WOYWW and warm up project for Life Book 2014

Welcome to Wednesday!  I am just not going to say I almost missed it again cause I am here on Wednesday this week!   WOYWW is a fun time to be had by all and if you are wondering why a bunch of men and women are showing off their crafting/art desk click on the link and you will know! Julia at Stamping Ground is the brain behind all the fun and puts it together each week!

Okay what we are all here for today...a view of my horrible messed up desk!  I joined the online class Life Book 2014 and the project you see on my desk is what was due for the first week...tsk, tsk, tsk...not to say that it is already the 3rd week and I am behind already.  There was a lot of videos and reading to be done in the first week and since I didn't start that till last week...well you see where I am going! 

A tour around my desk...the white 3 drawer box in the left corner holds top drawer a bunch of ribbons, bling etc still on cards or in packaging.  Drawer 2 is all Tim Holtz style ephemera ie muse tokens, tags, keys, pen nibs, etc.  Drawer 3 is Stickles glues and ink refills for the Distress Ink pads.   In front of it is my water color crayons, a jar that did hold my brushes until I tipped it upside down...On top is a spice rack that holds adhesives, jars of buttons etc....this could go on forever so just have a look see and if you have a question leave a comment!

Here is a better picture of the finished  warm up piece for the class.  Thank God Tam isn't grading on how fast we are getting lessons in as is just taking it on faith we are doing as we should!

fun play with Textures and Colors!

 I just want to remind folks of two classes this week...

The first is tomorrow and is a requested repeat of the class that was last Thursday for those who couldn't be there.  It is Graphic 45 Place in Time all occasion cards for the month of January.   There are 3 cards to be made and class will be from 6-8pm at Scrap That.

The second class is Saturday 10am-2pm where we will be making an oldie but goodie squash book.

 

Have a great week and I will try to make it around to every one's blog...giggle probably won't happen knowing my memory but if you leave me a comment I will guarantee I will come to visit you unless something horrible happens!  Have fun crafting this week!

Heather's Birthday, My Desk, and WOYWW!

WOW!  Last year I never missed a week on WOYWW without feeling like something was wrong and I can't remember Wednesdays at all!  What's up with this?  I think I got out of the habit of blogging last fall when I took all the trips I did and I just haven't gotten back into the blogging regularly habit!  What is WOYWW?  Why am I showing you a (bad) picture of my nasty desk?  Go visit Julia at Stamping Ground and she will fill you in.  Look for the WOYWW link on the upper left!

I have actually outgrown this desk!  I am one of those people that has to have things at my finger tips to use but...Too much stuff and not enough space.  I will be expanding soon!

 My daughter's birthday was yesterday!  My baby turned 35...Now if that doesn't scare you nothing will!  I am still thinking I am 35 how can my baby be that old!!!   Anyhow we went out to dinner with Heather and Michael to a new place (for us anyway) called The Melting Pot in Bricktown, OKC, OK.  It is a fondue place and I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed to experience because I really wasn't taken with fondue back in the 70's but this put an elegant dining twist to it and it turned out to be a lot of fun.  Didn't take any pictures...unfortunately but I will always have the memory!  Back in my old scrap booking days I would never have missed a Kodak moment but as I have moved on to mixed media...yes I still scrapbook some...photography to scrapbook the moment isn't a priority.  The Melting Pot has a fantastic menu and a gluten free option too.  One of the few places I have gone where they actually know what gluten free is.

I made my daughter a different style of card for her birthday this year.  It is a gift box card that looks like a book.  The drawers are matchbox's cut with a Sizzix match box die that I think has been retired. 

Front of the card!

Inside of the card

view of the spine of the card book!

card with drawers open!  I put a necklace in one, earrings in the other, and the third contained a handmade brooch!

A little bit of crafty goodness!























The card is made using Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante designer papers, Stampin Up! colored card stock, Stampin Up! ribbon,  Brads, charms etc. are from various companies. 

Well I guess I better post this and link it to WOYWW so you guys can go see some awesome work spaces.  Happy Wednesday!  I will try to remember earlier next week!

Happy New Year...a day or two late!!

I remember my Mom and Grandma making remarks about how fast time flies as you get older but holy hell I would like for it to slow down to a Mach 1 at least.  Seems like just yesterday that we were welcoming 2013 in and now I am behind in wishing everyone a Happy 2014 New Year!

I have several classes coming up this month and I don't have the tags made up yet but thought I would share these with you and add the tags later...

First class is on January 9 it is all occasion cards made from the Graphic 45 Place in Time collection of papers.  I used the January cut apart sheet and a sheet of navy, white, and red card stock to complete all three cards and had some left over I could have made a couple more!

Here are what the inside of each card looks like...

The blue card should be labeled "oh baby it is cold out side!"   The red card has the postcard and snowy fun stamps!  The white card has a pocket that will store 3 cards that you can write whatever you want on to send to the recipient! 

Second class is on January 18 at 10 am and is a squash book I made using the Graphic 45 Secret Garden paper.  It was just sitting on the shelf at the store and I thought to myself hmmm...wonder why I haven't made something with this yet!  So here it is...  I think squash books are a lot of fun for carrying around in your purse and putting little pictures in. 

I love the paper flowers on this book and all the pretty colors!

Like the feet in this picture?  I couldn't crop them out without distorting and I don't have the book to retake it!

Third class is a tag class making Tim Holtz style tags for Valentines day...  No samples made yet but I will get them cranked out soon.

That's all for today!  If you are in the area and want to take the class call Terri at Scrap That 310-3400 to sign up for the class you want to take!

Happy Holidays!

Update:  OKAY!  Went to see what was up with no comments and realized the post hadn't posted or linked as I thought it would.  Sorry about the lateness of the holiday wishes!

Just wanted to take a few minutes to post a holiday message to friends and family that are near and far.   Hope everyone has had a happy holiday and is looking forward to the new year.  Christmas has become such a secular holiday and everyone participates in their own ways as do we here at the Doswell house.  We have (in alphabetical order!)  Atheists, Agnostics, Baptists, Catholics, Humanists, Jew, Protestants and whatever else you would like to throw into the mix so we celebrate what I call Snowman Day here!  It starts at Thanksgiving and it goes till I get tired of all the decorations and take down the tree (and a few years ago it went on till February!) It is a time of year where we all celebrate our lives, family, and friends without malice or hatred towards any person, race, culture etc.  We loves one another...:-)

So from our house to yours...

Happy Snowman Day!

Looking forward to seeing and visiting with everyone in the new year!  To my friends at WOYWW I hope everyone has a great holiday and I am looking forward to seeing those desks in the new year.  To find out what WOYWW is click on the link on the right side bar! 

WOYWW

Another busy week has just flown by and I am wondering if it is ever going to slow down again!  Welcome WOYWW friends hope that you are having a great week also.  If you would like to know what WOYWW is and what it is all about you can click on the link on the far right or you can click here to visit Julia at Stamping Ground who will tell you all about it!

My desk this week is an absolute mess and I am ashamed to show it but that is a continual condition lately.  I still haven't moved rooms so everything is a clutter and it takes forever to find anything.  I think I will forgo showing a pic and just show you what I made as a gift. 

I had a lot of fun at a Christmas party and a Secret Santa/Sister swap at my local scrap book store on Sunday.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to share but a group of us got together and spent several hours just visiting, eating, and enjoying one anothers company.  I had a blast and think everyone who attended did also!
I made my secret sister a box made from a tutorial I saw on the Grapic-45 blog that Clare Charvill created for the 12 Days of Christmas Day 5.   There is a video tutorial that makes it all seem so easy peasy and it was...mostly!  I really enjoyed making the box cause it is something I hadn't done before so it was a challenge of sorts.  Go check out Clare's blog and see the other fun things she has made.

Graphic 45 12 Days of Christmas paper, stickers and chipboard pieces

The box holds a pillar candle that I altered with some of the Graphic 45 12 Days of Christmas Stickers.  I made the box topper from a wreathe and small tree from the Tim Holtz alterations trees that I sprayed with Dylusions ink and made 'balls' with Stickles glitter glue.





My daughter Heather and I made a whirlwind trip to Dallas today to do some Christmas shopping and to pickup some things we can't find around here and Oklahoma City.  We left Norman about 0800 and made it back home about 2130 after traveling a total of about 6 hours and visiting IKEA, Container store and several other stores.  WOW!  I am one tired puppy and I am off to bed after I show you a few pictures of some of the lights we saw at a Festival of Lights in Ardmore on the way home!

over 20' tall display of lights

 I loved this next display because it was animated and had a cowboy lassoing the straw of a drink and dripping soda into Santa's mouth!

Santa scores some soda!

 Reindeer riding a whale while the blow spout spouts water!

 and lots of stationary do nothing but look awesome lights.   Most of the light displays were between 10-20 feet tall.

20' tall letters

Santa's workshope

Arch across the road

Snowy village

Anyway that is it for me!  Hope you have a great week and if I don't talk to you before next week have a Merry Christmas!

ooooopppppssss....WOYWW

Nope I didn't fall off the face of the earth, no I wasn't gobbled up by a Purple Haired People Eater,  and I wasn't abducted by aliens and had thousands of unmentionable tests done on me...I have no excuse!  I really don't know what happened I just seemed to fall out of the crafting and blogging scene for awhile here.  Healthwise I haven't been feeling well but I have had worse bouts of feeling unwell.  I went to the Doctor this week and she is running a bunch of tests so maybe they will find out what is up with me again.  I was also started on another type of medication for my ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia called Lyrica.  Suppose to help with the headaches and muscle pains I have been having...maybe give me a little more energy to do more.

I wanted to get back into sharing with WOYWW and I have been doing a few crafty things but haven't taken the time to photograph them or my desk this week! I do have a picture of some tags I made recently for a class I am going to be teaching this Thursday at Scrap That.   I really have a lot of fun crafting but seems like a lot of things keep getting in the way! 

If you would like to know more about WOYWW check out Julia's blog Stamping Ground for more information.

so excited!

Heather and I took a cruise from Barcelona Spain to New Orleans on Carnivals latest fun ship the Sunshine.  I have always wondered what a transatlantic cruise would be like and thanks to Michael and Heather generosity I now know.   16 days about a ship with only 4 stops was an adventure to say the least.  We stopped in Palma de Mallorca, Malaga, Spain, Las Palmas in the Canary Islands and Grand Turk in the Caribbean...the Caicos or Turk islands.  




 I think Heather is awesome subject to photograph and look at these 2 photos of her side by side...

24 hours and no sleep!

The first one was at the airport in Oklahoma City waiting for our tickets and the second photo was after we had pretty much been up 24 hours and been in airports and on airplanes the whole time.  I am sure I didn't looks as good and she was still full of energy!  We didn't stay in Barcelona any time we flew in then caught a bus to the docks to get the ship.  Next time.  Barcelona is a beautiful city and I have been there before but unfortunately Heather hasn't.


Our first port of call was in Palma de Mallorca where we walked around town a bit, looked at the cathedral and had coffee with some friends.

A nice passerby took a picture of Heather and I together

Steps up behind the palace leading to the cathedral

looking out to the docks from the cathedral

Friends Alan and Fabris  

I heard that Malaga, Spain was a beautiful city but unfortunately I had fallen ill with a sinus and respiratory infection that kept me from getting out of my bed.  I don't remember having an upper respiratory tract infection like this in a long time I am so thankful I wasn't forced to get out of bed because I wouldn't have made it!  I saw the inside of the ship's infirmary to purchase decongestants but luckily didn't see the doctor.  I heard that they set a record for numbers of patients seen because of this virus!

In Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Canary Islands was an interesting town to visit.  Unfortunately I was still under the weather and didn't go anywhere but to a pharmacy and grocers before having some paella with Heather and heading back to the ship. 

Our boat is the one with the blue smoke stack

Heather posing for me!

Yummy Paella!

The next 6 days were "at sea days" and I was ever so grateful.  I began getting over the crud and poor Heather and 1/2 the ship came down with it.  Laying in bed at night I could hear people moving about and coughing in the halls...lovely stuff we brought back to the states with us!

During our sea days we spent a lot of time on deck sitting and reading, walking about the ship,

our favorite spot!

My favorite view!

Front of the ship from above the lido deck

The adults only deck

Back of the ship see the funny looking brown pods?  Most uncomfortable place to sit ever!

 We had 6 time changes during the crossing and luckily the weather change from cool to much warmer was easier to handle.   Our last stop was in the Caicos or Turk islands at the Island of Gran Turk.  Smallish size and from the top of the boat you could see water surrounding the island on all sides

Water water everywhere!

I was a hot day and I thought I was melting...

I think Heather was getting embarrassed when I ordered my 3rd margarita at Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville....They don't skimp on the Tequila either!

made a purchase of 2L tequila while on the island...too cheap to pass up! No I didn't have any difficulties getting back on the boat! 

We had 3 more days at sea in the Caribbean before we made it to New Orleans and home. 

Happy Campers...we had a blast!

WOYWW #228

WOW!  Just WOW!  I remembered today was Wednesday and I am going to post something...Not a lot but something anyway!  I couldn't believe it when I saw that the last time I had posted to WOYWW was in August!  I could make excuses about how busy I have been and how much traveling I have been doing but I think I will just let it go with an...."I'm baaaack!"

My desk this week...

Not much creativity around here...the mojo took a hike and I haven't had a whole lot of inspiration to do any crafting recently....well that is wrong!  There is a lot of inspiration but not much motivation to do much of anything.  My latest craft endeavor was at Heathers painting class last night where I painted a big harvest moon, tree, and bats to celebrate the season!

I decided not to put anything like Happy Halloween or similar on it so I could keep it up all year if I decided to.  I am happy with the way it turned out! 

Haven't been feeling really well of late and when I do I am playing catch up to get stuff caught up again.  I spent a night in the hospital last month because of some chest pain but after megabucks of tests I still don't know what caused it but I am hoping it never comes back.  I have a doctor's appointment with a specialist on December 3 so here is hoping she will find out what is going on with me. 

If you are wondering what all this is about crafting and desks etc go visit Julia at Stamping Ground and come play with us!