WOYWW196

I didn't make it to the Wednesday blog hop last week; busy, busy, busy. But I have managed to do some crafting since then, so here I am to show my messy work-desk once again.

Last Friday I posted a happy card on Annie's Friday smiles post, that I had received from a blogger friend, Shirley-Anne from Australia. Every week she features a Christmas card on her blog, and this week she chose to feature my Rudolph day scene, which was a nice surprise.

So to my desk. As you can see I have several of my really useful boxes open again, Arwen is as usual on her throne just keeping an eye on the proceedings, and just look at that overflowing waste-bin under the table. How disgraceful!

If we come in closer you will see the very necessary cup of tea which really shouldn't be resting on my new Splodge Away mat, even if it is on a mini-tray (I've eaten the biscuits!). I was actually having a session to try out the new mat but the jury is still out. I did make a better job than usual of brayering a background onto some plain card, but on glossy card I still had too many streaks. I haven't yet used it with distress inks and a sponge applicator, which is supposed to work really well and be economical with the ink.

I also wanted to try out a mask I bought some months ago, but I couldn't brayer enough ink through it for the effect I wanted, so I resorted to using a sponge and ink direct from the pad. You can see a tiny section of this peaking out from under the white paper. Under that is my box of Adirondak ink pads. To the back of the desk are three dylusions sprays that arrived this week, along with my jumbo roll of household paper, and the box that I still manage to keep my brayer in. The empty square is the back of a frame which I have just covered in 1mm sticky pads, ready to add it to my card.

As I later went on to finish the card I might as well show it on here too. The basic idea came from a card I saw on Glenda Waterworth's blog many months ago, though I have put my own twist on it. I was a bit taken aback when I realised how big the mask is. The smallest I could make my card was 8" x 8", far larger than I normally make. I shall have to make an envelope for it, but fortunately it will be hand-delivered to friend from the village, so Antonia won't throw a fit at the post office again!

The mask was inked with Adirondak cranberry, red pepper, and butterscotch inks, and the crane is from a clear plate of stamps by Chocolate Baroque. I felt it needed something to set it off, so I made the frame, inked the edges with a black permanent marker and stamped the cherry blossom from the same plate of stamps as the crane. The sentiment is an old one from Elusive Images.

Well that is quite enough waffle from me for this week. I shall link this up to Julia's blog at the Stamping Ground in the morning, and later I will be back to see what everyone else is busy making this week. Why not click on the link to follow me there and join in the fun.