WOYWW 404 when life gives you lemons..

There should be new stuff but it's still on the way, so it will be here next week...
(I did a bit of online ordering after getting home from the work office launch party on Friday!)
the launch went well, quite a few clients turned up, we drank champagne (hence the online shopping!) and ate canapes but stood for 7 hours on the Friday and another 4 on Saturday...poor feet!  poor legs!!

However, one of my crafting Facebook friends alerted us to a good deal on lemons at Morrisons (UK supermarket if you're from out of town)  - £1 for a kilo.... and they come in a fabulously sturdy box... she bought 3, several other of my friends have bought 3, 4 5 or more...look.  of course I don't really want the lemons, just the boxes!!

I was very restrained, only got the 1, (so far) as I don't use many lemons, and aim to do some decorating of them at some stage (was going to say, the weekend, but no doubt that won't happen!)

 and once you take the lid off you can probably tell the size a bit better... (it held 6 lemons to give you more of an idea!)

and in case you were wondering, under the lemon box is another part done journal page (latest Paperartsy challenge topic, is infusions, so that's what I'm playing with here)

used a couple of the new colours that I got at Stevenage a few weeks ago.


thanks for your visits and I'll reciprocate when I can   nearly forgot the linky link 

WOYWW 403?

It's that time again!  I really don't know where the weeks go.

Head here for the link to the best desks  you'll find...

Since last week I have been playing in a new journal, one with black paper. the piles of gels and pastes seems to be growing...

there are also a bag of bottle lids (Paperartsy infusions) which arrived on Tuesday, following a discussion at Stevenage with Leandra about the fact that I'd made the holes too big..

She sent me a new set.. free.. gratis... for nothing.
Excellent customer service

close up of the journal page... It's by Pink Pig.  I bought it in Glasgow when the girls and I went to the show at the SECC the year before last.... thought it about time I christened it..

lots of texture paste and stamping and flowers.... Need to find some words now, then it's done.
Watch this space!


This week is going to be hectic, so not sure when I'll be visiting, work is having a launch party for our new office (I will be in the original one) - they're only round the corner from one another -  and we're working on Friday till 8 and then Saturday 10 till 2...
but I hope to get time to visit some of you as normal today!

a small gift for RAK week

I didn't know RAK (random act of kindness) week even existed, till a friend mentioned it.  But I am in a small private chat group on FB with my friends and we decided to take part, amongst ourselves.

Names were drawn and we each had to make a piece of art for one person.  Until then, we weren't to say who was making for whom...
My gift has been received so I am sharing it here with a few pictures in progress

 I started with a square shallow canvas (the Works) and covered it in pieces of paper from a Prima pad  (Epiphany)
the idea for this sprang from a you-tube video by the lovely Maremi Small Art (Marta Lapkowska)
This is the link (hopefully) to her you-tube channel which is full of fun..  Of course I can't find the link to the right video.....but you'll have fun looking

I added stencilled layers of texture paste through a couple of stencils

 then I sprayed with Colour Bloom sprays (including the infamous Cobalt that fell all over my rug a few months ago)....

I always forget how sticky these dry, so I tried to seal it with some clear gesso... lots of smooshing of the blue colours... but I quite liked it so carried on..




time to add some stamping (Lin Brown for Paperartsy from ELB33) in blue archival ink

 adding layers of texture - an mdf heart got painted and coated with DecoArt  crackle paste
and some paper flowers got the spray treatment, plus a few dabs of paint on the petal edges..
I left some smaller flowers white

 some metal embellishments

 close up of the flowers

 some metal leaf embellishments too

and the final piece.  This was loads of fun to do!!

(edit.. no prizes for guessing Sam wasn't my swap partner, it's covered in flowers!)

(2nd edit.. just realised I made a big boo-boo.  the video I saw on you tube was one of Vicky Papaioannou's    )   sorry to both her and Marta for getting confused!  they are both super talented you won't be sorry if you check out their channels!)

WOYWW 402 - the haul from Sunday's trip

Hello and happy WOYWW-day... time to bare all (desk wise) once again...
The best day of the week... Desk day and half way to the weekend!!

so, as I showed in the previous post (here) I went to Stamperama on Sunday in Stevenage, and boy, did  my cards get a workout!


 two piles of goodies, as they don't all fit in one!
Stencils, paints, inks, twines, infusions..

and  stamps, laces, chipboard, flowers, a couple of dies...

Luvvly Jubbly!



and just in case you think I've bought all these new goodies for nothing - I am using them already!

another background in the journal, which may or may not be finished, it might get a focal image yet!

(stamps by Lin Brown for Paperartsy) Inks are Ranger archival in shades of bluey-green



the link for the desks, should you need it, is here

Stamperama show, Stevenage - today

Hi all, just got home from Stevenage with some goodies (ahem!) from the show.

It was busy to start with but by 2ish had practically emptied... but we had a good time and met a few Twits (though not as many as sometimes sadly)  I didn't take as many photos as usual, either..

 an early cuppa and sit down.. Karen, Jo, Lewis (Caz's son) (man in purple no idea!) Miriam, Caz and Lin

 bit later we had another sit down.. only there weren't enough chairs so I took up my normal crafting position..

 you get a different view down here!

 but then I got a chair!

 Paperartsy was busy all day... no pics of the stand as there are new releases for the trade show next week, that we can't share with you yet..

 Lin, rocking the short hair!

 stash (1)

stash (2)

there is another one but I can't show that!

There were only 20 stalls there today, lots fewer than normal, and like I say by about 2 it had got quite empty (which did mean you could get in to look at the stock nicely!)


Looking forward to playing with some of this soon, but probably not today!

WOYWW 401

What a great week last week's WOYWW was, I think I visited every desk again - and only missed being able to comment on the Google + sites.   But already it's Wednesday again and we gather for some more desk sharing..  the link is here, at Julia's 

 I am working on a RAK - it's apparently RAK week next week, (Random act of Kindness) and a small group I am in (yes, the girls I go to workshops etc with) decided we'd do a small swap between us.  So I have a work in progress (the canvas sitting on my pots of gels and mediums)   Can't show you any more as the recipient may see it before she knows who it's coming from!  Plus of course, I haven't got far with it!



I am also playing in my journal again, I have been playing with a stamp from one of Lin Brown's new releases for Paperartsy

It's a gorgeous stamp of a wild grass of some kind.. and I have stamped it as you see, multiple times in different blues (and a brown for contrast)

Added some words from another stamp from the set that I cut up and glued to the page... not sure if the page is finished yet, maybe - maybe not!





Sunday is the stamp show at Stevenage, aptly called Stamperama.   It's a great little show, one of my favourites, not too far from home and lots of great exhibitors.  I'll be topping up my Paperartsy supplies!!   It also means I get to catch up with some friends again, as well as watch great demos.
You know what that means, lots of new stuff to share next week (and on Sunday, too if you're keen as mustard to see before next week's desk!)

Paperartsy - Pink and Orange

The Paperartsy challenges started again nearly two weeks ago (last date to enter is tomorrow) with a topic of Pink and Orange and ever since I have been meaning to get something made to enter... Funnily enough, the day before the challenge opened I had started working on a journal page using one of Lin's new stencils

I have finally finished it! I loved how Wendy used the monsters for her pocket letters   and decided to incorporate them
This is what I've done

I started with painting the page with Sherbert, and stencilled Bougainvillea through the fantastic new Lin Brown stencil - deciding to use them as hanging rather than climbing flowers!

 I have no other step by step photos...
I stamped a border of Elena's flowers across the bottom of the page, and coloured them with Frescos and also some fine nibbed Stabillo felt tips

I stamped one of the flower houses on white card and coloured it in Bougainvillea and Coral, and stamped a whole heap of the bird monsters and painted them too..

 added one of Elena's flower sayings and edged it in Bougainvillea

Had a heap of fun with this, and am entering the Paperartsy challenge here