WOYWW #177

Time again for our regular Wednesday blog hop, masterminded by Julia Dunnit of Stamping Ground.

Time to visit the tidy and the untidy, the creative and the waiting-for-mojo. We're not fussy, just nosey.

Now, those of you who had begun to think I had gone all tidy may want to look away now - for here is my desk this week.

I did have an excuse -  I was trying to finish things off for my MacMillan Coffee Morning on Monday and haven't been back since I abandoned it.

The rest of the room fared no better whilst I was in the throes of  my crafting frenzy.

We did very well, raising £220, largely from the sale of cards and other items as well as plenty of tea and cake.

And 14 for lunch at my dining room table was cosy to say the least.

That's all from me this week, working four straight days from now on so will do my  best to get round as many desks as possible but may well be visiting late into the night! Happy WOYWW, indeed Happy  Halloween as well if  that's your bag.




 

And the October Art Draw is .......

Fuschia. If you could let me have your addy that would be great.

Sorry no pictures and I'm late, been busy with my MacMillan Coffee Morning. We raised £220 so far!! Hope to get a little more by taking the leftover cakes etc  to work tomorrow.

Now, time to get arty and inky!!

Just a reminder .......

that you have until 9.00pm tonight to enter my steampunk giveaway.

For details click on the picture top right.

Cindy

What's on Your workdesk Wednesday # 177

It's Wednesday again, and time for our weekly deskhop courtesy of our illustrious leader the lovely Julia of Stamping Ground. Pop on over there to find out all about it and join in!!I've been playing and the main desk is just a pile of bits and bobs but as I have actually been being productive I thought this week I'd show you my other two desk areas (one of which is cunningly disguised as a chair)

So voila some cards. Had my dylusions inks out to make some backgrounds though most of these I think are from the papers I put in my spray box when I'm having a bit of a spritz. Wanted a few simple but 'arty farty' cards for my Macmillan coffee morning (eek, it's next week!!), makes a change from teddy bears and flowers.

Kept them quite simple, but the backgrounds are quite lush. mmmmmm
 
And also been making tags, again playing with the dylusions and those Lynn Perella stamps.

Not sure where these are going but it's good to play!

So that's it for this week, I am home this Wednesday so should make my rounds in good time. Thank you to my new followers - I have noticed and will be round to visit those with blogs as well.

Happy WOYWW everyone!!

 

Try it On Tuesday - HALLOWEEN and DT Call

Image from Flickr Group

Well I guess it has to be done. Maybe one day I'll give in and buy a lot of halloween stuff but not this year!!

Here is my DT piece for the current Try it on Tuesday challenge, a stamped and collaged ATC.

I was going to make a spooky altered bottle as I have been much inspired by the ghoulish goings on at Laura Carson's blog, Artfully Musing but I couldn't even find a decent bottle!! If you have a few minutes to spare go over and have a look if halloween is your thing - there is some gorgeous eye candy. I can never believe people find so much 'stuff' to put on their altered art - I certainly wouldn't know where to look for it.

So I'm sure you've all got a little halloween project you can share with us at TioT. It can be any type of project that fits the theme, but you must remember not to link to more than 5 challenges if you want to be considered for Top 5.

We also have a design team call out until 20th November so whether you are a newbie or an experienced crafter why not have a go? Just add DT after your TioT entry so we know you are interested.

I'm happy to gift or trade this ATC if anyone would like it - first one to say so in the comment box. and, err, .....
 HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!
 

What's on Your Workdesk, Wednesday #

On my desk today are the bits I was working on at the WOYWW crop on Saturday.

First the flowery wreath in Christmas papers that I brought to do. Needs a bit of ribbon but otherwise finished.

Absolutely rubbish photo as ever.





And here are the dominos I made at Morti's master class. I didn't dare put the glossy accents on before I came home but they turned out quite nice. Who'd have thought those huge Lynn Perella stamps would work on a domino?

So busy nattering (and eating, there was also a lot of eating......) I didn't quite get round to doing Julia's project on the day. But here it is finished. 

Really like those little stars. Amazing, when someone else makes all the decisions I can really work quite quickly....

At the end of the day we were given some little goodie bags (very naughty, as we were told not to bring gifts) with a lovely hand made gift from LLJ (sorry forgot to photo it) and another bits n bobs challenge from Julia.

Here's what I made with that.

 

It was so nice to meet everyone, WOYWW has now become even more special. If you don't know what WOYWW is it's about time you found out! Go over to see Julia at Stamping Ground and join in!!

I hope you all have a lovely day vistiting one another today. Unfortunately I probably won't be around to visit  until tomorrow evening. I have to go and and get my photo taken with the Olympic Torch (for being a route marshal when it came through the town), then I have to go to work, then straight up to town for a charity music event that some friends are taking part in and then work again Thursday. But I will be visiting this week so hope to see you soon.

And finally here's sock monkey with my WOYWW badge, my chocolate medal (keeping that for emergencies) and my name badge from the day.

Am uploading this quite early as I don't have a lot of time  in the morning and will just link up as soon as I can.

Happy WOYWW!!!

Tim's Tags again - playing catch up!!

Right here are my catch up tags for July and August (don't know what happenned to those two months!!)

First, July - Tim's tag is here. The main technique for this was alcohol splatter ink background (nice technical term don't you think?) I know Tim likes us to be resourceful but I'm not sure he expected us to substitute his neat can of compressed air for a curly straw. But needs must when the devil drives and it was the best I could find in the kitchen drawer (!).

Despite perhaps a less than efficient tool I was still able to produce some reasonable results. Here are my finished tags:

Finally got a chance to give one of my Lynn Perella stamps a work out (truly it is killing me not to play but I just haven't had time).

I really love the vibrancy of these backgrounds and they are great with crisp black stamping (or not so crisp - I double stamped one as the first impression was a little wishy washy but I think it adds a certain something - OK, I think I got away with it!!).

Typically the little test piece I had done that I  then just stamped and made into an ATC came out the best.

And now on to August - Tim's vintage style ATC is here. The techniques on this ATC were to heat emboss a frame and then using an embossing folder to dry emboss the tag leaving the centre blank. I used an Anna Griffin frame and (as I don't have the folder Tim used) embossed the tag very carefully by just putting it through the cuttlebug so that only part of the tag was embossed (Hope that makes sense!). Came out quite well. I don't have a silhouette stamp but had these paper cameos. Tim used his pine cone die (I am tempted....) to make his roses but I used the Spellbinders bitty blossoms spiral die. I think they make great roses though I did follow Tim's pinching and folding technique which I think helps make the kraft paper a bit more pliable. The rest is just inking and spritzing. All in all quite pleased with all these tags, which just shows if you concentrate on the technique things come out a bit better.

But why (you may ask) do I make two of each? Well I did say I would do this so that at the end of the year I can have a whole set for either my December or January giveaway, keeping one for myself of course!! So far I'm only a little bit off track, and they should all be done by the end of the year. But if you can't wait till  then, just a reminder that the current giveaway is still running. Click here to have a look.

Oh well, that was my little escape from making bits for MacMillan so now I'm back making cards.

I also had another little craft break at the WOYWW Crop yesterday - what fun, hopefully I'll put a few piccies up tomorrow! Ate too much, talked too  much..... oh well what's new? Must dash, have to prep for an interview tomorrow, I've been putting it off all day and now it's dinner time - oops!!


 

Tags of 2012 - October

Halloween tags. I'm not a great fan of Halloween and I don't have many Halloween bits n bobs. So what I shuld have done is take the technique and do something different. Doh. But instead I tried to copy Tim's and I'm not overly enamoured of the results. Pop over to see Tim's original tag and instructions here.

Could have cropped the photo as well but didn't LOL. Loved the background effect, although I did use a very fine book old page and following Tim's warning was careful not to be too over enthusiastic with the baby wipe wiping. The stamping and the shimmer made it yummy.  I didn't have black glitter or black alcohol ink so I tried my Staz-on re-inker to re-colour my white glitter. Ve-ry messy, and it didn't 'de-clump' once the ink had dried as Tim says the alcohol inks do and went absolutely everywhere. It also comes out rather purple, which fortunately went OK with the background. Frankly I think I'll just  put black glitter on my shopping list, at least if I brush it off my clothes there won't be a risk of ink stains. Anyhow used it to cover an old grungeboard skull and words and spider I cut out myself. Quite pleased with the way they turned out it's just all the other bits, nothing seems to look quite right so it looks rather unfinished to me. I also bizarrely chose a different sized tag to the ones I have been using so my tag book will have different sized tags. I worried about that for exactly 5 seconds.

And on the subject of that book, some of you may think OK, so this is October's tag where are July through September? They are coming along, and will be here shortly!!

Autumn Colours at Try it On Tuesday

 

This time of year, between when the kids go back to school and the clocks go back,more than any other reminds me of the years when my children were younger and life seemed somehow simpler. I remember the leisurely walks home from school, playing in the park and making the most of the last of the sun, collecting conkers (boy, did we collect a lot of conkers!!) and watching the trees change colour as the days passed. It's quite  a few years since we've done that, and in fact I don't have anyone going back to school or even college this year as they are officially all growed up, but the autumn days still fill me with a certain nostalgia and a longing for that time. So when I saw the theme for this fortnight's challenge was Autumn Colours I thought I'd make a sort of journal/canvas to commemorate that feeling.

 

I actually think this project looks better IRL, it's basically a canvas with some gorgeously blended autumn colours overstamped with leaf images in brown memento ink. The leaves are printed from a digikit and covered with printmagic - they do actually look quite leaflike! - and the figures are from an inkadinkadoo stamp. I couldn't find a sentiment that expressed what I wanted to say so I wrote my own (so don't laugh).

Everyone loves Autumn colours they are so rich and warm so why not create your own project and join us at Try it on Tuesday? Just remember to enter only five challenges in total if you want to be considered for Top 5. Can't wait to see what you get up to!!

I'm putting this up really early as I have yet to master the scheduled post (well, I think I understand it, it just never seems to actually happen) and I am off to Paris in the morning - Yay!!

a bientot,

Cindy

I made a moo!!

I saw these  sweet little houses on Tammy Beck's Flickr gallery and asked for a trade - I sooooo miss getting art in the mail, really must get my act together and find some swaps to join in with.

Believe it or nor I have never made a moo before - and they are sooooooo small. I had a go, but I don't think this is a size I will use a lot (unless it's inside a slide mailer!!)

Here are my attempts.

Haven't beenup to much else this week but making kit cards, although I have been quite successful at using up all those little bits that get left over. Once again, all in aid of the Macmillian coffee morning.

Anyhow, that's all for now!!

Cindy

WOYWW # 174

Goodness these weeks fly by. Here's my desk, crazy mad covered in cards in preparation for my MacMillan Coffee Morning - thankfully not for a couple of weeks yet. The lopsided lollipop tree is a new WIP I started on Sunday night on a whim.... and haven't got back to yet. Still trying to be tidy, but the stamp box does need to be dealt with.

Why am I showing you this? Because it's time for our weekly show and tell, led by Julia Dunnit of Stamping Ground. Pop over there and join in the fun!!

I'm at work today, so will be visiting late in the day unless I can sneak on at work at lunchtime. And  I know the gravy tub is still naked - I said it was on the list, I didn't say it was at the top!

Happy WOYWW everyone.

Steampunk Dreams - October Art Draw

As promised, this month I am giving away this collection of 4 x 4 pages.

Therev are 6 pages in total and to see the whole selection go here. But for now here are just a couple more...

As usual, the Art Draw is open to all, and international players are welcome. All you have to do to be included is leave a comment on this post before Sunday 28th October 2012 and your name will go 'in the hat'. Feel free to link from your own blogs if you have the time and  inclination to do so - let me know and I will put you in the draw twice.

Thanks for playing!!