laned swim, Mr B always swims a whole mile.  (Which, as I have found out, is 64 lengths of a 25m pool)  They both dive.  And tumble turn.  Like I said, fish.

Now me - I'm not exactly known for my great prowess in the water.  I don't dive.  That would mean I would have to put my head underwater!!!!  I can't do that!  I swim with my head firmly on the surface, so water doesn't go up my nose.  I don't *do* flumes in a pool.  Tumble turns?  Hah!  Whaddya think I am, a mermaid???  At least, that WAS the case.  From the time Mr B and I hooked up, we went swimming.  Admittedly, for the first few months it was to fun pools with Lil Miss, and I paddled about in the water (need to add at this point that I can't do breaststroke, only front crawl, which apparently isn't actually that bad for style and grace!) looking on enviously.  I'd also not long quit smoking, so any physical exertion really told on my poor beleagured lungs, but I knew I needed to get more exercise and lose weight.... and so it went.  And he bought me goggles...

Then we moved in together, he got a leisure centre joint membership, and things changed.  Subversively.  In order to get the most of your membership, you need to go swimming twice a week, and do other stuff like the gym, or pilates (love pilates when the instructor knows what they're doing.  Sadly, the one at our LC doesn't... boo) etc.  And gradually things became.... different.

I'm not really competitive, but each week I've aimed to do a little better than the week before.  So imagine my surprise and delight when, last Wednesday, I managed to do......... *drum roll please* 32 lengths.  A whole half mile.  Mr B would wag his tail if he had one.  Except I still wasn't sticking my face in the water to swim.  Kinda cramps your style, if you'll pardon the pun.

Then on Saturday afternoon the one thing happened that made Mr B practically turn himself inside out with glee - I swam underwater!  Yup - you read it here first folks.  The fish is born.  It was like a switch being flipped, a lightbulb going on in my head.  I didn't want to get out of the pool.  Mr B was training Lil Miss to do racing dives, and I kept popping my head underwater to see how she was faring once in the water, and it just progressed from there.  Next thing you'll know, I'll be diving.

Watch this ripple......




PS.  Just want to sat thanks to Arlington VA Primary School for the use of the goggles pic!

WOYWW 66..... and Paper Beads

See what I did there?  I caved and put the week number.  I figured you guys'd get fed up with the WOYWW "You might like this" links at the bottom of the post if I didn't say which was which.

Anyway, I digress as usual.

First things first though, I must say a big welcome to Needlewings and Spyder as new followers on my blog - thanks guys!

Here we are at WOYWW (and for more info and well over a hundred desks by the end of the week, pop over to Disappearing Ms Dunnit's blog), and I'm pleased to say I got around to every single desk last week.  At least, I think I did.  LOL.  Did the last one at about 8.30pm last night! If I did miss anyone, it would have been because of the link colour change thingy and switching between home and work and.... oh well, my intentions were there.

My desk this week doesn't look much different other than the fact that a) I've moved the wooden block with beads on (which are now completed) and b) I have lamps.  Got to have lamps.... actual WIP was finished WIP (WF?) at about midnight last night (when I took the pics).

And here we have a *slightly wonky* gratuitous shot of the brad/eyelet collection.....

Interesting point of note - the drawer that actually says "brads" was originally the ONLY drawer with brads in.  They fast became an obsession....
I've finished the paper beads I was making, and they'll be off to their recipient today for her to coo over - I know she likes pink. 

So - that's my desk - I'll probably come back and tweak this in an hour cos I have to head off to work now, but after that, it's investigations in the the desks of the rest of you WOYWWers....

Bursting with Pride, and bunting....

Well, I said I'd be back to tell you about a card my..... gosh, need to find something to call her..... stepdaughter is the closest I can come up with but I'm not exactly married to her dad!  Anyway, on Saturday, Little Miss B had to make a thank you card for her Godparents for her birthday presents. Mr B went into school ultra early that morning, leaving me in charge, with strict instructions that there was to be no Wii-ing *rofl* until the card was done.

So we got up, got dressed, sat in the craft room and I asked her suitably leading questions as to exactly what she wanted to make - what did she want to put on it, what colours did she want to use etc etc.

Now, I need to point out that Lil Miss B had, up until this point, never used a rubber stamp, had no idea what EP is, and would not have known the difference between pigment and dye inks (she does now) although she certainly knew what bling is.  But we had a crash course in the different inks, and she tried several colourways on scrap paper till she found one she was happy with, she had a go at heat embossing and fell in love with it, and we had a quick lesson on the rule of thirds. 

I have to say, she's a quick learner.  A super quick learner.  The only hiccup we had was the ole' depth perception one - you know, where you forget that there's so much more to the stamp you're holding than the wooden bit in your fingers, so you have to hold it higher or you get.... whoops.... new card please...

This is what the resulting effort looked like:

And I am as proud as punch of her and what she's done.  What really impressed me is that it's her own design - she wanted a border of flowers, this was what I found.  Ok, you can see where she's not skilled and we had a couple of blobby bits, and it's her third attempt after the other suffered the whoops I described.  But how cool is that card? 

And more to point, she's achieved what Susan Raihala is trying to get folks to do on her Simplicity by Blossom blog - one layer, and one layer only.  Fabulous.  Oh - I forgot to mention, Lil Miss B turned 10 in July.....

The other thing I want to share with you is the bunting I made recently for a swap on UKSTampers.  I like them - I hope the recipients like them too!  I've only got these pics for now, the pictures of each flag individually all need tinkering with as I had to take the pictures in our kitchen, it's got a fluorescent light.... and well, I'm sure you get the idea.  So, for now, here's the two pictures of the whole lot:

If anyone is interested, I'm sure I can give you a more detailed breakdown of what I did.  One interesting one is the brown one with the silver D on it.  I mixed my own colour of EP for that - it has a subtle sheen of blue because I wanted a more steel colour than silver, and my pewter EP actually had flecks of gold in which I didn't want.

Anyway, I need to go and get on with the day job - TTFN!

WOYWW 65 - Epic Fail....

... on SO many counts.

I failed to get round many of the desks last week.  I think I might just have made it into double figures before life and teenagers took over.  And then there was my complete inability to post anything up on the blog since last Wednesday.  I hang my head in shame, cos it's not like I didn't do anything all week. 

For a start, this little guy was born last Tuesday (they're our neighbours) and I didn't get a pic until Thurs, and that was useless, and I've managed to get one tonight because they've been right by the fence for the first time in an age.  Cue cuteness...

So, going back to WOYWW, here is my desk this week.  Marginally tidy, the bunting has been posted and I've got photos to share in a day or two - once they've arrived at their primary destination.  Current projects on the desk are STILL the CJ, of which I may show the front, the owner's page and my own at some point this week, but I cannot show anyone elses work because after all, it's meant to be a bit of a surprise for the owner!  ROFL.  The other project are some paper beads that are for someone in particular and are well overdue, so I figured I should crack on with them! 

Now, this second photo is what my craftroom looks like if I peer through the window to take the photo. Seriously. If I tried to take this picture from my desk you'd see shelves one through three and that's it. I told you guys it was cosy in there! Shelving to the left is generally for office type stuff (cos that shelving unit is behind the office desk, rocket science, eh? LOL ) and the other one is craft stuff. And music. Because, believe it or not, lurking BEHIND those shelves is my piano and music stand and assorted other instruments (tambourines, recorders, flute, drum, guitar....). We believe in really making a room WORK for its supper.

For more such desks and rooms, go and peruse the blog of the great Ms Dunnit for more info!

Other events this week have included me applying for and sending off the paperwork to start my English A Level. I have three already (Biology, French and Art) but I want to "change my stars" as is said in A Knight's Tale, and this is where I am going to begin. Well, no, that's not strictly true. I started changing them back in February but you'll have to go and find this post  to understand.  And subsequent ones too.

We also went to the Corsley show and marvelled at a) how few entries there were to some of the competitions, and b) how many competitions we could collectively win if we could be bothered to enter.  Photography looks like being a good one next year for starters...hehehehehe.  Mr B's eldest girl (and it's very complicated so I won't explain) came to stay.  We bought a Wii.  Mr B bought clothes for school - for himself.  It's amazing how teachers go through the knees of their trousers.  And ruin ties.  It was an expensive weekend *cringe*.

Anyways, I'm off for a blog hop - catch you around!!!