August Theme Swap

Tags .... not my best subject!
I bought some tags for this swap but then decided to use up as much as I already had in my stash.


I used some of the paper from the 'Watercolour' pad bought from The Works.  This tag was given away with a magazine at least a couple of years ago so I am pleased to find a use for it at last.  I think I have two more left in the set!
I used a sentiment form Woodware stamps for the corner print, added blue ribbon tie to the top of the tag to finish.

Another sheet of paper from the same pad, totally different one though.  This tag and other embellishments were diecut some time ago.  Once more this set came free with a magazine, I used a grey marble effect paper for the tag, brown painted paper for the rest.  Brown paper ribbon tied to the tag kept everything to the same colour scheme.

The cogs behind this tag, the tag and embellishments were put together sometime ago for a different swap but then I changed my mind.  I have attached this to a piece of metallic painted paper and used red/white butcher twine to tie to the top of the tag.

Lots of stash used up in this swap.  Marvellous!

I have received the following cards by return:

A tiny Kraft tag embellished with a musical note and ric rac.

Thank you JanS.

Two tags for the price of one and tiny again.

Thank you Dee.

Beautifully stamped and embellished in pinks and purples.

Thank you Philippa.

WOYWW #430

Weeeelll, it's like this see .....
We decided to go to the Drs - well, PJ did and I went along for interest's sake.... you know .... doing the listening bit.
When we came out of there, Someone decided we would go into town as it was market day so off to catch the bus we went.  In the market he bought the biggest cauliflower I have ever seen and a big cabbage - for the chickens of course! - and then we wandered about for a bit - The Cass envelope contains some masking ink & brushes, I just love looking round that art shop and the staff are so friendly - ending up at our favourite coffee shop.  When we came out, we were right by the Tram so 'Clever' someone! suggested going to Wolverhampton and finding Domino Crafts.
Suffice to say we ended up having a lovely day and my desk bears the evidence.

I'm not going into the ins and outs, but one can't walk into a shop, bone tired, have a sit down and then leave ..... so I had a look round while himself sat and chatted.  I was very careful and only bought a small amount ...... really precious stamps, some small bottles (to share with a friend), cut! price magazine, Chalk Clouds and a couple of stencils.  Pretty good eh!  
Then we had to find our way home.
Soooooo, it was like this ..... we left home for the Drs at 09.50hrs and returned home 19.00hrs.  I shall post the full adventure on my Recollections Blog.
I won't be going to the Drs with PJ again for a very long time ..... at least until my purse recovers!!!!
Hope you all have a good week.

What'sOnYourWorkdeskWednesday - if you want to find out more then checkout the WOYWW tab at the top of the page - and our thanks go to Julia for hosting this weekly meet up.

August Swap

I love this little girl, had the file for ages, love what Kris created.
I chose some metallic backgrounds for the cards, basically because they were on my desk after making this month's colour swap cards!

I printed out the coloured versions of these digis and fussy cut them before adding them to the backgrounds.
  
The base cards were tryout pieces of thin card, I used Cosmic Shimmer Paint - bought when I was at Julia Watts workshop - brushing it on to see what it was like.  

Perfect for this project.

As you can see, there is a progression of steampunking as you go from one to three. 

The small sentiment words are from Tim Holtz' book of words.

I received the following cards:

Lots of stamping, colouring and smooshing.

Thank you JaniceB.

July Swap - Anything Goes

The backgrounds for all these cards are scraps leftover from previous 'messings' with acrylic paints. 


I was also trying out some new diecuts from The Works and a few new stamps, bought at the Motorcycle Museum, from Woodware.


I love the way these cards all turned out.

  

I had to add a few blue free hand hearts to the third card in order to show off the diecut.

I received the following cards by return:

Distress inks had a work out here and then were topped with heat embossing.
Thank you Alison.

Stamping, colouring and fussy cutting.

Thank you Jill B.

This card is a really bright leaf green IRL.  Great amount of work going on here as well!

Thank you JulieW.

Alphabet Swap - A,B,C.

This is a new swap for our Group and I had to haul out my list and start at the beginning!  As I understand it, we will be creating three letters a month so here goes with ABC.
A is for Acrylic Paint.
I decided to go for Art Products as a theme so I painted up a couple of backgrounds in grey acrylic.  I used one of my homemade stencils for this card, and a willow green paint.  I then decided to use the paint for my stamping ...... I did have fun .... not.  Purple paint under your nails is not good.
I stamped off several printings before I felt happy enough to stamp onto my card.  Even though I had practised, the print was not clear and needed touching up to make the letters clearer.

Art Products was hard so it's back to stamping!! lol


I gathered all my stamps on Baking and Cooking together and then decided on the design.


B is for Bowl and Baking.

The background stamp is heart shaped so I needed to add an additional part to complete the design.  I watercoloured some of the ingredients and then stamped out the bowl and spoon on some cream paper.  I added a bit more colour to them, fussy cut them out and attached them to the card.  The sentiment I chose did not really fit onto the card so I decided to cut it in half and make two rows which I stamped out using Versafine Onyx ink.

C is for Cake and Chefs' Hats (toques blanches).


I stamped the hats over the white card and then stamped the cake onto some white copy paper.
I coloured the cake and cake stand, using a gold sharpie for the stand itself - not really a good idea so I used a fine liner to add detail.  Once this image had dried I fussy cut it  and added to the card.  I used the Versfine ink again to stamp out the sentiment.

Looking at these photos now, I realise that it may have given the sentiments more definition if I had stamped them onto white card and added them with 3D foam tape .... I have posted them now but it is something to remember!

I have received the following cards:


Beautiful Apple Blossom Fairy.
Thank you Barbara.

All the Bs - brilliant!

Thank you GwynethRose.

All things Camera - clever.
Thank you Beth.

WOYWW #429

What'sOnYourWorkdeskWednesday - if you want to find out more then checkout the WOYWW tab at the top of the page - and our thanks go to Julia for hosting this weekly meet up.

Hello and welcome to another WOYWWednesday, bit murky round here .... hope it's going to brighten up a bit as I plan to go to the Park - there's a Bouncy Fun Fair.   Nope, no idea but it sounds fun sooooo ...... 

Warning! 
New stash and I'm going to use it ....
I am sorting out ideas for a White ATC swap and I have my ideas sheet, white cards of varying whites - storytime there - and my dies folder.  These two dies were part of my winnings from Creative Stamping and I am going to see how they work out with ATCs .... lacy edges, fancy frames etc.

The cornflour is there because I 'heard' that if you add cornflour to gesso you get a white crackle paste as it dries ......haven't managed to try it yet but it could appear on these ATCs .... it's white!

May not visit until tonight - sorting out bouncy castles etc. - so catch you all later.

Storytime:  Way back in the day, the then husband and I decided to buy a new car.  Finances were worked out and a trip to Oxford to collect the car arranged.  When it came down to colour the clever husband decided that, as there were lots of shades of white, this would make it difficult to 'touch up' should the lovely new car get scratched.  Therefore white was out of the question, although this applied to all the colours really .... except one. 
It was decided we would agree with Henry Ford .... we would have black.
That little black Morris Minor outlived the marriage so it must've been a good choice!!!

WOYWW #428

Good Morning!  All bright and cheerful are we then?!?
First off .... please excuse the font on this post .... I can't get Blogger to Blog my Blog the way I would like my Blog to look!

My desk may look the same as last week but oh! no! it isn't!

Lots of cards lying there, all with envelopes and address slips.  They are ready to go into envelopes and be posted off - the cards will appear on Cardius Bloggus in due course, the due course may be next week though!
I have my ABC sheet ready to make a start on my Alphabet swap ATCs and my Tutorial for making Lavender Wands ready to appear under the cards.  My Birthday Calendar has been updated - Works has 2018 Calendar Tabs on sale - so my desk has lots going for it today.



It was Lavender trimming day at the Train's Garden yesterday and I am hoping that the flowers will still be fresh enough for the girls to make some wands at CRUNCH.  Every year I promise myself I will make some and sell them at the Open Day to help raise some funds.  This year, at least I can share the fun with my friends.


We hope to be able to show Little Soldier how to plant today.  We have some late sowings of peas ready to be transplanted and want to enlist his help .... and then we can wash the patio down .... towels will be to hand as will be a change of clothes!!  lol
Thank you to all my visitors last week, hope to visit a few more desks this week but we will see ......

BTW
What'sOnYourWorkdeskWednesday - if you want to find out more then checkout the WOYWW tab at the top of the page - and our thanks go to Julia for hosting this weekly meet up.

WOYWW #427

What'sOnYourWorkdeskWednesday - if you want to find out more then checkout the WOYWW tab at the top of the page - and our thanks go to Julia for hosting this weekly meet up.
Good morning on this wet and cold day.  Everything outside of the window is wet, the sky is very grey and overcast, the washing on the line next door is hanging very limp!  It is a good day for me .....
When I awoke I remembered that I hadn't set up today's post so ambled out of my lovely warm snug bed and into the bathroom.  In the stillness I could hear the ominous drip, drip, drip....
The sink was full of water, I was soaking a top overnight but there had been only enough water to cover the stained area when I left it  .... no taps dripping as I could see .... then I spotted the wastebin, which fortunately had been moved under the sink, full almost to the brim with water!  I kid you not!  Two more minutes in my lovely warm snug bed and it would have been a different story!!
As I sit here telling you I am thinking - Thank goodness I decided to get up.  Praise the Lord for giving me a poke strong enough to wake me in my lovely warm snug bed .........

The desk is a dumping ground again, two more storage boxes dominate the scene, along with all the 'to dos' for the week - hopefully.
The thank you card is for the family across the way; we had a wonderful time at the wedding and then the day after we were presented with a large platter of chicken and kebabs with a large bag of rice sent across from the family.  Enough to share with all our family.

The cards to the left under the box are some charity kits I purchased from Hope and Chances, to the right are a couple of the bikini cards and then some sheets of free papers from Papercrafting.  On the top of the paper are some ATC backgrounds made from wipe offs and trying some white gouache paint that PJ thought had dried up .... it hasn't and is alive and well on my desk under the box!!!!
I do hope that I can get some PC (as in computer) time this week, I have so much to talk about on my Blogs that I think I will have to put in some overtime.  lol

I am unable to obtain my full quota of medication from my chemist at the moment so am having to improvise which means trying to make up the amount the Doctor recommends from the tablets I have.... I can only make up a slightly higher amount but I am feeling much more fit ..... the Doctor thinks I am hyperactive for the wrong reasons but it feels so good - much more like I used to be, up in the morning after a solid night's sleep and ready to meet the day ..... even if it is pouring down with rain!!  
Maybe I should insert a warning here as my stupid sense of humour has also returned.....

Off to visit a few desks before I start the breakfast (see what I mean?!?) and then catch up with you all later (?!?).
Thank you to all my visitors last week and before  - your comments have alternately cheered me and made me feel guilty for not visiting back, but I loved them all.

WOYWW #426

What'sOnYourWorkdeskWednesday - if you want to find out more then checkout the WOYWW tab at the top of the page - and our thanks go to Julia for hosting this weekly meet up.
I am typing this post on Tuesday night as I don't think there will be much time to spare tomorrow.  As I speak the crowds are gathering across the way, the limos are parking up, the traffic is becoming gridlocked and the Drummers are practising (it will still sound the same to me when they start the actual playing!!).
The youngest son is getting married and tonight is the first of the parties.  Tomorrow we will be joining in the celebrations, Little Soldier goes home early, we get ready so that we can go celebrating and who knows what time we will be home!!  The cards are here. (Scroll down for a tale of Bikinis!)
But we are here to look at  share our desks so here is mine......

I am still painting .... a time of peace in between all the decorating.  
The kitchen has been plastered and we are now waiting for the decorator to arrive .... perhaps in a month's time ...... hopefully.
So I am painting, or should I say colouring.  I am using my Inktense pencils along with my paints - this time my small, old paint box - and painting up some of the Creative Expressions stamps.  
I have a deadline now to clear the craft room, the plasterer says he will come and plaster as soon as I have the space for him to work  ..... a deadline sortof!! lol
That's it for now as I have to go watch the celebrations outside ....
Catch you all later ..... possibly very much later.....