WOYWW 610

 Welcome to another Wednesday, another WOYWW .  We are a close knit group and some of you  have seen Doug's latest update on Facebook about poor Shaz's deterioration.  Our hearts go out to them and I know we all wish them the very best and for Shaz to pull through.  The worst thing to read is that Doug can't be with her in hospital due to this blasted Covid.....  (edit.  They've let Doug in to see her.  I should think so too....)  

But, it's Wednesday, so it is time to share our desks.  

the goodies I was waiting for last week duly arrived,  mostly Paperartsy stuff this time!

but at the weekend I had to play in the new (tome) Dina

journal

Kraft page - drips of gloss spray paint - white, and marine - they mix to make the most beautiful teal colour..

and the new funny peeps stamps...

(those were stamped using scribble sticks, you wet the stamp and then scribble the colour on)  gorgeous water colour effect...

then I finished (possibly) off a page I'd started with some mop up,  on the heavy cotton  paper in the blue journal 

and another denim page in the blue journal, paints stencilled and the tag is gloss spray overstamped in archival ink

I put in another order from Art From the Heart too...... 

look out next week for that I hope. 

I don't really feel like writing more today,  so I'll leave you and come visit when I can .  

WOYWW 608

 Another Wednesday.... time for another meeting of the WOYWW gang at Julia's...  I can't quite believe it is Wednesday already! 

For once I have no new goodies to tempt you with... but I have been playing with the ones I got recently!   

I used the back of one of the denim pages in my Dina Wakley journal.... 

stencilled the words, and layered some of the spray play from last time 

and finished the painty journal page too

(this was Dina's heavy body paint rather than the gloss paint sprays; I didn't make it clear last week, sorry) 

I also added some more stamping and collaged images to this previous page - needs some journalling on it now.

This was a good way to spend what turned out to be a much more snowy Sunday that was originally forecast for round here,  but I did venture outside briefly

there wasn't very much, but this was after the first hour and I didn't bother going back outside again!  

At one time the street was full of kids playing in the snow!

it rained today (Tuesday, when I prep this post)  so it has all been washed away (thank goodness, as it was very icy yesterday and this morning!)

Thanks for looking and happy WOYWW !  

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 

Tag and ATC swap

These are my tags and atcs for the latest swap I'm in organised by Sam. The theme was black and white tags and monochrome or 2 colour atcs; theme set by Emma - thanks Emma I had a blast with this, especially the tags.
I don't have any step by step pics, I was so in the swing with the tags and am really happy with how they came out.

 I decided to do one black with white and one white with black - the tags are manilla so used a couple of coats of white gesso and one of Snowflake Fresco, and black gesso on the other.

 the stencil is a window frame from Stencil Girl, and the butterfly from Finn.

The sentiments are from Dina Wakley.

I stencilled in the middle of the frame too.

 I didn't have a white organza ribbon (or at least couldn't find it in the ribbon box), or a black satin one, (and forget to get white organza at Ally Pally, I KNEW there was a particular ribbon I wanted!)

for the atcs I decided to stick to shades of blue, used mainly new Frescos though I haven't recorded the colours.. the diamonds are a stamp from JoFY34

 and the little houses and text from ELB13

The next theme's already been announced, time to get my thinking cap on again.

Tag and ATC swap

I've recently joined in with another tag and atc swap and they are now on their way to their new homes.
Here's the ones I created - the theme was 'birds'

 tag one, Fresco background, the grasses stamped in the background are from Lost Coast Designs. the bird is from one of Lin's new sets for Paperartsy. the twigs for the nest were supplied by my other friend Lin, and which I've been hoarding!

 tag two, Stencil Girl stencil, and some shading with Fresco's, the bird is one of Dina Wakley's scribbly birds, with some hand-shading for the feathers.

 was quite pleased how the scribbly bird turned out.

 atc's .  crackle backgrounds.  I did write down what colours I used for this, but can't find where I put it...the one on the left is Antarctic on top...
Dina's scribbly bird on the left, and Harry (Lost Coast scruffy bird) on the right.

 Used Dusty Teal and Antarctic for the feathering...

Hope whichever of my swappees gets these, likes them!

Our next theme has been announced - watch this space!

Dragons Dream - TIO - Toffee and Lace

Hello, and welcome for another fortnightly challenge from the Dragons-  this week the multi-talented Julie Ann would have us dreaming of toffee and lace.  

Fortunately there is a Fresco paint colour called Toffee, so I used that as my starting point.
Put a blog of paint on the tag (size 8) and brayered it out to mostly cover the tag, I left a few gaps for a bit of interest.

 I added some stencilling - one of the new Crafters Workshop stencils (this one is called butterfly collage, although I've not used the butterfly bits!)  I mixed some Prima light paste with a bit of the toffee paint, and stencilled the criss cross pattern down the right side of the tag.

It was a bit odd looking when it dried,so I partly sanded it back and added some of the same stencil with Nougat Fresco, both sides.
I edged the entire tag with a little Nougat on a piece of cut and dry foam.

Took me a while to figure out how to incorporate the lace, I tried all kinds of things, kept faffing, as you do.  In the end I settled for this, gluing it lightly in place, and took a silicone flower which I first painted with diluted Nougat, (to hide the pale pink) and coloured it with Renaissance Treasure Gold, and glued it to the lace into the hole in the tag.  It wouldn't stay in place, so added a brad

My centrepiece is a stamp by Dina Wakley, one of her new scribbled sillhouette ladies, stamped in black, on white Smoothy card from Paperartsy, and cut out.

The sentiment (also by Dina) went at the bottom, partly to give her something to ground her, so she wasn't hanging in mid air, and partly cos there was nowhere else left for it!! I edged the card with Toffee paint, and stapled it to the tag with Tim's tiny attacher.

Hope you'll come and see what the other Dragons have dreamt up this time - don't forget to join in, make a tag and use at least one real stamp.

Dragons Dream - TIO - White and a Number

Time for another Dragons Dream TIO challenge - this time, it's my lovely friend and very talented team-mate Gabrielle's choice - and she's picked White, and a number, for the theme.  Don't forget, you must use a tag, and at least one real stamp.  Have fun!

As you may have seen, I've been melting the plastic recently and splurging a bit on new crafty goodies.. and some of them make an appearance here.

 I started on a size 8 tag, and stencilled some numbers (Dylusions) using clear embossing ink, then embossed with white EP.  Painted the tag with Snowflake Fresco paint, and wiped off the paint over the stencilled numbers.

 some more numbers, used a Paperartsy Mini stamp, with some solid numbers, stamped randomly, right way up and sideways, without a block, and using Cracked Pistachio distress ink.  Dried it, but then wiped a little of it away with a not quite dry babywipe.

Took another number stencil (new, but not recently so, just never used) - by Stamps Away -  and Snowflake Fresco, then went over that with a white Sharpie marker and outlined with a fine artist pitt pen.

Took the diamond pattern from one of my new JoFY Paperartsy stamps and stamped it with Glass Blue Fresco,  which I also used to edge the tag.

 took one of the Silhouette Women from Dina Wakley, stamped in black on tissue paper, tore it out and glued to the tag, then took some watered down Beach Hut Fresco (it's already translucent, but wanted to make sure the 7 (my number) still peaked through her dress from the layer below.


Took the sentiment, from one of the new Prima stamps sets designed by Finnabair, and stamped on white scrap card.

Finished with some white fibres

Not particularly happy with this, but no time to make another tag, lol, as I was busy all weekend I had no time to play properly and am finishing this after work on Monday!

Do come see what the rest of the DT have done, and we'd love to see you join in!

DragonsDream TIO - D - Red

Hi, time for another DragonsDream challenge at TIO - this fortnight, May would like us to use the letter D and red.

 I think you may be able to guess what my word is!!
I started by embossing the hearts (Dina Wakley) on the tag and painted the tag with Cherry Red Fresco (from the second of JoFY's Limited Edition sets)
I stamped the large Dream (Clarity, from on of the word chain sets) at the top in black archival, and then repeatedly stamped the Ompression Obsession stamp in Wendy Vecchi's red geranium archival ink..




but forgot to take a photo before I sprayed the tag with the Prima Colour Bloom spray Peony.
It's um - quite shimmery!!

 this one taken without flash shows it a little clearer!
I distressed the edges and inked it with first the red archival and then Walnut Stain distress ink,

 added a chitchat sticker and some red fibres with just a little white for contrast

Hope you'll find time to check out the rest of the Dragons tags, and have a go yourself - we'd love to see you join in - just don't forget at least one real stamp.
It's nearly time for a new theme as we're almost at the end of the alphabet - wonder what the Dragons will come up with!!

cheep cheep....

Been playing in my new soft covered journal with this and that... and the new JoFY paints and Darcy stamps...

 my first page is my two gelatos, in  a sky blue and brightish green, over stencilled grunge paste.

 I stamped one of Dina's scribbly birds at the bottom,in forget-me-not archival ink (Wendy Vecchi's) and whilst the ink was still wet, I blended the edges a little with a damp brush.

Had a die cut leaf from the Tim Holtz die which I painted green and edged with a green Portfolio pencil, stamped words from the Scribbly Birds set.

and at the bottom, used some glass bead structure gel . (had this ages, never used it before!)

 the right page I started after the new Limited Edition JoFY paints and the Darcy EDY10 set arrived yesterday...
painted the page turquoise, stamped the flowers, painted the centre of the hearts with Chalk Fresco so I could the translucent Cherry Red over the top, and the stems I painted in Sage

 some not too careful painting caused me to re-outline the hearts with a black micro pen, added the birds and text from the same stamp set.

WOYWW 263 - where we hope to welcome back Julia

Well, poor Julia - missing in action last week, poorly on holiday and undergoing surgery.. Hopefully there'll be a link up this week at the Stamping-Ground. Hope, even more, that you are recovering well, Julia, and taking it easy... ((hugs))

Since we last met properly, I have received another ATC from the anniversary swap, from Kezzy - it's fabulous, and thanks too for all the extras!

they are artfully posed on my square journal that I use for the Darcy Wilkinson Paperartsy monthly journal challenge and since I snapped the photo above, I've (finally) made a start on June's - check the original here - whilst this is what I've done so far... in front of the football, (as you know, I'm a BIG football fan, so the World Cup is great for me (too many late nights though!)

It will look much better soon, I promise!!

There will also be a Dragons Dream tag later this afternoon - my choice of theme this fortnight, and obviously I'm sworn to secrecy till then, about the choice of theme... suffice it to say, it features something I love lots right now (no, not football!) come back and see, why don't you...

Looking forward to catching up with your desks as soon as I can.

Scribbly birds...and baby wipes

My gorgeous "secret santa" journal from 2013 is now nearly full - one double page and the final single page, left after this one... Virginia, this has been the best present ever!  Good job I've got a similar one to go onto soon...
I was using Eggplant Fresco on Saturday at the WOYWW crop, so this started as drybrushing the leftover ink onto the journal. I went diagonally for a change!

Didn't take any early shots!! I added stencilling also in Eggplant, with the'coffee splat' Crafters Workshop stencil, (added some of the splots in Squid Ink too) and the little squares (Carabelle stencil from Paris) in grunge paste

I stamped the bird to the page at the bottom, then glued a piece of trellis (the Tim Holtz one, I am sure you recognise it) to the journal,

The scribbly bird was stamped on a dried baby wipe in mostly Eggplant but a little South Pacific, I've been saving it for weeks for a perfect project - stamped the bird onto the baby wipe and cut it out, not bothering with the feet or wing, as that is on the page behind it.

 I dry brushed Bora Bora over the dried grunge paste and also the trellis behind the bird.

From my stash of die cut leaves that Sam sent me a "while" ago , before my die arrived, I took 3 white leaves and brayered Beach Hut over them, I wanted a patchy look with some of the white still peeking through.

 I used cut'n'dry foam to added Little Black Dress round the edges of the pages and black archival to stamp the "tweet chirp" from the scribbly birds set

and a Lin Brown text from ELB06

Really had fun with this one, thanks for looking.