WOYWW 151 - the countdown has begun!

Ooh! This is all looking a bit different in the "create post" window, so let's hope we all get it right this week or it's going to be a short blog hop!

This week my desk is showing the startings of an ATC for the swap coming up in 5 weeks - this year I'm getting a jump on the makings. 

Nothing else to report this week - we're rather busy with the play which will be all over by next week, thankfully.  Never before has a play been so much effort!  Below is a picture of Mr B and Avril as Ma & Pop Larkin - fab photo...

See you in a comments box near you - hopefully!



WOYWW 150 - the hostile takeover...

LOL

Not really.  Nothing hostile about my mother!  No, just means that once again my desk is clear as it doubles as a dressing table for visitors.  After my last reference to this a couple of people said I shouldn't bother tidying up my craft desk for visitors, and generally speaking I don't, but it's a bit different when they need the space for their potions and lotions and the like.

So, welcome to WOYWW once more!  The weekly wonder of desk hopping the world over!  For all the deets and links, go here.

So what's on my desk this week, aside from my Mother's "stuff"?  Apart from the usual, there's a 12 x 12 picture frame which needs painting and shabby-chic'ing.  Wobbly man has gone off on one and is sulking behind the tote bag.  You can see my collections of brads, eyelets and card candi lurking there too.  And you can just about see the finished B box peeking out. 

Just for you guys, here's some close-ups!  The base of the box is a matchbox - I'm sure that's no surprise to most of you - painted with an irridescent hot pink acrylic paint.  I used self adhesive aluminium glued over a cardboard base onto which had been stuck some shapes (in this case the letters, the bees and the flowers) and used these to create the main relief design.  Some Ten Second Studio tools and some black acrylic paint later, et voila!  The other sides were made from card cut to size, inked with two shades of cats eye chalk inks, plus some TH distress ink in Black Soot, and stamped with an Inkadinkado inchy background stamp.  I added some bling with some stickles, glued it all together, and there you have one B box.

I think the quote was from.... was from.... Lost Coast?  Or is it Zettiology lady?  Or maybe Third Coast.  I'm crap at remembering the manufacturer, especially when it comes in as a plate of rubber.... Sorry...

Anyway, catch you in a comments box near you!  I managed to visit all my visitors last week, plus a few!  Ace.....

WOYWW 149 - the staycation one...

Well, you'd think with a few days off I'd have made it round everybody's blogs this week, wouldn't you?  Must try harder!  I didn't even make it around everyone who visited me (hangs head in shame), so please do accept my apologies, and expect a visit very shortly!

This week we have a busy desk - I've been making something I promised to do for a friend years ago, and as it's her birthday on Thursday I felt moved to make something for the occasion.  Thus you see the B box.  Don't ask.  It's a long, convoluted and somewhat obscure story (I'll tell you later Doone) and more than a little odd...

Crop this week saw me produce three layouts, of which I only managed to finish...none.   All three have had to have something added, whether it was a simple date, or a better title...or...well, number three isn't quite done yet and I wouldn't dare to show it on here anyway for fear that Mrs D would have my guts for garters...

Oh yes.  The reason I'm rambling on about my desk?  WOYWW of course!  For those that don't know - it's a weekly hop round a few of the desks in the world that are baring all.  Join in here if you dare!  I have a lovely badge courtesy of Ms Julia which I have epically failed to photograph this week.....DOH!

See you in a comments box near you!

WOYWW 148 - back to normality!

Welcome  back to WOYWW - the Wednesday wander through the realms of the neat, the not so neat, and the downright untidy! 

My desk this week is back to its usual untidy state - what you witness below is the aftermath of an "ohmyGodit'sKaren'sbirthdayonFriday" and "Ihaven'tmadeheracardanditneedstogointotheposttomorrow" session.  We've all had one of those, I'm sure!

Close up of the card (Karen doesn't do PCs full stop, let alone bloghop!) - image is one of the Li'l Grumpies by Smeared Ink.  I love them.  They're so downright....grumpy.  With phrases like "suck it up" and "bite me", could they be anything else?  I made my own insert - it reads "live a little, I dare ya".  As a cancer survivor, Karen will appreciate the sentiment, and her rock chick heart will love the Grumpie.  Hehehe.



A swift glance behind us on the bed reveals the death-throes of a prepping-for-a-crop flurry.  Yup, crop this month is on Saturday, and having almost literally bumped into Laura (airingcupboardstamping) in Salisbury BHS last Sat, I said I'd go, so I'm going.  Wish me luck in my prepping!

See you somewhere in a comments box near you - after the Blogger issues this week, I didn't managed to get round many folks!

WOYWW 147 - The Blogoversary one....

Wooohooo!

It's that time of the week again when we go on a massive snoop-fest courtesy of Ms Dunnit over at The Stamping Ground.

This week I actually have a creative desk, and I'll share with you a couple of other pics I've taken of recent cards from the Morti Makings...

Mr B has been heard to comment lately that I'm being very tidy in my creativity.  Not so, says I.  T'is simply a matter of having to jostle for space with another someone who has had Mother's Day cards to make, so if you don't want it spoiled, put it away!

And then there's the small matter of everyone turning 40 and I need cards.  And weddings... my sister, you understand, not me.  Not yet, at any rate!  Now that she has her card, I can blog it.  Coolio!

So, my desk this week is showing the makings of yet another 40th Birthday card, along with my Mothers Day gift from Lil Miss B - a Tim Holtz Alterations die (woo, go me!) , but not a lot else.  This was taken last night, and is how the desk looks this morning.

Next up, the two Mother's Day cards I made - remarkably similar, eh?  You gotta love the Stamp Tapestry collections, they make it so simple!  I used my trusty lego stamp postioner to get the Happy Mother's Day text in the right place.

Lastly, the Wedding card I recently made for my sister and her fella - main sentiment was cut out using a file from Silhouette SD, the punch is Martha Stewart.  A bit of dry embossing, a couple of peeloffs (yup, gotta love those straight line ones) and some flat backed self adhesive pearls, and Bob's your Uncle.



So, today I have been short and sweet as requested by Julia - hope to see you all on the blog-hop!

PS... Aah, yes... The small matter of this blog's 6th Blogoversary, for it is indeed today.  I know it is traditional these days to offer some Blog Candy on so festive an occasion, but to be honest with all you guys, I simply can't afford it this year.  All the spare pennies (and I shall be having words with Mr B regarding the gift of a TH die for Mother's Day) are heading in the general direction of a rather reined-in wedding next year, so I hope you'll all forgive me for not offering anything amazing this time round.  Maybe next year, if wedding funds allow....

WOYWW 146 - the non creative one....

Once again, it’s time for WOYWW – the weekly blog hop that sails round the world on the desks of the creative masses. For more deets go to Stamping Ground, where you’ll find a fab list of some of the best messes spaces ever!

I’m a bit late joining the party this week. I’m utterly WOYWW’d out. Or Mojo’d out. Not quite sure which. All I know is that last night didn’t pan out quite the way I’d forseen it (namely having been abandoned by all and sundry to sleep by 8pm) and I just didn’t have the energy to think about a post for today. Although that might have something to do with the chocolate fest that kept me company *blushes*.  Nor did I have anything on my desk, not having had the mojo to sit and create stuff.  That's not to say I've had a non-creative week, I did make two Mother's Day cards, and a Birthday card, but I don't have the photos of those to hand at work!

So today, you really get to see my workdesk – and on it we have cables and microswitches as well as invoices and a cup of coffee. Deep joy. What this means is that they need to get a part out to a customer, and it’s all hands to the pump to get it out on time. My task? To join the cables in the bottom right to the switches in the top right, giving us the united components on the left there. It’s not much fun – it’s quite tough on the old fingers as the male/female parts we have to put together are an extremely tight fit!

However, to cheer you up (or perhaps me?), I have to share with you a couple of fun moments from this week.

Firstly, we had Grandad B staying with us, and as Lil Miss B was visiting her real-Mum (we’re having Mother’s Day a week late this year), he took us out for a meal.

I opted to have the grilled Goat’s cheese for starters. Grandad B asked me what I was having, so I told him. He didn’t quite catch what I said, so I repeated it for him. Later, he told Mr B that I was having “goose” cheese, but he didn’t know what that was like…. ROFLMAO. Poor Grandad B – he is a trifle deaf and does wear a hearing aid.  * Remind me to tell you about the Smacked Mackerel Pate one day....

The second chuckle was a result of something that we usually do with Lil Miss B. - to make sure she has heard and understood instructions, we usually ask her to repeat them. This particular chuckle happened later on Sunday – Lil Miss B wasn’t coming home until Monday morning, and we were both going to have left for work. It suddenly occurred to me that she might not have her keys, and when I sent her a text asking, she said no. So, this was how the text conversation wound up.  It doesn’t read quite as funny as when it happened, but is always worth a haha…

And lastly – look at the shop that is in Andover – Sarah, is there something you’re not telling us? LOL

Hope to catch up with a lot of you on the hop today - but as I'm late joining, I think you all have a headstart!

WOYWW 145 - cupcakes in the dark!

Or so it seems from this picture!  It's not, it's just the angle I took it at, and the artificial lighting in there!

This is my desk as I left it last night, with the remains of a cupcake making session strewn across it.  Not real cupcakes, but a cupcake card.  This is what happens when your beloved rings up at 3.30pm and asks if you'd do him a huge favour that evening and help him design a simple Mother's Day card his class could make the next day.  Common sense prevailed and I enlisted the help of Aunty Google to find me a decent template.  Et Voila!  One cupcake card duly made....

The frosting part of the cake is actually made from glitter card and is also embossed using a CB folder - not that you can tell it from here, eh?

For anyone who is wondering why I'm blathering on about my desk and its general state of disarray, head on over to Dunnit Dimensions for a looky-see at everyone else's desks!

Ha!  See, I can do short and sweet.... catch you all on the blog hop!  Hope you're all keeping well!

Tell it like it is.....

My family is well known for getting its mucking furds wuddled.  Some folks are born with a spoon in their mouth - I was born with a spoonerism.  From Cargidan to Par Cark, I've always done a back-to-fronty when I'm in a hurry to say stuff.

This has continued with my new family.  Lately we've had wrist wormers, a wegging dress, and my personal favourite, Carrots of the Pirabbean.  We figured the main character in that one had to be Capt Jack Marrow (maybe with Rhubarbossa?).

But last night really took the biscuit, and I feel I have to share the full tale for you to appreciate the beauty of it, although it may go over the head of anyone not in the UK.

Once a a week, we have ice-cream factory night.  After dinner, out comes the ice-cream, usually two flavours, and all the squirty and sprinkly stuff we own.  Lil Miss B was asked to fetch the frozen part last night, and she came trundling back into the room with a tub of vanilla, and a tub of choc mint chip, leaving another tub of vanilla in the freezer still.  The one in the freezer was a much more expensive brand....

Says she...

"Do you want me to fetch the car door ice-cream?"

It took us a couple of beats to realise she meant "Carte D'or".

We're still laughing today.....

WOYWW 144 - The loved up edition

Hello fellow WOYWWers!

I'll keep it brief this week - looky at my desk!  All clean and shiny after a visit from the future in-laws!  Yup.  For the big news this week, go HERE.  It's not desk related, but it's news.

My desk has on it the beginnings of a 40th birthday card - all my peer group turn the big 4-0 this year - and some reprinted pics for Project Life.  Thank you Maggie for your help, cos I was indeed being dumb and it was a lack of ink....blushes profusely.

So there you have it - short and sweet this week.  For more desks, visit Dunnit Dimensions and join the weekly hop!  See you on it....

Dah da di daaahh, dah da di daaah.....

I know, unusually for me, we have a post between WOYWWs.  This is cos I didn't want to bore everyone on WOYWW, so if you've come here via WOYWW, bless you!

So, I have news.

BIG news....

On Saturday (yup, sorry, couldn't get on the blog before now!) the man of my dreams, love of my life, my soul mate, mo anam cara....


PROPOSED.

And he did it all proper like, on bended knee.

The deets - we were out for a meal in the pub two doors away from us, with his parents as it was Mater's birthday.  I disappear off to the little girl's room, and when I returned he popped up out of his chair and said

"As you're on your feet, and I have the people I love around me, would you do me the honour of becoming my wife".

Mater cried.  I cried.  He cried.  Lil Miss B cried.

Oh..... I also said yes....

We have set the date, always assuming the registry office is available, as the 21st June 2013, with a big knees up on the 22nd.  No doubt it will include a visit to Stonehenge on the Solstice, and quite possibly a handfasting too.  Watch this space for more info at a later date!