WOYWW - 95

This was my desk on Tuesday afternoon, after I had finished off several annoying little jobs that had been hanging on.  You can see a Kindle, which has just had a new book loaded on to it (I prefer to do that through the computer rather than use Wi-Fi, and it then finished charging up through the USB.  The two black covers are hiding two half terrabyte removable hard drives, which I use to move stuff from one computer to another. The second picture is specially to show Jana.  My pincushion is a different colour, but otherwise just the same.Other than that, not much to be seen.

What I had removed, written and put in their envelopes, was all the cards I need for family and friends for April.  I have to do them early, so I can get May done, which is a big month for my family.  One part of the family is inconsiderate enough to have all their birthdays and anniversaries in May.  I tend to do them all, put them into one large envelope and send them all off together to one address for them to sort out.

I also did some cards to enter into the Less is More challenge this week, which you can find at http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/.  I thought that this would be an easy task, but it really stretched my poor little brain.  However, I did get some cards out of it that I was happy with and had a use for.  It made me look very differently at some of the things I had got in my cupboards.  The first two were just what I wanted for my two twin sisters-in-law, and had to be finished early so their brother (my husband, of course) could sign them himself and avoid family upset.  They were both based on Crafters Companion Flower Fairies, using the Rose Fairy.  I printed the background direct to the card, together with the sentiment, and the borders, which came from MCS Papercraft Library.  The cameos were also the Rose Fairy, and I edged them with a Red Krylon pen, which had the added advantage of masking any odd bits of white card left from cutting out.  Then I added a little glitter to her wings.

The next one was using a new set of stamps, based on Jane Austen.  This card is for a friend, who loves Jane Austen as much as I do.  I used distressed ink for this one, and blended the ink to soften the outline, and "paint" it in.  The sentiment came from the same set, as did the little cameo.  After I had cut that out, I sprayed it with gold glitter to give it some sparkle.  Then I used another Krylon, the pale gold, to hide the bad bits of cutting out again.  The ribbon was in my box and came from a set of Laura Ashley ribbons, which I thought complimented the image quite well.

The final one for this week (if you have not already nodded off), was also using the Vintage photo distressed ink, and a feather stamp from Clarity Stamps to cover the bottom part of the card.  Another ribbon from the Laura Ashley collection gave me the border.  I cannot remember where I got the owl from, but I thought he fitted the space well.  I trimmed the edges with shaped scissors, sprayed it with gold glitter.  You might be seeing a trend here - the fact that I like glitter (more sparkle that glitter).

I have also been busy trying to sort out some of my stock cards, putting them with their envelopes and into cello bags to protect them from all the plaster dust etc for when I need them.  Perhaps, tomorrow, I can get down to some more playing as well as doing May's cards.  I also hope to follow Elizabeth's example and do one or two Christmas cards and get a head start on that effort.

If you are still with me, then you might like to pop over to our leader, Julia, who kindly hosts the What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/    where you will find over 100 other desks and crafty things to feast your eyes on.

PS which way up should you keep your Tim Holtz distress ink pads.  I picked up a new one off my shelf (admittedly, it is 2 years old, but still sealed) and it was unuseable, all dry and ink free>  should I have stored it upside down?