WOYWW 486

Welcome to another week of desks... Julia is hosting, as always - catch the link here 
I'll be late this week getting to your desks - and linking too, as I am off work for a week and taking an early trip to Kew today so unless Julia is really early, I will miss when the post goes live and have to catch up later.

but, you're here for a desk.. not that I have one of course; still working on the floor.

 the stencils I was waiting for last week arrived, and have been tested already... should have included the results... hang on I'll see if I can find them


(more stencils you say... yes. . what of it.... there can never be too many stencils) 

aerial shot of the tatty rug and my France Papillon journal (page doesn't really fit the theme but it's another one finished...)

here's the test of the harlequin stencil.  was only playing so it's not meant to be fabulous.



Anyhow, I will visit your desks when I can,
catch up later! 

WOYWW 485

Time for WOYWW again - saying nothing about how fast it's come round again

the new stash I was waiting for last week of course arrived on Wednesday but I don't know how to edit posts on my phone and I was at work, so had to save them for today..


two of the sets of texture fantasy/rust pastes by Finnabair for Prima. 

I did get to Ally Pally on Saturday, arriving about 12.30 after I'd been to Kew

this is the Stampers Grove stand who have taken the Paperartsy space in the hall and had a fairly good range of their stamps on show...





Lauren was demoing for Stampers Grove with some of the new Paperartsy stamps







when I arrived I thought it looked fairly busy but it soon seemed be thin out (it was lunchtime I suppose...)

 


and these few pics I took certainly make it look empty..


I did bump into Erika shortly before I left - I only stayed 2 hours - but no photo evidence to prove it!

I really didn't buy much - I don't think those of you I mentioned this to on Facebook afterwards really believed me... but this is it!

one set of stamps, 3 stencils, an ink pad (heard so many good things about the Versafine Clair inks, so thought I'd try a black one) and some odd bits and pieces. 
I can't remember the last time I bought so little at a craft show!

There just wasn't a lot there that was my kind of thing, a lot of stands with "everything's £1" or cheap bulk buys, or packs of card - I have enough to stock them myself -   and without the major draw of Paperartsy, I don't think I'll be going again..

I was lucky enough to be given a ticket by someone who couldn't make it, so it was worth going just to see what it was like without Paperartsy, if only to prove to myself what I suspected...

I finally managed a bit of crafting- my boss and another girl at work have birthdays this week so I made a couple of cards - forgot to take decent photos before I sealed the envelopes...

I made some backgrounds over some patterned paper and used some of my new distress oxides for the stamping - gathered twigs, which is a dark brown, and wild honey (the silhouette on the right was stamped first in wild honey then overstamped in gathered twigs as it wasn't dark enough)

I found a bottle of liquid pearls for the centre of the row of flowers that I hand coloured with sprays - can't remember the last time I used liquid pearls! 

WOYWW 484

I have poured over the photos from last weekend's crop - complete with surprise overseas guest!!  and am even more gutted to have not been able to go.  Jan posted about it here and there were various other reviews too.    But, it's time for another desk share.... not that there is anything really going on here...

in my most recent spending splurge, there is another order on the way!

 I haven't cracked on with anything much - but this the first couple of days layers on another of the France Papillon challenge... I forget which week and forget what the theme is!

so I can't leave you with just that.. I thought I would share the storage for my Paperartsy stamp collection.... although a couple of the boxes do have a few stamps from a couple of other companies (Carabelle mainly) these 4 boxes are all Paperartsy.. and as you can see there are extras on top that haven't yet been filed away!

I think you can safely say I am a Paperartsy fan!

but you knew that.




There was a visit to Kew on Saturday of course, when the crop was in full swing... pics (lots of pics!) here 


I am um-ing and ah-ing about going to Ally Pally craft show on Saturday (after a trip to Kew, obviously) - haven't quite decided yet.  If so, there may be extra new stuff to share next week!!  Til then, happy desking with Julia for WOYWW... 

WOYWW 483 - happy mail

Hurrah, lots of happy mail in fact!   Before I enable you though, let me tell you why you're here.. it's Wednesday, so it's WOYWW   (what's on your workdesk? wednesday)  week 483... brain child of our beloved leader Julia. 

so.  happy mail...

 this one arrived on Tuesday....
the Dina Wakley collage papers are mixed in the packets, the Dina stencil looks great in action (it's called ladders) - I saw it on you tube somewhere, it makes a fab background...  and I loved the Aall & Create one with the little squares..

they came from Artist Trading Post and I only ordered them on Sunday!


these ones arrived last week - the ones I was waiting for


the Dina stamps and the stencil came from That's Crafty and the paper dolls (Christmas edition) and trees from Country View Craft - Sue had a bank holiday weekend sale....

I finished another delayed  page for France's facebook group challenge.


this one was the one that was entitled "self talk" or how do you talk to yourself...
and was from week 30.  we're on week 36 now.. so I have a few to catch up on (although I've done week 31, that I shared last week)

Don't blame me if you now go shopping...!  enjoy your WOYWW.. 

WOYWW 482

Welcome back to Wednesday... we had a Bank Holiday on Monday here in England & Wales, so I am out of sync with the days... but it is Wednesday (well will be by the time you read this) and time for another WOYWW....   where we lay bare our desks and crafty spaces and what we've been up to since last week....

I somewhat rashly mentioned having time to do some crafting over the Bank Holiday... so of course Saturday was spent at Kew (see pics here)  and Sunday it rained and I should have spent the day crafting...(what happened??)   and Monday I went to London in search of rhinos  (see pics here )  and then it was time for work.

well ok so I did finish one of the facebook challenges for France Papillon (must check that I've uploaded the picture to facebook...)  with some of the new Distress Oxides... which you can see I have unwrapped but not yet found anyway to put them..

I did have them to the right of the earlier two sets (you can just see them in the corner of the photo) but I kept kicking them over coming into the room...)

I did have time to do some crafty shopping but haven't yet had the goods, so they'll be here for next week!  Till then, it's time for some more desk sharing and no doubt lot's more productivity.
Happy WOYWW ! 

In case you want to know more about the rhinos; it's a series of 21 rhinos to raise awareness of the plight of the black rhino - website here (sorry for all the links)

all painted by different artists including Ronnie Wood (yes, that Ronnie Wood) 

this was one of my favourites
it really portrays the sadness of the species.

The rhinos will be on show for a month and then in early October, auctioned off to raise money for the Tusk save the rhino charity.

I rather think they will be out of the pocket of "normal" people but I hope they raise lots of money. 

WOYWW 481 - happy mail

Another week of no crafting... but lots of happy mail!
First let me introduce you, should you need it, to the link for WOYWW (What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday) 

the first lot of happy mail came last Wednesday, of course, couldn't have arrived in time for last week's desk share!

 some stencils.... cos a girl can never have too many stencils.  (France Papillon designs)

the next happy mail came  on Thursday, I think it was, the Paperartsy stamps.. prettily wrapped in an old sewing pattern and tied with ribbon
(edit -  I got the stamps from The Artistic Stamper.  not direct from Paperartsy)

oh look I took a pic before I unwrapped!











but the best was yet to come.... yes, finally!!


Introducing....




the third and fourth sets of Distress Oxides..

just yesterday (at time of writing)  - Monday - to work so no messing about collecting from the sorting office - 

somewhat carelessly slung in a large jiffy bag, but luckily they come individually sealed!

Looking forward to getting them unwrapped and played with..   watch this space!

Hopefully with this coming weekend being a Bank Holiday, playtime will be found.

Last weekend's Kew trip as ever is here 

final photo - tonight's sunset (we've been blessed with some beauties this summer, even if I don't get to sit on a beach under a parasol to watch it)



Looking forward to visiting your desks soon.

WOYWW 480

Well that week went as fast as all the others... so it's time for WOYWW  again..
still haven't heard from Oyster Stamps about  my Oxides so they are still missing in action...
Couple of other orders are on the way... so also missing in action!

 couple of first layers on some more spreads for the France Papillon ALAD/ASAW challenge..

this one is from about 4 weeks ago...

theme "self talk....  they way you talk to yourself"    bit deep for me so may just play on this one!

and this is from the next week.
theme " a bright idea"  should be a bit easier..

but right now,
not a clue where either of them are going






the trouble with August galloping away as it is, and with me prepping my post on a Tuesday evening, means that already the light is going earlier than I like, luckily I took these the other day when I was uploading them to the facebook group.
Hopefully (here we go again) next week I'll have some more crafting to share and new goodies too!
For now, I'll point you at Julia's for the link to the best blog hop there is.