NBUS - No 2

One at a time is gonna be a lot of blog pots! But here we go, a little stamp and die set. 

For my first card I had this idea of a rainbow of flowers - the end result is really not my favourite, there's something off about it but it's growing on me. 

I'd stamped and cut too many of those flowers so used them up along with other bits of scrap, die cuts and embellies from my stash.

The other flower in the set was quite pretty so I made this with some scraps - and also used that 'Smile' die, which I don't think has been used more than once if at all. 

Tried it again using white heat embossing and a quick watercolour back ground for a totally different effect.

That's it for NBUS number 2!!

Never Been Used Stuff - Let's get started

Long post. Picture heavy. Lets start on that Never Been Used Stuff.

Oh dear. This is most of the contents of my main NBUS box. I didn't include those where I could recall using maybe one sentiment or stamp from a set. So it's kind of even worse than it looks.

Start easy I thought. I  had watched a FB live by Tracy Evans and thought I would try out her techniques but using a Woodware stamp (Long tall flowers) for the focal image. I grabbed a piece of paper and started, hadn't really planned it at all, this was just a practice piece. Here is how it developed, I wasn't following the tutorial slavishly, just trying out what I remembered from watching it so I've probably missed out some really important bits. Various other stamps used.

Turned out better than expected, might need another embellishment but it's a keeper so will probably mount this one on something more substantial, it really was just a piece of scrap white card to start.

Decided I ought to make at least three things with the stamp to say it had been 'used'.  For no 2 I found a  stripey/painted background piece (left over from a class I think) and stamped on that. Used paint pens to colour in then realised I hadn't done the 'highlighting' on the circles. Oops. But got it done.

Made it into a card, then had to cut down and create a double mount as I had stuck it on the wrong way round. Doh. This one was lucky to have escaped the bin with all these blunders but I think I like it. It was very hot, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Third project, I had seen the stamp kinda zentangled on pinterest which I thought was an interesting look. Meant to stamp it twice for a landscape 5 x 7 but messed up the second impression so cut it down to roughly 4 x 4. Took a fine pen and added some stripes etc. Not sure I did it the best way but it's quite a classy card with the monochrome look and one I would do again and possibly with a class. BTW I'm obsessed with tiny sentiment strips at the moment so be prepared to see them again and again.

I had some spare paint at some point and used it on an ATC sized card and stamped again making this a fourfer. Chose a rather dark purple for the flower heads, it works but I would have preferred something a little lighter so the petals were visible. As I said, it was very hot.

One down, quite a few to go!

What's On Your Workdes? Wednesday #577

Wednesday again. Yep, weeks still flying and my only constant is WOYWW on a Wednesday. To find out more, pop on over to The Stamping Ground where all will be revealed. Join in why don't ya, check out what everyone is up to and spread a little love.. 

Hope you are all well. The Ashplant bubble is thriving and this week has been a good week. Father's Day was a highlight and the kids have something planned for our 35th anniversary next weekend. Should have been planning a party, although nothing could ever rival the surprise party my daughter threw for our 30th.  Memories. 

As promised I have been doing just what I want to do this last week - craftwise at any rate. I have to admit I couldn't resist checking out WIP Box 4 - all under control, it looks very much like I have already visited there, very little to do and several class projects prepped. 

I decided to support a crafty friend and take part in a FB live she was doing and it turns out what I wanted to do this week was get painty, so I have been mainly working on canvases and in my alphabet journal. However that is definitely a WIP - there are still a lot of letters to go! (If you want to see the other bits I made this week scroll down - yes, don't faint, I also managed a couple of non WOYWW posts this week, go me). 

But I digress. Here's my desk. I'm working on another page. The letter prompt is C. I wonder if you can guess what this one is about. The paper with the postage stamp has a very special postmark on it which I'm hoping to include somehow. WIP. 

Here's one I did earlier this week. It uses another of my own digital images that I found printed out in a folder and thought it was about time I used them. This page is H for 'Hope'.

 

And that's me for this week. I am dithering between moving onto bottle decorating, notebook making or starting on the NBUS. (Never Been Used Stuff - and you thought the WIPs were a big project). 

Votes please. 

Have a good Wednesday. Stay home if you can, stay well, stay safe. 

Cindy xx

Getting Painty

During the endless purge/tidy up whatever you want to call it I came across some images from I would guess nearly 10 years ago that I drew when I was considering whether it would be possible to break in to the digital stamping market. There are 4 original designs and needless to say I never took it any further. So they have just been sitting in a file all this time. As I still have the desk set up for paints and mess, I thought I would do a couple of small canvases with two of the images.

I drew these designs when I first discovered the Julie Nutting prima dolls - which I still love. I know some  people don't like the 'faceless' look but I do like the way the characters have attitude even without facial expressions, and at the time I was even less confident with faces than I am now. Whilkst doing these pieces I toyed with the idea of adding eyes etc for about 30 seconds - but decided that on balance I liked them 'vacant' and that I would keep to the original spirit of the drawings.

Hope you like.

Not WOYWW For a change

I haven't done a non WOYWW blog post for such an age, I doubt anyone will even notice. But in the spirit of doing what I want to do this week, I joined in a FB live tutorial. Here is the result. Words are sort of an in joke. 

What's On Your Workdesk, Wednesday? WOYWW# 576

Greetings. I hope you are all well, though I am no longer exactly sure what anyone is supposed to be doing any more. I am at home. I am staying here. For quite a while I would think.

Did you miss me? I'm afraid I really lost the plot last week, I didn't realise it was Wednesday until fairly late in the afternoon. I know we joke that the weeks are blurring but perleeze  - I really needed to get my head together. It had been a trying weekend.  

Anyhoo, I have been cracking on with my WIP boxes. Here is no 3.

Oh yeah, your eyes do not deceive you. WIP Box No 3 is empty. Go me. I have just one last project from that box on my desk to finish. I have made over 150 cards I think, mainly using the leftover bits from classes, odd stamped or printed images and die cuts, just whatever has been hanging around. The quality is variable, but it's a big tick as far as I am concerned. Liberating even. If anyone has any interest in checking out my lockdown cards, you can check out my album here.

So here is my desk, and this is the last WIP project from box 3, one I did in class about two years ago. Or maybe 3, I keep forgetting to add at least an extra 3 months on to everything. (I just looked at the instructions - it says we did this project in January 2017!!!) . I've got two 'kits' left over from that class to make up and then Box 3 is done. At the back you can see my samples for a kid's craft video I am doing for Ealing Libraries in support of the Summer Reading Challenge. Yes, I know I said I wouldn't do it anymore but  ............

However I haven't finished catching up with the WIPs/UFOs. There is still the 'Prepped Workshop Classes' box -  I really can't recall what is in there. Obviously it should be prepped classes but other stuff seems to ahem, end up in there. Still that should be a quickie. I'm more concerned about Box no 5 which is labelled (rather ominously)  'Mixed Media Workshop and Christmas'. There could be literally anything in there and I know it hasn't moved in a while..... Possibly full of toilet rolls and bubblewrap. But why Christmas? Because box no 6 is actually - you guessed it  - CHRISTMAS (earmarked for July in case you are interested). But enough of the boxes, to celebrate I'm having a week off to do just what I want. Which may of course turn out to be just lounging in the garden in between thunderstorms. With a cream tea. For some reason I included scones, jam and clotted cream in my weekly shop. (I blame Helen). DD is self isolating as she broke ranks and spent the weekend with her Significant Other so I don't have anyone to indulge with. Not sure it's as satisfying if you eat it on your own. Or maybe it is. Maybe my neighbour is free....

Why am I telling you all this? Because it's WOYW Wednesday, the day when we go for a wander around the desks of the great and the good courtesy of the lovely Julia at Stamping Ground. Pop on over and join in why don't ya?

Have a good Wednesday. Stay home. stay well, stay safe.

Cindy x

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday? WOYWW # 574

Well I am just going to start with the perpetual moan - how come the weeks go so fast? You would think in lockdown that boredom would have set in but no, I haven't really found that to be the case although there is an element of Groundhog day creeping into my life. But hey ho, here we are again, it's cooler today and although my day has had nothing but interruptions so far (good ones!!) I am finally in the craft room and determined to get some 'stuff' done. Which sentence made me smile, thinking of a friend I just spoke to who said she'd like to go back to  the begining of lockdown and start again because she hadn't achieved anything yet. 

So this week, because I am playing with my new phone, and my craft room is reasonably tidy, and I haven't subjected you to a loooong post in a while, we have a threefer photograph wise.

First, this is my computer desk area where I construct these wonderful WOYWW posts. 

As you can see it is perfectly ergonomically correct lol. The three drawer cabinet on the left is full of ribbon. FULL OF. The boxes on top of the printer are the cards I am going to send out/store, notebooks, ink cartridges and recycled envelopes. The box you can just see to the right of the pc is WIP Box 3 which I am currently working on. The rest is fairly self explanatory I would think. Honestly it looked much tidier through the camera lens. And something there especially for you Jan.

This is my work desk, with the good views and light. Yesterdays WIPS - why on earth did I think a parrot die would be a good idea? - three little glossy accent noses drying on the doggies. That weird thing at the back is my atc holder - it's usually full of the current year's WOYWW swap ATCs but of course 2019's are all in the folder. 

This is my main desk which juts into the centre of the room and where I regularly make a HUGE mess. It's also what I use when I have visitors who like to craft and I can even pull it out a bit bigger (but then we can't move much!!)  You can see 4 of my die cut machines over to the left and my scan n cut to the right behind my cuppa. Five? That's not too many is it? (huh Try 12, you just can't see them all) . My desk is all set up for overhead video mode (please don't laugh) as I have one to do today. Look at that EMPTY box on the chair. That was WIP box 2. 



And finally, just because I mentioned it last week, here is what I did with those makeup cut outs that were on my desk .


Why am I telling you all this? Because it's WOYW Wednesday, the day when we go for a wander around the desks of the great and the good courtesy of the lovely Julia at Stamping Ground. Pop on over and join in why don't ya?

Happy WOYWW, stay home if you can, 
stay well, 
stay safe, 


Cindy xx