What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 533

Morning Everyone,

I'm early! Given my usual tardiness, I think that's worth noting. So another week has whizzed by. it's WOYWW day and my desk has a mess of this and that on it again - again.

The photo was taken an hour or so ago when the light wasn't as good as it is now (despite the weather forecast for torrential rain the sun is shining and all looks well in our part of the world) but I think you can see the mess clearly enough. There's a teetering pile of scrapbooky - is that even a word - stuff top right. I should move it before the sun does damage. Front right is my most recent scrap layout - I plan to file it in an album next time I go downstairs - that'll will be when I need refueling with tea. To the left of the teetering pile is a wee stack of stencilled pieces. Last week I was 'experimenting' with texture paste, paints and ink sprays, you can see them piled up on the left, for layouts so I scooped up and smooshed card scraps with the leftovers. There's also a pile of photos, behind the keyboard, printed late yesterday - the eagle-eyed will recognise that those on top are from this year's WOYWW crop. Some, all, hopefully, will be scrapped this week.

And just so you don't think those stenciled bits and bobs are wasted, here's a few cards I made with them this week. Oh, yes, it's not all scrapbooking!

The background for this one was made with Ranger's opaque matte texture paste that had two acrylic paints, Vicki Boutin's 'Blue Hawaiin' and 'Juicy Pear', and iridescent glitter paste, also Vicki Boutin, added. The stencil is an old one, That Special Touch 'Chevrons'. The topper is made with a fun stamp, 'Birthday To-Do List' from Crafter's Companion - found at The Range.

The background to this is simply sprayed with gold ink, Heidi Swapp's Color Shine. I believe this has been discontinued - shame, it's one of the best gold sprays I've found yet! The leaf, more of the texture paste tinted this time with just the 'Juicy Pear' paint, is from Dark Room Door's 'Carved Leaves' and the stamp, 'Get Well Soon' is another gin themed one from Crafter's Companion. Never let it be said I'm not up with current trends.

On this last one I've used more of the 'Carved Leaves' stencil. It's very simple but I do like those leaves as they are and without embellishment.

And now the book bit. This book is one I listened to quite some time ago but it's stayed with me - probably because I'm a sucker for any book that has a dog, or cat, in it. Kate Spicer's Lost Dog: A Love Story is about a rescue dog, a lurcher called Wolfy, her relationship with him, and the lengths she went to find him when he went missing while he was in the care of her brother. Reviews for this book are mixed. Kate Spicer is a journalist who knows how to tell a story but the prologue is perhaps just a bit too honest, describing as it does her cocaine-fuelled life-style, but there's no doubting her love for Wolfy and it's the search for him that held my interest to the end.

That's it for today. Until our next Whizzday, I wish you all a wonderfully crafty week

Stenciling a Carved Flower (2)

Hello Everyone,

I'm going through an experimental phase, mainly because I have lots of old, and new, craft items, especially stencils, that really deserve more of my attention. Which is why I decided to try out one of the images on Darkroom Door's 'Carved Flowers' stencil, used once before on this card topper here, on a 12x12 scrap page.

I used a combination of pink, brown and green distress inks to colour the coneflower image using the photos for inspiration.

Because it is such a large stencil it was fairly easy to ink through it, using a combination of an Art Basics' dabbing brush and, what seems quite old fashioned now, Cut-N-Dry Stamp Pad Foam cut to size. I've had a couple of sheets for few years now and there's still plenty to keep me going for a few more yet. I have yet to succumb to the make-up style brushes that are taking the crafting world by storm at the moment.

I'm pleased with the result - it makes a striking page - and I'm feeling quite virtuous after using some forgotten items from my crafty stash.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - Week 527

Hello Everyone,

Whizzday again, time to join Julia, over at the Stamping Ground, by revealing what's on my desk today. Though, truth to tell, it's not much.

There's a part done layout, started on Sunday when I attended a crop held locally. I should have finished it by now but I couldn't think of a title or indeed what, if anything, it needed to finish it off.

I have had quite a bit of happy mail this week. (Well, what else is there to do when you're getting over a cold but to indulge in a bit of retail therapy!)

More Oxide ink pads - I've finally got the bug - and a few new stamps sets. Like I really needed more stamps!

Stencils. I'm a great fan of the work of Godelieve Tijskens, Stamping Matilda, especially her projects made with Dark Room Door stamps and stencils. So you can imagine how delighted I was to win one of her recent giveaways - the two stencils on the left. If you are reading this, many thanks Godelieve. The Dusty Attic stencil was purchased at the crop on Sunday.

The book bit is different this week - you might have noticed the little pile of real printed books at the back of my desk today. No fiction, not even memoir, but craft related.

As mentioned earlier, I've been struggling to think of an appropriate title for the unfinished layout. When that happens I often refer to these two books, Linda LaTourelle's 'The Ultimate Guide to the Perfect Word' and Judith Wibberley's 'Words for Every Occasion'. They both contain words, verses, titles, poems and sentiments covering all sorts of occasions and all aimed at scrappers and cardmakers. Both very useful.

I have a great fondness for the Observer's books but they are not only becoming somewhat rarer to find but they have increased in value too. Which is why I was so happy to discover 'Sewing' by Meriel Tilling in Pickering's indoor market. It's delightfully old fashioned but is still a perfect handbook of basic stitches and techniques, all still relevant and useful today.

That's all from me today. I'm off to enjoy a latte while I catch up with what you have on your desk today.

Have a lovely day and a great week ahead.

Post Christmas Blues

Hello Everyone,

It's not that I'm feeling post Christmas Blues. We've just booked an early summer break so quite the contrary. However, it occurred to me that now the Christmas festivities are over, and before the New Year fun begins, I should change this blog's header again. And I've gone for a wintry scene that is decidedly blue.

This time, instead of relying on Serif Craft Artist to do all the work, I made the background myself using a mix of inks, stamps, stencils and embossing powders.

Supplies used:

• smooth white card trimmed to 8¼ x 3¼ inches
• stencil - Imagination Craft's snowman scene - this is quite an old stencil which features snowflakes, a winter bare tree and a snowman which I omitted from the header.
• VersaMark watermark stamp pad
• embossing powders - Docraft's Seafoam White, Wow! Bark Regular and a set of Frantage Encrusted Enamels in Teal
• ink pads - Memento's Espresso Truffle & Danube Blue
• Denim Gentle Blend (Pinflair)
• stamps: Winter Woodland - birds in branch; Forest Magic - rabbit; I cut a 'winter wonderland' stamp in two to use the word 'winter' on its own on the background
• title was computer generated

In fact, I liked the finished background so much I thought it would make a great winter birthday card.

To make it, I simply created a base from smooth white card measuring 8½ x 4 inches, matted the header piece on to dark brown cardstock and added a birthday greeting, stamped in blue on white card and also matted on the same dark brown cardstock.

All that remains of 2018 is for me to say is that -

I wish you and yours 

Health, Wealth and Happiness in

2019

Happy New Year !

Cardmaking - Little Green Fir Tree

Hello Everyone,

Hope your day has turned out to be a good one. A very warm welcome to my newest followers, Megan and Karen.  Thank you to you all for taking the time to check out my blog, I really appreciate it.

I have another quick and easy Christmas Card to share today ...

... and it's another one that features one of the stencils I was playing with last week. And, again, I think it's a card that is suitable for both a male or female recipient.

There really was not much to the making of it but here is how it was done.

• I had already inked up the beginnings of the topper, using Lawn Green Gentle Blend (Pinflair) and the Fir Tree stencil from Imagination Crafts on a scrap of white card but I decided it needed a bit of bling. First, I squeezed some clear glitter glue (a very old one that came free with a craft magazine) along the edges of the tree 'branches'. Then once that had dried I glued gold stars here and there over the tree. (The stars are the kind of confetti you find strewn on tables at parties or, as happened to me, come in a birthday card and get scattered all over the carpet when you open the envelope!)
• Next I matted the tree topper onto a piece of Snow Green Background Card (old stash from Kanban), wrapped twine (more stash) around the two layers and then adhered it all to a Kraft card base measuring just 4" x 5¾" (yet more old stash). The twine is quite thick so I used dimensional sticky tape to stick the topper down, otherwise it would not have lain evenly and wouldn't have looked good at all.
• The final touch is the computer generated greeting which was printed and punched out with a 1¼" circle punch (Stampin' Up). The matting was created by punching another circle from the Snow Green card, cutting it in half and sticking them to the back of the greeting leaving a little edge showing. (Hope I've explained that clearly enough).

Goodness! It took longer to write up the steps than it did to make it - it really was a very quick make.

I feel that I should explain the old stash thing. After a sort out of all the stuff I have stashed away - I know, I do a lot of sorting out, sigh - it became clear, crystal clear, that I probably had enough to last me for life. It's embarrassing! So I'm digging deep and making a determined effort to use all that old stash up. I really don't need any more new cardstock or pretty patterned papers as they become available ... I will resist temptation. Really! I will!

I'd like to submit this card to the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge # 306 Vintage or Anything goes

CHNC challenge extra for November 2016

Take care folks and have a great evening.

Sunday Snippet Card - Silver Fir Tree

Afternoon All,

I'm back with another card made from the toppers from the session I had last week with stencil templates.

This is another that I think will do very well for a male recipient because it isn't too 'girly'.

How it was made.

• for the fir tree topper I took a snippet of white card, some silver Buff-It Craft Polish (Pinflair) and the smaller of the fir trees in an Imagination Crafts Stencil Templates. (These stencils do not come with the name on the packaging so I'm calling it Fir Trees.) Using a palette knife, the silver Buff-It was applied to the stencil and left to dry naturally. 
• once the tree was completely dry, the topper was trimmed down and matted on to a piece of midnight blue card. This card has a very shiny surface - sorry, I have no idea of the manufacturer.
• next a base was created from white cardstock cut to create a non-standard size card measuring 5¾" x 6¼" ... non-standard to enable me to fit the topper which measures 5½" x 2¼" to the card front. 
• next, another piece of the blue card was cut just a smidge smaller all round than the card base and adhered to the front. Then a piece of the patterned card cut even smaller was layered on top of the blue. Both the blue and the patterned paper are very old stash - bought several years ago at the craft show in Glasgow - which is why I have no maker's information to share.
• to finish the topper was attached to the left side of the card front and three silver enamel dots (from The Story Of Us by Simple Stories) to the top right corner. 

It's a very simple card - there's really not too much going on - but it was quick to make and with only about 50 days to go to Christmas and being well behind with my cardmaking, quick and simple is good.

I'd like to submit this card to the following challenges:

Snippets Playground week 254

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge # 306 Vintage or Anything goes

CHNC challenge extra for November 2016

Merry Christmas Challenge #5 - Anything Christmas goes

Hope you are having a perfectly lovely Sunday.