WOYWW 343 - Happy New Year

So, we're meeting at Julia's for the last WOYWW  this year - I really don't know where the weeks - let alone the whole of 2015 - go...  I hope you all have had a lovely Christmas celebrating however you do, and like me, eaten far too much...

Let's take you back to my workspace on Christmas morning...

 a little pile of gifts waiting to be opened...











I was spending Christmas here at home again this year, not at my brother's; so it was destined to be very quiet - but on the plus side, I got to retain control of the remote for the tv!
The new (replacement) computer is behaving very well and I was amazed how speedily the photos transferred from the camera!
Whilst lunch (roast beef, my favourite) was cooking, I opened the presents...

a box of Prima goodies and some Sheena Douglas stencils from my brother and sister-in-law (she's a crafter too, so knows the kind of thing I like) some L'Occitane toiletries, (and some money) from the boss; some more toiletries, and a guide to Windows 10 from the girls at work.. which is very useful!

Most of these have now been gathered up and moved elsewhere, and I hope to have some crafty playtime before I go back to work next week but at the moment I have a stinking cold so am not doing much right now apart from blowing my nose and sneezing!




I did go to Kew on Monday, (photos here) as my cold hadn't fully arrived at that time and spent a couple of hours in the mild winter sunshine... counting myself lucky not to be affected by the awful flooding in the northern part of the country (and more to come by all accounts).  My friend Emma lives in York but luckily her home is safe, although a friend of hers has been flooded out. Emma has had to get a lift to dry ground to get to work, by mountain rescue boat once or twice though when the roads were closed....

Here's wishing you all a very healthy and happy New Year, may 2016 bring you much peace and well being.  See you at a desk near here very soon!

WOYWW 342

well, ready or not, the big day is just around the corner... Christmas isn't far off either.  Till then it's time for another WOYWW at Julia's Stamping Ground.. show and tell time!
So my craft space on the floor looks like this today..

 Christmas is waiting to be delivered...!

 the office "do" last week was wonderful, we went to dinner at 45, the restaurant attached to Fortnum and Mason's at, appropriately, 45 Jermyn Street in London.

Had to "borrow" a dessert menu... I had the chocolate bomb... it was dramatic and delicious  (one of those where they pour a sauce over the chocolate shell, at the table and the chocolate melts)... tasted yummy too!

If I could work out how to copy photos from my twitter timeline to here, I could add a photo but .... if you check @stampingbyh on twitter you may be able to scroll back far enough in my profile to find the photos!

the back (or front?) of the dessert menu







So, that's me sort of ready for Christmas.. the replacement computer is meant to be being despatched tonight or tomorrow - which could be a problem as we may not be at work for the whole of Thursday.. hey ho!!


I'll leave you with a glimpse of the Christmas card I'm giving my brother and sister-in-law (hoping they won't have time to read this before the day!)

I have since, coloured the stars with a gold gel pen, but forgot to photograph it again... 

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas, and see you (and your desks) soon! 

WOYWW 341

Just over a week to go... hands up who's ready?    ...resounding silence then...although I am further ahead than I was last week - cards are in the post and I have bought most of the presents - wrapping can happen this weekend!
In the meantime, let's gather at Julia's for some crafty workspaces..here at Stamping-Ground
Not very much happening on my workmat on the floor either... a bit of progress on the square canvas from the Paperartsy Christmas party:

I've intensified the colours on the canvas, and added the grungepaste stencilled dots (you probably can't see very well, though you should be able to click the picture to enlarge it -  I'll do a proper post when I can)
Computer update.... ha ha ha!  It was a faulty model, and all I got was a white screen.. it's gone back for replacement which I await hopefully soon...
It's the office Christmas party on Thursday, so a new dress has been purchased!  We're going to a restaurant somewhere in London (no idea which or where!)  I'll report back next week, although there'll be no photos as I'm not taking the camera, it's too big for parties...
Have a great week and good luck with the rest of your preparations!  See you soon.

WOYWW 340..it's beginning to look a lot like...

.. except, not round here it's not.. Christmas that is.  Not at all prepared, apart from the cards that are still not written.  No presents bought, no decorations up (well there isn't room for much, certainly not a tree, but I will put out some bits .. soon!
Welcome to another Wednesday hop round the desks of the globe, thanks to Julia's Stamping Ground.

Not a huge amount to share yet, the new computer is still were it was last week, in the space where my craft mat should be, on the floor... was struck by a sudden but shortlived tummy bug on Thursday last week (hence the lack of visits to most of you) -although it was over quickly I was left drained by it.
This meant that it hasn't been possible for the friend from work who was going to come and help me set it up (I can't do techy stuff!) to come and do it yet... maybe sometime this week!

I did do a bit of crafty shopping - the accessory pack for Tim's Crazy Bird stamps.. wasn't going to but saw them on a reasonable Black Friday offer.. they arrived the day I was poorly, I found them on the doormat when I went back to work on Friday.

I will NOT be buying the dies to go with these, can you imagine lining up such fiddly little images? I'd rather curse with a pair of scissors..











I spent Sunday at a Paperartsy Christmas Party/Workshop in Brentwood, Essex and we all (about 37 of us) had an amazing time.. (I was just about eating again by then but would have enjoyed it even more if I could have had pudding!!)   the full post about it is here

If I'd been organised I'd have written some of the cards and taken them with me, but ......


 these are the two projects we made during the day. Two fabulous canvasses, very different styles, but I love them!


They both need a bit of "faffing" to finish, but they're gorgeous.  I'll try and get some pics in daylight so you can see them better sometime!

I will try and visit more of you this week, and hope you are all keeping well!

What a time we had at the PA Party.

Leandra threw together a somewhat last minute crafty day at a hotel near Brentwood for some of the Paperartsy Aficionados  and today was the day.

Lucky it was today as the middle of last week saw me - bleurgh!  some 24 hour tummy bug. Enough said, you get the idea. But today I felt a lot more human, which was good as it was a 6.30 start...

The hotel looked fabulous decked out for Christmas and we made our way into the conference room to find the tables set out ready for us.

 Tracy led us in two projects, both canvasses, one in the morning and one afternoon. Most of these photos are from the morning when it was a bit less intense!
Lots of action shots not many close ups..

 this was my table for the morning (we were mixed up after lunch) Chris is hiding behind Lin!

 afternoon session, a square 12 x 12 canvas, much more out of my comfort zone but no less fun for that!

 and some shopping.. there was a bit more, some of Emma's new stamps - I forgot some of which had been on the blog on Saturday so whipped them out of the photo!

 the morning canvas.  A bit more "faffing" on both to be fair, but its 99% done!

 and the afternoon one..needs a bit more blending (I'm blaming the light in the afternoon, the morning was fabulous, loads of natural light flooding in through a huge skylight, but it got harder to see well in the afternoon.. that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it...

 but it's turned out ok, and apart from a few bits of final texture dots in some of the gaps, it's done

bit of a closer look at the morning canvas.

A huge thanks goes to Tracy for her teaching the classes, and of course Leandra and Mark and all at Paperartsy for organising today, we ALL had such a fabulous time, thank you SO much.  To everyone who came, friends old and new, it was wonderful to see you all.

It's all new around here.. WOYWW339

... well it may be .  I splurged and bought a new computer (yes, I know, Black Friday has a lot to answer for...) and I am writing this early in case I can't get it up and running ha ha!!
So, it's Wednesday, it's bloody December, and it's WOYWW again!!

 it's an all in one pc, so no tower.. which confuses me.. it's on the floor, where my craft mat normally goes, and regular visitors will recognise space cleared to the right of my work space, because of course I have to get behind the tv to where all the cables need to be plugged in...

If it works, I'll come back and edit this to prove it!

I did get some non Christmas crafting done at the weekend, for a FB group I'm in, for a tag/atc swap which has since been delayed
but mine are done, so there!!
Theme, in case you can't tell (!!) is trees/woodland.

ok. let's leave it at this and see if I come back.. if you don't see me at Julia's, please someone link me, lol!!

I'm here (on the old one still - the files are still backing up ready for swap over!)

Paperartsy - topic 22 Masterboards

It's time for the last blog challenge topic of the year from Paperartsy - Masterboards - as you know I love making these, and had spent much of Sunday making them and turning them into Christmas cards. Sadly I didn't photograph any of them in the making, so would need to have another go (hurrah!) so I could enter the challenge. As always there was a fabulous video by Leandra to get us in the mood

But first, I'd like to say a big thanks to Paperartsy (and random.org of course) for the prize draw I won for the last challenge.  I have still to choose my goodies!

So, tonight, I have made another masterboard and even persuaded the computer to download the photos from the camera... eventually!

 I used shades of purple - starting with Eggplant, then Lavender and Moonlight, and a little Bougainvillea for some pink pop

I added a bit of Snowflake, as I wanted to be able to stamp on top.

Think there must be something on the underside of my craft sheet, that needs cleaning as I got lots of little dots where the brayer rubbed over the paper!

then I took some archival inks and some stamps - used Magenta Hue, Hydrangea and violet, and some circles (the large is a JoFY,the small joined ones are one of my fave SN plates) then some scratchy squares by Ellen Vargo.

took the Merry Christmas from HPXM08 and stamped it in black across the page, staggering the lines.
unfortunately the second row I managed to rotate the stamp for the first impression, so rather than throw the whole thing away (my first reaction) I embraced the imperfection and made it part  of the design..

It was looking a bit dark so I took some heavy white gesso, I was going to splatter it but it's too heavy, and wouldn't flick, so as I have an old toothbrush in my penpot, I used that and just dabbed the gesso over it - think it looks a bit like snow falling, don't you?

i'll make this into Christmas cards soon.  In the meantime I'm entering the Paperartsy challenge "masterboards" 

WOYWW 338

Well, here we are again!  Time for another WOYWW 

I think, unlike Samson, the hair cut didn't affect my strength and I spent most of Sunday making Christmas cards, to the end result that.....

I have a very impressive pile of cards (although some need the greetings inside stamping and some need something else on front.. possibly, if time allows!) but ...49 done!  (not all on Sunday, obviously; I don't work that quick!)

My favourite masterboard technique is the reason I got so many done - even though I have no in progress pictures, I was just concentrating on doing as much as possible.

Since then, Paperartsy have announced their last challenge of the year - for, you guessed it, masterboards  - so I'll do another batch. The link takes you to a great video that Leandra filmed to help you if you've not done much "masterboarding".  Now, I'm off to pick my winnings for the randomly picked prize for their last Abstract  challenge (for my Paris journal page) ...

it occurred to me you may like to see the cards a bit closer, so I've laid them out for you.

and as you can see, I didn't do all masterboards, lots of different colour combinations and designs too (I get bored easily!)

WOYWW 337

Welcome to another WOYWW (already, it was only just last Wednesday!) Christmas card production didn't really get off the ground at the weekend - look:

 so I cut up one of the masterboards and stuck them to some card blanks.. still need to have some finishing touches to them..
and then it stalled!
maybe this weekend... but I am having a long overdue haircut (my hairdresser has been off on maternity leave and Saturday is her first day back working.. hope her scissors are sharp!)




On the left of my workmat,  is the journal page I made at the weekend, for a challenge, but  in tribute to the Paris attacks
In case you didn't see it, I've put in here too.

Hope to see lots of your crafty workspaces over the next few days.  Head for Julia's Stamping Ground for the links.

Paperartsy 2013 - 21. Abstract

Good morning, and welcome to another challenge from Paperartsy - Abstract.  A wide open challenge to stretch the mind... but the awful tragedy in Paris on Friday night is the starting point for this journal page.

I was talking to my friend Sam on FB last night and it turns out that the sites of the restaurant and rock concert attacks were really close to where we stayed in Paris when we went to Version Scrap last year  - I had thought the streets looked familiar on the news, but then there are lots of streets like that all over the city. It makes it all so much more real, when you can completely relate to something like this.

I have no step by step photos, this came together really fast this morning.... hence, it's not my finest work, but it just had to go down on the page.

I started with red white and blue, the colours of the French flag (and our own of course)

the raindrops stencil represent the tears we shed for all who have lost loved ones  (not just in Paris, but anywhere) due to such dreadful attacks.

the sentiment is from Dina Wakely's hearts set, and the eye, is by Limor Webber for Indigo Blu

Mark and Leandra's daughter Courtney was in Paris at the time, but safe and is now back home, for which we are all grateful.

Entering this to the Paperartsy Abstract challenge 

WOYWW 336 I should be making Christmas cards...

Hello and happy Wednesday, fellow deskers.  If you're not sure why I am sharing a picture of the mess that is my workspace today, check Julia's here

well as the post header says, I should be making Christmas cards... I'm not.. not right now anyhow.. I did move the masterboards that I've made (a couple at the WOYWW crop the other week, and one I did earlier at home) to the workspace to try and encourage me.. so far it's not working..  I had better stay in all weekend and get on with them!

So short and sweet from me this week, to make up for last time!  I'll see you at Julia's!

#20 - Triptychs for Paperartsy

We are closing in on the end of the Paperartsy Triptych challenge - another couple of hours - and I have decided to enter this journal page I did yesterday, even though it's not a traditional triptych in the sort of icon style you normally associate with them; I do like the use of trios in art.  There were some fabulous posts over the fortnight starting here

I started with torn book page under a coat of Beach Hut Fresco, and some blue Bistre which I spritzed so much several of my pages fell out of my journal... some sticky tape and glue later the journal was back intact and I could carry on.. I stencilled grunge paste through part of a Crafters Workshop stencil and stamped the Dina Wakley hearts on white card, before deciding on the direction they should take over the pages.. "follow your heart" is from an Invoke Art words set.. I then dripped some Ecoline ink along the top edge of the journal and spritzed it again as it dripped down my pages.

WOYWW 335 Full of crop photos!

So, we went, we ate cake and chatted, drank some tea (or coffee) and chatted and ate more cake... then there was lunch and more cake... a normal WOYWW crop, on a lovely warm sunny autumn day in Burbage
Some crafting even got done!  Hopefully I'll be forgiven this photo-rich post

 I travelled "light" and compact with some supplies.. always hard to know what I'll want to use, always end up taking too much of the wrong thing, and forget that one ink pad or stamp set...

 the hall looked fabulous ready for a quiz night.
Kyla made use of the stage to lay out her quilt for pinning..

 I did some work on a journal page, and also made some masterboard backgrounds for Christmas cards, although I seem to have forgotten to photograph those, and this post is already long enough  so I'll leave them for another time!

 a crowd gathered round Dolores' (Cardarian) beautiful quilt helping her work out how to do something or other (as you know I'm not a seamstress of any kind!)
It is truly gorgeous, Dolores!

Kyla busy pinning her quilt layers together

 Chief cook LLJ and Mary Ann catching up with a good natter.  Shaz's hat suits you Jan...

 Diane and David, Fiona all working away.

 It was wonderful to see Shaz (and Doug) - Shaz, you looked so much better than I feared you would after your ordeal. Hope you had a safe journey home.
From the bottom, Lizzie (you are no newbie now and it was lovely to meet you) Cindy, Doug, Shaz, Margie and Debbie

 Couldn't miss grabbing a pic of Shaz in her witch's hat.

 Diane, Dolores and David - great to see him actually crafting with us!

Fiona and Lisa Jane

 Cindy (who very kindly gave me a lift each way) doing some paperfolding making Christmas decorations

 Debbie and Julia having a good chat (told you there was lots of chatting)

and Kyla, now trying to sew her quilt together!

Thanks go always to Jan for the fabulous lunch, (and Fiona for the now traditional lemon drizzle cake!) and to all of you deskers for making such a great occasion.

Let's do it again soon.... lol!!