WOYWW #281

Yet again, another week has flown past, and here we are back at our Head Desker, Julias place at The Stamping Ground for another WOYWW.
 I actually have a few pics of purchases this week, so the weak willed amongst you may wish to look away, lol.

 First up, some new Stampscapes unmounted stamps. I do love my scenic stamps and these extend the range of scenes I can build up. The top two are intended to be snowy brooks, but can easily be grassy ones with a change of ink colour, and the next two down on the right are a right and left version of a river bank. Some small filler grasses and rocks, and a wading fisherman to add detail.

Next up is the engagement card I made for Mikey and KT.


Just a simple diamanté buckle threaded onto ribbon, and matted onto matching navy card, with a stamped and heat embossed sentiment.


Next up is a book I saw advertised in a Chocolate Baroque email, about Brusho paints. I still haven't got round to trying them out, been concentrating on the C- cards, but thought this might make interesting reading. Its full of various techniques for using them with other products, such as alcohol inks/gilding waxes etc.

Final pic is something I purchased thanks to Shoshi's post last week- some more mini misters. She had found an online store, Ampulla, selling them very cheaply. I went to have a look, and they turned out to be identical to ones I had bought from the NEC last year, just a lot cheaper.

These are the ones I ordered, and they are 54p each-and it works out to 49p each if you buy 25. I paid about £4.50, for a pack of three, at the NEC, and that's about average if you do an Internet search,so these are a lot  less than a 'craft' version, as usual!
 These are the ones I bought at the NEC, one set was branded, Mist-It!, one has nothing on it. The one on the left is the 'new' one, the two on the right the originals.










Can't find any info on the volume of the Tim Holtz ones, but I reckon these hold at least half as much again, at 8ml. Here they are side by side. And they do spray a lovely fine mist.


 Last couple of pictures now. One from Saturday night, when we went out for a meal with Mikey and KT to celebrate, and also my Eldest son Ant, came along, with Becky and the grandkids.
From the left, clockwise: KT, Becky,Mortimer, Ant, Merlin behind Doug, and Mikey.

 A better pic of Merlin.                                                                                                              

 


Finally,as all of those who know me on FB  know,  on Sunday, we had to have our much loved cat Ambrose put to sleep. He was 16 1/2, and in final stage of heart failure, all his organs were shutting down. Mikey is heartbroken, he and Ambrose were pretty much inseparable when he lived here, where Mikey went, Ambrose followed. I phoned him to tell him what the vet had said, and he and KT came over, so all four of us were with him and fussing him when he died. We all left in tears, he'd been a big part of our lives for so long. I do have to say the veterinary staff inside Pet City were wonderful, and could not be faulted. Later next year, when all this cancer thing is done, we will adopt a rescue cat from Cats Protection, and give another cat a forever home. Speaking of the cancer thing, by now I've had my first day of chemo/radiotherapy, and be having my second later today. I will post up on my page later in the week how its leaving me feeling.The chest infection has gone also, so that's all to the good.

WOYWW #280

Morning all, and yet another Wednesday is here. Scary how fast this year is vanishing, isn't it? This is my desk shot for the week, joining up with our (freshly holidayed) Julia at The Stamping Ground.
 Still plodding along with the Christmas cards, I've trimmed all the stencilled toppers now, trees, Noels and some baubles. Next up will be some stamped ones, using the tree stamp, from Inkylicious, just about visible on the right.
 By the way, the stencils I've been using are all Dreamweaver ones.

One thing I have done, is quickly go over the top of them with a stiff stencil brush, or a toothbrush, which removed any loose glitter. So should be less shedding when I make them up. I do sparkle quite nicely though!
And an update on the Gold embossing paste- don't know whether it was the daylight in my room, or my eyesight, but the new pot turned up this week, and it dries out exactly the same, and they both now look like gold! Go figure.






A card I made last week, for my Beloved Hubby, as last Friday was our 5th Wedding Anniversary.

The hearts are a Visible Image stamp, the one stamped and heat embossed in silver also had a little silver glitter added. The words are a stamp from Inkylicious. I added various red shades with a colour duster brush, and by swirling a darker red over the hearts, I achieved a nice shadow effect.

 I managed to pick up a chest infection last week- started Wednesday with a bit of a sore throat, that had gone Thursday, and it felt like I was getting a stinking cold, or flu. Unfortunately, that really went downhill on Thursday night, and I ended up having a couple of asthma attacks in the night. Never, ever had one before, and I don't think I've ever known anything so scary. Ended up at the docs on Friday morning, he put me on a nebuliser in the surgery, as I was struggling to breathe, and I have antibiotics, a course of steroids I finished this morning, and an inhaler.So we didn't go anywhere over the weekend, Hubby had intended us to have a day around Stratford, but as I couldn't walk the length of the room without gasping for breath, that didn't happen.Seems to be clearing up now, fortunately, as next Tuesday I'm due to start my Chemo/radiotherapy. At least it happened before that, rather than during.Went for blood tests on Monday, ready for the start, and on Wednesday I have to go see the Occupational Health Nurse at work, prior to starting back, which I intend to do on the 27th, just doing half shifts for a couple of weeks to see how it goes. Just a case of trial and error, really, as I have no idea how I'm going to feel once the chemo/radio starts.I shall make adjustments if necessary- doing less, or even being signed off again, if its too much. We shall see. 


Finally, a cause for some celebration.My youngest son, Mikey and his girlfriend, KT announced they are engaged! Apparently, they got engaged on 14th August (our Birthday), but have only just told everyone.
This pic was taken when they were having a day around the Bull Ring Centre in Birmingham, Mikey is the one on the right- wonder who he gets his dress style from? The guy in the pic was some promo thing going on. And yes, that's the closest Mikey ever gets to smiling in a photo, lol.

 I would dearly love to go to the Hobbycrafts at the NEC in November, 6th -9th, which is in four weeks, but I shall wait till closer to make a definite decision on that, again depending how I feel. It may be a 'decide on the day' sort of thing.
And one final AAARRRGH! Slipknot and Korn have announced they will be touring in January, they will be in Birmingham at the end of January, (27th) and we can't book tickets!  My main surgery should be at the beginning of the new year,so have no idea what the date will be, or how I will be by the end of the month. But short of needing to drag a drip with me, I shall be doing my damnedest to get there, lol.

Tagging....Tim Holtz & Lavinia Stamps

Not the first pairing of stamps you'd think of, is it? Tim Holtz & Lavinia stamps. But they seemed the perfect match. I decided it was time I used up some of the tags I'd inked up an Ice Age ago. Browsing some of my Tim Holtz stamps, particularly the wordy ones, this combo sprang to mind:

The tag is coloured with Adirondacks, Sunshine Yellow, Citrus & Meadow. I split the wording of the Tim stamp, and used a Distress Marker, Vintage Photo, to make that easier.
Which left me room in the middle for my main image, from Lavinia stamps. The ivy around the edge is also a Lavinia stamp.Both stamped in Onyx black Versafine. Stickles in Diamond added to her wings.I also added Black Diamond Stickles to the ends of the flower stem.



Stamps used:
 Tim Holtz Stuff to Say, CMS110.
Lavinia Stamps Flower Fairy
Lavinia Stamps Creeping Vine
Supplies;
Adirondack dye inkpads, Sunshine Yellow
Citrus & Meadow
Versafine Onyx Black
 Distress Marker, Vintage Photo
Stickles Diamond & Black Diamond

WOYWW #192

 Good Morning all, and again its time for the Wednesday stalk over at The Stamping Ground, under the watchful eye of our hostess, Julia.

 Picture of my desk this week is the first 9  blocks for my LilyBo quilt. You can just about see the piece of paper I was planning out my sizes on at the top. Ok, so this was (at least) the fourth piece with a plan on, so I guess you could say I'm running with Plan D! Not worrying, I've got plenty of alphabet left yet.

 

First square for my quilt- along with the manual for my sewing machine,lol. I've had it a few years, so that tells you just how often I use it.

One of the people making quilts had posted about using fleece blankets for the back of the quilts, so when I saw these, I let Jo know about them  so she could put a 'heads up' on her LilyBo Quilts site as at 120x150cm they are pretty much the perfect size for backing a quilt. I found them in B&M, a pair of blankets for £3.99.
Quite a few colour choices too. Not too thick, and the edges are just blanket stitched, so no bulk.

Quick picture of another bargain for this week, courtesy of Poundland.

How cool are these? I put a ruler next to them so you can get an idea of the size, although looking at the pic, its not showing up very well. Just measured them and they are 2" tall. They'd make great focal points for a card, that can be taken off and then be used as a fridge magnet. They're plastic too, so not too heavy, and should take Alcohol ink/Stains/paints I expect.

 I'm back at work as of Monday just gone, so its back to juggling my time. Saw the Doc last Thursday, and he said he had no need to see me again, just keep up with the Physio visits, and bear in mind it will be 3-4 months before it really gets back to normal.

 One card I've done over the last week:

A really simple Engagement card. Just a sheet of white pearl card run through the 'bug with the Swiss Dots folder (twice,just flipping it round to do the extra length). Trimmed down, matted onto dark blue and mounted on the front of a white pearl card base. The offcuts provided the two squares also matted onto dark blue, a diamante heart threaded onto some Dark blue organza ribbon and the ribbon stuck down on the back of the first square with DST. The sentiment , stamped in a navy blue & heat embossed,is from some sets of 'Stick n Stamp' magnetic stamps, made by Rubadubado, which I bought really cheap  a few years ago in a sale. They used to do loads of these sheets, with Words, Relations, Greetings etc in all sorts of different fonts. This font is called Vivaldi, and the words themselves are each separate, but I have a feeling they are pretty much unavailable now, which is a shame because they are really very useful.

I've just remembered, if any of you saw the post about my faulty Distress re-inkers, an update - I e-mailed Ranger with a picture of them, and the following day I had an e-mail back apologising for them, and asking for my address so they could send me out replacements! How's that for Customer Service?

  So I shall catch up with you all over the next few days, ( I'm on afternoon shift, and I've got Physio Thursday morning), so may take me a couple or three days this week. Have a great Wednesday.

WOYWW #146

Hi everyone, been MIA for a few weeks- wrapped up in Wedding Stationery, and work. I've really missed joining the weekly workdesk wander, at the Incredible Julia Dunnits,so here I am again. Back on afternoon shift now, so have some more time (at last). I can go to bed when I want, get up when I am ready, and still get stuff done. Right now I am making a wedding card for someone at work who's getting married, I have a mug of coffee by my side, and Disturbed blasting from my PC- all is right with my world! :)
This engagement card was made for some friends, really simple, just a ribbon threaded through a Diamanté heart buckle, wrapped around a square of white card, matted onto another square of white, then navy to match the ribbon. Stamped the Congratulations in Distress Stormy Sky and heat embossed it with clear powder and matted onto a navy strip.


 This is the start of a Christening card for a little girl, using a Creative Expressions medallion stamp I've used for this before.

Been bargain finding again- I've wanted the Raven stamp from Jennie at The Artistic Stamper for a while, and she had a fab sale on Feb 29th, so I took advantage of her generosity, lol. Got some embellishment bits as well, I'll find those again and post a pic.
 The Halloween stamps are from Chocolate Baroque, I don't have any Halloween stamps, and these were a great buy. The little wood mounted Alphabets you can see were probably my best buy to date- we went to Kidderminster recently, as Beloved Husband wanted to go to PC World, and they have a store called The Range there, which has quite a big craft section. These stamps were in their reduced bin, 99p a set! I also got the other two for 99p each, a 'With Sympathy' stamp, and one that reads Thank You in scrabble tiles. The rosettes are done in a sparkly vellum, for the previously mentioned Wedding card, and to everyone who suggested it last time, a glue gun works great, thanks folks.

Last couple of pics, from my youngest son for Mothers Day, a Simons Cat pillow. On my pc desk, there are two Simons Cats, one each from Son & Hubby for Christmas, a Charlie Brown,as I am also a massive Snoopy fan, and sitting next to CB is Boris the Bat, a pressie from Beloved Husband. The tiny little white clay teddy was made by my Daughter in Law Becky a few years ago.





 So thats my little corner of the world today, hope you are all having a great Wednesday, see as many of you as I can get to over the next few days.

WOYWW #106

The only card on my desk this week is one that I have slightly re-worked. This was just a Happy Birthday card, but I have added The larger sentiment cut out with the Silhouette, and also the word Mom. I layered  two flowers together, and they have been coloured with Distress Inks, to match the brayered card (Mustard Seed, Wild Honey & Marmalade). A yellow brad made the centres.

The card I commented on last week for Silvercrafter is posted below, along with an engagement card I also couldn't post until after the couple received it.
My tidy workspace often gets comments, which makes me laugh, as I am the untidiest person I know! I assure you the tidiness is all down to careful zooming with the camera, and occasional Photoshop cropping. To prove this, here are some unedited pics taken whilst I was making the engagement card:

Happy WOYWW to everyone, off now to Madame Dunnits  for the weekly snoop.

Engagement Congratulations

           I can post this now, its been given out.
The base card is a DL size, and is embossed with straight lines.
 I cut out two hearts from thick card, which works as well as chipboard for this.I inked each one using clear embossing ink and White Pearls embossing powder from Stamp'n'Stuff for the first layer. Then I added two more layers of clear UTEE. I used a swirl stamp-Scroll Pattern,2636K- from Penny Black, inked with Silver Pigment ink, to stamp into the last layer while it was still wet.
 The same stamp & ink was used to stamp onto a scrap of white pearl paper, and this was heat embossed too. I trimmed it down to a square with a deckle edge blade, then cut a slightly larger square of silver card to mat it onto. I mounted this to the top of the card and the hearts were added on top with silicone glue. A strip of the white pearl paper was punched with a Fiskars Hearts border punch for the bottom, and stamped the Congratulations phrase,which is a Whispers Words stamp from Do-crafts, in silver & heat embossed. I added the dots before the word with an Embossing pen, and heat embossed them in silver too. Finally tied a length of silver eyelash wool around the spine. This design could be easily adapted for Weddings, anniversaries etc. I think I may do a few more in different colour combos, as they are quite quick & easy to do- the longest bit is the triple embossing!