WOYWW 264 - Better late than never?

I missed last week due to total lack of time and came close to missing this week.  Looking at this photo, you can see one reason for my absence.  My room is a wreck.  Believe it or not, it is better than it was last week, and I hope that tomorrow it will be a little better still.

I have pulled out a small storage unit from behind the others, just so that I have somewhere to put my new baby on (new at Christmas, anyway) - my EBosser.  I love it.  It is saving my bad arm a lot of pain.  It has been good this week listening to Create and Craft (it is on on the TV behind me, just in the background) as there have been so many programmes using dies and the EBosser so I have picked up so many good tips.

My poor craft computer is off to the computer hospital at the end of the week with the black screen of death, so I have to finish tidying up so that it can be extracted without it or someone being injured in the process.

I have joined in with two crafting workshop groups, both with Clarity tutors, Maria Simms and Sally-Ann Hanes, both very clever and excellent teachers.  It has really given me a massive lift and so much to look forward to.

Anyway, it is time I finished waffling and passed you back to the lovely Julia, who hosts us with so much patience.  Good to see you back again and taking time to recover.

PS I have still not heard from Sheilagh White  and Uuna, who were two of the winners of my birthday candy.  If anyone else is in touch with them, can you tell them, please.  If I do not hear by 2nd July, I will redraw those two prizes.  I also must apologise to Di Wray for not having sent her prize yet.  It is ready to go asap.

Friday Smile

Post by Coyu.

I am not sure that this link will work but I really hope it does.  It took me a while to work out how to transfer it, but I reckon it is worthwhile.  I howled.

This is my contribution to Annie's Friday Smiles.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

WOYWW 262

UPDATE
I cannot believe it is Wednesday again already.  It is the day we all visit each other on the great blog hop that is What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, which is normally hosted by the lovely Julia.   However, the news is from Lunch Lady Jan, that Julia is in hospital and unable to be with us this week.  She has asked that we do not attempt to contact her, even through email, but leave messages with Jan at http://lunchladyjansfabricfrenzy.blogspot.co.uk/ 

I am still struggling to visit all those who came to visit me last week, so if I don't make it before this morning, please forgive me.
It is also four years to the day since I did my very first blog.

Helen, who also sent this lovely verse, Twiglet (Jo), and DBW.

 I intend to keep it very short this week, especially as I have blogged quite a lot already, showing the cards I have made or put together.  I am also well behind on DT work so I need some urgent inspiration.

There were some ATCs that did not make it into the show last week, so I wanted to show them.  It is amazing how many different techniques we all cover as a group and I will certainly treasure all those I have received, so thank you so much.

I chose to do two different designs.  If you have read my last two posts this week, you might recognise the set of stamps I used.   I think they are my favourite stamps at the moment.

This first one was done by stamping on to Clarity double sided adhesive sheets with Black Archival, covering that with thin acetate to protect the line art, then scoring into the back, and painting in with Perfect Pearls and gilding flakes - not be attempted with windows open, fans on or with hay fever.  The stamps are both from Clarity and I really like the quote from Maya Angelou.

 The second one I did was again using the Clarity birds, but adding in the remountable Cherry Blossom branch.  They go so well together.  Again, I stamped with Archival black because I was colouring in with Derwent Coloursoft pencils.  Everyone is raving about Sprectrum Noir at the moment, but, having tried them, I much prefer the British made Derwent range.  They blend beautifully with no real pressure needed.  I also like the fact that you can buy just one to replace ones that you have used up or lost, or to add to your range.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that Mr Linky has got back from his holiday and is ready for us this week, so that we can all join together at Stamping Ground.  The coffee will be on and the biscuit tin topped up.  See you there.

PS.  Today is the day I will be making the draw for my blog candy (the information is at the top of my blog) and I will announce the winners sometime after lunch.  All you have to do is to be a follower and I will do the rest. 

Maria's Workshop cards

I have been getting out and about to crafting days this year, and I have joined Maria Simms'  regular workshops once a month.  They are a lovely mixture of things I have already played with and things that are new to me, a perfect mixture as far as I am concerned.  Maria is an excellent teacher and part of the Clarity Stamp team.  The rest of the group are so friendly and cheerful.  You don't have to worry if you have forgotten something, everyone works together and shares where possible.

 This is one of the cards from Maria Simms workshop in May, which I have finally put together.  It has been tucked away in my folder for a month while I got stuck into the ATCs.  It is a mixture of acrylic paints on the Gelli plate for the background, using the Treescape and Sunshine stencils.  The stamps are from the Garden Bird (Blue Tits) set and the sentiment from Maya Angelou.

This is the first of the four projects from this month, using the same Garden Bird set and one of the Cherry Blossom branches.  It is a perfect mix of stamps and they just work so well together.  The shading round the edge is Adirondack Butterscotch brayered on.  I used Archival black for the stamps as I was colouring in with pencil crayons, my lovely Derwent Coloursoft, which blend so beautifully.

 

I cannot decide which is my favourite from this month's batch, but I do love this one.   Maria had spent hours die cutting the trellis for each of us.  The colouring underneath was brayered again using the Butterscotch, and the stamping was again with the Archival black so that I could colour with the Coloursoft pencils.  The branch was stamped and coloured before adding the trellis, and the bird was stamped, coloured and then cut out before gluing it into place.  Like most people, I have coloured in for years, but I did learn one or two new tips from Maria about more advanced technique.

This was where I discovered that I had not got the Journal set, but Barbara Lancaster kindly lent hers to us to use for the script at the bottom.   This time the large bird was stamped with Archival black and then had angelina ironed on to it to give the most beautiful iridescence.  The blue ribbon and the bird were attached with the extra strong adhesive tape (the one with the red covering).  I do love the effect of the angelina and photographs really do not do justice to the effect.

The final project of the day was very similar to the ATCs I have already shown you before, and used mica powders and gilding flakes on the double sided adhesive sheets.

I think these cards show that a set of stamps can be used in several different ways so that you can get the maximum mileage from them.

Playing with new stencils

 I have had a good weekend, playing with new techniques, and practicing ones that I am more familiar with.  All three are using Clarity stencils and brushes.  This first card is a new one which was shown on Create and Craft at the beginning of this month.  It is a combi set, with the stencil and then remountable leaves/petals with the filigraphy design on each.  

Initially, I stencilled the design using just two colours of Adirondacks - Butterscotch and Pesto, adding the ink with the Clarity brushes.  By gradually adding colour through the stencil, you can achieve some lovely shading, and real depth of colour. Then I used the remountable filigraphy stamps to add the texture look, stamping in Pesto.

This was never intended to be a square card, but I was too idle to go upstairs to get another piece of base card.  It looked stupid in the centre of a large card, so I put it to the side and then decided to stencil  the flower or part of it to the side.   As you can see, I use only parts of the main stencil, just picking the bits that I wanted and that fitted into the space available.   To finish off, I used the Butterscotch that still remained on the brush to soften down the stark white of the card.

This second card, using the Chinese Lanterns stencil, was a straightforward brushing through the stencil with Butterscotch and Red Pepper, blending them lightly in the middle.  I have not quite finished this one as I intend to add one of the remountable sentiment line stamps, choosing whichever is appropriate to whoever I am sending it to.  I will take the sentiment round all four sides of the design to frame it properly.

Card number 3 is the result of using too much paint on the Gelli plate, which meant that I got a really strong ghost print.  This print has been in my folder for over a month while I decided how to use it.  The base colour was  a strong olive green, and I suddenly decided to go over the top with  a Distress ink, Spiced Marmalade, which I thought was probably the nearest to the true colour of Chinese Lanterns.  I was a bit nervous because I actually liked the print as it was, so it was a bit of a leap of faith, but I think I also like the effect of adding the orange.

Later this week, I will show you the results from Maria's Workshop last Friday.  I had a whale of a time, once I had woken up.

At some point, on Wednesday, I will announce the winners of my Blog Candy.  I am very close to getting to the magic 100 followers, which may mean an extra prize for someone, chosen at random.

More Northern Lights

 I am still playing with this Northern Lights technique I learned from Shaz Silverwolf, and still having fun with it.  Like Shaz, I am trying different colours, different ink pads and paint, and different card.

The jury is still out on this one.  For me the lines are too strong and won't really tone down to what I like.  I think it is a fault with my working, not with the tools.  I was using smooth white card (Clarity Gelli card), which obviously absorbed more ink than the coated card.  The inks in this one were Distress inkpads.  I am going to trim this one down and see whether that makes me feel happier.

This is back to the coated card again, which I think is better as it can be polished just before you add the stars.  This may not be quite right as an Aurora, but I like the colours and the shading among the trees is just right for me.  It seems to glow.

 However, I think this last one is my favourite so far.  I used black Clarity coated card and some new paints that had just arrived that day.  They are the Imagination Silkies which I brushed on very randomly.  They are pearlescent paints and don't polish very well, but the pearlescence means that does not really matter.

I did find one medium that really did not work and that is glitter paste.  That just made a nasty mess used in this way. 

WOYWW 261

 What a lovely lot of ATCs there are around and I had some beautiful ones, all so varied.  This, of course, reflects the fact that we all work in such different styles, which is what makes this blog hop so much fun.  For anyone who has not idea what I am talking about or has come from a different planet, you cannot do better than to go over to Julia's blog at Stamping Ground where she will be happy to explain it all to you.

Bleubeard & Elizabeth, Craftygashead Zo, Shaz Silverwolf, Cindy Ashplant, Debbie (Tattered Rocks)

Ma@id.com, Robyn Oliver,Cardarian, Alison Hazelgrove, Julia Dunnit

 

Lynda Beasley, Annie (Wipso), Helen (H), Hettie, Fairythoughts

An extra gem from Debbie (Tattered Rocks)

I would like to thank all of you for the thought, love and care that went into all these beautiful little pieces of art and I will treasure them all.  There are one or two extra gems that also arrived but I will save those for next week, especially as I already need matchsticks to keep my eyes open.  Have a wonderful week, the first of the sixth year and a week closer to next year's Crop.

Craft A Scene for June - By The Sea, week 1

This is a scene I really like.  It reminds me of little harbours in Cornwall, one of my favourite areas of the country, particularly if you go out of season.  It is my first offering for the Design Team for Craft A Scene for June.  The rules state that it must be a scene, with a background and a foreground to fit in.

The main part of the scene is one large stamp (at the moment I cannot remember who makes it, having just disrupted totally all my stamp storage again) but I then added the large seagull, and the flight of birds and the little rowing boat, all three of which come from the Harbour set from Clarity Stamps.

I did all the colouring with Derwent watercolour pencils, which I think are the best in the world and just happen to be made in this country anyway.

There will be other scenes to, hopefully, inspire you over on Craft A Scene if you would like to have a look.  Then see what inspires you about "By The Sea" and have a go this month.  Come on, celebrate the warmer weather and join in with this month's challenge.

Northern Lights - thanks, Shaz.

 While at the WOYWW Crop last week, I took the opportunity to learn a bit more about something I had seen Shaz Silverwolf blog about on a couple of occasions.  If you take a look at this link onto her blog, she will explain the process far better than I can.

I also followed the link on Shaz's blog to where she found it and found a whole load of YouTube videos on the process.  Some of them were better than others.  Some were so dark that the stamped images were totally lost in the background, which I reckon is a shame.

I did have a slight problem when I came to scan these images.  For some reason the scanner brought them up far brighter than they really are, so I did adjust them on the computer to tone them down a touch.  

 All the stamps I used are Clarity stamps, and I have a number of others which I think will fit the technique well. 

It is a lovely messy thing to play with and it really is similar to using the Gelli plate in some ways, in that it is virtually impossible to repeat a design.

I used a mixture of Adirondacks and Distress ink pads, depending on what came to hand, and stamped with Archival black.

As I said, this was what I learned from Shaz, so I must thank her and those she followed.  Now I just need to trim and mount these.

Post WOYWW Crop - Day 2

 After a good night's sleep and a relaxing day on Sunday, Monday dawned damp and threatening.  I didn't care.  I set off with a vague plan to visit Bowood Rhododendron and Azalea gardens, but not really sure exactly where it was.  On the way, I suddenly found Silbury Hill.  You couldn't really miss it if you were on the right road.

  

It is very noticeable how many hawthorn bushes there are in the area, which is not surprising when you remember that it is a tree of Celtic mythology and magic.  Apparently, you should have sprigs of hawthorn among the rafters of your house to protect it from evil spirits.  I did move on from the layby to the Silbury Hill viewing spot, which was beautifully set out and very peaceful.  I don't think many people bother to go in there, and just make do with the view from the main road.

I carried on from there towards Calne which is supposed to be a good place to look around, but I wasn't in the mood for towns, so I tossed up whether to head for Chippenham or Wootton Bassett and at the last moment turned the wheel to Chippenham.  Then I realised that I had arrived at Bowood.  Unfortunately, as I pulled onto the field that acted as the main car park, I realised the ground was very claggy and the rain had arrived with me so I drove straight out and carried on, passing the sign to Lacock on the way.  So that is two possible places to visit next time I am down there.

From there, I literally just took whichever lane looked interesting, and quite by chance came to somewhere I had been trying to find without success.  I had seen West Wood on a leaflet as being very pretty with loads of bluebells.  Trundling along a very narrow lane with half a dozen cars behind me (that was good as it meant I had the weight of numbers if we met anything coming towards us), I suddenly saw the Forestry Commission sign saying West Wood.  I didn't get out of the car, as it was very muddy and I did not want to fall and possibly cause an injury, especially as phone reception was non-existent again.  It was a lovely spot, quite dark and mysterious under the heavy tree canopy.  These photos really do not convey that feeling, but it was very beautiful.

 From here, I reset Jane to take me back to the pub at Oare for another lovely lunch, which meant that I just did not want to eat again for the rest of the day.  From there, it was back to more trees, this time at Postern Hill in the Savernake Forest, just outside Marlborough.

As it was raining quite hard by then, I expected it to be very quiet up there.  I was totally wrong.  I was amazed and pleased to see so many families there with young children, sitting out at the picnic tables in the rain, just having fun.  None of the children (all ages) were glued to their technology, and none of them were whinging.  They were all having fun, as I was watching them.

Once I got back to Burbage, it was a case of rejigging the car to clear the back seat so that I had room to collect the dogs from the kennels on the way past Evesham, which saved me an hour of extra travel and fuel.

Despite a lot of traffic on the road, I had an excellent journey home with no holdups anywhere.  A good end to a good break.

Post WOYWW Crop - Day 1

 If you saw my post from yesterday, you will know that I was away over the bank holiday, down in Wiltshire at the WOYWW Crop, which was Saturday.  There was no way that I was going to drive there and back in one day, so a B&B was the order of the day.

This was where I ended up - Upper Westcourt,  right on the edge of the village of Burbage.  What a gem!  A real home, welcoming, comfortable and peaceful, just the place to unwind and relax.  Comfy beds, everything you could need and an excellent breakfast - nothing was too much trouble.

This is just part of the lounge available to visitors, overlooking the lovely garden.  All round the house there were huge vases of home grown flowers filling the house with their perfume.  Even the bedroom had a small vase of lilies of the valley, a really nice touch.

I decided that it would make sense to spend another couple of days in the area to relax and do the touristy things.  I have never explored that area.  When I was young, we either drove straight through on our way down to the sea or went to Marlborough to visit my godmother.  She was a bit of a gypsy, in that she had at least two addresses in Lockeridge, one in Burbage and I know of two definite addresses in Marlborough itself. 

Sunday, the day after the Crop, I did have a semblance of a plan, in that I wanted to go to Avebury.  I found my way to the Visitor Centre, but decided that I really was not in the right frame of mind to get my buggy out and go all round, so I carried on into the village itself and parked up at the Red Lion pub.  It was getting towards coffee time, so I just sat in the sun and giggled at the odd things that the tourists were saying.  Opposite the pub was a victorian aged red brick cottage with a thatched roof, and one lady was asking the coach driver if it was an original Avebury house.  I am not sure what she thought it was original to, when it was surrounded by the stones of the circles.  The pub was far older, but she barely glanced at that.

This was the view I had from the pub.  The concrete bollards were put in some years ago to mark where stones had vanished from.  I liked Avebury.  It was so much more relaxed that Stonehenge seems to be.  You could walk freely among the stones and get the feeling of the place. There was no-one to pester you and hurry you on.

On the way to Avebury, I suddenly saw a signpost to Lockeridge and dived off to have a look.  I was actually a road too soon and came to Fyfield, but I think this was the church that my godmother had her youngest son christened at and chose me to be his godmother.  I still need to find the original photo to compare.

From Avebury, I decided that I might go and have a nose at Stonehenge.  I had intended to book a visit - you cannot just turn up on spec these days.  You even have to book a car park space and a visit for a definite time.  I foolishly thought I might just get close enough to get a photo - what a "mistaka to maka".  The queue was manic and I had to wait just to turn round to get out, totally disorganised as far as I could see.  The car park is miles from the monument itself, you cannot even see it over the hill.  I shall not bother to try that visit again, unless someone likes to helicopter me directly to the stones.  Avebury was much less stressful.

I decided that I would carry on down the main road south and see if there was a layby where I could pause for a photo.  No chance!  I could see it but no chance of stopping and it looked so small.  I looked at the other side of the road, two lines of stationary traffic and thought no way was I joining in that to go back. So I just took the next left turn, reprogrammed Jane to take me  roughly back in the right direction.  By now, I was starting to get a little peckish, so I was on the lookout for a decent pub to eat.  Eventually I found a place called the White Hart at Oare.  I would certainly recommend it to anyone - excellent food in comfortable surroundings and a welcoming couple as the owners.

The one downside of B&Bs is that they do like to have the house to themselves during the day to live their own lives.  After lunch, it was still too early to go back and I didn't have anything in particular on the agenda.  However, on my way to Avebury, I had noticed a car park right on top of a hill overlooking the surrounding countryside, so I pulled in there and just relaxed, watching the walkers and the general wildlife.  This was my view without even getting out of the car - perfect.  There was another advantage or disadvantage, depending on your outlook, there was no phone signal at all, absolutely zero reception.  You would expect that the top of a hill like that would give you good coverage, but I put it down to the magic of the stone circles just over the hill.

Back at Upper Westcourt, I decided I need to craft, but it had to be clean crafting.  I could not possible take paint and ink into that lovely house, so it was down to parchment work, clean as you could get.  This was what I did.  I had already done an ink drawing before going away and thrown the parchment tools into the car at the last minute.  I had forgotten how relaxing this craft is.  It was taken from a photo I took a couple of years ago down at Hunters Inn in North Devon, when the bird very obligingly posted perfectly for me.

That is all for today, but I will continue my break tomorrow for anyone who is interested.  Have a good day.

*******WOYWW 260*********

 It cannot have escaped everybody's memory that this is a special get together for the WOYWW Deskers - 260 meetings - five whole years.  That is a great achievement so congratulations to Julia for hosting us all for so long.   

It also cannot have escaped your memory that this last weekend was part of the celebrations - a Crop down at Burbage, where around 25 deskers got together to chaft (my new word for the week - a combination of craft and chat, with a little more chat than craft).  A really great day and I cannot wait for next year to do it all over again.  I have even provisionally booked my B&B again.

Here we all are, gathered together, some new visitors and some from previous years all ready to have fun.  We certainly did.  Some crafting, many different kinds, and a lot of chatting, and the eating of an excellent lunch provided by Lunch Lady Jan.

 

The photographer was kept busy with everyone's cameras so that we all had the record that we wanted.

Some deep conversation going on here.

 Deep concentration from Shaz - I must have a go at her Northern Lights technique tomorrow (blow the unpacking) before I forget what she did.

 Interesting conversation and expressions here!

 Intense determination!

 Debbie recording a momentous moment in her recent life.

Shaz still deep in concentration with her Northern Lights inking.  They are so beautiful.

I will finish now as there are so many others for you to visit.  However, I do want to say a very big thank you to Julia and to Lunch Lady Jan for making it such a great day.  It was so good to meet friends in person at last. 

If you were not at the Crop, and would like one of my ATCs, please get in touch.  There were a number of envelopes there for people who could not get there in person, so I have left an ATC in each of those, but I do have some left to send out to the first people who want one.

Post Crop- more to follow

No pictures from me yet, just an apology for my seriously late replies from last Wednesday.  Internet access here is poor and even my phone lost the network today.  Being on top of a hill does not necessarily improve a non-existent signal.  I have read all your lovely comments, for which I thank you, and I will try to catch up with you all asap.  Thanks to Julia and Lunch Lady Jan, we WOYWWers had a whale of a time at the Crop.  Photos etc to follow, as I have no idea how to transfer photos from the cameras to the tablet without the aid of a pc.

WOYWW 259 - One week to go!

 Only one more week to go and then we all need to sing to Julia to celebrate her 5th anniversary of trying to keep us lot in order every Wednesday.

In case, there is anyone visiting today, who has not heard of WOYWW (What's On Your Wworkdesk Wednesday), then just take a moment to slip across to Stamping Ground, otherwise known as Julia's Place, where she will explain it far better than I can.

 This is where I am working at the moment, as my craft room floor is still strewn with too much stuff being sorted to allow me and the dogs to get in there together.  It is actually Tuesday evening, so it is beginning to get darker, although we have been spared the heavy rain that we were promised.  If it does not come overnight, I might have to water some of my new plants out in the garden - that does not mean I want it to rain for the rest of the summer, so no rain dances, please Julia.

You may have noticed that there are one or two Cosmic Shimmers in the shot, together with some jars of Pinflair Buff-It.  By the way, there were some Pinflair  glitter pastes there too, but they have been relegated to the kitchen for safety's sake.  I nearly had a very glittery computer.  Took the top off one jar, ready to use a hint, and found that it is more of a liquid than a paste and I had a handful!!!

I have been playing with the Perfect Pearls again and the gilding flakes and you can see one result of that playing - a personalised ruler.  No good for using a blade with, but part of an idea for presents for children, with their own designs on and their names on the reverse.

I wish we had smelly blogs so that you could appreciate the fantastic perfume filling the room from this one small flower.  I only picked it because the stem was broken, otherwise it would have remained in the garden with all the others spreading their perfume around the neighbourhood.  I shall be busy soon, taking loads of cuttings to increase the numbers of plants.

Clarity have recently brought out a lovely bag to carry stuff around.  I have one already filled with my storage books of stencils and other similar stuff, but the other one was standing up against it, until Gemma decided it would make an excellent dog bed.  She was less than impressed when she was evicted and the bag moved (theoretically) out of her reach.  Four times before she got the message, then she tried for the one that was already packed.  Such an angelic little dog - NOT!!!

Right, I am off now to refill my coffee cup and relax before bed.  I will link up as early as I wake up in the morning, and then hope to visit as many of you as possible.  Don't forget the Anniversary next week.  Till then, Julia is waiting to welcome you to her place and send you of to visit others.  Have a good week.

PS.  If you can find the time, I thoroughly recommend doing what I have just done - going right back to the beginning of this great blog hop and reading some of Julia's posts from then   I had a real giggle.  By the way, Julia, I wish I had learned the rule of three much longer ago (although with acrylic paints, it is a rule of four, given that I have now mislaid two complete sets this year).  I need at least three sets of everything, one for the house, one for the caravan and a third because I can't find the one in the house and the caravan has gone to be serviced - you know the way it goes!

Craft A Scene - Make Your Own Garden, Week 3

What better at this time of year in England than to look at the lovely flowers in our gardens, just as we are going into early summer, with the sun shining.  This month's challenge over on Craft A Scene is to Make Your Own Garden.  Remember that you must show us a completed project, with a foreground and a background to compliment it.

This is my third offering for this month as part of the Design Team.  Sadly, having moved all my stamps around, I cannot remember who made this particular series of stamps (If anyone can identify it for me, please let me know so that I can add that information to this post.).  It was stamped onto watercolour paper, and coloured in with Derwent watercolour pencils, with the addition of the Derwent Inktense pencils, especially for the red flowers in the foreground.  The butterfly was, not surprisingly, a cover up for an errant blob of red.  I have loads of sparkly butterflies to hand to cope with things like that which could ruin a nearly completed card.  The topper has been edged with a Krylon Gold Leaf pen, and then mounted on to the lavender pearlescent card.

If you are not sure about entering, just have a quick look at the Rules for Craft A Scene, and then join in   I look forward to seeing all your wonderful entries very soon.