WOYWW 521 - Rather late today

Never mind being late today, I am still trying to catch up from last week.  My whole week is totally messed up this week.   Sorry if I did not get round to you last week and I will try to do better this time.

There are about 30 PTCs ( Parchment Trading Cards) here, all different.  I have removed two from the pile to be posted separately.  Otherwise, these will be going with me to Shrewsbury at the weekend.   I have enjoyed playing with these, using different techniques. 

I have also done two wedding/anniversary cards this week but I cannot show them for a few weeks until they have been delivered.  I still have two more wedding cards to do fairly urgently, so back to work now and stop procrastinating.  I have a plan!

Monday, Tuesday and WOYWW 520

Today is a special day in craft Deskland.  Ten whole years of showing our messy or tidy desks online, hosted by the lovely Julia at Stamping Ground, 520 consecutive Wednesdays.  That is quite an achievement to be proud of.

Here is my tray today.  Not a huge amount on there.  A couple of PTCs (Parchment Trading Cards) in progress, my parchment Ringlock scissors, my A5 baby light box (essential for working on dark parchment), my fine straight perforating grid, my glasses and my head torch.

Sorry I missed blogging on Monday and Tuesday.  Things just got in the way and I struggled to get my brain in gear.  As far as tidying is concerned, that is seriously on going with another black sack filled, and other stuff put into boxes to go elsewhere.  I intend to bring a box to the Crop of things that are virtually unused.  I would rather someone else gets the use.  I have a load of dies, and also a pile of Sweet Poppy stencils.  They are all as new.

All being well, I am hoping to have enough ATCs for everyone at the Crop for those who would like one.

Monday was supposed to be for Mindfulness.  At the moment, there are a lot of people who are really struggling with things going on in their lives, and it totally reinforces my belief that we must make every effort to use every second of our lives as fully as possible.  Spend as much time with loved ones as you possibly can.  Talk to each other, just be together.

If there is anyone who wants to join in with the WOYWW celebrations, just go round to Julia's, and you will see what to do, nothing complicated.  Just join in and be there for the next ten years.

P.S.  Just a note for reference.  So far, I have been able to view and comment on all but one person's post.  This is apparently on Instagram.  I communicate through Facebook and Blogger and do not have the time to add yet another form of social media to those.

Sunday - Anything Goes

Beautiful work all the way from Spain, created by Eve Hammond for the May's PTC challenge.  Thank you, Eve, it really is lovely.

This idea of Josie Davidson's is brilliant, encouraging so many people to have a go at these mini pieces of parchment art, and sending them all round the world.  

Eve chose to create a parchment trading coin, a piece measuring 2.5 inches in diameter, and accompanied it by a beautiful card. 

 The cards are not part of the challenge, but a lot of people have chosen to end their coins or cards within a larger card to protect it in the post.

Another lovely piece of parchment work.  Thank you again, Eve.

Saturday - Start Something New

I have a slight problem with the theme for today because everything I am doing today is under wraps right now, till the WOYWW Crop.

So I thought I would give you a bit of a giggle instead.  Take a look at this photo.

I went into the conservatory one day last week and stopped dead.  I thought someone or some creature had been in and attacked my little lamp.  The doors and windows were still locked and I never leave them open in case birds or squirrels etc get in.

Then I put my sensible head back on and realised that it was a candle lamp, and the candle had succumbed to the high temperatures over the last couple of weeks.

Looking at the photos today, I can now see the whole thing differently.  There is a face in the holder, and the drooped candle is an old fashioned nightcap with a bobble on the end, or even long hair hanging down.  

Can you see what I mean?  Maybe you can see something different.

I have previous history with candles and heat.  I have a "candlabra" which takes three candles.  It always had the same three red candles for Christmas.  One year, we put them away as usual in the top cupboard.  Come December, time to get them out again, but, instead of three tall straight red candles, we found three bent and twisted things.  However, it made a talking point when we put them in the holder, so we kept them.  Each year, the twist was slightly different, but they became a Christmas tradition.  Not sure this one will stay, though.

Thursday and Friday mixed

This is the piece I finished off this morning.  It is a real mix of styles and techniques.  I started with the gridwork border with no real idea if what I was going to do in the centre.

The gridwork is adapted from one of Josie Davidson's designs from a recent workshop.  The original used the bold Groovi straight grid and tools.  Strangely, I find the bold things difficult to work with and certainly I find it hard to snip neatly. So I used the fine straight grid and fine single needle perforating tool.  That did mean the border was thinner than I wanted this time, so I added another row of squares to extend it slightly.  I re-perforated in sections and cut each section before going on to the next section.  This ensured that the holes were good and round and perfect to snip.  Remember that you cannot get good picot without good holes.

Then I had to decide what I was going to put in the centre.  Because I happened to have Tina Cox's embroidery plates next to me, I thought they might work.  I had to leave out the flowers at the edges of the stems, but it seemed to work. 

I chose not to do white work and coloured in a couple of the tiny sections.  That brought up a real problem, as I started colouring with a copper coloured gel pen, which was scratchy and kept running out after a couple of tiny squiggles.  In the end, feeling very frustrated, I used a copper colour Pergacolour pen which seemed to work and even picked up some of the sheen and sparkle left by the gel pen.

I don't find that gel pens work too well on parchment, but it may be due to the use of the tumble dryer sheet or other lubricant.  If I want white spots to show up and not disappear into the work, I now use the white Posca pen.

I also echoed the embroidery by doing a tiny bit in a corner of the card itself.  This was the first time I did this particular type of corner on card, and if doing it again, I would extend it a little further.  The more messy side of the card on the inside will be covered by the insert.

I missed blogging yesterday so this is why I have combined finishing a card together with a few tips that I worked out by doing this card.  Hope you all have a great weekend, even if we all have to put the heating back on again.

WOYWW 519

Oh boy,where is this year flying off to?  I can't believe we are back at Wednesday or Whizzday again.  It is the day when we show our desks, warts and all, and display what we are working on at the moment.  We all link up at Julia's Stamping Ground and visit each other.  Next week will be our ten year anniversary to celebrate this achievement.

 Not any major change on my tray today.  Just a few well used parchment tools, my reading glasses, the case for my head torch (at present on charge), a piece of die cut picot edged parchment firmly attached to a fine straight grid sitting on top of the border pattern.

The pattern is from a class with the Queen of gridwork, Josie Davidson, but it was designed to use with a bold grid and tools and I also adapting it for the fine grid and tools on a lightly larger piece of parchment.  Yesterday, I only got about halfway along the first of the four sides, with a lot of muttering about why did I think this was a good idea.  Feeling much happier today as the first side is now complete.  I actually really enjoy gridwork.  It is just getting going that causes me to doubt myself.  

Those of you who read my blog or chat on Facebook will know that I have been suffering from an influx of huge bumble bees buzzing round my bedroom as soon as the sun comes up in the morning.  Getting up at 5am to shepherd one bee out, back to bed only to find there is another has really been getting me down. Five or six bees each day.  This morning seems to have been clear, but only achieved by firmly locking all the windows.

Right, I am off now to do some of the tidying up that should have been done yesterday.  Yesterday was taken up instead by looking through every bit of parchment and paper in the house to find a missing piece of work.  By evening, I was too tired for the tidying.

Julia likes us to keep our posts short anyway so I will link up and let you follow me over to HQ which is Julia's place.  Hopefully the kettle is on there, so why not join this happy worldwide group.  Any info you need can be found there.

Tuesday for tidying up - or not

Instead of tidying up today, it was more like going through every piece of paper and parchment to find a piece of work that I had almost finished, or so I thought.  I had searched last night with no success.  So today, it was down to finger tip level.

Did I find it?  Oh yes!   Where was it?  Properly mounted on designer paper and nice white card.  It wasn't NEARLY finished but actually TOTALLY  finished.

A few minutes ago, I was looking for the Groovi plate that goes with the square picot edge plate.  I actually found it, but at the same time I found the extended squares plate that I lost and had actually replaced.  You are all my witnesses.  I am putting one of them into the bag I take to parchment workshops.  It is one of those plates, like the Starter Plate Mate, that I find absolutely essential.

I am going to have to do a load of tidying up tomorrow to make up for today.  If things follow the pattern of the last couple of day, I will be able to start that at about 5am.  I just hope there are no more bumble bees left in the bedroom.  

Monday for Mindfulness

Card designed by Maria Moorhouse and made by me

I always feed Flash in the conservatory and while I am in there, I listen to our local Hereford and Worcester Radio.  One day last week, they mentioned that crafting is good for people with illness or worries.  Who knew that?  Well, a huge number of us knew that, and have known it for a long time.  Settling down quietly with a piece of art or some type of craft just relaxes the mind and body.

I am a self confessed collector of hobbies and one of my pleasures is to go to watercolour painting classes with Matthew Palmer, who is an excellent and very patient teacher.  At a recent class, sitting next to me was a married couple and we got to chatting, as you do.  They were going through quite a lot of trauma in their day to day lives, with their daughter suffering terminal illness, and they were looking after their granddaughter, seriously stressful.  Their granddaughter had gone to her other grandparents for the day to give them a chance to do something for themselves.  It was so good to see their stress just wash away for that one short day.  They could lose themselves and concentrate on playing with paint and water to create a picture.  Neither of them cared if they produced a masterpiece or not.  It was just the process that was important to them and taking a break from their usual life.

This couple went home, feeling relaxed and better able to cope with their worries, a great result.  They did not need a painted masterpiece.  Their masterpiece was within them, the gathering of more energy to go forward to deal with their lives.

Writing this makes me think that none of us know what the people around us are coping with.  That applies even more to our interactions on social media, where we cannot even see facial expressions.  I would like to bet that in any workshop there will be at least a third of the company who are dealing with serious worries, physical or mental, and are trying to get a break from them.  If they go home with a lovely piece of work, that is a bonus.  They would just be happy and more fulfilled by the pleasure of the company they have experienced and just being there. Online, many people will read what you have written and shown, and that will be enough to give them a few minutes in a different world.

Offline for a while?

I may not be able to blog regularly for a while due to personal issues.  I will do it when I can.

WOYWW 518

What is the title of today's post all about, I hear some people saying.  Well, it is the name of a sharing blog that has been running for almost ten years, where our leader, Julia, at Stamping Ground, has been hosting us.  We each take a photo of our work area on Wednesday, adding this to a short blog, and link our post to Julia's blog, then we can all visit everyone else in the link.

This is my work area for today.  It is actually my laptray, where I tend to do most of my parchment crafting.  On the tray this morning you can see my A5 size lightwave, as I am going to be working with the Clarity designer parchment which is difficult to see through without this light source.  

My head torch is an essential piece of kit, enabling me to focus strong but adjustable light exactly where I need it.  Without that, and with developing cataracts, I could not begin to attempt the very detailed work I love doing.  

showed this piece on my blog yesterday, but this is one piece I could not possibly do without the torch.  I don't use a magnifier as I found it really did not help, whereas good very focused light makes it easy.

I had better finish now as I need to do a bit of housework - I won't have any mugs to fill with coffee and I might drown under the cardboard waiting to be chopped up into the recycling bin.  Anyway, our Julia likes us to keep our posts short, so I will leave you and invite you to have a look at her links and possibly even join in.  Everyone is made welcome and Julia has info on how to join.

What a nasty soggy day it is today out there.  Listening to the local radio a few minutes ago, it looks as though misery is well spread all around here on the motorway network, with accidents backing traffic up and spreading it around the local road network.  Definitely a day to stay in the warm and craft.  After all, according to TV news today, creativity is good for our mental and physical health.

Have a good day, everyone , and stay dry and warm while being creative.

Tuesday is for tidying up

I now have a full dustbin.  How is it that when you tidy up, you get rid of half a dozen black sacks of rubbish, it looks good for a couple of days, then you have another tidy session and find another half a dozen sacks worth of rubbish.  I reckon it all doubles when you take your eyes off it all.

I have given my wrists a break from crafting today, but I have at least three projects to start or continue with tomorrow.  I want to play with another of Tina's embroidery plates, now I have got the hang of them.  It always helps if you read instructions before starting, but it is very easy to put things right.

My first attempt just needs mounting on the right colours.  I really enjoyed doing it and managed to avoid drawing blood.  I was surprised at how easily I managed to thread the needle, but then the thread did not split when cut as many others do. 

I did hear that some people were slightly confused by the dots on these plates, expecting them to be embossed in the same way as on other plates.  It is different this time as they are just an indication of where to perforate.  As Tina said, if they were the normal white dot,we would be left with an ugly halo after perforating the holes.  

Before I do any more crafting, I need to tidy my table again.  I bet I could nearly fill another black sack with the rubbish on and under it.   Where does it all come from?

Monday for Mindfulness

Last week's blog about Wales got me thinking about childhood holidays.  As a child, I remember so many great holidays down in Cornwall.  It was a time when it would take two days to complete the journey, with a lot of time spent sitting in long traffic jams on the Exeter bypass (if we are forced to convert to electric vehicles, it could take two days again).  By the time we got down to Newquay, Dad had had enough of driving, so the car would be parked up in a garage for the fortnight.

Most of our time was spent on the beach, but we always did at least one coach trip.  It was a day trip to the Lizard Peninsula.  We usually had coffee in a cafe overlooking Kynance Cove, which was, at that time, privately owned, so it was not possible to go down to the cove itself.

This photo is one I found on the internet, but there was no name for the photographer.

Then it was on to the village/town of Lizard itself, where we would eat the picnic lunch supplied by our guest house in Newquay, before ending the day trip with  cream tea overlooking the harbour at Mullion Cove.

The last time Geoff and I went down that way, it was still a beautiful area, and I have special memories.  Kynance Cove is now National Trust, so everyone can visit it. However, because it is a long trek down to the beach, it is really quiet in the evenings.  We used to park up in the car park, and stroll along the pathway across to the way own to the sea.  In my mind, it was always sunny and warm, walk in through grassland filled with wildflowers, smothered with bees humming away, and beautiful butterflies.  I can recall the perfume of those flowers and the sounds of those bees.  We always brought a small piece of the serpentine rock back from the beach on those walks.

Lizard itself has not changed much since my childhood, but on the coach trips we never had time to walk out to the lighthouse, so we had to be content to buy a small model lighthouse made from the serpentine rock.  I still have that and treasure it.

I was an only child but I still had a wonderful time on those holidays with my parents.  These days, I would avoid places like Newquay,which have changed so much since then.  I prefer to keep those happy memories more or less intact.  Days when we would check the tides, catch the bus to Porth,walk to the cliff top cafe for a cream tea (jam then cream) while we waited for the tide to drop just enough to allow us to walk round the point on the beach to the next bay. Then we could walk all the way back to the harbour on the beach., just in time for a proper Cornish ice cream, or even a tea tray that we could take down onto the beach.  How many of you remember tea trays, with china cups and saucers, and glass bottles of pop with a paper straw, and a plate of cakes or a cream tea?

I could go on for ever about walking the cliffs in the evening or catching the bus to Bedruthan to walk all the way back.  But I will leave you to think about what memories make you happy.  It is sounds and smells that conjure up so many memories.  What sounds and smells bring back happy thoughts?

P.S.  I have discovered that several of my family actually read this blog so welcome to you all.  I hope you enjoy it.

Sunday - Anything Goes

Aren't dreams weird?  I had lunch early today, so that I could sit and relax to watch Barbara Gray's shows this afternoon.  Then the tiredness peak took over and I was well away.  I did wake up in time to Barbara, but I had the most interesting dream, so clear and logical until the last minute.  I was just starting college and getting to know people there.  Then one of the tutors was trying to sort out money that I had overpaid (£400), and trying to get it back for me.  Then, she took me down to the local beach so that I knew where it was.  It was lovely to think I could go to bed listening to the sea.  I did take a couple of photos of the kangaroos and horses playing on the beach...........

OK, I am awake now.  If you saw yesterday's blog, you will know that I started one of Tina Cox's lovely new embroidery plates.  Last night, I did all the embossing and started on the perforations.

Today, I finished the perforation stage and started to add the lovely gold thread.  I managed to finish the dragonflies before losing my rag.  Nothing to do with Tina's lovely designs.  My problem was the same I have with that revoltingly infuriating invisible thread, which twists and tangles and knots every time.  

This was the point where I stopped to think how I used to deal with metallic thread when I used it in cross stitch and embroidery.  I always had a block of beeswax close at hand and ran all my threads through that block, which completely stopped threads from twisting.  You may not have this problem, but I think I twist my needle as I sew, which, of course, twists the thread.  So, out came my new block of beeswax, and ran all the thread, after threading the needle, through the wax.  No more twisting and, strangely enough, the wax does not dull the thread.

My other tip is that after doing five or six stitches, just let the needle hang and allow it to untwist.  Once I started using the wax and letting the needle hang, I was able to fly through the next section, and relax into doing it.  

Right, I am off now to set myself up with a couple of thermos mugs of hot lemon, honey and ginger before Josie Davidson's debut show, launching her fabulous new border grids.  I need to increase my fluids to stave off any possibility of uti problems as my daughter is already in hospital  with a serious infection, which tipped over into the sepsis area yesterday.  I suspect very few of us really drink enough for our health, especially when we get involved in other things.  By the way, did you know that it is better to sip a glass or mug of fluid over half an hour or so, rather than gulp it down in one.  Gulping it down sends your body into panic and makes it think you are drowning so it sends you rushing to the loo.  Sipping allows your body to absorb what it needs to keep healthily hydrated.

Take care of yourselves and enjoy your hobbies.

Saturday - Start Something New

Rather late off the mark again today, but life got in the way today.  This was as far as I have got so far with my play with Tina Fox's embroidery plates.  Not a problem.  That is the beauty of Groovi and parchment.  You can stop at any time until you get another chance to continue.

I did quite a few stitched designs several years ago and even longer ago, I did lots of embroidery.  So this idea of Tina's is right up my street.  Something to really enjoy relaxing with.  I cannot see me finishing this very soon, but I will take pleasure in doing little bits whenever I get time.

I will post my progress as it happens.  Meanwhile, I think an early night is in order, although a little more embossing on this are enticing me to hang on a little longer..........

Friday - Finish Off Day

Quite a few UFOs sorted today.  My lateness in posting is largely due to my continued internet problems.  That means that to get  decent photo, I have to take the camera to the computer, download the pictures I need, edit them there, then transfer them to the Kindle.  Three times the work.

This first one has been hanging around for at least two years, since the Clarity retreat that year.  It got pushed aside because I dropped a real changer on the other piece that went with it and hid it from Barbara, and it has remained hidden since then.  This week, I finished the snipping and decided to get it mounted up.  Unfortunately, I forgot one other process I had meant to do, which was some light embossing on the bodies to give them a little shape.

Number 2 is a non-Clarity design, but using basic parchment techniques.  I was at a local class and looking for a way to make the card mine. It was just a stamp and colour on card, but I thought it would make a good parchment piece, so I stamped th design onto card and then traced what I wanted, before painting and embossing the flowers.

Number 3 stems from the lovely blue tit from Linda Williams.  I had already done the squirrel this week and was looking for more creatures to fluff.  These two owls seemed to fit the bill.  Like the squirrel, the colours were very mixed, with tyre different browns, two greys, white, cream and black, with blue in the background.  It is mounted on a scrap piece of Clarity designer paper, which gave me hills in the background.

Number 4 is another that has been hanging round for years.  I acquired a pile of very old embroidery transfers from an aunt after her death.  Although I don't do much needlework these days, I kept them and one or two have been used for colouring and some traced for parchment work.  This is one of those.  Sadly, I don't think this shows well in a photo, but it does look better in real life.

Finally, I wanted to show the lovely PTC and accompanying card that arrived this week from Maureen Riggs. Thank you, Maureen.  They are lovely and I will treasure them.

I hope you enjoy my blog.  It would be lovely if you could leave a comment so I know who you are when I meet up with you at classes etc

Thursday is for Tips and Techniques

Today is the perfect day for tips and techniques.  It is the day that Linda Williams has launched some really lovely new Groovi plates on the Pergamano Show on Hochanda.  These plates were introduced to those of us at the recent Groovi Retreat down in Kent.  More than 80 of us took over the Spa Hotel in Tunbridge Wells for a very intense two days of teaching from Linda and the rest of the team.

This was the first of two beautiful designs created for us to do, and I think we all really fell in love with this fluffy little blue tit.  This is a technique that Linda has been showing us at the Clarity Open Days but actually being taught, step by step, is so much better.  The people at the retreat varied in knowledge and skill from total beginners to members of the Design Team, and everyone was able to create a beautiful card.

On day two, we had another lovely design from Linda, again using the fluffy technique.

This time, it was the delicate dandelion seeds that showed the fluffiness.    Since coming back from the retreat, I have not been able to put these plates down.  There are so many images to choose on them.   Here is another version of the blue tit, but using the hexagon border.

I really took my time with the embossing to get graduated white embossing, without the parchment bulging or buckling.  I did five layers with the No 6 ball tool, before moving to the 4.5 for three layers, and then a couple of layers with the No 3 tool.  Between each layer, the parchment was rested overnight.  Linda taught us that good embossing should take at least a week to complete.

I have another version on the go using the nested circles, but that is still in progress.  

 I also transferred the techniques to another Clarity plate, the squirrel.

When you are working on feathers or fur, you must continually turn the parchment and think carefully about how the feathers and fur lies and work  in that direction.  If you watch Linda's demo, you will see how much she constantly turns her work to get the result she wants.

This squirrel involved a lot of different colours blended to get the final colour I was after - two shades of green, three different browns, orange, red, cream and white.  I used a picture of a red squirrel from the internet to work out the colouring.  I also embossed lightly on the back to give a little more form and texture to his body.

All these designs used two different makes of blendable pencils to get the end results.  I used the Perga Liners to lay down the base colour, and then went to the Faber Castell polychromos, to add the tiny detailed flicks for the feathers and fur.  As Linda says, your pencils need to have a really wicked needle point to add those details.

My advice is to get these plates and really have fun creating beautiful designs.

Thank you to Linda for creating such inspirational designs for us.

WOYWW 517

This really should be entitled What A Mess!, and it certainly is.  I just do not seem to have got my brain or anything else sorted since coming back from the retreat followed by two bank holidays.  Now we have another bank holiday upon us.

Under the  central heap is a pile of ten different pieces of parchment work, just sitting between Groovi plates to top them curling overnight.  Some of them just need mounting, while others need a lot of colouring to finish them off.  Because several of them are variations on the pieces we did at the retreat, I have to keep them under wraps till they are officially launched on Hochanda on the Pergamano show on Thursday.

There are also a couple of pieces from a class with Maria Moorhouse, again just needing to be mounted and put into the finished pile.  

My precious head torch is sitting on top of everything.  I can no longer do close work without this brilliant piece of kit.  It is rechargeable, can be focussed, and the level of light can be changed from blindingly bright to a bit more subdued, but I can aim it exactly to where I need it. 

I have been having internet problems, so I will quit now while I can still post this piece.  I am sure you will have a lovely time if you follow this link  over to Julia's place at Stamping Ground. When you get there, you will find loads of other desks on show and impressive work to inspire you.  That is where you can also find an explanation of what this is all about.  You might also like to join in and show us your desk.