Wednesday, 8 July 2026

WOYWW 892

 Happy Wednesday to all - another WOYWW has rolled around.  Head to Sarah's for the link and we'll all moan about the heat again!  I can't wait for autumn... 

I used the other set of Alison Bomber's stamps this time, the hydrangea set. 

coloured with the new pencils which I am still enjoying 








Kew on Saturday was colourful 

it was just before it got really hot again 


I was measuring the sunflowers....

and when walking through some knee-high grass decided I'd recreate a Flake advert from donkeys years ago (shame there were no poppies left)  

there's another one one the blog of me trying to get up... why is getting down always so much easier?! 







I've been watching lots of football from the World Cup and yes, stayed up till 2am to watch the England match on Monday morning. 

some of us met at Monica's for brunch at 10 - it was planned as either a celebration or a commiseration - luckily the former !






it did get very warm but the parasols helped.  


then it was off to work for the afternoon!  




I am planning on Kew on Saturday but it will doubtless be another short visit because it will still be nearly 30 again.

thanks for dropping by, happy WOYWW  and I hope you stay cool.  



Wednesday, 1 July 2026

WOYWW 891

Welcome to Wednesday - WOYWW time again. I am so glad the awful heat of last week has gone (temporarily it seems)  even if it did mean a couple of days when we left work early to avoid the heat. Head to Sarah's for the link

Anyhow I hope you are all well.   
I treated myself to some new stamps last week - a kind of birthday present to myself - thank you for the FB wishes and the cards

It's  not a good photo sorry.  













the journal page I forgot to include last week is - I think - now finished 
 and here are some step by step shots of the progress of it. 
sprays (distress oxides) and some marks made with the end of the nozzles
tissue (the faces) and transparencies (the letters) and stencilling 
I just kept adding.  marks made with paint pens 
close up 






 
I also had a go with the grasses stamp set


background is Paperartsy Infusions powder spritzed with water (I need a new water spritzer, my Tim Holtz one has stopped working - again, it is the second one that has done that.  No idea why. It's not locked in it's travel position ) 









I managed a very short visit to Kew on Saturday before the humidity got too much. 


was delighted to see the gorgeous deep magenta dahlias I loved so much last year, are back in the same bed again



one of the many resident foxes from Kew


thanks for looking - happy WOYWW   July already!!!  



Wednesday, 24 June 2026

WOYWW 890

 I hope you are all surviving the heat in the UK -it is too much for me.  Time to meet Sarah and the girls for another WOYWW to see what we've been up to..

the boiler finally got replaced... glad it was last week and not this. they would have passed out in the loft. It was bad enough then!

I cut the flowers out 




and used some on a birthday card for my cousin who's birthday is the day before mine. 






Kew was another lovely visit on Saturday but no blue tits feeding on hands (the photo I shared was of Kim not me, MaryAnne, I couldn't do that one-handed!!)

close up of a "Henry"  love the patina 
and the rich sunflowers
ickle spider!  



I'm too hot to write anything else witty this week, will wish you a happy WOYWW and collapse in front of the fan again... 

(it's Tuesday evening as I prep this)  




Wednesday, 17 June 2026

WOYWW 889

 Happy WOYWW fellow deskers, hope you are all keeping well.  Another week has flown by and we are re-grouping with Sarah 

I spent some time on Sunday stamping out flowers (Alison Bomber for Paperartsy) coneflowers, poppies and cosmos sets
and even longer colouring them with the new pencils, I have to say I am pleased with them, they give good coverage and layer quite nicely

they aren't water soluble so you can't fully blend but for £20 I think they're a bargain. 

I have started the laborious task of cutting them out, too.... 





Kew on Saturday was bright and sunny 



and lots of colour 










the blue tits flit in and out very fast for their food!



the weekend ahead is looking to be somewhat too hot, (never happy!) but  I will enjoy nevertheless.

thanks for looking, hope you all have a good week. 


Wednesday, 10 June 2026

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...

Wednesday, 3 June 2026

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 .  

Wednesday, 27 May 2026

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 !



Wednesday, 20 May 2026

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 








Wednesday, 13 May 2026

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.   

Wednesday, 6 May 2026

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.