WOYWW 347 - new stuff!

Morning and welcome to another What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday snoop.. pop over to Julia's the Stamping Ground for the link/info.

I went shopping on Saturday, with a desire to spend some money... in which I was only partly successful... always the way, you go with an intention to buy new clothes etc, and you don't see anything you want/like...  Anyhow, I digress - I was also intending to pop into the art shops, (a small firm with just a couple of branches, and also Cass Art of which there are several throughout the UK. The Kingston one however, is not very big...)  Cass Art have a sale on... although it may be nearly over, I think it's been going a while now.

 I managed to grab a few bargains..

 "one or two" new journals... the little square one was just too cute to leave behind, even though I don't often work this small... the kraft covered one and the landscape orientated one, are intended just to use for the paper they were quite cheap...

At the back is a Prima journal which a friend gave me... and the A4 spiral bound one is another good size... a spare!

I also got... a pad of mixed media paper and some thick cartridge paper, think these will come in handy for the Wanderlust course I'm doing (and very slowly catching up with)

The paints were a bargain, and the pastels - well, also on offer, but I just fancied trying them!

The tub of paste is fibre paste, so textured, and will be used for... whatever!!

Probably just a well I didn't see much in the clothing area as these bags were heavy!!
I got home and immediately started to play..

 the mixed media pad and the pastels were put straight into action on this piece for the Paperartsy blog challenge...

and I did a bit more to the journal page I was playing with the other week...

So, finally I seem to have got the "bug" back - shame I have to keep going to work- I just want to play now!!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you had a good visit - leave me your desk number and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Hearts - Paperartsy 2016 challenge

I completely failed with my intention to create something for the first topic of the new year of Paperartsy challenges, but topic 2, Hearts, was an easy one to play with!  Once again, we are being treated to some wonderful projects from the DT and contributors.

On Saturday I purchased a pad of Mixed Media paper from Cass Art (a UK art shop) and some soft pastels... (along with some other stuff...)  so I had to have a play.

I got so engrossed I only took one  photo along the way..

I stamped the hearts (Sara Naumann for Paperartsy) 3 times on the paper (it's slightly textured) and scribbled three of the pink pastels round the hearts, graduating downwards in shades to the palest.. blended them with my finger and then a barely damp paint brush

I sealed that with a layer of clear gesso.

next, I stencilled some hearts (Dina Wakley) in Bougainvillea Fresco paint, and stamped the teeny hearts in Magenta Hue archival ink.

I filled the stamped hearts with 3d transparent gel and sprinkled some clear glass beads (Finnabair for Prima) into the wet gel, and very patiently let it dry overnight..

The sentiment is from the new Emma Godfrey plate for Paperartsy EEG13, same as the little hearts come from.

Sorry about the photos even with a daylight bulb I can't get them very well - I'll see if I can do better at the weekend when it's properly light!
I'm entering the Paperartsy Hearts challenge here 

What I Really Want - Wanderlust book prompt 2

I have been playing catch up with the second prompt for our Wanderlust book over the last few days and a large part of the inspiration comes from the very talented Chris who is also doing the course and a page she did in a circle journal challenge she's organising...  The prompt was simply "what I really want is..."

 I intended to go with many more layers originally, this is just gesso'd background and stencilling (large prima stencil)

 Created some black lines with Dylusions paint flowing across the pages







doodle and wrote with a large white Pitt  pen

 added some blue pastel ( a new purchase from Saturday, ) blended with finger and brush
this picture is taken with the daylight bulb as I'm too impatient to wait for some proper daylight..

 there is some Prima snowflake paste in the background but I can't get it to show up..

still a couple of challenges behind, but glad to have done this one!

WOYWW 346

Can't be Wednesday again already, surely?  That means another week's gone by and I've done hardly anything crafty and am now at least 2 weeks (and 3 challenges) behind on the Wanderlust course... these cold evenings aren't conducive to crafting, I just slob in front of the telly!
So, you're here for Workdesk Wednesday, brainchild of Julia

my desk today on the floor shows a part-done journal page and some little jars of fabric flowers that I got in Wilkinsons for £1 each I think, (I bought them for the jars truth be told but will use the flowers too - they're a bit shiny, but nothing some paint won't cure!)

 I was struggling with the colours on the journal page because it was dark and of course by artificial light the colours don't look right (especially with long-life bulbs which don't project enough light anyway) so it's been abandoned for now...

I think I mentioned a couple of weeks ago I have a glut of birthdays in January, these are the next crop of cards (am taking a punt on none of the recipients reading this post as they're not Deskers, so usually give this one a miss)
as they are not yet received...


Thanks for stopping by, have a good WOYWW.

WOYWW 345

It's Wednesday (well it will be when this publishes..) and that means it's time for another snoop at our workspaces... the Stamping Ground is the place for the info/linky

Despite my taking part in the the Everything Art "Wanderlust" course, there isn't a lot happening on my workspace this week... I have, though,  "re-purposed" an empty hamper that wasn't wanted at work...

 it came from Fortnum and Mason's at Christmas and my boss persuaded me to have the empty hamper... I resisted for a while, but in the end couldn't say no!

it opens nicely with a couple of leather buckles and is a nice size as you can see...
No idea what I'll store in it yet, or where it will go when I decide what to put in it... as you can tell I am seriously running out of space!

But, too nice to turn down and certainly too nice to throw away!





Hopefully by next week I'll have completed (started!) my second week's project for Wanderlust and there may even be some art to share for you!
I spent much of the weekend watching Periscopes (live phone/video streaming ) from CHA, the trade show in the States, (became somewhat addicted; another reason not much art got made!) looking at all the new products that are being launched soon... my poor wallet!  Didn't catch sight of our own Neet who was visiting the show though.

WOYWW 344 -twelfth night

so we say welcome to WOYWW once again. Curious? head here for all the info.  Its Twelfth Night, the last day of Christmas, the day all our decorations have to be down... and my brother's birthday (obviously would have been my sister's too) and I made him a card (as you do)

it's not a particularly good card- I really struggle with cards for blokes!  I stencilled a pattern on a card, and stamped a doorway (new from Paperartsy) and cut open the doorway to hide a crazy bird inside and stamped some more of the images from the stamp plate round the outside

because I was really lacking in ideas!!

But you're here to see my desk..

 this large sheet of card is unfurling hopefully to be used in the Wanderlust challenge (see here if you don't know about this year long online class)

it's hiding a pile of stuff (you've seen it before don't worry!) to the side of my computer table.

and the large square journal on the floor (my "desk") is the one I am using for the main part of the course for my classwork.
My first page was shared in the previous post here 
I know a few other deskers are taking part.




January is a busy  month for birthdays amongst my crafting friends and I have already had another couple that I've made cards for  

this was my friend Miriam's card, I seem to have not photographed Linda's!
the only stamping here is on the paper flower and the stem!

But I've gone on long enough, so I'll let you get back to Julia's for some more desking!

Wanderlust 2016 - the start of an online journey

So along with lots of other people I signed up for Wanderlust - a year of online classes and tutorials run by Jamie and Kasia from Artist Trading Post.  The first class was on 1st January and this is what I did.  It's not too late to sign up (although you have missed the early bird price now it's started) - it's going to be a lot of fun!

I did take some step by step photos until I got too dirty but in the interests of fairness to the classes I'm not including them here, but there are a couple of close ups