WOYWW 124

Morning lovely crafters. I hope I find you well this Wednesday morning. I've just realised I've not posted since last Wednesday, goodness where did that week go. No excuses, just trying to get ahead of myself ready for half term which, for us, starts tomorrow and they go back on 1st November. Three training days have been added on so crafting will be hit and miss for the next week or so. My DH is also off next week so lets hope the weather behaves itself so that we can get out and about.


You find me with a busy workdesk again this week. I'm trying to get some Christmas pressies made and put away and I have a canvas in progress for my MIL. She doesn't have the internet so I know there's no risk of her spying anything. She admired the one I did for my Mum in the Summer so I thought I'd do one for her in her colours. She has a burgundy colour scheme so I've started with pale pink and will work up to the darker shades, hopefully. I just tend to play and see what happens.


I've shown you mine so lets see what you are up too. Pop over to see the desk Headmistress, Julia, HERE and get snooping.


As we are at the mid point of another month it's time to provide a bit more inspiration for The Stampman ATC swaps, which this month has an Oriental theme. I am still struggling with ATC's but was quite pleased with how this one turned out. I used Barn Door DI on glossy paper and overstamped with some text. The flower was gold embossed and then coloured in with promarkers using darker reds. I found the beads in a toy shop in Italy and thought they had a lovely antiquey feel. Funny the things you find when you're not looking.

I am also walking round with a warm glow this morning, and not from sitting on the radiator either. You may remember the Christmas Paint Fusion wall hanging sample I did for Sheena's Pick Of The Week shows some time ago. If you don't you can see it here.

Anyway, Sheena asked me if I would mind if she taught it at her workshops. Mind, I was thrilled that she thought it was worthy and there is a photo of some of the hangers her ladies have produced on her blog today. They are really lovely and it has made me want to make another one now to hang up with the decorations come Christmas.

Right, my washing machine has just finished so I must dash and get them outside before the weather changes yet again. The sun's out and there's a good breeze today so I'll just say thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

An Explosion Of Butterflies

I hope I find you well and enjoying your Saturday.

What a mix of weather we've had this week. After a sweltering first half, we then had thunderstorms followed by a really wet day on Thursday. Yesterday was warm and breezy and today is damp and misty.

Despite the rain we had a run to Ilkley this morning. They are having a three day continental market on the main street and there are all sorts of interesting foods to try and things to look at. We had a lovely browse and came home with several bags of delights.

I managed to finish my exploding box in time for my Aunt and Uncle's Golden Wedding celebrations last weekend so I thought I'd share it with you since it has now been safely delivered.

I find these really hard to photograph so please forgive the poor pictures but I think you can see the general idea.


I've used this same design on many occasions but saw recently the side panels embossed somewhere on blogland and liked the texture it gave. It's also much quicker than all the stamping I usually do which is great when I've left things until the last minute as usual.


The butterflies are from the recent Kanban QVC TSV which was a brilliant buy. I love all the stamps in the set and have already used most of them. These were coloured with H20's and then some diamond stickles added.


The sentiment was computer generated and cut with a Nestie and coloured with some Stampin Up dye ink.

It was also the start of a new theme over at The Stampman ATC swap and we are asking you to think of all things to do with the Ocean this month.


I embossed mine with swirls which I always think look like waves before colouring it with Starburst stains and distress ink. The ship, from the Aspects of Design Nautical set, was cut out and added with foam pads.

Thanks for stopping by and for putting up with my poor blogging at the minute. I hope you are all enjoying your Summer whatever you are up too and thank you again for your lovely comments. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Ooops Late Again

What has happened to the weather, it's been so soggy this weekend hasn't it. Yesterday was torrential rain that soaks and today is heavy mizzle that soaks. I hope it hasn't spoiled anyone's plans too much. We've had a nice time doing a bit of crafting, cooking and playing board games, which has made a lovely change.


I even managed to get my design project ATC done for The Stampman ATC swap mid month inspirational nudge, yes I know it's a few days late, sorry about that. Janet asked us to think Vintage this month so I used these lovely Non Sequitur stamps. Jill has them all half price on the web site and they are gorgeous so make sure you have a peek.

I used various distress inks to build up the background and then cut out the rose and elements to add some depth. Stickles were added to the rose head for some bling. I love a bit of sparkle!!

Short and sweet from me today, I'm needed in a game of scrabble, so thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Friendship

Afternoon lovely Crafters. What a strange weekend with Mr Blogger going AWOL on Friday. He seems to have eaten some of my lovely WOYWW comments from last week too so if you stopped by and left a comment and I haven't visited you back, thank you so much for them and please forgive me. I will try and get round a few more desks before this Wednesday!!!!
I do know that you eagle eyed folk spotted the tin of Science Putty on the table and wondered what it was used for. Sorry, I don't have any mysterious new crafting technique to share, it belongs to DD and is a tin of neon orange squidgy stuff that she molds into shapes and then it gradually goes all flat and smooth again. Very weird but she loves it!!

Also for those of you who are interested, there are some choccies left inside those boxes. I can make chocolate last. My downfall are the sour chewy sweets. Give me a bag of those and they're gone in 10 minutes!!

Now on to more sensible things. We are half way through our Friendship ATC swap at The Stampman and Lisa Sparkle is providing some extra inspiration if you want to join in. I am still find ATC's a challenge but after scouring Craft Stamper for some inspiration here is what I came up with this time.


I printed the Friendship definition off the Internet and then inked up the background with Broken China, Chipped Sapphire and Dusty Concord distress ink, using a Tim Holtz Swirl die as a stencil. I then doodled on the stencil swirl and stuck it on as well adding some more doodling in white and black gel pen. A couple of brads and some fibres finished things off.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Monday has got the week off to a good start. If you are in the part of the country with the warm temperatures and sunshine, please can you send some back up North. It's so windy and cold up here at the minute. I don't like having to put jumpers back on after the gorgeous weather we've had.