WOYWW 362 - Look Who I Met at Port Sunny

Well, here is my desk from the other day (still the same as I have not crafted or put away, maybe piled up a bit more).  As you will see I was very circumspect in my spending but so pleased to see Honey Doo Crafts were there that I had to buy four of their stamps to get a free one (words) - easy with their beautiful flowers and samples.  Then of course, there was Leandra with PaperArtsy - always a crowd puller so I did not get around to her until late afternoon as I could not get a "push in" until then.  Visible Images were there and I so want that "eye" stamp but they had sold out by the time I got looking at stuff.  Still managed to spend a fortune with them and now got to send off for the "eye" - more expense!  To the right you will see two dies that Shaz brought for me - thanks Shaz, it was lovely meeting you and Doug.

Port Sunny (Port Sunlight) was a real good show, I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it was the best in years.  Mind you that might have been as a result of my seeing so many friends, especially when some of them were from WOYWW.

At last I got to meet up with Shaz (Silverwolf) and her lovely husband (thanks to Chris (Pearshaped Crafting) who had seen them earlier and took me along to meet them).  Here are the four of us (Chris, Me, Shaz and Doug if you don't know who is who)

Most of the day, well the morning at least, was spent chattering with friends.  It was so good to see so many people I know and it turned out to be one of my favourite Port Sunny days.  Maybe because of the friendships, who knows.  Lovely to see Christine, 2 Karen's, Amanda, Kay, Sylvia, Thommo, Anne, Janet, Linda, Lynne, Jacqui, Carmel, Elizabeth, Wendy - and, of course my lovelies, Helen, Sarah and Lynn (below).  Before anyone asks, Lynn is not wearing a hat, it is a lady stood behind her in a flowery dress with her arm sticking out.

I know there were more people than mentioned but my old addled brain is not working this morning, too early (or too late!)

Here is "mum" from Honey Doo Crafts with some of her lovely flowers - I hope they become regulars at Port Sunny - so many of my friends, as well as me, bought lots from them so I am sure they would be a big attraction again.

As always, it is lovely to see Leandra.  She is so talented, but apart from that I really like her (and Mark)  I was taking this photo and a couple of cheeky folks managed to get on - wonder who they are?  (Not talking of Emma or the lady with glasses on, but the other two ....)

Sorry this has turned into a long post Julia but I had to include some of my favourite people in my blog post.  Just wish now I had done selfie's with every single friend I met as I am sure I have missed someone.

Rightio, pop along to Julia's blog, join in the fun and see what is happening, thinking of you Julia.

WOYWW 361

Nothing to show I am afraid.  We are planning a new kitchen and trying (I am very trying some would say) to 'cull' the current crockery, glassware, cutlery etc etc in the existing one.  Lots when you consider I am sentimental and have things that belonged to my mum, my aunt, his mum and his aunt plus a caravan that was fully equipped.  For some reason this 'culling' has spread to other rooms and books were delivered to the local charity shop this morning, there are boxes with glassware in under my table in the utility room and piles of clothes in the conservatory.  So, no surprise when you see that my desk contains some masks that have been hanging around elsewhere but now are to take their place in my craftroom.

The cream one was bought in Venice (lost its stick), the blue one was one I made at CHA and the gorgeous white one was a gift from Brenda Abdoyan at CHA one year.  She is a very talented lady.

There are also some clay pieces which I had drying (leeching) on a piece of paper because I was thinking the other day that they were air dry clay.  I now realise they want to go in the oven - polymer clay! Doh!

Well, that is it from me for this week - short and sweet like Julia likes it to be.  Pop along to her blog and see what she has to offer and if you leave it until about 10 am you will have a few desks to view.

Next week I hope to bring some pictures of Shaz (Silverwolf) and her gorgeous hubby as we are scheduled to meet up at Port Sunny on Saturday.  Whoo Hoo - can't wait!

Who Would Have Thought It?

It snowed overnight!  Woke to a Winter Wonderland - I kept saying it was like Winter (cold) and now this!

Peering through the window looking at the front drive - first view left, then right - at 7 am.

Back garden - who would have thought it?

I can remember snow on the 1st May around 1967/68 but somehow don't think there was quite as much as this.  Ah well, maybe a barbecue at Christmas ...

WOYWW 360

A full circle!!!  Julia has achieved a full circle today.  Well, if it was degrees we were talking about.

First of all I must say that last week one or two people did not have numbers when they commented on my blog.  Found them all bar one and that made me sad.  I do like to return a comment, so Jen, if you put a number this week I will find you, promise.

Also had a problem with commenting on Gabriele's post (Art-A-Tag).  I did try, honestly, but could not tell where to click onto for comments.  Am sure everyone else knew what to do but I tried lots of things to no avail.  If someone could tell me I will rectify the situation.

Last week several of you were sorry that I had had to throw so many of my paints away.  Hope I did not mislead you too much and yes, it is sad that they had dried up but I can assure you I have lots of paints, too many in fact.  What annoys me is that those paints dried up in a relatively short time compared with some paints I have that have been with me since I first began crafting.  I have some Folk Art paints that I got cheap (probably about £1) years ago because they were old stock then and they are perfectly ok today.

Well, nothing to show you today as I have been gallivanting again - in Wales this time - and my day with Paul netted lots of die cuts with his Seth Apter dies for me to colour up and use.  And Yes, I still have my dirty old mat:

Now for a quick tour of Anglesey starting with Treaddur Bay

South Stack

Holyhead

Cemaes Bay (me)

From our window (Bull Bay)

Persistent Gull at Red Wharf Bay

Red Wharf Bay

Shops at Beaumaris

and the chilli shop which was closed boo hoo

Finally a view across to the main land

Sorry for all the photos Julia - did not take any in Llandudno where we literally bumped into Margaret and John.  Then got hit by hailstones!

If you would like to see some craftiness call back another day but in the meantime look at what Julia and her followers have to offer by clicking here.

WOYWW 359

Once again life got in the way and I did not get around to uploading my other three cards from my Distress Ink Weekend.  Here they are below:

Luckily I had some feathers in my stash so was able to take lots with me for the ladies.

Words I copied from a card on the internet.

By this time (card no 6) I was running out of ideas

It isn't easy when you live in the north and want to do cards for Oyster (down south) but have no idea on all they have in stamps, stencils etc.  I managed to get some from the website but there are so many you need to create lots of cards.  My next batch of cards using the Crazy Birds will be using my own things so hopefully a bit more adventurous - but will still use Distress Inks (I love them).

Now for my desk in readiness for Julia's Blogfest which takes place each Wednesday.  I say "in readiness" because at the moment (early hours Wednesday) there is nothing at all on it as I have been re-hashing the whole craft room in readiness for my friend Paul coming for a day of crafting.  This is earlier today looking to the left which is an area I have managed to clear (ahem) so there is some work on it at the moment waiting to be finished from a workshop I went to at Art from the Heart:

Collage shapes - paint and pencil work with some NeoColour now being worked in on top.

rehashed my tag wall and got rid of lots of punches

Whilst tidying up I went through my paints - all of them and believe me or believe me not I have a lot of acrylic paints - some had dried up beyond repair so they got binned.  You can see prick marks in some of them where I tried to get a cocktail stick in to stir them up - Phooey!

and Crackle stuff

As you can see some of the brushes actually broke off.  Serves me right for having wanted every colour at the time of buying and not using quickly enough.  Can't expect them to last for ever.

Not sure what Paul and I will be making but you can be sure I will show it/them to you next week.  In the meantime pop along to see what Julia is up to and follow the links to other crafters.  Bye for now!

358 - WOYWW

Here we are again, another week has flown by and my desk is revealing very little.  To be fair I have been away all weekend teaching Distress Techniques to some lovely ladies and now I am putting my stuff away.  Pop along to My Stamping Ground to see what others have been up to - and what the main lady herself has been doing.  In the meantime, as promised over the past couple of weeks, here are my sample cards which I did for the Oyster Stamp Retreat held in Daventry:

This was my first card and I did it with a double mount.  Then realised I would have to cut lots of card for the ladies and also they could be a bit pushed to complete in the time allotted with two backgrounds and cutting more card.  So I went down a simpler route which enabled me to cut all the card for them, ready to Distress.

Now I am hopeless at thinking of cute sayings to put on these cards so this is the only one I came up with - I was quite proud of myself, but I don't think any of the ladies used this saying.

A card for a man!  We all struggle at times so I thought I would throw one in and here it is.  You might wonder about the blank bit at the bottom of my cards - that is for any sentiment you wish to use - Happy Birthday, Get Well Soon, Congratulations or whatever.  I often put cards in a box to be used later but don't put a sentiment on the bottom - that way it has multi uses.

So there are the first three of my six samples, done solely with Distress Inks (my faves remember). Won't carry on with any more as this is supposed to be about my workdesk, which is below, but will try to get the others uploaded at a later date, but not before too long.

Bottom left you can see a tag I made years ago with Leandra at a Stamp Camp.  Well, I used the idea again and we made tags on the Friday evening but unfortunately I was too busy to take any photographs.  Shame as there were some great tags produced.  I bought some more reinkers for my DI's and as I haven't worked out a great way of storing them I am trying to make dividers to fit in my Felix boxes - that is what is on my score board.  There is a piece of cream foam to the left of the board, that is what Liz gave me to finish my edges off when I make a box.  Thanks Liz!

As you can see Monkey and Katie Koala are sitting watching what is going on.  Monkey came via Tea Bags and Katie was a gift from my buddy, Shaz in Oz, when she visited me in Manchester. Looks as if she has lost her bow again!  That girl and her ribbons!!

See you next week ...

WOYWW 357

Another Wednesday already, where does time go.  It is not seven days since I was visiting Julia and her 'gang' to see what was going on - surely!!  Yes, it is ... and I must go there again and see all my internet pals.

Can't show you what I have been doing, but I have been busy.  Last Saturday I went to Lady Lever Art Gallery but it was a terrible day at Port Sunlight, weatherwise, I must say, so there are no photographs for you.  Not sure whether I could take any in the Gallery but would have loved to have taken some outside.  Ah well, excuse for another visit and then I might be able to see the rest of the exhibits - it is such a huge place.

Anyway, went on a workshop on Sunday but haven't finished my piece so no photos - afraid you will have to be content with my desk

Yes, I am playing with my favourite inks - Distress!

At last I am working with the Crazy Birds too.

Because my room is so cluttered I have had to spill over onto the dining room table.  As I already have a table in the Utility Room, and a couple of cupboards in there, and one in the sitting room (cupboard not table), it is not that often I spill over and stop us dining here.  Just gathering one or two distress items together.

Remember last week I showed you my tall cupboard?  Well look at the surrounding area - I titled this photo "chaos".

The amount of stuff hung behind the door is ridiculous.

That is it for this week, I am going hanging my head in shame - or getting on with those Crazy Birds.  See you at Julia's ...