WOYWW #230 and Christmas card, and prizes I won.

This is my first entry for the Unity be inspired challenge, which has a colour and/or sketch inspiration, and you need to use Unity stamps. I love this cute snowman (snowperson?) and sentiment and this little set is called Just Skating By. I followed the sketch and the colour scheme, and I stamped my patterned panel using the row of stockings from the Winter Tortellini and Spinach soup set by Jillibean Soup. I stamped the stockings in several of the colours, the image is coloured with Promarkers, and metallic Promarkers, and I added some twine, die cuts are Spellbinder dies, and the pale kraft card is one of the colours in the swatch below. The twine is so I can enter it into the Less is More challenge too, and it fits with the sketch.

Challenges entered:

Unity Be Inspired - see above details (ends Nov 13th)

Less is More - CAS and use twine or string (Saturdays)

Christmas Card Challenges - optional to add bows (Saturdays)

I love Promarkers - anything goes (Wednesdays)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenges - Anything goes.

I haven't taken part in Tea on Tuesdays or What's on your workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW), hosted by the lovely Julia Dunnit at The Stamping Ground,  for a few weeks, it was getting too much and I couldn't visit back. I was involved in getting donations of goods for the Made in Bradford on Avon Community Hub fundraising auction, and I organised, about a week before the event, a surprise family meal for my parent's 60th wedding anniversary and made them a special card, and organised a cake to be made and the family to choose their food in advance apart from Mum and Dad, then on top of all that I had a week where I had to diet for hospital tests (I'm fine, need a small operation at some point), go to the auction, and then go on holiday. I had to keep the Quirky challenges going, cover for a sick teamie, and make for them too. Since my holiday in Torquay, I had a few days before I went down with a nasty virus which won't go away, so I almost hesitate to join in at WOYWW in case I don't get to visit back.

I did take photos of my desk last week, but then was too ill to bother.

While we were away I visited Trago Mills and got some stash, and I prebought tickets for the Sincerely Yours show in Taunton which we visited on the way home, I bought a ticket for Shaun too because they were only £3 prebooked, and if you prebook you get free tea and coffee all day long, Shaun came in a few times for his tea then sat in the car, and I didn't get a drink at all, didn't like the polystryrene cups and would have to just have water and use my own herbal tea bags, but I had a bottle of water in the car. I was surprised how many stalls were at the show, there was a whiff of the farm the whole time because the livestock market was next door full of livestock waiting for the market the next day! 

I needed replacement cutting pad, shim and rubber mat for the eBosser and have wanted the metal shim, which seems on first use to have possibly solved the problem of Sizzlets not cutting, and in the Oyster Crafts bargain bin I got Sir Tim's book volume two. I got some bargain cello bags 50p per pack, and some Decopatch, and some round foam pop dots.

The calendar was from Trago, I thought that would be cheap but have seen it cheaper online since! At the show I bought stencils, the far one was the first I saw of droplets, but I realised that it wasn't quite the one I wanted when I saw the next one, and it was 4 for £10 so I had to buy 3 more (didn't I?), and I was worried I had bought a duplicate but I didn't. I bought some Mega Flakes, and some Penny Black stamps that were 40% off, some ribbons, my first Clarity stamp (they are a bit expensive and I just chose one for now also I don't know where I am going to keep it with that handle attached). I think that is a pack of envelopes, or it could be the inkjet canvas.  

More bargain stamps and stamp sets, and a pastel blue Promarker, and some Kroma Crackle (the Indigo Blu man gave me an instruction set for this but failed to tell me I also needed Slap it On so I can't start using it yet) and one full price stamp from Woodware. I can't remember if I got the Cosmic shimmer at the show or from That Craft Place lol. 

Here we have some reduced price Crafts Too dies, acrylic inks which came from Trago as did the 3d glue dots, another stamp, more ribbon and adhesive spray.

Some Christmas paper mache bauble shapes (to decorate) from Trago and Creative Cardmaking mag with free Dreemees stamp set and papers etc.

Here is my prize from the lucky dip from Cardmaking and Papercrafts magazine (thank you C&PM). Another PB stamp in this little lot too, I have shared some of this with Mum, she got the peel offs so far and might get some more yet.

This is my gorgeous glass butterfly won on Facebook and made by the talented Justine Hadfield  from Warminster who had a Facebook Giveaway that I won (thank you Justine). (My prize is now hanging from my craft room light next to my glass star, which I also won in a MIB raffle last year, and which matches the butterfly colour beautifully).

This is the stamp I won from Oak House Studios for commenting on their blog posts (thank you Lynnda Worsnop), I was randomly picked out of the commenters. 

 All three prizes had arrived when I got home from Torquay so I had LOADS of happy post!

This is stuff I bought from ebay and some lovely rubbah from Unity Stamps which were at a bargain price, and there are dies to match that I bought in the UK. 

Finally here is my messy desk, hardly touched due to being ill, the smal ink pad drawer is out of it's unit and on the desk, I was using several colours to make the card at the top of this post. My ATG need to be refilled. I haven't put everything away yet either - surprised?

This was my desk last week on Wednesday, with images I coloured while in Torquay ready to go through the eBosser, I took all my Promarkers in the Art Bin, images, and a portable craft light, the hotel lighting is not bright at all, and the light I purchased from Indigo Blu in Newbury at the Artstamps exhibition was perfect because the light swivelled to shine where you needed it, great for reading too, even Shaun was using it.

Finally this is some home made raw chocolate, which I was pretty pleased with, have eaten and put on weight this week, but then there was the takeaway, and the crisps and a few other things - I wasn't well, and the healthy snacks had run out, and I didn't feel a lot like cooking.....back to the plan this week, even if I'm not feeling good, I am stocked up with fruit and veg now, despite Sooty who after years of being good and not touching the fruit bowl on the coffee table, helped himself to and ate nearly a whole bag of pears! Today he stole carrots from my veg box too! He is not allowed fruit, but he loves it. Oh boy did that go through him!