WOYWW 629

Another week has flown by and we are here again baring our workdesks to the world via Ms Julia who had the bright idea for this friendship growing group on the internet.  Who doesn't mind showing off their desk when it is covered in new gear, or old stuff they want to know something about, or show off a piece of their work that they are particularly proud of.  Of course you might want to hide your light under a bush but whatever the reason I can recommend WOYWW for a good old snoop about and it's the ideal place for making new friends.

My desk, this week, is slightly different to past desks and I cannot show you anything I have done because most of my time has been spent sitting on the patio reading or snoozing in the sunshine.  I did however, make this card for my cousin, who was 91 yesterday, before I left home.  I was his little bridesmaid when he married Audrey whom, I remember, I adored.  When playing with my friends I was always 'Audrey' - bet I drove the courting couple mad as I was always with them when they were at aunties.  Anyway, I decided on Laurel and Hardy for my card.

and who doesn't like a bit of Marilyn.

I love those figures of Janet Klein's and Charlie Chaplin is a favourite of mine too but I decided to use a bit of glamour on the tv rather than put a third guy on the card. Hope Ken likes it.

As I said I have not done much in the way of crafting.  Did finish off a journal page the other evening which went out on Monday and did a bit of fussy cutting Monday evening whilst we had the football on.  Afraid the football is going to dominate what we do a bit but that suits me fine as I can craft when it is on and not feel guilty that I am stopping him from doing something else.  We have a small tv in the bedroom here so he has offered to watch the match in there.  Bless!

This is my desk for today - just a fraction of the stuff I brought with me to keep me quiet whilst away from home.

Apart from the bowl of fruit you can see my Promarkers, my lap tray (tiny one), cut out figures from Janet Klein, journal, lino type tablecloth for when I craft on the table, and my bag of goodies.  That contains a cutter, craft mat, water brushes, mini misters, glue, embossing paste, sponges, pens, paint brushes, stencil brushes, Distress tools, make up brushes (the ones we use for Distress Inks), masking tape, baby wipes, old towels, ink pads, acrylic blocks, pencil case that has loads of tools in and loads of stamps.

An overhead view of the bag shows you just how much there is in this bag.  It's just handy to carry to the table or outside, wherever I want to craft.

I have two of the old nappy boxes full of stuff plus a big cardboard box in the small bedroom so I shouldn't be stuck for anything - or should I?  I left my folder of Aall & Create stencils at home and now cannot get on with my journal pages which I intended to do.  Rang the house-sitter and they apparently were left in the utility room.  Sob sob!

Well, better leave it there but before I go look at this bush (or is it a tree?) which is growing behind us at the edge of the wood

That's what we see when looking through the kitchen window

and if you look closely you might see the visitor we had the other day.  It was Chas who spotted him and he stayed there ages, munching at something.  He's just to the right of the thickest bar:

Toodle Pip!  Stay safe and well.

617 WOYWW

Have had a bad week with spam comments.  I cannot believe how many I have had in a week - 401 to date since last Wednesday.  I have now found out how to delete them as a block but in the attempt to do this I hope I have not taken someone else out.  I have also reported it to Blogger but not heard anything as yet.  Anyone else having this problem or is it just me who has annoyed someone enough to do this to me? 

Anyway, to heck with Spam comments - isn't this weather gorgeous?  We actually went out yesterday, did not meet a soul so stayed well within our boundaries but look at this glorious fungi I saw

and a lonely spike of it

Well, you really came on here to see my desk but as it is perfectly clean and tidy I will show you how it was a short while ago when I was making a card.  This is my Misti (love my Misti) and the card is placed on it and look at how many magnets I have put on it!  And these are strong magnets.  Well when I lifted the stamp side up the bottom right magnet flipped underneath the card and the others all slid over to the left a bit.  That is just how strong and sticky the Aall & Create stamps are.  I know a lot of 'red rubber fans' do not like polymer but honestly these are such good quality as this proves, not at all flimsy.  

Anyway, here is the finished card.

The guy it is for is an ardent walker and so I wanted some boots for hbis card.  My lovely friend Cath sent me the boots and footprint images in black, in brown and embossed.  So I stamped and embossed the Aall & Create image and then put the boots on with sticky pads and another pair of boots and footprints on the inside to finish it off.  

My nieces little one has his third birthday coming up so I made him a card the same day.  Decided to do a K-card and then wished I hadn't started as there was so much in it, it was almost like making three cards in one with all the decorating - but he is worth it.

the cover above - and the inside below

The back shows a little boy (Theo) and his dog in the middle of a field with two little bumble bees holding a banner saying "Happy Birthday".  The aperture bit has birds in the sky, flowers and a bunny below (plus another little bird) and two cheeky chickens are hanging onto the sides of the oval aperture.  Took me ages cutting and colouring all these images.  What do I do when it is his big brother's birthday in August (he is featured on the cover going to the party)?

Should have been having my second jab today but as I got the message on the answer phone (we have only ever been out in a full year for medical appointments apart from Tuesday - honestly - Girl Guide's Honour) yesterday when we got back from our trip out, it was too late when I rang the doctors back.  Now I have to wait for the next batch!

So it's not been my week has it?  Not to worry, I can now go and visit my lovely friends on WO\YWW and see what kind of week they have had - why not join in with us - you get a real good old snoop into the bargain.  Click here and join in with us all.

Worked at Leigh Show

On Sunday I was working again at the show in Leigh.  It is a  lovely little friendly show with a wide variety of regular vendors and I really enjoy myself.  

Oyster had sent me a huge package of goodies to try out and several of them were the iCraft brand from India.  Now the first thing I must say is that the stencils seem good and strong.  I really enjoyed playing with them at home.  I used them for both stencilling through with some of their brushes and with Gesso and Texture paste.  They withstood the techniques and cleaned up fine afterwards.  They are tag shaped and about the size of the larger tags - certainly larger (and stronger) than Sir Tim's.  

(sorry about the top line, the card must have moved on 

the glass scanner - more apologies at end)

I also used those little finger sponges to do the inking through the stencils and thought they were quite a bargain in their pack of 12.  I have some wooden shapes that they do and these seem awfully strong, not likely to disintegrate with the addition of water like some I have had in the past.  Hopefully I will get around to using them shortly and will blog it.  Also do some more stencils for my blog as I sent them off to the Unit at the end of the show.

There are lots of other products by this company on the website but these were being used by Margot and Martine who were both doing die-cutting and making flowers so I have no idea about those.

Another thing I had to play with work with were the Clare inks from Versafine.  I love them.  They are so rich and juicy.  Here are my findings on them:

• They are Pigment which dries within 30 seconds - embossable up to 5 minutes after stamping (WOW) - that will be good for multiple stamping (layer stamping)  Still to try.

• Love the packaging.  I like Versafine - know lots of stampers who do - but I think this is better than the old Versafine.

• Like the lid - fits really well.  They stack up well.  They do not click together but still seem good in stacking.  Prefer that they do not click together as you sometimes find those that do, when you take the lid off, the one below comes off when you don’t want it to.

• No more the bit of cloth to put over the pad as in the hinged lid Versafine of old.  That used to drive me scatty.  They are reputed to be air-tight and not likely to come off when travelling.  Will see.

• Fairly true to the colour on the lid.

• Rich and juicy - need only a light touch (tap) on stamps.

• Worked well with new red rubber stamps - no need to condition them, even the solid image ones.

• Good coverage of all stamps tried.

• Tried stamping a word three times - i.e. second AND THIRD generation - worked fine.  Gave variations in the colour and word was clear even on the third.

• Cleans up well - some tendency to stain the rubber just a little when only using a baby wipe to clean - not sure how many people are bothered by this but a toothbrush and water cleared it all.

• Nocturne gets a good review (black).  Hooray I can throw my old Versafine with the cloth over it away - drives me bonkers remembering to put it back.

• Can be used with watercolours and will not run. Tried them out with Promarkers (alcohol ink) and they worked fine - some slight bleeding on the face of the figure but everywhere else showed nothing.

One of the things I was demonstrating was Distress Oxides again.  I love them and despite Tracy wanting me to concentrate on something else I found myself switching between the two as there are still peeps out there who want to know about them.  I had a list of techniques written out on a sheet (or two) so they could have a swift look at what they could do.  I demonstrated several of the techniques but couldn't do everything.  Will put my techniques up another day when I have more time.  No need to review these inks - they are fabulous and my Distress page will tell you a bit about them.  Love the 12 newest colours!!!!  (Tattered Rose, Aged Mahogany, Carved Pumpkin, Squeezed Lemonade, Bundled Sage, Forest Moss, Evergreen Bough, Mermaid Lagoon, Blueprint Sketch, Shaded Lilac, Gathered Twigs and Hickory Smoke)  Now that makes 36 in total.  Yummy!

Oops, wonky - sorry

The other thing and main thing I was supposed to demonstrate were the Mermaid Markers.  These seemed to go really well.  They are a watercolour marker but with a brush tip rather than a bullet one.  Ideal, I found, for calligraphy as you can go from a narrow pointed end, flattening out as you go along, to a broad stroke.  In fact I saw that Kelly (Creates) has used them and she likes them - that is praise indeed for the markers.

I had done some samples using these where I had simply stamped an image and coloured it in with the Markers and then gone in with water and lifted some of the ink to give a lighter shade.  Hadn't seen anyone else doing that but then it is not exactly rocket science is it?

You can see the lighter parts, especially on the leaf

One thing I saw on You Tube was that someone (sorry, cannot remember who) had drawn lines of the markers (2 colours) down her craft sheet, spritzed with water and then dragged a piece of cardstock through.  Gave a lovely striped watery effect.  I am sure with a little more practice this technique can be improved on - thinking curved lines etc.  I did tend to stamp an image before I did the technique and I used the fairy silhouette stamps.  Because I used the Versafine Clare inks there was no running of the image and no need to emboss although a couple of my samples were embossed for effect.

Some samples on watercolour paper some on card

There are some Glitter pens and some Metallics.  The Glitter ones are so glittery!  Lovely to use and great for the technique above too although I have no samples and no Glitter pens either to do any with.  The glitter remained a little on my craft sheet and when I did the technique (despite wiping up) afterwards, there was a hint of glitter in my work.

Think that is all for now.  We were out yesterday and today we are having visitors so must get on with things.

APOLOGIES for the photos - Chas scanned them in for me but I never checked them - most are now with Oyster Stamps and so I cannot do anything so the white bits down the side - just ignore please - scanner (Chas) needs training.  And I need to check before sending them off.

WOYWW 373

These weeks are flying faster and faster - seems like only a couple of days since I was doing my WOYWW post and here I am again.

Still no desk as such but I now have managed to move some stuff and get myself a little corner to craft in - to be honest it is as big as the one I usually have but I am just lacking some of my materials. Cannot find the ones I want at times but hey ho, managed to get a card made for my workman who celebrated his birthday yesterday.

Not a clue what colours he likes so went with the greens and blues as he was wearing a green t-shirt on Monday.  As he has a beard I chose the Ship's Captain from my new stamp set.  Love those Brett Weldele stamps, added a few cogs and produced this quick card before bedtime.

When he walked in Tuesday morning I ushered him out straight away as Chas had not lit the candle on his cake - and I had not finished the bunting which was a last minute idea (not on photo)  Here he is, posing for me to take a photo (note the flowers cut from the Lavatera outside - just brightening the place up a bit.

Well, we are making progress and now have the floor laid in the hallway and Max is starting on the kitchen floor today whilst big bro, Spike, gets on with the top cupboards etc,  I have a dental appointment (another card to say Thanks) to finish and I am off to Knutsford to meet up with Darnell.

You really came here to see my desk didn't you, well, here it is - not much change but at least some space for card making with whatever mediums I can find - has to be Distress, oh such a hardship!

Oops, plastic bowl in my crafting area.  As you can see I now have some room to work and have produced two cards over the past few days - real progress.  Hopefully will get some painting on the desk tomorrow, Thursday.  Then by next week I should have my craft room getting back to normal.  I say 'getting back' as there is going to be a kitchen to put in order and everything in my craft room is covered in a film of dust!!!  I will need to take every single thing down/out and dust it - and the shelves.  Oh heck!

Right, before I have an attack of the vapours (Jane Austen talk here) I suggest you get on over to see what our lovely Julia has in store for you and follow the links to find more desks and lots of interesting stuff on them.  See you later ...

Prayers and thoughts are with the people affected by the terrible attacks in Germany, France and Japan.

Artful Times Challenge 73 - MEN

Well, I am back over this side of the world but not really in the land of the living as I suffer badly from jet lag.  My waking hours seem to be around 2 am until 6 am and then the rest of the time I go in and out of sleep mode.  Very deep sleep mode too.

Thankfully, whilst I was in America my friend Mary made a card similar to this one for a workshop of hers and I took the opportunity to more or less copy it.  So here is my DT card for Men:

The whole card is using Distress Inks with the background having second generation stamping on it.  Then there is a small piece of hessian going across and a torn piece of card, stamped with two stamps (sorry, did not make a note of them but I think they were SU ones) on top which has been wrapped with string.  Finally there is a ship in an oval on the very top.

Guess this could be a Bon Voyage card also.

Now what will you do?  Hope you join us as entries have been low for a good few months now.