WOYWW #134

WOW it has been a busy week this past week. I can truthfully say I am glad that Christmas is over and all I have to do now is enjoy the decorations until I am tired of them and want to take them down. I usually leave them up until after the second weekend in January so I have time!

I very blessed this week because I have been very lucky this week with winning things. I won a package from Ranger Ink because I made a comment on some ornaments they were sharing with us. I don't know when it will come but I am excited cause it contains reinkers, stamp pad felt, etc. Here is a pic from their blog! and I won a pack of Whitewash cardstock from Core'dinations because of a comment and last but not least I left a comment on Neils blog a few weeks ago and my name was drawn as a secondary winner...Yay!! I am clueless as to what the prize is but it doesn't matter I am a happy camper! I love leaving comments and try to visit each of the blogs on WOYWW each week and comment, some would argue I am long winded which I can be but how will people/businesses know how you feel if you don't leave a comment?


Okay back to my desk and you won't believe what a mess it is! I haven't been in there in two days and it seems to have grown and propagated to the point it will takes me a couple hours to get it straightened around. What a mess!!! I am almost ashamed to show you the picture...
On the lower right corner of my desk are some bead boxes that I used to make baubles for my tags. My new punches my daughter got me for Christmas are there too. On the left side is a prize I won from OWSE for submitting a minibook for a challenge. I love surprizes and that was a roll of terrifically tacky tape, a package of flowers, and a paper pack! Like I said it will take a good hour to get that desk cleared off!!

Wonder what all this talk regarding desks and WOYWW is all about? You need to go to Julia's blog, Stamping Ground, and check out WOYWW and come play with us. It is a lot of fun visiting other peoples workspaces around the world without ever leaving home!

I am scheduling this so I hope it works because I have never scheduled a post before. Anyway...Hope everyone has a good week and Happy New Years!

Happy Holidays!

It is Christmas eve and the house it quiet the fur babies and Poppa all tucked up snug in their beds. The stocking are filled and the presents all wrapped, pies are baked and Christmas is here at last! I want to wish everyone a very Happy Holiday and the most prosperous of New Years! We are planning on spending a quiet day with Heather and Michael and enjoying a delicious Christmas dinner later today.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule!, Solstice, or Snowman Day as we are celebrating here this year! Enjoy your time with loved ones and friends both near and far!

Sentimental Sundays Blog Party!

Sentimental Sundays is having NEW YEAR's PARTY done blog hop style!!!! They will be giving away gifts and sharing lots of ideas and fun. Want to get in on the fun just click on the link and go to their blog and Check it out!

WOYWW #133

Happy Holidays to everyone! I was going to go take a picture of my desk but decided against it today because I have a project on it that I am making as a Christmas gift and since all my kids and family read the blog I don't want to give up the surprise. This year my daughter and I decided that a homemade gift giving was the way to go and unfortunately I procrastinated a little longer then I should have. Anyway in lieu of a desk I will show you some of the other stuff I have been up to this week! If you are new to my blog then you are probably asking yourself what the hell I am talking about. Take at look at Julia's blog Stamping Ground and she will explain it all!

First picture I want to share is a picture of my new Christmas tree this year. I have been decorating a 7-1/2 foot tree for years but this year with health issues etc. I decided to downgrade a bit to a 5 foot tree and fewer ornaments. I have about 400 lights on the tree and I have no idea how many ornaments. All of them (except for a few) are snowmen except for the plain jane red, green, and gold balls!
Don't you just love Snowmen? I have a few in various sizes so I set a few of the stuffed ones about under the tree too! I was asked by my husband to stand by the tree and since he was so nice to take the pictures for me I couldn't refuse!

Not to be outdone the tree topper is also a snowman we have had for umpteen million years. See the pictures of the children toward the lower left of the tree? Those are my no longer babies Heather (32 years old) and Chad (35). I love hanging those each year...memories. Remember that old Barbara Striesand song from the 1970's, The Way We Were?
Memories
Light the corners of my mind
Misty watercolor memories
Of the way we were
Scattered pictures
Of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were

I just love that song... I guess if you are going to become a blathering sentimental fool this is the time of year to do it!

Not to be forgotten I carried my Snowman theme to outside the house this year too! Here is a full front picture. My daughter came over and climbed the ladder to put the icicle lights on the guttering around the front step and the first tree. I didn't string lights all across the front cause I have a new roof and we didn't want to climb anyway!

I also have been busy baking and making yummy goodies. I have made fruit cakes, fudge, cookies etc. Here is a picture of the chocolate chip cookies I made a couple days ago. One has mint chocolate chips in them and the other has mini M+M's.

One last picture then I am going to find a cup of tea and surf around the web for an hour or so before I go to bed. It is only 2:20am here so I still have plenty of time for a quick look around!


This picture is of my granddaughter Teresa aka big sistah! and Hannah. Aren't they darlings. Teresa gets to go meet the jolly old troublemaker himself today. Can't wait to see those pictures.
Okay as I promised. I am off for a look see! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours!

WOYWW #132

I just got home from going to Weight Watchers and WalMart...what a nightmare! Not the Weight Watcher I really enjoyed that meeting...I got rid of another 3# making a grand total of 15.6# for me. I joined WW with my sister about 2 months ago cause she asked me to and even if I am not losing weight like she is it is still coming off! After the meeting we went out to eat at a local eatery and then home. Walmart is an entirely different story! OMG!


This is what my desk looks like right now! The post lady came today bearing gifts from a far! I have a box from Oh My Crafts, a big envelope from a Splitcoast Stampers swap group (card tops), and a smaller box from an All Things Tim swap group. Oh my goodness such pretty cards and tags in those boxes but since they aren't my works I am hesitant to share them without asking permission of everyone that made them. I will share what is in the two other boxes though! If you would like to see tags etc I made this week check my previous posts.

The big narrow box is from Tuire here on WOYWW! Tuire made my daughter and I PIF gifts and sent them to us this month. I am ashamed to say that I still haven't finished mine yet but I still have a month to go so don't give up hope if I owe you one.
There were two books in the box but I gave the second one to my daughter and she took it home before I got a picture of it. Isn't this a gorgeous book? It has pages or journaling, keeping records etc., pages with vintage photos, and stamps etc. I love it Tuire thank you! See the cat with the beautiful eyes and butterfly that is in the picture above sitting perched on a stamp pad? Tuire made that for another swap and I got lucky that time too! I keep it sitting on my desk cause it makes me feel calm!

The big box is some stash from Oh My Crafts! It is one of my favorite online stores for buying products you need and can't live without.
Everything in this box I need...my life is dependent on it!! That's my story anyway and I am sticking to it! I actually do need the inks (I got alcohol inks and 15 reinkers for the pads), the Noel die, the cut and dry ink pad felt and more tools etc. Can't do ink and paper crafts without it. I also won a couple of their 12 days of Christmas prizes this week on days 11(Bazzill cardstock) and 12(Lifestyle Crafts Nesting Frame 8 Dies!) Yahoo! More stuff will be coming! I enjoyed the 12 days of Christmas contest cause each day that number of persons were chosen to win a prize ie 11 on the 11th day.

Anyway that is what is on my desk tonight. Check out Julia's blog, Stamping Ground for the reason for this post!! I am going to go make the round and see what everyone else is doing these last two weeks before Christmas. I should probably get busy getting cards out and last minute makes done but...they will wait!

12 Tags of Christmas Tag 4

YAY!! Tag 4 is finished! This was a lot of fun to make and I learned a lot of new techniques I can use in my tag/card making journeys! I made a tag a few weeks back that is similar to this tag, of a snowman using same dies and colors but I added a touch of red. I like them both! For some reason unbeknownst to me my glossy accents picked up a brownish tint to the 25 which isn't bad but...you can hardly see the music behind the gloss.

Here is the tag that Tim Holtz made:


I love snowmen so this is one of my favorite tags! I am still working on the rest of the 12 Tags of Christmas and Tim Holtz posted the tag 12 last night...I am sad but at least I still have the others to make...then I might start on last years!






UPDATE: When I posted Tim Holtz tag I noticed I hadn't gussied up my hat so I went back and did it...here is an upclose of the hat! The feather is compliments of my grandbird Nyasa...



More tomorrow!

12 Tags of Christmas Tags 2 and 3

I have completed another couple tags for the 12 Tags of Christmas I have been following on the Tim Holtz blog. Each year he does such awesome tags and every year I say I am going to make all 12 of the tags but never get started. I am started now and having a blast doing them! I think I am on a roll here! I am hoping to get a few more tags turned out today so that I will be all caught up by the 15 December and I can focus just on Christmas gifts! My daughter and I decided that if you are giving a gift this year it has to be homemade and I have very little completed! Oh well, it is the thought that counts!

Day 2 tag was a lot of fun to work on but I wanted to pull my hair out cause I had trouble finding canvas much less self stick canvas anywhere in my town. I had a piece of canvas card stock so I used that to cut my out deer. My tag was changed up a little more today and I added the stars to the base of the card rather then the brads because I don't own the distress mallet and I liked the stars better! I don't have The lighting is pretty dark tonight (DUH! night time!!) so if I can get a better picture tomorrow I will swap it out!


Here is Tim's Tag 2...isn't it gorgeous!

My tag 3 was a little more of a challenge then what I thought it was going to be but...I persevered and I think it turned out okay. I put a little bling and some fake holly on it rather then cutting out leaves etc. I like it.


Tim's Tag 3...very nice!


Hope you are enjoying the 12 Tags of Christmas as much as I am. I will post more tags soon!

12 Tags of Christmas Tag 1

I have been following along with the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas that started on his blog December 1st! Sir Tim is definitely a very talented artist and I am really enjoying see what he makes each day and trying to use the techniques he is teaching. I will definitely be sad when it ends tomorrow night!!

Here is my version of tag 1 of the 12 Tags of Christmas!



I think I am getting the hang of the pinecone die now cause they are starting to look more like pinecones and less like roses! I used a glitter card stock rather then glitter to make the Noel and I really think that glittering the old fashioned way is better gives the script more depth.

To be fair I thought I should also upload Tim Holtz tag each day so you can see what the master created! This is his first tag that he made this year! Isn't is gorgeous?



More to follow...there are 12 tags!

WOYWW #131

Welcome to Wednesday and this weeks version of WOYWW...what's that you say? Well in my humble opinion it is one of the best days of the week for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is the blog posting of what's on your work desk to share with everyone around the world...literally! Check out Julia's website Stamping Ground and join us for a passport free trip around the world to check out what other crafter's and artists are doing!


This is my desk after my third attempt to do the alcohol ink technique Tim Holtz used on his Day 5 tag a couple days ago! OMG! This is harder then what I thought it was going to be for such an easy sounding technique. The third attempt all most had it but it didn't suit me too well so I wiped the ink off the tag with alcohol and after I get this posted and I am going to do it again...last time cause it will be perfect...or not!
I just won't be as picky this time. Have you been following along with the 12 Tags of Christmas that Tim has been doing on his blog? The green holly tag is for day 6 that I need to finish because I didn't have the folder he used for his and I improvised. As soon as I get a chance I will post my tag each day with a link to his tag you you can see what I did compared to his.

Another project I have had going on this week was making card fronts for a swap on Splitcoast Stampers. It was a lot of fun making the card fronts and I will be getting back a similar count from other cardmakers in the group. In total I made 16 of each card front and I kept 3 of each kind to use for Christmas cards this year. Every year I send out a lot of cards, about a hundred, to family and friends so having the extras from this swap will come in handy! Unfortunately I have problems parting with the little pieces of art from my friends and have to hustle to make more to send out!

Well that's it for me. I am going to go get a cup of tea and a cookie and take a leisurely look around the other blogs today. Hope everyone has a good week and is getting all their holiday baking and tree trimming done! I have the tree up but not enough lights on it to suit me so I haven't decorated it yet. Maybe tomorrow...

Santa ATC

Thought that I would share a simple ATC that I made for a swap on creativeblock-stampersanonymous, a Yahoo group I belong to. I love Stampers Anonymous stamps because I love red rubber stamps more then the clear stamps and SA has red rubber cling mount and the foam backed cling stamps. I have bought a lot of the Tim Holtz(TH)line of stamps from them and this ATC was made using one of them.
I love the old vintage Santa from the TH stamp set called Holiday Collections and the green pine bough and calender are from Mini Holidays. I used gathered twigs ink to stamp the image then distress around the sides in the same ink. The pine sprigs are stamped in Pine Needles and then I made little flowers out of some red, white,and green beads to adorn the top of the ATC. The ATC was made from Very Vanilla cardstock from Stampin'Up! using the TH ATC die. Real Red ribbon from Stampin'Up! was used on the left side. The calendar is held on with a mini paper clip.
I like this ATC so I think I will enter it in the ATC challenge on ATC's With Attitude! this week.