WOYWW 271

Once again, I am late for the roll call for WOYWW, mainly because I forgot what day it was AGAIN!   I also have to apologise at the lack of a desk this week, but I have not had time to get to it at all.  Instead, I have a few promised pictures to show you.

I have to boast a little this week.  I entered my Ginkgo leaf and Lady's Smock card in July's Clarity Challenge  the subject of which was "Anything Goes", and I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the top 5.  As you might imagine, I was so chuffed as it was done in 55 minutes and only entered at the very last minute.

Now all the Retreats are finished for this year, I can show you the lovely things we did with Barbara Gray in two wonderful days down at Crowborough, apart from hobnobbing with major Royalty.

Over the two days we did 9 separate projects, the final one being an extra that we were allowed for being very good and working fast earlier in the day.  None of the projects are finished articles.  Barbara teaches techniques that e can go away and adapt and perfect later.

The very first one was, I think, my very favourite, being very much in the style I most favour.  The flowers were stamped in their very own hand made ink pad, which was a fascinating thing to create.  I used the same technique for the Lady's Smock in the other card above.  I just love the delicate image it all produces.

This one is a work in progress as you can see, both in the background and the Christmas baubles too.  As I have said, Barbara teaches techniques and we did not spend the extra time to finish the colouring in.  I will get around to that very soon.

This design was the subject of a lot of discussion in the group.  We all loved the effect of the stencilling, but less certain about outlining the leaves and stems, but for the sake of trying it, we did do some to see what we felt afterwards.  I still have mixed feelings, but it is good to try these things.  The bauble in the centre was stamped on double sided adhesive, and the alcohol inks stamped all over the acetate, then laid over the top of the design.  The bird at the bottom was "zentangled" to give it more shape and interest.

 This was another of my favourites, giving us another brilliant use for the Gelli plate and its newly produced Mega Mount which allows it to be used as a giant stamp to create the reflections, and to position them perfectly on the card without going into major contortions.  The trees are from the set of trees and their mantles, such a useful set for all sorts of things.

I will reserve the other projects for another post very soon, otherwise Julia will not be impressed at the length of my contribution today.   I had a wonderful time down in Sussex and shall be booking again next year.  Even the dreaded M25 will not put me off, although that awful island at Headington comes close.

I will not be able to visit many of you until the weekend, due to furniture deliveries and plants to put in the new raised beds in the garden, but I will try to visit as many of you as possible.  Thanks for being such an excellent hostess, Julia, and all of you have a good week.