A NEW YEAR WOYWW PLUS BIG CLEAR OUT

Firstly, can I say sorry to everyone who took the time to visit my blog over the last couple of weeks and leave comments. I may not have been able to visit yours but hope to put that right this week, even if it takes 'til next Tuesday!!!

My little room may always look reasonably tidy, but open a cupboard door and try and find something - no chance. So the clear out has begun. 'Peg leg' helped me all day yesterday to take everything out of the 2 big cupboards (these used to be the back of the chimney breast, so you can imagine their size). I can't reach to the back of the top shelf and there's always something you want up there! We ended up in this state.

Some of the stuff filled the table and some filled

the kitchen. I had already sorted a load which filled my new boxes.

All I had to then was put it back in a nice neat fashion.

Looking good so far.

Apart from having to over spill into a couple of kitchen cupboards as well, I ended up with a mountain of stuff for my friend, (which by the way sonia, weighs a tonne, so no chance of posting it!!) no where for the shredder any more, some bits for Ebay and having to go out today to buy 2 more shelves and brackets for all my Tim alterations dies ( there is the hope of more new ones this year- fingers crossed) PLUS, I have Blog Candy.

I missed the chance for a give away on my 500th blog post but I will give something to my 50th follower. Also if you choose to become a follower and tell about this little give away on your blog and leave a comment here, you will be entered for the candy which I will draw next Wednesday - 11.1.11. The candy will be a surprise and I will add to it each day so there will be 7 items.

Right, I want to make a start on popping over to every one's desk so am going to start with our wonderful leader Julia. Have a wonderful week.

GHOSTLY ATC

I don't really know why I love making Halloween ATCs. I think it's the colours - or lack of colour - and the intriguing images and effects.

Of course it's really an American thing that is catching on here as everything else from over there does (not complaining about the craft side of that though - quite the opposite) so they do it better. I've just seen an amazing ornament made using a combination of Tim's GB, stamps and embellishments. Quite delish..

My little card, on the other hand, is simple but effective - just like me LOL!!!!

I used mount board for the base and gave it a covering of gesso before distressing over it with black soot and dried marigold inks. I then sprayed the skull stamp with water and stamped the background. this gave an eery looking image which I dried quickly with a heat gun. After masking that I stamped the cobwebs using black archival, removed the mask and over stamped with Tim's barbed wire stamp, again using black archival. The little ghost word is from a mini collage of words by Studio G - I think I got this off Ebay last year. I then stuck a couple of 'spiders' - ok, I know they are really ants - which are luminous to the webs and added a bit of orange peel stickles.

The photo doesn't really do it justice because, although a simple card, it's quite effective.

I'm starting to get my things together for Lindsay's workshops on Saturday. They are going to be a hoot. Meeting up with 'the girls' (Gez, She and Sioux) and the 'sister act' (Lindsay and Heather) is a recipe for fun, fun, fun, Oh! and a lot of great crafting techniques. Check out everyone's blog from the links in my right hand side bar.

Hopefully I shall get the chance to take photos of what we make and what we get up to. See ya.

DRAGONFLY INVASION

I got on with this backlog of jobs I have to do since coming back from our travels, and made a couple of dragonflies - instructions taken from Heather's book, page 48 - so that I could complete a couple of special projects.

These 2 were a bit easier to make than the first one I tried, but I think the dagger beads should be bigger. They were all I could find from the 5 craft shops I went round the other day! Anyway, I've now found some larger ones on Ebay and they will be 'winging' their way to me this week.

'Peg Leg' has his first hospital appointment tomorrow, thank goodness. Just hope it won't be too long before they actually do the operation. He is taking pills like there's no tomorrow and for him, that is a one off. Hopefully, we can get back to a normal life once he is fit again because things have slowed so much these past 2 years.

Right, today is cle....., that's ....ing, sorry I just can't say that word. It has something to do with dust which always makes me cringe 'cos it means 'work'. Now I have to go wash my mouth out for saying that last 4-letter word.

AUTUMN CLEAN

Time for a clean up in my workroom as the dust has gone grey and fluffy!!

I thought I would hang my Martha Stewart punches from beneath my shelves. They are out of the way but still accessible plus, being next to the wall allows the light to shine through the slats on the shelves so I can see what I am doing during the long dark days of winter. Look good eh?

Once I had made space and done all the polishing (yak, I hate housework), I made another 'witchy' ATC for Heathers swap. That's it though now. I've posted all 4 this afternoon. Roll on the next swap. I used to participate in Leonie's Fab Friday challenges, but since she started uni. she has been so busy that she can't manage them now. I love this sort of thing because it makes you think and allows you to learn so much when the professionals run these swaps.

My next task is to use up all the prepared Xmas toppers I've made and then to have a really good clear out of craft booty and get it on Ebay. Oh! does that mean more cleaning? Think I'll just let it accumulate a bit more.