It's WOYWW 208 and Swap Time!! Yee Ha and Woop Woop!!

Happy 4th Anniversary to all WOYWW'ers everywhere and a special greeting to Julia for coming up with the idea 4 years ago!! It's a legitimate excuse to be nosey!! (and I'm always surprised that I haven't necessarily got the messiest desk!!)

What's on mine this week apart from the usual chaos? My Hubs' birthday card (slight cheat I'll admit! He got it on Monday so I've moved it back to my desk for the photo but it was there. Honest!)

 I made the letters from coloured UTEE poured into the Martha Stewart Alpha moulds followed by a touch of Treasure Gold (ooh I love that stuff!).  A bit fiddly as they are quite small but if you work quickly you can 'swipe' the excess UTEE off and then trim the thin bits that are left.  I think I might stick to using them with the Crafter's Clay!!

 And the Stamps that I used are still on the desk (genuinely!).  Towards the bottom right is an idea for my Dad's birthday card - checking whether the little UTEE frame would work with part of a Stampers Anonymous stamp.  This will probably be on next weeks WOYWW! (Watch this space for the altered tins - they will reappear one day!)

And to finish, a straight view!  Who said you can't put feathers on a Man's card!  I like the way they hide bits of the image and sentiment. Ah, not sure if this allowed - please tell me off if it's not but I'd like to enter this card in the Sunday Stampers Challenge - Week 258 - Some Like it Hot

That's all from me peeps as I'm off visiting desks and to see who I will be swapping with (excited!)

Bye bye from me xxx

My Zen....

....is tangled! Just a quick one to try the 'share' function for Blogger on my phone! My 'Mooka' definitely needs practice!

Just needed a couple of post posting adjustments (the 'Bogger' site??) and photo successfully resized!

WOYWW 207

Hopefully I'll link to the right pics this week!

 Yep! I'm altering a tin or two!

 My stash  of beermats waiting for altering

And my other desk (aka the dining room table!)

 

 

That's all from me for now peeps! Bye bye xx

Sunday Special...

Number 6 I thinks!!!

I didn't do a Sunday Special last week and my WOYWW was a week out too! I actually attached the previous weeks photo to the blog! Blah is all I can say! I hope I don't get it wrong this week because I think it's WOYWW's special birthday where we get to send on our ATCs! I LOVE this idea! If anyone wants to swap... ..Any Hoos...........

This is what I made at The Artistic Stamper Workshop with Jennie yesterday

We used loads of different techniques...

Including melt-pot, wax and UTEE (spot the cats on the stairs !!)

Distress paints and Adirondack Dabbers were both gainfully employed!

 And some of the individual elements!

Distress paint and stamp

Poured UTEE and stamped with a bit of Gleam to highlight

3-layers of UTEE with a heat gun and stamped

Stencilled, stamped and covered with frost paper ('cos I didn't like it!)  Happy with it now!

Stamp and the one below is Grunge Paste stamped

Foil covered chip, coloured with alcohol inks and  embossed

Crackle - didn't photo too well!

It was a fantastic workshop!  We got loads done but didn't feel pressured!  If Jennie does this one again (which I think she will!) I would definitely recommend taking part!

That all from me! Bye bye xxx

!

WOYWW 206

This is really getting silly! Sharing my OH's new table. American white oak in the middle.With  black walnut and a bit of maple I think

Any hoos! Thinking of doing Zentagles!

 But here's my desk!

WOYWW 205

In short...a mess!  I haven't actually got a photo of my desk this week so I'm sharing my 'experiments' with doodling (ok, Zentangle if you're posh!).  These are also ATC auditionees for the ATC swap coming up (as you can probably tell from the subtle 'WOYWW' placement!).

I rather like Mr Origami Squirrel

I've decided these qualify for WOYWW as they were photo'd on my 'old' desk, aka the dining room table!  I was back on the dining room table because there wasn't an ATC shaped space on my proper desk (wasn't joking when I said it was a mess!!!).  Anyhoos, short and sweet for me this week!

Thanks for looking - I'm offski to look at other WOYWWs!

Happy WOYWW peeps!!

Bye bye from me xx

Remember that box.....

.....that went a bit wrong? (well, ok, a Lot Wrong!)  It's been rescued!!

No more headless dogs when the lid goes on!!

 Really pleased with this now! And just to finish, a couple of gratuitous pics of Nancy relaxing after a hard day in the garden!!

Thanks for looking and bye bye from me xxx

Sunday Special #5?.....

.... I lose count after 4!  I've been busy watching funny cat videos on FB and got side tracked! I started this post about an hour ago!  So a quick round up of the weeks activities starts here:

First up is a box canvas that I made, solely to enter into two challenges - Blue (Sunday Stampers) and Words ( The Artistic Stamper).  Being me, I added my own little challenge - no Steampunk or Grunge! I love how it turned out!

Then yesterday, I was a 'Stand in' for Georgina Sweetenham's class at the Artistic Stamper!  Mum originally booked this for my sister and herself (I wasn't interested as I don't really 'do' cards (or so I thought!!) Meryl couldn't go so I took her place! (Sorry Meryl).  This was really out of my comfort zone....(or so I thought). We made 3 stunning cards and have homework for another! I'm so into card making now!!

And the Individual cards:

 And ....
What you've all been waiting for (Drum Roll please plus a few crashing symbols!) My OHs CD and Music Centre is finished!! How beautiful is this............

I haven't captioned these as no words are necessary but I would like to say.........................I want my craft storage!!!!  Seriously proud of him!! It's a beautiful piece of furniture and I love it! (and I must take up that voile)

Thanks for reading! It's bye bye from me xxx 

Challenging Myself!

There are two challenges this week that have caught my eye and imagination! So I thought 'Give it a go!'                                                                                                                                                                                     For the first time ever I've made something purely for a challenge (or 2)!  Then I decided (being in Uber Confident mode) I can do this and I'll add my own little challenge just for me!! Yep! Any of my Crafty Friends will know and tell you, I'm Strictly SteamPunk & Grunge dot co dot uk!!  So my challenge to me? No STEAMPUNK (eek) and no GRUNGE (ack).  Well, here is my little challenge piece:

The background was painted with Salty Ocean, Bundled Sage with a smidge of Victorian Velvet DPs and a smudge of Adirondacks Paint Dabber in Citrus.  The clouds were made by lifting the wet paint with a dry wet-wipe (yeah - I know - an oxymoron!).  I think that's what I love most about Distress Paints - I can dilute them right down and use as 'watercolours*' without loosing any intensity of colour. The foreground was stamped onto tissue paper and coloured with DMs before being Glue 'n' Sealed.  The houses were stamped onto white Canford card (love Canford card!), coloured with DMs and cut out, along with the two sentiments which were coloured with Salty Ocean and Peeled Paint DIs around their edges. 

(* Before I got into Crafting I was very much a watercolour/pen and ink /pastel girl with occasional forays into the worlds of oils and acrylics! Now I'm definitely a 'Mixed Media (mixed up) artist!)

Then the fun started!

I think I spent as much time, if not more, arranging them!

When I had my final layout, they were all turned over very carefully and numbered!

All in all, I'm rather pleased with this!

The Stamps I used are from one set (perhaps I should've set that as a mini me challenge too!)  They are the gorgeous 'Home Sweet Home' by Kathleen Fullman

I would like to enter this for the following challenges:

The Sunday Stampers - Blue

The Artistic Stamper - Words

Thanks for looking!

Bye bye from me xx

WOYWW 204

Wednesday again! Welcome to my happy, messy place of stash!!  Rock my Box in the foreground is a definite in-progress piece.  I was threatening to take Mr Lizard off and sand the top right back earlier this week but a judicious purchase of Onyxite Treasure Gold and five minutes of application has rescued the him. I think I will let Mr Lizard live another day in his rocky domain!!

 This is to the left of Mr Lizard - a semi completed Book of Ruination..........(liking the jaunty angle of the lamp shade lol!)

And this is to the right!  Another Book of Ruination sitting on top of my (almost) complete Rock my Book (I need to tidy up the inside where there were some paint 'leaks' for want of a better word!).  Oops! Just realised the desk is littered with used wet-wipes and kitchen roll!  They'll get tidied away before I post next week! 

And Finally......

Ta-Dah!! A close up of one of the 'holes' in the rock!!  No pics of my OHs CD rack this week as I've posted a separate piece just featuring him earlier in the week.  He's now in the process of finishing.  All the glue marks are sanded away, any flaws filled and he's now waxing and polishing!

Thanks for looking!  I'm off to look at other WOYWWs!

Bye bye from me x