WOYWW - Will It Ever Feel Like Spring ?

So we have had a few sunny days but we have not made it out of coats & jumpers yet - it feels like it will never be warm !
And also it poured here for most of Sunday !
I hate it when we have rain here in Wales at the weekend & my parents in England have a lovely day - I get so grumpy !
And of course it rains here endlessly so I am often grumpy !!

So here is my grumpy journal page - gloomy colours & grumpy comments - thought it might get it out of my system !!
I have watched people doing masking with stamping but not really tried it myself - so I printed out the words - then cut the letters out & used it as a stencil.

Then used the cut out letters to mask & stamp over - I liked the effect & would try it again but I used repositionable spray & when I lifted the letter they stuck & torn the page !

As this was a grungy sort of page it didn't really matter - but for something which would need to look nicer, I'll have to find something else to stick the mask down with !
All suggestions welcome !!

And I also ventured down to The Range to seek out the new Home to  Nest range - I had seen it advertised & with various family birthdays & Father's Day combingk up I am looking forward to making some nice cards !
Mum & Dad both love their garden & the wild birds so the designs in this pack should be perfect !

Have a great crafty week ! Ali x

WOYWW - Where Does Inspiration Scamper Off To ?

So why is it, when you finally have a couple of free hours to get creative & even a pile of stash to hand, that somehow all inspiration goes AWOL !

On Sunday it poured down here in West Wales - and after swimming & before the delights of my weekly date with the ironing board I had a whole 2 hours to play - but could I create ?

Nothing.

I have read art journalling books that say - just play - things will come together .. so I inked, I got out my new Roman Lettering stencil - I sprayed - and still nothing came together !  

I think I have discovered that the trouble is I have to have something to say ... the imagery bit isn't enough in itself  - I have to express a thought, a mood or a feeling ...

I suppose I have lived in my "wordy" world for so many years & the whole "arty" thing I am exploring is relatively new - that I can't get away from needing the words too !!

So this week my desk is a mess !

 
The pink tag book is my failure from Sunday - maybe it might become something else if my inspiration finally makes a reappearance !!

The list on the left is my crafty stash list - now updated with my Ally Pally purchases !
Ready to be kept in my purse to try to prevent duplicate purchases !!

And you can also see a couple of scrapbook page I have been working on - these are about my youngest nephew, Tom - firstly in the adventure ground in  Llyn Llech Owain our local country park ...

 And Tom lost in thought walking through the waterfalls cascading down in the caves we visited on Good Friday ..

And I have a new toy ... DH finally admitted I would never get a look in using the Samsung Galaxy tablet "we" had bought for "us" back in September - and decided it would be easier to get me my own handbag sized one - so I don't keep niggling on about never getting to use "his" one !!

I took these photos on it - Dropboxed them to my laptop to resize them & now here they are ...
I expect there is a way to do it all on the tablet - but I think lots of playing lies ahead to work out how it all works & what it can do !!

Hope you all have a great crafty week !
Ali xx

WOYWW - Ally Pally Stash !

Last Saturday my friends, Lynda & Theresa & I headed up to Alexandra Palace for the Big Scrapbooking & Stamping Show.

It's a long drive - 3 1/2 hours each way - but it's a lovely venue - just a shame that the weather wasn't good enough for us to sit outside & have our lunch as we have in previous years - the view over the city is stunning.

We thought there seemed to be less stalls there this year - but there was still plenty to see - good demonstrations and of course loads of shopping !!

So this week my desk is covered in yummy stash !

And a couple of projects I managed to squeeze in between getting back on Saturday night and having to head back to Bristol Airport on Sunday afternoon !

So at the front is a ring binder album with Project Life style pockets plastic folders in it - I have seen some lovely examples of this on the WOYWW blogs - so I am keen to have an experiment !!

To the left is a new alphabet die - the whole show was awash with dies - loads of different brands & hundreds of designs !!
We were commenting in the car on the way home how crafting fashions come & go !!

I found some lovely stamps - as usual Tracey at Lavinia Stamps was doing some lovely demos of her fairies & landscapes !!

I found 2 new fairies that I liked - and had a quick play with them on Sunday morning too !

So here's a page in my journal - using some of the new Dylusions inks - including White Linen which softens down the vibrant colours ! - and some new colours of Sparkle Medium I used through a new stencil I found.

Its just a playing around page - Never Stop Believing Magic Can Happen !

This fairy caught my eye as well - gathering pollen from the flower - with an Inkylicious Twinchie of rudbeckia stamped at the bottom !

Stencils were the other big thing at the show - they had many from several companies - which is fine by me as I love them !!

The Peacock & Owl I had on my wish list but the others were just pure temptation !
Looking forward having a fun time experimenting with them !!

Anyway - hope you all have a fun crafty week ! Looking forward to seeing you desks & projects this week !

WOYWW - Is it okay for this to be fun ?

Speaking to friends, I think many of us have something that we worry about, about ourselves - whether it be something about how we look or how we come across to people and so on ?

One of my niggling concerns is that I have never felt I am very good at having fun !
Not the sort of "fun" that other people seem to find fun - nights out, parties and all those gregarious things !

On Saturday the sun shone & I set to on my vegetable bed - I ripped out all the old, bedraggled and frost damaged veggies and dug it all over - adding bonemeal and a big bag of Alpaca poo !
So am I just wierd or is it okay is for that to be fun ?

I had wanted to have Sunday as a playday - so I had purposely attacked the ironing (my normal Sunday afternoon task) on a couple of week nights to give myself free time !
So Sunday I was able to indulge in myself in some serious scrapping !
Is it okay for this to be so much fun ??

I was determined to finish my Africa Scrapbook - so here are my last few pages !

One of the days we squeezed in a visit to a wildlife park - we saw all the animals they call "The Big Five" plus Imperial Ibis, Springbok, Gnu's and Ostrich !

Of all the animals I loved the Elephants the most - I could have watched them for hours - but didn't realise quite how smelly they would be !!
You can see that the lovely tag Bella mad for me finally found it's forever home !

 



Each day was crammed with our planned activities - but early on my last day we were able to take a quick trip up the cable car to the top of Table Mountain - it was an amazing place.

It felt like I was on top of the world at the bottom of the world !

The views from the summit were stunning - all across the city and out across the ocean - next stop Antartica !

And then in the opposite direction down the craggy mountainous coastline - mountains plunging towards the sea ! 

 

 

I still had a few souveniers left - so I made these two pages where I could tuck my various bits & bobs and memories !

I used the fun African Musical Ladies stencil that Bella gave me and the chipboard map and Baobab tree I had bought at the scrapping shop in cape Town - some stamps, banknotes & coins and a few others things I had hoarded away ! 

 

 



And one last page was all about meeting up with Bella after reading her blog on WOYWW - and remembering how amazing it was to meet someone at the opposite end of the world who loves the same crafty things that I do !

 

 

So after all that scrapping I felt the need to indulge in a little arty project !

 

I had seen a project in this months Craft Stamper using the Crafty Individuals Bunny stamps I had bought used in a box project.

 

I had already painted up this box to upcyle it and this seemed a fun thing to do - so here's my little bunny project ! 

 

Hope you all have a fun crafty week !

Take care Ali x 

 

 

WOYWW - Busy Easter - no crafting !

Hi
Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend !
I had my sister, brother in law & 2 nephews down to Wales to stay with us - the weather was still freezing cold but at least it was mostly sunny !

So what with heading out and about with the boys there was no time for crafting - well Tom, my youngest nephew, loves to make a scrapbook of his adventures when he comes down to see me - so we had a happy Sunday afternoon scrapping - snug from the cold in the sunny conservatory !

We had a fun day Friday at the Dan-yr-Ogof - the National Showcaves of Wales - with some amazing caves to explore and a whole array of huge dinosaurs !! Tom knew the name of them all !!

Then yesterday we headed for Techniquest, the science museum in Cardiff - all hands on stuff for the boys to do ! And some for us grown ups too ! 

They had a thermal imaging camera set up which you could stand in front of & see your own image - yes that weird figure in the picture is me !!

So on my desk today there is only some new arrivals ... my new copy of Craft Stamper arrived today - and the new Art Journaling magazine. 

Also I had ordered Dina Wakely's new Journaling book - and as I have a weakness for the Tilda books - I just happened to drop her new Fairytale book into my basket !

At the back are a couple of sheets of alphabet stickers I grabbed when we took Tom to Toys R Us on Saturday ! My journal is to the left - hoping to get back to it this weekend but have a mass of things to scrap now !! And on Tilda's book a funny note from my sister - she is teasing me about my hoarding tendencies - she has said "here is an interesting little jar to keep interesting little things in ! "