WOYWW 305

Hi, fellow deskers. Time for another WOYWW I know I didn't get to many of your desks last week, despite having a long Easter weekend.  I also didn't do any of the sorting out that I intended, crafting won, as several of you suggested!  (had a couple of trips out with the camera too, you can see the results on my photosbyh blog)

Haven't delved further in the box on the chair for you either, in fact I think it's getting higher... and I'm going to Ally Pally (Alexandra Palace) on Saturday for the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show... can't wait!

So, got a couple of full room views (eek it looks full like this!) for you today..

 you can't really see anything up close.. you should be able to click to enlarge... if you're brave enough!
the sofa takes up too much room - needs replacing (has broken springs) but it's too big to get out easily!! - just think how much more stuff I could have if it were smaller...
The canvas I made at the weekend is still on the mat on the floor

so I zoomed in so you could see a bit more..

No doubt I may buy one or two bits on Saturday to share with you next week! Have fun.

Don't forget to fly

I have had fun over the last two days making this canvas for a new mixed media challenge blog Stamps and Stencils run by the ever talented Sue and her DT. This is their first challenge - "Anything Goes" - just have to use stamps and or stencils.

No problem there then...I have one or two of each to choose from..
Here's the finished canvas...

 I started by painting the canvas with Wisteria Fresco, then stencilled Lavender through Finn's Ripped Fishnet stencil

 added grunge paste through the same stencil, and added circles (from the Memory Box Rings and Puddles stencil) in Purple Rain and some circles in Blueberry from the Crafters Workshop Coffee Splotch stencil..

 wanted more texture, so took my Glass Bead Gel (mine is by Windsor and Newton Galeria range) and the Coffee Splotch stencil... let it dry overnight (so impatient!)

 till it went completely clear.  I was tempted to leave it there and just have the canvas in it's abstract state, but decided it needed some stamping

So stamped 'Don't Forget to Fly' by Finn, on tissue, and painted it in watered down Frescos, mainly Purple Rain but a little Bougainvillea for a bit extra colour, and Brown Shed for the hair. Sealed it under and over with matte medium.  The sentiment is also by Finn.

You have till 6 May to enter - plenty of time!!

Happy Chickens

Happy Easter everyone, hope you're being good and staggering the chocolate....

I have been playing with some of Lin Brown's chickens in my A6 tiny journal today.

 the left page had some spare blue Fresco paints on, from another project and I used the new Memory Box circles stencil with Blueberry Fresco - just used it straight onto the right page.  I then gave the right page a wash with diluted Beach Hut and stamped some criss-crosses (Sara Naumann) in black.

 Wanted some more circles, took a Crafters Workshop stencil and Bougainvillea  Added a wash with diluted gesso and then stamped parts of the HotPick HP1304 script in Snowflake randomly - it barely shows up on the right page.

 Next, I stencilled 'love' and 'peace' (another Crafters Workshop stencil) in Grunge Paste - now for the chickens!

I wanted two, but not both facing the same way, so stamped on on card and one on tissue, and painted the "wrong" side - in fact, I painted both sides, to emphasise the colours - Banana, Bougainvillea and a little Tangerine Twist before cutting them out. I painted the reverse of the tissue with Snowflake and glued them to the page.

 added some of the light Prima paste, with a fingertip, to the tummies of the chickens, but it barely shows once it's dried, as it picks up the underneath colours

so I dabbed a little texture sand paste over the top
Finally, I added some Silver and Sapphire Treasure Gold round the edges of the pages and down the spine.

Had a lot of fun with this one!

Dragons Dream - a Rainbow of Colour

Welcome back from the Dragons and to another fortnightly challenge.  We're missing our teamie May whilst she recovers from shoulder surgery and set this in her honour - you are to use a rainbow of colour this time, on your tag.

 started with a big (size 10) tag, and added a couple of dots of Frescos, starting with Caribbean Sea, then Tangerine Twist, Banana and finally Bougainvillea, brayering each colour before adding the next, allowed them to blend a little by not waiting till the first colour was totally dry. Added a couple extra layers of some colours.

I stamped the Lynne Perrella image on tissue, and coloured it on the front with the translucent paints from the main tag (i.e not Caribbean Sea) plus Glass Blue, then added some paint on the back, watered down, so that it would blend into the tag better, and added a little watered down Snowflake over the stamped area, so the image would pop from the tag.

 can't re-rotate this at all, lol!!

 Went in with some stencilled Prima Light Paste, randomly in areas round the tag - this paste is white and quite fluffily light, but absorbs background colours so it looks as if you've spent ages tinting it.

 found a little metal charm in my stash, that says "believe" and twisted some rusty wire through it, and glued it to the tag.  the wire kept pulling the charm off before the glue grabbed so I snipped it right back and had more success.


Stamped the 'keep taking chances' from the Dina Wakley words set and a bright pink organza ribbon at the top.

had great fun with this - and the initial idea came from a tag I saw on the Paperartsy challenge this morning (writing this on Sunday!) by Etsuko - so thanks for spurring me on with this one!

Hope you'll come and see what the other Dragons have done this time, and play along - don't forget you need to use at least one real stamp on your tag.

WOYWW 304

Wow, it's Wednesday again, once again time for a mammoth desk hop. Your first stop would be Julia's Stamping Ground for the link up

All my new purchases are meaning I am running out of room to put them and I've had to have a bit of a shifty around.. I'll take some more pictures after Easter, for next week, when I've finished!  done a bit more

 finally moved my stencils into a box (they used to sit on top of the box of Fresco paints)

But I had to put the stuff that was in the box the stencils are now in, somewhere - found a shoe box... it's full already so that won't last long!  These are all unmounted, as the wooden ones go in the big blue boxes and the wooden ones these are sitting on..I so wish I could get more of these wooden boxes!












But, there's more new stuff (you can blame Wendy's retirement closing down sale at the Stamp Attic!)

 some Faber Castell Pitt pens, lovely colours (hard to choose actually, may have to go back see if there are any left..) a Stampotique snowman I've loved since he was made (!), and a Memory Box stencil which I'm really looking forward to using.

Some hidden tags and atc's I'm working on for a swap!!

close up of this week's new stuff.

Hope you all have a good Easter (I'm looking forward to a 4 day weekend and lost of chocolate!) and hopefully some crafting time too...
See you next week!

Paperartsy Challenge - Theme 6 - Grunge Paste

The new topic on Paperartsy, is Grunge Paste (or other texture pastes)  - love love love Grunge Paste! There have been some amazing projects so far, from Wanda Hentges's Garden Hanging, to  Lou Collins Wood Grain effect  and Liz Borer's Decorated Hand. 

I loved the wood grain effect, but had an idea to alter a little papier mache bird house - which doesn't have must room to give it the full treatment like Lou... However...

 I bought this little bird house (and 2 others) at the Port Sunlight show last October.. finally been able to use one!

No early stage photos, got a bit carried away... started by painting the whole thing with Snowflake, then started adding colours.. used Brown Shed (too red) Chutney (too dark) Haystack.. ok. Added some little leafy flowery stamps from the new ELB20 on the front,in Library Green archival and on some scraps of tissue for the sides
the little resin bird was painted with French Roast and then covered with Sapphire Treasure Gold and fixed to the perch with Heavy Structure Gel.

 added some dots of red for the flowers, using a Liquitex paint pen before adding the tissue to the side.
The roof was made by mixing GP with London Night Fresco and adding a reasonably thick layer to the roof of the bird house.
I think the roofer must be very inexperienced, because the roof spacing isn't very even (on the other side particularly!)  - used a coffee stirrer to draw the lines.
Once the paste was thoroughly dry (overnight) I added a thin slightly watered down layer of Dusty Teal to give it a bit of colour.

 the back was where I wanted to try the wood grain effect used so beautifully on the Paperartsy blog  - mixed the GP with Chocolate Pudding and slathered it on - I just drew lines down with the coffee stirrer again, and let dry. Added a thin wash of French Roast and sanded back lightly.

 I really had fun with this one (not so with the photographs, it's damp and dull this morning!!) and entering the Paperartsy challenge here 

WOYWW 303

Here we go again.. Wednesday.. WOYWW day... and yes, I've been shopping... was getting withdrawal symptoms!  not just once.... or twice... but 3 times!

 this is the sum of the first two purchases... from a store that is closing down (thestampattic.co.uk if you want to grab some bargains) they arrived a couple of days apart, and in case you're wondering why I didn't just get it all at once, Wendy's adding things day by day to the sale...

 and these from Artist Trading Post arrived just in time for sharing, on Tuesday.

I realised though, as I was looking around the room,that when I got the two days buys back together for the top photo, I'd missed something out..  so this is day one on it's own, lol, (I couldn't be bothered to get everything out again to redo it) -  the fab wooden stamp is by Stampington and it's gorgeous, I've used it already.

So, no more excavating (again) owing to being sidetracked by goodies!  Have a cracking Wednesday, and I'll try to visit lots of you later... didn't do too well last week!