WOYWW 888

 Happy Wednesday all.  Hope you are keeping well, and Jan that your cataract op went well. It's time for WOYWW again, head to Sarah's for the link up.   Week 888.  what a lovely number. 

I've not got anything to show this week,  because Saturday was spent 

at Lords. in the rain... with not much cricket.... I did manage a blog about it though!

behind the programme is, (somewhat staged)  a flower I've coloured with my new pencils!

the hospitality was good though!  a couple of work colleagues and friends of Monica's as her guests

I'd never been to Lords before, it was 

so,Kew had to wait till Sunday 

the weather was much kinder on Sunday! 

there was even sunshine!  

I had intended to have had some more crafting to show today, as my boiler should have been being installed on Tuesday, but - yet again - they couldn't do it.  The scaffolding didn't arrive and so it has been rescheduled again for next week.

I had thought I could spend the day crafting while the work was done.  Instead I went to work after the fitter left, unable to do the work.   Third time lucky next Thursday. 

So I hope you have all had a much more successful week than I did...

WOYWW 887

 Welcome back lovely deskers,  to another week's WOYWW - now in the hands of Sarah.  

I had to go to the shops on Sunday to take some trousers back toM&S  and on the way back up the high street I called into the Works, i was looking for a big white Posca paint pen but they don't sell them....

however I spotted some bargains....

a black art pad, the paper feels quite thick.  I thought it might work well with neon colours. 

a large box of coloured pencils.. 120 ... half price £20... I couldn't resist

when I got to the till, the assistant had a stack of 12 x 12 paper pads on the counter that were about to go on the shelves... I couldn't resist the dusky pink flowery one!  

as you  know I regretted not buying the full set of Prismacolours some time ago, and in fact was going to source out a bigger tin online.

but I saw these and thought, well the quality won't be as good but we'll give them a go.

I have tested a few and they do seem to lay down colour nicely, so hopefully will be a bargain and not a waste of money.

Saturday at Kew was lovely, fortunately not quite as hot, but still pretty warm

the roses were simply stunning 

since then the weather has changed a bit and Tuesday just before hometime a huge thunderstorm hit with torrential rain.  (the start of meteorological summer, of course it is going to rain)

Looking forward to seeing what you've all been up to this week, happy WOYWW .  

WOYWW 886

 Welcome to another Wednesday - WOYWW  with Sarah and the gang. I hope you all survived the heat at the weekend and beyond.  It has been unbearable here!  I am not made to cope in 34 degrees!  

I added some more layers to a journal page I started a few weeks ago

pieces of tissue layered over a painty layer and a stamped background. 

then I ran out of inspiration 

Kew on Saturday before the worst of the heat, was lovely

 

I did also go on BH Monday, but only lasted a couple of hours before bailing 

and I concentrated mostly on the sculptures.  

Kew has seen record temperatures for the last 2 days running. I really hope the weekend is cooler! 

thanks for dropping by, and thanks to Kyla for the anniversary atc which I just remembered to photograph along with Jan's !

WOYWW 885

 welcome back lovely deskers, it's time again for WOYWW . Hope you're all well. 

Thanks to LLJ for the card and atc for the anniversary - which I have forgotten to photograph!!  

I made a journal page in the Dina ledger last weekend,  I started by splodging red (Tomato) and green (Forest) Paperartsy Fresco paints somewhat randomly They're both translucent paints

added stripes of Frosty Fresco which is an opaque one. 

added a touch of slightly watered down gesso to tone down the green and red,  stamped some Dina men in  the "boxes" created by the Frosty paint 

stamped some more images from the same stamp set as the men (it's a set called You Are the Universe - the stones and the sentiment. 

Saturday of course, was Kew  

you know I love alliums!

the Canada goslings were huddling together 

and here's another Henry!  

I'll leave it there, blogger is being .... awkward  

happy WOYWW all 

WOYWW 884 17 and counting

Happy WOYWW week 884 - 17 years old ... I am quite sure Julia never thought when she created this group that it would last so long,but thanks to her for starting it  and thanks to Sarah for taking it on .  We have seen each other through good times and bad over the years.  

Sarah thought that it would be an idea to create an ATC to share on the desks this week without necessarily having a swap as we have in the past. 

This is the ATC I created for our 17th anniversary.  -  we have made good friends indeed. 

Sarah also suggested we try and find some atcs that we've received from Neet over the years, in her memory.  I did find one, from 2024 - she called it "What's on your Wash-line Wednesday"  

I do have more, but didn't have time to look them out -there is no organisation to the way I store things like this, they are just kept in envelopes all over the place,  and I was supposed to be having my new boiler installed this week and didn't have time to hunt through places they may have been put... 

The boiler hasn't actually BEEN installed this week as when the guy turned up Monday morning he took one look at the old boiler and said - "that's a 2-man job to get that off the wall, it's way too heavy for one"  and then looked outside at the wall where the flue exits (one storey up obviously as I live in a first floor maisonette) and said "you'll need scaffolding for that; you  need a health and safety assessment".    

you  may ask why this wasn't thought of at the time the first engineer took the photos to send to BGas before they rang the quote through with me.....  yes indeed.   me too.  

So, I did get a bit of journalling done last week 

it needs some kind of quote top right,  or something, to finish it off..  

Kew on Saturday saw the official opening of the Henry Moore: Monumental Art exhibition ....  they are fantastic..  the blog shows lots of them and they have removed the barriers, although some still have ropes so you can't get right up to them (to discourage climbing I think )

these are some of my favourites.. 

and yes, I did lie right down to take the middle one

sending you all love and good wishes for another year of WOYWW fun and friendship.   

WOYWW 883

 Hello, lovely deskers.  Time once again to gather for WOYWW - but today is a very sad day as we meet to remember our lovely Neet who we found out last week had passed away.  We all knew she had been very poorly and in and out of hospital since autumn, and whilst maybe not a surprise to hear the news, it was still a shock when we heard from Chas, her beloved husband.

Neet was such a vital part of our WOYWW group, taking part for many many years and attending crops, sharing her amazing cards,  and we will all miss her hugely.  

I have gone back through my photos of crops - but only seem to have a couple saved on my computer from the 2022 crop - I haven't got any more saved on the computer, but have trawled back through many years of WOYWW posts and can't find any others with Neet in 

this was Neet and Cindy crafting away

and Neet doing what we all do so well at crops - chatting, here to Annie and Jo.

Whilst going through files on my computer, I found one of the also much missed Shaz with Neet at the Happy Stampers show in Port Sunlight 2016

I look forward to seeing other memories of a wonderful WOYWWer .

I haven't done any crafting really, a part done journal page but it's un-photographed.  Two trips to Kew if you're interested - Friday, for the 1st of May and early openings   and Saturday also at 8 am 

take care all.  

WOYWW 882

 Welcome again for another Wednesday desk share - with Sarah for WOYWW 

I treated myself to some new Paperartsy stamps last week 

I got them from Stampers Grove as usual, superb service - more so because I managed to add 2 of one of them to my basket, but rather than just sending them, James messaged me to check and then offered to refund the payment.

All that and sent within a day, and when he was about to come down to London to run in the Marathon on Sunday. 

I carried on with the previous journal pages I'd been working on 

the face is another piece cut out of the Paperartsy tissue

I did however forget that the background was Distress Oxides, so of course when I added matte medium to the reverse to clue it down, the face turned yellow...and that was after I'd gesso'd it. 

still, it looks a bit funky (if jaundiced!)

I stamped and laboriously fussy cut two of the berry branches from the background - not something I'll be doing often, I can assure you... I did cut off some of the branches as they were too fiddly.

Saturday was gorgeous at Kew 

the swans were in attendance again 

the tulips under the (now finished blossoming) cherry trees were looking good, the earlier white variety have finished so it looks bit empty. 

Friday is 1st May (how!)  but which  delightfully sees the start of Kew's member early entry at 8am -   I have booked a long weekend round the Bank Holiday to get in an extra visit to enjoy the early light - hoping the showers now forecast, wil wait till I leave... 

I hope you are all keeping well or at least recovering!  Happy WOYWW.