WOYWW #395: Christmas done and dusted!

Another Christmas over and done with. Phew! Hope you all enjoyed the festivities and didn't put on too much weight! Eeks! I'll postpone my diet until January. I'm here to show you my work desk again for WOYWW. Not much going on at the moment as the table had to be cleared for our Christmas meals. This photo was taken on Christmas Day while we were playing Top Trumps Cats. Oreo had to take part as usual. You can also see some Xmas pressies in the background: a Lego cup and a Lava lamp. The tea lights were left over from the night before.

I have finally completed the binding of my LifeBook.You can find photos and a video flip-through here. I also made a video in After Effects using a template, which shows some of my pages in a pretty setting floating on water. This was just to occupy myself while I was waiting for my real book to dry. All that gel medium took 24 hours to dry completely!

If you remember, I shared some goodies I received last week from my friend Lynette in NZ. Now I can show you what I sent her in exchange. I made a mini accordion journal to commemorate our LifeBook journey together in 2016. I printed out some of the lessons we both completed and stuck them side-by-side. 

What was your favourite Christmas present this year? Mine is this cool Tetris light. OK, it's not mine, we bought it for our son, but because it stays in the same household, it feels like it's a little bit mine too to admire! I'm thinking of getting another set so we can extend this one. You can put the blocks together in different formations. How cool is that?

We also got this funny cat book, On the Prowl. Perhaps I won't be sued for copyright infringement if I share a sample page from it, just to give you an idea. It's full of laugh-out-loud cat cartoons. This one had me in stitches!

Yesterday we visited Worcester Cathedral and saw all these Christmas trees lined up in the cloisters. It was a truly magical experience! 

While we were in Worcester, hubby picked up this retro sign in town. Now he just needs a man cave to display it! Perhaps 2017 will bring it to him!

I realize this was a somewhat eclectic post tying up the loose ends - a little bit like my 2016 has been. It's been full of ups and downs, but it wasn't a bad year after all. If 2017 turns out to be just as not bad, I'll be thankful. 

Best wishes to everyone for the New Year! May all your wishes, dreams and plans come true! xx 

My Bound LifeBook 2016!

Another year gone, another Lifebook done! This was my second year and I'm so proud of what I have accomplished, even though I skipped some of the lessons. I chose the "hidden hinge" binding method and used a piece of gorgeous batik fabric for the cover. You can find detailed instructions about the binding method here. I've found it was easier to stick the hinges to the pages first and then stick the pages together back-to-back. I used plain black cardstock for the hinges.

I like how the pages lie flat and the journal handles very much like a proper book. I've made a video flip-through so you can see it in action. I forgot to show the inside back cover in the video, but you can see them in the stills below. They include printouts of two lessons that I did on different substrates - one on a large piece of cardboard and the other in a journal. By printing them, I was still able to include them in my LifeBook. The inside front cover has a little pocket for cards and tags as well.

Here are some shots of the cover. I really like that fabric - I bought it especially for this purpose. I decided not to stick a title on the front, so I put it on the inside cover instead.

And here are some photos of all the pages inside in order of appearance. I've tried to pair the pages that had similar tones or atmosphere.

Thanks for visiting! 

I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas filled with joy!

LifeBook 2017 is still available on a 20% discount until January 14th!

Use code: FIREWORKS2017

WOYWW #394: First day of Winter!!!

Happy Winter Solstice, Peeps! Isn't it strange how the first day of Winter marks the point when the daylight hours start getting longer? I always find this amazing - and somehow comforting at this time of year, as if we were already coming out of winter, although we still have a few more cold months ahead.

If you're here from WOYWW, I haven't got anything to show on my desk today. Although I've been busy binding my LifeBook, I forgot to take photos of the proceedings on my desk. I decided to use the 'hidden hinge' binding method and I've got all my pages glued together, which is most of the hard work done. All I need now is a cover, but I didn't have a big enough piece of suitable fabric for this, so I had to order it online. As soon as it comes, I'm good to go! This is as far I've got:

LifeBook pages stuck together with hidden hinges

In other news, I've received a wonderful parcel from my online arty friend Lynette all the way from New Zealand! She sent me a pretty stencil, a Christmas card, a bookmark and loads of papers, fabrics, napkins and postage stamps to play with. Thank you so much, Lynette! I feel thoroughly spoilt!

Happy mail from Lynette

One of the papers is of paua shells, which I had never heard of before, so I looked them up. Here's what I've found on Google Images. They truly are stunning artworks of nature!

Now that school is out and hubby is off work, we aim to do something together as a family every day. On Monday we went to Hay-on-Wye just over the Welsh border. This town is famous for its many book stores and book festivals. Here are a few photos I took:

Open air 'honesty' book stalls

A window display for a shop that sells maps

Old books in the Cinema Book Store

I loved the atmosphere of this small town and it was lovely to see some quirky shops and being surrounded by so many books everywhere. I love reading my Kindle for practical reasons, but nothing beats the physical feel of a real book in your hands!

Thanks for popping in today! I'd like to wish all my visitors a very Happy Christmas! Here's a festive shot of Oreo that my son took. Oreo only tolerates dressing up costumes when he's asleep and can't be bothered to protest, so we took advantage of him being dopey! 

Oreo in his festive gear

We're going to the cinema later today, but I'll visit as many desks as I can before and after! Cheerio!

WOYWW #393: Last page for LifeBook 2016

We're hurtling towards Christmas and the end of the year at incredible speed now! Isn't it funny how time always seems to speed up all of a sudden around this time of year? The end of the year means the end of LifeBook 2016 for me. It's time to take stock and see what pages I want to include in my annual Life Book. So, instead of my work desk, I will share my floor today, with all my LB pages neatly laid out - for WOYWW.

I managed to complete my last page yesterday. It was a bonus lesson by Tracy Verdugo featuring a watercolour gratitude tree. This is a bit of a twist (or rather a short-cut!) on the original lesson as I used paper flowers and a wooden birdcage for embellishments. Each flower represents something I'm grateful for in my life.

All there is left now is to bind my book. I still haven't decided how I'm going to do this, but I have a number of options lined up. If you would like to see how I bound my LifeBook 2015, you can find it here.

We've had a few deliveries recently, which means a multitude of cardboard boxes scattered around the house. Of course, Oreo had to test drive them immediately. Christmas came early for him! What is it with cats and boxes LOL?

Box No. 1.

Box No.2.

Box No.3. (more like rocket cat!)

Thanks for visiting today!

Happy WOYWW!