On the fourth day of Christmas....

I’m on my own. No radio, no tv, just the gentle hum of the washing machine and dishwasher. Soon, I have to prepare for lunch guests and that will be lovely. But now, this minute, coffee at hand, I’m basking in some quiet. So quiet that for a second, I became all reflective and wondered if you’d like to see some of the cards I made for Christmas. I had two phases of making, the one that I felt was necessary but too early and another where I was actually ‘in the mood’. I can’t now tell which cards came from which phase. That says a great deal about the consistency of my erm, style. Same old same old!

A Sizzix die (which does not cut well at all) and a little bit of stamping required. I like the simplicity and did several of these in alternating colour ways. ie red text on a white card and this white text on a red. Then the difficulty with the die made me gnash my teeth and shout HUMBUG, so I moved on. One thing I can tell you from this pic is that these were clearly made after the poinsettia card!

Wonderful Penny Black stamps. Look at that, an entirely stamped card! And the ‘old fashioned’ felt pen coloured onto solid stamp’ technique. You can rely on me. It’s in a cellophane bag because it was one of the ‘designs’ for the Card Marathon which now seems about a century ago. Despite the colour and re-colouring of the stamp that was required, I think this was my most popular card on the day.Also a Card Marathon make. Nothing but die cuts and a bit of embossing on a die cut. Fascinating fact.....the silvery grey paper was ‘hung’ by a single strip of tape across the inside top behind the ivy cut aperture. I found if it was stuck on all 4 sides that it overwhelmed the text and it couldn’t be read so well. Interesting, huh? I also tried this silver and white colour way with about five other colours of paper on the inside and had the same problem with all of them. At some stage I may get around to trying it on a green card with gold embossed text. The point of this is though, I will now look at my text dies as potential fab embossed texts!

Lastly and seriously, just to jolt you awake on this fourth day of Christmas. Creme Eggs on the counter at my Post Office on Christmas Eve. The world may continue to turn, but today, I’ve been happy to share my quiet moments. Because of course, it’s not actually quiet in my head. 

What’s On Your Christmas Workdesk? Wednesday 551

Happy Christmas! I hope that whatever you’re doing, that you enjoy a lovely day. At some point, some of us may well manage some quiet time and the chance to visit you on this special day is too good to miss really, you that are a such a steadfast and warm presence in each other’s lives. This is scheduled. Mr Dunnit said that however busy a day we have planned (and we do), we simply must not get up at working times. I won’t. I need waking. He will though, he can’t help it.

I haven’t even turned the light on in my workroom today until now.

The red berry lights on the chair are actually supposed to have been put away, I must have been distracted. I can’t get enough of fairy lights at Christmas, but I have to admit defeat with these. So a non-action but non-tidied desk. Elsewhere in the house, there was action. Wiring in of a new kitchen appliance caused a failure on the sockets circuit. Took ages to work back and find out how/why, and at one point the circuit that controls the new heating system was also affected. Just as I thought I was going to have to pack up all the food and drink and presents and take it to the sweet Mother In Law’s house, it was corrected. He was stressed. I suggested a lie down in a dark room. He chose to test the underfloor heating in the new bit.

I had to ring Jan to check that I’d done enough sprouts, and as with best mates the world over, she said she’d have some spare if I need them. I’m not counting, but have promised that there will be a minimum of 10 sprouts each. Of course, the potential for bubble and squeak is enormous.

If you’ve time, please show us what you’re up to this Christmas, and allow some time for visitors! Season’s Greetings and very much love to you.

All lights and no baubles..

Well now, some weeks ago, I chatted about making some small gifts for the staff at my Mama’s care home. So here we are on the Friday before Christmas, which for a lot of people this year is the last working day. How lovely, if you’re one of these worker bees, I hope you enjoy the small extension to your Christmas break. A small procrastinating-type diversion there. A good indication of what happened to my intentions. I decided this year that I wouldn’t make edible gifts. Too many gluten, nut, alcohol, dried fruit, veggie, vegan requirements to trip over. So I hit on the idea of cookie cutter baubles. Not too difficult and relatively easy to source. Yeah, right. I could only get them in sets, so already there are erm, ‘choices’ for the recipients to make. Which takes the stress of wrapping doesn’t it...I can just present them all on a tray for people to choose from! Cool Yule.

So I chose my weapons, and soon realised that it wasn’t the quantity that was going to make things slow. It was what I wanted to do. Ergh. I wanted to glue the cookie cutters to sparkly (non-shed) glitter card. And the only glue that would grab properly was silicone. Ergh again. I hate silicone, it’s so difficult to dispense and a steady hand is not one of my skills. Good grief, I haven’t got good enough eyesight for steady anything! so, once all were stuck fast to the sheets, I cut round them and used red tape to hide the join, especially useful on the messy ones. Red tape was then dusted with glitter. Punch a hole with the trusty cropadile and thread some ribbon for a hanger. Then a little bit of decoration. It hasn’t been too complicated. 

I found some MDF shapes in the back of my Christmas stash and decided this morning to make a few more ‘just in case’. They are very different to the cookie cutter style, but hey, choice is good. Today was to be delivery day, but I failed on that. My glue gun needed recharging and doesn’t work plugged in, only charged. So I had to use more silicone. Lots of silicone.

And that means drying time. So Monday will be delivery day. It’s all good- after all, I know with amazing certainty that however many people did finish work for the holiday today, a lot of people don’t finish work at all. Saved by other people’s vocations! And don’t fret gentle Christmas holiday reader, I too have noticed the lack of ribbon in the slow drying MDF baubles. Cool Yule. And phew. 

What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 550

I can’t show the whole thing - it includes unwrapped presents, wrapping gear, half finished hand made gifts and some piles of card stock that I had a sudden and ridiculous urge to sort out. And amongst all of that, I’m trying to make a scrapbook page for a challenge. Lawks Marge, what makes me do these things? I committed to this scrapbook challenge a while ago and I don’t intend to let it pass me by. So there! 

Meanwhile, in the land of real life and preparing, this is a shot of last night’s desk. 

It was a busy day and I had a panic on that with a week to go, I hadn’t made any mince pies. A WEEK TO GO. I mean, that’s a ridiculous situation to be in. We all love ‘em. So for now that situation is resolved. I give it till Saturday. But that’s ok, all the other deadlines will have vanished by then too. I may be in Christmas clover!

Yah, famous last words. Share then, gentle desker; let us know how this countdown to the big two-five is going for you,and of course, we need a photo! Link your WOYWW post here and visit if and when you can. in honour of it all, I will side-step the kettle and head for your drinks cabinet. Sherry’s good. Thanks.

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 549

I'm typing this on the PC and not through the App I usually use on my iPad. It means I've had to remember stuff and that's been a bit of a test! Did anyone else experience difficulty with Blog Touch I wonder? Ah well, no matter, it's not as if I can't access the blog one way or another.
So , in glorious (relative) close up:

I'm making Christmas cards. Because I'm in the mood and discover I'm a few short.  I'm doing stuff in the evenings now, as the light is the same quality whatever the time. During the day I cut and colour match at the dining table in real light, and then in the evenings I'm doing the sticking and collating. And still making a mess. The cookie cutter ornaments are taking shape - in the green basket at left. Just noodling over how to add a little more embellishment, then I'll let you see them. The die being weeded on the glass mat is a lovely one by Sizzix, but not often used. To cut it from scrapbook paper it requires 3 different angled placements and six turns through the Big Shot. As much as I like it, it doesn't get a lot of use and certainly I don't make many multiples! I'll show and tell when  the painful part is over! 
Show and tell from your place too please, it's a very interesting time of the year for the likes of me. Link your WOYWW entitled blog post here please. Thank you. It'll get you onto the NICE list!

What’s On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 548

Well gentle Deskers, welcome to December. Season of goodwill and enormous workloads. Please be kind to yourselves; remember that this Wednesday thing in particular, is so flexible and so full of understanding that as long as we know you’re OK and not missing through sickness or stress, you should dip in and out as pressure permits. It’s unrealistic to expect 100% visiting, so do what you can, be calm, be comfortable and enjoy the run up. Feels like a run up to a long jump, huh! So, look at me - 

I’m in a state of near tidy! Allow me to show you around....the little square box at right, behind the scissors contains tiny candy canes, about an inch and a half. I’m tying them onto gift tags as I wrap. And I’m wrapping as I buy. For years I’ve fixated on the finish of the shopping, then spent I don’t know how many hours just wrapping. No pleasure there; this little and often thing is much better. 

At the left is a pile of Christmas cards: I’m ready to write! There’s about three gifts partially hidden next to them, and then weirdly, a lot of star shaped cookie cutters glued to silver glitter paper. They are at step one and after a couple more steps, will be hanging gifts for the staff at my Mama’s care home. Different sizes, but I couldn’t get the number I needed unless I bought sets of three, so am hoping that some will want smaller than others for their tree! I’m getting used to the lack of daylight. Largely because I’m actually dragging stuff round to the table and working in the new room when the skies are bright! So, if you’ve time to share please link your WOYWW post here, as usual.