What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday! #482

Hi Wednesday guys, thanks for visiting!

I was expecting to have a desk full of sewing and cushion related loveliness on show today, but the beautiful jacquard duvet cover I was planning to transform into cushions has vanished! I've ransacked the house as it has to be somewhere - I'd have never given away a barely used, cream coloured and wooden-buttoned beauty like that. Hubby has promised to climb into the loft and open bags and boxes on Saturday, so watch this space...

Here is something I've transformed from last week. I tried (and failed) at fast water colouring.

That lovely water colour paper is too expensive to waste , so I over-stamped a few different, random images and set it to one side. On a new piece of card I die-cut four sweet MFT leaves and then slipped the spoiled piece behind it. This looks so pretty IRL, and I'm thrilled with the effect. Thanks for the advice everyone!

So, now I'm experimenting with various off-cuts and left-over bits and pieces to see what else I can create. This is a new creative avenue to explore while I stress on the whereabouts of that duvet cover!

Mmmmm, shall I die-cut some leaves? Shall I create an underwater scene?

Happy Wednesday, I'll be visiting later on... With a glass of gin and tonic in my hand!

What's on Your Workdesk? Wednesday #481

What a joy to have time to post in WoYWW again after such a long break!

As you can see my desk is in need of a tidy up as my crafting space is getting smaller and smaller. Actually, I really will need to tidy up before the weekend as I'm planning to turn an old duvet cover into some new scatter cushions for our conservatory.

On my desk at the moment I have a semi-failed 'Fast Watercolouring' attempt, which I tried after being 'wowed' by Chris's beautiful card here. Not sure if I can salvage that one - ideas welcome!

Over on the far left of my desk you can see a newly arrived Grab Bag from Unity stamps won on the Growing in Unity FB group a couple of weeks ago. Whoop, whoop! In the middle of my craft mat you can see the set of stamps and the die I'm about to use to make my next Card Chain Challenge card. This one of my most favourite challenges of all time (not just because I'm an admin of the challenge) because you send and receive a card. I think this is such a fun thing to do as you know just how much love and care has gone into the beautiful handmade card you'll receive. It's a none pressure group and people can play along for a while and then drop out, while others play for years and years... and may be addicted to their monthly card fix! In a way I guess it's pretty similar to Julia's WoYWW in that it enables arty folk to make connections with fellow crafters and to chat a little about why we love doing what we do! 

Now I think it's time to grab a cuppa and see what my fellow Wednesday crafters have been getting up to. Many thanks to the lovely Julia for making this possible for all of us four hundred and eighty-one times!

WOYWW

I haven't had chance to play along with WOYWW for ages and ages. The lovely Julia has made it to #325 Wednesdays of sharing and inspiring: what an achievement!

I usually share a view of my desk from the front but just for a change I thought today I'd go with a view from the left looking across the chaos. I literally stepped away from my desk and took the picture. Mmmmmm, time to clean up I think!

And here's a picture of my crafting companion taking a well earned nap across the room from my desk.

The lovely Custard is looking a little 'plush' these days due to the fact that he's on Steroids following a diagnosis of asthma. He's currently on tablets but we're hoping to switch to an inhaler in the next few weeks.

Have a happy Wednesday everyone!

Three of a kind...

This was going to be my WOYWW post, but somehow I ran out of time and it now seems to be WOYWThursday instead!

Lovely Hero Arts butterflies, a Hero Arts sentiment and Gertie 'Girly' Stamps from My Mind's Eye combine for this trio. I coloured the butterflies with my Promarkers (I certainly need the practise) and created the backgrounds with Distress Inks, over stamping with those pretty circle patterns from My Mind's Eye and a Hero Arts text stamp. I added a little banner and called it job done.

And finally, here's the messy desk shot...

Happy crafting everyone!

WOYWW - Happy 200th

Can you believe that it's the 200th Wednesday that we have all popped over to Julia's for a look around eachother's work spaces??? Proves what a nosey lot we all are!

I'm currently working on cards for my next sale, so have a little production line going. I quite enjoy the repetition of making the same card over and over as I find it relaxing.

 

So happy Wednesday everyone, and why not drop by at Julia's Blog for the big 200!

Three...

How can it be Wednesday already??? Who stole Monday and Tuesday???

One good thing about it being Wednesday is that it's 'nosey nosey around blogland' day with the lovely Julia over at Stamping Ground for WOYWW. I'll grab a cuppa and join the fun asap.

As you can see today my workdesk seems to be covered by catfood boxes. I'm not on commission for Whiskers, nor has my cat taken total control of my desk! I've simply discovered that these boxes are great for storing stamps etc. When I get the opportunity I'll cover them or paint them, and rearrange my storage. Does anyone else use slightly 'odd' things for storage? I'd be interested to hear your weird but wonderful storage solutions.

You can also see my list of cards that still need to be completed - it never seems to get any shorter! The stamps that are on view are for future projects...

This week the Less is More challenge is:

Three of anything: three colours, three images, three stamps, three words, the number three.... or in my case three bears.

These little sweeties are obviously missing Goldilocks: life is so quiet without her eating their food, using their furniture and sleeping in their beds.

I wanted to try my hand at colouring with pencils on a textured paper, but I'm not that pleased with the result. Usually, I like texture to show through my colouring but I think this is a bit distracting much! Anyhooo, you can still see that these bears are adorable. Because they are digital lovelies from the very talented Torico I could make them larger/smaller and flip them to give each it's own personality. You'll notice that Momma bear is carrying a few extra pounds bless her!

Happy crafting everyone!

Less is more/WOYWW

Another wet, soggy day in the UK, but a good opportunity to wall-up in my craftroom and get stamping and cutting.
This is what was on my workdesk earlier today...

A festival of paper piecing AND the beginnings of my Less is More card, drying on the top right of the picture. Don't forget that you can check out all the other Wednesday creativity as usual via Julia's blog.

This week the LIM Challenge is to use their rather elegant header as the inspiration for your card.

I love the LIM colour combo so came up with this card. Possibly not enough black on it, but I like the effect of the Distress inks, which I spritzed with Glimmer Mist.

 I also tried this design in brighter colours and my crafting buddy Mr C came to supervise the outdoor photoshoot!

Happy 4th July to my friends in the USA, and to all my friends in the UK a little advice: take an umbrella!

Whatever the weather - happy crafting everyone...

WOYWW!

Oh, the joy of actually having something on my workdesk!
I'm such a happy little soul today. I've got a day off, so can get crafty for the first time in ages. Hurrah!! Here's today's card at an early stage, just before I scored the kraft card with my rather wonderful Hougie Board(a gift from my parent's.) I decided against using the darker blue card just after taking the picture.

You won't be surprised to spot yet another Krista Smith image.
I'm not sure how it took me so long to discover that Krista has an Etsy store. Now I'm 'in the know' I can satisfy my addiction to her gorgeous images with just a few clicks!
This little sweetie is called Kate Krafty. She reminded me so much of my friend's daughter that I had to give her Hannah's gorgeous hair colour. This card will do nicely to congratulate Hannah on passing her 'A' Levels. She'll be leaving soon to take up her place at Swansea University... it'll be mighty quiet without her!
I decided not to reach for the embellishments today, just added some stitching and a few flat back pearls from Quixotic Paperie. Sometimes less is more.
However plain, hopefully this card is still girly enough to fit in over at the One Stop Craft Challenge. And it's 'Anything goes week' at Cute Card Thursday - thanks ladies!
Well, now I'm going to pop over and check out some of the Wednesday fun at Julia's for WOYWW #120.
I just love a crafty Wednesday, don't you????

WOYWW!

Hi WOYWW-ers,

I've got two pictures of my workdesk to share today.

This was the view this morning. A sad desk full of coursework (and my beloved sheep coaster).

I much prefer the afternoon desk... full of crafty fun!

This is a shot of some canny re-cycling following an unfortunate incident with a black ink pad and my Mami Doodles GDT card. After much weeping and wailing, I rescued what I could and re-used it. There was no way I was wasting that lovely Lime Rickey paper!

Happy Wednesday everyone, I'm heading over to Julia's blog to join in the fun!

WOYWW...?

There's a real hint of spring about today! The Snowdrops in my garden are nodding their sweet heads in the breeze, the sun is shining and I am knee deep in cat hair as Mr C. begins to molt!

With the morning's work of scrubbing and mopping finished I could get crafty, but here was the dilemma: I had to create a scary, scary MAN CARD!!! I really struggle with making masculine cards and have to admit to buying more than I've made.

It's Wednesday, so I thought I'd share a quick view of my desk at an early stage in the proceedings...

... a few minutes with the printer, plus some cute digital images from Mo's Pencil and thankfully everything fell into place. I'm still on my kraft card kick and couldn't resist giving Mo's sweet Bronte a vintage colouring book look. The checked 'paper' is from Pink Petticoat, printed onto kraft.
I wanted to make the little Cuttlebug tags look like dog discs, but haven't quite pulled it off.

They should be more metallic, so I'll look around and see what I can use to achieve this. However, I need to be pretty quick as this card has to be posted to France in time for my cousin John's birthday.

Making the discs made me think of a funny story told to me by a former colleague. The family decided to get a dog. They called the newly arrived puppy 'Snoopy'. Snoopy needed a disc for his collar so my colleague went to get one engraved. He fitted it to the dog's collar and everyone admired the result until someone noticed that 'Snoopy' had been re-christened 'Snoppy'. And needless to say the new name stuck!

I really like these images of Bronte and plan to use them again for my SIL's husband's card later in the year. Bronte bears an uncanny resemblance to their sweet (and slightly rotund) dog, Alfie.

Anyhoo, I'm now heading to Julia's to take a little nose around Blogland over on WOYWW.

Happy Crafting everyone!

WOYWW!

It's a little bit of early morning colouring practice on my desk this week.

And I need plenty of practice with this gorgeous Sweet Pea image by Nikki Burnette as there is soooooooo much detail.

Here's the long shot - I need to tidy up a bit!

I thought I'd also share this card that I made for the lovely Sally. Sally was one of the first people to follow my blog and I was happy to return the compliment as her work is gorgeous. Sally has just been chosen as a new Hero Arts Hostess so I thought a little card was in order to send her my congratulations!

I used a gorgeous new stamp called Flower Wreath from Hero Arts and added some sweet little butterflies! I can imagine lot's of different ways to use this beautiful stamp. I think I'll try stamping it on kraft next.

Good luck to Sally and all the new 'Apronettes'!

Must dash as I'm going shopping with a friend and need to shower and decide what to wear.

I'll be back later to check out those other work desks!

WOYWW!!!

Hello to all my lovely Blogland buddies!

How wonderful to actually have a full and busy craft table to share today. After two weeks of Jury Service and dropping in at work as much as possible I am one tired gal. I decided that a day of crafting and relaxation (oh, and grocery shopping) was called for.

That's the shot of my workdesk at about 10.30am. It got messier as the morning progressed!

Check out all the rest of the Wednesday action over at Julia's blog here.

And here's a shot of my snoozy companion, Mr Custard, making the most of his comfy little bed.

He likes to supervise my cardmaking exploits from behind his eyelids!
About an hour or so later and here's the finished card.

Ta da!

No prizes for guessing that this is a cute Penny Black image. It's called Cupid at Work and is from the Margaret Sherry collection for 2009. I bought this stamp on eBay and will probably re-sell it as it's not one I'll be able to use very often!

No prizes either for guessing that this card is for my lovely Hubby! I hope he doesn't drop by my Blog before Monday and spoil the surprise. My Hubby seems to have relaxed his 'no pictures of me please' ruling about my blog so here's a picture of him on holiday in Greece last year. He really is as kind and laid back as he looks! I am truly blessed to be married to such a lovely bloke and have to pinch myself sometimes that I got this lucky.

Love is truly in the air around Blogland right now so I'm entering this card for the following challenges:

The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #120 - Valentine.

Allsorts Challenge Week 89 - Love, love, love

Raise the Bar Challenge #52 - Hearts

Cupcake Craft Challenge #128 - Seeing Red

Thanks for dropping by today, and happy crafting everyone!

WOYWW - slightly dispelling the tidiness myth!

What a lovely Autumn day - chilly, but bright and sunny. Perfect for tidying the garden and then coming indoors for a little crafting!

So, what is on my workdesk today?

The ingredients for at least three cards... ... plus some yummy new Kaisercraft papers and a bottle of Glossy Accents that I've bought to give to my Mom!

As you can see I have four images stamped and ready to go. I spotted this new Sugar Nellie stamp called Pillow talk by Krista Smith and knew I had to get her. Perfect for teenage birthday cards! I haven't worried about stamping her very carefully as I'll be cutting her out.

I've just received my latest Stampin' Up! goodies from the lovely Michelle so will be playing with my new Hostess set 'Silhouette Sentiments' asap.

Christmas has come a little early as you can also see my new Hero Arts Clouds Design Block and a cute Whipper Snapper block, both from the fabulous Sir Stampalot.

I think these will work great together: love the expressions on those bird's faces!

I thought I'd also share a picture of my cute crafting buddy... Mr Monkey.The shelves are from Ikea and my desk clips onto them, which is a great space saver. As you can see I am a bit of a hoarder and love my nick-knacks and bits of junk!

Hope you all have a happy Wednesday and don't forget to drop by at Julia's blog to catch all the workdesk fun!

WOYWW

Happily there is something on my workdesk today as I managed to leave work early and sneak home for a little crafting time! Wooooo hooooo!

Once again you can see that my workspace is fairly tidy. I'm a 'tidy-it-up-afterwards' kind of girl and probably have my Mom to thank for this!

No, your eyes do not deceive you ... that really is an empty cat food box. I'm planning a little altering project and have got the box on my desk in readiness. However, this one needs lot's of thought before I get to work on it. Don't be surprised to see this box still in residence and looking just the same next week. Perhaps I could make a weekly feature of it!

Today it's Tilda time!

I am able to declare that I finally 'get it' about Tilda's: they are beautifully drawn and a real joy to colour. This little cutie is 'Tilda unwrapped'.

My plan is to use her for a birthday card, but she'd also work great on a Christmas card with a festive colour combo.Here she is at a very early stage in colouring. I've just used Ivory and Vanilla Promarkers to start colouring her skin. Love those socks!

I also want to share the finishing touches that I added to the card from my previous post. Does anyone else photograph; post a card and then think 'Mmmmmmmmm, still not quite right' and add a little something extra?

The addition on this occasion was violet Versacolour ink daubed through a scrap of sequin waste.

I'm really pleased with the effect that this technique gives as it improves the balance of the card.

Thanks for dropping by, now it's my turn to go WOYWW visiting!

Happy crafting everyone!

WOYWW!

Hi everyone, I just couldn't resist sharing a picture of my own desk this week after seeing Julia's workspace on WOYWW this week. I notice that we both need our specs in order to get crafty!

The partially coloured image is the sweet Italian Girl from The Secret Crafter. I love these little manga inspired stamps. They cling beautifully to the block and give a clean, crisp image... lovely!

When I took this picture I was having trouble deciding whether she should be a blonde or a brunette!

I also thought I'd share a little card that I've made for a sweet blogging friend. Hopefully this card is nearly at it's destination by now... it's got to travel quite a few miles to reach her!

Yep, I've used that Gorjuss Goth Girl again. I just can't help myself as she is adorable!
I did quite a bit of work with Spun Sugar Distress Ink so I decided to enter it for Challenge #104 over at SCSC. The sentiments are from Hero Arts and I broke out some of my favourite papers too!

Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday, hope it's a crafty one!