WOYWW and Christmas Trees

Goodness, is it Wednesday already. That can only mean one thing, Happy WOYWW all fellow WOYWW's. If you haven't joined in yet, where have you been. It's great fun and a brilliant way of meeting new and very interesting people. Just pop over to Julia's blog Stamping Ground to find out all about it and get your workspace posted so that we can all come and have a look at what you are up too.

My actual work mats, yes both of them are pretty boring today. One has been tidied up after a Christmas card frenzy and the other has a scrapbook LO in progress which I shall post in a day or two.

I scratched my head and wondered what to show you that may be a bit different and this is what I came up with. It is still my workdesk but just the other end of it that contains some paper crafting but also my cake decorating stuff.


My craft room doubles as a cake room when needed. It's obviously tidied up and cleaned from top to bottom. You might be able to spy a bottle of disinfectant spray amongst the icing sugar and general debris standing on top of a set of drawers that holds lots of sugar flowers I've made so that I've always got something to hand if a cake is needed in a hurry.

My little bookcase holds all my 8x8 scrapbooks and magazine binders and the lovely ribbon holders my DH made sit proudly on top.

Just before I pop off and try and get round as many desks as I can this week I thought I'd share the finished Christmas Tree cards that were work in progress last week.


I tried to keep them fairly simple so just used unfussy BP from the EI Christmas CD and a computer greeting.


The trees were stamped with versamark onto glossy card and embossed with holographic sparkle which looks lovely in real life but is awful to try and photograph. I then rubbed all sorts of Distress inks over the top with cut n dry and the embossing resisted the ink. It's a really fun technique to do and is quite quick when you want to do lots.

Thanks for stopping by and if it's as wet in your neck of the woods as it is here today, I hope you're managing to keep dry.

Beauty Even On A Gloomy Day

I was standing washing up and looking out of the kitchen window this morning thinking what another dismal day it was when I noticed all the dew drops hanging off everything.

I picked up my camera and went mooching about in the damp grass and got some lovely photos and thought I'd share them with you.


It just goes to show that even on the greyest of days there is beauty to be found if you actually stop and look.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope I have brightened your day a little.

Ooops Its a Door not A Window!

Afternoon lovely Bloggers. I hope your weekend is going great despite this chilly weather. There's definitely a hint of Autumn in the air now isn't there?

I just popped on to post my tag for Frankies TIO challenge this week but after checking her details have realised I remembered it wrong and have done a door rather than a window which is her theme for this week.

Oh well, in for a penny and all that. I'll show you anyway.


I sponged Bundled sage and Brushed Corduroy DI onto the background and then spritzed with perfect pearls. The Crafty Individuals door was stamped in archival black and then I coloured it with watercolour pencils.

The flowery bowers are the lovely Lavinia stamps. I stamped the leaves in pearlescent Brilliance ivy and the flowers in Spiced Marmalade DI and cut them out to make them brighter. Each has a jewel middle.

The toadstools are also from Lavinia, stamped in Brilliance black and coloured with pencils and then cut out. I must have been mad trying to cut out the slivers of grass!!

Well, thanks for stopping by and for those of you lucky enough to be going to Ally Pally this weekend, I hope you had a great time and bought lots of lovely stash.

WOYWW and a Big Pink Rose

Hello lovely Bloggers. Yet again I feel so thankful to belong to such a lovely Craft Blogging Community.

My friendly postman arrived this morning with a parcel which contained some plant cuttings and new crafty ideas from my great Blogging friend Jo. What a wonderful combination. The cuttings are now living happily ( I hope) in my craft room where I will see them every day and remember where they came from with delight. Blogging generosity knows no bounds!!

I can't believe it's Wednesday again and time to join in WOYWW. If you haven't already discovered this wonderful institution, you need, and I mean, need to go and check out Julia's blog. She is the lady responsible for getting all these crafters together having a great nosey at each others workspaces each week.

It has been such a lovely day here, although it has started to rain now, I've spent much of it in the garden so I thought I'd share with you my two favourite workspaces.


The first one is in my greenhouse, where you can see Jo's cuttings waiting for their new home and also my gorgeous Lantanas that are filling the greenhouse with their wonderful flowers.


The second is, of course, my dining table where I have been playing with distress inks and Frosty Trees EI stamps to create Christmas cards and I have to say I'm quite pleased with the results. I will show you the finished article next week hopefully. I did have to explain why I had dark blue fingers to the children at school this morning though when I was showing them how to make little bird Christmas decorations. They thought it was funny that my fingers were dirtier than theirs!!

You might also be able to spy a pile of rose images. I bought a wonderful stamp at Harrogate the other week from Imagination Crafts and it has quickly become a firm favourite, there is so much you can do with it.


Here it is stamped with metallic acrylic paint and turned into an Anniversary card for my best friend. I am going to enter it into the Tuesday Taggers challenge this week. They have the theme of "Anything Goes" and are being sponsored by Ribbon Oasis so it's well worth checking out.

Thanks for stopping by and I shall do my very best to get around as many workspaces as possible this week, hopefully before next Tuesday, which is usually when I am still visiting!!

Happy Crafting!

A Tag Fest

Afternoon lovely Bloggers. I hope your weekend is going better than the weather. What a dismal, wet day it is here. Still, we've made the most of it by going to look at bathrooms this morning. I'm dreading all the mess of having it done but excited at what it'll look like when it's finished. The only problem is I love the tiles we have on at the minute, little blue mosaic ones and we're having trouble finding something the same. The ones these days are much darker. Hubby says I'll just have to accept that I can't have the same. When do us ladies ever accept we can't have anything!! I shall keep looking!!

Anyway, on to crafty matters. I had a lovely afternoon making tags yesterday for no other reason than I love doing them. It then occurred to me in bed later that they'll fit into two of my favourite challenges this week so here goes.


The first one is for Frankie's Tag It On challenge of beads and jewellery this week. All the stamps are from the EI Patchwork Butterflies plate, apart from the background dots that were just some I had in my box.

The background is peeled paint and worn lipstick DI applied with cut n dry and then spritzed with water and dabbed off to lighten the colour. I then stamped with the same colours and the sentiment is done with Crimson Brilliance and clear embossed.


The little butterfly was stamped onto pink vellum and cut out and painted with cosmic shimmer.

I then made some paper beads and mixed them with seed beads before attaching them to the Nestie, which is one of the lovely new shapes, Labels 14.

I'm going to enter the second tag into The Stampman's challenge this fortnight which is Distress!!


I absolutely love using Vintage Photo and Dusty Concord DI together and then painting over the top with Cosmic Shimmer pearlescent white watercolour paint. You get the most amazing effect and the photo doesn't really do it justice.

I over stamped again with stamps from the Patchwork Butterfly set, the last ones being stamped in Archival black and clear embossed, as were the sentiments which were from a Creative Expressions swirls set.

I made the tissue paper flower by just cutting rough circles and attaching them with a brad and then scrunching it all up. A few jewels were added for a bit of bling.

I've got a real taste for tags now so I'm off to see what else appears while the old creative juices are flowing.

Thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW

I joined in WOYWW a few weeks ago as a bit of a laugh really. One of my blogging buddies had dared me to show mine as I always had a good nosey at hers each week. Well, I have to say that I'm now hooked and am absolutely delighted at all the new blogs I've found and all the wonderful people who bother to stop by and leave such generous comments each Wednesday.

If you're wondering what on earth I'm talking about, then where have you been. Julia is the lady who started this wonderful institution so go and give her a visit. You'll soon be hooked too.


As you can see my workdesk has moved!!!!! I have decided that during the day I get too many distractions downstairs, the phone, the computer, the garden!!! Need I say more, so I have decamped to my craft room. If I am going to get some cards made for my Christmas stall I need to get a move on. I can leave everything out in my room, the light is much much better and there are no distractions apart from my constant companion, the radio. I have to have my music to help the job along.

Looking at these photos, I look quite organised but don't be fooled. When I am sat at my desk I feel like I've got stuff everywhere. Still some cards are being produced so I must be doing something right.

I shall do my best to visit as many fellow WOYWW's as possible this week, even if it takes me until next Wednesday to do it.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

Inspired By A Book

Evening Bloggers. How's your Monday been. Better than the weather I hope.

I had a wonderful day out at the Northern Papercrafts Show at Harrogate on Saturday with my lovely blogging buddy, Sylvia. We had an extremely good shop and kept ourselves going with lots of coffee. I now have all sorts of exciting new things to play with and can't wait to get going. I have so many ideas buzzing around in my head and just need to get on with it all.

I am busy making cards for my DD's Christmas Fayre. In my wisdom I have decided to have a stall but it suddenly hit me that I need a few cards to put on it. I am not a natural card maker so am having to be strict with myself and just get on with them.


This is one I created today, I did make more than one , honestly!!!! Anyway, it struck me that it fitted with what I wanted to enter into the Tuesday Taggers challenge this week. Their theme is books. It reminded me of the wonderful book and film,"Chocolat" which is one of my favourites.
I've only just scrapped in with it, sorry ladies.

The stamp is from Elusive Images, which is coloured in with pro markers and some stickles The BP is from Kanban and I've also added some card candy.

Right, I'm off to have a play with paints and stuff so thanks for stopping by and enjoy your crafting.

A Little Tag

Hello lovely Bloggers. After a wet start, the sun is out again so hopefully it's the start of a lovely weekend . We've been spoilt by the weather lately haven't we.

I did all my polishing and tidying while it was raining ready to get down to some crafting but now the sun's out I might just have to go down to the greenhouse instead!! I hate being inside when it's nice, there's bound to be plenty of miserable days when we're stuck inside over the next few months I'm sure!!

I was having a play with some Creative Expressions Create a Scene stamps recently and decided to use them on a tag. I decided staying small wouldn't be so daunting.


The background was created with Distress inks, I think they were mustard seed and broken china, which were spritzed with water and left to dry. I then stamped with peeled paint and walnut stain which was brushed out with a water pen, trying to keep things simple. My seagull ended up a bit drunk so I think I need a bit more practise.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a lovely weekend. I'm going to the Papercraft show at Harrogate tomorrow with my blogging friend Sylvia so we may well see you there.

WOYWW

Evening Blogland. We are getting back into something like a routine again after the Summer holidays, which means homework for DD. Her first piece was to write about herself and her family. After she had written a page about her two cats, she then wrote this "My Mum is called Lisa and all she does is tidies, polishes and irons." After I had finished laughing I had to say I was speechless!

Well, all the polishing and ironing is done so here's my workspace today for you to have a good nosey at. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go and check out the lovely Julia's blog, you'll be amazed how many WOYWW's there are in the world!!


As you can see, I'm in my usual state of chaos with lots of projects in hand. I've just stamped and embossed dozens of butterflies to be coloured ready for some cards I'm making.

You can also see a set of photos balanced precariously on my sweetie jar ready for a Scrapbook layout, that's tonight's crafting organised.

The other pile of stuff is my shopping from Kanban at the weekend. It all needs putting away but I keep dipping into the box for card, so it may end up staying there until next week.

Of course there is also the obligatory cup of coffee.


I've also been playing with handbags again this week and have made this one for my SIL who is definitely a handbag and shoes kinda girl. The papers are DCVW and I've cuttlebugged the flap. The embellishments are card candy.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is going well so far.

A Little Bird House

How's your weekend going? I hope everyone is getting a chance to enjoy this lovely weather we are being blessed with. I'm so glad the sun was shining for a very special Wedding that was taking place today. Liam and Fizz, I wish you a wonderful life together.

At last I am getting back into the swing of all the challenges I've been missing recently and this one is for Tuesday Taggers who have the theme of houses this week. They are being sponsored by The Craft Barn so it is definitely worth checking out.


I decided on this lovely Bird House. The stamps are all from Dawn Bibby and I coloured them with promarkers. The background was stamped with the little flower stamp using baby's breath colourbox Q pigment inks. I then cut some out and coloured them, adding a jewelled centre.


Nothing too complicated I'm afraid. Just getting it done in time was an achievement. I really must get back to the messy stuff again. I think I'm having withdrawal symptoms from Distress inks and Glimmer mist!!

Thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW

It wasn't until I had a little peek at Blogland tonight that I realised it was Wednesday. The Bank Holiday Monday has completely thrown me this week and I haven't a clue what day it is, well nothing new there really!!!

Anyway, I have been desperate to join in with Julia and her fellow WOYWW's again but Wednesdays just seem to have slipped by unnoticed over the Summer Holidays, is it really school tomorrow, where did those six weeks go, sorry I digress, again!!

I have been closeted in my cake room with a 4 tier Wedding cake today and DD has been brilliant and quietly played her Nintendo in the comfy chair in my room and been no bother at all. Yes, I do know how lucky I am.


After lunch I decided we'd missed enough of this beautiful day so we took some crafting out into the garden and made some paper handbags. Quick and fun, perfect for children. I then got on with painting my Groom figurine for the cake enjoying being in the fresh air. It never crossed my mind to take any photos of all this activity but DD was running round the garden with her camera and unbeknown to me had captured everything, so these are her photos.


I shall do my best to get round everyone elses workspaces this week. I'm in the mood for a good nosey so beware!!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is going well so far. Lets hope this beautiful sunshine lasts over the weekend so that everyone can enjoy it.