WOYWW 625

 What a lovely week that was last week - celebrating the anniversary of WOYWW.    Can anyone believe it's the last Wednesday in May?!!  

I've received some beautiful atcs from my swap partners, and it would have been much more sensible if I'd checked the photos I took of them in daylight before dark!! 

we'll start with shopping!  true to form, the goodies i'd ordered (Kraft journal, stencil and the shimmery orange paint) were waiting for me at work last Wednesday.

After Kew on Saturday I went into Cass Art in Kingston on my way home to stock up on some different media and watercolour paper, and some paint pens.

so.  Take 2  for the atcs

top left - Debbie, top right Mary Anne

bottom left  Caro,  bottom right Angela

top left Cindy,  top right Zsuzsa 

bottom left Annie (Wipso)  bottom right Jo (Twiglet)

left, mine,  top right Jan (LLJ)

bottom right Diana

there were several extras too, as well as postcards

thanks everyone!

my official swap partner, Elizabeth, atc is on the way from the US.

I'll share that when it arrives.

So that's my desk today 

Just the Kew link to go - photo overload as usual here

and to keep this short I'll just add one to tempt you over!

my favourite alliums!!  

I'll be back there again this Saturday (and for the next 9 I already have time slots booked for so far)   so you won't be allowed to miss much!  

WOYWW 624 - When we were 12

 Hello, happy deskers,  it's week 624 of WOYWW  - we are 12.  A big thanks to Julia for starting (and keeping it  going), this wonderful desk hop - it's never too late to join the fun - here  

My atcs are ready to post - just waiting for my PIF partner to send them off and i've already had a couple  in the mail - thanks Caro and Jan - but i'll wait till next week to share them, along with the ones I'm sending out.   

I failed completely to find postcards of Sutton, and unlike Jan wasn't clever enough to get my own picture of Sutton printed.  So, it's atcs only. 

So, you're here to see a desk floor  (after 12 years, still on the floor)  

I took this sideways on sitting at the computer 

you can see my pile of envelopes (under the stamps)  ready to go

and a journal page I finished off on Tuesday

(today, at time of writing - I was off work today as I was having a smart meter fitted )

it's inthe 6x6 white Dina Wakley journal

I have an order on the way to me (almost enabling, for WOYWW)  with some more goodies.

It may even be waiting for me at the office tomorrow 

Last weekend's Kew post is here 

it wasn't quite as wet last week!  Back to an 8am entry slot this Saturday, and the glasshouses are open again with the latest easing in restrictions which I am really looking forward to, and there is a new exhibition in one of the galleries too called Naturally Brilliant Colour which should be fabulous.  

Thanks to all of you WOYWWers who have made the last 12 years such fun, whether you are new or old  long established members of the group  - you all make Wednesdays a fun day!  

WOYWW 623

 Morning deskers!  We're gathering once more for WOYWW  - desk sharing day.  Julia has all the info.

Next week is our 12th anniversary and we're planning an atc swap.  I have got some made (yay, not last minute) and as well as one for my swap partner and one for Julia I have 10 I can swap if anyone is interested. let me know in the comments.  (thanks to Mary Anne for remindingme I should keep one... I have 9 to swap!!)

So onto my desk for this week...

an aerial shot this week... on the mat on my floor space is my 6x6 white Dina journal and some tags I made after watching a facebook live session with Dina on Saturday.  

my atcs might be hiding in plain sight too... but no proper peeks today!

I've also made a birthday card this week for my cousin which is on it's way to her, and she is unlikely to see this 

using stamps by JoFY for Paperartsy to give them their first inkings.

and some enabling!  (of course!) 

it was quite a big box  - but mostly packing

I did manage to peel off part of the Ranger printed tape that was sealing the box

the latest Dina releases (I resisted on the Kraft journal but am regretting it having seen so many gorgeous pages people are doing in it so might have to go back to get one!)

I am sure I can use the piece of Ranger tape for something in my journal!

and a close up of the tags from Saturday/Sunday - gloss sprays... just playing and not finished, but was having fun

(messy fun!)  

As for Saturday at Kew... it was wet!!

but you know how I love raindrops!

more here 

the wavy sculpture last week, is designed as a seat, and somewhere to get a different viewpoint on the surroundings.  there is info here on the Kew website  about the Plantscapes

thanks for looking - will be popping along to catch your desk soon  

WOYWW 622

 Welcome to May and Wednesday - time for another WOYWW . The day of the week when we meet up at Julia's and share our crafty spaces 

Unbelievably we're 2 weeks away from our 12th anniversary - and we're planning an atc swap again this year - should have remembered that at the weekend and made some!!  

anyway, till then, it's desk time..

I enabled again.... more Dina Wakley stuff....

the new release items will be sent when Art From The Heart get them in stock...early May they're expected... watch this space!

so forgetting to think about atcs, I had some play time in my new 6x6 inch journal

forgot to photograph in daylight too so the colours are off

starting page, went wrong - or at least I didn't like how it started, so I covered it all in black gesso ad sprayed on some of the new pastel gloss sprays

they don't look especially glossy over the black gesso, but I quite like the look.

I also sprayed some of the pastel colours on watercolour paper which also dulled the gloss down,  and stamped some of the "ledger girls" stamp set on it and fussy cut tem.

then I wanted to try the ruby paint - it's a bit darker than shown here, due to the poor living room light bulb!  

the patterns are some of Dina's collage tissue sheets torn and stuck down before applying colour

a work in progress with no clear idea where the pages are going.

Saturday saw me leaving home mega-early for my Kew entry slot - you may remember from previous years I love to go at 8am when they allow this between May and September for members, (still have to pre-book a time slot) and Saturday was the first of them.  

Some of you saw the sneak peeks on facebook - for the rest of you - the blog is here 

new installation for the summer

the blossom has been spectacular this year 

That's it for me - will be along shortly to see your workspace.  

WOYWW 621

 Happy Wednesday peeps,  time for another instalment of WOYWW.    our fearless leader Julia has all the details.  

We'll start with enabling this week 

a new stencil /mask combo -  a vase of flowers in sillhouette

and some stamps.

I've not had time to play with them though...because...

On Saturday after my trip to Kew (see here)    I was due to have a Facebook class with Dina Wakley  - called the Power of a Mark,  it was all about mark making ... that was, strangely quite hard... Harder still was the next step of the class, "interpreting" the marks - could I see anything in the marks I'd made?  could I heck... and then, even harder,  adding to them to make into a picture or drawing  - well I'm a stamper, I can't draw... 

but I did end up with a pile of pages of marks...

Dina says it's all about playing and practicing, and it IS only paper and a little bit of paint/ink 

collage fodder, she calls it.  so watch this space, who knows where these may turn up!  

I did  cut up a bold brush stroke mark to adorn a journal page. 

so whilst it wasn't a particularly successful lesson it was fun - eventually!  

and to whet your appetite for Kew from the link above,  

here's the Japanese Garden on Saturday, bathed in (cold) sunshine.

Thanks for looking - more enabling next week (already had the 'order complete' email!)  

WOYWW 620

 Welcome desky peeps - it's Wednesday which must mean it's WOYWW  - see here for all the details.  We've been doing this for nearly 12 years and Julia is planning the way we will celebrate.  

Now that I am back visiting Kew Gardens on a Saturday morning, I have less weekend time for crafting, but I did ad some bits to a journal page 

I finally decided which of the splattered backgrounds from a couple of weeks ago, to add the bird to!

then it was time to try out the "pensive face" stencil 

which probably would have worked better if I'd painted the page first and added the stencil on top, but that can be done next time

I have more to add to this, it needs words of some kind.

I think also  I haven't photographed the next stage - I added some stamping over the top  

Paperartsy are having some more releases this week... so I may have been shopping!! 

Now for the Kew link -  I only had a couple of hours (I found an earlier slot than I had started with, so managed to get in a visit before coming home to watch Prince Philip's funeral 

for the first time since I've been able to get back, it was gloriously sunny! 

Thanks for looking - see you soon   

WOYWW 619

 Hello and happy WOYWW once more...

I've had a singularly uncrafty week so thank goodness for enabling! 

my new stamps came, no surprises 

they are Dina Wakley...

I did stamp out the alphabet set....

and I did add a couple of the flourishes to a journal page...

they're mostly hiding behind the figures!  

then at the weekend, James from the Stampers Grove put some stencils on facebook.... so little willpower...

(it was the stars what won me!) 

Tuesday I had me a hair cut and colour .... yayyyy....

not sharing the "before"  it is something out of a horror movie...

lots of you saw this on facebook!

and on Saturday of course, once again, there was Kew...

click the link for the blog with more photos

I have a time slot for this Saturday coming, but missed out on the 10am entry and can only go in at 11..

given the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral in the afternoon which I want to watch on tv,  I may give this up as I won't have long there, and there are limited trains (engineering works)  so it may be a rush to get home in time 

I was so sorry he didn't make 100 but 2 months shy of that is some achievement.  

So I hope to see more evidence of crafty play on your desk!  happy WOYWW