WOYWW - Crafty Crop !

I am blogging a bit early this week as I have to be away for work tomorrow night & will miss my usual Tuesday night blogging session !

Well it was a very soggy trek from Carmarthenshire to Burbage - Lynda did battle with the motorway spray & we made great time - arriving just as the 2014 WOYWW Crop got into full swing !


 


Julia & Jan had made brilliant arrangements in a big, airy village hall - tables all laid out, stalls for fundraising for the chosen charity - the Alzheimer's Society and a wonderful spread for lunch !



It was great fun to meet up with everyone who we had only met in Blogland before !





I didn't get very much actually crafted - too much chatting & looking at what everyone was working on - so fascinating to see all the different crafts that everyone is in to !
But I did get my Father's day card finished - safe to show to this as Dad definitely isn't a blogger !




The dreadful weather carried on through Sunday and on to this morning - only cheering up by mid-morning - so I was able to play at my craft desk !
I am weeks behind on my Journal 52 - but I am refusing to panic & feel overwhelmed !
I am just writing down all the weeks I am missing & working on a page or two here & there when the mood takes me ! I worked on 4 pages this weekend !

 Each Week we are set a theme - this is How Does Your Garden Grow & I chose to do a fantasy garden with JOFY stamps - this is dedicated to Helen at Stamping By H - she was kind enough to show me her Journal on Saturday & it was amazing - it inspired me to get creating in my Journal again !

 This week was "Inspired By The Nightsky" - Shazsilverwolf was kind enough to let me make some impressions with her Star Birth stamp - it was gorgeous and I thought that less was more - just leaving it to enjoy the image.

 This page was "Creative Hands" - include your hands in your journal ... I am really into these pearl acrylics !

And this week was "Create a Mandala" - I remembered the Inkadinkado Stamps which you can use interlocking around a wheel .. it seemed a good way to explore the whole circle idea !

Finally the grey clouds rolled away & the sun warmed the damp earth - when Much Beloved finished work at 2pm we headed down to the National Botanic Gardens Wales - some gorgeous blooms & a lovely stroll in the sunshine !
Here's some of the colourful flowers we enjoyed ...

The Meconposis took my break away ... an amazing lilac mauve ...

 And the classic stunning blue ...

And just one last project started - Much Beloved felt we needed a new internet hub (faster web access apparently - and boys do love their toys so who am I to question !!) and this box said !please recycle! - so it would have been rude not to wouldn't it !!

Here's Stage 1 - the background - watch this space !

So, if we got to meet on Saturday - it was a real pleasure !

And if we are only able to be long distance Blog-Buddies - well that's a real pleasure too !

Have a great crafty week ! Ali x

WOYWW - Too Sunny for Crafting !

Well this past weekend - was gorgeous - the warmest & sunniest of the year so far.

So the garden called much more loudly than the craft desk !
It was a pleasure to be working outside !

Saturday was so lovely we took a mini picnic down to Burry Port - the tide was way out & the beach was just stunning as ever !




On Sunday, Lynda took me to a family nursery which sold beautiful plants at amazingly good prices - we both scooped up some brilliant bargains !









So on my desk this week is just a bit of a mess - on the left is a pile of plant labels from my newly planted green treasures which need to be written down in my Garden Journal.
In the centre I was working on the glass jar which we painted at Scrapclub last week.

I used my JOFY stamps which gave me a fun look.
I saw these pearl acrylics in The Range on Saturday & couldn't resist - they are working well on the jar !

So just a quick post tonight s it has been a 13 hour day at work and I am ready to hit a soft pillow now !

But one final bit of excitement today - Bella's parcel arrived safely from Cape Town, South Africa with some lovely gifts for Lunch lady Jan, Julia & I and her ATC's for me to take to the WOYWW Crop on Saturday ! So looking forward to meeting up with everyone !

Have a great crafty week ! Ali x

WOYWW - Painty Explorations !

Well, we have a painty evening planned for Scrapclub Wednesday night !
We are planning to be using Paperartsy's lovely Chalk Fresco Paints onto glass jars & then stamping on top of this - so fingers crossed we all get on all right with the painty project !

I haven't done this technique for the past couple of years - so I thought I ought to have a bit of a dry run at my desk last Saturday !
We were having a very stormy day - with the garden disappearing under a debris blanket of fresh new oak leaves & twigs - such a mess !
So I spent the afternoon ignoring the outside world & playing at my desk !

This is the small practice jar I had a go at - it was given to me by friends in Spain & it used to have honey in the lower jar & almonds in the jar that forms the lid. Here it is painted & stamped - with some treasured gold to finish it. You can also spy a few butterflies punched from the punches I bought on a half price deal at Hobbycraft last week !
Lynda & I have been intending to start a rainbow journal - with each page themed on a colour from the rainbow & I had done nothing about it - paralysed by blank page syndrome & indecision !

So whilst I had paint left over from painting the jar I decided to take the plunge & just get the background colours laid down onto some watercolour paper sheets !
So here on the desk today you can see I have worked through the rainbow with Fresco paints - & even dug out my Gimmermists - which I hadn't taken out of the craft cupboard for months - to get the base of each page started !
So now at least I have somewhere other than a blank white sheet to get me on my way !

I have been buying magazines too !
The Rose Garden sheet of stamps came with Creative Stamping magazine & the Lavinia stamps were free with Papercraft Essentials.
Tracy from Lavinia was the first to bring these silhouette style fairies & nature stamps to the market & though many, many stamp companies have copied her style but I still love her original artworks.
I do try to support her work & not her cheaper me-too imitators ! I am looking forward to playing with these next weekend !



I set up a mini-production line with stamps, glue, gems & Stickles & finally got my ATC's done for the WOYWW crop at the end of the month !


And just to finish, I came across this House of Zandra decoupage design at Ally Pally last month & just knew I had to make it for Lynda's birthday card  - I do find decoupage very calming & therapeutic !

Lynda loves her garden - so this seemed "just her" !

Hope you have a great crafty week
Ali x

WOYWW - Playing Nicely With Friends !

Well just a short post tonight as I have spent a long couple of days flying over to Ireland & travelling to just north of Cork for a meeting today.

But I did get to spend some happy crafty times with friends this past week !

Last Wednesday we were very industrious at our little Scrapclub as we turned to a bit of non-scrappy crafting !

We each had a small sturdy box to alter - it was great to see how everyone took a completely different tack - each box looked totally different as we all have our own style !

Here's how my box turned out - we're hoping to get a photo of them all together finished at some stage !















And on Saturday as Much Beloved headed to Manchester to watch footie Lynda was kind enough to come over for a playdate !

We decided to create a little canvas in the Finnabair style - each in very different colours - we had great fun getting very painty & gluey !!

Here's the original blank canvas !

And this is where we got them to on Saturday - just some Treasured Gold to add !

And I finally got a bunch of ATC's underway for the 5th WOYWW anniversary !
Just got to finish them now !!
Have a great crafty week Ali

xxx