WOYWW - Spring Is Coming !

Hi welcome on this special Leap Day ! My desk is trying to be full of optimism at the approach of spring today !

I have finished the March pages in my Book of Days ready for the 1st of March - I always think of yellow as the first colour of spring - with daffodils, gorse & forsythia boldly breaking through the grey lingerings of winter !

So yellow is my March colour !

On Saturday I sneaked off to Carmarthen to the new "The Range" store there - and had a good browse about their craft department - mainly Docrafts stuff but it had the bits & bobs I wanted for making my Easter cards (don't know why I like to make my own Easter cards when I don't do Christmas cards but I always enjoy it !!).

I got lured in by the new Michael Powell stamps - I've admired his quirky Mediterranean inspired designs on cross stitch kits at the shows before - but not being a cross stitcher hadn't had an opportunity to do anything with them. The stamps are lovely though- very fine detail - and I had fun experimenting with different types of watercolour to paint them on Sunday (which I had to myself as the much beloved had gone to footie with friends !).

In between some much needed clearing up & cutting back in the garden & the normal basket of ironing which sits there staring accusingly at me all weekend until I attack it on a Sunday afternoon - I did get to sit in my sunny conservatory & have a few happy painty & inky hours !

Hope you have a few happy crafty hours too this week !

WOYWWW - New Greenhouse Stamps !

Well not much action on the desk this week - but some lovely retail therapy !

I saw these stamps from Stamposauraus advertised in Craft Stamper & thought they would be great for the scrapbook layouts I make about my garden over the summer months !

They arrived this morning & I am really pleased with them - I'm getting nice clear, crisply stamped images & I love the fun quirky designs !

Looking forward to stamping & colouring them in - its like being a kid again - but now my box of crayons are posh Pro-markers & watercolour pencils !!

Also on my desk are 2 canvasses & the rules for entering the art competition in our local family run art shop.

Back in January I was reading a book about giving yourself a kick up the rear about your art & setting goals for yourself (but still having fun !!) - one idea was to show your art - and the entries for this competition get put into the shop window.

So this is a tiny step of putting my work out there in the big wide world !

And supporting a family business - on the use 'em or loose 'em principle !

So I just have to decide what I'm going to do now !!!!

Have a fun crafty week everyone !

WOYWW - My Seed Journal

Well, sadly we are now back in Wales after an enjoyable - if chilly ! - week in Spain - much like the rest of Europe it was the coldest week of the winter but when we could duck out of the cold wind & find a patch of sunshine it was still warm enough to eat lunch outside - unlike at my parents in Sussex where they had 8" of snow all week - so we were lucky !!

At last I had time to work on my Seed Journal - inspired by the project on the Millande website but with my own twist on the idea of exploring the symbolism of The Seed through journal pages.

I have had fun with this - I have used some stamping, some free-hand drawing (whoo ! I am trying to pluck up the courage to draw so this was a big step to a little pea-pod !!) and had fun experimenting with my new Caran D'Ache wax pastels, Inktense pencils & Windsor & Newton watercolours - exploring the differences between them & how each work.

I have thought about what the concept of The Seed means to me - a "Sheltering Pod" that doesn't reach its potential until it leaves its safety & comfort zone, a "Rememberance" - the bridge from last summer to the next, a "Seed By Any Other Name" - appearances & size don't matter to potency & zest for life, the "Scattering Seed" -going out into the world to flourish - and the seed as "a Promise in the Pod" - I've a few more ideas to work up but here's what I've done so far !

What's next ? Well, back at my desk now - I have some scrapping nagging at me but not sure when I'll get the time !!

I have succumbed to some new Greenhouse stamps from Stamposaurus & am waiting for them to arrive - so maybe have something to show next week !

Have a happy crafty week !