Handicrafts by Kate Perry and other ramblings

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

WOYWW 167

Can you believe it is Wednesday again, and time to take a hop, skip and jump around the various blogs that you can find at Julia's Stamping Ground. Do join in and see what is keeping us all busy.

I do believe I might manage a short post today, (short for me anyway). I am writing in the 'wee small hours' and falling asleep over the keyboard, but I just know there won't be time before I go out in the morning. We have had another little heatwave this week with temperatures up in the forties, and it is very draining. One day we had the 'Sirocco wind' again which sweeps in straight from the desserts of Africa, laden with fine red dust that dries out your eyes and nose, and anywhere else it can find! The fans were on but it felt like sitting under a hot hair drier all day, so we had to give in and use the air.con. for a day or two. So needless to say, I have read a couple of books this week, but crafting has been kept to a minimum. I did finish the tiger card with the alcohol ink background I was making last week. You can see it here.

What's on my workdesk this week?  Well, as you can see, the alcohol inks are out again. This time I used bottle green and meadow on some holographic silver card. You can also see an assortment of odd shaped cut outs in black and silver card. The new blade and cutting mat for my Silhouette Cameo machine arrived yesterday and I wanted to try them out. Can you guess what I am making? Well if it all comes together, I will return in the week and show you what I have made. Otherwise it will all end up in the bin, which right now is probably the more likely outcome!! maybe I'll have a new source of patience after a few hours sleep.

Thank you so much for all the kind comments you left me last week. A big welcome to my new followers. Don't forget there are still a few days to sign up for my blog candy. See my post about it here. I'll be back with the winner at the weekend.
Happy Workdesk Wednesday everyone!

12 comments:

Annie said...

Hmmm looking forward to seeing what you're gonna make :-) I hope it doesn't end up in the bin.
Hugs,
A x #61

Unknown said...

Your tiger card is fabulous and I love the look of the green background - I am not sure what you are making but that machine cuts really well - are they Pac Man Men? WOYWW Hugs to you from Helen 18

Sarn said...

Happy WOYWW Kate. Hope you are managing to keep a little cool.

It's very humid here . . . and raining. Want me to send some your way???? xxx

Twiglet said...

Your tiger card is stunning. Have a good week. x Jo

The Scrapbook Lady UK said...

hmm not sure what it can be. i think the little pac men are going to be cones but the other bits... not sure. is it a flower? can't wait to see how it develop jenx60

Lunch Lady Jan said...

Oooh, intriguing! I'm dying to know what you're making! Fab patterns already!!
Hugs, LLJ #72 xx

Anonymous said...

Happy Belated WOYWW. Thank you for your comment on my post. It is wet and VERY windy here. Could do with some Spanish sunshine. Hope your son recovered well from his dental treatment. Ali x #104

Roudi said...

Can't wait to see what you come up with! Looks like your desk is just as busy and creative as mine! It's my first time on WOYWW and you ended with the same number as me so here I am leaving you some bloggy love. ♥

Kisses from Egypt. xx
Roudi # 129

Shoshi said...

Bet it's going to be Pac Man, Kate!! I love the colour of that card, and as always, your alcohol ink background is stunning. I really should do more with these... You inspire me, you really do!!

Thanks for your lovely comment. My ARTHaven certainly hasn't been a very inspiring place to work in recently, but when I do my next blog post you will see that it is much improved! I've worked hard today (blow the inevitable payback - pacing can be soooo boring sometimes lol!!) and I can't believe how different the room looks!

Glad you like my flowers. The collection is coming on quite nicely now.

Regarding converting my tapes to mp3, I'm using my old Windows XP desktop computer because it's the only computer in the house with a line-in connection (laptops don't have them) - I plug a normal 3.5mm phono plug into the line-in socket, and the other end (identical) into the headphone socket of my cassette player. The sound from the tape comes through the computer speakers. If you haven't got a line-in socket, you will need some extra hardware in the shape of an external sound card which has all the connectors.

One of my major gripes over Windows 7 is how they've cut back on the recording facilities that used to be available with earlier versions of Windows, which means you've got to buy in more stuff to enable you to do it nowadays.

I am using some software called "Audio Recorder for Free" which I downloaded years ago, which is probably no longer available, but there may be something equivalent, although I think you have to pay for most stuff that records more than a few minutes these days. If you've got Nero, or Roxio, there is a recording facility with those suites. You can also buy and download the software called Audacity which does the same job.

Before you start the actual recording, you choose what output format you want (e.g. mp3) and what quality (you don't need such high quality for spoken word as for music), and where you want the file to end up on the computer. After recording, I always edit them in Nero to trim the ends, and cut out the dreary voice that says "Please turn your cassette over" at the end of side 1 lol! - and do any sound editing to tidy up the recording. For spoken word I also export it as a mono recording which saves quite a lot of space as the file size is much smaller.

If you want to get going on doing this, I'm sure I can help you. Just email me. It's well worth doing, because tapes do deteriorate and get jammed and so forth, and they take up so much room! mp3s take up no physical space at all, don't deteriorate, and can easily be transferred onto a mobile listening device such as an iPod. I've got a huge collection of stuff now, collected over the years.

Happy belated WOYWW,
Shoshi #10

Whimcees said...

Hello!

Many potential items on your workdesk! I did go back and read previous posts to see what the tiger card is - great card! I love the beautiful card that you made for Chris's sister! It is very interesting your move to Spain - such a major decision - so I will have to check out your diary! Wishing you a happy weekend!

Hugs,

Barbara Diane #76

Tertia said...

Interesting lookin cutouts. I haven't got a clue as to what it is.
Happy very belated WOYWW!
Tertia #116

Spyder said...

I do love all your inks, I don't have any!! Honestly!! It's knowing which one (or half a dozen ) to get first! Thanks for my snoop, sorry I'm so late, just never enough hours in the day or night! Hope you have a crafty week. Happy (Late) WOYWW

((Lyn) #13