WOYWW #440

Hello folks, and here we are at another Wednesday, over at The Stamping Ground, Julia is attempting to keep us all organised. I actually blogged a couple of times over the last week, Dies from Aliexpress Here, and the NEC Hobbycrafts Show, Here.
 Be warned, if you like dies, the Aliexpress one may cause you to visit, & spend money! But they are ridiculously cheap, as you'll see.
 So, back to the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC.
 Here's a long shot- yes, some stash was bought. I blame the stallholders, they just have so many fab inspiration pieces on show, and far too many goodies.









 Talking of inspiration, I bought some pots of gilding wax, due to these samples.
 I also bought 3 embossing folders(!) but they were 3 for 2, and it gave me great ideas to use with my existing ones too. There are some more gorgeous examples in my post.
These came from Pink Frog Crafts, as did another purchase, some glitter card. Now, for those who like glitter, but not the shedding, this glitter card is totally non shed, and super smooth. And you can do this with it:Yes, colour it with markers and even stamp on it. Cool, huh?
 He gave me a small sample to play with when I got home, to try it out before committing to a bigger piece, and I coloured mine with Promarkers,(right) and even Distress Oxides- Lucky Clover, another buy on Saturday. And it still has a glitter look to it.

 I bought a couple of dies- couldn't resist the Polar Bear & cub, and a lovely Snowflake Border.
 Heather Marshall   made a comment on how to store dies on the Aliexpress post, so I thought I'd quickly share my method here.

   
Mine are all stored in an A4 Really Useful Box, with homemade dividers, labelled with the contents of that section.The 3 Bigz dies at the front just keep them upright. I used chipboard type card- the sort on the backs of notepads etc.
 I buy A4 magnetic sheets off Amazon or E-Bay- whoever has them cheapest, and cut them down to fit the Large Avery Elle pockets.
 How many dies to a pocket depends entirely on die size. Some have half a dozen, some only one.



I did start out putting them on A5 magnetic sheets stored in A5 binders, but those quickly got heavy and unwieldy.
 I'm liking this system, it's easy to flick through and find what I want, and I don't have dies dropping off sheets in folders! The box stays on the table I use for die cutting, so I don't have to lift it either.
 Right, I think I'm done, just finish off with this- you can tell how much better I feel, my endpost funny is back!

WOYWW #387

Yep, it's Wednesday again.Time for linking up with Head Desker Julia over at The Stamping Ground.
 That pictures a bit of a shock to the system, isn't it?
 I decided yesterday my desk needed a clean up and clear out.
 My UFO box has been sorted- I separated out all the stuff into various piles, then put them in those little plastic wallets you can get from Poundland, or Tesco.
 On the mat are the latest and last batch of cards made with the Memory Box Happy Birthday die, which are all in the three previous posts, as I managed to make a few variations.

This is what's going on right now- punching out a load of flowers for a project I have on the go. Can't show it yet, as it's a gift for someone.

They are all laid out as I sprayed the pearl papers with some Crafters Companion Spray and Sparkle, to give them a bit of glitz. It's sort of a varnish, with Iridescent sparkles in, so they're a bit sticky at this point.

These are all leftover die cuts, that I'll save for another time, I think I got a bit carried away with the cutting!. Great thing about this die- you can get a decent card just by putting that die cut straight onto a card base without doing anything else to it.

The finish up from last week. My extra pouches arrived, so I got everything sorted and labelled. They all fit easily into an A4 size Really Useful Box now, and I've just stood some TH Bigz dies at the front to keep them upright. Takes up so much less room than all those folders.
 Home made dividers, from some thick card, and labelled with contents.

This Sunday we are off to the NEC for the Hobbycrafts fair, so no doubt there will be a few new goodies to show next week.
 So that's me all done, exceptionally short and sweet from me this week. Have a great day, see you later!

WOYWW #303

So, it's Wednesday again, and three parts of the way through March already! Soon be Crop time again, yay! A browse around the workdesks of the world, courtesy of our Head Desker, Julia, at The Stamping Ground. On my desk this week, a few purchases made at the NEC Hobbycrafts show last Thursday. I went along with Marg, Silvercrafter, and met up with Debbie, Tattered Rocks. Just as well I had such wonderful company, as the show itself was a huge disappointment. I've been to the March one before, and know its not as big as in November, but this one was tiny! Very few visitors on Thursday too- if you've been to the November one, you know how much of a crush it is, and how difficult it can be to get around.
This one felt almost deserted. Biggest complaint I heard from people walking around was that the organisers dare to charge the same for this show as the Christmas one, when it's only a fraction of the size. So that was definitely my last spring NEC show. Well, what did I get then? A Clarity stencil, of random sized boxes, a Sweet Poppy stencil for Christmas, and 3 sets of Clarity 'Wee Folk' stamps, which I think will go well with a lot of my scenic stamps.

Some Majestix stamps and some low tack masking tape. A set of heart dies, and one purchase I was really pleased about. For ages I'd been looking for a Diamond shape die set, and couldn't find one anywhere. Just happened to spot a single set hanging up on someones stand, so grabbed it.

Two random u/m tree stamps- I think the bottom one has a real 'spooky tree' look to it, and only £1 each.Some nice spotty ribbon, 3 new duster brushes and 3 new Stickles.Also some square card blanks- 5x5, 6x6 and 7x7.
 I usually fold my own card bases, but square leaves a lot of offcuts, and I end up with too many scrap pieces to try and use up. Which always turn out to be not quite big enough for what I want!

One new Inkylicious quote stamp, and a few new Lavinia stamps. Love that spiky mushroom!



Last purchases now, and I left this one till last, as I know that LLJ will be swooning over them!

New additions to the range, and launched at the NEC show- a pair of boxing hares, and a lovely 'looking upwards' hare.






One last picture to leave you with, as you know we lost the awesome writer Sir Terry Pratchett a couple of weeks ago.

This pic was taken at a BBC 'do' a couple of years ago, where my eldest, Ant, got to talk to the great man. Apparently, he looked across the room, spotted Ant, and made a beeline for him, due to the green beard! Ant said afterwards, that Sir Terry was one of the nicest people he had ever met, a very genuine and extremely interesting person. They had a chat about a sword Sir Terry had forged for himself from iron ore, and about childhood games in general.
 So, I'm done. Had a stinking cold this last week, which was not good! Just got me in the 7-14 day danger period, typically. Breathing got difficult enough I had to go to the Docs on Friday, and he's given me antibiotics to clear any infection, ahead of my 3rd IV chemo on Friday. Have to go for a blood test on Thursday, and if that's ok, then I get the treatment. So hopefully the antibiotics will have done their job, or I'll get put back for a week or so, I expect.

WOYWW #284

Another week, another Wednesday blog round up over at The Stamping Ground, chaired by Head Desker Julia.So on the desk this week are my purchases from Hobbycrafts at the NEC last Saturday. Had a smashing day, especially getting to meet up with Linda B and Ali H, along with some other members of their scrapping group.

As you can see, a selection of stamps- Lavinia, Visible Image and Cardio in the main. Saw the lady on Cardio's stand making some amazing Christmas cards, and using dried out baby wipes to add the ink, instead of sponging. Very effective, and looked really easy, so I shall be trying that out. A few new ink pads, Tim mini blending tool pads,low tack tape and some background sheets also from Lavinia stamps. There is also some packs of black and white leather effect card under the tape.

On the other desktop, 3 Sweet Poppy stencils, two Christmas ones and a Thistles one, which appears to be hiding. A set of Tim Holtz snowflakes, and some Memory Box bauble dies, which one of the stands was selling really cheap.
 The rest of my room is gradually getting back to normal, I've got everything put back on my desk, and have a few drawers to put stuff away in yet.
Running update, I now have only 9 days of radiotherapy left, thats gone by really fast. Oncologist was very happy with me last week, and said that if I still feel ok this week, I don't need to wait and see her, I can just see her next week, and she will organise the CT scan for 6 weeks time then. Works Occupational Health Nurse was also happy, and said she recommended that I continue doing half shifts until my treatment has finished, and gradually go back up to full hours after that. Which I am happy with, I do find that I tire easily- thats how its affecting me, lack of stamina. I can't do anything for as long as I used to be able to.  I am really glad to come home at 2.00am at the moment. Apologies to those I didn't get round to last week, Thursday was a long day, with treatment and having to see the Oncologist, as well as the Works Occupational health lady, and it was early hospital appointment, so had little sleep. Lost most of Friday catching up on sleep! I shall be doing better this week, lol.

WOYWW #253

Nothing exciting on my blog of late, I have to confess that I have been working on something I can't show yet. A while ago, Glenda Waterworth, of Chocolate Baroque, did a DT call for new members, and while I didn't get chosen, she did get back to me and ask if I would be willing to do a guest DT post- which I thought was way cool. She wanted a project by 28th April, and knowing how I would get stressed about getting it perfect if I left it too close to the date, I got on with it. Anyhow, its done and e-mailed to her now, so when its going to be published, I will be letting everyone know, lol! So, on to the reason we are all here,(even if most of us are not all there!) is our regular meeting at our Head Deskers place, Julia at The Stamping Ground.
What is on my desk this week, is the Ink Palettes I bought, now complete with all the alcohol inks I have. A few missing, about 8 I think.
I had seen Tim say there were labels on the Ranger site, but when I went there I couldn't find them, so did my own. They look like little butterflies, which is ace, they are actually punched from sticky labels with a 4 leaf clover punch, I just cut the stem off, then coloured them with the appropriate ink off a cotton bud.The ones in the closed palette , on the far right side, are not Tim Alcohol inks, they are by Zig, and if I remember rightly, I bought them from Jenny, The Artistic Stamper. Funny thing though, yesterday on FB there was a post by Tim with a link to all the labels for  his product lines. Organise your Ranger Products- this is the link if anyone wants it. They are colour coded labels for all the inks/inkpads etc. Just print off onto a sheet of sticky labels- I have some A4 sheets divided into 4 labels I got from Staples which are perfect- and stick them on. I also did some little circle ones that I put on top of each ink bottle, to make finding them easier.

I thought it might be time as well to start colouring some of the Molly images, from Visible Image stamps,- knowing how long it will probably take me to get an image I'm happy with- for Merlins birthday card. So I stamped up a bunch, on different types of white card. Funny how inks 'take' on different card. The top two are Memento, on Neenah card, and are not as black as I would like. The next two down are Versafine, on 'Super Smooth A4 white card' from Samuel Taylors, picked up last year from the NEC, and they are a nice solid black. The three on the left are on Clarity Theuva card (the two images) and Clarity Silk coated card (the single image). Both in Versafine, and I have heat embossed these with clear detail powder. The bottom sheet is White Stamping card, from Hunkydory craft, I think it came from Crafters Companion, and the left image is Versafine, the right one Memento. It really is a bright white card, and on this one there is little to chose between the two stampings.The Versafine is still the darker one, but only just. So, I'm reasonably confident I can get at least one usable image out of all these,lol.

Christmas Cards- Indigo Blu style

I must admit that I've amazed myself this year- barely the third week of November, and my Christmas cards are finished! I haven't usually even settled on a design yet, let alone started.I do two batches, smaller ones for work colleagues etc, and a larger design for family.
 The smaller ones are back a few posts, but this is the family card. You may remember a couple of weeks ago I posted my purchases at the NEC, and amongst them was this stamp from Indigo Blu.









Called Baubles Flourish, its quite a large stamp, the design is 5 1/2" wide, by 5" deep.







I stamped the flourish onto white card with Black Versafine, and then heat embossed with Stardust embossing powder. After all the flourishes were done, I repeated the stamping with a Christmas Greeting.



          I had already cut the black matt layer, so it would fit on my card blank, which is 6x6.

The black layer is roughly 5 1/2" square, and the stamped white layer 5 1/4", so the image goes off the left hand side just a little.

 The image matted onto the black layer with DST.

Red ribbon wrapped across the card front, and the ends stuck down on the back with a little DST, then a small bow added with a glue dot.

Next some acrylic gems were added for a bit of sparkle.

 Green on the bauble centres,clear in the centre of the snowflakes, red ones for the holly berries, and a dark one on the bauble string.















This is the original Indigo Blu version. on display at the NEC.










                                          .......and this is my version of the design

Supplies:
White scalloped card blank, 6x6
Baubles Flourish, Indigo Blu
White Cardstock
Black Cardstock
Ribbon
Sentiment stamp
Versafine Onyx Black inkpad
Stampendous Stardust embossing powder
Acrylic gems, e-bay
Heat gun
 Pinflair glue gel, or silicone glue for the gems

WOYWW 232

Not enough days between Wednesdays- these weeks just fly past. Almost finished all my friends/work colleagues Christmas cards, I just have to stamp the inside sentiment. They're in the post below, by the way. Doing this up on Tuesday night to schedule, so my desk has some of my purchases from the NEC, where I did indeed meet up with Andrea, we had coffee and a chat.  Love meeting WOYWWers, so nice to speak in the flesh to our friends online. Completely forgot I had my camera in my bag, so no pics, sorry! Waffling away here, so pop over to our Head of Desks, Julia, at The Stamping Ground, and come see the desks of the world in all their glory.
 So what did I get?

Mainly stamps, what a surprise! A couple of Indigo Blu ones, a couple of Lavinia stamps, some Inkylicious, but my absolute favourites- a company called Visible Image were there. I've seen them lately in Craft Stamper, and they have some delicious Gothic stamps.




The set on the left in the picture below I fell in love with when I first saw it.
 

You can also see a Poinsettia die in the first picture, I  have the Spellbinders  Layered Poinsettia, which is fine for larger cards, but a bit overwhelming on smaller ones. This one makes a lovely sized small flower, (Nellie Snellen, btw).

This one came from Inkwell stamps, which will be great for simple Wedding cards, and the coolest thing is they also have a 'Mrs & Mrs', and a 'Mr & Mr' stamp for civil weddings.

Indigo Blu- you can see the Ella Bella stamp in the top picture, and this one I bought to use for family/friend cards this year. They had a gorgeous sample on display, which was what sold me on the stamp.

Apart from a few odds & ends- a set of square dies which had 14 squares in it, some tape,a couple of ink pads and a couple of embossing folders on sale,the only other thing I bought was some packs of pre cut & scored cards. I usually cut & score my own, but liked the scalloped shape on these, and cutting square cards from A4 limits the size somewhat, and they were reasonable, the largest, which fold to 6x6, were £4.99 for a pack of 50, with envelopes. And they'll be the perfect size for the bauble stamp.
I have to say that overall, I thought the Hobbycrafts show was not as good as previous years, although that does somewhat depend on your area of crafting. It seemed this year that well over half the show was beading or fabric retailers, this seems to go in cycles, I've noticed. Each year there is a heavy leaning to one particular craft. Last year it seemed every other stall was beads. I also noticed a number of regulars absent - Paper Artsy for one. Also missing were Crafters Companion, who I don't buy from very often, but they usually have a big stand, and some good bargains.And a lot of others had far smaller stalls than they usually do. So do have a lovely Wednesday, I'll be catching up with you later.
 Quick PS-For anyone with bent 'bug plates- a couple of posts down is a method to flatten out your warped Cuttlebug plates- I've done it and it does work.

WOYWW 230

 Well here we are again, the regular stalk around the workdesks of the world. New to this? Pop over to Auntie Julia's, at The Stamping Ground, click on Mr Linky and join the fun. And great fun it is too.
 Not a lot happening on mine this week, still plodding along with the C-Cards,and I've stuck all the acrylic gems (finally, they took forever) onto my stamped image,now I've had to order some plain white card to make the bases.

 All sitting in a pile, looking like a load of sparkly beer mats, lol.
 Various odds & ends elsewhere, my Bamboo plant( must give it a drink), offcuts of card etc.



The new stamps at the front I couldn't resist-who in their right mind sends me an e-mail about stamps that contain a skull, and think I might not be tempted?

I really did not 'get' the whole moustache thing- they probably will never get used, but the skull & top hat? Sold, to this lady. From Stamp Addicts, by the way.
So thats my selection for you this week- and as for the cocktail stirrers, the only thing I've made with them so far is another couple of Mohito's, rofl.

 Oh an early heads up- next weekend, 7th to 10th November is the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC, Birmingham. I will be going along on Saturday 9th, so if anyone else is visiting that day and would like to meet up & maybe have a coffee & chat, let me know. I do Saturday rather than Friday, as the NEC is a 20 minute drive from where we live to get there, and at least an hour on a Friday afternoon for Hubby to come & pick me up. M42 traffic is horrendous then.

WOYWW #191

Back at The Stamping Ground, for this weeks WOYWW, hosted as always by our gracious hostess, Julia.
When JoZarty asked a couple of weeks ago, about making quilts for her Lillybo project, I remembered a box full of fabric panels I had, bought on various visits to the NEC, and it instantly sprang to mind for the quilts. They are from Pinflair, and they always have fabulous card samples on display using them. Another project I kept meaning to try, but never got round to.

teddies & fairies

There are all sorts of things:

cats & dogs

Wild Animals & Birds

                            
Anyhow, I thought these would be perfect for quilts, and put to a good cause instead of remaining in a  box.

And I get to use my new Ikea Pinking Shears, lol!
I had a pair of pinking shears, but they were very old, and chewed through the fabric, rather than pinking it, to be honest. Searched all over the net, for a good, reasonably priced pair, because I don't use them that often. Blimey, some of the prices were scary! Which if you use them all the time, is ok, but I could probably count on the fingers of one hand how often I use mine. Finally found some soft grip ones, via Hong Kong(!), no brand, but all the feedback on them said they were very good, so I ordered a pair.  They are very good, I will agree, and I think cost me  about £8. Then we went to Ikea for my furniture, and I found them in there for £7. So now I have two pairs, lol. Just in case. So thats what I'm up to today, post your desk pics, good or bad, tidy or messy, and we'll get around to visiting you, sooner or later. Have a great week.

Some stamps from the NEC

Well as I can't actually do any crafting, I thought I would post up some more things I got seduced by at the Hobbycrafts Show at the NEC in November.
Some Tim stamps, I felt a need for some words for my card making, it is something I really don't have much of, and these were selling cheaper than usual, I suppose because he has new releases out.















These clear stamps are from Kaisercraft, and are really very cheap, but they print well.

I don't think I ever go to the NEC without buying some more stamps from Lavinia stamps!






I loved this stamp- from Cardio. Many of you will probably remember their Rubber Stamp Tapestry 'peg' stamps, well, now they do clear stamps too. This snow-globe just seemed to have so many possibilities, and not just for Christmas.

These were some of their samples, which they kindly let me photograph.

I love the stamps from Inkylicious- these birds & branches will be great for a few projects I (still) have in mind.

Birds are clearly a bit of a theme- I love the gothic look of the Raven stamp from Crafty Individuals, and I have seen some great cards done using the 'Birds on a Wire' stamp.

Last ones are from Dimension, they used to be called Dimension Fourth. The skull attracted me straight away ( no surprises there then), the guitar will have a number of uses, and they had a beautiful sample on display using the leaf flourish stamp.