WOYWW 185

Morning lovely crafters and dear WOYWW friends. I hope your Christmas preparations are coming along a treat. Can you believe it's less than a week to the big HO HO day as Chris Evans would say. I really don't know where this year has gone, it's absolutely flown even though it has definitely been a year of big ups and downs in The Craft Garden. However, we are still here, healthy and happy and there's an awful lot to be said for that and for which I am eternally grateful.

This will be the last WOYWW of the year from me. I always have a crafting break over the Christmas holidays, there are always so many other things going on, so here is my last desk of the year taken in the gloom of early morning.

I am in full pressie making mode. You can see a cheap mirror being turned into something for my MIL. Weeks ago I made some altered mirrors for everyone using those square ones from THAT Swedish shop, but I discovered while we were moving my MIL that she doesn't like things with corners and always chooses round mirrors and so on where she can. This came after a discussion about how much she disliked the square mirror she had inherited in her new bathroom!!! I couldn't then give her a square one for Christmas could I?? By chance I discovered this oval one included in a pack of photo frames which was what I was originally shopping for so two things off my list in one fell swoop.

The other things you can see drying are vases which I am painting with Pebeo Fantasy Prisme paint.

 I found it works really well with the paint fusion poppy stamp, although I've made my job harder by choosing a round vase. The paint takes ages to dry and runs if you do too much at a time but a gentle heat just seals it enough to move on to another area. It's still a slow job but the paint makes a lovely effect.

You'll have to excuse the rough edges, I have yet to go back over with the black outliner to tidy up the edges. As I said, it's very much work in progress.

So that's me today. I can't wait to see what everyone else is up too so I'll be round to have a peek later in the day. If you haven't yet discovered the biggest weekly desk snoop in the World then pop over to see the lovely Julia, who keeps us all in order, HERE.

Thanks for stopping by and if I don't see you before the big day, have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy, Healthy and Crafty New Year and thank you for being such wonderful friends over the last year.

WOYWW 184

Morning lovely crafters and dear WOYWW friends. I can't believe it's a week since I last posted anything. To be honest I can't believe it's a week since the last WOYWW, surely it was only yesterday we were all desk hopping!! If you want to join in the fun, then pop over to see our lovely Desk Headmistress, Julia, HERE. 

It's another chilly morning here in Yorkshire. Very seasonal but it makes driving interesting. I slid all the way to drop DD off at her friend's so that they can walk to school together. When you live on a hill whichever way you go makes for an interesting experience. I love the cold weather though, at least we get the sunshine.

Here is my desk as of yesterday afternoon. It looks exactly the same this morning and won't change much until later.

I'm still prepping for my workshop tomorrow morning. I never really know numbers until a few days before so don't do the main bits until then. You can see the wreath bases cut out ready and I've just stamped up some paper to cut out a few more tattered florals. It's so much cheaper than buying or printing paper and when mixed with all the other layers looks just as good.

This is what the finished wreath will look like. I first made it this time last year for a challenge over at The Stampman and it stayed up all Christmas.

The flowers are layered up and held together with a brad and then scrunched around to give them some shape before being spayed with mica powder and glittered. Some mirricard swirls are added for a bit more shape and a nice bow finishes it off.

  
I've cut out flowers in blue and in the more traditional red and green so I hope they enjoy making it as much as I did.

Right, I'm off to work now and then I have a Christmas tea party this afternoon so I'll hopefully see you at a desk near you this evening.

Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty Wednesday.

WOYWW 183

Morning lovely crafters and dear WOYWW friends from a chilly but bright West Yorkshire. Another Wednesday flies by so that must mean another chance to visit lots of wonderful desks. If you haven't yet discovered the wonders of WOYWW then give yourself an early Christmas present and go and visit our Desk Headmistress, Julia, HERE and find out what you're missing.

This is my desk as of last night as it's empty at the minute as we've just had breakfast. I've abandoned my craft room for now as it's a bit cold and also full of secret Santa stuff if you get my drift!!!! so I'm back to the dining table.

I'm in the middle of prepping for another workshop next week. We are making a Christmas wreath from paper flowers so my Cuttlebug has gone into overdrive.

I'm afraid there's not much more to see this week. My new pots of Pebeo Prisme paints are waiting to be played with in the background. I have lots of ideas for some Christmas presents using them, but apart from that I cleared up earlier so it's all looking pretty uninteresting.

Short and sweet again as I need to come and see what you are all up too.

Thanks for stopping by and have a Happy and Crafty Wednesday.

Just Dropping By

Afternoon lovely Crafting friends. I'm just dropping in to say hello. I have been such a poor blogger lately, there seems to be so little time to fit everything in so blogging tends to fall by the wayside for which I apologise.

Anyway, I have a card to share with you today which is not festive in anyway, I'm still struggling away with those. I made this card some time ago for a challenge and it got over looked so I thought I'd just share it with my lovely friends instead.

It has lots of different embossing on it and the butterfly has been cut out of vellum and decoupaged. This was one of those cards that just came together and I really liked the colour scheme although I hadn't planned it all in the beginning. Funny how that happens sometime.

Well, I'd better go and crack on with those Christmas cards, they are not going to make themselves!!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have had a good Monday. We started the week with a Funeral which I wasn't looking forward too but it was actually a very nice service and lovely to catch up with family we don't see very often.

WOYWW 182

Morning lovely crafters and dear WOYWW friends.

Well, I've been absent from the register for the last couple of weeks. I didn't think you'd want to see a photo of an emulsioned wall which is what my workdesk has been, even though it was a very pretty lilac colour. Thankfully I am back at my proper workdesk today so I feel I can come back and play.

Here is my desk as of last night. I'm out all day today, this morning at work and then out for lunch with my dear blogging buddy, Sylvia, who I haven't seen for ages, so it won't change until tonight, apart from being cleared to one side so that we can eat!!! Yes I am back on the dining table. My little craft room is a bit chilly now.

I have been playing with some gorgeous Thomas Kincade Christmas decoupage from Joanna Sheen. Something a bit different for me but I only make Christmas cards for close family now and liked the look of these. I can also sit and cut them out in front of the TV so for once the cards are actually getting made in good time. In case you were wondering, I do send cards to the rest of the family but they get bought ones!!!!

All the usual card making paraphernalia  card, inks and glue but no cup of tea for me, just a glass of water. I have been told too much tea is not good and I should be drinking more water. I have found that the fizzy stuff is more interesting but it certainly doesn't beat a good cuppa. I save those for special times of day now!!

Here's a peek at one of the finished cards if you're interested.

If you want to join in the biggest weekly desk hopping session in the world, then pop over to see the desk Headmistress, Julia, HERE.

As some of you know, the reason I have had an emulsion brush in my hand instead of a craft brush is that we have been moving my MIL into a new flat. I bought this MDF blank in readiness some months ago so have been decorating it this week as her housewarming present.

The flowers have been made using the Tonic Petal Pairs punches. I have found a new love!!!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great Wednesday and I'll see you at a desk near you very soon.

More Sheena Sneaky Peeks

Afternoon folks. I hope you are enjoying your Saturday. It's been cold and foggy here all day but we've had a lovely outing to Skipton for a bit of Christmas shopping and a coffee.

As promised here are two more samples using the new Sheena Douglass stamps which have been created for the Pebeo fantasy paints.

 I used Dusty Concord Distress Ink  to create a background and embossed this lovely flower with gold sparkly embossing powder before painting the inside of it with more Dusty Concord.

This lovely scene is painted with H20's. I stamped the flowers again onto scrap card and cut them out to stick them onto the frame that I added to set it all off.

The rest of the team have created some stunning samples and I'm sure you'll spot them during your blog hopping.

Well, short and sweet from me tonight. I have some Hairy Biker Chilli bowls to rustle up for tea.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Long Time No See

Afternoon lovely crafting friends. Did you wonder where I'd got too?

What a hectic few weeks!! My MIL recently got the keys to her new downstairs flat. She lived on the third floor with no lift and was increasingly finding the stairs difficult. Anyway, to cut a very long story short. We got this very distressed phone call two Fridays ago saying she'd been taken to see the vacant flat and given the keys and it was awful, no carpets, bare plaster walls etc etc and she only had a week to move in and didn't want it anymore!!! So DH and I and my SIL and her Hubby spent the following week with paint brush in hand and then scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom from top to bottom to make it habitable. Carpets went down in record time and last Saturday we moved her lock stock and barrel and by tea time she was unpacked and settled and declared herself very happy with her new palace. Amazing what a bit of hard work can achieve.

This week I've hosted my very own card class which was a real buzz. I loved it. I had a group of 7 complete craft novices and 3 hours later they had really blossomed. Roll on next month.

So, very little crafting has actually gone on in The Craft Garden. I have found time though to do some samples  with some beautiful new Sheena Douglass stamps that are being launched on 27th November on Create and Craft. Unfortunately, Sheena is still not well enough to travel far so her good friend Leann Chivers from Crafters Companion is going to do the launch along with some beautiful new Pebeo Fantasy paints that are well worth having a look at.

I didn't play with the paints as I knew my time was going to be limited but thoroughly enjoyed using the stamps with all the usual mediums. Here are a couple to give you an idea.

This first one is painted with H20's

And this is just coloured with Promarkers.

I hope you like them. I'll pop back tomorrow with a few more.

I'm sorry I haven't managed to visit anyone for such a long time and will try and catch up over the next few days. I've missed seeing what you've all been up too.

Thanks for stopping by and stay safe and warm in this wild weather.

WOYWW 179

Morning lovely Crafters and dear WOYWW friends. Wednesday again and November already. Where did the year go? It doesn't seem five minutes since last Christmas and here we are heading for another one. I don't know, it's frightening sometimes how fast time flies by.

Anyway, enough wittering, you came here to see my desk so here it is and....gasp....horror.....

is that a Christmas card in progress at last????? I thought I'd better stop fighting it and start getting organised so the Christmas stamps have been dug out and I have made a start. It might not last, I'm sure I'll find something better to do tomorrow!!

If you want to join in this wonderful world of workdesk hopping, then pop over to see the Desk Headmistress, Julia, HERE.

Yesterday morning when we were having brekkie there was an amazing sunrise out the kitchen window and cereals were quickly forgotten while we got the cameras out. It's just a shame that after such a promising start in proceeded to rain all day and blow a right gale. What is it they say, "red sky at night, shepherds delight, red sky in the morning, shepherds warning!!!!!

I have tried to keep in short and sweet today in accordance with Miss Julia's wishes so I'll see you at a desk near you very soon.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.
  

A Gorguss use for an old CD

Afternoon lovely crafters. It's been a beautiful day here in Yorkshire after a very frosty start. It was white over this morning. Does this mean Winter has finally arrived?? I know some of you had an unexpected fall of snow yesterday!!!!

We are all back to normal today after half term but on a wet afternoon last week DD and I made some hangers from old CD's. I saw a demo doing this on C&C and had just had a clear out of loads of CD's that come free with the Sunday paper so had a big pile to play with.

I borrowed this Gorguss Girl stamp from DD, she collects them. I just love this one with the little foxes. Her stripped hat is great.

The CD was covered back and front with some lovely glittery paper from First Edition and I made the roses from another sheet from the same pack. The Gorguss girl was coloured with promarkers. I'm not too happy with her face, my flesh coloured pen needs replacing. I have tried to improve it but without much success so don't look too closely.    

Right, I'm off to find a responsible adult to light my sparklers so I'll wish you a safe and happy Bonfire Night.

Thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW 178

Morning lovely Crafters and dear WOYWW friends. I hope all my WOYWW friends living in those parts of The States effected by this awful storm are safe and dry. My thoughts are with you all, we have been watching it all unfold on the news here  in the UK.

 I seem to be a part time WOYWWer at the minute, not sure how that is happening. I think the weeks are just going by far too quickly for me to keep up. Anyway, it's half term in The Craft Garden this week so we have been out an about but I have been managing to catch up with a bit of scrapbooking in the afternoons which is what you can see on my desk at the unearthly hour on a Wednesday morning when this photo was taken.

Even though I am allowed to sleep in this week I have still been getting up with DH at 6am!!! Yes, that is himself on the LO in progress, taken on the only wet day we had during our Austrian holidays this year. He must be the only person to still wear sunglasses when it is absolutely pouring down!!

I liked the skeleton clock faces that were everywhere in this months Scrap 365 magazine so have cut out my own from a cereal packet and then crackle painted it. Time consuming but I'm pleased with the results. I also broke out the sewing machine for the first time in years and have stitched the border.

If you want to join in this mass desk hop that is WOYWW then pop over to see our Desk Headmistress, Julia, HERE.

Just before I go I thought I'd just leave you with a photo I took on our walk round our local reservoir last Saturday when the sun shone and the Autumn colours were glorious.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you at a desk near you very soon.

Have a great Wednesday.

A Finished Layout!!

Afternoon lovely Crafters. It's been dark, damp and dismal here all day today but I've been out and about so it's not been too bad and now I'm home it's lovely and cosy with the lights on and the blinds drawn.

I actually managed to finish the Scrapbook page I was working on last week.

It seems to have taken me an age to rip up some paper and corrugated card and spray the background but I guess when it's not your normal style things always take longer as you never know whether it looks OK. I'll let you be the judge of that!!!!!

Short and sweet from me today, my computer died at the weekend and I now have a hand me down laptop with an old operating system that is taking some getting used too. I also have to keep installing all the stuff I had on the old one so things are taking so much longer than normal.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Monday has gone well so far.

Happy Crafting.
 

WOYWW 176

Morning Crafters and dear WOYWW friends. What a miserable morning it is here in Yorkshire today, cold, wet and windy but I know most of us in the UK are suffering the same weather and it's lovely and warm and cosy inside so it looks like a perfect crafting day.

I was absent from the register of Workdesks last week, my apologies to our wonderful Desk mistress, Julia, but as always, you can't stay away for long. I missed my weekly snoop!!! If you want to join in with this lovely group of friends then pop over HERE to find out more.

Here's my desk as of yesterday afternoon, can you see the sunshine!!! It hasn't been touched since then so looks exactly the same this morning minus the cup of tea.

I've been having some free time from DT commitments recently and have been trying to fit in a bit more "me" crafting before they all start up again so you find me with a scrapbook layout starting to take shape. I have recently discovered a very talented scrapper, Heather Jacob. Her layouts are amazing with lots of textures and layers and she's inspired me to try new things. It's still at the very early stages and breaking out of your comfort zone is never easy but I have lots of ideas buzzing.

Just before I go and get ready to brave the rain, yes, I do have to venture out but will be back for a desk snoop later, I thought I'd leave you with a card I made for a friend who asked for a blingy pink thank you card. Something else that's out of my comfort zone but I really enjoyed doing this.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great Wednesday whatever you are up too.

Happy Crafting

H20 Backgrounds

Afternoon all. I hope you are having a great week so far despite the Autumnal weather we've had today. I had to hang on for dear life when I ventured out earlier, all the beautiful leaves were tumbling fast, but the sun is out now and it's much calmer.

I've put the miserable weather to good use today and got round to bashing out some backgrounds with those little pots of lovliness called H20's. Yes, I bet you thought I'd forgotten!!!!

So here are 4 ideas for you to try if you've got some thrown in the bottom of a drawer long forgotten.

1) Just paint and spray with water as you would Distress Inks. The paint reacts much the same.

2) The Splodge.. very technical.   Spray a piece of thick card with water and then splodge on about three colours with a big brush, don't be afraid to experiment. Make sure the paint is good and thick. Spray the splodges again with water and either dry with a heat gun or leave to dry if you've got some time.

The results are lovely and soft with that mica shine.

3) Clingfilm. As in 2, spray a piece of thick card with water and splodge away again. This time after spraying with more water wrap in cling film and scrunch it around. This one you do need to leave to dry naturally.

All the mica collects in the clingfilm folds.

4) Salt. Prepare in exactly the same way as 2 & 3 and then liberally sprinkle with sea salt flakes. Leave to dry and then rub away the dry salt.

This one gives you a lovely texture.

For all these I used two sets, Passion and Ultimate Romance from the new colours that have re released.

Just to inspire you a bit more to have a play here are two cards.
The first stamped onto an H20 clingfilmed background

and the second actually stamped with the paint.

I hope I've given you some ideas to start loving these little pots of beauty again. They are never far from my desk nowadays.

Thanks for stopping by.

Butterflies and all things that Flutter at The Stampman

Afternoon lovely Crafters. I hope you have all been enjoying this lovely Autumn weather we've been having today, although it's turned very chilly, I had to scrap the car windscreen this morning.

Some of you may have noticed I have been taking a break from The Stampman DT over the Summer. Unfortunately, with all that's been going on in The Craft Garden I just didn't have enough time and Jill very kindly let me take a break. While I've been away, things have changed on the challenge blog and Jill is now setting monthly challenges on her own blog.

This month she is asking you to think Butterflies and all things that Flutter and you can find the full details and where to post your entries, HERE.

This is the project I came up with this month.

You may have already spotted the background in progress on my WOYWW post. Well, this is what it turned into. I stamped the script in Chipped Sapphire and then brushed mica powder over it, which was one of the articles in this months Craft Stamper. I think this may well become a favourite technique, I love the results.

I also distressed some masking tape and added mica powder for the border.

Full details of the challenge rules and the prizes on offer can be found on The Stampman Blog as well as the amazing projects the rest of the DT have created. Jill will be releasing them gradually thoughout the month to keep you inpsired so we hope you'll join in. We love looking at your beautiful creations.

Thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW 174

Morning lovely Crafters and dear WOYWW friends.

Another week has flown by and it's been a week of big, big changes in The Craft Garden. Facing redundancy from the job he has been in for nearly 30 years my DH started up on his own on Monday. An exciting thing to do but also very scary. Thankfully, he has the backing of an established company but they are based in Chesterfield which is a 90 minute commute from here. I think that has been the biggest challenge so far and it means a very early start. I'm now getting an extra 3 hours crafting every day!!!!!!

So what is on my desk this early in the morning.

Lots of distress inks. I was inspired by a desk last week, sorry I can't remember whose, but a lot of blue and brown inks were being used and so I decided to have a play with that combination and I love it. This is my second sheet. The first one has already been used up but I can't share that with you just yet. I love the fact that you can just splodge the inks onto card and they turn into something really beautiful after being sprayed with either water or a mica spray.

Yesterday, the sun was shining so I played at my Greenhouse desk. Do you remember those Lantana plants I was nurturing in my Craft Room last Winter? Those of you who live in Australia will just have to shut your eyes, but look at them now.

Two survived and they are really beautiful. It's taken all Summer for them to get going but they have rewarded me well.

I'm now nurturing my last remaining Dahlia that didn't end up as the monster slugs dinner. Isn't it a lovely colour?

So that's my desks this week. If you want to share yours then pop over to see our lovely Desk Headmistress, Julia,  HERE.

Lots of you commented on my H20's last week and many said you had them lurking in a drawer from years ago. I've recently rediscovered mine and there is so much that you can do with them apart from just painting. If anyone is interested I'll do another post on how to make backgrounds with them.

Thanks for stopping by. It's our 14th Wedding Anniversary today so I'm celebrating with a cuppa in bed even though it's 6.20am in the morning. Hopefully,  I'll see you at a desk near you later on in the day.

Have a Crafty Wednesday.

WOYWW 173

Morning lovely Crafters and Dear WOYWW friends.

Well, we've made it to another Wednesday hop around the desks a little bit soggier than last week but the thought of sharing some desk chatter is more than enough to banish these gloomy clouds. If you want to join in then you need to pop over to see our Desk Headmistress, Julia, HERE.

I hope I find you all safe and dry today after this awful rain. We have several roads under water and the river came out into the park but thankfully not into the homes that border it. We actually made it onto the BBC 10 O'Clock news last night!!!!!  We got off lightly though compared with anyone living a bit further north. The pictures of the A1 are amazing.

It's certainly been perfect crafting weather so, without further ado, here's my desk today.

I've been playing with yet more previously  uninked stamps, I told you I have many!!  These are the Poppy Scene it set from Hobby Craft and I love them. My H20's are sitting there patiently activating while I took the photos. The mug is empty, a rare event.

Here is what I have been looking at out of the window, nothing to distract lately. I can't wait to visit all my Australian friends who'll have gorgeous blue sky photos to share I hope.

Also on my window sill is one of my Hoya cuttings. This poor plant has had a rough life after leaving his Mummy, my dear blogging friend, Jozarty.

 She sent me two a couple of years ago and said they were an easy houseplant. They were nurtured and  grew beautifully until this Spring when they started to look very sad. What was I going to tell, Jo, couldn't tell here I'd killed them. Desperate measures were called for so I tried taking cuttings from the ends of the poor plants and amazingly they grew. I now have two again growing very well but I knocked this one over on Monday spilling soil all over my little room. He has now been replanted and put on the window ledge where hopefully he'll be safe. His brother is on another shelf. I promise I will take better care of them, Jo.

And finally, here is the cared I as working on. A birthday card for my lovely Neighbour who is Poppy mad. I can't take any credit for this one as I took the scene from a card that was on Jenny May's stand at Harrogate in March.  I painted the scene with Distress inks and the Poppies with H20's to make them shine.

Sorry not to be so brief today but thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a lovely, Crafty Wednesday.

Having Some Inky Fun

Morning lovely crafters on this miserable Monday morning. At least the weekend stayed dry, well it did here in Yorkshire. Saturday was glorious and although yesterday was misty I managed a few hours in the garden so musn't grumble about the rain today I suppose.

I have many stamps that have yet to see the sight of an ink pad, I bet I'm not alone, but after recently putting them all into some sort of order I decided the time had come to actually try and have a play with them.

I bought all these at the GNPE in Harrogate earlier in the year from Lavinia Stamps and Inkylicious. They work so well together. I love the Inkylicious sentiments.

This first one I have made for my SIL's birthday tomorrow.

I used Stormy Sky and Peeled Paint Distress Inks and Clover Adirondack. It always amazes me what you can do with just a few ink pads.

This next one is for a young lady who will be 14 next week. Her Dad was an usher at our Wedding and we didn't know whether baby would hang on long enough for him to be there. In the end she arrived 5 days later.

 And I just had a play with this one.

Well, I think it's time for another cuppa and then I shall hide myself in my craft room and make the most of having to stay indoors.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a Happy and Dry Monday,