WOYWW

I'm sure you all know what this stands for - Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday - I haven't been able to join in for a while because there really has been nothing on my desk - but now thanks to OWOH I've got the crafting bug again. I'm such a messy crafter - I have a fairly big desk and a 1" space to work in - well I did used to run inchy challenge blog but this is taking things a bit too far! I'd love to be one of those tidy crafters who knows where everything is and everything is in its place - are there any out there?

On my desk you can just about see a Home Wall Hanging I am working on - its going to be Prize No 2 for my OWOH giveaway - if you haven't joined in yet - what's keeping you - a chance to win goodies from all over the world!

PAPER SWAP

Over at UK Stampers Sam has organised an old paper swap - take a 12 x 12 piece of paper and play with it - jazz it up a bit with ink, stamps, anything - and then cut it into 9 4x4 pieces and do a swap. I used some Cherry Pie Stamps and some Tim Holtz. I really need some new inks as my Tim Holtz ones are nearly all dry - can you get reinkers for them? I'll have to have a look and see. Here's the before:

and here's the after

What a great way to use up an old boring piece of paper - I can't wait to get all the pieces everyone else has done. I'm going to go and do a few more pages and maybe cut them up into inch squares ready for some inchies.

Saying that though I may not get time - this One World One Heart blog hopping takes up so much time - so many blogs to get through and so few spare hours! I feel guilty sitting here so long with the dogs looking at me wanting their walk! But its cold and raining and its much more fun sitting here finding new artists and crafters and making new friends - oh ok - just a quick walk then!

LOVE TAG

Can you believe that, having stopped the inchy challenge blog, I've signed myself up with UK Stampers to do an on-going inchy swap! I just miss the little things! The swap is Continents and this week's was Africa - a tricky one as I had no African stamps so I amended a cat to look like a tiger! If only I'd taken a picture of them before I'd sent them off - but when I get them all back I'll upload them on here.
In the meantime here is a Valentines Tag I have done - also for UK Stampers for a competition they are running. I'm hoping I'll get back into doing some crafting if I join in. The stamp is one of Tim Holtz's - I love this family scene, especially as our family isn't complete with Emma at Uni and Jonathan having to work away - makes you treasure the moments that we are all together even more now the children are growing up.

The theme over at Sunday Stampers challenge is Sentiment - so I'm including my tag for that one also - Love does remind us that nothing else matters.



Tomorrow is the start of One World One Heart and I have been busy making my piece to be given away - Check again tomorrow to see what's on offer - especially if you like inchies!


My youngest Welsh Springer Spaniel Tegan is never far from me and this is her favourite place to be when I am on the computer - under the desk beside my feet. I often trip over her because she's so close behind me - its like having kids again!



My friend owns a wonderful meadow in the village in Hampshire where we live and last week we took a walk around it with the dogs - the sun was shining and it was almost spring - it gave us both such a lift to be watching these swans and listening to the river.







FIONA
x

ONE WORLD, ONE HEART

This is the final year for One World One Heart - the blog hopping event of the year - I did this a few years ago and even won something which was a bonus. I'm going to join in again this year - hopefully all that blog hopping will give me the motivation I need to get crafting again.

You'll find all the details here and the starting date is 30 Jan.

FINAL INCHY CHALLENGE

It's our final inchy challenge over at inchy blog this week as I've decided to close the blog - not an easy decision but I think it needs fresh legs. My choice of word for our final one is BLUE. Here's my inchy :

On a brighter note - my hubby and I went out with some friends to Winchester last evening for a skate around the ice rink and then some dinner. I'm not a very confident skater but I did enjoy it - and enjoyed watching those who can skate whizz by me! I'm just so grateful I didn't fall over!

White Glitter and Christmas Markets

This is a card I did for some of my Christmas cards last year and I really enjoyed doing it so thought I'd do some more this year - I'm also putting it in for the theme of White Glitter over at Gingersnap Creations

I met my friend Karen today (Missy K) and we went for lunch in Wincester and had a good old natter and put the world to rights. Its also the time of year when the Christmas Market is held at Winchester Cathedral and they also have an ice rink. We will be enjoying the delights of the Ice Rink on Monday evening - gulp!

Check out Erika's fab blog candy she's offering - you'll find it here

INCHY BLOG CHRISTMAS TAG SWAP

Here are the tags for our last ever inchy swap on inchy challenge blog - we had a gorgeous and varied selection of Christmas Tags all sporting an inchy.

BRRRR - COLD

Our challenge word this week on inchy blog is Cold - couldn't be anything else this week here in the UK. I hope you are all coping ok with the bad weather. Global warming - got to love it! lol!

Here's my inchy for the challenge - only one more week to go on the blog before it closes - although it may be taken up by a few of the other ladies - I wish them luck - it will be nice to play along and not have to do the thinking!

WINTER ANGELS

Whilst blog hopping this week I came across a gorgeous Winter banner and was inspired to make my own. The theme at Wednesday Stamper this week is Angels and my little angels on the banner fit the bill.

You can download the banner with the kind permission of Inka - you'll find her blog here

SNOW DAY

My son was so pleased this morning when he woke up to snow and could have a snow day off college. They're never too old! Here are some snowy pictures of Hampshire:

This is the Christmas Tree in our back garden - when we moved in 4 years ago it was tiny - but now look at it - it looks so pretty.

This morning I helped out at our village pub to put up the Christmas Decorations - there was a real festive atmosphere and we all stayed much longer than we should have - this is the pub with the snow on it - the thatch also looks very pretty at this time of year.

...and another

Meredith Scraps is also holding a Christmas card challenge - as she's in Australia though she doesn't want any snow cards! Here's a present card - inspired by Kristina Werner again.

MORE CHRISTMAS CARDS

I came across a new challenge blog today - called Christmas Cards All Year Round - their challenge was to do cards with the word Santa or a picture of Santa on - and if you do 5 you get entered into a monthly draw. I looked through the cards I've done recently and indeed had 7 with Santa on them - I've had to use my camera to photograph them as the scanner isn't working very well:

INCHY BLOG - GIVING

I have decided that its time to give up the inchy challenge blog that I run - its been going for over two years and I've met some great cyber friends and real friends. The blog will run its last challenge on 20th December and there will be a farewell prize being offered.

The challenge this week in the meantime is Giving - and here's mine:

Christmas is one of my favourite times of the year but this year it is more poignant as its my first year without my mum who died in May. Its also the first year my daughter Emma has been away from home as she is at Uni - so only one chocolate for me to put in the Advent Calender this year - and I've had my orders that I can't put the Christmas tree up until she comes home to help. A year of changes in our household.

I've been inspired by Kristina Werner to make some Christmas cards - you'll find her here I've not been crafting and have got rid of a lot of my craft stuff but I just couldn't bear to part with the Christmas stamps and papers and Kristina helped me find my mojo - I love having her on in the background - it makes crafting less lonely. She does a countdown of cards for Christmas and I've followed her 2009 and 2010 one this year and made similar cards - I'll try and show a few per day. I've also used my own handwriting on the blue card - inspired by Kristina - I don't think it turned out too bad.

The Robin card can be entered into the Saturday Surprise challenge - their theme is home for the holidays and the Take a Word challenge - their word is Home.

DEVOTION

The challenge over at inchy challenge blog this week is Devotion.

Here's mine

And these are some pictures of our new cat Oscar settling in very well - Tegan is definitely devoted to him.

Who says cats and dogs have to be enemies?

Meet OSCAR

We have a new addition to the family - Oscar - my husband isn't really a cat man but I've found out after 25 years (today I should add) that he can't really refuse me anything. Aren't I lucky - so for my silver wedding present I got Oscar the cat - a three year old from Cat's Protection. I lost my Felix in May after 17 years and he left a big gap.

Although I have two other cats they are just not people cats but I could see that Oscar and I were going to be great pals. He's settled in very well so far and taking all of my brood in his stride. He doesn't look too stressed does he?

INCHY CHALLENGE - WAVE

Our word for this week over at inchy challenge blog is Wave - I've done a wave of the hand. If you'd like to play along you'll find us here

Its a busy week ahead in our household as my daughter goes off to Uni next Saturday - all the way up to Aberystwyth which is a 5 hour drive from us here in Hampshire. She's going up to study Equine Studies and this weekend we drove her horse Figaro up as he's going to be studying with her! At least if she gets homesick she can go and give him a big hug. I must admit I'm not looking forward to the goodbyes - I cry at the slightest thing and I know I'll be wreck.

I have a new cat coming to live with us tomorrow - his name is Oscar and he's a three year old black and white - I've missed my old Felix who died in May and although I have two other cats they are very aloof so I'm hoping Oscar will be more of a people cat - he's come from Cat Protection and I hope he settles in ok with all my brood. He will give me something to focus on with Emma going!

Its my Silver Wedding Anniversary tomorrow - we've been celebrating since August with one thing another but tomorrow is the actual date. Don't 25 years go so quick!

INCHY BLOG - DAINTY

Inchy blog's word for this week is Dainty. I found this image and thought it suited. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else makes of the word. You can find us here if you'd like to join in.

I'M BACK AND SO IS INCHY CHALLENGE BLOG

I'm back from a wonderful holiday in Kefalonia, Greece as part of our 25th Wedding Anniversary celebrations - this was the view from our pool - isn't it gorgeous!

We received a wonderful Welsh Lovespoon from Emma and Christopher as a present.

In case you are not familiar with Lovespoons, the custom and carving of Welsh Lovespoons originated in Wales hundreds of years ago. The young man would carve the spoon in the hope that his loved one would accept it. If the girl accepted - it showed her interest and is the origin of our word "spooning" Various symbols would be included - a chain would mean togetherness, a dragon for protection, a heart for love, a diamond for good luck etc.

I've also started up inchy challenge blog again with a brand new set of challenges each week which is going to be WORDS. This week's word is Touch - here's my inchy - the image was part of a Moo I was sent by Pauline and I loved the way she'd presented it so I adapted it somewhat to become an inchy and added a few more bits and pieces. If you'd like to join in with our challenges you'll find us here