WOYWW 171

I hadn't intended to post this week as I have just finished a run of cards (post about those to follow later), and cleared everything away, so my desk is empty. But my work-desk this morning was a table at my Wednesday sewing group, so I thought I would just share that instead.

Anyone who follows my other blog, Kate's adventures, will know that one of the ladies in our group does beautiful folk-art style quilting, and she agreed to do a few workshops with us to make some fabric Christmas decorations. 

Last week, this is what we made.











This week we embarked on one of these. 

And here is our 'work-desk' where we have mostly got as far as covering the base ring for our wreath. (It is a lovely sunny day so we have moved our tables out on to the street in front of our room).  The next step was to take sixty small squares of fabric, twenty each of three designs, fold them and then gather them. This could take a while so we have all brought some home with us, so they are all done for next week. Then Elizabeth will show us how to assemble them.

That's it for me this week. Now I am off to visit other workrooms that have been posted on Julia's Stamping Ground. Why not follow me and share the fun.

Something from the back of the cupboard.

Sandra, one of my blog friends, has made a series of cards using up some decoupage papers that have lurked in a drawer for a long time, and she has inspired me to do the same. But I have decided to use up some Christmas images. This week I spent one evening making Christmas card inserts, because I am foolish enough to not always do them when I make a card. It took a while but I am glad it is now done, and I shall make sure any further cards are finished off properly. When I put the completed cards away I had a count up and was a bit dismayed to find I have only made forty so far this year. That is way behind schedule for me. I need around 120, and when I get back from my holiday (the first two weeks of October) it will be time to start writing the ones for UK! So I decided I had better do a production line. 

I found some old magazine images which I duplicated and using backing papers, possibly from the same magazine, and gold mirri-card mounts cut with a Nellie Sneddon die, I managed to make a set of four cards, using the first image. I added gold peel-off corners and a simple greeting.

For the second image I used a cream base card, two contrasting papers from the same set, and some textured gold card. A few sequin circles and stars completed these four.

So here they are, a set of eight cards. Although I like my Christmas cards to have a link with the Nativity story, these are not a style of image I use a lot , but I do have some friends who will enjoy receiving them, so they have been put to good use. So I must try and get to grips with some others from this set now. And 'Yes, they do have inserts in, labels on the back, and envelopes with them', so that is a few more for my box. Since then I have started a even bigger production line, but I'll post about that later.

A modern goth girl

Many, many years ago, my oldest son and his then girlfriend (now his wife), dabbled in the Goth movement, or at least in its style. A long black frock coat and lots of black makeup spring to mind, which caused his brother to disown him in town! He is now a vicar and wears a long black 'frock' of a different kind!, and although his wife is still seen wearing black nail varnish occasionally, most of the make-up has also disappeared.

But it is no great wonder that their daughter, who celebrated her thirteenth birthday this week, is now also dabbling in the style. This was her birthday cupcakes - 'black' roses and skulls says it all really doesn't it?!

So it was a challenge to make a suitable card for her. I am not into lots of black, or even grungy colours on birthday cards, so instead I settled for a Paper Shelter digi-stamp called  Modern Goth Girl. The pack included an outline image, backing paper and a ready coloured image, which I used as a guide to colour mine, so that she matched the backing paper. First I matted and layered the backing paper onto orange paper and then a square olive green card. I coloured the girl with copic markers, cut her out and mounted her on the backing paper, slightly shaped and raised to make her stand out. Then I used small pieces of the orange and green, and some bright green paper to make a simple greeting.

When my granddaughter received it she said it was 'Awesome' so I guess I got it about right.

WOYWW 170

As I prepare to once again visit the blog of our host Julie, to see who else is brave enough to open their work space up for the world to see, I feel I should first apologize for visiting so few of my friends last week. Those of you who visited me will know that I lost my lovely Baggins last Wednesday, and I didn't have the heart to do much blog hopping. But I did appreciate all who sent me kind messages. Thank you all.

So here is my desk today. It is not very exciting or even very crafty. Ever since I got the first school photos (In 1976!!) I have had recent, fairly formal, photos of my boys up on the wall. I always called it my "Rogues gallery". Later some were replaced with wedding photos, and then ones of the grandchildren were added. When we moved out to Spain I realised this was no longer practical. The walls are solid stone, so to hang anything is quite an issue, and the intense sun fades photos very quickly. But in the sitting room I have one wall, above the fire, that does not get direct sunlight, so I decided to use one of the, rather old fashioned now, multi frames, and try to get everyone in that. The boys are old enough now, to not change drastically through the years, though there is an occasional change of partner to be included, but the grandchildren's pictures are frequently out of date. So when I went to UK in May, I made sure I got one of everyone, without them pulling silly faces etc, and finally I have got them in the frame. It took me ages to edit them, and make sure they were exactly the right size but it is done now. I love all the fun photos I have of them, and they go in scrapbooks which I can wander through whenever I feel inclined, but I also love my rogues gallery, with all my  boys lovely smiling faces looking down on me. I walk in the room and automatically smile back at them. 

And I haven't forgotten what my desk is for. Just to the right is the sheet of my newest Chocolate Baroque stamps, waiting for me to finish that set of Christmas cards I started last week. The green one won a challenge at Holly Jolly Christmas Blog, so that should inspire me to get on and use the rest of them.

Meanwhile, here is the latest pair of pages for my project 365 - the pages for August. 

I chose a hot, bright orange for these summer pages, and again kept the decoration minimal, as the project is more about the photos than the page. I used a set of flower dies, (I have forgotten what make it is,), plus that lovely new memory box prim poppies, and my sissix/SU cut and emboss folder of butterflies. Those tiny ones are so cute.

Have a good week everyone, and I will try to visit more of you this time.

Sharing the Love

One of my blog land friends, Peggy, who lives in the Philippines, is a wonderful artist. Much of her work is inspired by local culture and her strong Christian faith. Through her art she shares verses from the Bible, as pages of a prayer dairy. They are often very inspirational. Right now she is offering her blog followers the opportunity to win one of three 'lovely ladies'. Here is just one of them.

If you would like to see more, and have a chance to win one of her pieces of art, visit her blog here.

Isn't the Internet Amazing?

It is time once again to be making a birthday card for my youngest grandson, who will be six on 9/11. I knew exactly what card I wanted to make as I made a similar one, once before at a workshop, and gave it to another grandson. (Probably one of the two who are just approaching eighteen now!). At the time I used stamps from the shop where the class was, and I now have nothing suitable. What I wanted was a dragon, but not a scary one, and not a too cartoony one. It was to go with a well known quote that perfectly appeals to the sense of humour of a six year old.

So I went into google and searched for a 'Friendly dragon digi stamp', but after visiting loads of sites, I still hadn't found what I wanted, so I turned to Google images. There, straight away was a perfect one, so I clicked on it to find it's origin, and  - lo and behold - it was on a tutorial of "How to draw a friendly dragon"!

Now I am one of those people who is convinced that they can't draw, mainly due to a very discouraging art teacher. I attended a very old-style grammar school, where art was very low on the curriculum priority list. I was a good scholar and not used to failing at things, so when my initial attempts to produce what I was asked for were not very good, and a disillusioned art teacher told me I was no good, I believed her, and didn't try any more.

Fortunately I now at least have sufficient confidence to have a go at things, so pencil in hand, and a blank sheet of paper in front of me, I followed the tutorial. It was excellent, very clear, and took you a tiny step at a time through to a finished image. Here is the initial sketch, then with the all the details added in, and the final image with the main lines inked over, and the pencil rubbed out. (Sorry they are an odd colour. I took the photos under a strong artificial light last night).

Once I was happy with the image I scanned it into the computer and used 'Paint' to tidy up a few lines. Then I went into my photo editing program and flipped it, because I wanted him facing in the opposite direction. I then took a photo of a bottle of ketchup, cut it from it's background, and fiddled around until it was the right size to go in his hand, and I cloned out the fire-stick that he was originally holding. I saved them together so I could resize them proportionally for my card. Then I printed it out and coloured it with my copics. When I had cut both out, I used a knife to make a slit around his fingers and thumb and curled them around the neck of the ketchup bottle. I didn't think the puddle of ketchup was very convincing so I didn't use that.

Next I worked out how much space I had left for the words and typed them into a suitable text box in Publisher. I printed them out and cut them to vaguely resemble an old parchment document, and distressed the edges with walnut stain and black soot DI inks.

Then I chose a base card and backing paper from my stash and assembled it, leaving a space at the top for the sentiment. This was done with a very ancient clarity stamp set, heat-embossed with gold powder, and the number is a peel-off.

The 'splat' of ketchup in the lower right corner was cut with my first ever sissiz die, one of those old really thick ones. When I passed on my old sissix cutter which weighed a ton, so I couldn't keep lifting it in and out of the cupboard, I kept a few of my favourite dies and this is one I have used quite a few times. It cuts with my cuttlebug using the sandwich B plate, die, card, B plate. So I guess the die must be about the same thickness as the A plate.

Anyway, here is the finished card. It turned out pretty much how I wanted it to, and although it was quite a lot of work, I now have my own digi stamps, and everything I need to reproduce it should I want to. If anyone is interested in the tutorial you will find it here. There are tutorials there for drawing lots of other images too.

I am entering this card in:
A Gem of a Challenge 54; A Boy Thing.
The Secret Crafter Challenge 201: Animal Antics.
Inspire me Fridays Party 74: Always Anything Goes.

WOYWW 169

It is time once again to join me as I hop around the blogs of a very friendly group of crafters, to see what they are getting up to this week. To find out more, pay a visit to our host Julia at her Stamping Ground, and join in the fun.

Apart from a few Christmas cards I haven't done much crafting this week. I have spent every morning at the vet with poor Baggins, who is still very unwell. He did pick up really well last week, but at the weekend he went downhill again. He had an X-ray yesterday which confirmed his broken jaw, but also showed he has a lot of fluid collecting around his lungs, which explained why he was struggling to breathe. However last night and today he has stayed 'in hospital' at the vet clinic so they can feed him intravenously, and inject antibiotics. I thought he looked a bit brighter today. So I shall be off there again tomorrow to see how he is. 

That did mean that this afternoon I was able to spend some time in my craft room, so I had a die-cutting afternoon. I started off with a Christmas die that a friend of mine bought, and she had not been able to get a good cut with it. I ran it through my green bug with some aluminium foil, and with several passes through the machine, turning it 90º between passes, I did manage to cut it all. However it is a very intricate die, and having cut it I had great difficulty removing the piece without tearing it. So I then tried again with a sheet of 'papel vegetal', which I think is like English baking parchment, between the die and paper I was cutting, and this time I was successful. But I did find that with some weights of card I had to put a thin piece of acetate as a shim over the centre of the image. Otherwise the middle bit didn't cut, however many times I turned it. I don't think it is really faulty, just one of those awkward dies, and she will need a bit of patience to use it. I will be able to give her a few tips when I see her at our group tomorrow morning. Fortunately we meet for our sewing group in a building immediately opposite my vet's clinic, so hopefully I can get to both!

I then moved on to try a couple of new dies that arrived in the post for me today. I bought two of them when I saw a lovely card made by our host Julia, earlier this week. I cut out each of the butterflies in the Joy craft set, and compared them with the Sissix/SU embosslit ones. I love that little grey folder which manages to give me five different butterflies within a two inch square. Those tinies are so cute, and now I have some larger ones as well, so 'butterflies for all occasions'. And lastly I bought the memory box prim poppies die. This didn't strike me as being anything very special when I first saw in online. but I have now seen it used on cards on various blogs and I love it. It is so elegant and delicate. I am sure I will find plenty of uses for it.

What else is on my untidy table? Well there is the big black folder where I store my cutting dies. The white folder at the back with black squares all over it is the plan for this month's photo-board which is almost complete of course. Then there is a sketch with a pen and pencil on top of it. I have just followed an online tutorial to draw an image I wanted, and now I have to tidy it up and make it into a digistamp. More of that another day I hope.

It also looks a bit like a chemist counter with a bottle of 90% alcohol which I use for cleaning up everything from alcohol inks to glue to permanent markers. Wonderful stuff! The baby oil I use in parchment craft and I am about to sort things our for my class on Thursday, and the lavender water is out for me to refill my little spray bottle. Nearly everyone out here carries one of these in their handbag. A quick spray on the back of your neck is very cooling and refreshing, and they do say it keeps the flies at bay too, but the jury is still out on that one!

So that's it for me for another week. I will visit as many of you as I can, but it will depend on how much time I spend at the vet. Thank you for all your kind messages about Baggins. As you know he is very special to me, and I appreciate your concern.

POST SCRIPT.

I am very sad now because I went to the vet this morning and Baggins' condition had deteriorated over night, so I made the very difficult decision to let him go. They have been wonderful to him there, and couldn't have done more to try to save him. But it had reached the point where we were keeping him alive for my benefit and not his, and he didn't deserve that. He is at peace now, but my craft room will never be quite the same again.

A Colourful Collection for Rudolf Day

When I bought the Chocolate Baroque plate of Christmas stamps that I have been using recently, I also spotted this lovely stamp by Indigo Blu, which I saw as having the potential to make some quick and easy cards. So I thought I would get it inked up for Rudolf Day, (The 25th of each month).  To find out more visit Sandra's blog, Stamping for Pleasure.

For the first card I started by checking that the stamp would fit on an A6 card which it did, perfectly. So I cut two A4 sheets of white light-weight card into quarters. I set two pieces aside in case I had to redo any, but as they all worked quite well first time, I will probably think of a another couple of colour combinations and make two more later today.

I then covered one piece with Antique Linen DI ink, using my ink dusters, another fairly new acquisition that hadn't been used before. I liked the subtle, slightly mottled affect I got with these.  I darkened the edges with Walnut stain and used the same pad to stamp the image. Once it was dry, I trimmed it up and mounted it onto a colour co-ordinated base card. Looking for a sentiment stamp I found this little verse stamp that I made using image pac, many moons ago, and it fitted the space perfectly. I finished it off with a few dabs of brown stickles for a little bit of sparkle.

Satisfied with this, I then made the other five in the same way, using two toning colours, except for one where I used strong contrasts. All but one of the inks were Distress Ink pads. My colour combinations, starting with the contrasts, were, Squeezed lemonade/Festive berries, Antique linen/Walnut stain, Tumbled glass/Peacock feathers, Iced spruce/Mowed lawn, Spun sugar/Picked raspberry, and Shaded lilac/ Memento Paris dusk. As you can see, I gave my recently bought Spring and Summer special ink pad sets a good try out.

On the green card I tried adding glossy accents to the baubles and sprinkled some glitter on them, but I didn't feel this really added anything worthwhile to the card, so for the others I just used the stickles.

So here is my set of six cards. I am sorry the photos aren't better. The two blues are actually very different from one another, one being lilac blue and the other turquoise. The stickles don't really show either but they add a nice bit of sparkle. It is very, very bright here today and it is difficult to photograph the colours accurately. As well as linking these to Sandra's Rudolf day challenge, I am also entering them in the:

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge 25: Non Traditional Colours.