WOYWW - Will it EVER stop raining ?

Hi There - tonight it is mid-July - supposedly Mid-Summer in Wales & the foggy rain is so thick I can't even clearly see the house straight across the street !!!
So here we are zooming downhill towards winter & no hint of summer !! Grr !!!
Oh well, the only upside is some creative activities from being forced to stay indoors !!

This is more "what's on my work floor" than my desk ! We are frantically trying to get Rich's Mum's 80th birthday surprise scrapbook finished - so we have a mixture of finished &  not even started pages laid out all over the study floor !
Rich has sorted out stacks of photos into themes & we are attacking each layout one by one !!
It all seemed a great idea in January - now with a month to go we are feeling the stress !!
Hope she will like it !

In between scrapping on Sunday we made Lime marmalade !
Our friend Jan in Spain gave us a jar of hers when we were out there & Rich loved it - so he inveigled the recipe from her & made his first batch on Sunday ! I make a lot of chutney - but have never tried anything sweet - so it was great fun to see it all thicken - and we are desperately hoping it has set !!
Thanks to Jan for the recipe !

Speaking of whom - Jan & I have decided to push our crafty comfort zones with a little challenge - we have each picked 6 challenge topics & put them in a pot - one on my desk in rain soaked Wales - hers on her desk in scorching Murcia Region in Spain !!

We plan to each pull one idea at random out of our respective pots once a month & then combine the challenge topics.
Then we plan to make a little 6" x 4" project starting with the same plain paper record cards of that size & see what we end up with !!
Jan is a seasoned card maker & I am more of a messy paint & stamper kind of a girl - so it should be fun to see where we both end up & we're looking forward to picking up tips & ideas from each other !!!
As of today a batch of blank record cards are winging their way in the post to Jan and our challenge for July is a combo of "use an embossing folder" & "inspired by a song" !

So on my desk today - in the centre you see the embossing folder of hearts, the pot with my challenge ideas in it & this month's strip pulled out.
I am planning for my song inspiration to be "Love Shack" by the B52's - I always play it a full blast in the car on the way home when I am feeling wound up by the day at work - happily that way no one has to listen to my completely tone deaf singing  !!!

I also have some new "Strictly Party" stamps that were a freebie with Creativity Magazine, a sneaky bar of my favourite chocolate (only allowed white choccie as real choccie gives me migraine !), the Visual Journal I am using for my watercolour lessons - oh and on the left a Smash Book I have made.
I had fun choosing the pages & cute little plastic folder inserts then making the covers etc but am at a bit of a loss what to actually USE it for !!!

Anyone out there have one & have any suggestions !!!
Might just go with it being my "Happy Book" & fill it with things that make me happy !!

Well sorry to have rambled on - have a great crafty week & looking forward to cruising around your desks ! Ali in soggy Wales !! x

WOYWW - Back in Rainy Wales !

Hi there - missed you all last week as was away in Spain - 35oC & sunny all week !
on the Well didn't miss my friend Jan as she lives there & this time last week we were having a fun BBQ at ours - 16 of us in shirt sleeves 'til midnight !! Not much chance of any of that in Wales !!

Anyway if you can see the top one of the pile of my photos which I've printed out to scrap at Scrapclub Wednesday night - Jan is on the left in the black top ! Hope you get to visit her blog too this week !!(Jan S).

Anyway as I only got back on Sunday my desk is full of projects in progress & things to get round to !

My new Summer Distress Inks had arrived when I got back - I was surprised how vivid they are in comparison to the older colours ! Waht do you think ?
I have labelled them & done the swatches of colour I do for my little home made book which I use as a reference guide when I'm working on a project - that's them drying on my desk !
I have also printed some photos out on my Pogo - the colours are a bit random but they will be fun enough to play around with in my journal.
To the left is a great book I read on hols - Personal Geographies by Jill K Berry (available on Amazon) - its all about creating art with maps of you & your life - there are some great projects I'm dying to have a go at !
Do check it out for yourself if you get a chance ! More info here http://personal-geographies.com/

Also a new DVD about travel art journals which I hoped would come in time for my hols but didn't - so still to be watched !

I did do some practising of my drawing & water-colouring whilst I was away - a couple of pictures here - still only doing plants !!! Need to get some tuition on how to do scenery !!!

I am really enjoying the Watercolour Pencils class I am taking on the Joggles.com website & even just doing the basic exercise on creating a set of colour swatches proved really useful - I could take the swatches to the plants & choose the closest colour to match - which made the pictures look more realistic (well I hope so !!). Just need to keep practising & practising !!

Oh & the funny green thing in the middle was a spoon/fork thingamajig which came in a pack of Kiwifruit in Spain - I thought all those grooves would make it a fabby thing for making textures in paint for projects & journals !! Either inspired - or I am an inveterate hoarder by nature (or maybe both !!)
So have a great week & looking forward to seeing your crafty places & projects this week ! Ali x

WOYWW - Scrapping with Mr Joggles !

Hi Thanks to everyone who stopped by last week to give advice on Mr Rhodri Joggles - he decided that being a Gardener was his vocation !
So I made him a little gardening jacket & trousers - found him 2 upturned flowerpots to sit on, a spade & a fork - and a basket for all his garden produce !
Oh and a camera - as like me he loves to take a photo record of the garden in bloom (well if it ever stops raining long enough to snap a photo !).
I'm not sure I have his face right & may stitch on hair when I get back from my hols ( we're away next week yippee !!) and he needs a hat but I've no idea how to make one !! But at least he's on his way !

On the other side of my desk are the new "Beautiful" papers & brads & the other bits & bobs I have pulled together for my mother in law's scrapbook.
I love the picture of her holding my husband as a 1 year old baby - her dress is pure 1960 & I think she looks like a film star from that time !!

Question for you all - if I were to use Distress Inks on fabric (calico or Lutrador) and then stamp over them & use the fabric to decorate a plain felt tote bag I have bought - if the bag were to get wet (we are talking West Wales here - so think constant rain !!) would the inks run & the colours come off on my clothes ? Or are the inks fast once they are dry ? Or do I have to set them in some way ? All advice gratefully received !!

Have a great crafty week & hope the weather is better wherever you are than the chilly drizzle we have here Take care !! 

WOYWW - Mr Rhodri Joggles !

Well not much crafty action on the desk this week as we spent the weekend away back in England. We went to a hotel near Badminton so I could go to the open day at Jekka McVicar's Herb Farm.
I have seen her plenty of times on the telly at Chelsea & read her books etc & had wanted to go for ages.
They were having an "open weekend" & we booked for a workshop on cuttings.
Jekka was very welcoming & approachable - even having gardened for 30 odd years I still learnt loads of tips !!
We dodged the rain & bought some unusual herbs & so Sunday was planting them out when we got home !

Last week I had my "blank" art doll figure arrive & he and I have been chatting all week about who he wants to be !
He has a name - Mr Joggles - as he was bought from the Joggles website & Rhodri because he comes from Rhode Island - and now lives in Wales - so the name seemed appropriate all round !
I thought I would have a play in my journal to decide how to dress him - I took his photo - printed it 4 times & just played around with some costume ideas !!
I'm leaning towards either the Gardener or The Eccentric Steampunk Inventor routes - all ideas welcome !!!

Also on the desk this week - on the right is the card for Dad's birthday & on the left 2 new Cuttlebug plates - my old ones are cut to ribbons ! And some stickers for vintage style pages for my Mother In Law's 80th birthday scrapbook pages - otherwise not much going on sadly !
If anyone knows where the weeks go could they let me know !!

Anyway - a happy crafty week to you all !

WOYWW - Letter From America ?

Hi there - well not a letter but a parcel !

I have signed up for some craft & art courses with www.joggles.com - one of which is making a figure called The Elusive Butterfly - never done this type of doll making before (only Tilda type soft toys) but this looked so serene on the website - it just caught my eye !
I ordered the doll making kit you can see in the plastic bag in the middle of my workdesk on the 1st June & it arrived yesterday - thought that was good coming snail mail from Rhode Island to Wales !
So not sure when I'll have the time to have a go making it up but as long as I have the instructions
downloaded I can go at my own pace !

On the left at the back of the desk is a funny little cloth figure I bought too - a couple of dollars to make up the minimum order - so I'm thinking there's an Art Doll looming too !!

To the left at the bottom you can see some of the photos I have managed to gather for the scrapbook for my mother-in-laws 80th birthday - its been hard to get photos of her life & keep it a secret !! Also a little Owl - he's a magnifying glass - great for us old crocks can wear round our neck to look at small details when even the reading glasses or varifocals let us down !!

In the middle is Dad's card for Father's Day - written & ready to post to be sure to arrive by Sunday !

And finally on the right my subscription copy of Simply Homemade arrived yesterday - love the free Emma Ball papers & stamps - they will be fun for scrapping our seaside holiday in Cornwall in August - I really like her quirky sea-side images & the papers are bright happy summer colours (so even if the weather ends up as rubbish as this week I can feel upbeat !!)

Well hope you all have a happy crafty week & looking forward to seeing your workdesks too !

WOYWW - Trying Card Making !

Hi hope everyone had a fun Jubilee weekend !
We didn't get the 2 bank holiday days off - but with the miserable weather it wasn't much of a hardship being at work !

I haven't made cards before but I fancied making a couple of cards for my Dad - for both Father's Day & his birthday which is also in June.

So I started with a decoupage card kit of one of Michael Powell's lighthouse scenes which was fun to do !

Then I got lured in by a set of die cuts & papers of Wellington Bear (as much as I love grunge - I do find that certain cute stuff always finds a way to creep up on me too !!!)  ... and then saw a girl-y set of gardening, cup-cakes & dresses type stuff which is not really my sort of thing but I liked the gardening scenes and thought I would make some for a friend's fund-raising craft stall.

And it all sort of just escalated from there ! So hence this week my desk is covered in cards !

I haven't really mastered the skill of getting all the layers lined up perfectly straight - if anyone who is into cards can tell me if I'm supposed to measure everything before I stick it down ?

I'm really much more of an "eyeball it" kind of a girl - maybe this isn't compatible with being a card maker ?!!

And I'm not sure I have the patience for measuring everything down to the millimetre !

Anyway - think my Dad won't mind a couple of slightly wobbly bits on his cards & he's the one who really matters !!!

Have a fun crafty week !

Happy Jubilee !!

Hi Happy Jubilee !! We haven't done much personally to celebrate the Jubilee - it's not got much coverage here it Wales - but we have watched the pageant on the Thames yesterday & are watching the concert from Buck House on telly right now !

And to get in the mood & mark the weekend I have had a go at a Journal Page & laid my Book of Days pages for June out in a Jubilee theme !!

Oh and quite fun to see my canvasses in the window of the local Emrys Arts shop - I've never entered anything to show my work in public before - and one even got a highly commended - which I was chuffed with as some of the canvasses were beautiful !