WOYWW 432

Morning!  You find me half way through my week off, so far I did Kew on Saturday (of course!)  London on Monday and Hampton Court yesterday

this was one of my favourites from Hampton Court with the sun creating a rainbow in the fountain spray.










today I am off to London again and will meet up with my friend Miriam at lunchtime at St Paul's

Not sure what else I'll fit in, Kew probably either Thursday or Friday as I am going to Crafting at Ally Pally on Saturday.
So obviously there has been zero crafting and certainly zero tidying!!

 I did do a little online shopping at the end of last week though!

A gorgeous stencil (Poppy Field) by Donna Downey and some new scribbly stamps by Dina Wakley

Not had chance to use them yet, maybe if it rains later in the week (it was meant to on Monday but it was dry till evening after I got home, but I was too tired by then!)

So I will catch your desks when I get home from London, till then, the link up will be here at Julia's Stamping-Ground for WOYWW

WOYWW 431 ... oh my...

well there is nothing new here, either purchase-wise (that's in the post!) or created-wise... (that's not a real word.. I made it up..)

So, rather than show you a bare desk  floor   (well actually it looks exactly the same as last week) I decided to "bare all"   bare it certainly isn't...  'all' it also isn't, there is more elsewhere but a girl has only so much shame to share..
(I am not ashamed of it, really; only the untidiness of it)

 shot from the doorway... you've seen it before, but not for a while.. and forgive the lighting,
Tuesday evening, dull damp day, electric light, no flash.. doesn't make for a realistic lighting effect

 shot from the doorway but focusing on the "desk" space on the floor (gelli plate)

shot from the computer back into the corner I usually hide from view... under the radio are 2 storage boxes containing various papers and other "stuff" that hasn't seen the light of day for a fair while..

under the untidy pile of bags and boxes are more of the same (crates of paper)
I used to be able to get to that bookcase....

I'll need to move the plastic carry bag with the Wimbledon towel leaning against the radiator before long as once I need to turn the heating on the bag won't like it!

I have got next week off work.   I could lie to you and say I'm going to spend some time tidying up and sorting out this lot.... but you've been visiting here for many a month/year so you know that's not very likely!
Check out some much much tidier (probably!) desks and creative spaces here at Julia's 

WOYWW 430

That week flew, right?  Had an extra day at the weekend for the late Bank Holiday.... most of which was spent in the phone shop upgrading my mobile phone... to be fair they made it very easy and transferred all my photos and contacts over to the new one for me quick as a flash.

The weather was glorious down here in Sutton, so it was Kew on Saturday of course. (pics here)
but then in a flash, it was over and back to work.. Yesterday (or today, as I write) was a hard day as it's the anniversary of my sister's death, 20 years ago.. I was chatting to some friends, and I swear I miss her more the older I get.. it's all the things that have happened that she's missed out on..

but, enough gloom... there is a  new toy in da house!

yep, the gelli plate has landed thanks to a friend who got me one at a great price.  I am looking forward to getting painty and spreading prints all over the place... not sure I'll be able to rig up a line to peg them onto to dry.. but that was a good idea suggested by several of you.

I am sure you can't really be wondering why I am showing you the great mess that is my crafty space on the floor... but it's  Wednesday, so it's  WOYWW - check here for linking and details
Have a great week!

WOYWW 429 - a very small post show haul....

Hi deskers, welcome to another desk-fest.  Link your workspaces here and have fun!

So, as some of you saw (and were amazed!)  I didn't spend very much at all on Sunday at Stamperarma...but had a great time catching up with friends, which is more important.

as you can see, not very much at all.... the sd card for the camera is still there from last week, and there is also a couple of bits I picked up at The Works on Saturday, some silvery mesh, and some wooden fairies... cheap as chips, and an idea for them will come to me I am sure... (pics from Stamperama here if you want a look)

Elizabeth said I would need lots of space for my gelli prints (when I get my plate) - well we all know space doesn't exist here, so we'll see what happens with that!  I must admit that is the main reason I didn't get one when they first came out.

My nephew liked his birthday card I shared last week, (or possibly the contents of the little gift envelope I put inside!) so that's good.
I am hoping to get time to do a bit more to my fabric book this weekend, as we have a Bank Holiday here on Monday so have an extra day at the weekend.   However, the best laid plans and all that!

Think I got round all the desks (so wish I could comment on the google plus ones) and will try again this week.  Happy WOYWW!

Stamperama at Stevenage

Got home a little while ago from the Stamperama stamp show at Stevenage... Great to catch up with some friends, but the show wasn't as good  big as it's been in the past, and some companies were missing who should have been there....

Still good to see Paperartsy of course, where I started with a make and take using infusions and distress oxides..

 taken by Racquel (standing)  and using her stamps for Paperartsy  - great to catch up with Miriam and Wendy who were both there, we grabbed the first make and take session. (tag in stash photo later on)

 Lin and I stopped for an early cuppa and Lin had breakfast, couldn't believe how empty it was - this was about 10.30 ish, normally it's really busy first thing..

 back to Paperartsy for some quality demos and chat, Leandra experimenting trying to seal the Oxides to make them permanent... sort of worked!  I'll leave it to her to share her secret some time!

 Realised I hadn't taken many photos...so snapped a few quickly.... Lauren was also on the demo stand with Leandra, was great to catch up with Claire (red tshirt) Alison in her fab crochet top, and Miriam watching Leandra...

 backs of people deliberately not turning round...great to also catch up with Jo V (with the ponytail)

 and great to see Lucy too, even if only towards the end before I left

and a very small stash haul... although I have already got the Prima modelling paste, I was hoping to get the Golden one we'd used on the fabric workshop but Leandra had taken the Prima stuff instead and I didn't realise I had it already... some beads for the book and some lacy trims for the book...
No-one had a big gelli plate there so am about to go order one online!

WOYWW 428

Hi, fellow deskers..  that week went quick, I can't believe it's Wednesday again already!   Time for another WOYWW  with Julia

The wedding last Thursday was fantastic, we had a really good evening.  (if anyone loves a good wedding, even of total strangers, the pics from the evening are here ) which I wrote and published at 1.30 in the morning.. as you do!  but the bride and groom did see the post before they went to bed and loved the photos, so that was lovely to hear!
Here's a quick photo of the happy couple with his work colleagues!

l to r Kirsty, Monica, me, Lesley, Kelsie, Joshua, Phil, James, Jo (James' girlfriend) Kerryn (married to) Shaun. For some reason Phil's girlfriend isn't in the photo...

I don't have a desk/floor photo to show this week as it has nothing on it (except a new SD card for my camera which is really boring!)   so I'll share the 21st birthday card I made for my nephew's 21st birthday which is this week (he won't see this so it's safe to share)

the card base is by Craftwork Cards, and I used some of Elena's monster stamps for Paperartsy
I coloured the images with a mixture of distress oxides and Stabilo felt tip pens
The monster house was stamped onto distress oxide coloured book paper although I added so many layers of distress oxide the book text has disappeared now.

I will have new stuff to share next week though, as I am off to the Stamperama show at Stevenage on Sunday so will no doubt find something I "must" have (and will be getting a gelli plate after last week's workshop!)

Last week's workshop

Last week I mentioned that I was lucky enough to attend a workshop with Lin Brown after Lin, Emma Lesley and I had badgered her for ages to do a fabric workshop...  Totally out of my comfort zone (needles and sewing was involved)  but great fun!

We travelled on the Saturday and had dinner in the hotel which was opposite what is apparently one of the largest gay/bisexual/transgender clubs in the country... some of the guests at dinner were obviously heading there....

 Day one started with us preparing our fabric pages, we'd been asked to decide on a colour and theme in advance to save time.... like that worked!!

 essentials on the go early... chocolate, sweets and tea!
also my first go at the gelli plate - two firsts, fabric and gelli plates!

 despite having a table and chair (as opposed to my customary floor crafting) I still spent most of the time standing up... as did Lesley and Lin!

 my first gelli printed pages drying

 stencilling paste onto fabrics to use in our books

 starting to get the pages roughly laid out

day one ended with us adding some colour to our stencilled paste embellishments...

leaving them to dry..

 Day two... more prep work on the embellishments for the pages, deciding what to include on the page, (we'd brought some of our own lace/trims/bits and bobs we thought might be useful too)

 I did get some beading done.... may have made a passing reference to this on my WOYWW this week, HOW small are the eyes in beading needles... Lin B had to thread my needle for me, I couldn't see to do it even with my glasses on!
but there are teeny tiny beads along the lace trim at the bottom....



Didn't take many photos on day two, we were too hard at work...

 however, I had made myself at home spreading out around my chair...

 Lin and Emma hard at work...

yikes!! look at the mess we made...



We didn't get very far with our books, I have no pictures at all of what the others started (but love love love the colours Emma was working with)  and hopefully I will get some more of my book done soon....
watch this space!



Once again Lin thanks for letting us invade your house and for this fabulous workshop.