12 Days of Christmas swap day 3

Day three of the swap and todays parcel looks like this.

A very nice wrapping paper in grey/blue with a silver ribbon and a tag. When I opened it this is what I found inside......

The tag goes into the side of the page but I brought it out to photograph. This page is by Penny Austin, she has used the song image of 3 French hens and also given the religious meaning of the song lyrics, which are Love, Faith and Hope. 

Looking forward to tomorrow.

Thanks for reading,
 Cath

12 Days of Christmas swap day 2

Todays parcel comes from Elizabeth Kertz who runs the yahoo group Altered Book Club and organised the swap.

Again this is not a good photo but was the best I could get. The wrapping is hand painted paper with a small pouch of turtle doves attached to the front. To close this Elizabeth has stitched all around with gold thread.

This is what was inside.....

There were two turtle doves attached to the music from the song that this swap is based on. The work that has gone into these first two swaps that I have opened is incredible, I just hope they like mine when they get to it.

To see more of Elizabeth's work and to read her blog go here

Thanks for reading,
Cath

12 Days of Christmas swap day 1

Those of you who regularly read my blog may remember I showed a photo of the swap packages I received a few weeks ago. Well today is the first day for opening, so here is day 1.

The package was wrapped in the most fabulous fabric which I just cant get a good photo of at all. The fabric is a black cotton with a gold pattern printed on to it.

This is what I found inside.............

Again the photo does not do this justice. This piece was done by Liz Kettle and is an original watercolor printed onto tissue and layered over decorative paper and machine stitched.

Thank you to Liz for this and to Elizabeth for organizing it all. Looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings.

Thanks for reading,
 Cath

Bangkok part two (photo heavy again)

The next day we decided to take it easy as my knee was still very sore so we stayed around the apartment for most of the morning and when my painkillers had started to work set off to a craft shop I had found on the internet after having a quick photo shoot on the roof.

The park you can see behind me is called Lumphini Park. The skyline is spectacular from the roof top, but you can still see what was left from the morning smog.
I had a great time at the craft shop getting a few bits but the prices were the same as in the UK so I didn't get a lot, and I knew I would be going to the big market in a few days. On the way back to the apartment we nipped into Tesco, well you have to don't you? We got a few bits and headed home as we had planed to have a look at the local night market.
On the way to the market we got lost in the park! I had said it would be easer going around the outside but was overruled, we got there in the end. There was some lovely silk souvenirs but they all looked like they had come from the same factory in China, there was also some great original works that I would of loved to bring back we me but it would not of been possible. I would of added some photos here but Hal brought the camera but forgot the card for it! While in the market Hal decided he would like a foot massage, so we stopped at what looked like a popular place and asked. This place also did a fish massage so I thought I would give that a go! How can you forget that you have ticklish feet? I put my feet into a tank full of small fish and started to scream with laughter, people came from all the other stalls to see what was happening. While this was going on Hal was getting his feet done by a very attractive trans gender! Very well made up, long hair, tattoos and mussels. It was a fun time but we had to head back as Jon was picking his girlfriend up from the airport and we were meeting them at the apartment. After waiting for almost an hour over the time they were expected we got a text to say the taxi had been involved in a fairly nasty accident that had written of the car but that they were ok and on there way home. Fortunately they weren't seriously hurt and we stayed up talking until 4 in the morning.

The next day we decided to go and see some of the sights and I came face to face with my first Buddha.

I was so impressed with this, the whole room was so brightly painted and the ceiling was so high. We walked into the next room and found the reason for the high ceiling.

This guy is over 4 meters tall, you can see where the door frames are so that will give you some idea. But this was not to be the biggest Buddha we were to see that day. We went on to see the standing Buddha, this guy is a amazing 18 meters tall.......

I did learn something that day about praying to Buddha. All the shrines have a small bundle of incense sticks for sale, the bundle comes with a candle and a small piece of gold leaf. You light the incense and hold all three sticks in the palms of your hands as if praying, move them from your chest to your head three times then plant them in the sand box in front of the statue. You then light the candle and add this to the candle area (don't know what it is called), and you then go up to the Buddha and touch the gold leaf to it. I found this very fascinating if a bit odd as it leaves the Buddha's looking as if it has psoriasis.

You cant see it to well on this but if you look close this is what it looks like.

And just one last photo for today of the Temple cat.

He was the most evil looking cat I have ever seen.

Will post again soon with more.

Thanks for reading,
 Cath

Notes from Bangkok part one........(photo heavy)

So we made it after two flights and a stopover of 9 hours in Dubai. We were met at the airport by Jon and put straight in to a taxi so didn't get to see much of the sky line and what I could see just looked like any were else in the word other than the shrines on the side of the roads. It didn't take to long to get arrive at Jon's apartment were I promptly opened the blinds to see the view and what a view it was!

So got up nice and early the next morning to start exploring. Just had a look around the area we are staying in to start with then off to lunch with Jon, on the way I had a fall trying to get up one of the curbs, so ended up sitting on the pavement with a twisted knee, just the way to start a holiday. Jon had decided to take us to a street vendor near his office what an experience that was as we had know idea what we were eating, but it tasted good.

By the end of lunch I was feeling a little sorry for myself as my leg was starting to stiffen up but I decided to carry on and not let it spoil the day so we moved on. The next stop was Lumphini park next to the flats that we were staying in to see the Water monitor lizards.

This was as near as Hal would let me get as they can get very nasty at times.
Next stop was to have a look at one of the shopping malls, well a girl just has to shop when she is feeling down. We decided to go on the sky train, it was only a couple of stops but this city is not walker friendly at all.

I love the idea of the sky trains but they don't seem to of stopped the car users at all. The city is full of bikes, cars and Tuk-tuks small three wheel open taxis. We got to MBK in no time at all and started to look around, this was like no store I had ever been in before with a lot of small and large stores. It was more like a market in places but I soon started to cheer up with a frozen yogurt before we started to look around. I just couldn't last as my leg was so sore so we headed home passing what must be the worlds smallest Mc Donald's.

Arrived back at the apartment and just collapsed for the rest of the night.

So what do I think of Bangkok now I have had a few days here? The first thing that hit me was the noise, they don't shout but there are so many people and cars about that the noise is constant. That was followed very quickly by the smell! All the pavements have food sellers so you have that mixed with the lack of decent drain's and the fumes from the traffic, it makes a very heady mixture. The other thing I have noticed is that there is hardly any direct sunlight in the center of the city as It is covered with smog for most of the day, and with having the sky trains going through the center of the city there is no light getting to the roads below it as it is all solid concrete. If I had to pick a color to represent this city it would without doubt be Grey.

I will update again as soon as I can and post some more photos.

Thanks for reading,
 Cath

WOYWW 80

This will be my last WOYWW for this year, (I think) as I will be away for the next two. So to those of you who only visit on WOYWW, I hope you have a very good Christmas and New Year and I will see you in January. For the rest of you I will try and post whilst I am away.
So what is there to see today? My book of course! I still don't know where I got the idea from to make this before I went and fill it in whilst we are there!!!

From this angle you can see the front cover and the great pile of papers that I have accumulated over the last year. I decided I was going to cover the pages with Christmas paper and then attach post cards, tickets and the like to the pages. I know the colours are going to clash but I hope the idea will work. I have made some pockets on a couple of the pages and I can add more if I need to. The small spiral book you can see to the left we will take to write in each day or trip and stick the pages into the main book when we get time. I just hope it works.
If you would like to join in on Julia's great worktop blog hop just have a look here for the list and instructions on how to get started.

Thanks for reading,
Cath

Decisions, decisions.........

Ok I am in a bit of a quandary at the moment! I cant make up my mind as to whether I open some of my swaps before I go away and schedule the posts or take them with me and post on the day? I open  the first package on 26th December and come back on the 30th so its only four days. But what if I loose them!

What do you think, take them or open before and schedule?

Thanks for reading,
Cath

Nov and Dec pages

Just realised that I haven't posted my November and December pages out of the 365 day challenge yet, so here they are.

I decided to go for the bonfire look for November with the red and orange.

The December pages are red but for some unknown reason they have come out pink on here. The list stamp would not go right as I have too much on the other pages so it doesn't stamp straight. I like red, gold and green for my Christmas colours so they are the colours I went with. I have highlighted Christmas day and New Years Eve with gold.
I have a nice new book ready for next year, its A4 so I can get all the days on one page. I understand there is an article by Kate in this months Craft Stamper about next years 365 challenge, my copy hasn't arrived yet so  its some thing to look forward to reading.

Thanks for reading,
 Cath

WOYWW 79

Just a quick post today as I have a million and one things to get done, including getting up to date with Tims tags. I did manage to get around a few of you last week but not as many as I would of liked
.
So here is my table today, what am I up to?

Still working on my Christmas/Bangkok book that is why there is so much paper on there as I still cant quite get my head around just what I am going to do. I can see me packing it all up and taking it with me at this rate! The pile at the front is mount board, I asked a friend who is a picture framer if he had any small off cuts I could have and this is what he gave me.
I will try to get to see you all this week but it will probably be in a few days. If you are wondering just what I am rambling on about or want to see any more desks pop over to see Julia and get the full run down.

Thanks for reading,
Cath

Blog candy from Toodles and Binks

The sharp eyed amongst you will of noticed the new logo on the top right of my blog, If you click on it you will be taken to Toodles and Blinks blog were they are giving away a stamp a day. Go have a look they have some great things over there.

Thanks for reading,
 Cath

12 Days of Christmas swap

A few weeks ago I joined in on a swap over on ABC group. Now I have never done anything like this before but there was only two spaces left and they had to be filled so I thought why not! You will of seen a small part of my swap item a few weeks ago on WOYWW when I had a table covered in red card. I had to make 12 items all the same, so I managed to get them done and posted while I was in the UK. Today my swaps returned from the hostess. What can I say! how many stamps can you get on one package?

But when I opened it I could not believe the packages that were inside.

I have just laid them on my table in no particular order, if you look close at them you can see the work that has gone into the packaging. Can you imaging what the pages are going to look like. I cant wait so start opening them but I think I have to wait until the 13th, I am not sure I will have to check. I will be putting each one on my blog as it is opened so you can all see.

Thanks for reading,
 Cath

Tag 3

Just a quick post to get tag 3 on my blog.

Again no T!m bits but I managed with what I had, the stamp is a Tree I have had for years, the bird I cut out with my Cricut coloured and stamped and the tag is from a sheet of Graphic 45. No tinsel so I used ribbon and the flower is just a couple of circles of dictionary paper that I then accidentally dropped on the red ink pad, but I don't think its that bad.

Thanks for reading,
 Cath

Day 2

So here we are on day 2 of the tags and again I have nothing like the things T!m uses, so here is my interpretation.

To start with I had the tag the wrong way around! I didn't have any branches so I used a tree that if you look close you will see I coloured with gel pens.The greetings stamp is one I have had for years and the swirls are an old basic grey set. I didn't have a bird but I did have a punch that I thought might do, so I punched it in silver mirror card, covered it in embossing powder and then when that was set sanded some off to make it a bit grungy.

Wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Thanks for reading,
 Cath

T!m's tags

Now every year I watch with envy as T!m does his tags, not feeling as if I could produce anything near what he does. But this year I thought sod it I will do them my way! I do not have many T!m products but thought I would try and improvise.

So here it is my first ever T!m's tag..........

Now I don't have the big tags he uses, mine came from smiths in a pack of 20, and I don't have the big house die but a friend got the house on the edge die a few weeks ago and I cut some to try it out. You never know when those odds might come in useful as the trees were cut last Christmas with a cuttle-bug die. I put the tag through the big shot with a snow flake embossing folder then coloured it with DI in weathered wood. The house was white card that I coloured with pumice stone, then covered with crackle glaze.The trees I put some paint and some flock on to look like snow. Stamped the word Christmas on to a Adage ticket then just put it all together. I think I didn't do to bad with what I had.

Thanks for reading,
 Cath

WOYWW 77

Its good to be back working at my table again although it does look something like a dumping ground at the moment. So what is there? the large box in the middle of the table is where I keep my Slice and all the bits that go with it. I was using it yesterday and I have not got around to putting it back yet. The rest are just things I have not quiet got put away from when I got back and the papers and bits for my Bangkok Christmas book.

 I will have to get it cleared today as I haven't done my December pages yet for the 365 challenge and as I have managed to do every month so far I want to get them done as soon as possible.

If you are wondering just what I am going on about take a quick trip over to see our great and illustrious leader Julia here.

Thanks for reading,
 Cath

Funny sort of milestone.....

With this post I have now equalled in this year the number of posts I have done in the last three years! How strange is that, I must be talking too much.
The first year I was just getting used to the idea of bloging and didn't really know anyone. Then the next year was a really bad year and I didn't want to say anything to anyone. I was still a bit insecure the next year as things were still not right, but this year I have just taken off and done my own thing. So it just goes to show how I can waffle on about not a lot when I want to.....

Thanks for reading, and staying with me.
 Cath

A few photos of my trip. (photo heavy)

I am almost over the flu I have had since coming back, I have now given it to Hal, he is in bed at the moment. So I have come down to my craft room to give him some piece and quiet, why is it the more you try to be quiet the louder you are?

 I thought you might like to see some of the areas we went.

This is the village were my Mum lives I just love that everything is there for her. I loved the colour of the trees when we got there. It had all gone in a few days once the wind got the leaves.

I love this Church and the colours again were fantastic.

It looked like there had been a wedding on the weekend before we got there.

Then on to the village green,

That has to have a village pub of course.

We were so lucky with the weather the first few days, it was cold but sunny, Then we moved on to Lancashire, we arrived late on the Sunday and this is what greeted us when we got up on Monday.
Snow on Pendle Hill.

I cannot remember being as cold as I was for that week, my sister in law has a large aga in the kitchen and I spent most of the time leaning up against it to keep warm.

But the real reason for the trip was our next stop, no not meeting Julia though that was great and I have the photos. I just wish I had had more time with her and hadn't felt so cold all the time, maybe next time.

No the real reason for this trip was to meet this little lady for the first time.

Here she is with her Granddad for the  first of many cuddles they had over the next few days.

And her Uncle Jon,

Then I got in on the act.

She is just a little doll loved by all of us, I just wished I could of brought her back with me, but she has to stay with Mum and Dad for now.

So that was a quick run down of my trip, hope I didn't bore you too much with the family photos but that was the whole reason for going this time. I cant wait for the next time now.

Thanks for reading,
Cath

Back in the land of the living.

Just a quick thank you to those of you in blog land who were wondering were I had got too.
I arrived back in Cyprus late last Sunday night (the 14th) got up on Monday and went to class not feeling to good! but put it down to the journey as we had been on the go for over 24hrs. I came home and went to bed hoping to shake whatever it was off and got up on Friday! Not to sure what it was, I think it must of been a touch of tonsillitis as my neck was so swollen I looked like a hamster mixed with flu.
Today is the first day I have managed to get any time at the computer, I just didn't have the energy to go online!!! how ill is that? So I hope to be back with you all boring you with the holiday snaps over the next few days, as soon as I get them off the camera.

Thanks to you all and I wish I could make it to your class every week Julia.

Thanks for reading,
Cath

Still here.

Just to let you all know I am still around just not been able to get onto the internet a lot whilst I have been at my Mums and while I was in Lancashire. I have managed to get a few good photos, including one from the bedroom window of the snow on Pendle hill when we woke on Monday! Yes it is b-----y cold, cant wait to get back to the warmth of Cyprus.
Off tomorrow to have a look at the craft shop in Tidworth and then arrange to meet up with Julia on Friday, I am looking forward to that.

Will post all of the photos when I get back.

Thanks for reading,
Cath

WOYWW

So what is on your work desk this week! As you can see mine is totally empty and it is going to stay that way for the next couple of weeks whilst I go swanning off to England to see my Mum and have some serious cuddles with my new Granddaughter.

I will try to blog whilst I am away but if I cant I will see you all back here in two weeks.
For those of you and there must only be a few who don't know what I am going on about drop by our glorious leader Julia and she will explain.

Thanks for reading,
 Cath

October pages

What is this its only the second of November and I have got my pages finished, scanned and on my blog!!!
So here they are the pages for October.

I added some doodling and dots onto the pages and scribbled around the squares to add them all in.

Here is my November pages ready to start.

I liked the idea of red and orange as its bonfire month and I love these colours at the moment. I still cannot believe  there is only one month left to the end of the year. I have been out and bought an A4 book for next year as I am going to keep this up. I really didn't think I would finish this year but as I will I am determined to keep it going next year.


Thanks for reading,
 Cath

Swap ready to go.....

A few of you have been asking what I am going to do with the red card! well here is  a peek at it after I had finished colouring it.

This is just a corner after I had finished painting and spraying it. It has now been finished and all wrapped up ready to hit the post office on Thursday.

All 11 of them, just waiting to go into a large jiffy bag and get sent away. So you will all have to wait until the 11th of December to see the finished product. I cant wait to get my 11 swaps back only problem will be having to wait to open them. 

Thanks for reading,
 Cath

Confession time

I just have to get this off my chest.

I am very sorry to all my WOYWW friends as I cheated this week and used the blog post I did on Monday as my Wednesday post. Now this may not be a big thing but it has been playing on my mind since I did it and I feel rotten about duping you all. I know its no excuse but I have had a busy week and I didn't have time to take another photo.

Sorry

Thanks for reading,
Cath

What's on my work desk today?

I normally have a good tidy up after the weekend of doing class kits and have not got too much mess on my desk on a Wednesday, so I thought you might just like to see what my table can look like while I am working!

Are you ready for this?



Are you sure?



Ok here goes..........

Yes this is the chaos that I can cause each week while faffing about in my craft room...

See you all with a nice clear desk on Wednesday!

Thanks for reading,
Cath