How to make a LINK to your blog in a comment

OK, so Mr Linky went missing today over at Julias place.  I know how to make a link here in Blogger, cos you press the word link at the top and add the addy then it does the rest for you.  BUT some clever peeps have managed to put a word in their comment on her blog which links to their blog and I could not get it to work for me, it kept pasting the whole long winded addy.

I saw it said you can use HTML under the comment box...My hubby is a programmer and can do these things - I cant and he is at work, but I wanted to...so I looked at the "behind the scenes gobbledygook" worked out how it had linked to Julia's blog and copied the gobbledygook, added the bits in between that pertained to my blog and hay presto!  it worked!

I have put the gobbledygook is in red so you can see it better here to copy.  You just need to type it out as per normal in black...I had to save this as a jpg or it wanted to make it into a link every time, so click on it to make it bigger on your screen.

Hope this helps!

Bella

What's on My Workdesk Wednesday 217? Thin Dies

Hello fellow Desk Hopper, welcome to my desk in Cape Town, South Africa on this cold 7 Deg C morning.  Winter is finally setting in, there must be snow on our nearby mountains.

Here is my desk with a test run of new dies, the tea set, bike, cup cake (yes my addiction both in paper and cake & icing format) and the two vintage cars.

Recently a client at my store said she organised her thin dies in a CD case...I knew I had one somewhere and thought I would give it a try.  Works a treat!  It even fits the stamps and the dies one above the other of the stamp to cut sets, now they are all in one place.  BRILLIANT idea!

Then this was my desk on Monday night while trying to design a page for class this Saturday...the finished page is below.

So that's me for today.

See you at your desk when Mr Linky finally shows up, or before if your link is in the comments over at Julia's place.

Bella

What's on my Workdesk (and walls) Wednesday 216? Market Stock and Dymo

Well, Hello again fellow Wednesday desk hopper!  It being late on Tuesday evening, our hostess having Internet connection trouble, has posted early while she had some connectivity via a friend!

I spied this as I am currently glued to my PC or hubbies iPad cos CHA has started and all the sneak peeks have been snuck and all the yummy new products are out for viewing and drooling over!  I love this time of the year!

My DH has fixed my down lights so now it is like broad daylight in here no matter what the time is!

I am busy making stock for a market I am doing on 25 August.  Yes that sounds like a mile off, but I know from previous experience that time goes in the blink of an eye and it will be here before I am ready and so I have started mass producing the cards I think I will need...kind of like a factory line process.  These have got from start to finish...there are another 10 designs that still need to get this far!  How many weeks did I say I had?  And I thought I was so organised! LOL!  Also on my desk is my Dymo cos I got distracted by an idea on line where someone used clear plastic through it and had it on their scrap page...I had to try it immediately! It worked, so did some coloured plastic too!  Then there is my sewing machine...most of you might know I hate sewing , but I keep seeing more and more of it on cards, so thought I would give it a try.  At least this way my poor machine is getting used!

Here above is Flat Susan (can you find her?  Its a bit like that book Where's Wally?) on her last day last week with me, just helping me to get my head round this printers tray.  I made the two bottom rows of drawers which are all full (well not FULL of buttons) but each drawer has buttons in it...then there are the other rows.  I like to see my stuff, then I use it, but then it looks cluttered...so then I do what I did to my stamp drawers which you can see in the top photo...I put paper in with the contents printed on it...which kind of defeats the purpose of clear boxes or drawers!  So you can see the 4 patterned paper drawers above the pink ones?  That is my dilemma!  do I fill the rest of that row and the one above it with this paper drawer or try find clear plastic boxes...

Then this is my lounge where I have had to move my 6 frames for my latest scrap pages.  These were next to each other where the printers tray is now! At least visitors get to see them too!  You can just see my tag display down the passage.  I did blog this before, but thought I would show you the knock on effect this awesome gift of the printers tray has been!

See you at your desk soon

Thanks for the visit

Bella

Packing up Flat Susan

Was a sad goodbye indeed, funny how a little flat doll can get in your heart!  She was such fun to take places and entertain, sadly just over a week flew by and I have had to pass her on so she can continue on her world travels.  This was mailed off last week Wednesday (that was the intention, but it was really Thursday as life happened!) so she should be almost home by now...

I made my tag for her next hostess and here she is sitting next to it.  I took inspiration from Tim's July tag but made it South African in nature.

Below you can see how she travels in style with all her kit and very clear instructions.

When I went to the post office, I asked for pretty stamps cos the lady inside would appreciate it...this is what they gave me...I think they are fabulous.  The flying pig is a G45 stamp which they thought was hilarious, but added their airmail sticker, just in case the message was not clear enough!

FS will be on my WOYWW one last time tomorrow as she did one last photo shoot for fun before she hopped into her suitcase and into the mail...

Bella

What's on My Workdesk Wednesday 215? Flat Susan on her last day

Welcome fellow Desker (I see we now have a noun to use...!) from Julias place over at Stamping Ground to  to my desk in Cape Town, South Africa.

I could not let Flat Susan go without making her a house...cos every doll should have one!  I recently purchased this die that makes a 3D bird house and thought it was just the right size for Susan!  She even got a matching chandelier for her chair and so she thinks she is really in vogue!

I have all the post cards of where she has been ready to go in her envelope and will be sending all her collected paraphernalia with her (chair and house)...show me a girl who does not go back home without over-weight baggage after a long trip to another country?

So if you look at the top photo of my desk you will see the various trial runs of her house, the photo shoot set up and the obligatory 2nd cup of morning coffee.  Then behind it all just sticking out next to the white board with my Notes to Self...is the completely neglected tag...well, I had a VIP guest to entertain you know!  A week is very short to squish so much into,so normal crafting will resume once FS is safely on her way later today.

Thanks for the visit.

I will now endeavour to visit your desk and comment as soon as I have all this lot packed safely in her envelope!

Bella

Flat Susan

Tried to make this photo more to scale...

I have been hosting Flat Susan for the past week and what a pleasant guest she has been!  I have tried to show her the more interesting parts of my city in my previous posts and thought I would leave you with a map of Africa so you could picture where she has been.

Cape Town is right at the southern most tip of Africa at the join between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.  So depending on the weather, you can quite literally go to one side of our city or the other for warmer or cooler sea to swim in and believe me, there is quite a temperature difference!

Bang in the middle (well not quite, but it does divide the CBD from the rest) of our city is a great big rock known as Table Mountain, because from its front side it looks completely flat.  This I can tell you is an optical illusion as I have climbed this mountain and walked along its top...it is by no means flat!  Here is a view of the city taken from above of Robben Island where

Madiba (Mr Mandela who is currently not well and about to celebrate his 95th Birthday on Thursday) was incarcerated for many years!

Below is a photo of Cape Point.  I have been here in a helicopter and it is truly magnificent, but my photo was not as clear as this one.

On the left is the Atlantic (cold) Ocean and the right the Indian (warm) Ocean and this is Cape Point.   Not quite the most Southern tip of Africa, that is Cape Agulhas a 2 hour drive from here where they claim the sea changes, but my toes tell me a different story!   If you look at the top right hand mountain in the far distance, that is the "back" of Table Mountain and where Flat Susan has been residing.

She is getting ready to wing her way back to Neet who will send her on to her next hostess.

She will however, still be on my desk for Tomorrow's What's On My Workdesk Wednesday, but after that it is off to the post office without delay!

Thanks for the visit

Bella

My pages in the Lounge

A few weeks ago I was gifted a huge and beautiful printers tray which I have put up in my studio, but that meant taking down the 6 double spread frames on the only wall I had to be able to put it up...

Today my DH put the 6 frames in the lounge on the only wall in there that is not either all window or full of existing artwork!  I am so pleased that my idea worked.  I wanted them from top to bottom of this wall and so here they are!

You can also see my tag display which is just down the passage.

Thanks for the visit

Bella

Flat Susan Goes to Table View

Here we have FS on her throne...a somewhat doctored photo as she would not stay in focus to get the shot I wanted of the famous Table Mountain in the background!  This is a 30 minute drive from the other side of this mountain where I live in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town.

Yes, this is WINTER, well not all the time!  They are predicting rain for the next 3 days so I was glad to get out and about to let my little guest stretch her legs.  My son who is 8, thinks I have quite lost the plot,taking a little plastic doll on a jaunt around my city, stopping to take photos at will, having conversations with her about sitting still and staying in focus etc, etc and then carrying on to our destination as though nothing unusual has happened...This is such fun!

I even did a panoramic shot to give you the perspective of how little FS must feel! 

Have a great week-end.

Thanks for the Visit

Bella

What's on My Workdesk Wednesday 214? Flat Susan!

Hello fellow desk hopper from Julia's place over at Stamping Ground, welcome to my desk in a Cold but sunny Cape Town, South Africa.

Today I have a very important guest...Can you see Flat Susan (on her pedestal with her name on - you might have to click on the photo to enlarge it to be able to see her at the back next to my roller towel.) sent to me by Neet? (a fellow desker and the creative mind behind Flat Susan and her travels around the world...)

See my previous few posts if you are intrigued about what Flat Susan and I have been up to, or click on her link at the top of my blog.  It is a fun thing we are doing to get to know more about where each other lives.

Then there is the general chaos of trying to make a South African version of Tim's July tag, which is all about celebrating our Freedom Day in April...yes all a bit confusing, but I want to make my tag relevant.

Also on my desk are some trial runs of an origami box which I found on Pinterest.  I am determined to do at least 3 Pinterest ideas a week or I am not allowed to go on Pinterest to gather more inspiration...a line I have "drawn in the sand" for myself or I would spend all my spare and creative time on the PC looking at other peeps projects and not making any of my own.  My movers and shapers are tipped unceremoniously on my desk as I needed the butterfly to make the "clasp" for the top of the box.  Another Pinterest idea, only they used a punch and I worked out how to do it with my die...I will do a post a bout that later and pin it to Pinterest...see I do give back, I do!

So there you have the chaos on my desk, now I am off to see what I can see on your desk!

Thanks for the visit.

Bella

Flat Susan goes to Kirstenbosch.

Today I took Flat Susan (a small lady on a tour of the world in a suitcase the size of a matchbox in an envelope...to read more on her blog...click her name)  on an outing to Kirstenbosch, one of our National Botanical Gardens.  The kids love it here no matter what the season, so while I was entertaining Flat Susan and showing her our beautiful flowers and the giant statues that adorn the place, the boys went off to catch tadpoles in the mountain water streams.

Yes, this is Winter in Cape Town!  Chilly, but beautiful!

The top photo is FS (for short) with me at the entrance with one of the Dylan Lewis sculptures with the gardens behind me and the photo below shows the famous "Castle Rock"  through another one of Dylan Lewises sculptures.

 FS was finding the flowers just the right size for her to really enjoy.  Here she is on one of our early spring daisies that come up like carpets in September and make the landscape look like it is covered in snow!

Above FS poses on the shoulder of one of the Mambo Sculptures which is a permanent but ever changing exhibition of African sculptures 

Above: This is locally known as the Bird of Paradise flower or Stralitzia. 

This is a "bath" (though no one can use it) up in the Dell which is the start of a pure, clear, clean, drinkable natural spring and flows down the hill into a pond.  The technical explanation is in the photo below.

 Below is a beautiful Yellow Wood tree with the most amazing trunk.  FS is in the hollow about half way up, to the left of the name tag... hard to spot, but she is there...

 Below is a display showing all the flowers in bloom currently in the garden, though being winter these are few and far between...I did not see many of these on our travels from stream to stream to hunt for taddies...

So that was FS's first outing with me, on Friday she goes to Table View to get a look at our famous Table Mountain across the sea, and maybe even Robben Island where Mandela was incarcerated.  All of this is weather depending of course!

Thanks for the visit.

Bella

Some desk time!

I have been on leave during the fastest week of the year!

My word, but I must have been having fun, cos time only flies when you are having fun!  Well that's what I tell my son when he moans that the holidays are going too fast...same must apply to me!

Here is a card I made for my friends birthday tomorrow.  We went to her for tea today, so I can show it here cos she has got it already!

I used Quick Kutz Nesting doily circles (well 3 of the 5 any way...) some hand rolled roses and the greenery (in this case pink and white!) from Tonic's window basket as well as the Martha Stewart Monarch butterfly punch.

Thanks for the visit

Bella

Flat Susan Has arrived in Cape Town, South Africa

Flat Susan arrived this morning on my desk in Cape Town, South Africa, in her perfectly crafted suitcase, together with passport and first aid kit (for emergencies you know...)

As you can see she was exhausted from her journey from Scotland and was resting in her "bed".  I have however made her a chair for my desk, which I have placed on a "pedestal" with her name on so she is easy to spot for Wednesdays post of WOYWW and so she has a good view of the goings on on my desk which has a serious case of "shove out the way" clean up status below!

As a good host, I will be taking her out and about in my city to show her around some of the most beautiful vistas in the world (that's my opinion any way)  I leave you to be the judge of that later!

Please join me over the next week to see what Flat Susan gets up to...

She does have her own blog which you can follow here or by clicking on the button at the top of my page.

Bella

What's on My Workdesk Wednesday 213? Pinterest inspiration!

Good day to you fellow Wednesday desk hopper from Julia's place over at Stamping Ground.  Welcome to my desk in Cape Town, South Africa.

First you have the panned out view of my desk above and then the up close and personal below...

I have been very busy on Pinterest lately as I am on one weeks leave during the middle week of the school Winter hols...It is amazing how fast days evaporate before your eyes when you are busy...Can't believe it is Wednesday, I feel like it should still be Monday (wish it was!) We are half way through the 3 weeks!

I have printed out a card by Fleur Pearson off Pinterest and am using it as a jumping point for the card I am layering up on my desk.  Then there is the hot air balloon card which  made last night after making another card with clouds the previous night.  The balloon was previously a lemon on a party straw before it became a vintage hot air balloon in this life!

EDIT: 8:15pm:  I have finished the card!

Lastly, two happy mail arrivals from WOYWW4 celebration:

A HUGE spoil by Vonny K all hand made or painted by her:

and then a gorgeous ATC and beautiful lazer cuts from Sara J!

That's me for today, now I am off to see what I can see on your desk!

Thanks for the visit

Bella

On a Cloud theme!

I got some straws with fruit on a while back (like more than a year ago...) to use on Tim's 2012 Valentine tag in Feb 'cos I needed the red apples to transform into the honeycomb heart he did...we don't have sheets of the honeycomb paper here.

So I was left with a whole lot of other fruits from the straws and had a "light bulb" moment when doing last nights card (previous post) with the clouds...what if I made a hot air balloon with the left over fruits and put it on the same background???  Then again, this shape would also make a good"light bulb"!  Watch this space!

Here is my card made with this concept:  First I die cut some clouds and used them as a mask with Faded Jeans Distress Ink to create my background.  Then  I used a clip art balloon, coloured it and cut it out, cut the lemon to the shape I needed for the balloon and stuck it on.

I printed the sentiment, die cut that out, coloured it with Distress markers and pop dotted the hot air balloon and the sentiment onto the card.

I love it when a plan comes together!  Now to go find that light bulb stamp I think I have lurking somewhere...

Thanks for the visit.

Bella

Pinterest inspired card

Well, I am making good use of the ideas I got off Pinterest over the past few days.  Here is my card inspired by the one from Caggy's Creations (click on her name to go to her post)

I used a die cut cloud to ink round in the background and then pop dotted two fresh clouds and stuck the hearts on from the left overs of a MS edge punch. (I happened to have saved them for a rainy day when I might need them...LOL)  The banner is from the same Sizzix set of dies as the clouds below.

This is Caggy's original and my jumping point for inspiration:

Thanks for the visit.

Bella