WOYWW 137 - Zzzzzzzzzz

We're back for another session of WOYWW and this week for me it's decidedly Zzzzz.  Well, that's what you'll all be doing after seeing this oh-so-dull photo of my desk. Nothing exciting to report this week, other than the making of one Thank You card as a sample for Mr B because he needs to make a fair few in a hurry. On Thursday.

It's also a bit Zzzzz because we're all tired after the weekend's three shows - we have a mid-run rehearsal tonight and then three more shows at the weekend coming.  Followed immediately by a post show party, and then we strike the set on the Sunday morning.  Huzzah!  I want my Sundays back.  I love panto, but Sunday rehearsals are a real bind.

That's my lot though - for more delightful desks, visit Dunnit the Desk Diva where you will find some interesting diversions for your day.... Mind you, last week I was tearing my hair out because about a dozen of your lovely blogs just froze on me, and I could only read, not comment.  I think it was an issue at work, so I'll try and do you folks first this week!

WOYWW 136 - Curtain Up!

Another week, another WOYWW....  head via the link to Dunnit Dimensions and let the desk -hopping commence!

For me, a short post this week as my desk hasn't changed an awful lot.  Apart from some new stash I bought on Saturday from Shopkeeper Gal before heading off to the crop.  Some nice bargains too - a fab stamp of Venice for starters, for just £1!  She's also started stocking Craft Stamper, which is an absolute bonus because otherwise I have to go all the way to Amesbury for it or buy it online - nowhere else locally sells it (and I'm too lazy to ask my corner shop to stock it). 

The crop was fun - I didn't actually do any cropping - instead I made a trident for the panto.  Here it is in it's finished state - on my real workdesk this week because I've been painting it in the kitchen where the light is better and there's space to lay it out.  Made from a broom handle, multiple layers of double walled corrugated cardboard, some specialist road tape (don't ask!), four Maya Road chipboard scrolls, and silver and copper paint.  

And here's a gratuitous shot of Mr B as Long John Silver at rehearsals on Sunday.  ROFL.  We did an entire day, and by the end of it, he was exhausted.  We all were.



Curtain up on Friday 13th!   Arrrrr!

WOYWW 135 - Panto season! or, the one where the desk goes vertical

Here we are again - WOYWW has hit us headlong into the New Year, so I hope it is a happy one for all of you!

It's that time of year again.... oh yes it is....oh no it isn't.... sigh.  I can't resist it...

Anyway, my desk this week has been mostly vertical, as I have been helping my good friend Nettie and her partner Rob paint the scenery for Treasure Island.  Nettie does the big stuff (scares the crap out me), Rob blocks in, and I've been making stuff look round, like I do.  I give you exhibit A:

exhibit B (we need baskets, they said) :

Bigger view of what's going on - I've just been adding depth and shadow and stuff, and not working on the big bits.  Sorry they're blurred - it's me iPhone you know!

But my desk hasn't only been vertical - Tuesday night it was definitely horizontal and I have just finished making two maps for the panto. Treasure maps of course. And here I say All Hail the Duke of Distress - for t'is his inks wot made it possible. All done using a black Sharpie, and the lovely inks Walnut Stain, Rusty Hinge, Faded Denim, Peeled Paint, Festive Berries and Black Soot. Ta Dah! Makes life so much easier, and so much more realistic, than using a tea bag, dontcha think?

Oh, and if you're interested, the island is based on a slightly stretched Christmas Island.... LOL.  Had to be done, really!

Catch you on the hop...... Arrrrrrrrrrr......

WOYWW 134 - or.... WWUYCT

Welcome to the Betwixtmas WOYWW - and on this occasion, I'm also calling it WWUYCT, or What Was Under Your Christmas Tree?

For newbies who don't have a clue what I'm on about, the deets can be found HERE at Dunnit Dimensions.

I had a bit of a fail this week.  I had every intention of visiting everyone who visited me on last week's WOYWW, and didn't.  I simply didn't get on the computer.  I also intended to post on Christmas day, but we went for a Xmas Geocache, and were out for 4 hours, finding 18 Geocaches on a six mile walk.  It was an epic success, and made our Xmas, I have to say. 

Yes we're sad, but how many of you managed to get an 11 year old to walk 6 miles on Christmas Day without complaining, and more to the point, having only opened TWO presents???  An equal success, because it wore out some of her bounce, made Christmas last all day, and then into the bargain, the originator of the Cache ring watched us do part of it from his home, and came out halfway through to ply us with Mince Pies!  Yay!  Can I just add that Lil Miss B is as "into" Geocaching as we are, so it was no hardship for her, she enjoyed it as much as we did. 

Well, onto the main point of my blathering.

My desk this week, as you can see, is clean and pretty tidy.  All ready for the next bout of creativity. 

My fingers are itching.  Amongst my lovely presents was a signed book from Spellbound Beads on beaded baubles, and a kit of the Emperor Bauble (this will be my third bauble from SB themselves).  Having not actually done the last one I bought (The Romanov), I feel I should complete it before starting the new one.  And I feel confident to start it because I actually finished the Charmed Stocking on Boxing Day, and it now hangs on our tree after its photo shoot (see below).

As for WWUYCT - here are the gratuitous present shots:

Yes, that's a lot of presents, mostly for Lil Miss B!

I had lots of lovely craft stuff in addition to the bits mentioned above - Distress Inks, TH's scissors, 12 x 12 papers, peeloffs in attractive borders, Shapeabilities fleur de lis accents..... I could go on....

 So, I hope you all got what you wanted for Christmas, coupled with good cheer, laughter, plenty of love, light and happiness, and generally a joyous time.

I'll leave you with one last chuckle though - on his wish list, Mr B had asked for a new memory stick, a 4GB "peg".  Lil Miss B gave him this - a fridge magnet to clip his notes to.....

Catch you on the hop!



WOYWW 133 - Merry Christmas to All!

So here it is.  The Christmas edition of WOYWW.  In honour of the occasion, here is a slightly blurred, but very sparkly looking photo of my Christmas tree.  I would have shown you a picture taken with flash, but that just ruined the festive look.  So you'll have to go with the mellow yellow version.  LOL.

So what is on my workdesk this Wednesday?  For those who are new to the phenomenon created by the ebullient Ms Budd, go to The Stamping Ground for all the deets and the funky roadmap that is the great and wonderful Mr Linky.  And I can honestly say, having sampled the delights last evening, that the sheet cake was truly yummy.  Thanks Julia!

My desk. Oh ROFL.  What do we have here?  Well, yes, this isn't Wednesday's photo, but Tuesday night's, and it appears I have another squatter.  This time Mr B is at it, making a pop out Christmas card for his parents, to deliver tomorrow. 

  

 

My desk this week has been a  lap tray in the lounge because that has been the most comfy place to work.  I've still not finished my charmed stocking but I have, er herm, managed to bead two other baubles for ladies who I am honoured to call my friends.  Said baubles have been safely delivered, but I didn't managed to finish them in time for a photo opportunity.  You'll just have to take my word for it that they sparkled elegantly, and hanging on the recipients' trees look like...er... baubles.  Fab!

Thank you all for your warm wishes regarding my op.  I've been poked, prodded, stitched and bruised, and am due to make my second attempt to return to work tomorrow (the first being a bit of a fail because I wasn't really well enough, naivety and optimism leading me to think I was...LOL).  The surgeon has found and dealt with one issue on my insides, we just have to wait three months to see if it's worked, and if not, try a different tack.  Joy joy.

Here's to wishing you all a very merry Christmas and see you at Betwixtmas if not before - I will endeavour to do a WUYCT (What's Under Your Christmas Tree) for Christmas Day!

See you on the hop!

WOYWW 132 - Success!

Welcome to WOYWW once more.  For all the deets on this desk-hopping extravanganza, go HERE.

So, just a quickie from me tonight - we have success!  I finally managed to get my star card completed, and here it is.  I apologise for the state of the photos, I've taken them in rather a hurry tonight after spending a couple of hours unsuccessfully trying to resolve an email issue.  Darned BT!

Yes, an awful lot of work went into those, and I won't know for a couple of days whether or not it's worth it, but it was fun!

I've just realised I didn't take a decent picture of the section of the card with the 5 pointed star pop out.  Oh well!

Not much else has happened here at Morti Mansions - unfortunately, Lil Miss B's Christmas trip to Granny in France has been cancelled at the eleventh hour because the Wicked Real-Mother failed to check the passport (we didn't have it, so didn't know) until last night and discovered it had expired.  Neither she nor we have the funds to replace it this close to Christmas, even if she managed to get an appointment to do so.  I wouldn't mind, but her other daughter's had expired earlier this year and it didn't occur to her to check it at the time.... I have to say that Lil Miss B has mixed feelings about the trip being cancelled - the silver lining is that she doesn't have to spend Christmas with Granny.  The sad part is that it's just re-inforced in her young mind what a waste of space her real mother is.  Such a shame.

Anyway, I digress...

Other than the card, my desk is pretty clear.  Lil Miss B had a marathon session on Monday night and made a fridge magnet for her Guide Leader for Christmas, but that's all the excitement my desk has seen this week.  If you can see my two new jesters lurking, I might offer a prize for the two best names you guys can come up with!

Catch you on the hop!

WOYWW 131 - Epic fail, comme normale...

Well, hello my WOYWWing friends.  If you don't WOYWW, why not?  All the deets are here.

Well, this week has been, as the title suggests, an epic fail.  Shoshi brilliantly managed to prod my memory that I do actually have a Silhouette SD but it hasn't actually helped.  The amount of detail involved in this particular cut means that it takes a lot of time to cut, and the blade on the machine doesn't always cut all the way through.  Which I think is the machine's way of telling me I need a new blade.  That and the fact that I haven't quite mastered converting a Jpeg to a GSD file for the machine.  Ho hum.  Before someone points out that I ought to do a double cut etc, I know all that, but it's struggling with the fine detail and doing double tracks etc.  I need a decent tute. I've spent far too much time on this already - but have invested more time than makes me want to back out of the comp!  ROFL.  Anyone mention the word masochist?

So here is my desk, with one partially cut out PCB design.  We're having a stay-at-home weekend this weekend, and I'm hoping to spend most of Saturday in the craft room.  Some hope... We managed to put the tree up, put lights on it, and a star at the top.  But Mr B didn't take too kindly to my suggestion that we leave it like that!  Oh well.

Don't look too closely at my desk - you might notice two tealight holders at the back that I was supposed to work some magic on.  Shhh - don't tell Tracy.....

I will try to get round as many as I can this week!  Hope you're all not too stressed out with Christmas!

WOYWW 130 - the OMG it's nearly December! one...

Yooohallloooo!  WOW!  November 30th!  Advent starts tomorrow and I've not found my candle for it yet.  That sucks...

Well, I'm pleased that you've decided to swing by my place on your wander through WOYWW-land.  If you've landed here by accimedent (new word, LOL) then try popping off to HERE where our Tour Guide, Julia, will hand you a pamphlet and a packet of polos for the journey.  Enjoy!

Meantime, I really wish I had something more interesting, more...er...finished... to show you.  Sadly, the stocking has got no further and currently is still lurking on the laptray in the lounge.  Life gets in the way, y'know?

What I CAN show you is my current state of play desk-wise.

Suffice it to say that work, as usual, has had a brain-fart, and this month they're running a design-a-Christmas-card competition.  Oh ROFL.  Like I'm not going to have a go at that!  However, it's pretty open as to what medium we use etc etc, so I'm going for a star card in white and I'm using a printout of PCB tracking (for we is a PCB manufacturer, no less) to create a stencil for embossing and stencilling through...  Hehehehe.  It's going to take a while though - all those lines and dots will need cutting out!

Also on my desk you can see two tealight holders and some mulberry paper that I really MUST get sorted this week for a commission.  I also have the delightful prize sent to me all the way from Australia by Sandra de for correctly guessing the object on her desk a fortnight ago (how's THAT for a postal service, eh?) and what a delightful prize too.  A card, an ATC, ribbon, India ink, microbeads in festive colours, pink bling, page pebbles AND a print of the stamp I guessed.  I'm definitely using that in something!  Thanks Sandra!

Well, the witching hour approaches, and I can get this out onto t'internet tonight (as my desk will be no different in the morn) ready for linking up at ohmygodo'clock tomorrow.

Catch you all on the 'op!

ETA - Here's a funny thing.  Shoshi, in her comment, has mentioned that I would be better converting the pic to a cutting file, and cutting out that circuit diagram on a cutting machine.  How stoopid do I feel right now?  I have a Craft Robo/Silhouette... doh!.....  so, today (2nd Dec) I have been to work and got them to convert the image to a jpeg so I can convert it to a gsd file and get the machine to do the hard work!  I don't know why it didn't occur to me to do that in the first place.  Guess I've not used the machine enough.  In my defence, I will also add that the circuit diagram was also a pdf originally....not compatible with a CR.  Thanks for the prod though, Shoshi!

Blog Candy.....x 2

Elaine has this on offer:

You have until the 3rd December to join in!  Gorgeous papers, eh?  There's a little something else there too, so go have a look!

and Louise has this on offer!  Also until the 3rd December....

You've got to be in it to win it!

WOYWW 129 - the slightly different one....

Ok, it's late on Tuesday night (technically, now early Wednesday morning) so I'll keep this brief.  Makes a change, says the reader....

Welcome once more to WOYWW, the wonder of desk hopping and blog surfing as created by the magnificent Mrs D.

This week I kind of have two desks for you.  One is my upstairs desk....... ta dah!

As you can see, not a lot on it.  We have a broken pair of earrings courtesy of Lil Miss B.  A stack of cutting mats, at the bottom of which is a nice, shiny (literally - I haven't taken the cellophane off it yet!) A2 cutting mat.  And we have exhibit A - one set of the new limited edition Tim Holtz inks which plopped through my letterbox today.  Huzzah!  There's not a lot else on my desk because I've not been here to do any crafting.  On Monday, Mr B's school got the call all schools dread these days - Ofsted are showing up today (Weds) to do their Inspection, so it's been a frantic couple of days of catching up  on the marking and targets and paperwork and.....and....  He's been putting in 20 hours days, and I feel like I have too...

The other "desk" is my downstairs desk, aka a lap tray.  On it is the remains of the Mill Hill Charmed Stocking I'm working on.  The main part of the stocking is now done; I'm working on the cuff and stocking "stuffers" to finish it.  I WILL have it done soon, then I can go back to the Hardanger I was working on earlier in the year....sigh.....

Other entertainng news - Lil Miss B and I went to the Wave 105 Live gig on Sunday (I won a pair of tickets back in September), and saw: The Reason 4, The Feeling, Erasure, Matt Cardle, Darren Hayes, The Pierces and The Overtones.  We had a fab time, though Lil Miss flagged a lot sooner than I did - we had standing tickets!  I do have a couple of pics but they're on my phone and it requires more energy than I have right now to get them off it.  I have managed to pull this photo they took of us off the Wave 105 website, though!  How cool is that?!

Less than entertaining news, but far more important (and I know I should be happy but it's hard to) is that I finally have a date for my investigative laparascopy.  And guess what?  It's the 15th December.  Nothing says Happy Christmas quite like having your abdomen pumped full of air and a camera shoved through your belly button.  My workplace aren't too impressed as by then my boss will be in Australia with his family, and they're worrying in case the hospital decide to keep me in as there's only the two of us in the department.  Tough!  My health comes first.... I'm sure someone there will keep on top of the cash!

However, for now we are plodding along quite happily, so see you around on the blop!

Ha!  Just realised...... I was going to keep this brief....  Oh well!