ARTY SIGN

I have been very inspired by the work of people like Linda and Hels using the Studio 490 stamps so bought myself a basic set to get started (the butterfly and the leaves). The flowers are more "in the style of" being Hero Arts clear stamps which give a really crisp image.

I came across this quote not long ago and thought it was really powerful, so hey presto a sign is born!! Used a little wood frame/tray thingy I had in the cupboard, painted it blue, printed my saying onto polka dot paper to match the spotty flowers and leaves. Lots of layering up on little foam pads and I'm quite pleased with the result!!

Friend asked, why isn't it pink? I said ... a) sadly, not everything can be pink, b) my pink curtains have blue in them. Simple.

ON ONE'S DESK TODAY ....

Nice sunny desk this morning - I am so happy to be back in my window, and no longer huddling in the middle of the room for warmth! It's even quite messy on there ... for me anyway! As you can see I'm in scrapbook mode, working on the layout for March, part of Shimelle's Document 2010 project. Because I seem to lead a pretty quiet life, I'm just doing a double layout for each month.

What's on the desk, apart from the project, are the delicious new Hero Arts flower stamps I bought at the NEC. They're clear but give a good crisp image, and are fabulous for layering and cutting out. At the back you can see the ATC shrine, now painted blue, but still a work in progress. The pink binders house my clear stamps, divided into ATC or scrapbook, the larger ones holder bigger sets, collage sheets and the catalogue of my stamps - which sounds posh but I just stamp a copy of every new stamp I buy. You can also see a new punch which produces a bird, wing and branch which I'm hoping to incorporate somewhere ...

So, as you can see, I'm working in Spring greens and yellow and I'm recording stuff like my Mothering Sunday bouquet, spring flowers in the garden, going to TWO shows in March and so on. I don't seem to be very good at keeping bits of memorabilia, receipts etc, so this was the best I could manage for a month which has been pretty busy one way or another. It does the job of creating a snapshot .... and if you want to see more desks get on over to Julia's place.

SUCH A LOVELY AFTERNOON ...

I'm not sure if this will make any sense to you, but I had SUCH a lovely afternoon yesterday. Got done what I needed to, and then had a few hours to myself and just sat and PLAYED. No particular agenda, I just fiddled about with stuff I like ... and this is the result. I sort of feel they even look like happy work?

I must have had my distress inks for well over a year and honestly not used them that much, but just lately they suddenly seem to ... well, make sense! Yesterday I was stamping these Invoke Images houses onto old text, and I wanted to colour them but use really faded, washed out sort of shades. Ended up stamping distress inks onto the heat proof sheet and then lifting the colours (and mixing them) with a wet paintbrush. Love the faded colours I got this way.

So it was a really special time - had the radio on, just messing about happily and it made me think ... I should do this more often! So I will. Maybe you feel the same?

PS My beloved just came in, so I showed him the ATCs and he looked sort of puzzled. "But they don't make sense" he said. "I know," I told him, "That's exactly how they're meant to be." Well how would you have explained it???

WEDNESDAY ALREADY???

I'm sure Wednesdays come around more often that they used to, although it does seem to help me get my backside in gear! Once more I reveal all for the What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday inspired by Miss Julia Dunnit. So here's my window workspace today - I thought it was a dreadful mess with stuff everywhere, and was tempted to tidy up before taking a photo, but now I look at the picture I can see that you won't think so!

And here's a close-up of the actual creative space - I've been working on the March entry for the art journal in a box (that orangey box there) I'm putting together this year. Wanted to do something around Spring and resurrection, hence the Gothic architecture and so on. Also visible is the ATC shrine which excited so much interest - now painted a grey-blue colour, after which inspiration deserted me. Am now waiting for it to come back from wherever its gone, and if you see it please instruct it to get back here sharpish!

Eagle eyes might also spot more attempts at grunge style triple embossing (not going too well - as neither my beloved nor I can remember the finer points of the demo we watched). I finally managed to get hold of a pack of grungepaper, which you might also spot, but haven't had time to play with it yet.

And here is the March journal page - I think it's finished, but am not absolutely sure. Don't you think it sort of needs something??

There is journalling on the back about Spring and Resurrection, and the words from this hymn which I've been singing for days ....

Now the green blade rises
From the buried grain
Wheat that in the dark earth
Many days has lain
Love lives again
That with the dead has been
Love is come again
Like wheat that springeth green

INSPIRATION AT THE NEC

My dearly beloved took me to the hobbycrafts show at the NEC last Thursday - yes I know, isn't he a hero, and all because I can't drive any more. He even lasted from 10.30 to 2.0pm before he admitted to losing the will to live ...

Anyway, one of the many interesting things we saw was a demonstration of triple embossing and stamping into the result. Those of you who are old hands at such things might not be impressed, but I'd actually never tried it before, so was fascinated. Not only did I get a clear 20 minutes instruction/demo on the subject, but I also clocked some yummy little altered notebooks on the same stand. When I got home I set to work not only practising doing the embossed butterfly (you can't really tell but its all metallic gold/copper etc) but nicking the ideas for the notebooks too!

This was entirely made out of bits and pieces from my scrap boxes - even down to the odd short length of BIA wire - so how's that for recycling!! Even the cartridge paper inside was recycled from an old sketch pad and several of the ribbons are ones I've taken off packaging. Thought I might make some more of these as gifts for special friends ....

WEDNESDAY COMETH AGAIN

Well it's that time of the week again (doesn't it come around FAST) and it's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW) over at Julia's. I offer today's picture with warm feelings of pride at being able to demonstrate that I can do messy if I really try! Yes, actually this IS my idea of a complete scrow (as they say in Cumbria) and I'm sorry if it's a pathetic effort, but it's the best I can do, honest! Shows willing to try at least doesn't it?

In the middle of my mat is a thingy called an ATC shrine which I've just finished gluing together, but am not as yet sure how I'm going to paint/decorate it. One part of me wants to go all brown and grungey, and the other bit is thinking PINK! And maybe butterflies, as you can see from the pack of them just crying out to be used. This workdesk is exactly as I left it last night, when lured downstairs at top speed by the smell of curry. For those of you who asked, that packed of brownish shapes on the left are nesties (Nestabilities) metal dies which cut and emboss a shape, as demonstrated in the white piece of card in the centre.


However, I cannot tell a lie, and this is actually where I am working this morning, getting ready to post on my blog when in theory I should be tackling the problems of chapter 4 of definitive novel no.2. It's coming awfully slowly and my heroine just won't lie down and do what I tell her (no, not THAT sort of lying down!). She's a feisty sort of gal, the way her creator likes to think she is secretly ... although I AM pleased to report that I got an award this morning! This announced that Today is International Very Good Looking, Damn Smart Woman's Day,
and was sent to me by another IVGLDSW! Anyway, I digress, back to the picture. You can see my mega expensive Cath Kidston pink spotty mug, bought for me my Delightful Daughter no.1, that mouse wot sings the We will Stick it With Glue song, heart shaped love tokens from my beloved, including pink spotty egg timer on shelf above. You may even notice the rather fabulous pink leopard print background my computer is now sporting! On the wall at the back, where I can gaze at them instead of working, are various inspirational pics, mainly of angels cos I'm a bit religious when nobody's looking ...

Now I really must get down to some work and see if I can extricate Ms. Heroine from the clutches of the dastardly Calum .... or maybe I'll just nip over to Julia's and look at one or two other desks?? Just until my coffee cools enough for me to drink it ....

SUCCESS!

I have a confession to make ... about a year ago I bought some Nestabilities and brought them home, tried them out, couldn't seem to make them work, threw them on a shelf. Then at regular intervals I said "must figure out how to use those" .... I'm sure you recognise the scenario!!

So the Good News is that I finally got the blighters out again, and have FINALLY figured it out (though only after I purchased a multi purpose platform for my Big Shot). Everything I make will henceforth have nesties on ... after all, it took me a year to learn how so it would be a waste not to!

And here, to prove it, is a card made with nesties and those yummy flower stamps I bought at the Malvern show. Happy smiles all round, congratulations gratefully received or you can just throw money ....

WEDNESDAY AGAIN

There was me thinking it was Thursday and I must be late for What's on Your Workdesk (that's what happened last week) over at Julia's, but then it turns out to be Wednesday after all so here I am!

Now this isn't my desk but just my Scor Pal mat of course, but it shows the work in progress. I wuz being all arty and stuff, taking a break from chapter 3. Then if I sort of zoom out ...(can you zoom out as well as in?) below you can see more of the desk proper. This is about standard messiness for me - which is not too bad really for everyone else. That's my (pink) ring binder of collage images, my trusty round and round thingy by AMM which holds all my basic tools. If only they made a pink one! And you can just see the pink knobs (scroll down a bit for their story) resting in their pink bowl, and a new wheelie stamp I've been playing with.

Then if I zoom out even further, you get the picture of where I sit in the window, looking out on the garden. I should explain that I'm on the second floor (or the 3rd if you're in the US of A), and I can see all the local rooftops too, as well as my beloved trees. There's one or two bits of pink around, as you can see, and my Ikea tin buckets hanging on the wall, though am thinking of spraying them pink like my cake stand. And that's not to mention my wonderful pink cyclamen which has flowered merrily all winter and doesn't look like stopping any time soon.

Then if I zoom out again, you get the idea that it's a bay window, and my desk goes around the sides too. The theory is that (in my enfeebled state) I don't have to actually stand up, or reach far for anything! Most of the time it works too! Underneath I store stuff in an assortment of RUBs, and the reason I have two bins is that one is recycling and one isn't. Hope you've enjoyed your visit!!

WHO'S A LUCKY GIRL THEN?

Am I a lucky mummy or what? These gorgeous flowers were a gift from my two younger daughters, and my eldest bought me a pack of Basic Grey Marrakesh papers!! Happy dance was going on here .... and nobody got me any diet-busting chocs either!

And if that wasn't quite enough to make me happy, on Friday I went to the new hobbycrafts show at Malvern, and came home with a selection of goodies! I got some of those flat boxes to store my papers in (I like to keep packs like Basic Grey together), a few more stamps (can you ever have enough?), some Tim Holtz loveliness, and assorted brads and flowers. And all this was 5 miles away from home, so practically on my doorstep!

Alas, all this joyfulness was a bit much for a woman in my feeble condition, so have been feeling rather grot ever since. Never mind, it was all worth it, and if I stayed home being sensible all the time I'd never have any fun!

MOTHERING SUNDAY ....

You do realise that it's Mothering Sunday at the weekend (well in the UK anyway)?? Just time to panic and get down the florist and card shop then ... or you can be virtuous (and smug) like me and make your own. This is for my lovely mum in law who I would love even more dearly if she hadn't lived with us for the past 13 years .... sigh. Still that probably goes for her too!!

Lots of Stampin Up stuff here, including the scrumptious new vintage style wheel stamp they're bringing out (on the lower half of the card). I predict that I'll use this such a lot ... Anyway, she loves butterflies and flowers and stuff, and she's gonna get chocolates as long as she promises to eat them when I'm not looking (still on the diet, 40lbs gone and counting)!!

Not sure what happened to yesterday and my usual WOYWW (scroll down if this makes no sense), it sort of got past me, but then I have a horrid cold and am all snotty. I find it interferes with the functioning of my brain cells ....

FEBRUARY JOURNAL PAGE

Remember my arty journal box, in which I was going to make a panel for each month? (Scroll down and find it and January's page). Well this is February's. The size is 4 x 6" so it isn't large, but big enough I find to do something meaningful with. I've been having a lot more pain in recent months, which has made me a bit spiky and grumpy, and I realised I'd sort of put life on hold until it got better. Well it hasn't, so February was a process of learning to say ... just get on with life anyway, and this new stamp I bought rather celebrates that don't you think?

So anyway, I had a lovely, grungey, distress inky sort of session in my favourite browns and golds (with wings OF COURSE) so am quite pleased that this says what I was trying to capture. As with the January card, there is hand-written journalling on the back to explain the image, but that's a bit private, although the general gist of it is above. I've really been re-discovering Tim Holtz and all his stuff (thanks Linda E!) so treated myself recently to this stamp and the crows on the wire one above. Now to save up for some of those scrumptious (if expensive) embellishments he does .....

NOTHING MUCH ON MY DESK ...

I haven't joined in with WOYWW this week, because when I came upstairs this morning it didn't look very interesting at all ... although the milder weather has meant that I've moved back into my lovely window seat!! Hurrah, it must be Spring ....

Having completed the final edit on Master Novel No. 1 (now hoping some nice kind agent will take a fancy to it) I finally allowed myself to start on No.2, so spent most of yesterday on chapter 1 of that. However, a couple of days ago I had a happy afternoon splashing distress inks around -using the ritzy new pink applicators! Must have been feeling bright and cheerful because I was playing with yellow and orange, and these two ATCs turned out to be a bit weird and wacky! I enjoyed myself and that's what counts innit? Once I used to share the thoughts and symbolism behind the ATCs I designed, but am not sure what was going on in my brain with these!!