WOYWW 108 - At least something!

I know everybody says it, so its very lame, but what happened to the rest of the week? Surely its not Wednesday yet!
At least I can happily report that my exams are all marked, marks are entered and now I can play without feeling guilty!
Last Saturday we had a craft group going at church and because my 2nd daughter has three children, she never gets out or has the time to do something creative or fun, just for herself, so I decided to treat her to the craft day. She didn't want to go alone, so I 'reluctantly' agreed to go with. What fun we had. We each painted a flower on wood, using texture paste and paints. I am no artist, but I do love my flower and DD's flower is already hanging on the wall in her house.
Lat night, after I finished marking (are you proud of me that I actually finished first? LOL) I started going through my e mails and found an ATC swap. I have never made an ATC (can you believe it?), always wanted to try, so I thought -why not? and promptly entered the swap. Then I started playing - the challenge is called 'got bling!". Whats the verdict girls? Should I abandon ship, will I totally embarass myself, or can I carry on and make the rest?

I played with some gold leaf (another first), some stamps and some bling. The background was inked first. I quite like the effect, just not sure its a successful ATC.

My desk I hear you ask. Well, there was no time for a photograph (thats my story and I am sticking to it!), maybe next week, when I am sure there will be a lot of things other than exam papers.

Go visit Julia (http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com ), you know you want to (NEED TO) see everybody else's desks!

Happy crafting till next Wednesday and just in case I forgot to share - I am leaving on a Jet plane in two weeks to go to CHA!!!!!

WOYWW - Its HERE!!!!

Yes, its here - my PiF gift arrived today! I was so excited when I got home from school to find the slip from the Post Office saying there is a parcel waiting for me. I did not even have the usual cup of coffee, I just jumped right back in my car and went to get it.
I will keep you in suspence a little longer, because I first have to show you my desk. (If you STILL don't know what I am talking about, visit Julia at http://stamping=ground.blogspot.com ) Very uninspiring today - covered in exam papers that are being marked. Soul destroying sometimes. You pour your heart out to kids in the classroom and then when they write exams, you wonder if you were actually there teaching them, or if you only dreamt it. Some are fantastic though, so not too depressed this time round. Jut not happy that the pile does not seem to get any smaller

And here it is.... The fantastic leatherbound journal that Darcy made just for me! It is incredibly well made and so inspiring. I can not wait to start writing in it. All the pages are different, some fold this way, others that way - just amazing, and... on the first page, she left her mark. This fantastic work of art. LOVE IT, love it, love it. Now its back to the grindstone for me. More exams to mark. School breaks up next Friday for a week, so I will have to wait till then to be creative.

Happy WOYWW everybody, see you all next week.

WOYWW 105

Lots happening in my life at the moment as you all know. Its been 13 days since my DH smoked his last cigarette. By his own admission its the hardest thing he has EVER done. He is really battling, but I am so proud of him that he has stuck it out for almost two weeks (don't tell him, but I never gave it more that 2 or 3 days! - Oh me of little faith.) He is back at work and looking better than he has in years.
Then there is the selection of leaders at school for the next term of office ( I ask myself a 100 times a day why I agreed to run the programme) I find it so stressful to make sure that all the girls have a fair chance and that we, as the teachers, don't allow our own personal likes and dislikes take over from fairness and common sense. We are only human after all.
Then there are exams starting next week, so I am in the middle of setting exam papers. That is why you won't find anything creative on my desk this week. I am not even in my craftroom, I am in the office, behind the computer. Can't even show you the last creative thing I did for the PiF thing. I have to wait untill it has been recieved - lets all hope it is soon and does not take African time to get there!

It is FREEZING here, 13 degrees max. ( I know that does not sound cold to some of you, but I am freezing and on top of the cold we are having unseasonal rain! If I wanted to be cold AND wet, I would live in Cape Town! It is not supposed to rain in winter here in Gauteng.

Hopefully by next week my papers will be set and the leaders chosen and I can be creative again. Untill then keep warm and send some sunshine this way please.

WOYWW 104!!!!!

I can not believe that its Wednesday again and the 104th one since this obsession has started at that! Two years of stalking peole's desks every Wednesday and still no sign that anybody is getting bored. If you are one of the few people out there that STILL does not know why I would post about my desk, you NEED to go to Julia's blog at ( http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com ) to find out.

I am afraid that the only things you will find on my desk today are leftovers from last week. I did manage to make some cards for the Tickled Pink challenge, but that is about as far as I got. My wonderful DH had a massive heart attack last Thursday as some of you know and since then I have been concentrating on him and trying to keep myself from falling apart. He is fine, the blocked arteries have been opened and stents put in. He stopped smoking immediately and is finding it very hard, but he is perservering and I am very proud of him.

This morning he was in the bath and I was sitting on the toilet (lid closed!) talking to him when he came up with this gem: "Dear, you do know that if I had died last Thursday, today would propably be my funeral." That is when it hit me, I think, and I have been crying since then. Thought I would show you my die cutting and embossing area. Thats a mess too, I know, some containers of flowers were just dumped there. Think I need to remember what it says on the wall, just keep calm and carry on. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon in my household. Untill then I am so looking forward to the paying it forward part of this week, I can do with something beautiful just about now.

Have a great week everybody, see you next week.