Sadly I'm back to writing this post on a Tuesday afternoon ready for joining in with WOYWW on a Wednesday morning. The half term simply flew by. I spent a happy week in my craft room, finished off with Friday at the NEC (see HERE for more).
My desk shows the start of a sample for a show with Maria next Wednesday, sorry I can't show you more yet, but I will try to remember to include a picture of the finished piece next week.
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| inside the Advent book |
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| The front cover |
As you can see, I finished the Advent book that I started at a workshop with Maria Moorhouse in time to give to #2 son and his girlfriend. They hosted a spectacular family firework party at their house last Saturday which we all attended. He was super safety conscious and had even purchased the electronics necessary to set the fireworks off remotely. The children in the houses round about enjoyed it too, looking through the bedroom windows.
Happy WOYWW everyone, I'll be round to visit in the morning as I will be at work late today (meeting night).
I hadn't planned on going to the autumn Craft Show at the NEC this year. For tickets and transport you are looking at a spend of £30-£40 before you even get through the doors. However, as I won a pair of free tickets through HixxySoft, I decided to go for a day after all. It gave me an opportunity to catch up with friends, drop off some samples for Claritystamp and get hold of some stamps that I was after.
Welcome fellow deskers to my weekly contribution to WOYWW care of Julia at The Stamping Ground. Here desks from all around the world can be ogled and envied, messy ones, tidy ones and everything in between.
As you can see, I have been doing a little more work on the Advent Book that I started at a Workshop with Maria Moorhouse recently. The matchboxes are all now glued together, ready to turn into the daily drawers of the book. Maria's workshops are well worth attending. She has one each month in Preston, one in Catterick and the one I attend in Shrewsbury.
Over the last three days I have been sharing the full projects from my sneak peeks last week. I shall be sharing the last two tomorrow and Friday before I head off for an early train to the NEC. I won a couple of tickets and decided to go on Friday as it is half term. Hope to see some of you there.
Finally, the latest additions to the extended family. My parents adopted some kittens and their mum from a cat rescue last month. Pickles (top) is mum and the two kittens are Pearl(L) and Pixi (R). They have settled in really well. See you all soon. I will have some time to visit today between samples as I am not at work this week.
Well the last week has certainly been a spectacular one. My news this week is definitely happier than last week's. First of all I checked my email on Wednesday to find out that I had won the place on the Book of Days course next year that Marit Barentsen aka Marit's Paper World is guest tutoring with. Thank you so much again Marit! On Thursday I popped up to Stockport for the monthly get together and gave Lou my spare ticket for the NEC. We managed to persuade Jane to come with us so Friday was our road trip to the craft show at the NEC (more details HERE). It was a great day out, but the best bit as some of you have already seen on FB, was being asked to join the Clarity DT for stamps and stencils. I had great difficulty keeping the news secret, but it's out in the open now and my first samples will be for the January 2019 shows, as there is a little paper work to fill in first and I also need to get up to speed with the DT Handbook.
And so to the reason you are visiting, my desk and its contents, ready to join in with WOYWW. Please pop over to The Stamping Ground if you'd like to see more desks or link up your own. Julia will make you very welcome. My photo today shows the ingredients for my eldest son's birthday card for tomorrow. I was just getting everything together ready to get started. Eva is not due until tomorrow, so my second photo is the stash that I got from the NEC and from Clarity's TV shows, the stamps which arrived on Thursday and the dies which were waiting for me when I got back on Friday.
I treated myself to the last set of Oxides and from the Clarity stand at the NEC some of the mini word chains and next year's calendar. It will be bread and water for a while, but I've had lots of fun with my new stash since, so I can't complain. Happy, happy WOYWW everyone.
I had a fabulous day out at the Creative Craft show yesterday at the NEC thanks to Claritystamp, Lou Withers and Jane Telford. I was lucky enough to win a pair of tickets via the Clarity Facebook page and asked Lou to come with me. As Lou had another ticket, we persuaded Jane to come with us and the road trip was on. They were kind enough to pick me up on the way there and we travelled Thelma and Louise style down to the NEC in Birmingham.
For once I am actually writing this post on the day itself, although I must admit that the pictures were taken earlier. It was our friend's funeral yesterday so I did think ahead ready for this morning, otherwise there would have been nothing but a tidy, empty desk to look at. Check out what WOYWW is all about via the Stamping Ground, where Julia keeps us all in order.
My side of the desk is staged, but it does show the results of some actual crafting (posted yesterday if you are interested). I have one more day of drawing to do for Inktober then I will have completed the challenge for the first time.
Although yesterday was difficult, the past week has not been all sad. On Sunday Christine (Bishopsmate) and her husband Peter came over to the shed for a mini WOYWW meet up. Peter brought his train with him that he was working on at the crop and takes Eva's place on the other side of the desk this week, as she is away for half term.
Christine brought some water colouring and stamping with her and there was also cake!
I hope to be making this Midlands Meet Up an annual event for the first Sunday of half term each October, so if you are within travelling distance, you will be welcome next year.
The specialist I saw at my hospital appointment yesterday morning assures me that the nerve studies that they have done on my left arm and hand show no problems so I am being discharged for the moment. I did get to see some of my art work displayed rather prominently on Hochanda yesterday in the 4pm show with Louise Withers, when I watched the recording later. Charlie seemed particularly taken with the mask that I had made and decorated using the Amsterdam acrylic paints (see HERE).
As you can tell, an up and down day yesterday. I am off to the NEC on Friday, thanks to winning tickets from Claritystamp. If anyone is going to be there, I will be watching the live Clarity hour at 12pm at the HOCHANDA pavillion. I'll take plenty of pictures!
My desk shows the start of a sample for a show with Maria next Wednesday, sorry I can't show you more yet, but I will try to remember to include a picture of the finished piece next week.
