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You are welcome to copy any of my designs, as long as you do not take credit for them yourself. I am very happy for you to sell them. If I have used anyone else's design, I always try to give credit where it is due. If I have missed anything, please let me know and I will put things right.


This is intended to be mainly about my crafting stories, as a personal record of what I do. However, I interpret crafting quite widely, not just paper crafting but other things too. I have a butterfly mind and like to change from one thing to another depending on what I feel like on a given day - knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, cards, baking and several others, including my favourite right now, parchment, both traditional skills and Groovi, very relaxing and calming to do.

I have decided to put some structure into my blog so that each day will have something of a theme.
Monday- for Mindfulness; Tuesday - Tidy Up Day; Wednesday - What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday; Thursday - Technique and Tips; Friday - Finish Off Day; Saturday - Start Something New; Sunday - Anything Goes
These themes are not hard and fast and will be changed if I feel the need.

Wednesday 16 March 2011

WOYWW - 93

This is my desk as it was when I left it last night, and is, as yet, untouched today.  No time to play today, life is interferring agan.  As you can see, the working space is diminishing again.  I cleared it all and tidied it a couple of days ago, but stamping and playing with different methods of colouring plays havoc with space. 

I have been trying out different ways of using Barbara Gray's Flower stamp with its little flowers, and you may be able to see that one at the front of my desk.  I stamped it onto cartridge paper with a distressed ink pad ( I cannot remember which colour), then masked off the centre of the "O" and brayered the rest of the design with Juniper and Cloudy Blue Adirondack.  I then masked the rest off, and stamped the flowers into the "O", again using the distressed ink.  I tried colouring with the Aquamarkers I have, but I was not really satisfied with the result - a bit anaemic and dull.

I have just had a set of Derwent Metallic coloured pencils, so I thought I would see if adding those to the mix would improve things.   I found they added just a little more depth of colour in a more accurate way, and were a little more intense, lifting the design just enough.  Then I outlined the main design with Barbara Gray's technique of a deckle edged fine line in gold, mounting it on to purple pearlescent card, then onto god and back to the purple, before mounting the whole thing on a creamy coloured pearlescent card, with the addition of gold ribbon and bow.

The other design you can see is another attempt at the embroidery design printed on to cartridge paper again, and coloured in with Staedtler fine liners, and brayered with the Cloudy Blue and Juniper.  I also printed the lady at the centre again, with the idea of decoupaging her onto the flat design.  Not sure yet how that will work out.

As you may have read in an earlier post, our fourth grandchild, Rosie, was finally born last Thursday.  We went to meet her on Friday afternoon (what a vile time to tackle the M42), and she was so beautiful.  The shawl had been finished earlier, but, of course, the card could not be finished until we knew whether she was a boy or girl and what her name and date were.  The main parchment work was done and the colouring of the cot, and two pieces of card folded with two different colours of ribbon.  The writing was done, following a tip from Pauline Loweth, by printing it out, spaced correctly, and traced through on to the parchment with a white pencil.  Then I went over that with the Quickie glue pen, allowed that to almost dry, and dabbed and rubbed it with Martha Stewart glitter, and brushed off any excess.  I then left it overnight to dry off thoroughly.

I was at it before breakfast, and embossed the writing from the back to push it out, get some depth and increase the shine on the words and centre design on the cot.  The ribbons on the parchment were also coloured pink, and then the ribbon and bow attached with Pinflair glue gel, and the whole thing left to dry and harden.  The insert was done in My Craft Studio, using a pretty rose photo I already had, which I tiled to make the background, with a blank centre for the words.

I am off now to have a look at lots of other desks thanks to the help of our leader, Julia at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/      but I must say thank you to all those who took the time and trouble to read my various posts this week and to leave lovely comments.  I apologise to all those I did not get to visit in my turn.  I will try to do better this week.

I will leave you with a final photo, courtesy of our son who posted it on Facebook, of Rosie with her big sister, Charlotte.  I defy you not to say "aaahh".

31 comments:

Victoria said...

your grandchildren are simply gorgeous.
lovely tidy desk and a beautiful card x

Di said...

Oh Maggie - what a lovely photo of your grand daughters! Def. worth an Aaah! The card you made looks beautiful - oh boy, you have a lot of patience! Congratulations again on the safe arrival of Rosie! Di x

Helen said...

No, not going to - oooooohhhhhhhh!!! can't resist, you're right!

Sarn said...

I did not defy you! I said "awwwww". Bless 'em.Happy WOYWW.
Hugs, Sandra (no. 71)

Elizabeth said...

Hi Maggie, well, I did say 'aaahh' as expected. Such a sweet shot of the the two little ones. The baby card is gorgeous - you put in such a lot of work to make it so. And your 'flower' card is lovely too. A busy and creative desk today. Elizabeth x #74

Zue said...

Congratulations on the arrival of Rosie..how wonderful!
Sue xx 93

Anonymous said...

Aww! Great photo, let's hope they still behave like that when they're teenagers! Love how the card turned out and how gratifying to see the shawl being used after all your hard work.

Hugs
Brenda 114

Shaz in Oz.CalligraphyCards said...

aahhhhhhh how cute!! I cant not say it Maggie your post is gorgeous in many many directions!! love your mug and tin organiser at the back of your desk has my mind ticking but dont have real work desk yet .. one day am still in dining room..adore the FLOWER work there and the baby parchment card very pretty but pickie does not do it justice IRL mush better I am sure!!
Is My Craft Studio a free download or a programme you own as you mentioned it on another of my posts too??
love and God bless,
Shaz in Oz.xx

Cauliflower Cupcake said...

Aaahhhhh !! can't not say it!
happy WOYWW
Rebecca (45) x

Twiglet said...

Congrats on baby Rosie - that photo is perfect!!

jude said...

Congratulations on the new arrival of Rosie .I bet hse looks adorable in that shawl
hugs judex9

Annie said...

Welcome to baby Rosie :-)
I'm having a really busy week but am quickly dropping by to make sure all our WOYWW friends get the chance to win the last of our weekly draws before the BIG one over in our blog shop. Pop over and join in the fun. Good luck.
Hugs,
A x
http://sisterscraftycreations.blogspot.com/

okienurse said...

Congrats on the new grandbaby! I have a new one on the way in September! Thanks for sharing! Vickie #52

Carola Bartz said...

Congratulations on the new granddaughter - she's so cute (I looked at her in the post below) and the picture of her and her bigger sister is just adorable. The baby card you made is beautiful.

Neet said...

thrilled to read such wonderful news - and what a task to begin so early in the morning - that card is beautiful. Love the photo of Rosie and Charlotte - two lovely names as well.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your new addition and welcome to the world little Rosie! Your card is beautiful. Thanks for stopping by my desk. Happy WOYWW #19

HeARTworks said...

Oh how sweet that is! All is right with the world! God bless them! Patsy from
HeARTworks

Julia Dunnit said...

Oh yes, a big ahhhh from me - I've been looking at your earlier pics too - my what a little dot she is! How gorgeous, and blessed with a loving family too.

shazsilverwolf said...

Yes, another ahhhh from me to Marg- that is such a sweet picture. Lovely cards too Marg, love, Shaz

Maggie's Crafts said...

Great space and adorable pic.:)

Thank you for sharing. :)

Want to know more about shrink plastic? Pop over to my blog to see shrink plastic tutorial.:) http://maggiescraft.blogspot.com/

Maggie
x

Hettie said...

Awwwwww! Gorgeous! Been playing with your cat on your sidebar! It is cute and I am not a cat lover! LOL!! Little things please.....

voodoo vixen said...

Congratulations on the arrival of your latest grandbaby!! Love your baby card, such a lot of detail work on it too!! Annette #5

SDCrafts said...

Ahh! Am so jealous as have 5 grandsons through marriage none of my 'own' grandchildren! It must be so wonderful to make things for the expected child and then to meet her for the first time. Enjoy! And I have enjoyed the visit to your room and seeing a glimpse of the varied crafts you undertake.

Mrs A. said...

Card is just perfect for Rosie. Just got back home. Think monkey has been having a party whilst I've been away. Hugs Mrs A.#57

karen said...

Awwww, there is just no way to resist saying it! How sweet are they?!
The card you have made for baby Rosie is beautiful and will be a beautiful keepsake that she will treasure in the future!
Thanks for visiting me! Sorry I am so late this week!
xoxo Karen

The Crafty Elf said...

Oh my gosh she is just beautiful. Congratulations! Your card is just lovely! Nice organized work desk.

Nicky said...

Yep I said Ahh and wow to you card you made its stunning - Happy Belated WOYWW - Nicky

SueH said...

Such pretty cards Maggie, especially the one for your new Granddaughter.
(Congratulations to mum & Dad and Nan and Granddad too)

I’ve dabbled in a spot of Pergamano in the past so appreciate the amount of work and time that goes into making a card using that technique. I’m sure it will be treasured.

Happy Crafting!
Sue
X

Morti said...

ohhhh - sweet picture of the bairns! Lovely cards on your desk this week...

Spyder said...

arr! Such a lovely picture! I'm soo late with my woyww! But, you could say I'm early for tomorrow! Hope you've got your phone sorted out, I hate mine, it tries to 'guess' what I'm writing and never gets it right! Your desk looks very tidy and your card is lovely! Have a happy Tuesday! (Lyn)

Anonymous said...

Beautiful art, and I love that you're experimenting and exploring. Of course, the moment you post your beautiful grandchildren, everything else gets forgotten!

Thank you for sharing.
cheers, rachel #70