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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 5 October 2011

WOYWW - 122

I am impressed with myself this week.  I actually did some crafting.  I actually remembered to take the camera (with newly charged battery) up to my craft room, and I remembered to take some photos.  I have also remembered to post a few this time.  By the way, I am putting this post together on Tuesday evening to make sure I remember.

This first picture shows some of my mess.  The Sainsbury's carrier bag is the recycling rubbish, while the non-recycle stuff is in the poo bags (nappy sacks), which are hanging on the light by the window.  I did have quite a bit of clear space this morning, but ideas took over, and the space shrank.

Moving to the right, you can see my computer screen (the keyboard is on the floor, as usual, propped up against the cupboard, and the poor mouse is also buried).  The pretty patterns on the screen are on Windows Media Player and shows that I am playing music, which is stored on the computer.  Today's choice was one of Hayley Westenra's albums, followed by a bit of Spanish pop (downloaded to accompany the photo slideshows from our Spanish trip). 

This lot is on the floor against the cupboard with the two printers on.  I won't show you the printers because you would not see them for all the stuff stacked on top.  You might have gathered by now that my room is full of piles of stuff at the moment.  One of these days I will get around to find space for all the stuff again.

This is my main project for tomorrow - to finish this design.  The stamps are from a set by Sheena Douglass.  I had a go yesterday, but that ended up as a disaster, with no redeeming features about it.  So I turned the card over and started again today, in a more methodical way.  I had intended to colour the train in GWR colours for a friend's birthday, but my colouring  of the black was blotchy and horrid.  so I have decided to do the whole thing in sepia  and to age the card with distress inks.  I shall leave that till tomorrow morning (Wednesday) to ensure that the ink is absolutely dry.

This card is one that almost put itself together and I am quite happy with it.  The couple whose wedding we went to in Spain spent part of their honeymoon in Bratislava, and he particularly loved the castle.  So I managed to find a black and white image, which I turned sepia (using Roxio Photosuite).  I imported it into My Craft Studio and reduced the opacity before printing it on to watercolour card..  That dried very fast, so I trimmed it  a little, before aging the whole thing using cut and dry foam and one of the Tim Holtz distress inks (cannot remember the colour offhand).

I used two different shades of PDA Majestic and Stardream pearlescent card to mount it, first onto dark brown with a very tiny border, then onto the dark olive green card.  I cropped the original image to use as part of the insert and changed the colour of the writing to match (using My Craft Studio).

If you managed to get all the way through to here this week, why don't you click on the link and pop over to Julia Dunnit's pad,  http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/

where you will find loads more interesting desks and some beautiful work to drool over.  Meanwhile, I will try to get round as many of your desks this week to see what you have been up to.  Happy Crafting.

24 comments:

jude said...

Beautiful sepia card im sure he will love it.Blogger playing up and have already typed my message out twice and lost so shall be short just incase loose it again.
Third time lucky me hopes
Have fab wedensday and a creative week .Pop by as i have candy on offer until 26th
hugs Judex9

Neet said...

Lovely card and such a thoughtful image - am sure they will be delighted. Everywhere looks a bit busy this week. Thanks for sharing, Hugs, Neet (unbelievable I am #1 this week)

Shoshi said...

Morning Maggie and happy WOYWW. Before I hop off back to bed for a bit more sleep, just thought I'd pop in and say thanks for the lovely comment on my blog and for your appreciation of my Extremely Impermanent Art which promptly got eaten!! My hubby always laughs at the things I take photos of. To him it would just be a piece of fruit. Nice to be appreciated by someone lol!!!

I LOVE what you have done with that castle picture. It's amazing. It looks as if you've drawn it yourself. They will be so thrilled with it!!

It's especially amazing, considering that to do the photo editing you must have been lying on the floor working virtually upside down with the keyboard at that rakish angle, scrabbling for an invisible mouse which had run underneath who knows what. It's good that you had some nice music to listen to while you were doing it, though.

I'm always amazed at what fellow WOYWW-ers get up to when I'm not looking.

Shaz in Oz.CalligraphyCards said...

Hi there Maggie you have been having fun and really love your sepia card there , really lovely, Shaz in oz.x

Lunch Lady Jan said...

Actually, I think that the station clock and train look really good in that faded vintage sort of way - more effective than if they were in bold black. Hope your friend likes the card! And congrats, seriously, on remembering all the stuff you had to do - that would be a major achievement for me!!!
Hugs, LLJ xx

Twiglet said...

Thanks for the birthday wishes -just taking a break to check out my WOYWW blog buddies. What a great work space you have - and I love the card. x Jo

fairyrocks said...

Your card is wonderful,these Wednesday teasers always make me wish I could just see unders some things or just around the corners.LOL Keep smiling and creating.

SueH said...

How strange, I was only listening to Hayley Westenra's ‘Pure’ album this morning, closely followed by some Josh Groban…..all very relaxing to craft to in my opinion.

Loving your work space this week, there’s such a lot going on and I especially love the card with the castle image. I bet they will be over the moon with it.

Happy Crafting!
Sue
X

Julia Dunnit said...

Hey Maggie - you're quite right - the space shrinks as soon as you get an idea!
Posted the book this avo - hope it gets to you tomoz!

Hettie said...

That Castle picture is gorgeous. I hope the recipient likes it too.
You are so brave to show your room like that. Mine is far too messy and I have lots of piles around it.
Thanks for your visit, even if I did upset you.

Sunshine Girl said...

Great cards - lovely busy space you have there (nothing wrong with piles of stuff everywhere if you ask me!) thanks for sharing.

The Crafty Elf said...

OMGosh Maggie that card is stunning! You've really done an amazing job!! Great pictures of your room I only wish to have as much space...LOL

Emma Williams said...

Fabulous card and it's always great to have a peek around your craft room. Thank you for sharing... :)

Also, a big thank you for all your lovely comments on my blog posts, your kind words really do mean so much.
Love Emma xx

Chrissie said...

I enjoyed having a good old nosey... zoomed in for a close gander, you certainly have a lot of stuff. I love the things you've made and what you're still working on!
Thanks for visiting
Chrissie

Elizabeth said...

Hi Maggie, your talk of piles reminds me of when I worked as one of several overworked medical secretary with permanent backlogs piled high around us one of the in-jokes ran along the lines of 'have you sorted out your piles yet?' Love the sepia images and I'm sure the finished card will be great, of course, and castle card is fab too - I'd say it was a keeper. Thanks for popping in and commenting on my blog ... maybe I should have spread the paper out a bit for you to get a better look because it is gorgeous and I'm really looking forward to using it in my projects. Hope you have a good week. Elizabeth x #75

Mrs A. said...

I love your statement about the ideas took over and the space shrank!!! Happpens to me every day. Must try your explanation out on hubby! Hugs Mrs A.

Di said...

Fantastic sepia images, and the Bratislava castle is stunning! Hmm, this rom's also a lot smaller than it used to be :) Di xxh

Anonymous said...

Beautiful sepia cards Maggie, love the effect. I like your piles of "rubbish" they're interesting to look through!

Hugs
Brenda 67

karen said...

Oh I can see why you are happy with the castle card! It is beautiful! It looks as if you have found a vintage print and mounted it! Fabulous!
Sorry you didn't win my giveaway but keep watch as I will do another one because this one was so fun for me! And I see you won Julia's book!! Congrats on that!! Can't wait to see what fab creations that will inspire in you!
xoxo
Karen

Becky said...

I love how you said "ideas took over" paints quite the picture in my mind :) You seem to put a lot of thought into your cards, love that too as I'm sure the recipients will too!

lisa said...

You are very good having two bags for your rubbish, although what do you throw away that fills a whole bag, I'm intrigued!!!
Your card is looking lovely, I love the sepia tones.
Happy WOYWW
Hugs Lisax

Deb said...

wow, beautiful projects Maggie, love the castle and that train scene is just amazing!
have a great day, Debxx

Victoria said...

nice etching you have there thank you fo ryour visit x

Angela Toucan said...

wonderfully creative desk and floor space. The castle card is beautiful, welldone