General Randomness

They're coming thick and fast this week.

Mr B asked me last night what Marmite was made of... yeast extract says I.

"Yes, but WHAT exactly is yeast extract, and how does it get made?" he says.

"Dunno" says I, "but how in the heck was it discovered.....????

long pause...........

.....What would have happened if the first person to discover Marmite didn't like it?"

Not mad enough????

I got accused of not rambling madly enough by the ever lovely Doone.  I must apologise for this lapse in current mental status.

All was rectified last night on my return home, and I have something suitably mad and random for you....

Me:  "So, how was school today?"

Lil Miss B:  "It was ok..."

Me;  "Only ok?  What did you get up to?"

Lil Miss B: "Nothing special.  I had to dress up as a banana"

Me:  " A banana???"

Lil Miss B: "Oh yes!  And not just any old banana - a Fair Trade Banana..."

The mind boggles..........

WOYWW 77 - Arrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

Hello!!!!

Another WOYWW hits us like steam train in the middle of the week…

Ok, nothing interesting to report this week. I’m not even showing you my desk, because it got hijacked by a 10 yr old on a Christmas Card Fest, and it’s been left in a state of disarray.

What I WILL show you is what I did to that dagger. Nothing special, just made the blade a bit more silvery, and did a bit of the old Ten Second Studio magic to the handle with some black metal, one of their Big Momma moulds, and some sand paper. Oh, and the cup and ball tool. Not the best of work, but at least from stage distance, it’ll look good enough.

Before....

After...

Typical though, both me and Mr B think the finishing touch would be a skull as a pommel at the base of the handle. Can you find skulls in the shops, 2.5cm in diameter, less than a month after Halloween? Can you heck….

So, off you go after this brief glimpse into the mayhem of my particular WOYWW this week. If I have time I will persuade myself to photograph the desk. To go and see other much more fabulous examples than mine, visit The Stamping Ground and the lair of the great Julia Dunnit for more info and a list of devotees.

Other news - Mr B himself went into school today with 90 – yes, 90 – polystyrene balls. He’s doing Christmas decs with the class for their school Christmas Fayre. I’ve had my teeth done at long last, so have finally got my front teeth for Xmas! It’s a long, long story – suffice to say that the crowns I had put in 20-odd years ago weren’t right from day one, and it’s taken until now to get it all corrected. My wallet feels lighter, but finally I can smile properly again. Yay! If you’re lucky, I’ll show you a pic…… or perhaps not, eh….. Lil Miss B is settling in nicely at school and is teaching herself to play the piano. I’m so proud…..

WOYWW #76 - the tricky one

Hmmmmm.

Today's is a toughy.  As I type this it's Tuesday afternoon and I know darned well that I've got panto rehearsal tonight and won't get time to do this later, so I should just do this now and schedule the post.

Trouble is, I have little to say (guess that will no doubt change though) and no photos to share (at the mo, that may also change).  I do, however, have a couple of things to blog about.

Thank you all for your kind words and support last week over the studying.  I've still not got my head down to my studies, though that is coming.  I've also not yet complained about my tutor.  I think that's going to happen at the weekend.  Tricky one, because if they refuse to assign me a new tutor, she could make my life hell.  I'm sure though, they have rules over that, and I'd get a refund ultimately.  But as I say, thank you all for your kindness, your input and feedback.  It's very, very much appreciated!

Secondly, just wanted to say a quick welcome to Kym's Craft Cards, who has joined the Mad Ramblers..... thanks for signing up to my perusals and ruminations....

My desk - at the mo, no picture, but this may yet be edited.  No picture, because nothing to report!  No cards (except one Lil Miss B made, but it had to go in the post before I got a picture.  I let her loose with my Copics - and they survived - Ulp!), no CJ, no studies.  My script was on there earlier but it hardly makes it worthy of a picture.  There might be something on there for five minutes later, in which case I'll snap a pic then and add some more.

In the meantime, by the time you're reading this it will be WOYWW, and you should be surfing the creation stations as displayed by the Great Desk Jockey, Miss Dunnit.  Well?  What are you waiting for?  Get on with it!!!  LOL - catch you around!

EDIT -

Well, 7am, I switch on my camera to take a pic of my desk and discover that I did, after all, take a pic of Lil Miss B's card.



She'd seen the card I made last week, and wanted to do something similar.  Bless!

My desk now looks like this - all geared up to "alter" a toy retractable dagger for panto, and make it look more authentic and less like a toy!  Check back soon for an update on how I'm getting on with it!



WOYWW #75 – the post-illness one.

Firstly, this week I’d like to welcome a couple of new followers - Debs H and Scrapcollectr - to my blog. You’re nutters, but most welcome nonetheless… ROFL.

Yay – last week I managed to get around EVERYONE – bar the one that linked herself straight back to the WOYWW page (LOL) and the one that had nothing against it (133, I think?). This is probably going to be a one-off – I was at home all week and was able to plug away, unlike a normal week! Health wise things are picking up around here – though I think it would be quicker if I could remember to take my antibiotics. Still a little muzzy/light headed though!

Another week has flown by and we are once again surfing the blogs of the world in the quest to share the state of our desk, all courtesy of our tour conductor extraordinaire, Ms Julia Dunnit. Visit her blog The Stamping Ground to find out more, and take yourself on a trip that will delight, amuse, inspire and occasionally dismay you. It’s a fab opportunity to be supportive, enjoy a good read and get/give tips amongst a new and amazing circle of friends we never knew were out there….

My desk this week – once again, little difference. There’s no CJ, for a start – read more about that HERE (huzzah, I say!). There’s a couple of little items there – some cheapo ribbon I picked up that just shouted Christmas Cards to me, a sheet of fab see-through stamps that fell into my basket on Friday, much to Julia’s Shopkeeper Gal’s amusement, and a little cross-stitch/beaded number (ok, to be exact, it’s a Mill Hill Charmed Mitten) that is needing a hanger attached so it can go on the Crimble Tree….

In my WOYWW easel you will also see my entry for this week’s Sketch Saturday – for a better pic and the Ingredients, go HERE.

Things are not going quite so well on the A Level front. Mojo in that area is almost non-existent. I know that being poorly hasn’t helped, but I’m finding the distance learning a real struggle, especially as I’ve only heard from my course tutor twice, and the second time I had to contact her! She doesn’t seem particularly interested in being supportive, if I was a course tutor and had an email from a student saying that they were struggling, I’d be on the phone to them, not send an email saying never mind, plenty of time, get your TMA (tutor marked assignments) in when you can and we’ll go from there. I shall be complaining to Oxford Open Learning. I hope to get my head back down to the studies this week, and maybe the light will dawn and I’ll understand what the heck is expected of me.

Still, enough moaning! Enjoy your surfing, hope to see you guys back round here soon!

Done it at last!!!!

Another WOOHOO from me – I’ve finally despatched that CJ that has been lurking shamefully on my desk for the last couple of months! YAY!!!

I always had it in mind what I wanted to do – Alison wanted us to use a cobweb stamp (shudder, I hate cobwebs, the real ones that is) but our pages were really to reflect something that meant home to us. When I read that, my mind was instantly drawn to the view from my childhood bedroom window. Urban (not city like the cityscape I used, but heigh ho, I wanted to reflect that it was London) but every May the Lilac outside my window would flower. Even now, I see them in other gardens and my mind is drawn back to home – where my Mum still lives, and has done since before I was born!

LH Page

 

RH Page

So, the Lilac stamp is Joanna Sheen, the cityscape is Crafty Individuals, though I gather it’s probably a royalty free image as a couple of other stamp companies have it too, and Big Ben is from Xelacrafts. The cobweb stamp is by a company I don’t know, though I’m sure that Alison would tell me if I asked. I added the hanging spider myself in pen.

Inks used are DI’s – Faded Jeans and Antique Paper. I also used Copics on the Lilacs, but can’t remember which ones (tut tut, silly me) though I DO recall one of them being V04! A touch of hologram EP over silver pigment ink for the spider’s web, and LOADS of masking….. hehehehehe.

The poem is by Komalik – the full version is way longer, but I think the first couple of lines sum it up beautifully. If you want to attach any meaning to the way I’ve put the words on the page, see them as the scent, wafting in the breeze…… lol.

Alison, I hope you like it, cos I had a ‘mare making it – between not having the right stamps, not having the right mojo, being ill, taking on board a ten yr old, and then finding my paper clay had - expired, shall we say? - it’s taken me a while to do this one, and not with the textural element I had hoped to give it. I’m pleased with the result though!

Sketch Saturday 06.11.10

Woohoo – things are getting a bit more like normal around here.  I’ve even managed to do some crafting that isn’t related to a CJ, and isn’t a desperate last minute dash for a much-needed card!  This is crafting for crafting’s sake.

I had received this particular Tilda image from Jo many many moons ago along with a few others, and it had been languishing in my “to colour in” box ever since.  New Copics mean a new found interest in colouring, so I coloured it in last week.  Then on Friday I popped to Kraft Crazy in Tidworth, and whilst picking up the stamps I ordered, I spotted the Papermania Persimmon set of papers.  A quick glance at the packet told me I liked them, and the colours would pretty much go with what I’d coloured in.  It was only when  I got them home and opened the pack that I realised they were not only a pretty much perfect match, there was a paper of blue and purpley polka dots that was almost EXACTLY how I’d coloured in Tilda’s bow.  Fate.

Other materials – three spots of Card Candy, a couple of prima style flowers, some flowers punched from the same backing papers and a couple of brads.

Oh, and lets not forget that I followed this week’s sketch from Sketch Saturday, eh?  Go and try their sketches for yourself – always life savers….  And I’m entering this into this week’s contest.

WOYWW 74 - at least I think it is!

Hi y'all!!!  Sorry.  Americanism.  Colonial sister-in-law.....

Well, I'm back in the land of the living, even if I'm somewhat zombiefied.  Mr Doctor prescribed a course of antibiotics and signed me off work for a further week with a "chest infection".  I'm typing this from the comfort of my desk at home.  Somewhat shocked, might I add, to see that it's 7.40am and there are ALREADY over 40 links on WOYWW.  Have to get up early these days to get in at #1!!!!

So here we are at another WOYWW - and for those who are unaware of what in the heck that is, go and visit Julia's Stamping Ground for more info.

On my desk this week we have.....

New rubber!

I still haven't done that CJ - woe is me! - but as I'm at home this week it will definitely be done today.  I've been too poorly to even think about crafting.  Anyway, the gorgeous stamps you can see come from Smeared Ink.  Some small ones on the left come from Xelacrafts.  I also won some blog candy but in my brain addled fug of memory I can't remember whose blog it was... sob.... but thank you very much to the lovely lady who sent them..... sob.....

Ok, I'm off.  Just a short blog from me this week.  I won't bore you with tales of the last fortnight, which include (but are not limited to) an hour in the dental chair followed by my crowns falling out three days later, after all the dentists are shut and 8 hours before we're due to leave(at 3am) for Blackpool. The sorry tale of me going on the Pepsi Max Big One and screaming myself completely hoarse that it was a full 10 mins before I could physically say a word....the Valhalla ride which got us so wet my Goddaughter POURED water out of her shoes.... The ensuing laryngitis.... the return visit to get my crowns put in.... Halloween where we all went out dressed up round a deserted village, only to find that all the kids were going round en masse, and we finally get to meet all our neighbours 5 months after moving in....

Nope, I'll save all those for another post - and will start the long blog hop to catch up on the doing of you guys - catch you around!

Yak.....

Not the wild beast.

Yak as in Yack. Yuck.  However you want to spell it.

Yak.


Why Yak?

I've been ill, hence the reason for not appearing in the most recent WOYWW list.  In fact, the reason for nothing at all for almost two weeks, no dancing, no panto, no blogging or surfing as such - nada.  I've been off work with what I suspect is a cold that developed into laryngitis (the Dr won't let me near him for some reason - wonder why?  LOL) compounded by coughing fits that make my stomach muscles cramp up, and then the next fit sends my back into spasm.  All in all I'm an all round wreck. 

So Yak.

Normal service will resume shortly. 

I hope.

At least Dr has agreed to see me today, so we'll hear what he has to say then.