Please Mr. Postman ...

... Look and see, if there's a letter, a letter for me!!!!!

Ok ... nearly 1st December and I still have the huge batch of Christmas cards to make. Quite unheard of and due mostly to lack of both time and inspiration ... with the lack of inspiration having the leading edge.

I do have very many S*N*O*W*flakes cut with the Big Shot and embossed and glittered (well, Stickled ... I am not a glittery sort of person but find Stickles give just enough sparkle to add the necessary festive spirit!) and have sat looking at them for weeks now not at all sure what to do with them.

But now I know!!!!   They will be going into my Christmas crafting box for next year!

Whilst WOYWw'ing this week I nosied further on down the fabulous SILVERWOLF'S blog past her WOYWW post and found THE most PERFECT Christmas card EVER.  Spent a frantic half hour or so searching online for the stencil (Indigo Blu Flourish Baubles ... or it might be Bauble Flourises) , ribbon, gems, card blanks etc., and just hope that at least the stencil arrives today (especially as hubby is out all day and I now can't wait to get those Christmas cards done!!!)

Colour scheme will be almost the same as last year's Christmas cards but if it ain't broke then why fix it and who can go wrong with good old black and white with a splash of red? I know I don't have enough black card on which to mount the fronts of the cards so having already bought navy blue card for my now defunct *S*N*O*W*flakes I nipped to Hobbycraft last night (first time in there for YEARS and I have to say found it quite dreadful) and got a new dark blue ink pad and some pale blue ribbon and gems and will make some in those colours when my black card runs out.  And I doubt any of last year's  recipients will even remember last year's cards so am just going with it.

Will be odd making a card that actually opens as I do favour the post-card / tag style and have never used a scalloped edged card in all my years of crafting so that will be interesting

Ooooh am all of a tingle now but have a feeling I might have to contain aforementioned tingle until in the week when the stuff arrives ... watch this space!

Needing more TTIME!!!!!

But then I guess all us crafters are at this time of year ... my To Do list is simply unachievable and the more I chip away at it the more I seem to think "Oh I want to do some of these" and add them to the list.  I really do have to start talking myself out of things now and concentrate on the original To Do list and not the revised one ones.

My life has taken an unexpected turn when I found the overwhelming grief of losing my mommy starting to lift back around July time.  I suddenly felt quite, quite different and knew I had turned the corner in getting to grips with her loss (only taken 7 years mind you!).  

This meant I felt able to start going out again and began to make little trips ... still not able to go into shops or other such places but had plans for my holiday at the end of September.  Two days before my holiday I was FINALLY able to track down some shoes I was able to walk in ... just a little blue canvas pump ... but oh, they have opened up a whole new world to me!

In the past five years I have walked no further from the front door to the car and back again, and only maybe every six to seven weeks but now there is no stopping me!  Those little blue shoes have taken me down 180 steps to the waterfall at Foyers (and back up them again!) ... strolls along Loch Ness shoreline and round and round and round a wooded lake local to me ... well, only round once each time but I'm getting there and fully plan on making my walks longer and longer as time goes by.

I now have FIVE pairs of those blue pumps as I am quite aware of their unsuitability for walking BUT I don't care one little bit ... nothing is going to stop me now and I am getting very good at tip-toeing through the mud and then scraping it all off those pumps when I get home again.  

However, whilst I am fully prepared to walk with wet feet, and with cold feet and even with wet and cold feet I am not looking forward to walking with frozen feet and began to get in a right old tizz.  I ADORE the *S*N*O*W* and can't wait for my first trip around "my" lake in the heavy frost or *S*N*O*W* but know those pumps won't do it ... I have horrendous feet and have always struggled to find suitable footwear and doubted I would find anything to fit.  After a sleepless night on Friday I woke hubby the next morning ... "OK ... take me to Go Outdoors please" ... and off we went.

I might as well have been going to the dentist ... shaking like a leaf and very weepy but off we went.  Faced with hundreds and hundreds of boots and shoes I figured we would be there a very long time so when hubby's back was turned I headed straight for three members of staff  "are you all shoe people?" I asked and when they said they were I added "OK, which of you wants a challenge?"  A young girl voluteered and ... well, to cut a long story short LOOK .....

I now have walking boots!!!!!!!!

Have only worn them around the house this week but they will be road-tested on Sunday (only because hubby is out all day Saturday!) and then there really will be no stopping me.  And with hubby due to have retired by Christmas they will be getting a LOT of use!

So ... I am WAY behind with my Christmas crafting due to GOING OUT ... now do the supermarket (with hubby ... still not quite ready to resume driving!) and really do think I have reached a new place.  It's hard "letting go" and the guilt at finding grief has lifted has been hard to cope with but I simply can't go back to where I have been and I know mommy will understand.  I hope in my heart she understands.

HUGE APOLOGIES if you are reading this waiting for photo's of crafty stuff to appear ... this has all been such a pivotal part of my life I wanted it recorded here so I can one day look back and remember when it all fell back into place.

Now ... back to the Christmas crafting I guess. 

WOYWW 234

Well I was planning on WOYWW'ing today for the first time in goodness knows how long but I can't remember what to do!!!!!!

Have popped along to Julia's Stamping Ground to get my number but then came to a halt simply unable to figure out what to do next ... how daft I can be.  Can be?  Ok, how daft I am.

So will find someone to ask ... Maggie C?  Diane?  Shaz?  Anyone?  

Or shall I just Do An Experiment and see what happens ... what can go wrong? 

Watch this space!!!!!

 Photo above are some poinsettas made with the Tim Holtz die / embossing folder thingy ... look everso pretty in real life but, as usual, my photography skills are somewhat lacking.  Will attempt to take photo's of finished cards for next week (and yes, they are finished!!!)

Two photo's below are just two of the 21 wooden hearts I have made ... they all hang from a rustic string loop from the centre.

I planned on making only 15 but a few people saw them on the worktop finished and went "WOW I hope I am getting one of those" ... well, they weren't but they are now!

OK ...not really sure if I have managed it ... and not really my workdesk today as I just had a dreadful job trying to transfer photo's from my mobile to the laptop.  

Am stressed and oh so busy trying to get an impossibly long To Do list sorted ... set myself far too much crafting to do for Christmas.

So with all that in mind I must crack on.  I know I now have to link to Julia's Stamping Ground so you can all find out about the wonderful world of WOYWW'ing (that stands for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday by the way) so hope this  LINK works.  

Happy Crafting!!!!