Tuesday, 18 August 2020

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday #585 - Giveaway!!

Hello there, hope all is well with you. It's Wednesday again, really can't get my head around how that happens so quickly. I have to be honest, despite my best intentions if I don't get to you by Thursday lunchtime I'm probably not gonna make it, other things get in the way and the days just go too fast. However if you tried to pin me down I probably couldn't tell you what I'm doing........ Anyhoo, here's my desk.


Pic as of Tuesday afternoon, as I knew I intended to tidy my room Tues evening. As you can see I have had a bit of a week of obsessing over the leaf backgrounds we did with Tracey Evans. I did so many of them (beware:- as addictive as gelli printing) I made two more books and a whole bunch of cards. They are all pretty much the same!! So I have basically been playing with the same stuff all week. 😊 Time to stop and put a few things away methinks but I haven't used all the tags yet!! (See how clean that desk is!!)


Anyhoo, I thought we could have one of the books as a giveaway. 

If you want to be included please indicate in the comments, I'll leave it a week and pick someone out next Tuesday. 

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

Wednesday, 12 August 2020

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday #584

Heavens, It's Wednesday again. 
I've been AWOL again, I am definitely losing track of time, the plot, my mind..........

How is everyone? On the one hand I feel like I have been incredibly adventurous, I've been to visit friends, my family, I've been to a shop or two and even to the pub. But I've also sat around a lot in this heat wondering what I am doing with my life, what is happening in the world, what does the future hold, are we moving forwards or backwards and why after nearly 6 months of lockdown isn't the house sorted, all my crafting done and why haven't I managed to get fitter and 10 lbs lighter? I'd always thought I didn't get around to things because of lack of time. It appears there is a more deep seated reason than that......Don't get me wrong, I have got things done, the Christmas cards are pretty much made for this year, just a couple of special family ones to do but I got a bit sidetracked by outings and general laziness so will probably be out till the end of August. (I'm in no rush apparently). 
Here's a couple of designs. 



I am in two minds whether to even bother with other christmassy bits as jury is still out as to whether there will be any craft sales etc this year. Maybe I'll start on next year's cards.....

However, enough of my whinging, here is a cropped desk shot showing lots of tags:-



These are the result of an online workshop with Tracy Evans last weekend and it was such fun, it's really got my mojo going again. I dutifully got out all the stamps etc I thought would use prior to the class and had everything out tidily and ready for action. Half an hour in it was absolute chaos and went downhill from there. But def the most fun I've had in ages and I made some serious inroads into those NBUS as well as re-discovering stuff I haven't used in ages. (Apart from the skeleton leaves, never did find them).  It's Tuesday afternoon now and I am just about to start gluing the tags together to create a book. It will take a while. While my craft room is such a mess I thought I'd try another one, but it's soooo hot I am going at a snail's pace.......

DD went back to work today, and had to go to Camberley (which is well south of us in N London) rather than a direct trip in to paddington HO where she usually works. I feel for her as she has to take a bus and two trains and it adds at least an hour to her journey both ways even if everything actually matches up. To be fair, it was her choice to return, she could have stayed on furlough, but they asked her and she feels she needs to show willing as there will almost certainly be redundancies. What a week to have to go back to work as well!! At least one of the trains has a/c. She texted me to say she had taken a coffee and her make up to put on - then realised not very easy with a mask on!! Hopefully it won't be every day and she will be able to work from home at least 2 days a week. It also means our bubble is well and truly shattered now, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that. No more hugs for me. 

Finally, here's a recent commission. Hand coloured with pencils which is rare for me but I quite like how this turned out. I used double sided card stock for the mat which was a different blue each side. It was the last piece I had. 3 times I cut the letters out with the cardstock the wrong way round. The air was a bit blue that day as well. 



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

Tuesday, 21 July 2020

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday # 581

Morning all!! Been a very quiet week craftwise as I had to ditch Christmas in favour of a few commissions that came in (all still secret so no pics) and a few birthdays of my own that I needed to get done (also still secret lol). Plus a couple of days in the garden sorting out the last of my seedlings. The week went very quickly (as usual), and the highlight was a family BBQ at my sister's for her birthday on Saturday. It's the first time since March we have all been together (basically 2 bubbles meeting up in case you are keeping track!). It was a good night, but we are a very huggy family and I missed our usual hugs as we are still trying to be good. I've been getting a few requests to meet up with friends for the odd socially distanced coffee etc over the next couple of weeks so my social life is starting to look up. 

I also received some gorgeous happy mail from Debbie at 'Tattered Rocks' as I won one of her giveaways - it's the last one this week so do check it out -  there may still be time to join in! 
I received this gorgeous clock which now has pride of place in my craft room. I am absolutely delighted with it - isn't it gorgeous? As some of you know I used to do a lot of giveaways - if I did something for next week would anyone be interested? (Can't guarantee it wouldn't be Christmas related ...........only joking).

Well my actual desk then, from a slightly different angle. It's hardly feng shui is it? Mountains of stuff! 










The crazy Christmas pile is still over at the back, and I've been playing with a paper artsy stamp and my distress oxides - I have quite a few but for some reason I haven't used them much. Not sure why as they are really nice to work with. My trusty bug (anchored to my Tim Holtz glass mat - the only thing it sticks to for more than 5 minutes) is on show too as well as a huggies box with my card mats in. I think I must have bought a lot of baby wipes at one stage as there certainly hasn't been a baby in this house for over 20 years!! I think I may have to cover that box, heaven knows I have enough paper. Two more birthday cards to make and I really must do some 'admin' - Christmas is going to be lucky to get a look in again this week!! 

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










Wednesday, 15 July 2020

What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday #580

CHRISTMAS!
But I am getting ahead of myself. Morning deskers, it's Wednesday again, blog-hopping time. 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.. 

Add caption

SO ... here is my desk. The 'hat' snowmen at the back were coloured when I was on holiday in Spain in February (Pause while she mourns her past life) so they only needed to be finished off. The snowflake cards again were already cut out just has to make up. I am currently making up some rocker snowmen cards - the little characters are v cute but lots of fiddly bits. Don't know why I cut so many - must have thought I would do a class. 

The thing is with this whole 'get Christmas done' idea is that I have a bundle of unfinished projects - at least 25 - that in my head need to take priority. So not very creative, just production. So there's been a bit of procrastinating this week. Just getting out all of my Christmas stuff was a task in itself and slightly overwhelming. 
This is about half of it. 


Anyhoo that's it for me, hope you all have a lovely week.

Happy WOYWW, stay well, stay safe, Cindy x 

Monday, 13 July 2020

NBUS 4 - Clearing the decks

Made so many of those flowers up I needed to use them to make some cards. Decided I would make use of some of my big sentiment stamps that I never get around to using because, well they are pretty big!! Chose a fairly simply style and stuck with it in different colourways. The gingham backing paper is from a huge £1 6 x 6 pad. Pretty pleased with these and used up lots of scraps as the circles were already cut out and the mats came from my scrap box. (Obviously gutted to make the scalloped mats). Again only a selection.



Clearing the decks now because I am moving on to Christmas till the end of the month. Watch this space!! The NBUS will still be there when I get back though. 


Sunday, 12 July 2020

Using my stash - NBUS 4!

For this NBUS session I grabbed a Lisa Horton die (Stitched Blooms). I had a Pinterest idea to try out, so grabbed lots of tone on tone card stock scraps (the ideal size for these dies) and cut out a bunch of flowers and layered them up.

I then went to my trusty Scan n cut (which has hardly been used this year) to see if I could create a cutting file to simulate a word border edge die. (There's probably a free one somewhere if I'd bothered to look). Well, I managed it, easier to look at it to see what I mean. After a couple of false starts I twigged that it's only really feasible when none of the letters go 'below the line'. Hence 'hello'. 

I wanted to find a small sentiment to white heat emboss below the 'hello'. Until this point it was all under control, but the search for suitable sentiments resulted in a wrecked craft room. There has to be an easier way LOL. Anyhow, here's what I ended up with. 


I did a bunch of these with different sentiments and combinations of flowers but I won't bore you with them all. I tried to do another one with 'thanks', but must have misjudged because I just ended up with the letters cut out. Will have to try that  one again, but waste not want not. 


And, of course, I had to use the 'hello' waste as well. And another gelli print.



Lots of flowers  left.......












































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Thursday, 9 July 2020

Side tracked by some YUPO...

Whilst rummaging amongst the gelli prints I also came across some alcohol ink prints on yupo made with lift off ink. I really should try out that technique again but for now here are two cards I made  utilising those gelli prints as backgrounds. The stamp is by Ali Reeve.


I particularly like the sentiment on this one - very appropriate for me! The stamps is a Lynn Perella design. The 'lift off' is really unusual. 


What's On Your Desk? Wednesday # 850

Morning d eskers, welcome to our weekly Wednesday Blog Hop WOYWW,   now being hosted on Sarah Brennan's blog. Here's the link for th...