WOYWW 360–Technology and Narrow Boat Painting

Better late than never – it’s now Wednesday evening and I have yet to show the world my desk! I couldn’t seem to get myself going this morning and all I managed to do was some singing practice, and then this afternoon I was busy producing something to show you!

Here is the corner of my studio to the right of the window, with my main work area on the right, taken from across the room. I took this photo this morning.

Yesterday I rolled up my sleeves and decided it was high time I got my cutting machine going again. She is called Sheba and is a Black Cat Cougar from Thyme Graphics, and I haven’t used her for several years, what with everything that’s been going on in my life over the past few years – problems with elderly parents, moving house, illness. During the past year I haven’t used my iMac much and like Sheba, it was in the corner of the room gathering dust. When I got it, I had the cutting software licence transferred fro the PC to Mac but never got round to setting it up, so I had to start doing that yesterday. Open on the screen you can see Final Cut Pro X, the Rolls-Royce of video editing software (available only on the Mac, unfortunately) – this is something else that I haven’t looked at for ages and wanted to revise my knowledge! On the right is my old laptop which works OK for some things but was replaced a few months ago with the one I am using to type this.

Hopefully if I can get Sheba up and running soon, I should be able to start producing more flowers and butterflies, and make some stencils etc. for my art. Watch this space.

Last week I began practising my narrow boat painting skills and soon realised that I didn’t have the right brushes so I ordered some on Ebay:

They came a couple of days ago, so this afternoon I did a bit more practising.

I am very grateful to Diana Taylor for her hint about translucent acrylics – she suggested mixing a bit of titanium white with the yellow and this certainly worked. The square of yellow roses bottom right was done this way, and the randomly-spaced ones have another coat of paler yellow on top which I quite like. I thought the spontaneity of the single brush stroke for each petal might be lost if I added more, but it seems to be OK. I can always add more yellow if I want. The new brushes are much better, but I had to experiment to get the right size, and also the right flow of paint – too thick and you can’t tail off the small petals to a nice fine line – too thin and the paint becomes translucent and too watery. Anyway I think I’m getting the hang of it now. In some ways it’s a shame that the boxes are painted red because it’s not an ideal background colour for this technique – a dark green or blue is better. Anyway I think I shall proceed with the acrylics and not bother to get any Humbrol enamels which I might not use again.

Happy WOYWW everyone, and a good productive week ahead on the creative front!

Quadruple-Embossed Birthday Card

The second of two posts today.

After making my triple-embossed purple get-well card the other day, I thought I’d take this one one stage further and make it quadruple-embossed! This is a sort of embossing sampler: embossing with an embossing folder; embossing with a die; heat embossing, and finally, hand-embossing! I’m pretty much embossed out after that lot.

It is my aunt’s birthday on 28th September and I needed to get on with this before my next chemo session on Friday because after that I won’t feel like doing anything for a week to ten days.

I began in exactly the same way as with the previous triple-embossed card, with the same sized card base and matting and layering, and the same Cuttlebug embossing folder because this is the only one (except for a gearwheels one that wasn’t appropriate) that is wide enough for this size of card.

I inked the blank area with Spun Sugar distress ink, and heat-embossed the Cuttlebug-embossed part with clear embossing powder (this time I applied the Versamark with my brayer which worked better, and it was certainly improved by my remembering to use my anti-static bag this time!). I inked it using more Spun Sugar, using an Inkylicious Ink Duster, so that the clear embossing acted as a resist.

Then I began work on the embellishments. I had intended to stamp some flowers and cut them out, but my few flower stamps are all rather solid and don’t give much scope for colouring in, so I decided to draw some flowers. I outlined them in pencil first and then used a Ranger Brush Tip in its holder with my new Hickory Smoke distress ink. I love this new colour – a lovely soft grey which tones very well with the Wendy Vecchi archival ink pad called Watering Can.

After I had drawn them all with the Hickory Smoke, I coloured them in using two shades of pink coloured pencils, blending the colour with a paper stump.

After cutting out the flowers, I hand-embossed them with two sizes of ball-ended embossing tools onto a piece of fun foam.

Here are the flowers, all embossed and ready to go.

I could not stick them down until the end because the glue would still be wet. I moved on to stamping the sentiment on the front of the card, using said Wendy Vecchi archival ink in Watering Can. I used stamps from the Stampin’ Up set “Memorable Moments.” This is a lovely set because it can be used for anniversaries too, and comes with a set of numbers. I used my stamp lining up tool to get it in the right place.

Now time to start matting and layering. The first matt layer was done with Hickory Smoke distress ink and was 1/16 in larger than the card topper.

I found an excellent tip a while back for lining up the matt layers accurately – with such a small difference in size, the slightest inaccuracy would show. I ran my ATG glue gun over the back of the card topper and then went over the DS tape with a glue stick, which makes it slick and moveable for a short period, giving you the chance to get it just right.

The second matt layer, again 1/16 in larger than the previous one, was done with Forest Moss distress ink.

To complete the card assembly, I inked the edges of the card base with Spun Sugar distress ink and matted and layered the rest on top.

I then stamped the sentiment on the inside of the card, using the same Stampin’ Up stamps from the “Memorable Moments” set. I inked around the edges with Spun Sugar distress ink.

Now for the embellishments on the front of the card. I found some small leaf trails from my stash, that I’d cut with Sheba, my Cougar cutting machine, ages ago. I stuck them down with Crafter’s Companion Stick & Stay spray adhesive.

I stuck the flowers down with Pinflair gel glue. I always use a cocktail stick for this – I find it a lot easier to control than a syringe, and I find that if you put this glue in a syringe, it is not long before it dries out and sets, wasting glue and ruining a good syringe!

The final step was to add some holly Stickles (glitter glue) to the centre of each flower.

The completed card. Nice and pretty for an elderly lady, I think!

Left out on the desk overnight to give the Pinflair glue and the Stickles time to set.

WOYWW 214

A week has passed since I made a reappearance on “What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday” (for details of how to join the fun, click the WOYWW logo in my sidebar) – I’m afraid I didn’t manage to visit many desks at all last week, as it’s a very busy time for us, and I’ve had my colonoscopy to think about, in addition to the house move. There should be progress to report each week now, on my new ARThaven as it takes shape in the new house.

Strictly speaking, there isn’t anything “on” my workdesk this Wednesday, but at least I’ve now GOT a workdesk – that has to be progress!

Yesterday we went over to the new house and saw how the room is really coming together, with the worktops being fitted. For full information on this, please see my most recent post on my new ARTHaven, and previous ones, too.

Andy, our builder, has installed the units and worktop on the left-hand side of the room, which now looks like this:

Across this first corner is where my Silver Bullet Cougar cutting machine will be installed, and immediately to the right of this will be my main work area. Around the rest of the room will be work stations dedicated to heat, textiles and sewing, painting, mixed media, etc. although there will be some cross-fertilisation between the different disciplines.

The small units are fixed, and the wider ones are mobile, on castors, with flat tops to provide additional work surfaces. They can be pulled out when I want to sit at any given station. This way, there is better utilisation of space for storage, because after all, I can only sit in one place at a time! There will be wall units and shelving above.

Are you jealous yet? I am soooo happy with this beautiful room, and keep thinking I’m going to wake up at any minute, and find it is all a dream!

Health Update

I had my colonoscopy yesterday morning, and am delighted to report that they found no polyps or evidence of cancer. However, they did find that my bowel is very inflamed, and I have been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which gave rise to my abnormal screening test result, and also explains my chronic bowel symptoms which I have always put down to IBS. I am being referred to another consultant who specialises in IBD, and he will put me on medication which will control the symptoms, after which I should start to feel a lot better. The procedure was not as unpleasant as I’d feared, but I am still glad it’s all over. For full details, please see my latest blog post on our new house.

My New ARTHaven–Fitting the Worktops

When we arrived at the new house today, I was thrilled to see how much progress had been made on my wonderful new ARTHaven. Andy had been cutting and fitting the worktops to the base units. Looking through the doorway from the office section to the ARTHaven proper, this is what you see.

I just love the way the double curve leads you into the room – from the doorway which only allows a shallower unit just inside, widening to the full-depth units, and curving around the corner.

Coming right into the room, you can follow the curve around from the window to the fireplace. I love how this gives the effect of “work-flow” – one work station to the next, in a fluid motion.

The first curve around the corner is where Sheba, my Silver Bullet Cougar cutting machine will live. I can see that there is ample room for the support tables that I want to buy for her, which support the cutting mat and give better results.

The narrower units under the worktop are fixed, and the wider ones are on castors so they will pull out. This means that I can sit at several different work stations around the room, with the mobile unit pulled out and providing an extra surface to work on. Andy is getting me a few more shelves so that I can mix-and-match for my storage needs.

The next picture is a detail shot, showing how Andy has cut the worktop to fit around the moulding of the fireplace. This will all be sealed eventually, to prevent anything falling down between. He’s done a beautiful job.

Moving around the room, Andy is working on the right-hand worktop. This area to the right of the fireplace will be my sewing area.

Another picture, taken when we returned to the house after lunch – Andy has now cut the curve on this worktop.

The worktops are made of heavy-duty MDF. Andy’s original plan was to paint them in matt white, but I have persuaded him to leave them as they are, and simply to seal them with matt varnish. I love the neutral colour which tones well with the floor, and I think they will be much less vulnerable to damage than if they were white – and a more neutral surface to work on. They are quite smooth.

I have got a shabby chic shelf unit from Ebay, which is going above the fireplace as part of my display area, which will be the focal point of the room. I have not yet unpacked this, thinking that it could go over to the house as-is, protected in its packaging, but I may unpack it and paint it here. I chose it for its shape and size, but the distressing on it in the picture looked unnatural, with areas of “wear” that would never become worn in the natural course of things, so I am intending to paint it plain white, which I think will fit better with the room anyway.

It is very thrilling indeed to see my room taking shape like this. Suddenly it is becoming very “real” and I need to keep pinching myself to realise that my dream is actually coming true! With nearly all the boxes over now, and good progress being made on unpacking them in the spare room, I will soon be bringing everything in and setting up.

WOYWW 184

Well, Wednesdays wend their way round the weekly calendar like whisked whitening don’t they… how’s that for a bit of wobbly wordplay? To find out what all those W’s mean, click on the WOYWW link in my sidebar, which will Take You To Our Leader the wonderful Julia who hosts the weekly desk-snooping extravaganza where we all delight in how messy and creative (or otherwise!) we all are.

Not a lot to show on my actual desk this week, after I’d finished my friend’s birthday card. There are some swirls I cut with Sheba, my Black Cat Cougar cutting machine (details in my sidebar of this wonderful machine), some of which I used on her card. Also my ongoing Tattered Time album – not too much done on that since last week except that I’ve pretty well finished page 1, apart from all the other stuff I’ve decided to add. I think that’s going to be the story of this album – it will never be finished as I will keep thinking of more things to put in it!

In the ice cream tub are the sentiments I made for the album. Under the swirls you can see the initial sketches I made for designing some file tabs (see below), sheets of planning notes for the album, and various pieces of the papers I am using in the album. Top left, you will see the beautiful little pincushion that Lunch Lady Jan sent me when we did our ATC swap a few months ago – thanks Jan – you can see it’s in constant use! One of those thick hat pins is just right for unbunging my Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, for example. On the left you can see my mess of rulers all mixed up with paper scraps – now my hubby’s bought me that nice piece of guttering, I really must get on with making my ruler holder! The rulers drive me nuuuts.

The other thing I’ve done this week is to design a couple of file tabs in Inkscape, which will be cut and used in the album. They will be useful to add to tags and photo mats etc. which need to be pulled out. You can get a punch that makes them, but I haven’t got it, and anyway, I thought it would be fun to design some of my own, in different styles. The first one is a semi-circular one which will fit nicely into a semi-circle cut in the pouch or page edge.

The second one is a simple, plain tab such as you might find on office files.

I am planning to design some further shapes, too, including ones incorporating gearwheels (for this project) and also maybe some butterflies and flowers. The tag and pouch I showed you last time is finished, but so far I haven’t cut any of these shapes. Once I am satisfied that they cut out and function as expected, the files will be uploaded to my Skydrive ready for free download for anyone who wants to use them. For someone who was initially terrified of Inkscape and disgusted at its non-user-friendliness, I am now a complete convert, and like many such converts, I am quite evangelical in my enthusiasm for this extraordinary piece of software that is soooo powerful and has endless features that I have barely began to explore, and what’s more, It’s FREE! There are loads of helps online in the form of Youtube tutorials etc. but first and foremost I am grateful to the experts on the Thyme Machines forum (the forum for my cutting machine) who really got me going on it.

Have a great week everyone, and I hope you all manage to survive the weather here in the UK, or wherever else you might be.

Birthday Card for Gisele

Today is my friend Gisele’s birthday, and rather than choosing one of the (so far very few!) cards from the Card Factory, which she may well have seen as she follows my blog, I made her a card today from scratch.

I used a couple of die-cuts from the marvellous pack that I recently received from Judy in Australia. I added a little distressing to both circles, and hand-embossed around the edge of the smaller one which has some music on it.

The pink flower was made from some die-cut pieces which I also hand-embossed, and assembled with Pinflair gel glue, and decorated with Flowersoft and Stickles, and the leaves were some ready-made rose leaves from my stash.

I cut the swirls and the sentiment using Sheba, my Black Cat cutter (see my sidebar for details of this machine). The swirls were from a cut file of Penny Duncan, and the sentiment was my own design using Edwardian Script font. (This file is on my SkyDrive, available for free download.) The sentiments were cut from a shade of green which echoed the leaves. All these items were cut from American Crafts cardstock which cuts beautifully on my machine. The swirls were darkened with Vintage Photo Distress Ink before being stuck down onto the die-cuts, and the flower added on top.

The decorative paper was part of a stack I bought when I first started, from Ebay. I haven’t used a great deal of it because as time has gone on, I haven’t liked it much. This particular sheet had been toned down with Picket Fence Distress Stain some time ago when I was working on another project, and seemed to be right for this pink-themed card.

The card base was plain heavy white cardstock that I’d bought at a craft fair some time ago, distressed around the edges with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink.

Inside I distressed the edges with Spun Sugar Distress Ink and added a music background stamp using Old Paper Distress Ink, and a Happy Birthday sentiment using Festive Berries Distress Ink. We both signed the card using a pink glitter gel pen.

All very pink and girly!!

Off to a party tonight to celebrate her birthday.

WOYWW 182–Tattered Time Album

Well, it’s Snoopy Time again! Time to snoop around each other’s work desks and see what we’ve all been up to this week. The lovely Julia of Stamping Ground (see the WOYWW link in my sidebar) does her best to keep us unruly mob in order as we open our inner creative sanctums (or should that be sancta?) to the glare of worldwide publicity, warts and all.

This week I started an exciting new project to join the ranks of my UFOs (Un-Finished Objects) – all of which are progressing slowly together in parallel! It’s a mini album (actually not so mini) made from paper bags and using the DCWV Tattered Time paper stack. I bought this over a year ago and since then it’s lived on the shelf, only to be taken down every now and then to be stroked because it is… Gorrrrrgeous.

This is what I’ve done so far on Page 1.

It’s in honour of my Dad, and the first page is about his ancestors – my great-grandparents and grandparents. For full details and to see some better pictures, please see my most recent blog posts.

Yes, I know… I should be working on the Card Factory. Trouble is, I’d MUCH rather be doing this.

I’ve also started designing some tags in Inkscape, ready for cutting with Sheba, my Black Cat Cougar cutting machine (see my sidebar for details of this machine). Here’s a screen shot of my first one – a work in progress – a tag with a decorative top, and a matching pouch. I shall also be designing some for the mini-album, and svg cut files and pdfs will eventually make their way onto my Skydrive for free download for whoever wants to use them.

Have a very happy and creative WOYWW, everybody. Not sure if I’ll do any better this week than last week at visiting desks, but we shall see!

Card Factory–Die-Cut Cards

I’ve decided to go through my scrap boxes and old stash, and see if I can use up some stuff that I’ve had for ages. I found a couple of die-cut card blanks which I must have got when I first started, and never used – I’m not really into this sort of thing, but thought they should be put to good use after all this time. They were far too flat and boring, even though they had pearlised surfaces, so I decided lots of distressing was in order!

My first step was to make masks to cover the background of the embossed design visible through the aperture on each card. If you look closely at the right-hand side of the oval-aperture card in this picture, you can just see the embossed design – this is clearly visible on the green rectangular-aperture card underneath. I cut the masks from scrap paper.

For the first card (oval aperture) I cut two masks. Here, the smaller one is being used, inking the embossed design with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink (from the Spring limited edition set).

When I closed the card, there was still a white border around the inked oval, so I cut a small amount away from the mask and re-inked the shape, this time using Broken China Distress Ink. The Inkylicious Ink Duster wasn’t really getting into the recessed oval around the design, so I went over it again with a stencil brush.

I was able to add a shaded effect with the second colour which gave it some more dimension.

In this next photo, I am distressing the front and back of the oval aperture card, using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and an Inkylicious Ink Duster. The beige card blank is much improved with the addition of a little dusting of turquoise. The surface is rather shiny, so it doesn’t show up as well as it might in the photo.

I repeated the process on the inside of the card, and softened the edges of the masked oval with a bit of distressing too – all with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink.

Here is the completed card. I chose the colour scheme to go with some floral embellishments from my stash. The leaf trail was cut with Sheba, my Black Cat Cougar cutting machine, also from my stash. It was the colour of the bling in the centre of the flowers that made me decide on the Peacock Feathers colour, and I think it goes quite well with the beige iridescent card blank.

On to the green rectangular card blank. I repeated the process as above, this time using a combination of Dried Marigold and Brushed Corduroy Distress Inks. I also painted some Perfect Pearls from my palette onto the embossed design, using Cappuccino, and then some Bisque, and I also added some little touches of these onto the embellishments to blend them in. The coppery leaves were from my stash – these had been cut with Sheba and hand-embossed, and coloured with metallic Perfect Pearls. The embellishments on both cards were stuck down with hot glue. Here is a picture of the completed rectangular-aperture card.

This is the inside.

Finally, a photo of the two finished cards together.

For once the pearlised finishes have come up quite well on the photos. I am pleased with how these two simple little cards have turned out. They are A5 folded to A6 size. I have deliberately not added any sentiments as these can be added when needed, and I didn’t want to limit myself to “Happy Birthday” if I wanted to say “Thank You”!

Yesterday, my Mum, bless her little cotton socks, told me that she’d still got several cards left from the set I made her last year, and she was thinking of giving them back to me!!!! (She hasn’t thought that she could send them next year…) So… it’s back to the drawing board as far as her Christmas present is concerned. I need to find out how many she’s got left, and suggest that I make her just a few more so she’s got enough for next year, and I am going to continue with the Card Factory anyway, because I need to build up my stash for the coming year. It will be an interesting exercise in Using What I’ve Got! (I am sure we could all do a bit of that…)

The Annual Card Factory Begins–Judy’s Topper

It’s that time of year again… and no, I don’t mean the dreaded “C” word! It’s time to replenish the card stash, and also to make up a set of birthday cards for a Christmas present for my mum. As she’s got older, she’s wanted to downsize, and really doesn’t appreciate a lot of “stuff” as presents, and it’s become quite hard to think of things to get her. Last year she asked if I would make cards for her to send to family and friends, and at first I balked at the idea, as I am really trying to move away from card making these days, but then I thought, “If that’s what she wants, what a good Christmas present it would make!” You know what they say – you only have to do something once for it to become a tradition! So out comes the card making stuff again, and I’ve made a start.

I also need to make cards to send to family and friends myself, and because most of our family have their birthdays in the first few months of the year, I need to get ready. I am also planning on making a lot of generic-type cards that I can put different greetings and sentiments on, so that I’ve always got something ready in an emergency, and a collection of different toppers so I can assemble something quickly. There are always thank you cards to do; people always appreciate a hand-made card after they’ve invited you out, for instance.

I so appreciate Judy, Julia and other friends who have sent me packets of die cuts over the past few months! These are coming in handy as I start to make toppers and card bases.

My first card  in the factory (A4 folded to A5 size) has utilised Judy’s wonderful card topper that she put in with her die cuts. Although it is quite thick, each layer is stuck down with a foam pad so it squashes fairly flat, and there’s nothing to get damaged in the post. I’ve just matted it onto some dark red card (from Paper Mill Direct), and the card base is heavy white cardstock which has been inked with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink and then spattered with water, blotted and dried with the heat gun. (I love this technique! Instant gorgeous background!)

Every now and then I cut a whole sheet of “Happy Birthday” or “Thank You” etc. greetings on Sheba, my Black Cat Cougar cutting machine. I’ve got various files (svgs) of these sheets saved, so that I just open them up, bung the card in and start cutting! (I’ve also done this for flowers that I use a lot.) Each greeting file includes an equal number of matching shadow (mat) layers for the particular greeting, and cutting them all from plain white cardstock or watercolour paper, I can then quickly colour them with Distress Stains to co-ordinate with my project. For this card, I used Bundled Sage for the actual text, and Forest Moss for the shadow layer. After I had stuck them together with Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, I stuck them down onto the card using the same glue, and then carefully separated the letters with a matching marker.

Inside, I partially inked a background text stamp (“Calligraphic Mat #4” from the Artistic Stamper) with Old Paper Distress Ink so that it ended up with an irregular outline, and then stamped Happy Birthday (“Happy Birthday” from The Stamp Barn) with a dark red ink pad (“Pretty Colour” Pigment Stamp Pad #30). The edges of the inside are distressed with Spun Sugar Distress Ink just to soften the white a little.

I’m very pleased with how this one came out! Thanks Judy for a great topper.

WOYWW 168

I’m doing this a bit later than usual (in the small hours of Wednesday morning) because there’s been a bit of a crisis with my parents – my dad is poorly with an infection and has become quite confused, and my mum phoned this evening because they had a flood due to a leaking pipe. We had to go over, and found my dad in quite a state, and my mum trying to clear up the mess, so we phoned the all-night duty doctor, and had to wait for him to arrive, and then sort out what needed to be done. My hubby will have to pick up a few things in the morning and arrange an appointment with my dad’s regular GP, but at least our worst fears weren’t realised, and he didn’t end up in hospital. They are both very elderly and quite vulnerable now, and their house still hasn’t sold – the whole situation is fairly precarious and we may have to drop everything at any time and rush over and sort out whatever crisis arises.

Anyway, back to the matter in hand – my work space! “What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday” – the world’s greatest nosey fest! Click on the WOYWW link in my right-hand sidebar to visit our lovely hostess Julia’s blog for further info.

I’ve had another busy week doing lots of sorting and chucking out and generally downsizing – see my previous post for details. This is how it looked on Tuesday afternoon, viewed from the door.

I’m very thrilled with the extra space it’s created. There’s still quite a lot more to do – scanning documents and photos, and further weeding out of the boxes on the big shelving unit beyond the book case. I’ve now got my gift-wrapping papers in the top drawer of the filing cabinet, which has got rid of another box, and the middle drawer is filling up with old cassette tapes that need wiping off before sending to the recycling centre. The bottom drawer is broken – you can see the new runners I got from Amazon, on the floor in front, waiting to be fitted. Here’s an annotated photo so you can find your way around!

Now for the desk itself. I’ve had a fun time a couple of days ago, working on a project that I can’t share with you just yet because I don’t want to spoil someone’s surprise, but watch this space for details, hopefully in a few days.

Here’s the annotated version!

I will be doing further blog posts on all the activities on my desk this week. The water droplets stamp is from Ryn – see my recent post about her here. The gorgeous stamps I ordered from her came on Saturday and I’m super-thrilled with them. The experimental piece, stamping on Angelina fibres, was done with her fish stamp, fusing the fibres with an iron over the stamp – full details will follow in due course.

The flowers for Judy are now nearly complete but I’ve got a couple more techniques I want to try before I send them off. In the first photo you can see the poly-wallet on the floor beside Sheba, full of the most gorgeous vibrant fabric flowers Judy sent me for the swap we are doing – I’ll show you these in due course, I promise! Once I’ve finished the flowers for her, I’ll photograph hers and mine properly so that I can share them with you.

I’ve got a few more flower and butterfly pieces cut from watercolour card that I want to colour with my Dylusions ink sprays, and I’ve got a few more flower pieces inked and ready to make up.

Hope you enjoy my annotated photos this week!

Sorry I didn’t manage to visit many of your blogs last week – with my clearing, I’ve been very busy, and pretty tired afterwards! Not sure how well I’ll do this week either, as there’s a fair bit on, and we’re not sure what will happen with my parents. Have a happy WOYWW everyone, and a great week ahead. Hopefully we’ll all get the opportunity to be creative.