WOYWW 343 - Merry Betwixtmas!!!!

Hello!!!!

Yes Julia, there are a few of us here! I've been checking in regularly but not posting. Not been very good at Blogging lately. But I'm here now....

So, my desk? For the usual "What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday?" as per the Stamping Ground blog, we have exhibit A and exhibit B. A is my desk space, with a half finished "NOEL" made up of free standing letters (and a kitsch snowflake for the "O"), which never quite made it to be finished in time for Christmas. I did manage to make some wineglass charms for Mr B, which he actually said he'd like!



You'll also see a colouring book I got for Christmas which will no doubt be added to the growing pile of other colouring books I've not touched.... Underneath that are two papier mâché tissue box covers awaiting my attention. One is for the car as we think it'll be sturdier than just using the box the tissues come in. The other is for the lounge. We got some fab tissue paper when we visited Harry Potter Studios in September and I've already done one for Lil Miss B's room.

Exhibit B is also my desk space, which is currently on loan to aforementioned Jr for her to work on art projects. She's doing something involving cracks on paintings and is
Trying out the Tim Holtz crackle paint, and Rangers crackle accents. I knew I was good for something!



And there you have it.

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Year - see you in 2016!

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WOYWW 337

Oh my! Get me!

Posting twice in two weeks? This can't be true. But it is, and here I am.

Welcome to the wonderful world of WOYWW, courtesy of the lovely Julia.

My desk this week is the same as last weeks – knitting on the sofa. I'm actually knitting two projects at the moment, but only one is for public consumption. The other one is a Christmas present and, I have to say it, there is a risk for once that the recipient will see it if I post it here and on Facebook. So you will have to content yourself with just the baby clothes.

This most recent batch of knitting has taught me some new stitches and some new skills. Ironically enough it's a pattern I've not done before and yet project number two also uses elements from the same project so it's been quite amusing really.

I have also tidied up the Craft Room as some of you will have seen from Facebook this week. This wasn't just down to the craft room needing a tidy up, which it did most definitely, but the fact that Lil' Miss B needed somewhere else to do homework that was more conducive to the sport. That is, not full of distractions of her bedroom, and a bit more space for opening up that pesky A3 art folder. Nothing exciting going on in there at the moment, though there is plenty of intention to start!






Well, time I was off to work so I will see you on the hop! Happy Wednesday!


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WOYWW 336

I'm really not very good at this blogging lark, am I? It's been a good four months since my last post, but so much has gone on that its been a whirlwind of stuff and happenings, and every time Wednesday rolls around I think l I really must post.... And then it's another Wednesday!

So, very briefly....HAPPY WOYWW! My desk has nothing in particular on it. Mainly because it's actually the sofa these days. And the sofa is covered in wool. I'm knitting for an impending arrival - in February I shall finally become a Great Aunt for real (rather than Step-Great Aunt) to a proper, blood related baby, and that kind of occasion calls for breaking out the knitting needles! I'm also still plugging away at granny squares. It's a bit like painting the Forth Bridge, I find!

The baby sampler did finally get finished last month - hopefully I can track down a pic - and you will have seen me working on something microscopic amongst LLJs photos....

So, until next time..... Happy hopping! I shall leave you all in the capable hands of arrrr Julia....


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WOYWW 316

Well, here we are again for another WOYWW, that weekly blog hop around the messy crafting spaces of the world, hosted by the fabulous - and currently tanning - Julia.

Not much from me this week - my desk has mostly consisted of a box of tissues due to the dreaded hayfever, but in between sneezes I'm still working on that cross stitch....









We also celebrated our second anniversary - where HAS the time gone?

Hope to see you out and about on the hop....

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WOYWW 312 - 6 years!

Gosh it's the sixth anniversary! Where has the time gone?? Thank you, Julia, for making it possible each week!

I'm a bit late playing today, but better late than never! It's been a bit of a busy day today and I didn't leave work until 7.00pm.

So, my desk...


The usual mayhem, coupled with all my lovely ATCs from the crop. Nothing exciting happening here today, partly because....



Yup, t'was my birthday on the 26th! Got some lovely presents including some fab stash which for some obscure reason I haven't photographed!

Beloved Mr B gave me a low fat birthday cake too.... Plus the packet mix to make a red velvet cake when I get desperate. I'm on a diet you see...


....and to help me lose weight I'm now the proud owner of a vintage-style tricycle. I'm not very good on two wheels for various reasons at the moment!



Clearing my Mum's house recently, she found this box that belonged to my Grandmother, and it took her a while to locate the key. She eventually did, and passed both over to me.


The box was Gran's sewing chest, and given to her when she turned 18 in 1923!


It's a little bit mildewed, but it still has many things in it that Gran used.


Another treasure I've acquired is one of the miniatures my Dad made. This is a blacksmiths forge, lovely isn't it?


But the real beauty and intricacy of what he did is only revealed when the roof is lifted off...








My Dad was so talented. I'm constantly in awe of what he could achieve with the most basic of supplies.

So, what's on your desk this week?

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WOYWW 311

Greetings fellow desk hoppers!

Another quickie from me this week, not least because there's not an awful lot on my desk!




I thought I'd make like Julia and do the old aerial view this week, not one I tend to use much. You can see general debris today. Scissors, my trust metal edged ruler, tape runner, a new Stampin Up! punch that I snaffled in the nick of time as it's being discontinued, various used post-it notes from masking. I had hoped there'd be a circle journal to not share but it's not arrived yet.

The WOYWW crop on Saturday was much fun. You've all heard a lot about it from others so I won't bore you other than to reiterate the cake thing - and although I have photos, they're not on my phone! Hmm. Moving swiftly on....

I have to share my work desk with you though as it's nice and tidy!




And isn't this chap lovely? He's been put up in the branch downstairs, so I know I'm working in the right place!



Well, have to hop off now.... Catch you on a blog somewhere!

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WOYWW 310

Yoo halloo!

I'll be back later to pad this out a bit, just wanted to upload my pic while I had wifi! Gotta run to get to work now though....




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several hours later......


I'm back!  It won't be long - I'm just sneaking a quick post in.


So - as one or two have quite rightly spotted, there's a tunnel book on my desk.  I'm a member of Collabor-ART, an online group of creative and funky individuals (yes, you, Kyla) and we're doing a tunnel book circle journal.  The more astute amongst you might notice that's a picture of Edgar Allan Poe.  No prizes for guessing the theme of my book...


Now I've done the cover it's ready for sending off - and another one will be with me soon.  So I'll have that on my desk next week, no doubt.


My next mission is my ATCs for crop this weekend and for the anniversary... Yay! 


See some of you on Saturday!  Whooop de dooopp!!!!!

WOYWW 306

Greetings and Salutations!

Just a quickie from me because I have to go to work in a moment.

Here is my desk today.it's reasonably clear because to be honest I haven't done much work on it lately. Having said that though, the glass painted bottle was used as a sample to work from. My mum has something very similar and one of her friends was eyeing it up the other day. Mum found me a lead crystal decanterto work my magic on. That has now been handed over and I hope the recipient likes it.



Lots of happened since Last being on here my mum has decided to move house and we spent a lot of time clearing it out. We acquired a cat, Marley, who has given us a few grey hairs already. And I hate to be tantalising but I have some news that I am bursting to share but can't because someone may read this that really needs to be told face-to-face first. Nothing big or scary just something great!



So see you on the hop hopefully! I'm a little busy this week because Mr B has a special birthday tomorrow and we have a party on Saturday to celebrate, so I have a bit of organising on my hands.

TT FN


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It's an age related thing.

Every morning I walk my dog at a ridiculously early hour before getting ready to go to work. This morning was no different and it is the case every morning that I tend to find myself mulling over the day ahead or a problem coming up, or just considering life in general. This morning the phrase popped into my head "I'm too old to learn...(insert new skill".

I think the reason that this phrase went through my head is that we are in the process of helping my mum to clear her house ready for a house move. She's lived there for 50 years and has accumulated as many possessions and chaff as you would expect for such a long period in one place. Amongst the possessions are many musical instruments and, being the only musical one in the family, said instruments have been promised to me. It has always been my understanding that I would eventually get these instruments as part of my Mum's will, but this seems to have been brought forward by the impending relocation. The new house Mum is moving to is considerably smaller and she has to downsize and therefore remove a lot of the possessions from her life that she either no longer requires, or has space for. These include, amongst others, my Grandad's cornet, possibly the two violins which have sat on top of a wardrobe for my whole life, and a Welsh lap harp. The last time I visited my Mum, she made me promise something. "You will learn to play the harp, if I give it to you?" My husband looked at me, raised one eyebrow, and said "hammered dulcimer?" I am just like my mum and that I collect possessions with an intent to learn how to play or make or do something. Sat by my piano at home is a student half-size hammered dulcimer, a travelling one if you will, which I have had for a year and been promising myself that I will learn to play it.

So where does the phrase "I'm too old to learn a new instrument" for example, come in? Is it simply a case of too old and therefore incapable? No, I don't think one loses the ability to learn something because one is old. I think it is simply a case of one no longer having the time. When we are children and we have no responsibilities it is an easy matter to put in a half hour to an hour's practice the day, whether we want to not, to learn new instrument, a new language or a new craft. Once you reach 40+ - sometimes younger sometimes older - your time is divided up in so many ways. You have so many responsibilities to family, work, clubs, that finding time to learn and develop new skills is sometimes almost impossible.

So what to do? Find the time. I did indeed promise my mum that I would learn to play her beloved harp. Not that she's learned to play it herself yet…


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WOYWW 301

I seem to be leapfrogging a few WOYWWs, and managed to completely miss 300! Shame on me!

Here's my offering this week.


Sorry it's so small (there have been complaints, don'cha know! LOL) but I tend to grab a few minutes to do this before going off to work and usually the computer is off!

It's not a very exciting desk I'm afraid as although it's overcrowded I'm not actually in the middle of anything at the mo. I have managed to make three cards this week though, which is pretty good going. I also made this but couldn't blog till the recipient received it *just in case*.



So onto another week. Hope it's a good one for you all!

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WOYWW 297

Ugh. Cross with myself for missing yesterday's WOYWW! So I'll be brief and say here's my desk, late last night. The rot is starting to creep in again! I must have another tidy up today.







I did get some nice new blanks for the business though.

And good news - I've got a job starting Monday. Yay! Ish.

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WOYWW 296

Gosh, look at me! Two weeks on the trot! That hasn't happened in a long, long time...and here we are in February already. How did that happen?

So, we're back again for another session of WOYWW courtesy of the lovely Julia. Here is my desk for the week:




It's still not properly cleared away although the head has now gone and I have a few spare inches in which to be creative! There's a couple of new jewellery projects I'm working on for the business and leftover shapes from some cards Mr B made for Panto but other than that, all is quiet on the Western front... Panto is now over - all bar the shouting aka post production and committee meetings, the after show party (yay!) and the AGM and DVD nights.

Hope your week is going well and you're all fighting fit!


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WOYWW 295

Hello Bloggers!

Today's post comes from the desk. More accurately, it is courtesy of Julia over at The Stamping Ground and it's What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday - week 295.

I've actually been having a tidy up and a move around again, now that our run of visitors is over and Livvy is permanently back in her own room. It's a good feeling, clearing the decks. Ready for some creativity! There's a little way to go yet but I'm nearly there now!







So what has everyone else been up to?


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Location:Windsor Way,Fordingbridge,United Kingdom

Sucked in....

Life is tough, ain't it? Some awful person invented Facebook. Another invented Pinterest. And Instagram. And Twitter. It's easy to get sucked in by these terrors of the modern age. All of this is aided and abetted by the invention of the smartphone - damn you, Apple! (Other smartphones are available...LOL)

I would like to put my hand up here and say that I am an internetoholic and would like to stop. So what am I doing on HERE then?

I am a recently made redundant, budding female entrepreneur. I am trying - and struggling, and currently failing - to build my own little business that will support my family and save me from having to go back out to work for some big corp. who have office politics and want to suck me dry. And I blame FB and Pinterest for getting in my way. Of course, the real person to blame is me. I have very little willpower and am easily distracted by all the bright shiny things and games and news and quizzes and....

Sound familiar?

The trouble is, I need all those platforms to help grow and develop my business. Marketing is essential these days and social media is the way forward. 750 million people use FB. That's one in every nine people on the planet. Of those, a third access FB through mobile devices. That's staggering! But to be successful, to raise your head above all the others and get noticed? That takes some doing. First you have to have a product everyone wants, then you have to promote it. Blogging is a major way to do this and without posts, you can't have a blog!

The good news in all this is that I won't be using this blog to do that! I will be setting up a new blog for Hare Moon Crafts and keeping this blog for my more personal stuff. Both blogs will be accessible to all, but I'll try not to turn this one into an advertising fest. I promise.

Now, to get off here and actually go to work....

Where was the power off button.....?

Stats courtesy of http://www.jeffbullas.com/2011/09/02/20-stunning-social-media-statistics/

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WOYWW 293

Oops.

How long has it been since I last blogged?! Far too long.

So without further ado - I'd like to wish everyone a Cool Yule, a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. Better late than never, that's what I say!

I do have an excuse for some of it. At the beginning of December my Mother, bless her, took a flying backwards leap off the stage at her local church. She'd gone up there to collect some Christmas decorations to be put up, and a well-intentioned lady accidentally turned all the lights off. Now, my Mum is 83 - but amazingly enough she bounced. Broke a padlock off a door in the process, mind you, but bounced nonetheless. And then the shock brought on a bout of shingles. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that she spent Christmas with us. Then a week after she went home, I took a tumble. Between all that and Panto, I've not had time to do much else!

So, the real reason you're here is WOYWW, courtesy of the lovely Julia Dunnit and her fabby blog The Stamping Ground. And here is the mayhem that is my desk. Still not sorted from the teen using the room as a sleeping pad while Grandma was in residence. I could explain the head, but I won't. I'm sure that whatever is in your imaginations will be FAR more interesting than the truth!

Until next time...

Morti

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