Another bag or two...

Since Holly started work she takes all her paperwork in a plastic carrier bag and as the bag I made the other week was successful, I thought I'd make her one for her work stuff.

I chose three different bright and cheerful fabrics from Ikea:

The finished result.

A darned sight better than a plastic bag:)

You can see the spots ad the stripes in this pic.

I've also made these camera/phone bags

and this Kindle case.

What's on your Workdesk? Wednesday 194

It's that time of the week again when we're allowed to be nosy and look at other workdesks.  If you are wondering what I'm going on about, check out Julia's Stamping Ground where you'll find all the details.

Today, I am finishing off my son's Evening invitations for his wedding in June.  I made them much simpler than the day time ones which took forever to make.  If you want a sneeky peek, they are here.

This is a finished one.

I have another desk which seems to be a dumping ground at the moment -

both on it and under it, however, before I do any crafting today, they are both going to be cleared.  Honest!

If you want a snoop at other desks or to join us, go over to Stamping Ground for all the gen:)

I hope to see you next week.

At last

Take calculated risks.
That is quite different from being rash.

George S. Patton

Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great.
Orison Swett Marden

One way to get the most out of life is
to look upon it as an adventure.
William Feather

The house challenge on UKs this month was to take inspiration from one of these quotes and make a layout.

It took me a while to come up with a photo and then I had a light bulb moment - last November/December Chris and I did a few craft fairs on the run up to Christmas.  It was something we'd been going to do for years and never got around to for whatever reason but this time we went for it.  Chris made wooden reindeer and I made lots of Christmassy stuff like felt decorations as well as phone covers/iPad covers and such like.  It was a bit scary at first and we weren't sure if we'd actually sell anything but in the end it was just great fun.

This photo was taken at Cranfield Christmas market where we were lucky enough to be given a wooden hut to display our items in.  Normally you have to take your own gazebo but because we had the little reindeer, the organisers thought a wooden hut would be appropriate:)

It was an absolutely freezing cold day and there had been snow in the morning and even though we had lots of layers on, we kept nipping in to the community centre to get warm! 

Camera case

If you read my last post, you'd know I started a camera case last night and here it is, finished.

It has a little pocket on the inside which would fit a credit card in.

Now... do I keep it or not?

WOYWW

Good morning and welcome to another What's on your work desk Wednesday and in case you're wondering what I am talking about, pop along to Julia's Stamping Ground to see what all the fuss is about.

I'm once again trying to organise my craft space better and have been sorting my fabrics into drawers and  was left with a whole loads of scraps that were too small to go in the drawers but still useful.  As per usual I got sidetracked and decided I'd make a camera case out of a scrap of camera fabric I came across.

I will finish it when I get home from work then get back to the clearing out (or not!). 

This is a couple of my tidy drawers:)

I hope you all have a great Wednesday and I'll visit as many desks as I can after lunch:)

See you next week.

The View challenge

If you remember last month a new challenge started on Lucky Snapping - to take a picture each month of your favourite view and/or a picture from your kitchen window.  I went with a view from my kitchen window and took my picture last week and here it is:-

It was actually snowing when I took this but it never amounted to much.  Nothing has changed since last month - the pots still need emptying and the football is still in the same place!

I took it again this morning:-

It looks a lot prettier with its white overcoat on:)

To sleep perchance to dream...

My teamie, the lovely Jen set the challenge on UKs for this week and here it is:

Last time my challenge was Shakespeare based and it seemed to inspire lots of you, he certainly does me. So as it is Valentines this week you could use one of his many love quotes, but you don't have to, any quote on any subject as long as it is from Shakespeare is fine with me for 10 points.

Green is a colour I like, especially in nature but I don't often scrap with it, so to get me trying it I have included it. 10 points for green, it can be the main colour of your photo, the background, the patterned paper or just some embellishment. 

I'd love to see pearls on your layout, no less than 3 please but much, much more would be brilliant, don't forget there are pearl pens as well as the self-adhesive ones and I would definitely allow enamel dots (so any colour goes). I'd love to see how you interpret this.

So in summary:
A Shakespeare quote 10 points
Use the colour green somehow 10 points
Use more than 2 pearls 10 points

This is my page - I chose to make it 8.5" x 11" as I have more room in that album lol!

Chris had been diving on Sunday morning, we'd had lunch and he was looking forward to watching the rugby - Italy v France.  However, he dozed off and missed the first 10 minutes or so.

I wasn't quite sure how to incorporate pearls in to the page but remembered I had some liquid pearls in an ivory colour and decided I'd put the along the arrow - I didn't want it to look girly.

The pull out tag revealing the journalling.

My first bag

I bought a My Mind's Eye bag kit about a year ago but until now, haven't had the confidence to make it up.  Last night I decided to go for it - nothing ventured...nothing gained so I started cutting it out.  It was all very straight forward but I wanted to add some interfacing to make it a bit more structured rather than floppy if you understand what I mean so I cut out some Pellon to iron on to the lining.

I sewed the handles before I went to bed and got on with the rest after lunch today and within an hour or so it was all done:D

I'm absolutely thrilled with it and am in my starting blocks to make another Lol!  However, I probably won't make one quite so big next time - this one is perfect for carrying around my scrapbooking stash and will fit a pizza box in nicely.

Family

I wasn't planning on doing the weekly challenge on UKs this week - I found the criteria difficult:

+ Make the subject an important person(s) in your life (can include pets)
+ Use a monogram embellishment
+ Journal and title about their character, your relationship or information about them

I had no problem with the first bit - an important person or the last bit, the journalling but to use a momogram?  I don't think so.  In the end I used a large letter as the start of the title so I hope this allows me to claim the points Lol!

Please excuse the dire photo of my page - I should probably have waited until the morning but hey I didn't.

I chose a picture of Adam and Lucy taken on Christmas day.  We were invited to spend the day with them and while the dinner was cooking, we walked to the pub for a drink.  Two firsts for me - the first time I haven't had to cook a Christmas dinner since we were married and secondly, I've never been to the pub on Christmas day.

The journalling is not to do with the day but about Adam and it reads:

I can't believe that you are 25 and getting married in a few months time.  How those years have flown by and how I have enjoyed being a Mum, far more than I ever imagined.

You and Lucy are starting out in your life together and one day you'll have a family of your own and I hope your children bring you as much joy and happiness to you as you and Holly have to us.

What's on your workdesk? Wednesday

I enjoyed my foray into WOYWW last week so I thought I'd give it a go again!  If you'd like to see what it's all about, pop over to Julie's Stamping Ground where you will find all the details.

I'll start with the robins I was making last week and show you the finished article.

Here is my desk

The layout I am making was for the weekly challenge on UKs but I'm not keen on the elements required so it will just be another page to go in my bulging albums.  The couple in the photo are my son, Adam and his fiance Lucy and the picture was taken on Christmas day.

Edit:  I have now done the challenge and it's here.

Oh and this is my other desk!

So, that's my desk for this week, why don't you go and check out some more?

Saturday scrap map - A cup of tea

It's February already!  Who knew it would come around so quickly?  I for one didn't and had to be reminded to make my page by Sue lol!

Pop over to Creative Craft World to see the challenge and as it's a blog hop there are prizes on offer too.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the fab sketch and my interpretation of it.

a close up

and a pull out tag with a photo on and journalling on the back.

As I said earlier, it's a blog hop this month so if you arrived here from Jen's blog Scribbles and Sticking you're heading in the right direction.  To be in with a chance of a prize, leave a comment on my blog then hop on to Creative Craft World for is the finish.

Here is a full list of the blogs you need to visit.

Creative Craft World

Alipeep's Art

Doodles and Swirls

Loopy Lou's Craft Mess

Love Lydia

Me and Mine

Mel's Mess

Sarah's Little Snippets

Scraps of Sarah

Scribbles and Sticking

Susibee's Crafty Mess

Creative Craft World

Good luck:)

WOYWW

I've been wanting to join in with What's on your workdesk?  Wednesday for ages but my desk always looks like a bomb has hit it.  Today, however, I have realised it's never going to be tidy so I might as well bite the bullet and show you what a mess I try to work in.

If you click on the photo you can see more of the desk - there are dog poo bags just above the big black scissors lol!  I didn't put them there, Holly borrowed my gillet and emptied the pockets on to my desk.  There are also some gloves and a used tissue under the bags.  Mmmm....nice :o

I'm in the process of making some robin Christmas tree decorations.  I made loads last year for craft fairs but I was asked for bigger ones so I'm having a trial run.  In the background  to the right are some Christmas cards I need to photograph for the Creative Craft World beat the Christmas rush and in the centre at the back are some iPad covers I have been meaning to upload to my shop.  The box at the left holds some of my most used dies.

Right, I'm going to check and see if anyone else is as untidy as me lol!  If you fancy being nosy, check out the WOYWW link.

Breakfast by request

This week it's my team, the Bijoux Belles turn to set the weekly challenge on UKs and as usual, we honour one of our teamies and this time it was the turn of Chris, who is the newest member of the BBs.

Here is the challenge:

Chris is a keen traveller and we’d like you to use a holiday theme for your page. She is one amazing cook, so please include something food/cooking related. Chris has a January birthday with garnet as her birthstone so please use some bling and/or something red in colour. Finally, Chris says she finds journalling a challenge, so please do a fair amount on your page.

In summary …

For 10 points – a holiday theme - a vacation type holiday or a festive holiday such as Easter, Christmas, etc
For 10 points - something food or cooking related
For 5 points - bling or something red ... or both if you like
For 5 points - lots of journalling (hidden is fine)

This is my page:

On Christmas day, Holly had to work a 7 hour shift starting at 830 a.m.  I realise lots of people have to work over Christmas but it was a first for anyone in our family so I wanted to make a special breakfast for her.  She asked for Christmas morning muffins so I was up at 7, baking:)

I've used snowflakes because our place mats had snowflakes on them and the presents represent the gift on the photo.  Holly wanted us to open one present before she had to leave - we were allowed to chose which parcel she had from under the tree.  I thought it would be nice if she opened her Ugg boots so she could wear them to work!

Beat the Christmas Rush

Today is the launch of a new challenge on Creative Craft World called Beat the Christmas Rush and the idea is to make 5 Christmas cards each month so that by the time we get to December, we all have a nice pile of lovely handmade cards ready and waiting to be written and no last minute panic as normal.  In fact this year, well, no it's last year now, I had to buy some cards as I got caught up in doing craft fairs and everything else to do with Christmas was pushed to one side.  I don't want to be in that situation again because I know that my friends and family who expected handmade cards and got bought ones, were disappointed.

So, on the 25th of each month the CCW design team will post links to a Christmas card.  The target is to have btween 10 and 50 cards stored safely ready for December.

If you want to join in the linky part, just share a Christmas card posted on your blog, mention BtCR  and link to CCW.  Pop around to a few of the other linked blogs and leave a comment saying BtCR sent you and we will feature our favourite cards in next month's post.

If you make it all the way to November 25th, posting every month we will enter your name into a draw for a Christmas surprise and anyone who leaves a comment on my blog every month will also be entered into my own prize draw for a prize.

Happy Christmas!

As I have been making a few simple thank you cards

I thought I'd carry on in a similar vein with some simple Christmas cards.  I've even done the inserts *yawn* and the envelopes *yawn again* to match:)

So, are you going to join in?

One of my favourite Christmas cards I have pinned is this one

 - I love the simplicity of it but it looks so effective.  You can find details of it here.

See you next month hopefully.

Wedding invitations

I've been making Adam and Lucy's wedding invitations on and off for months and now after some help at the weekend from the happy couple they are finally finished and in the post:)

and this is one of ours:-

In case burglar Bill is reading this, I have covered up the address.  Someone with more savvy than me would have been able to blur it out but I wouldn't have a clue how to do that.

I now have to start on the Evening invitations:o

Fun

It's a great weekly challenge by Suzy on Uks:-

I love a sketch as a starting off point for a layout so please use the sketch to inspire you for 5 points. sketch is here

I am well known for sewing on nearly all of my layouts so I would love you to use some sewing on your layout somewhere (either faux or real) for 5 points

I also love making an inky/painty splattery mess in general so please use paints and/or inks on your layout for 10 points

Finally as this week sees the commemoration of the birth of Robert Burns, Scotlands greatest poet I would like you to use a line/quote/title of a poem (this does not necessarily have to be a Burns poem) in your layout for your final 10 points


It was Holly's birthday on Saturday and we went out for a meal to our local Beefeater and then had birthday cake at home.

I didn't use a quote from a poem so I can't claim the points for that:(

I cut a butterfly out of a Coke can because Holly could keep this company going alone by the amount she drinks of the stuff lol!

Creative Craft World mini kit

I was lucky enough to receive one of these kits to play with this month and unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the contents.  

I decided to make a mini book for Holly as part of her birthday present.  She went to London recently and I was going to save the photos to scrap at my retreat but decided to use them for this book.

It's an accordion book and I used two of the chipboard buttons covered in the papers as a closure for it.

From my stash I added the London buttons, the bull dog clip and some red cardstock to highlight the photos, everything else including the tickets and the twine came in the kit.

I hope Holly likes it:)