WOYWW188

This is my first post since last Wednesday's tour around your work spaces, so I don't know where that week went!

Anyway, do visit Julia's Stamping Ground and find out why Wednesday is such a special day for us all. You can even join in and make it special for you too.

My desk does show some signs of activity, as I received a parcel which I thought had gone astray in the post, and I wanted a quick play with its contents. I had ordered a simple pair of Christmas stamps with a matching custom die, so I did a quick stamp and cut, and then added colour to the images and put them away in in my WIP folder. Last night I dug them out again and as you can see, I am experimenting with stencils, ink, die cuts etc to find a good way to turn them into cards. Note the really useful boxes with masks and stencils in the front one, and green and brown snippets in the one behind it. I am sooo organised right now. I wonder how long it will last! The black folder is a purpose bought die storage, but I have filled it so the larger ones are now in ...yes; another really useful box!

The large white machine at the back of my desk is my eBosser. It is an electric die cutter, but I find I am still using my, now rather tatty, cuttlebug for smaller dies. It gives a better cut. But the the one real advantage of the eBosser is that it takes embossing folders up to A4 size, and the couple of these that I have, make covering a card background much easier.

Before I go on my visiting spree to see what you are busy making, I thought I'd share a couple of photos of a very Spanish tradition. Out here, Three Kings day (Epiphany) is much more important than Christmas day. On the night of the 5th January the kings arrive and travel around the streets on elaborate floats, and then go to the town hall, or another suitable venue and hand out presents to the children (previously provided by their parents). When they go to bed they leave out food and drink for the kings and wake up to three more presents, one from each king. In our little village we have a fiesta on the 6th, when the men all dress up as soldiers etc - they love it - and the kings reappear, and they re-enact the events at King Herod's palace. Then there is a medieval market, and as with all our fiestas, lots and lots of food. At each fiesta there is a 'comeda popular' which is a free meal for everyone who wants it , and this time they made a huge tortilla. In our region this is a sort of pancake but it is about and inch or two thick, and made of beaten egg poured over sliced potato and onion. It is served in big wedges stuffed into a big bread roll or length of french bread. Chris and I struggle to eat one portion between us. Despite this free meal, there is also a giant barbeque, a stall making patatas pobre - slices of potato boiled or fried with chunks of sweet peppers, garlic and onions, and in this case it had slices of choritzo and eggs added. It was a beautiful sunny day, and there is always a lovely, happy atmosphere on fiesta days. So here are the photos.

As you can see, there is no political correctness here. One king always has a 'blacked' face. They always used to arrive riding on real camels, but for the last couple of years they have used horses. A sign of the economic times I guess.

Men playing soldiers! They do it in style don't they? It is all great fun.

A slice of tortilla anyone? I'm glad it isn't me trying to get that cooked evenly all through.

A huge barbecue.  This was cooking on the night of the kings' arrival, but they did it all again the next day.

Breaking eggs into the patatas pobre.

I hope I haven't made you all feel too hungry!

On Monday I took the decorations down and packed them all away, so that's Christmas over for another year. Time to get down to some serious crafting again now then!