WOYWW #512= The After Concert Edition.

We're back from our weekend away. The concerts- Birmingham Friday & Prestatyn on Saturday- were both fantastic, we had a great time.


As always, Wednesday id Desk Sharing Day over at Julias place, The Stamping Ground.

Couple of pics for you here.

 You really have to see the drum kit to believe it- it's enormous.

 Beside the sea, so we had to go down to the beach, then as it was lovely & sunny, an Ice Cream was in order. ( Julia did confirm it's the Law!)

   Having a look around the area during the day on Saturday, and came across Dyserth Waterfall, right on the edge of the town.















Took a short video on my phone.





So no crafting till we got back, and I got the Mothers Day cards finished. Based off a design I've used for Birthday cards, using Honey Doo stamps. Putting them down here so they don't show on FB, lol.
Speaking of FB, I'm putting this question in case anyone has any ideas. I have a crafting & blogging friend, and every time she- or anyone- tries to post a link to her blog posts on FB, it says it goes against their Community Standards. So, you ask for a review, telling them it's not spam, they review it, agree they got it wrong, then allow the post. Next time she tries to post, the same thing happens again! There doesn't seem to be any way to speak to a human being, and the Help Forum is totally misnamed! We suspect someone has maybe in the past marked her posts as spam, and that's what's causing the problem. But there doesn't seem any way of getting FB to sort it out. If anyone has any ideas, they'd be most welcome.
 Just got a Wedding card to make, then I'll be back to the glittering, lol.
 So, all that brings me to .......And Finally.......

 Anyone who wanted details about this years Extra Special, Super Duper 10th Birthday Crop, you can get all the info in Julias post, HERE.

WOYWW #511- A Glittery Edition

Yes, all is sparkly- me included- in this weeks WOYWW. Join in by popping over to Julias place, The Stamping Ground, link up a shot of your crafting space today, and we'll all come visit!
 Speaking of which, WOYWW is approaching it's 10th Birthday, just how amazing is that? There will be a Birthday Crop on June 1st, and it's being organised by our lovely Wipso & Twiglet (Annie & Jo) in Shropshire, so will be a fab day of chatting, eating cake & the occasional bit of crafting, lol. So, a note for your diary. 😍.
 Well back to the desk,and this is how far I am with the glittering. It does take time, as you have to let it dry between colours, but I do have another couple of projects on the go. Mothers day cards, and a Wedding Card for a work colleague, so can't show either yet.
 The stamp used I'm afraid I have no name or brand for. It used to be wood mounted, and I recall buying it at the NEC Hobbycrafts, at least 10 years ago, maybe more.  It's grey Rubber, and from a bit of a search, it's *possibly* from a company called Creative Stamping,(and this may be connected to Holly Berry House,as their medallion stamps are the same/very similar too)  StampinCarol mentioned them in last weeks comments, as although I can't find this actual stamp, there are a few of theirs that are very similar, and I seem to recall that there were indeed a number of similar designs when I got it.
 The Archival dried fine on the OHP Film, I left it overnight. Totally agree with you Julia- the Staz-on pads need reinking every time I use them, even when the inner lids kept on. And I'm not even going there with those Opaques they made! Hated them more than any inkpad I've ever bought. In the end I binned them!
 I also got a little delayed getting started on the glittering- I saw Sarah- Sarahs Craft Shed- make a mention of having some cardstock on her desk to cut out an aperture, and that sparked an idea for some shaker cards, which are in the post below.
Next up is some shopping- not actually 'craft' items, but they will be great for crafting with. 😍

 All from Primark, if you have one close.
These make up sponges work great for applying ink, you get one large, 2 medium and one small for £2.50. The small one is great for spot colour application, and I used them a lot on the backgrounds of the shaker cards to apply a different colour to the main Happy Birthday words.

 Second up is a handheld thingy- yes, that's an actual technical description- for cleaning make up brushes, but pretty sure it's going to be the perfect thing for washing Ink Blending brushes too. It has a strap on the back that you can slide your hand into, and different sized bobbles for all sizes of brush.
 Final one is something I've mentioned before, I think. Primark cotton buds. They have a paper stem, so more environment friendly, and unlike normal cotton buds, these have a pointy end and a flat end, which I find really useful, especially for tidying up glue, for instance, when applying embellishments to cards.
 I forgot to mention, the sciatica went away as suddenly as it appeared! I did have some painkillers off the doc in the meantime, but it just vanished again back last week.


 We have a busy weekend, a few months ago, we booked tickets to see a band called Kamelot- the band we went to Belgium to see last year- on Friday night in Birmingham. Then, Doug entered a giveaway for tickets to see them, and a few other bands, at Hammerfest,a smallish festival which is being held in Prestatyn, this weekend. On Friday & Saturday, to be precise. And yes, he got picked out in the draw. So, we get to see them twice, but it means we will be driving up to North Wales overnight on Friday, after the Birmingham concert. Booked into a Premier Inn in Rhyl for some sleep at least. Not a lot, but some, lol.



 And that's everything, I think, apart from.........And Finally.........

Birthday Shaker cards

Not what I had planned on making- I was intending to glitter some medallions- but a chance remark on Sarah Brennans blog yesterday, about a card front to cut an aperture out of sparked an idea.
 I bought a Phill Martin Birthday Collage background stamp a while ago, and thought it would work well for shaker cards.

I stamped up a few of them in an assortment of colours, and made 5 into shakers.



For all of them, I went over the whole stamp in a pale colour, then added some darker colours, particularly over the main Happy Birthday, but also in spots over the design, using those egg shaped sponges.

This first one I used Adirondacks for, and then switched to Versafine & Versafine Clairs.

Ive included the inkpads so you can see the colours used, and the old & new Versafines work perfectly together.

With a few, I ran the front through an embossing folder, and I found it's better to do this after die cutting the aperture, as if you do it the other way round, it tends to flatten the embossing.
 I cut the apertures with various shaped dies for a bit of a change.

 The die is a Nellie Snellen heart die, and the card base is 6" square. The embossing folder is by Creative Expressions, called Ocean Waves.

This star is a Stitched Star die bought from the Works, and the embossing folder is called Sunbeams, by Crafters Companion.

This embossing folder is an old Cuttlebug one, called Scrollwork Frame, and I used a plain Oval die for the centre.

These two weren't embossed, the top die was a Presscut one, Scalloped Edge Rectangle, and the bottom one is a Nestabilities, Petite Scalloped Ovals, Large.

I added seed beads and sequins in matching or toning colours, and a bit of table confetti too.

WOYWW #510, or The Not Much Happening Edition.

Well, a pretty empty desk this week. Finished making a big batch of Strip cards, and I'm done with that for a while. Couple of posts below this one.
I bought some supplies, a few coloured envelopes. And some Super Smooth Blending Card, from Papermill Direct. They do it in 3 different weights, so I got a pack of each. Recommended by Eileen Godwin, who'd been trying out different ones after getting too varied a result from the Sheena Douglas card.

I'd also been finding that problem, but thought it was just something I was doing, but clearly not.



Decided as well that I'd do some more glitter cards using a Medallion stamp I've had for years.

These were stamped in Staz-on, and it's just not one of my favourite inks. Even with the Stamp Platform, results weren't as crisp as I'd like, and I've had to do some filling in with a Micron pen.


So I've done another batch with Archival Black, and they are definitely a better image. It doesn't dry as quickly as Staz-on, but it will if given some time.

I shall leave them overnight to make sure they're dry, then glittering will commence.


And that really is it for me.

 One mention for Visible Image, anyone wanting any of their stamps & stencils, they have a 20% discount until Sunday, use code INKY at the checkout.

Which just leaves......And Finally.......



It's important to support your local craft store!




Popping over to Julias place, The Stamping Ground, to leave my link, and come visiting.

A Final batch of strip cards for a while.

 So, giving these a break now. I've made a couple of dozen or so over the last few days, and I'm all done for a while.

A few Birthday cards in an assortment of styles.

 Then I moved on to some Get Well cards,all made the same as others, this time using a set of heart dies from Nellie Snellen.  I also swapped to some corrugated cardstock instead of glitter. Like the Star cards made before, I die cut a smaller heart from Fun Foam to give the heart some dimension.
The Get Well Soon die is by Crealies.

And then I switched again, and made a Happy Anniversary, word die by Crealies, and a Thinking of You card. It looks a lot clearer in real life, the glitter really seems to confuse the camera lens!
This time I layered a background die cut over a panel of striped card for a change.

Strip Birthday Cards

I'd already made the pink version- go me- then I made the gold/brown version, and that's when it crossed my mind that these would be good male cards, so made half a dozen in suitable colours.
 Apologies in advance for some photos appearing a little blurry, but glitter and camera lenses do not play well together!



 All were made exactly the same way. First I cut a strip for the card front, they were roughly half the width of the panels I'd made, so about 2" or 5cm.
These were attached with DST, then I found two strips of glitter card that I'd used in the panel, and edged the striped panel with them, using Matte Medium.



 To apply the Matte Medium, I have some little bottles with a very fine nozzle.

They were bought from E-Bay, £1.62 for 10, and are perfect for giving a very fine line of glue. The bottles are quite soft, so easy to squeeze, and so far I've not had any issues with the nozzle blocking. All I do is poke a pin down the nozzle to make sure it's clear, wipe it clean, then replace the little stopper over it. Ive been using them for about 6 months now, and have refilled a couple of times,so I can highly recommend them.

The little stoppers actually come attached to the bottle with a ring that goes round the neck, but I found it got in the way, so just snipped it through.


Next I die cut a star from glitter card, and using the next star size down, cut a star from Fun Foam. Stitched Star dies were bought from The Works.

The Fun Foam gives  the star some dimension. I also die cut my sentiment once from  a glitter card that tied in with my strip panel, and 3 times from matching cardstock, so I could stack them up. Again, that fine tip nozzle is perfect for this.

Final step is to add the star to the card front, then the sentiment to the star.

These were so quick and easy to do, in fact the longest part of the process is making the strip panels in the first place!

It's easy to ring the changes with the colours, and you could also swap the orientation too, having the panel widthways on the card, rather than top to bottom.

WOYWW #509- The Ouch Edition

Ouch, because I seem to have Sciatica. On the upside, the bonus is that it must be on my left side, as I'm not getting the pain down my leg, which I wouldn't feel that side thanks to the nerve damage. On the downside, my back hurts like hell. But, I'm still here, linking up at Julias place, The Stamping Ground, for another week of desk sharing. If you're new to this, just follow the link to Julias, she has all the info there.

Shot of my desk in mid-create. Making cards using those strips from last week. I liked the golds/brown version so much, I'm duplicating it in a red/black mix.  I might do a more in different colours, I reckon they'd be good masculine cards. And look! I did Pink!!!!

The desk is looking extremely clean, however, the die cutting desk tells a different story. Dies & die cutting scraps everywhere. And the desk behind my desk is a nightmare of discarded stuff.

 A load of card strips, envelopes of card scraps, baby wipes. The water bottle isn't a drink, it's for filling my mister bottle/watering the plants!
 Annies adorable Crop bear keeping an eye on what I'm up to.😇


 
The Bauble cards I was making last week are HERE, along with another go at a You Tube video.






And so I'm done. Which just leaves ......And Finally ............