WOYWW #460

Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday time again, and if you don't know what this is, then pop over to Julia's place, The Stamping Ground, and read all about it, then join in!
Stuff on my desk, then. I've been making some stencilled backgrounds, ready to do some stamping on. Not sure exactly what I'll be stamping on them yet, but these three will probably become Lavina stamps scenes.

 All the stencils are by Clarity, and I've really just been playing with sponging here. Distress Inks & Oxides, some done with Cut N Dry foam, some with brushes.

I love how these circle stencils came out- the shading means they really look dimensional. As I said, no real idea where I'm going with these, but I shall be playing more with them over the next few days.


Depending on the weather, that is. I've been clearing my planters, and have a whole load of new plants for them, so if it stays dry, that will be the next job.

Still making my mind up about these- it's something called the Retiform technique. You create shapes with sponging and post-its, then mask off each area and stamp into it. No idea where the name comes from, and Google for once has nothing to say on the subject, apart from asking me if I meant Retriever!
 They may end up in my UFO box yet- we'll see.

Bought this little drawer set from the Range- I sort of hoped I could fit my Brusho pots in them, but the drawers are just a fraction to small for them.







And finally...............

So, I'm done. Short & sweet this week.

Stampscapes Challenge - Spring in my World.

For any Stampscapes fans out there who don't know about it, there is a new Stampscapes Challenge Page on Facebook. They used to host it over on Yahoo, but have recently brought themselves over to FB. It has a huge number of members posting their work, and is supported by Kevin Nakagawa- the Stampscapes creator- who can regularly be found commenting in posts, and on images.
 There are challenge categories for complete newbies, and for those with a  little more experience, so there are levels for everyone to enjoy.

These are my two entries for this months March Challenge, which is called Spring in my World.
 This is more the sort of Spring weather we'd be hoping to see, rather than all the snow & ice we've been getting.
 The first image uses slightly more muted colours, whilst the second is a little more vibrant. Lots of spring flowers added with gel pens, and I've tried to get some variation in the grass by using an assortment of  green dye based inks, all Adirondacks.
 The stamps used are (Top image):
144F Cabin with Fence,
149F Waterside Bluff, Right
244E Tree Cluster( just the tops, for bushes).

 The bottom image uses :
144F Cabin with fence,
148F Waterside Bluff, Left
196F Pine Tree( just the top again)
068D Reeds large.

WOYWW #459

 Seem to be all behind at the moment- I lost a few days last week, so I was late getting my Christmas Card Club Challenge cards up, they are in the post below. Not as many as I'd planned, but time got away from me. I did get to use some really old, but totally timeless stamps though- I must have had these for at least 10 years, and they are still goodies. Chocolate Baroque, Poinsettia & Christmas Rose Script.
 But anyway, back to this weeks WOYWW, over at The Stamping Ground.
 Just a few odds and ends on my desk, a few purchases- nothing very exciting, just some texture stamps from Aliexpress:£1.58p!









 I also got a couple of sets of banner dies,they were £1.87 and £1.88 each. For the stamps & dies you can judge the sizes by the background mat- the squares are 1cm.

I've also been using the fact the dies needed putting away to catalogue them properly. I had them organised into sections in the box, but into different folders on my PC/One Note app, and some are not catalogued at all, as I have no idea of the brands, they were gifted to me. So I've been scanning them in, and trying to organise my storage to both be the same.  That's ongoing, lol.

 While I was planning on more Christmas cards, I painted some cardstock with Imagination  Starlights paints, and then used some baby wipes and paper towel to clean my brushes between colours.  You can't really see it in the pics, but there is a lot of shimmery sparkle to these, so I put them aside to dry.

Another purchase, and I don't know if I'm just late to the party with this info, or of it helps anyone else. I was watching some craft videos a couple of weeks ago- Gina K Designs at Stamp TV. She uses mainly her own stuff, but does make some gorgeous cards, and I love her ideas. Anyway, one night she had one of these erasers on her desk- A Tombow Mono Sand Eraser. She said- and demonstrated- that they are fantastic for removing stray specks of heat embossed powder- you know, the ones you always miss when dusting off stray specks? They came off really easily, and left no mark, so I ordered one off Amazon. Actually, two, as one had to come from China, but two were available from the UK- how's that for weird? They remind me very much of the old typewriter eraser pencils you could buy- and may well be the same sort of thing, if anyone has any they could try out.

For anyone planning on going to Ally Pally in April, Hubby and I are going for the first time. I know Helen (Stamping by H) is going, if anyone else will be there on Saturday, drop me a message via Facebook PM( link in sidebar), and we'll meet up and say hi!

 I notice in my last couple of posts, in the comments, I have a new commenter called Welsh Dors. Hi there, I'm afraid I cannot connect to you, as when I click on your name, it doesn't link me to you in any way, so I can't come and say hello! If you do have a Blog, would you please leave me a link in the comments, and I'll pop over. As regards the Versafine Clair pads- they are fabulous. I'd actually say even better than the original Versafine Onyx Black, and I never thought I'd be saying that at all!

For my And Finally....... this week- not a Pinterest funny, but the Mothers Day card  I received from my Beloved Eldest Son:


On a side note, feeling much better this week. Managed to see a Pharmacist, and ask if I could take decongestants with all the other things I'd been given, and she said yes, so I'm taking those which definitely is helping to clear my head cold!

Christmas Card Club Challenge #6- Christmas Flowers.

Rachels subject choice this fortnight, Christmas Flowers. For my cards, I've gone back a lot of years to some old Chocolate Baroque stamps- in fact, I'm pretty sure they were Graphicus, or maybe even Elusive Images when I first bought these: Poinsettia Script, and Christmas Rose Script. I love these stamps, as they are so timeless. I also have another couple in the same vein, Mistletoe Script and Holly Script. All these stamps are still available, either singly, or as a set of 4.

 

  I totally got distracted, and failed to take many photos during the making! Both images were stamped onto white cardstock with Versafine Clair Nocturne, then heat embossed with clear powder.
 Promarkers were used for the colouring, and I coloured and cut out a second layer for the Poinsettia, and added it with silicone glue.
Some Distress Ink in Old Paper & Antique linen was blended into both cards edges, after they had been torn out for an aged look.







 For my images, I added some Gold Stickles to the Poinsettia centre, and some Black Diamond to the Christmas Rose.











 One thing that surprised me when looking for images to see how the Christmas Rose should be coloured, was the amazing variety of colours they come in!
 This was just one Pinterest image of the flower, and there are many more colour variations than this. So beautiful, I think I shall be looking to get some of these into my garden for next year.

WOYWW #458

Hi folks, and to be truthful, it's a totally empty desk this week. A pic of the Mothers Day cards, and that's it.


 The reason being, as those I know on FB are aware, I've had a really rotten weekend.  Started getting short of breath on Friday, and that got worse Saturday.




On Sunday, Ant cooked lunch for me & Becks Mum, Marg, for Mothers Day.
  Bit later in the day the breathing was getting harder, had to call 111. They gave me some meds and a nebuliser. Helped for a while, then later that evening, I had a short coughing attack, and then could not get my breath at all. Doug had to call an ambulance, and I got taken down to A&E. Checked over, all seemed fine, given steroids and sent home.
Went to see my GP on Mon afternoon, and he wasn't happy with how breathless I was, and sent me back to hospital to be re assessed for a possible blood clot. They took a blood test, and said if they decided it needed a CT scan, I'd get a call Tuesday am.
 Which I got, and have been and had a scan. No sign of a blood clot, which is good, it seems it's just a bad flare up of the COPD.  Never had one ever since I was diagnosed. So, new inhalers, more steroids and other meds to take, and they say it should start to improve.
 Silly thing is it came out of nowhere. Up until Friday I was totally fine. I think it's more to do with the cold I picked up last week, thats making it harder to breathe as my head gets bunged up.
 So that's how it is right now, crafting will be all that's happening for the next week I expect, as I've been told to take it easy. Which isn't hard, if I walk 10 feet I'm out of breath! Just wanted to put everyone in the picture.
 And finally..................

WOYWW #457

Good Morning, and how is everyone? Hopefully all clear of snow at last! The last of ours is pretty much all gone. Enough that I was able to take myself off out for a walk around town on Monday.
 Paid a visit to The Range, and snagged a few items.
 A pack of 12 one metre lengths of spotted ribbon for £1.99. Two rolls of masking tape, and a roll of really narrow DST at a pound each, and a Hampton Arts Glue pad, at £2.99.
Not had much luck with Glue pads in the past, but thought this was cheap enough to be worth the try.


 Working on Mothers Day cards at the moment, so they'll get blogged after Sunday.


I've embossed the corner with a Darice folder, and stamped the opposite corner with a HoneyDoo stamp, Flower Frenzy.

I've also stamped it onto vellum, so I can layer up the flowers.





And that is me done this week. Really short, and hopefully sweet. There are some Robin Christmas Cards in the post below, from this weeks Christmas Card Club challenge.


And finally.......................



So, go link yourself up at Julias place, The Stamping Ground, and have a browse around an amazing array of desks, and projects.

Christmas Card Club Challenge #5- Robins

This fortnights challenge is set for us by Valery, and she chose Robin/Robins.
 I've had a lot of fun with this challenge, and to prove it, here is a whole flock of Robins!

 We have a shaker card, 4 cards and 4 tags too.


The main set of stamps used is called Round Robins, and is from Hobby Art.

The Robins were stamped In Versafine Clair Nocturne, then heat embossed using clear powder.


The colouring was done with Promarkers- Tan/Firewood for the browns and Lipstick Red/Crimson for the red.





 I masked them all off, and brushed Broken China and Faded Jeans across the tops, having placed a torn piece of paper to make the hills. A thin line of Stickles in Baby Blue defined the edge.

 I added a few glittery peel off snowflakes- they were actually 'waste' from the backing sheet!

The filler was from a package I picked up the last time I went to the NEC,called Crystal Snow, but I can't recall who I got it from.I think I overdid it a little!

 While I was waiting for the Stickles to dry, I decided I'd make a few tags too, and a smaller card. The robins stamped in Nocturne again, and heat embossed. The greetings, from top left clockwise, are from Phill Martin Scribbled Christmas Petite Sentiments set.Hobby Art Winter Wishes, Phill Martin  Snowflake Sentiment Corners, and the 'odd' one is from the Hobby Art Robins set.
 The 'odd' image is from a set called Winter Birds, by Inkadinkado.

Not sure if he really is a Robin, but sort of looks similar.😊








                   
  That one was heat embossed using Stampendous EP called Holographic, and is really cool, as the longer you heat it, the more the colours change. I just added some DI Broken China/Faded Jeans from the centre out, and used the same blues to dust around the other Robins. Punched a hole & added ribbon.

I was almost done, when I remembered I had an Imagination Crafts stencil called Singing Robins. So, I made them up using stencil paste, then left them to dry so I could foil them.










While they were drying, I went back to the robin with the letter in his beak.

Stamped his hat,then masked the hat to stamp him in place. I also stamped the letter first of all, so I could position his beak over it. Good old TH Stamping Platform!

I filled in the white parts of the hat with an embossing pen, then added Stampendous EP in Sparkle Puff. Don't know if that's available, I've had it for years, but you could get the same effect by mixing a pinch of glitter with any Puff Powder.

Added a few glittery snowflakes again, and stamped the sentiment, from a Crafters Companion set,called Festive Sentiments, in Encore Silver pigment ink. I think, along with a Gold inkpad and a normal black one, these were the very first inkpads I bought. Along with a reinker, which I think I've used once in the 15 ish years I've had it. Still works fine too.

I thought the 'snow' half of the card looked a bit bare, so I added some Embossing ink, then sprinkled on a WOW! EP called Snowfall.

So that's it  for this challenge, and 5 cards and 4 tags added to my Christmas Card collection!