WOYWW 256?

I think I'm going to lie this week, and pretend I've started my anniversary ATC's... but I'm not good at lying, so .... I still haven't done anything about them... a little germ of an idea is brewing though!
Welcome to another weekly desk-hop-fun-fest brainchild of Julia - check here for link-up and any details you may need.

 Not much to show you this week, a little happy mail parcel today - despatched by you-know-who..

 I ordered this book waaay back in December, it's publication was delayed but finally I got an email on Monday saying it had been despatched - and look  it arrived in time for an appearance on my "desk" today!

I've long wanted to learn some nifty lettering techniques and having had a quick flick through tonight (Tuesday, time of writing) it looks good.

Especially cos said who-know-who were selling it at a mega-cut down price of £2.53... yes, two pounds fifty three pence... you can see why I didn't mind waiting nearly 5 months for it!!
So  next time you see a journal page from me, there may, just may, be some writing of my own on it!!!
Hope you have a great Wednesday (or insert other desk hopping day) - see you soon!

3UP - Eclectica (Lin Brown)

Just a quick post tonight, with a snippet of a project I created for the latest 3up secret projects for Paperartsy...

You can see what I did here - and I can't wait to see who else is up tonight!

Here's a little glimpse to tempt you..

Journal - inspired by Sam and Lin

Hi, this week has been a bumper week of goodness at Paperartsy and we were surprised and wowed  when my good friend Sam appeared on Wednesday with an Oriental-themed tag here  and delighted again on Friday when Lin Brown made a washi-tape background hanging piece here 

I knew I wouldn't have time to do both (having been very lazy all week!) so have combined elements of both into a journal page.
As ever, my background is leftover paints from previous projects, this was the Lin Brown limited edition Fresco's so very apt for the new challenge... I stamped the scratchy rectangle stamp in black over the whole page, and added white Sharpie pen highlights, as in Sam's background.

 From here I went with the Lin "mash up" and the tulip idea - I don't have the same stamp plate Lin used, but in hindsight I think this is for the best, as it would have been too busy on my background.  I stamped and cut out several tulips and stems from ELB03. using Cornflower Blue archival ink, which is reflected in part of the background

 I only ended up using 3 in the end, but first I added some of Tim's tissue tape and blended it into the background with some watered down Chartreuse Fresco. (this also seals it to the page a little, as I've almost run out of matte medium)

 I stamped one of the sayings from ELB05 and cut the words out separately and edged in Black Soot, which I also used for the flowers.  After I'd finished, I remembered Lin's trick of using a small dabber for this which would have been much easier!

I used 3d mounts for some of the words, and stuck some straight to the page, so there was some difference in relief.

I really had fun with this, so thanks to Sam and Lin, for the inspiration!

Entering the Paperartsy challenge, here 

DragonsDream - TIO - B - Flower

It's my dear dear friend Gabrielle's choice of theme for our tags this fortnight, at DragonsDream... she wants us to use the letter B and flower.  I went for layered flowers - and bird .

 I started with Stone mixed with Tikka Fresco paint (blending on the tag with a brayer, tag spritzed with water to help the blending process.

the bird is on of Dina Wakley's fabulous Scribbly Birds, stamped onto the tag and then the feathers "painted" on  afterwards..  I used a piece of the twiggy bits my friend Lin gave me ages ago, for the bird to sit in.

 the flowers are from my stash - the large one, I sprayed with orange spray (probably Dylusions, but I did it so  long ago and put it away to save, that I can't remember...) it's got a flourishy type stamp stamped on it too.. again, no idea, was at least a couple of years ago I did this!  Layered it up with some other flowers and a brad for the centre.

the little birds are stencilled (one of my Paris stencil haul!) and the sentiment is from the Scribbly Birds set.

We look forward to seeing how you interpret this theme - don't forget you must use at least one real stamp, on your tag. Have fun!

WOYWW 255 - a right mess - and still no atc's...

Hi, welcome back for another Wednesday snooping at desks from here there and everywhere...link up with Julia here and join in the fun -   this week you find me with not a lot happening (again) and still not a sign of any ATC's for the anniversary swap even though I did say I'd try and get some done over the long Easter weekend...

 It looks worse than it is (kind of!) because I was kneeling down taking this from just inside the door... that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it... As you can see I was watching the football on Tuesday night!

and kind of round the corner of the sofa... a journal page mid-flow on the "desk"...

That's it from me this week, short and sweet... hope you recover from the shock of the mess soon!

Craft Barn Q&L 8 - Knowledge/Hurt

Good morning, (just) and Happy Easter to you... The new Craft Barn Quotes and Lyrics challenge was set this morning, nice and early and I set to in my Q&L journal.

 started by brayering Lake Wanaka, Antarctic and Space Cadet lightly over the page

 I used these stencils and both Watering Can and Cornflower Blue archival inks, applied with cut and dry foam

 brayered a touch of Snowflake behind where I was going to stamp the Scribbly Birds (first time I've used these, love them already) using black archival.

 for my quote today I turned to Helen Keller
"Knowledge is love and light and vision" and I used a mixture of stamps, (masking the word knowledge) alphabet stamps and writing.

Really happy with this page.  Entering the Craft Barn Q&L challenge here 

JoFY inspired...

On Thursday, Jo Firth-Young was back at Paperartsy using her masterboard artwork from last month...and making all kinds of fabulous cards and journal covers.

I have one and a half masterboards (most of which I intend to use for something else) but did make a quick card with part of one of them.

 mounting on black and stamping and making an extra flower to mount

curling the leaves for a bit of added movement.

Entering the Paperartsy challenge here

Darcy inspired journal page - Month 3

I'm a bit late getting my month 3 journal page completed (or started, truth be told) but there are still a few days left to enter Darcy's journal page for her Paperartsy challenge (check here for all the details); but with the long Easter weekend I've managed it!

This month, we've been using book text for texture, tinted and stamped into grunge paste, mixed translucent Fresco paints, white pen highlights, stencilling and adding shadows with stencils, and much more...

 I followed Darcy's instructions so won 't repeat them here, just add the photos so you get the idea of the steps.

 Kind of wish I'd left it here, as I really like it at this stage, wasn't so happy with where it went from here, in parts anyway.

the finished pages.  Entering Darcy's challenge here

 

Grunge hearts and doilies

I've been playing around in my journal the last couple of nights, with one of the fabulous new stencils I got at Ally Pally on Saturday - this one is the ring doily by Rebekah Meier for Crafters Workshop and I think we all who saw it, fell for it immediately.

You may have caught a glimpse of the page in progress on the previous post for What's on Your Workshop Wednesday... here's the finished thing.

I started by painting the whole page with Antarctic Fresco, then stencilling in opposite corners with Space Cadet and then filled in with Space Cadet

then in the other corners used Antarctic to create the relief image. Wasn't too happy with the top right stencil, so added some more Space Cadet...

 and then re-stencilled with Antarctic again

 Then I randomly stamped the brick wall mini stamp in Watering Can archival, and stencilled Grunge Paste through the Gothic Romance stencil (also one of Rebekah Meier's) - my GP is nearly empty and is getting quite thick and dried out, so it's gone on quite thick which creates a lot of texture.  I let this dry overnight.

I have finally used one of the hearts from Dina Wakley's Collaged Hearts set and black archival, stamping it several times over both pages, echoing the GP hearts in theme.

Close up of one of the hearts.

To finish, I stamped the two sentiments from the Collaged Hearts set, on Heavyweight Smoothy card, and edged with Black Soot distress ink, and mounting with 3d foam pads.

WOYWW 254

It only seems like yesterday I was writing last week's WOYWW post... not sure how it's already Wednesday again!

Since we were here last, I have been to Ally Pally for the stamp and scrapbooking show (report, photos and stash here) - the credit card took a bit of a bashing (again!)

 but in case you can't visit the previous post here is just one of the 4 photos it took to share the new stash.. told you there was a lot!

I've been playing a bit with one of the new stancils in my journal, one of the doily ones by Rebekah Meier for Crafters Workshop... it's not finished yet.... but here's a closer look...

Not sure yet where it's going from here... watch this space!
I still haven't started my anniversary atc's... maybe I'll get time over the Easter weekend...!

Ally Pally - a day with friends - and a credit card...

Hi, Happy Sunday to you - and good luck to all running the London Marathon... I will be - watching from the sofa!!

Yesterday, saw my twice-annual trip to Alexandra Palace and the BSSBS - Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show - I LOVE this show, (my credit card gets lots of exercise too...as you will see later)

The day dawned early - I like to be near the front of the queue, lol!!  This time, I was meeting the oh-so-lovely Julie Ann  at Victoria station in London for only her second trip to Ally Pally.  From there we headed to the venue to meet Lin  It was nice to have someone to travel the rest of the way with and chat in the queue - although to be fair, most times you just chat to the person next to you anyhow.

At 10 when the doors opened we headed - dashed! - straight to Paperartsy (of course) for the new stash we'd missed out on in Paris (bottle caps, Emma!) The lovely Lin Brown and Leandra were already hard at work demoing (early entry for disabled visitors to allow them some space at the stands) so we did a bit of a sweep of the racks!

Lin working hard - tags covered in fabric and paint stencilling on top (you can see in the samples at the front too)

 Leandra also working hard with her funky new hair colour!

Julie Ann and Lin laughing with Leandra..

 this tag with the gorgeous doilly stencils turned into a bit of a Jo Myhill/Leandra collaboration - so much so that when Leandra had a break, Jo stepped in to demo -

 both these stencils had to come home with me, lol!

 

 Jo was a natural!

 Mark - Mr Paperartsy - then had a well deserved break and Leandra had to work the till... hope it's not in too much of a mess, Mark!

 that finished tag - a beaut

 there was time for a look round too - it was fabulous to catch up properly with my fabulous friend Gabrielle, it's the first time for ages since her awful accident last year, but you looked great Gab, and so did Freya-brayer (in joke) and her cousin Rebecca, seen here with the lovely Karen who was sadly there working!

There were lots of people there, but now the show is held in the Great Hall it doesn't feel too crowded - unless you want to get to your favourite stands!

towards the end of the show the #PATWITS gathered back at Paperartsy - here's Jo still working away!! - and the lovely Lesley watching Lin

and Christine and Lin doing some last minute browsing!

 Once the show closed - and we all finally stopped going "oh I might just get this" some of us headed to the bar for a drink - though the inside was packed we had to sit outside - it was a bit chilly - Jo, Julie Ann and Nicky

and the group having a catch up on our days





 Mark and Leandra's gorgeous daughter Millie

 so I guess I should remember to put in pics of what I bought - some cardstock and tissue

stencils - just one or two!

 this and that - sorry it's not a good picture!

and some stamps...
now, where can I put it all....? I could be gone some time!

Thanks to everyone for a great day yesterday - and if you're going today, have as much fun as we did!