WOYWW - April 28th

It's that time of the week again the one where WOYWWers show what's on their workdesk. I haven't got any WIPs this week; I haven't done any crafting since going to the ICHF show in Liverpool last Saturday (if you want to see what I bought see previous post) I haven't shown my full desk for a while so decided it was time to rectify that. It's not too bad really, though there are things that haven't been moved for weeks that should've been. I know some of you will have seen my entries for the Sunday Stampers challenge which is 100 this week. Hels who runs it has a MEGA candy giveaway and as the theme for this week is 'Free as a Bird' you can do any artwork/craft you like so long as there's at least some stamping on it. If you want to bare your soul along with your desk pop over and visit the delightful Julia and join us, it's all good fun ;) I know some of you have seen my completed entries for SS before but as some other WOYWWers asked to see them I'm showing them again. Have fun :)
EDITED Please Note: I left a comment on Julia's blog 'cos I couldn't upload my pics (would only let me upload pics from my blog, from a URL or a Picasa Web Album. I've reverted to the old editor for now but if anyone can help with this problem I'd be most grateful :)
EDITED AGAIN - Post editor sorted - see Esmes comment (I'm off to linedancing now so will visit more WOYWWers tomorrow) x

Another page for Sunday Stampers and Report from ICHF

I had completed this page when I completed the other 2 (previous post) but photo'd it later and couldn't get a good pic.  This is another entry for the Sunday Stampers and also for the BIA (Bind-it-all) book I'm making.  As the SS is now 100 Hels is having a Mega Candy giveaway so for the chance to win why not pop over and join in.
Well, had a great time at the ICHF show in Liverpool yesteday.  Tracey and I went down together and met up with another friend the lovely Ann (originally from Craft Swap Forum) and also the lovely Nicci - think I contacted her initially via WOYWW and as she lives in Liverpool we arranged to meet up.  As a Stampin' Up demonstrator she was on the SU stand on the Friday but as she lives not far from where the show was she had a mooch round yesterday.  I enjoyed the show but I think if suffers from being a mix of papercrafts and stitchery stuff.  I love both as do many others but many more prefer just one or the other so I feel this affects the number of people attending.  Also I overheard quite a few stallholders saying it wasn't as busy as such and such a show - presumably dedicated papercraft shows.  I bought some stamps, Tattered Floral die (£11.50 from the Craft Bug, unfortunately they'd sold out of the birdcage die on the Friday) by that guy whatsisname (I'd be able to remember more easily if he was much better known LOL) For those who haven't heard of him, where've you been? I mean the fabulous Tim H.  I also bought some flowers, archival inkpad 2 MS punches, fab book on natural dyes and woad seeds; yes WOAD seeds!  I've just read that I need to sow the seeds either March or November, tut, long time to wait!  So Googled 'Can I grow Woad indoors' and got this: 
Marijuana growing Indoor, all the steps for growing weed indoors hehehehehe.  Hmm, maybe I can start a cottage industry! LOL
The little tubs of alpha stamps are Studio G and cost £1 they're  fantastic value and great little stamps, they do quite a few different fonts; I have 4 sets now.

Sunday Stampers, BIA book and a trip to ICHF show

I've completed the pages I'd inked and showed on WOYWW (scroll down) but as I photographed 2 earlier and they turned out fine but the 3rd keeps coming out blurred trying to photograph at this time of night and it's irritating me so I'm not posting it now.  I just wanted to post the others so if you visit tomorrow there'll be something new to look at, see how I think of you LOL  These pages are for my BIA book but also my entries for Hels' Sunday Stampers challenge.  The theme fo SS this week is 'Free' so we are free to do anything.  As Hels uses song titles to inspire the themes this week's song is Free As A Bird so she said we could inclued a bird if we wanted and I did, on 2 of them anyway.  As the SS will be celebrating it's 100th anniversary this Sunday Hels is having a  MEGA CANDY giveaway, so pop over and join in.  The great thing about SS is you can make any art project you like so long as you include some stamping.  The birdcage is courtesy of Dan   I won't be around tomorrow as Tracey and I are off to the Creative Stitches + Hobbycrafts show tomorrow at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool yippee!!!
:o)

Susie + Vikki's Christmas Club - Very Vintage Christmas

The theme for Susie + Vikki's Christmas Club this week is 'Very Vintage Christmas'.  Pop over and join in if you want to get a head start on making your Christmas cards this year - how hard can it be to make just one a week?  ;-)  I thought I'd struggle with this as I thought I didn't have any vintage Christmas stamps but had thought of using an angel stamp and did have some papers I thought would be suitable, problem is I couldn't find them, though a thought has just occurred to me.  However I remembered I have a Tim Holtz mini Christmas stamp that would've been suitable but have ended up using an image from the Rum + Raisin PaperArtsy papers I bought a couple of weeks ago.  The background papers are also Rum + Raisin.
xx

WOYWW -April 21st

Ooh I've already read Julia's post for today and it's all very exciting, a challenge and talk of meeting up as the cult known as WOYWW is nearing it's first anniversary!  But first if you're not a regular follower of WOYWW (what's on your workdesk Wednesday) please pop round and visit Julia and find out then join in :)

On show today on my desk are 3 pages in progress intended for my entry for the Sunday Stampers challenge for this week (this one's actually running for 2 weeks).  My intention wasn't to do 3 entries merely to ink 3 pieces of card and then choose one of them to complete but I can enter all three.  The pages will also be included in my BIA (Bind-it-all) book.  For one of them I'm going to include a birdcage, courtesy of Dan  I decided to go for single colours on the pages using Distress Inks; I've  used Spiced Marmalade, Worn Lipstick and Tumbled Glass.  You can just see the doll's chair I started some weeks ago which I've been working on this week and managed to find some beaded braid in my stash to put round the edge of the seat.  So come on what are you waiting for have fun taking a peek at what others are up to and see if they make you feel better or worse about the state of your own desk.  The eyes are still there you may notice (more important things to do than find them a home!) :) xx

BIA book - another page

I've done another page for my BIA book (mentioned in a previous post).  I did have one which I'd inked and stuck part of a page from a book onto it, but have temporarily mislaid it :-/  I've spent quite a few hours gardening today but managed to do the page this morning.  I've used DIs then sprayed over a stencil with a homemade mica powder spray and did a bit of stamping.  I used Grungepaper for the heart then decided to triple emboss it and stamp into it - I mention this 'cos I could've used card for the heart.  I did some stitching down the side using my sewing machine so decided to stitch the heart on.  The pieces of shell are from an old necklace.  I added a piece of sinamay - used in hat making -  and a few beads.  For info: sinamay can be wetted (?) and shaped and left to dry :)
xx

Completing UFOs

I'm trying to complete some UFOs - Unfinished Objects to the unintiated ;)  I don't think papercrafters have as many as people who work with fabric, though I could be wrong.  I've got some that have been hanging around for years!  But this isn't one of those.  I've completed the felt vessel I started a couple of months ago, I've just added some fancy knitting yarn and a felt flower with some leaves.  It's approx 4" high and circumference 15".  For those who haven't seen it before I made the felt myself using the wet felting method :)
xx

Sunday Stampers - Silver

I did finish my entry for the Sunday Stampers some days ago but have been having probs with Trojans and screen freezes.  I'm hoping it's sorted now!  The theme for this week was Silver.  I used 'silver' metal sheet which I embossed with a Cuttlebug folder, coloured with black alcohol ink and sanded.  The bird is a wooden one which I'd stuck those tiny beads onto for something else but wasn't happy with, but coloured over the beads with silverleaf pen.  I also used silverleaf pen on the chipboard letters.  The little floral spray is a piece from a lightshade thingy - I think when I saw it it was just kind of arranged around a light as it can hold it's own shape, but I've got it wrapped round a lamp.  If it looks a bit funny here it's 'cos the leaf is mesh so you can see the metal underneath :)

Susie + Vikki's Christmas Club - Blue + Silver

The theme for Susie + Vikki's Christmas Club this week is Blue + Silver.  I've used PaperArtsy Rum + Raisin paper for the background.  The scalloped circles, Noel, pennants and snowflakes were all cut on the Robo.  The larger circle, pennants and snowflakes are silver mirri card (doesn't really look silver here).  The reindeer stamp is from the Inkadinkado Christmas Silhouettes set.  Had this ready a couple of days ago but had PC problems, thought they were sorted and PC was ok Wednesday, but I didn't get time to post it, then more problems Thursday.  I'm hoping it's sorted finally!

WOYWW - 14th March

If you're wondering what this is all about pop over to our leader Julia's blog then if you're feeling brave join in ;)  My desk is quite tidy this week.  On show is a piece of metal I'm working on for the Sunday Stampers challenge, the theme this week is 'Silver'.  I've also made a start on another page for my BIA book (post further down).  There's also a 12x12 stencil from 'The Crafter's Workshop' which I used on the green plastic first aid box I was altering.  However after rubbing it down, suing Mod Podge to decoupage paper napkins on, painting it wih acrylic paint and mica powder and stencilling then changing the colour I've stripped it all off and  decided to buy some Plasticote spray paint for it!  I'm sorry but I've forgotten to take a pic of granddaughter with her Viking costume on, was going to do it this morning but they were getting ready to go out.
Hmmm do you ever get the feeling you're being watched? LOL (DD gave me some googly eyes last week and I did put all the small ones away so not sure why these were left)
PS OMG!!! I had some nasty infections yesterday - well my PC did and I ended up with the following on my PC - RudeTube.com; PornTube.com and YouPorn.cop :0 I kid you not.  Of course I did check them out just to be sure - noooooooooo not really hehe. Managed to get rid of them!
xx

A Frock for Miss Dolly

I made a rag doll for my granddaughter about 7 years or so ago.  It ended up with the toys for the kids DD minds.  Poor miss dolly ended up with no frock and no hair so DD asked if I wanted it - how heartless!  So I made her a new dress and gave her some hair.  I made her long before I got into cloth dolls - so very different.  The cloth doll is from a pattern by Jan Horrox :)
PS if you have boob envy I can make you a pair LOL

BIA - What's that?!

My poor BIA has been languishing half-forgotten on the shelf for far too long.  I've used it very rarely.  I had every intention of making lots of books when I bought it and must try to rectify it.  One of the problems is what type of books to do!  Anways I bought some of Tim's new Alteration Dies including 2 'On The Edge' dies and decided to make a book utilising one of them.  I've made 2 pages so far but unfortunately as is my wont I haven't left sufficient space at the edge of the page to punch and get the wires in so I did think about putting the wire at the top of the page however I'm thinking I may stitch some pieces onto the edge of the card to accommodate the wires.  I've used DIs for the backgrounds.  I've used my fabby new Stampotique stamp on one.  The leaf shape was done using a stencil and gel medium coloured with mica powder.  I've added a metal charm and sewn beads round the edge, the heart charm is from a set of All My Memories zip pulls and charms from QVC that I've had since Adam was a lad.  I bought some invisible sellotape to see how it would work - I've stamped amour onto a piece using Stazon.  I think it works well and is useful hear as I wouldn't have been able to stamp over the raised stem.  I cut out some metal flowers and coloured with alcohol inks for the other one.  Embossed the bottom edge and added some transfer foil, one of the zip pulls from AMM and text from an old scrapbooking kit.  I've stamped a beautiful Anna Griffin stamps at the top of the page.
:)

WOYWW April 7th

WOW it's time for WOYWW already, the weeks are racing along.  If you want to know more pop over and visit our leader Julia then show us what's on your workdesk today if you dare!  Some of us are messy some are tidy, but we welcome everyone; it's great fun to see what others are up to :)  Mine is certainly messy today!  Nothing much of interest, the wire cutters are there after I brought them in from the garden yesterday where they'd been left for a couple of days, totally forgotten.  Gardening with wire cutters? you mean you dont?  A few people wanted to see the Viking costume I made for my granddaughter last week but I haven't managed to take a pic of her in it yet, I'll try to do it this week and show it next week ;-)

Lucky me ;)

I've been given 2 awards - well 3 really but 1 was a 2in1.  I've received them from 2 lovely bloggers and fellow WOYWWers  The 'Inspire' and 'Sweet Blogger' awards are from  Linby who is a lovely lady and busy studyiing for her MBA.  These 2 came without the usual specifications.  The 'Encanto' award came from the equally lovely Paula who's having a tough time healthwise just now but still manages to make the rest of us smile.  Now this one I have to pass on to 12 others and I haven't thought about who just yet so hopefully will do that in a couple of days - I just wanted to get them posted and thank Lin and Paula ;)

PS pics from the Fabby Dabby weekend can be seen here if you are interested - scroll down to post dated 2nd April.
EDITED to include the names of those I'm passing the awards on to.
Firstly the Amazing Blog and Sweet Blogger awards I'm passing on to Annie and her sister Jo - don't wany any sibling rivalry LOL - just a joke.  They both do wonderful things with felt and have a joint enterprise here

The other award I'm passing on to the following people, in no particular order, for their kind words and inspiration and in the case of Pam, just 'cos she's got a pink cutting mat - ROFL
Pam
Maddy
Alison
Nicola
Nicci
Lyn
Susie
Hels
Linda
Chris
Lin
Paula - right back at ya ;)

Sunday Stampers - Lace

Finished my entry for the SS challenge quite early this week - early for me anyway ;)  The theme this week is lace.  If you've never had a go but enjoy doing challenges why not pop over to Hel's and then give it a go.  So long as you add some stamping you can do anything you like :) I've use a mini canvas which I painted with a mixture of white acrylic paint and mica powder.  I stencilled the spots on uisng Golden heavy gel medium coloured with mica powder (Golden is the brand name).  I used a rollagraph stamp at the top and text stamp in the centre and while drying the ink the paint bubbled a bit but that's fine.  I drew the flowers myself and cut them out of the same piece of 'Whitewash core'dinations' cardstock but flipped one piece over and embossed both using a Cuttlebug folder and finally added some leaves and lace ribbon each end :)

Susie + Vikki's Christmas Club - Reindeer

Over at Susie + Vikki's Christmas Club this week the theme is 'Reindeer'.  The challenge is set each Saturday, I'm good an early this week ;)  I've used the beautiful reindeer stamp from Tim's Reindeer Flight set.  the background paper and strips are from Prima Tropics.  I've embellished the centre of the centre of the snowflake with beads.
xx

Sunday Stampers - Birds

Finally finished my tags for this weeks Sunday Stampers challenge over at Hels' place The theme this week was 'Birds'.  I was messing about with backgrounds and nearly did 3 tags, but then did 2 completely new ones.  On the 'born on the wing' one I used crumpled paper inked with DI and then ironed and part of a page out of a book.  The birds stamp is from the 'Birds Galore' or 'Oiseaux a gogo' (apparently) set by Inkadinkado and the flower is a bit of 'Felt Fusion'.  Thought I'd try a bit of doodling too ;)  The other tag is covered with mica powder and stamped round the edge with an Anna Griffin flourish.  I used one of my new stamps; a PaperArtsy Mini; on the torn piece of paper and tied the fancy button with string.  I triple embossed one of the little wooden birds I got at AFTH when I did the weekend workshop last week (scroll down a few posts id you'd like to see what we made and what I bought) and stamped him with the same stamp.
Thought I'd show the other backgrounds I did too :)