WOYWW 151 and Last Call for Candy

Oops, this page has changed - what is Blogger doing?  Hope it uploads ok as I am off to bed, having had a late night and wanting an early morning for WOYWW.  (Crikey Mikey, had a problem with the link just then!!!)

Don't forget my blog candy - quite a few unmounted stamps there for whoever - it's just above this post and ends next Monday - or click the big hat opposite.

Thanks to those who put their number down last week, makes life so much easier.

Still cannot share my Jewel Goddess things from last week with you but they will probably be up by next time WOYWW'ers come to visit.  Spent far too long playing with these and not all that smitten with the end results.

So here is my desk, as you can see I have been playing with my new toy - the sewing machine.  Love it!  I managed to thread the needle about three or four times with the automatic threader, wound a bobbin (which I want to call a spool) three times and went through a full reel of thread.  I decided to go through the stitches that it performs and as some of them were a kind of satin stitch they used a lot of thread up.  In that process I had to change the foot - but the book called it a "presser", three times.  There are only two stitches I didn't do and that was because they needed yet another "presser" and I had had enough.  Might do them later along with the buttonholes and the eyelet.  Here are the ones I did (in the silk paper book I made with Annie):

I have to have my room reasonably tidy for Friday with stuff well away that will react to sawdust!  On Friday our local builder is coming to make me some shelving to stand in front of the door leading to our en suite bathroom (why would I want another bedroom having access to MY bathroom?  Maybe the previous owners had that room (my craft room) as a dressing room.).  It is going to be free standing and I doubt it will get painted to match in with the rest of the room for a while as I will be eager, too eager, to do anything but rearrange my room a bit.

Gosh, this was going to be so short, and yes, I like the new format, it lets me type on and on and I can still see the top line.  Ooh, try the bits at the side - there's all sorts of things.  What is this going to look like?

Right, off you go, visit the other WOYWW'ers who are spurred on by the Queen of desks, Ms Julia, and join the biggest blog hop I have ever been on.  Toodle Pip!

What a Nice Round Number - WOYWW 150

Welcome to my new followers - lovely to see you on board.  Don't forget the blog candy above this post - only two weeks to go.

Anyone know if there is a top hat die out there anywhere - about one inch to one and a half tall?

Right, short post this time - thanks to all those lovely people who remembered to put their numbers on with their names last week - made it such a better job to comment.  Hope it happens again this week.

Well I was almost caught out this week as I had forgotten that Ms Julia, Queen of Desks, had changed her timings.  There was I prepared to do my Cinderella act and blog at midnight in order to get my posting up before the clock struck again when I remembered.  Oops, mistake, the Queen had decided to have a change around and go back to the early morning posting for this week.  Luckily I woke up at 4 am with those danged old hips aching and managed to sit upright and ... well ... here I am with all the other WOYWW'ers posting.

Here's my desk, in all its glory

As you can see I have been busy with my Calibur and the Jewel Goddess Die that Tracey gave me to create something with (with a wicked laugh I might add).  Taken me until now to get things going, ideas buzzing in my head but that was about all.  Need to have them finished for the Aintree Show next week so I can take them to her and see what she thinks.  Hope I have not given too much away with my shot of my desk.

Toodle pip - don't forget to visit the others at the link above and remember my blog candy and your number please..

At the end of this Challenge we will be One Month Old!

Hi Everyone, it is so nice to welcome you to our second challenge, see, I did not give anything away in my Heading.  So if you have not been across to the Artful Times Challenge Blog you will not know that this time Sam chose the theme.  No prizes for guessing what her first choice was, that is if you know Sam.

Before we get down to it let me say we were overwhelmed at the response we got when we started our Challenge Blog - so many of you signed up as followers and we had over a 50% entry.  I even had a friend of mine submit a tag although she has not got a blog.

Here is Helen's tag

It's a lovely tag isn't it.  Thanks Helen.  Love the diamond pattern and don't most of us just love that man with the umbrella.

Well, on to the task in hand.  As I said, it was Sam's turn to choose and the theme was Green - or to be more precise "A Sea of Greens" - if you go to the blog you will see Sam's little introduction into the whole thing and then you can get creating.  At least I hope you will, it would be lovely to achieve as many, if not more, entries than last time.

For mine I chose this stamp from Non Sequitur that I have had for simply ages.  Just the word "green" made me think of Ireland, and Celtic and I remembered I had a plate that would probably work just fine.  When I looked at it this lady jumped out at me (not really, like not onto my nose or anything) and I decided to use that stamp.

Now I have always thought this was a weird image, a woman's face with all lines coming from her and leading nowhere - snakes, St Patrick?  In all the years I have had this stamp I did not realise it was a horse.  This time I have painted it with Twinkling H2o's so that you can see the horse.  The background is done with three different Distress Inks pounced on the paper.

So that is my entry this time - a bit weird but something different for me.  Guess you either like or do not like my shrine - it's all down to personal preferences.  I masked the horsey woman and used the circular stamp behind, then did my background.  Lastly I stamped the word "Celtia" and added it with two brads.

So that is it - another two weeks for you to have an entry in to the Artful Times and thank you so much, once again, for supporting us, for entering our challenge - just being there for us.  Thank You!

Oh, don't forget the rules, yes, sorry we do have some - they are there for you to see via a button at the top of the home page - please read carefully and follow, please.

WOYWW 149 and Sorry, A Grouse; and Smile, Blog Candy Above and Anyone Want to Meet Up?

Oh dear I hate being Mrs Grump but I would love you to leave your number along with your comment (bet nobody comments now - serve me right) as it takes me ages to find you if you don't.  I know sometimes the numbers change but it is only a couple or so either way and I can find you so easily.  If not I have to click on your name on the comment and sometimes you have more than one blog and I always end up with the right one at the very end.

Please can you leave a number (sad face from me) so I can WOYWW you quickly.

PLEASE READ:  Would anyone like to meet up in Manchester on Wednesday, 2nd May for a spot of lunch and a chat?  I am meeting up with one other WOYWW member and it would be lovely to see a couple of others of you - we could all wear our badges!  I've met one or two of you at Harrogate when I have been working but this is a golden opportunity for us to talk as a small group.  My email addie is in my sidebar if you are interested in coming along.

Before I show you my desk this week there's a blog candy post above here, lot's of unmounted stamps could be wending their way to you.

Here's my desk:

I'm making flowers, or I was over the weekend, but my neck hurt so bad that I had to abandon and now I am putting the components together.

It was Vicky Stampers on Saturday where the workshop was taken by the wonderful talented Paul who had us make a beautiful book card (posted mine yesterday) and then showed us some of his delightful flowers.  You must visit his blog here to see some great tutorials for great flowers.

Right, short and sweet this week, nothing for over a week on my blog as I tried doing a video and it took soooo long; and I ended up ditching it anyway.  Maybe I will try again but there is too much 'Blue Peter' to prepare by trying to avoid stops.  Perhaps we will just have stops!

Let's get snooping!

Where in the World ...

... is your Vagabond.  That is the question that Sizzix put out ages ago and which I did not bother with at the time but seeing it is still open for us to show our Vaggies this is where mine resides at home.

on a trolley

My room is only small and it is so full of crafting stuff that there is nowhere for my Vagabond to sit other than on a trolley so that it can be wheeled from hallway to room when I am crafting (or when visitors come LOL).

My big problem was where to store those big dies?  Then my friend in America gave me some Senseo boxes that her coffee pods come in and I brought two of them home.  I'll be after another two next year Mary!  They sit side by side on the lower shelf of the trolley and I have every intention of decorating them at some time but not just yet.  Underneath the black canvas cd case houses all of my Spellbinder dies and the little black card one has my embossing folders in.  So you see, my trolley is rather a special one.

The trolley is out because I have just finished decorating a little book/box I started at Vicky Stampers on Saturday, when Paul was tutoring.  Here it is - and I just love those letters I used (upon a time) on the inside.

This is the front cover

the inside front cover

the concertina box part

Now I have to tell you that I had seen one of these on Oyster Stamps stand when I was working for them at Leigh.  Pam had made it (check out her cards in their gallery) and I coveted that project so much that I bought some of the dies.  She does some beautiful cards and things.  It is not like Pams, hers is just beautiful beyond words, but it is similar.

I had taken a brown Distress Ink and Wild Honey with me and used the Wild Honey - I will be using that again and again.  The stamp of the bird was one of the dollar ones I got in America, the sun is probably from South Africa and the 'bitty' flowers are from Non Sequitur.  All the dies except the Tim Holtz one are Memory Box available from Oyster Stamps apart from the Labels one which is a Spellbinders (also available from Oyster Stamps).

WOYWW 148

Well, after last weeks little revelation - ie a look around my stamping area with lots of photos this week is somewhat different.  There is nothing to show but an empty desk.

So Ms Julia and all the WOYWW'ers out there look at this.  A clean area and no dirty green mat!  So what happened?  Well, I cleared it all off and did a bit of videoing to show folks my birthday cards (see here if you want to look).  That was a few days ago.  I have put most things back now but decided to do a bit of polymer clay work as I haven't done any for such a long time and teaching it the other week was not really me making anything.

Haven't got around to it yet as my line up of pasta machines show.

Why Three?

I knew you would want to know.  Well, I got so fed up with continually having to clean my machine, and clean it so thoroughly when I wanted to use white pc that I got myself another machine.  Then there was a problem with the transluscent so I got a third.  Now one is for each.  I've nowhere to store them so they are fixed to my workbench down the bottom end.  Easy to move up and use when I get around to it.

I do spread a bit all over the house.  Those of you who visited last week thought I had lots of room but I have a dedicated cupboard in the utility room, a "stolen" cupboard in there too (one of the wall ones) and a small chest of drawers in the sitting room - I also spread out into the hallway with my trolley (die cutting stuff) and my big bag for Vicky Stampers.  That's not to mention the two bags (those on wheels) behind the settee.

Ah well, we all do it - don't we!  Now I have shared my secret stash with you and shown you my tidy workdesk why not pop over to the stamping ground and see what other WOYWW'ers have to share.  I can guarantee you some eye candy and maybe one or two giggles.

Adios!

ps the dirty green mat is on the floor - forgot to get a replacement today when I went into town - sorry yesterday, it's 12.15 now Wednesday morning and I got up because I had twitchy legs - you know when you can't sleep .........

Out of a Hat

or should it be "Out of My Room"?

Friends over at Out of a Hat Creations have got "boxes" for their challenge.  I was quite busy so didn't have time to make a box from scratch so a hasty peek around my craft room and I spied a plastic box with a flip top lid.  Ideal size for ATC's and not decorated at all - pristine (well not quite, a bit mucky) and containing Chas' business cards, or what is left over from them.  I had intentions, when he ditched them all, of using them as centres on ATC's but never got around to it.

Anyway, first of all I coloured it all over with Alcohol Inks and then used my new Steampunk Background Stamps, from Dot, as - well, as the background.  Just the usual, three colours on felt and dab dab dab. The three I have used are Butterscotch, Caramel and Ginger.

Then I got out my other Steampunk Images and chose the ones I wanted, stamped them on some cardstock that I had coloured with Tea Dye and Brushed Corduroy Distress Inks and tore around them, inking the edges, and a bit further, with Walnut Stain.  It's surprising how much difference that little bit makes to an image.  These were then stuck on with Glossy Accents.

A bit of depth was needed and so I got my tiny drawers out and had a rummage in my cogs and wheels and chose what I wanted to go on and this is the result.  Sorry I cannot remember whose the stamps are, but I think it is the company that closed down, sadly.  The pointy hand is a Stampers Anonymous one and the metal is Ideology.

the hand on the spine is pointing to the flip bit that I wrote "Open" on with a Sharpie pen

Hope you like my Steampunk ATC box, I can now take it with me to Vicky Stampers and I won't worry about where I have put my ATC for that month (crikey, better get one done as we have a meeting on Saturday) but in the meantime I am uploading it to Out of a Hat Creations - the blog challenge run by four fabulous ladies - why don't you decorate one - you have a couple of days yet!

Apologies for the quality of the photos - could not get them right - cue a new camera???