WOYWW 185

Well all i can say is, it's a good job i'm not walking in to work this morning, because I wouldn't have had time to write this!

My desk today (well, 6am.)

I am so tired, I just tried to post this picture as a link.  Doh!  These are my Parliament of Tupenny owls that i found in a book called Microcrafts from the library.  They are called 'tupenny owls', because after the first one I made came out to lightweight and floaty, I stuffed the rest of the owls with a two pence piece each to give them some weight.   A great use for fabric scraps.  I've just speed wrapped all 24 owls into trios and gave them all a name (In this shot, we see Octavia, Orla and Odysseus).  I'm giving them to some of the part timers at work and to a couple of friends I know would appreciate them. They have a large length of 3mm black grosgrain ribbon by which to tie them to things and decorate an area with.  I love owls.

The mystery tins get revealed a week today!  The reason why I've opted for a comfy bus ride this morning over a 3 1/2 hour walk in the cold and dark, is so that I can transport all the mystery tins to my colleagues.  It also means, and this was not planned at all, that I will be able to swing by Nero's for something nice to drink before starting work.  I am looking forward to a complete day off tomorrow (NO INFERNAL ALARM CLOCK!) so I can put my playroom back together and take stock of what presents are going where in the upcoming days.

See you all next week for the big reveal (So as not to give the game away for Fairy Thoughts)!

Go and check the other WOYWW desks here.
xxx

WOYWW 184

Hello, and welcome again to another What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, where you can hop about to your heart's content checking out other people's projects and spaces.  All hosted by the lovely Julia, and can be found here.

To all those who commented on my blog last week, that is indeed a hula hoop behind my desk.  I got it for my birthday this year.  It comes out from time to time and is great fun, but after about 100 hulas, i seem to forget how to hula (or I've noticed a bee flying past the window, or similar) and it falls to the ground.  Meanwhile, it stays behind my desk so i don't forget about it.

This week, I have cleared everything off my desk and have begun making my Christmas cards (finally!).

Here, we have 15 white cards that I cut yesterday, 15 mini cross stitches of various designs that i stitched last March and a pack of removable double sided tape.

After they've been done this evening (and signed and enveloped), I shall be cracking on with wrapping the rest of my family's presents.

Coming up:  More work on the mysterious tins, paper chain-making, Christmas shopping and wrapping gifts for Dan's family and plotting new cross stitch designs for the new year.  Yee haw!

I hope you all have a fantastic week and check out the other blogs over at Stamping Ground.

xxx

***Blog candy alert!***

Candelle Creations have put together this amazing stash of cardmaking goods for you to win.  Go and have a look at their blog to see how you can get involved.  Draw ends Jan. 9th.  Good luck! x

WOYWW 183

Wednesday again and another WOYWW!  Click on this link to see a whole raft of creative desks:)

Here's my desk...

Not tidy this week!  Right then.  We have handmade Christmas gift tags in top left corner, tub of wallpaper paste, tissue paper, ribbon and button embellishments for, Oh what are they at the back of the table, Fairy Thoughts2?!  I feel the mystery is unravelling:)

At the front of the desk are the cross stitch decorations I have been making for the charity do my other half is putting on in aid of Child's Play.  The characters are:  Poison mushroom, two life hearts, star, Piranha plant, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mario, Green mushroom and two space invaders.

The plastic envelope package is my other good deed for Christmas this year.  I'm part of a Random Act of Kindness (or RAK) group on Swapbot and i was recently invited to a swap called Sending Christmas Cheer For a L'il Girl.  The girl in question is seven year old Lilly, who suffers with Guillain-Barre syndrome, or ascending paralysis that starts in the limbs and migrates to the torso.  She is very poorly so i am sending her two colouring in books with pencils and a Christmas card after a conversation with her Grandma over what would be an appropriate gift.  While she can still use her hands, I am told, she loves to colour things in.  If you'd like to join in and send Lilly a Christmas card (gifts are optional), you can get her address here.  Check on your country's last Christmas postage dates to the US (where she lives) first to avoid disappointment.  For the UK, it's Monday 10th December.

The charity do is this Friday, so normal Christmas decorations etc will resume thereafter.

Have a lovely week everyone and see you next week!

WOYWW 182

Hello everyone!

(I managed to turn WV off!)

Every Wednesday, i join up to What's On Your Workdesk over at Stamping Ground.

This is the state of my desk today.....

I'm still working on this.  So far, I've applied black electrical tape to the sharp part at the top of the cans (after opening them with a can opener) and have begun papier mache-ing the two at the back with purple tissue paper.  The fourth can is just out of shot, and i have another 4 after that to make!

Dan (the other half) asked me if i could help make some Xmas decorations for a charity evening he's putting on in aid of Child's Play.  Dan runs a retro gaming night every Friday at a Winchester pub called the Railway Inn and Child's Play use their donations to provide poorly kids in hospitals around the world with gaming consoles to help take their minds off their illnesses.

I asked when he wanted stuff by.  Yup, two weeks.  So, in time for 7th December.  Bang goes the other stuff i was doing for Christmas then, well at least until the 8th, when PANIC MODE will kick in swiftly.

Of course i'm only too happy to help a good cause and have begun in earnest...

This will be a mushroom hanging decoration.

I knocked up this Assassin's Creed logo in cross stitch last year and will be selling it at the do once i find a frame...Anyone remember this little internet meme...

That's going in too.

In other news, the papier mache bug has struck again as i begin to construct a wreath...

Yes, there is a floor there somewhere.

Now, i must be off to work.  I've heard 40 coaches are piling into Winchester to visit the Christmas market today (Did you hear that, Fairy Thoughts?) and I want to be ready to greet the mayhem.

Please go and check out the other desks on Julia's Stamping Ground.  Bye! xxx

WOYWW ~#3

Hello all! This will be my third (or fourth?) attempt to get my desk on WOYWW with much help and despairing from Janet at Fairythoughts. I may well have cracked it.

This week on my desk, I am starting a new project, which is why it all looks neat and a little laid-out. I'm not going to say what it is I am making as they are going to be presents for some of my friends and I know that they look here sometimes. Best not to give the game away, I say.

The item will comprise of a tin can, electrical tape, tissue paper, wallpaper paste and the plastic tube innards from the inside of till rolls I've been saving at work since about March. I like to recycle.

So, tonight I will be seeing if I can knock one of these together. Tomorrow is my day off and I am hoping to be able to find the time to start getting my homemade wrapping paper together. I still need to find the cross stitch motifs I made earlier this year as they are going on Christmas cards. Then, more decorations and stockings to be made, AND WRAPPING EVERYTHING!

Have a look at the other WOYWW desk at Stamping Ground

See you next week!

xxx  

WOYWW? #2

Do you know what?  I may have actually taken a picture, written some words and posted it all up in the right place this week!

I've been determined to get on with making Xmas decorations for my new house, but have been struggling with inspiration of late.  The red discs toward the back of the shot were inspired by my colleague, Janet (Fairy Thoughts).  She is holding a Christmas craft workshop at work this Saturday and had course info leaflets printed out which showed a picture of Xmas decs she'd made, so i used the round design and sewed anything that came to hand on them (yarn, buttons, safety pins, beads, ribbon, etc).  I've attached ribbons to them and am hoping they make their way onto the as yet, non-existent Christmas tree.

Next to all that is a template for the two Christmas stockings I'm making for my partner Dan and I.  I got the fabric from work.  It's thicker than cotton, but not as rough as sacking/hessian and has a delightful print of Santa and Rudolph on it.  See -

I'm going to line the stockings (for no real reason, other than extra work for myself) with the spotty multi-coloured fabric seen in this picture.  I'm hoping to give them drawstring openings but shall see about that when i'm a bit further down the track.

Other things to do this week include: Cutting stock card into Christmas cards, figuring out what I've done with all the Christmas themed cross stitches i did earlier this year that are meant to go on the aforementioned cards, cut gift tags out of old birthday cards, potato print brown paper for  gift wrap and wrap the presents bought so far.  Fun times!

Go and have a look at the other blogs that Julia stamping-ground has signed up while i get on with this mountain of craft!