Poor neglected Blog!

Just a quick post to let you know that I've posted my project over on our sister blog Craft Stamping Quartet I've been so busy this month with holidays, and visiting my Dad who is still quite poorly. My OH is still giving us minor cause for concern, but men are notoriously bad at listening to warning signs and looking after themselves aren't they?
We've just got back from a lovely cruise in the Med, visiting Sicily, Turkey, Greece and Crete. The sights were incredible, I love the ancient architecture, and the people were very friendly. It was a bit too hot for me though, so I was very grateful for the sea breeze.
I'm helping Megan pack her things up as she prepare to head back to University tomorrow. She will be popping home for the next week or two, before she starts her courses, as she turns 21 in a couple of weeks, (how can that be?) I am then going to the Graphicus Retreat on Friday for the weekend. I went last year, and it was an absolutely fantastic weekend, so I can't wait to go again this year.

Hopefully next week, I can get back to a bit of normal crafting again, and will resume my Forgotten Friday posts, and try and join in with the WOYWW again. I hope that you have all been having a great summer, and I'll speak to you soon, Judith xx

WOYWW 62

Hi folks well I'm back for another WOYWW and if you don't know what it's all about, hop on over to Julia's Blog to take a look.
This week I promised that I would show you my floor, oh dear! Well, I did get a bit fed up of tripping over the piles of magazines, and chucked some out, but here are a few;

I buy jewellery, card making and Art magazines, but have to admit of late, I hardly buy any, because Ihave got fed up with the piles of magazines everywhere. I have started to throw the old ones out now, maybe I'm getting ruthless in my old age, or I'm just getting fed up of stubbing my toes.

Anyway, I thought I'd also show you my filing cabinets, I have four! Two contain rubber stamps, wood mounted from when I first started rubber stamping, and unmounted, which I prefer these days, unless they are really special stamps, and I make an exception.

I also have another final stack of Really Useful boxes containing all of my jewellery bits and bobs. This stack looks a bit precarious, but I haven't used it for a few weeks, and it needs sorting out. I have an old lilac organiser pinched from my daughter that holds H2Os, double sided tape, foam pads etc beside it.

Last week, Phree spotted my box of punches, and commented on the rather impressive amount that I appeared to have. Okay, I confess, I am a punchaholic! I have a large collection, tucked under my desk, so here it is, in all of it's glory. 

Finally, to my desk, just to show a page from a fabric book that I was working on with Lynn from Graphicus a couple of weeks ago. I hope to do a bit more to some of the pages over the next couple of days. I've also been gathering some stash for a Craft Stamper project that my blog friends, Elaine, Lesley, Jo and I are all working on for our blog Craft Stamping Quartet and I seriously need to get a wriggle on with that.

I hope you've enjoyed the tour of my craft room over the last two weeks, and have seen that I'm not such a neat freak after all! Thanks for looking, Judith xx

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

 I have always loved this poem:

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired

And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

And run my stick along the public railings

And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

And pick flowers in other people's gardens

And learn to spit.



You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

And eat three pounds of sausages at a go

Or only bread and pickle for a week

And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.



But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

And pay our rent and not swear in the street

And set a good example for the children.

We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.



But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.



Jenny Joseph



Anyway, the point behind showing you the poem is, that I love purple, in most shades, I wear it, I use it in crafting, it's in my bedroom and bathroom, and it makes me feel happy.

Recently, Terry and I went to a charity Ball in the village where we live, in aid of SADS; sudden adult death syndrome. The people we bought our house from sadly lost their nephew a few years ago to the syndrome. He was 15, and he would be the same age as Megan, my oldest now, who is 20. So it brings it home to us in a very real way. We all dress up in our finery, and traipse off to a barn in the village once a year to raise money for  charity. It is a happy affair, with lots of laughter, and the family of Joe, remember him with love.I bought a new dress, shoes etc for the occasion in my favourite colour, and made a necklace to match, and thought that I'd show you some pictures. I'm not able to show you anything on the crafting front today, as I've been working on secret DT business lately.

. 

My shoes were so lovely, and I will wear them with trousers through the winter, they are worthy of a scrapbook page of their own!




Terry is out of hospital now, and learning how to slow down thankfully, but he gave us a scare. He has to have some more tests, but he is showing symptoms of angina related to stress. I would like to thank you for your good wishes. Hopefully now we can keep an eye on him and make sure that he doesn't overdo things

I'll be back tomorrow for WOYWW, and maybe a crafty snippet or two, thanks for looking, Judith xx

Need to take a raincheck

Unfortunately, I can't post a Forgotten Friday post this week. My OH is rather poorly, and I need to focus on him. Hopefully I will be back next week with a project to share with you. Judith xx

WOYWW 61

Hi folks, I'm back to join in WOYWWafter a week's break, as I was away last week, visiting my parents.If you don't know what WOYWW is all about then pop over to Julia's Blog

I have decided to give you a tour of other areas of my Craft Room this week, starting with where I store my ink pads. I treated myself to a lovely ink rack to put on the wall, which I quickly outgrew, (how did that happen?) and so improvised, by buying an insert for a Really Useful Storage Box, to put the overflow inks in. I have had an issue since my window was moved, in that the sun has been shining on my rack and, (I think), drying them out. So, I'm having a blind fitted in a couple of weeks, and I've bought a set of DI re-inkers, (gulp!).

On the other side of the room are some shelves that hold lots of baskets with stamp blocks, sponges, Nesties, embossing folders, glitters, all sorts of stuff. On the right hand side, there are some bits to alter, like a little set of drawers, and two empty round chocolate boxes, that my blog friend Elaine, gave to me. She didn't let me have any of the chocolates though, Lol! There is also an old piece that I made for our Blog, and a little canvas perched up there, so that they don't get knocked over.

My OH has very kindly been buying me some Really Useful boxes a few at a time, in a vain attempt to help me get organised in my Craft Room. I know from your last visit that you probably think that I am neat and tidy, but that took me four days!!! Anyway, last month, he bought me thirteen at once, not a small expense on his behalf, and I have had a chance to sort some of my stash out . I need to label them properly, as yellow post it notes are not a very efficient labelling system!

Finally, sorry this is such a long post! Just in case you still don't believe that I do have an untidy streak in me, this is the other half of my desk, that I didn't show you last time! It has two trays of jewellery bits, waiting to be sorted, and put away, and a couple of piles of stuff that needs sorting. The floor is another matter, I'll save that one for next week... Thanks for looking, Judith xx

Elusive Images Design Team sample

I've just come back from a few days away at my parent's house. My Dad has been ill for a few months, and it was good to check up on him and see how he is coming along. It was also his Birthday on Saturday, and I don't often get to celebrate that with him. He has a long recovery process, but hopefully he'll get there.
I also went to two fabulous classes at Graphicus run by Lynn; a Bind it all Book class, and a fabric book class. They were just fabulous. The fabric book was my favourite, it just pushed all of the right buttons for me, using fabric and watercolour pages inside a fabric book, we used paints and inks to decorate the pages. Lynn taught us how to make a twisted fabric flower, and we added embellishments to some of our pages. The day just flew by. I haven't finished either of my books, but hopefully I'll post some pictures for you soon, as what I did finish, I am quite pleased with.

I am posting a couple of pictures of an item that I made when I applied to become part of the Elusive Images Design Team This item is a card with a matching necklace, made using Stampbord. I don't normally work with green much, so this was a step out of my comfort zone. I used some beautiful bird stamps as the focus of my design, and found some matching beads. I added a lovely flower toggle clasp and some little silver bird beads to finish it off. I made a gatefold card from a scrapbook size piece of card, and added an internal pocket to hold the necklace.

I really like these bird stamps from Elusive Images, and enjoyed making this project immensely. I used Distress Inks for my colours; Tattered Rose, Shabby Shutters and Bundled Sage, if memory serves me correctly. I protected the necklace front with Glossy Accents.                                                             

Thanks for looking, Judith xx