Hello my friends. I can’t quite get my head around the fact that yet another week has passed, and we are almost at the end of January already! Surely there must be a missing day somewhere – it has come around too fast!. However – here we are at yet another WOYWW – so – without further ado – my desk…

Two shots this week to show the appalling state after a manic card-making session this morning (Tuesday). I then had a mass clear up in order to photograph the cards I had made.

So, looking this way we see the picture frames I have managed to source, some cards already bagged for the hotel, piles of stamps, dies, scrap cards (I didn’t like what had been produced), inks, and some cards standing up drying. They are the Easter cards I was working on this morning.

And looking this way, we see a drawer out of the unit, open on the floor, those two naughty crazy coloured bird pens eyeing one another up – presumably they are quite territorial??!! There are the brushes for inking some of the cards, an empty tea mug, specs, and a full waste bin. What chaos ensued!

However, the chaos was worth it – the results were quite prolific. Just a small montage of some of them…

Firstly I printed off some Faye Whitaker images and made those up; then tried out a new die – it cuts really well, but I need to remember to put some baking parchment between the die and the card or paper; then I tried out a few Easter ideas – making 4 or 5 of each design. Lunch and shopping called after that mammoth session….

That’s me, folks. Thank you SO much for all your visits last week. Yes, I had a great time celebrating John in the Lake District – lots of laughter as my friend and I remembered some of the crazy things John and I did together, a few tears, but a very positive experience. A grey day weatherwise, but a beautifully happy day on the whole. No good trying to show you photos – nothing spectacular at all!

Take care my friends. I’m sorry there were some of you on Google+ who left me a comment that I couldn’t reply to unless I signed on to Google+. I did visit, and only wish I could have written something…

God bless.

Margaret

Hello, my friends. I’m writing this Tuesday evening because tomorrow I shall be out for the day. Hopefully, the weather will be nicer than the murky day we have had today because a friend and I are heading off to the Lake district for the day. It would have been John’s 71st birthday, so we are going to his favourite places to celebrate him. So, I will,link up first thing tomorrow morning, then come round visiting either tomorrow evening or Thursday… or even Friday!

Last week I gave you that glimpse of that scrap paper on which I had leaned when making sample cards for a local hotel. Goodness – what a stir I caused! I couldn’t quite believe how many of you were thrilled with the scrap paper!! Thank you so much for all your lovely comments. No pictures of a new fireplace – erm… – because there isn’t one. I have had it all taken out and the wall straightened in order to have a bit of blank wall to put my piano against. For the past few years it has been in my daughter’s house, as the grandies wanted to play,and they can no longer have it. Did I want it back??? A very definite YES! I have gone back into the worship group at church, so can learn the many new songs which they have been learning in the 18months I hardly made it to church! I can also enjoy playing just for me.

But – those samples! I visited the hotel this morning armed with a couple of dozen cards and a memory stick full of photographs of ones I had made previously. Mostly they were loved. Please could I make lots more, and please could I make some Easter cards because they open after the winter closure in the first week of March. So, it would be good if they had lots before then!! I’m thrilled. I warned them I would be posting a few pictures – and they were happy. So, as there is nothing on my desk tonight in readiness for my long day out tomorrow, here is a little montage (is that the right word??) of the favourites

Basically, I had done lots of different sized and shaped cards, used lots of different techniques, and lots of different colours in order for them to let me know which they preferred. The end result… The brighter the better. My own photographic images especially of creation were popular. Pollyanna Pickering went down a storm. The “just for you” die cut was extremely popular and I think I could make as many of those in different colour cards with different backgrounds as I wanted, and did I do it with any other words!!!!, Quirky was fun and good. A real mix of sentiments was needed, but no birthday numbers. Easter would be popular, and if I found some more tiny picture frames to pop my own photos in they would be brilliant. I had found one in John’s things and had literally stuck a tiny 2×1 inch photo in it. Loved it! Now, of course, I need to source some more of the frames, and I have no idea where it has come from. I think the word “boredom”, which has been absent from my dictionary for many years, is still not going to make an appearance. They need a reasonable supply – about 60 to begin with – and then I need to keep re-stocking until the hotel closes in November. By then, of course, could they have some Christmas cards. I hadn’t had time to make a box card, but had a photo of one – ooo, yes please!I spent well over two hours with the owners, and came away feeling really delighted that they so liked my work.

So, that’s me this week folks. Soon to be up to my eyes in piles of cards for others as well as all the ones I need for myself. Wow!

Take care. I’ll see you later tomorrow or toward the weekend. God bless.

Margaret

Good morning, my friends. Firstly, let me say a huge thanks for all your comments last week. They were so lovely to read. You know, when John was so ill last year, and I hardly left the house, you were my window on the world – you regularly “came into my home” with your posts, your visits to my blog, and your comments. It was so lovely – thanks!

So, secondly, the reason we are all here, my desk. It has actually seen some activity other than dumping!! I’ve been busy making some samples of the sort of cards I make for a local hotel. They may want to sell some of my work… so…

Ta-da. My desk this morning – taken yesterday afternoon. A shot of a rather small section. Can’t show you the rest ‘cos it’s full of cards – but here’s a little glimpse on my waste paper.

So, acrylic stamping block, scissors, blade, bone folder, pointy tool, cotton buds, inks, glue, pile of paper for acting as a slight softener when stamping, the necessary spectacles, mobile phone. So from that you may deduce I have been stamping, some practice and some second generation. I have been inking up backgrounds looking at the shape of the card on that pad. The pokey tool suggests die-cutting. The blade and scissors, cutting out. You have deduced correctly!!

So that’s it, folks. Nothing terribly riveting, I’m afraid. I have also done a couple of jigsaws, and am still knitting a jumper for a baby. I have a living room covered in dust and dust sheets, as I have workmen in taking out a fireplace. They should finish today and then I shall need to wipe all the surfaces ready for visitors this evening.

I’ll get around to visiting – but it may not all happen today.

Take care, my friends. God bless.

Margaret

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU, MY FRIENDS

Hello there, my friends. The first WOYWW of 2017 – already! I hope you had a really precious time over Christmas and the New Year. So, without further ado…. my desk this evening –

Nothing has been done here on my desk this past fortnight because I have had my family here – so, an arranged picture of the lovely things I received as presents – a set of watercolour brush pens, a watercolour pad, a tattered lace magazine with dies and CD Rom, a Happy Birthday and flower die, then a Jayne Netley Mayhew and a Joanna Sheen paper pad. I think that now those Thank you cards from the crop have all been used, I am going to have some fun!!!

Despite making no progress at all on my actual desk, I have not been completely idle… I decided to make inroads into the Yarn Mountain which sits in my cupboard, so… when I headed off around Britain on my massive 10days away just before Christmas, I took lots of wool with me for the evenings. The result? Ta-da!!!… It’s laying on a king sized bed, but actually will fit a single. Very simple, but has usefully used up 10 large balls of wool!!

Then, my younger daughter arrived on Christmas Eve with these delightful crib blankets which her Mother in Law had made for Uganda – thanks Sue!

So, that’s me, here on the North Wales Coast, this week. I’ll endeavour to get around as many of you as I can when we link up. I’m sorry there are a couple I can’t comment on – I do peek each time, and enjoy what I see.

Take care dear friends. God bless.

Margaret