WOYWW#517-The Getting there slowly Edition

Yep, slowly but surely, those stencil backgrounds from last week are getting there. Time, as always on a Wednesday to reveal our desks in all their glory via Julia over at The Stamping Ground.

 Dang, can you believe we're at the start of the fifth month? Already! Just where is the time going?

I've started off with Florals again, then switched to Butterflies, Dragonflies and other suitable stamps.

I did have some difficulties, many of my butterfly & dragonfly stamps are either too big or too small for this, which is why I went looking for other suitable stamps.

 

The blue squares uses a set of stamps from Inkwell Stamps called Pebble People.


The cats on the green one are also from them, and the cats on the brown squares are from Hobby Art.
An assortment of Lavinia Stamps in the purple squares.




Flowers are much easier to do, as using a stamp platform, I just had to position the stamp in the first spot in a corner, then just rotate the card. Move it to a centre spot, then rotate again. Doesn't matter that the flower gets stamped in different orientations. However, that makes a huge difference with all the other stamps, so they were either placed in a new spot each time, or I did them by hand on a block.



The green one with the cats is pretty much finished, as I had a bit of a disaster that I had to fix.
As you can see, bottom left, the stamp slipped on the stencil, as I'd put it back in place so the images stayed within the coloured spot. Going to cut a circle from some copy paper for next time!
 Fortunately, I had two sheets with green circles, so I just stamped 4 cats again, die cut the circles, added some fun foam circles to the back, and covered the four corners.

 
 These are all the flowers, butterflies and dragonflies cut out to add to the stamped bases.

Doug bought some stuff from Amazon the other day, and had a look at the Daily Deals while he was at it. I spotted a Yupo pad, A4 size, at a really good price, and Doug pointed out a set of make up brushes, also really cheap. They are lovely soft brushes, and will work well I think for ink blending.

The reason for the Yupo- I had some fun the other day with my neglected Alcohol inks and some Yupo, and adding foil to them.

Not sure if the pics will show it, but basically where the ink creates an edge as it dries, that edge stays tacky longer than the background itself, and foil will adhere to it. It's not a precise thing, in that you can't control how much, or how little attaches, but you may get an idea from these two below.
 You just have to give it a minute or so for the main part to dry, otherwise you get far too much sticking to it.

 This one was a disaster, as I didn't let it dry enough.


Way too much foil got attached.










This one though came out really well. I used a holographic foil, and it sparkles like tiny crystals.







Well thats me done, just leaves us with......And Finally........

I reckon most of you are with me, right?




Last thing- I will be swapping in the Birthday ATC swap, if you'd like to swap with me, let me know in the comments, and we'll swap addys.

WOYWW #516- The I'm Back Edition

Yes, back again, and only just! These bank holidays get very confusing, today has just felt like a Sunday, or maybe Monday, so I almost missed it. MIA last week, as we had a concert on Tuesday night booked in London, which meant driving down on Tuesday afternoon, and then a stopover, so hadn't done a post, or took my tablet with me. However, since we've been back I've been making some more stencil backgrounds to replicate some cards I made a while ago.
You probably remember seeing these, done with Honey Doo floral stamps.
 Well, it crossed my mind that as well as doing florals, I could use Butterfly/Dragonfly stamps too, and I'm sure if I have a good look, I can find some other stamps that would work for this.

 Made a number of them, and although the camera doesn't really show it well, the two blue ones and two red ones do use different colours. All Distress Inks.

These are also Distress inks.

These have a couple of Distress Inks, and some Adirondacks too.

Then I thought it might work well with a square stencil too.


And while I was at it, I pulled out another couple of stencils too. These are mainly Distress Oxides. I'm thinking there may be fairies involved with these!

  The stencils are all from Clarity, as is the cardstock, which is their Stencil Card, and perfectly sized at 7" for the stencils.

Tickets have arrived for the Happy Stampers Festival in May, so looking forward to that, and seeing one or two WOYWWers there!


I was looking at my stats the other day, and discovered that my first blog post was on April 20th, 2010. So 9 years of blogging!



And so, I'm done. Which brings us to....And Finally......


Yep, I know that well. And the reverse resultant panic when what I thought was a hair on my arm, actually turned out to be a humongous spider!

UFO's Part 3

Still working down my UFO's, these two using another Clarity stencil, Framework Circles.
 I used Distress inks in two shades, applied with brushes.




After I'd done these, I really had no plan on how to use them, which is how they ended up as UFO's.
It occurred to me that flowers were the way to go, and this one is from a Honey Doo set, called Cherry Blossom, which has this flower in 3 sizes, this is the middle sized one. It also has leaves to go with them.




Getting them centred turned out to be a breeze using the Stamping Platform, but you do need to make sure your cardstock is accurately cut to size all around in order for you to be able to stamp the flowers central. I placed the first flower in one corner, then just rotated the cardstock each time to do each corner, then I moved the stamp to the space between the corners, then again just rotated the cardstock.

I'd inked the blue one to give me a darker shaded edge to each circle. Tumbled Glass and Salty Ocean Distress Inks. The flowers are stamped in Archival Cobalt Blue.

After I'd stamped all the flowers, I took a strip of pale blue vellum, and stamped some more, so I could add some layers. Wasn't sure if I wanted to double them up, so did a few extra. Stamped in Archival Cobalt, and as it's on vellum, the ink stays wet long enough to add embossing powder, and I used Stampendous Crystal to give a little sparkle.

 The orange one had been inked in Wild Honey  & Spiced Marmalade, and this time the flowers were stamped in Archival Tiger Lily.

I added a Happy Birthday sentiment in the centre circle on both. This sentiment comes from a cheap set of sentiments from Aliexpress. They are mainly small sentiments, which are often useful.
The only downside is that being cheap silicone stamps, they are rather thin, and even on the 'clear' side of the Platform, they wouldn't pick up on the lid.
However, I found a cheap and easy fix for this.  A while ago, I'd bought a silicone non stick baking sheet from Poundland, intending to use it as a craft mat.
 When I tested it out underneath my card on the platform, it raised the cardstock enough to pick up the stamps. So I cut a piece to fit the platform, as it's about 2 feet square. It will be useful, as I've found in the past that some of my unmounted bare rubber stamps are too thin to work in the platform, even on the clear side. So there's an easy fix for anyone having the same problem.

Before cutting out and adding my flowers, I added some colour to the ones on the cardstock with Prismacolor pencils, then did the same on the back of the vellum ones.

One of the things I'm loving about the Prismacolor pencils is the ability to shade just using one colour of pencil, simply by varying the pressure applied. Quick & easy is definitely a thing for me.

I matted each panel onto a matching cardstock, then mounted onto a 7" card blank, which I did have to trim slightly, as I couldn't get an even border of white card base.


The flowers were added with a dab of silicone glue, then some sparkly glass gems added to the centres, using Multi Matt Medium.

The cardstock used for the mat is from a pack by DoCrafts, the Papermania Capsule collection. It's slightly textured, and the pack has 75 sheets, each a different shade. I get them from The Range, and they come in A5 and A4 sizes, and are great for die cutting too.

Christmas Card Club #22- Winter Wonderland

Back with the Christmas Cards, for this fortnights Christmas Card Club, and this time the theme has been chosen by Christine, and she wanted to see a Winter Wonderland.
 I created 4 cards on the theme, all using Bauble stencils and Card-io stamps.

 The first one is using a bauble stencil from Inkylicious.
 All the sky inking was done in the same way, using a Clarity brush and Distress Inks. The colours were Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire, concentrating the colour at the top of the bauble, and fading it out as I came towards the torn paper mask made for the hillside.
 The torn paper was moved down the shape, and some Tumbled glass added over the edge with a dry baby wipe to create more hills.
 I'd added a moon mask punched from the sticky edge of a Post-it note before adding any ink.
 With all the baubles, when I'd finished inking the sky, I used the ink left on the stencil to gently drag inwards all round the stencil the define the bauble shape- a good tip picked up from Barbara Gray!
 Stamping is done in Versafine Clair Nocturne.
 The backing paper is from a pad I picked up from The Range, some lovely greys & silvers, including some with foil. Was only a couple of quid too. Made use of some more of those snowflakes, and a peel off greeting.
 The next one is done with a stencil I cut myself, with a Spellbinders die, Heirloom Ornaments 2011. I recently bought some stencil material from E-bay to do this sort of thing, so now I have a durable stencil. This is the largest die from the set, and I also cut it from copy paper, so that I could swap it for the stencil,and stamp right up to the edges, as even thin stencil material is a bit too thick, and leaves too much gap. Another piece of backing paper from the same pad, this one has foiled stars on.

These last two are done with another die cut stencil, this time Spellbinders Heirloom Ornaments 2010. The backing paper is from a really old pack by Dovecraft, and I added silver & blue ribbon on the left.

Same stencil, this backing paper is so old I have no idea where it was from!
 Forgot to say, all the hillsides were outlined with a Quickie Glue pen, and Crystal glitter sprinkled on. I dotted some onto the trees, and also added it to the cabin roof.
 Also, the card bases are 8" square.

Fairy Easel Birthday Card

The project I was working on earlier in the week. A birthday card for my Daughter in Law, Becky.
 I turned it into an easel card, as I'd made quite a large scene.


Starting to write this post, I've realised I didn't actually take any in process photos!

The image itself is done on an A5 sheet of cardstock, added to an A4 folded card base.

The fairy house is from Crafters Companion, called Fairy Wishes.

The house, drying wings, fairy path and small fairy were stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne.
Apart from the house, most of  the other stamps used are by Lavinia Stamps. The little dragonfly is from a Crafty Individuals stamp sheet. There is also a random grass stamp used at the bottom, from an Inkylicious set.
 Colour was added to the house, path and wings using Prismacolour pencils.
 The sky and grass area is Distress inks, brushed on with a Clarity brush. They are really good for getting a light coating of ink on a background. I have one set only, as I don't use them that often, and just wash them when I'm done. The blues used in order, were Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire, the greens were Mowed Lawn, Shabby Shutters and Lucky Clover.





I used a couple of older Versafine Greens to stamp the top foliage,  Olympia Green and Spanish Moss, which is all second/3rd generation stamping.
These are Leafy Trail, Whimsical Wisps,and just the Ivy part of Creeping Vine.

 Foliage at the bottom is Fairy Buttercups, Meadow Grass, Willow, and an Inkylicious grass. Same inkpads.
 The Tiny Mushrooms were stamped using a couple of Distress Markers- a brown for the stem, and Festive Berries for the tops.
Versafine Clair Paradise was used to stamp the dragonflies. Their wings, and the wings on the washing line all got a coat of Wink of Stella in Clear Glitter.
 Liquid Pearls in White Opal was used for the spots on the tiny Mushrooms, and for the mushrooms on the fairy house. Tiny spots of Stickles in Crystal added for the fairy dust being scattered by the small fairy.

The base and the piece to hold the greeting were covered with some TH backing paper, I thought the colour worked well with the image, all the better for being plain. The greeting is a Tonic die, cut from a sheet of foil laminated cardstock. I also cut 3 from dark green cardstock and layered them all together to make the greeting pop up. Matted it onto black, then attached with some foam tape, using 1 layer at the front, and 3 at the back.

WOYWW #460

Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday time again, and if you don't know what this is, then pop over to Julia's place, The Stamping Ground, and read all about it, then join in!
Stuff on my desk, then. I've been making some stencilled backgrounds, ready to do some stamping on. Not sure exactly what I'll be stamping on them yet, but these three will probably become Lavina stamps scenes.

 All the stencils are by Clarity, and I've really just been playing with sponging here. Distress Inks & Oxides, some done with Cut N Dry foam, some with brushes.

I love how these circle stencils came out- the shading means they really look dimensional. As I said, no real idea where I'm going with these, but I shall be playing more with them over the next few days.


Depending on the weather, that is. I've been clearing my planters, and have a whole load of new plants for them, so if it stays dry, that will be the next job.

Still making my mind up about these- it's something called the Retiform technique. You create shapes with sponging and post-its, then mask off each area and stamp into it. No idea where the name comes from, and Google for once has nothing to say on the subject, apart from asking me if I meant Retriever!
 They may end up in my UFO box yet- we'll see.

Bought this little drawer set from the Range- I sort of hoped I could fit my Brusho pots in them, but the drawers are just a fraction to small for them.







And finally...............

So, I'm done. Short & sweet this week.

WOYWW #446- The almost Christmas Edition!

Indeed, a huge Merry Christmas to all my WOYWW buddies, wishing everyone a Happy and Peaceful Christmas. Last but one link up of this year, over at Julias Grotto, The Stamping Ground. 
MIA last week, for which I will mainly blame Beloved Hubby having Monday off!  Made me think Tuesday was Monday, and so on. He had yesterday off too, so I've been reminding myself all day that it is Tuesday, not Monday.
 Not a huge amount on the desk, to be honest. A few purchases, the Pram stamp I bought- and ended up using- from Stamps by Chloe, as the Clarity set only turned up last weekend.

The TH stamp set was from Country View Crafts, and in her Advent sale.


I did make another purchase from Clarity- that 'Groovi Grip'. I saw it mentioned on Barbara's blog- you  attach it to the back of a ruler, and when you press down, it stops the ruler sliding. It's transparent when you peel the backing off. Thought it was worth a try out, as slipping rulers really annoy me.
 Two A4 size sheets for £4.16. I often prefer to trim my cardstock & borders after stamping, rather than cut to size first, and depending on what size of border I want, usually prefer a ruler & scalpel.
These stencils came with the original Baby stamp order, I thought the Bell & Bauble would look good with Christmas scenes in. The Holly one was a special being added to orders in the Gray Friday sale, I expect it will get a general release next year.

And finally, the completed Baby card, I'll do a post with it over Christmas.

So, I'm done.Only a couple of presents left to buy, and all the cards are posted.
Which reminds me, a huge thank you to everyone who has sent us a card, we really appreciate them.
 Doug breaks up on Friday until the 2nd of Jan, and being on earlies this week, means he finishes at 10.40.
 Have the rest of a lovely week,and I'll see you next week for the Nearly New Year Edition. 🎄🎄🎅🎅🎄🎄

And finally......

WOYWW #414

Right then folks, here we are at yet another Wednesday, and I'm pretty sure the last one was not a week ago! As usual, we start off at Auntie Julias place, The Stamping Ground. Then travel the world viewing desks of wonderment, delight, and in some cases, shame. 😎

 The first few pics are from Happy Stampers- first pic shows Sarah Brennan(Sarahscraftshed), then me, next to me is Neet(Hickdorums).
 Chris( Pearshapedcrafting) is stood by the doorway.

 This shot has Mark Alexander, from Visible Image, along with a lady called Rachel Fisher. I know Rachel from the Christmas Card Club,(Fishers cards & crafts) and in an amazing coincidence, she had won last week in their Facebook draw to celebrate hitting 3000 likes, so was there spending her prize.

Back at our lunch break for this shot, the lady on the far left is Lyn Hardy, who I met through Neet.
 We also bumped into Cara(Craftingbunnies)  on our way around, but didn't get a photo at the time.

Talking of coincidences, some of you may remember me making some Christmas Cards last year, using the Tim Holtz mixed media dies & poinsettias. I'd cased the card from Pinterest, and linked to the lady who made it first, Avril, of Mrs B's Crafting Addiction. Lo and behold, our Chris knows her, and she was there on Saturday, so Chris introduced us.
The other really funny part was how many ladies came up behind me, tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was Shaz, or Silverwolf! Rofl. Ladies who'd been visiting my blog, looking at projects I'd done. That was totally surreal.
So, onto the goodies then.

Some lovely new stencils from Sweet Poppy- the tree one at the back has a distinct bonsai look to it, and as that is one of Ants hobbies, will make a great birthday card for him.

On to Lavinia stamps, and top of my shopping list were the Green Man stamps!
 Some lovely fairy houses also dropped into the basket, but that was Hubby.

As were almost all of these. The only one I'd picked up was the Eclectica flowers- Hubby took a fancy to the rest.

These stencils were 50/50. I picked the top two, Hubby liked the two trees.

More Owls.  The stamps are really quite large, but there were some gorgeous samples done with them.

Finally, not a purchase, but a gift from Neet. She knows I love my Stampscapes stamps, and brought this with her for me. I love it, that will definitely get some use when I do some more, thank you so much Neet.

 Almost forgot about these- some loose stamps bought from Chocolate Baroque. There are some fab textures, and a couple of small stamps that will go well with my Lavinia Stamp for scene building.
 Also had a chat with Lesley Wharton, the owner. Lovely lady.
Okay, I'll stop there. I'm sure you will come across more photos of our meeting on the other ladies blogs, and there will be quite a few pics of stamps purchased, I'm sure.
 Oh, almost forgot- went to the appointment on Monday, for the results, only to find they hadn't arrived, as yet. They are chasing them for the next MDT meeting, so we have to go back in two weeks. A bit annoying, but to be honest, we almost expected it. A lot of the hospitals have had services downgraded in the Worcestershire area,including our own, and those services put onto Worcester Royal, and that was where I was sent for my scan. They were struggling under the weight even before that, so it really didn't surprise me they hadn't got here. I had expected my Oncologist to have put my appointment to see him off, when I had the scan date for just a week before we were due to see him. Oh well,  it is what it is.😏