Just Add Vellum

Afternoon lovely Crafters. I think we have had three seasons in one week here in Yorkshire. We started off with Summer at the weekend, followed by winter on Wednesday with snow and biting winds. I've never known such an icy wind, it's flattened all the beautiful Tulips but hopefully they will recover. And back to something near warm sunshine again yesterday. That sneaky wind was still there but if you stayed sheltered in the sunshine it was beautiful. Let's hope the Easter weekend is kind to us all.

Now on to all things crafty. We have the theme of Vellum this time at The Stampman and here's my DT project.

I knew I wanted to make some vellum flowers, something I discovered quite recently and absolutely love and originally made a huge flower with all the Tattered floral dies but soon realised it was far too big for this lovely Stampendous stamp so I went with just the tiniest one but frilled all the edges to make them look a bit different.

The yellow panel is embossed vellum run through the Cuttlebug and then inked over with distress ink, which is what I used to colour the image before adding some glossy accents.

The rest of the DT have come up with some gorgeous ways of using vellum so it's well worth popping over to the challenge blog for a peek and Mrs Stampman is offering a £10 voucher for the winner as always.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a lovely Easter. I've seen the Easter Bunny hopping about already laden down with all things chocolaty so I'll be sure to send him your way.

Animal Crackers

Afternoon lovely Bloggers. It's a sign the schools have broken up for Easter, the weather has changed back to grey, cool and damp. Lets hope it brightens up for the weekend at least. We have lots of garden plans to be put into action but they'll all be put on hold if it rains!!!

During the gorgeous weather last week I had some DT projects on the go for Sheena Douglasss and kept popping inside to do a bit in between the sunbathing!!

I can share them with you now as Sheena will be releasing them on Create and Craft tomorrow so look out for her shows.

They are called "A Little Bit Different" and I bet they make you smile.

I love this duck, coming from the Midlands "Me Ducks" is a term of endearment close to my heart.

Well, short and sweet from me today, I'm trying to catch up on all the jobs that went by the wayside last week due to the sunshine so thanks for stopping by and enjoy your week.

WOYWW 147-Oh Happy Days

Morning everyone. Aren't we a lucky lot then here in the UK basking in this glorious weather. I love the sunshine, it just makes you feel happy and even happier when it's WOYWW, the best day of the week.

If you're wondering what I'm going on about , then pop over to see our Desk Headmistress, Julia, HERE for a great snoop around some fantastic workspaces.

I shall do my best to follow orders and be brief. No craft desk from me this week, ohhh no. I've spent every spare moment outside so hang the housework and the crafting, my workdesk has been in my greenhouse and at the garden table with a book so that's what I'm sharing with you.

As you can see the greenhouse is extremely untidy, it's a case of cram as much in as you can. We don't have the luxury of a garage so it's home to all sorts of things as well as plants. I have lots of baby seedlings popping through as well as all the overwintered plants.

As I mentioned in my last post, we are over run with ladybirds at the minute, I've never seen so many and here's one snoozing in the sun very early this morning.

And just to wave you off with a smile as you continue desk hopping this lovely Wednesday, our little Almond tree burst into blossom yesterday. The blue sky makes it look a picture.

Thank you for stopping by and for all the lovely comments you leave. Enjoy the sunshine.

A Game Of Bingo at The Stampman

Hello lovely Crafters. Hasn't it been a lovely week, Spring is definitely here. Have you noticed all the Ladybirds? I counted 16 on one plant today and that's without really looking. They are everywhere.

Well, on to crafty matters and as it's Friday again it's time for another challenge over at The Stampman and this time we are having a game of Bingo. All the details are on the challenge site but there are lots of lovely options to choose from.

For my DT project I chose Green, Circles and Ribbon, although flowers and swirls crept in too, just couldn't resist.

I love this Stampendous stamp and it works so well with the Tim Holtz Papillion stamps. I coloured the flowers with pro markers but everything else is distress inks, bundled sage and lots of different browns.

I edged the main image with gold embossing powder

and added Diamond Stickles to the flowers.

Don't forget to pop over to see what the rest of the DT have created, they have provided lots of inspiration and Mrs Stampman has a £10 voucher for the Winner as always.

Thank you for stopping by. The weather people have promised a lovely weekend for us here in the UK so whatever you are up to I hope you have a lovely time.

WOYWW 146

Hello lovely Crafters and dear WOYWW friends. I'm a bit late to the party this week so will be well down the register!! I had a hospital appointment at the crack of dawn, always get these things over is my moto, and after last weeks pink face episode thought I'd better make sure I wasn't going with any part of me multicoloured!!!

So, here's my desk as of last night. After weeks of doing DT work I really needed to do some crafting just for me and after being inspired by the wonderful Michelle Jackson-Mogford I have a scrapbook LO on the go using some gorgeous Basic Grey papers.

It won't include my WOYWW badge, I just wanted to show it off to prove I belong to this wonderful club of Wednesday madness. Thanks so much, Julia. I love your bit of Silly!!

I was sharing the table with my DD last night. Hubby was away with work so I was attempting to help with maths homework, not something I usually get involved with. It's far too hard for my addled brain but we sorted it out eventually. She also had to learn some spellings. Now here's a test for you. Can you spell Archaeology, Claustrophobia, Agoraphobia, Arachnophobia & Xenophobia? These are in her spellings test today for a class of 10 year olds!!! I even had to get her spelling sheet out to type them.

Well, I've shown you mine so let's see yours. Pop over to see our Desk Headmistress, Julia, HERE to get involved.

Before I go and start my desk hopping I thought I'd just show you what that blue salty background from last weeks desk turned into.

I added some foil transfers, some silver embossing and chipboard letters that were embossed with purple sparkly wow powder. It formed part of some DT samples and I must admit I was loathed to let it go, I might just have to do another one just for me!!

Time for another cup of coffee while I listen to The Budget to see how much worse off we will be by the end of the day so thanks for stopping by and Happy Desk Hopping.

In The Garden

Morning lovely Crafters. It's a beautiful start here in Yorkshire and once I've finished catching up with the Blogging World I'm off out to cut the grass before it changes (the weather not the grass you understand)!!!

Before I do though I noticed on my travels that the TIOT Ladies have the theme of Wonders of Watercolour this week. It's ages since I managed to enter one of their challenges and I've just made a card that fits this beautifully. Thank you Michelle for jogging my memory with your lovely DT project.

Bet you can't think why I love this beautiful Impression Obsession stamp? It's been stamped in Vintage Photo distress ink and then watercoloured with Crushed Olive and Scattered Straw just to highlight the sunflowers and plants slightly.

The challenge is being sponsored by One Stop Cards this time so it's well worth a look.

Well, that grass calls so I'll say thanks for stopping by and enjoy your weekend whatever you are up too and have a lovely Mothering Sunday if you are here in the UK.

WOYWW 145 & A Pink Face

Morning lovely crafters and WOYWW friends. Wednesday again and time for a good old snoop round every one's desks.

Here's mine of about 5 minutes ago. I'm at the dining room table again as I need lots of space this week. I'm in the middle of a spraying frenzy for some DT work so no ones allowed to use the table at the minute. Hubby is highly delighted as that means tea on his knee watching Eggheads. It doesn't take much to keep him amused!!

These sprays should carry a health warning I think though. Yesterday I was merrily using a bright pink one and had forgotten to put my rubber gloves on and my hands got absolutely covered. I went and gave them a good scrub but the pink remained. Well never mind, every crafter has messy hands, thought I. It wasn't until I'd eaten my lunch and gone upstairs glancing in a mirror on my way that I saw that no only were my hands a lovely shade of Fuchsia pink, so was my face and my jumper!!! Good job no one had come to the door!!!

Today I've been using lovely blues but am suitable protected in every way. Here's one of the lovely backgrounds that you get when you add salt to the sprayed paper. This has to be my favourite technique at the minute.

If you want to join in this weekly outing of workdesks, then pop over to see our Desk Headmistress, Julia, HERE and get desk hopping but be warned it's highly addictive!!

Just to cheer you up if you haven't got the sunshine we were faithfully promised at the weekend but now seems to have disappeared into mist I thought I'd share with you this little beauty. My MIL gave me a pot with some leaves in last year and said it was an Orchid she'd been given but had now gone over. I've never grown Orchids before but someone said to put it in the bathroom which is what I did. It sat looking forlorn on the window ledge for a few months and then just before Christmas a stem appeared and then these beautiful flowers. It's only tiny but has now been flowering for about 4 months and it's certainly a cheerful sight to greet you every morning.

Well, I'd better get back to that spray, look out!!! Have and great Wednesday and thanks for stopping by.

Vintage Stampman

Hello lovely crafters.

Here we are at another Friday, these weeks just fly don't they. Over at The Stampman it's time for another challenge and the new theme is "Vintage."

I have to admit I struggled with this one as it's not something I would usually choose but, as they say, it's good to be pushed out of your comfort zone sometimes so this is what I came up with.

I created the background by clear embossing the Artemio swirls and then applying the distress ink over the top and stamping more swirls with ink before buffing up the clear embossing to make it white again. The edges were then gold embossed.

The little panel was made in the same way with some small funky flowers and then I stamped and cut out the lady and applied glossy accents and coloured and cut out some more funky flowers for the embellishments.

The rest of the DT have created some stunning projects so don't forget to pop over to the challenge blog to have a look at them all and if they've inspired you to have play along Jill is offering a £10 voucher to spend at The Stampman website for the winner.

Thank you, as always, for stopping by and for the lovely comments you leave. I do appreciate them. The forecast is looking quite promising for the weekend so I hope you have a good one whatever you are up too. I shall be in the garden hopefully, bet that surprised you!!!!

WOYWW 144

Morning lovely crafters and dear WOYWW friends. I had to absent myself last week from the Workdesk loveliness due to real life just getting in the way, so much so that I knew I wouldn't have the time to visit many desks and I really missed being part of the gang. So I'm back in class this week and raring to go.

Here is my desk as of last night. I apologise for the poor photo, the glare from my glass mat and all those plastic bags played havoc!!! I'm fed up being so disorganised and Di has really shamed me into getting my stamps into some sort of order. I don't quite have her skill at making them look so professional but at least they are now all in a ring binder on laminated sheets where I can lay my hands on them straight away.

As you can see I don't even organise in a very tidy way, there is stuff everywhere and this morning I found a tiny flower stamp floating around my desk and I have absolutely no idea where it belongs!!

I have stuck all my H20 paints onto old CD's, a tip Sheena shared on one of her programmes, and it felt very daring throwing all the lids away but I have to admit having them like this makes them so much easier to use. I don't have a spindle to stack the CD's on yet but have added that to Hubby's to do list!!

Well I've shared mine so let's see yours. Pop over to see the Desk Headmistress, Julia, HERE. She works very hard at keep her unruly class of deskhoppers in order and we thank her every week for her hard work.

Before I start checking out everyone else's desk I thought I'd just share another sample I made for Sheena's recent shows.

I have to thank the talented Barbara Gray and her pattern building for the inspiration for this one. I tried stamping just the corner from the Happiness stamp set inked with H20's and this was the result.

I used the same corner but inked with very watery paint and randomly stamped for the background and a glass bead I found at my local garden centre coloured with a promarker for the centre.

Well, it looks like it's going to be a day of April Showers here in Yorkshire so I'm off to get a cup of coffee and have a look at everyone else's desks so enjoy the rest of your Wednesday and thanks for stopping by.

On The High Seas

Evening lovely Crafters. What a difference a day makes. After such a wet day yesterday, it's been glorious here in Yorkshire today. Even the chilly wind is allowed when the sun shines. I've washed everything that hasn't run away and even cleaned my windows. You know what that means? It's bound to rain now for the rest of the week.

Just before I go for a nice soak before bed I thought I'd share with you another sample I made with Sheena's new collage stamp. This is gorgeous, perfect for those men in your life and very easy to decoupage up.

I stamped it with H20's initially and when dry just outlined the coast and the writing with a glue pen and gold embossed it. The boat was then stamped and gold embossed about four times so I had plenty of layers to make the decoupage good and deep. I painted the boat with the same H20 as the background before layering it up.

The background is a Tim Holtz embossing folder with the H20 painted inside the folder before the card was run through the cuttlebug. I picked out the edges with the gold ep again just to finish it off.

Well, my bubbles await to I'll say thanks for stopping by and I hope your Monday has been a good one. We are going to a funeral tomorrow, the second in five days. The sun shone for the first one so I hope it shines tomorrow too.