WOYWW - Still Festive !

Hi
Well the trusty old work-desk is still looking Christmas-y today - with another batch of cards rustled up on Sunday !
All on the cute end of the spectrum & using toppers & papers.







Here are more Pippenwood which I have decoupaged

And these papers & toppers were free with a magazines .... I thought these were quite unusual & very non-traditional as Christmas colours but they did rather appeal to me !

Then on Saturday I set about my November project on Lynda & my ABC ATC challenge.

I had X this month - whoa this one was a bit brain taxing !
I had to sit down with the dictionary to get some inspiration !
So this ATC is called Xantho-Xylograph !!
Xantho meaning yellow - and a Xylograpgh being a woodcut !
This Clarity stamp struck me as having a woodcut look about it - and the background was 3 types of yellow ink. The ATC's are supposed to be the same but I expect you can see my "deliberate mistake" ! 
Well as the Moorish artists of the stunning palaces in Spain always said - every art work should have a mistake as only Allah is perfect !
Well that's my excuse - not a momentary lapse of attention !!!

Then I also created a couple of journal pages for my Journal 52.
Firstly the challenge was "Use Stencils" - I have had this page in my head for weeks - the photos printed out & the quote - which I had seen on a page on the Internet - was nagging at me to be made into a page !
This is my lovely sister who, as we live 5 hours apart, I miss & never get to see enough of ...
This quote was made for us as we are completely different in looks, character & our lives - but I love her dearly !








Then the next challenge was "The Sky" - and I spotted this quote which appealed to me !
I had my stencil folder out so used a combo of the clouds & moon.
I like the way the background came out but I completely messed up the sapcing of the words !
I was worried I would run out of space & then ending up with loads at the bottom & all the quote crammed at the top - whoops !
I was too out of energy to make it all again - so it will go in the Journal as a lesson to plan better !!!!

Have a great crafty week !
I have a carload of us girls from our craft club heading to the Hobbycrafts Show the NEC on Saturday - so maybe see you there ??
Love Ali x

PS Another lesson learnt - check that nothing has fallen on the floor by your desk before you go in with your big fat feet !! Whoops again !

WOYWW Two Months & Counting Down !

Well, we hit the 25th October over the weekend & with the "two months to Christmas" date looming over me, I thought I had better get my act together and get card making !

So as I was home alone, with Much Beloved in Manchester for the footie on Sunday, I was able to spend the afternoon crafting !

I have been putting Christmas stuff into a project box for a few weeks, so it was handy enough to haul it all out & make a start.

I started with my 2 Chloe Poinsettia stamps and stamped them with sparkling white embossing powder onto burgundy card, layering the larger & smaller petal stamps to make up the full flower.

Then I set to creating a few cards - each with a similar colour scheme of burgundy on cream card made with a selection of other stamps, ribbons & buttons etc. - but each with a bit of a different design.

Then as I have mentioned before - whilst I do love all the mixed media inky, painty stuff - sometimes I just have an attack of the cutes !

I saw these découpage Pippenwood Christmas cards & papers & couldn't resist !

I do like a bit of laying up now & then !
Then making them up with the matching papers.

Well, these may not complete what I need to send to the people on my Christmas card list - but it feels good to have made a start !












One last crafty project for the weekend was another page for my Journal 52 - this topic was Magic - so it really was a perfect excuse to get my Lavinia stamps out !


Have a great crafty week !
Ali x

WOYWW Journal Catch Up !

Well this Saturday the weather was so-so - and I decided to ignore the demanding voice of the garden until Sunday and have a mad catch up on my Journal 52 !

The challenge for this page was "Use Newspaper" - this was far more of a pain then I anticipated as the newspaper was very fragile & very prone to tearing !
I have had these Woodware stamps for a while - they were 2 sets that came as freebies in 2 different magazines - but not got to play with them - so it was fun to give them an airing !

This challenge was "Rhyme" - I had considered picking a sunny up beat little ditty - but I can't get the vision of the Poppy Commemoration at the Tower of London out of my mind.

So I went back to the poetry books I had as an A-Level student (gulp was that 33 years ago !!) and chose this searing Wilfred Owen poem about the First World War - The Send Off.

It reminded me that rhyme can be bitter, emotionally demanding and so moving.

This page was" In The City" and I used photos I had taken around the Tower of London last month.

I love the city all lit up at night and the juxtaposition of the ancient Tower of London with the sleek modern Gherkin building behind it !

This challenge was to create a page with a new technique - so I decided to include two !
These were 2 techniques that JOFY taught us at our recent class at The Stamp Attic - the main panel is the Chalk Board technique.
This is taking a black background and stamping in Snowflake white Fresco Chalk paint - then adding colour with more chalk paints.
And a bit of adding back in the white lines with a white pen !

The 2nd technique was creating a master-board & then cutting it up to make a background.
I used a selection of JOFY stamps (including the new ones Lynda bought me for my birthday) in honour of our teacher !

 The final page - yeh ! this is the first time I have been up to date in months !! The theme for this challenge was to create a page inspired by mosaic.

I used a stencil called Greek Key then added the mosaic effect marking, Then I played with some Lavinia Stamps I bought at Ally Pally back in April.
The page is called Mosaic & Magic !










I was so excited to be all caught up & cross all the challenges off my list, that I just had to celebrate with a G&T !! Well it was evening by then !!

Tonight there are a couple of things lurking on my desk to be finished ...
I have been working on the giant MDF fob-watch I also bought at Ally Pally.
Still work in progress !












And the ABC ATC challenge Lynda & I are doing this year is up to "V" - tricky to decide what to do - Vegetables seemed a bit boring ! So I have gone with Vampire Bat ! Well it is Hallowe'en this month !
And some scribbled drawings - I have started the Sketchbook Skool "Beginnings" course - and am trying to build up the courage to actually pick up a pen & start drawing - these were the apple & pear in my lunchbox today !



And on the floor being packed tonight, a few bits to play with at Craft Club tomorrow !

Well I shall be AWOL next week as I am working at SIAL - the huge food industry trade fair in Paris - so will be in a state of collapse by this time next week as it is very hard work - and much more physically demanding than a normally desk-bound girl like me is used to - so extra comfy shoes are packed  !

So have a great fortnight & see you soon ! Ali x

WOYWW Autumn Glory

Well what a stunning day we enjoyed on Saturday !

Lynda kindly took me up to the mountain behind Pontardulais to walk around the Lliw Reservoir.


At the swimming pool the following day one of the ladies who always swims at the same time as us told me Lliw means Colour in Welsh -and it was a day of such fabulous luminescent Autumn sunlight that it certainly lived up to its name !

Lynda is experimenting with her photography so we decide to make our walk a photo-shoot & had lots of fun catching the views & the Autumn plants in the beautiful dreamy sunlight.

Oh and the pleasures of kicking though those crunchy crisp Autumn leaves !

Lynda even hopped athletically over a gate to snap a close up of the amazing mushroom we saw on a fallen log !

I wanted to show you a few snaps of us all at our Craft Club last Wednesday - Lynda had made up some great Christmas card kits so we could all experiment with Texture Paste - we all had great fun getting messy & trying something new ! Do try it with your stencils !
 Whoops - those biscuits in full shot are a bit of a give-away aren't they !

Next club meeting - we meet fortnightly - we thought we would play with Masterboards (I keep calling them Motherboards by mistake but Much Beloved tells me they are something else entirely !!)

So I made a small & large Christmas version - thought I might see what happens if I Cuttlebug the small one and an Autumn one - just to play with the idea and show some examples next week.











I also finished another Journal 52 page - still playing catch up but am determined to finish the year ! This one's challenge theme was "Making Time"

Oh and just what is actually on my workdesk this week - well beans & chillies drying ! The beans are my crop from the handful of beans I brought back from San Francisco in January & grew this Summer - I wasn't exactly Jack & the Beanstalk but they were fun to experiment with & I just love their amazing patterns !

Have a great week !
Ali x

PS I was really chuffed that Jo Firth Young featured my card from her class the other weekend on her blog this week !!

WOYWW Sunny Birthday & JOFY Good Day !

Well it was a busy & very enjoyable weekend !

On Saturday Lynda & I made an early start and headed up to Wantage to The Stamp Attic - a lovely craft shop & workshop room opposite.
Wendy the owner made us very welcome - and even got to do some crafting herself as her Much Beloved manfully manned the shop !





Jo Firth Young took us through the making of five different cards - using her lovely sketchy style stamps and different techniques with the Paperartsy Fresco Chalk paints - even though I have used these paints for several years on lots of projects, I learnt lots of new things - using them to stamp with, to create chalkboard effects and making a master-board to use in other designs.

We had a really fun day, Jo was a great teacher & very generous in sharing her knowledge & creativity, and I am looking forward to playing with the new techniques at home now.

Here's the full haul from Saturday !

Sunday dawned with clear blue skies and sun-shine. Perfect for my birthday !
As we drove to our weekly swimming session a huge Dragon decorated Hot Air balloon hovered over the Towy Valley - just a perfect moment as it drifted over the stunning scenery in the still air & strange luminosity of the Autumn morning.

Later in the morning we headed down to The Mumbles for a stroll along the prom as the tide receded to its almost impossible nadir and treated ourself to a delicious lunch In Patrick's - followed by a very naughty ice-cream from Verdi's as we strolled down the pier to see the new Tamar class lifeboat in the brand new Lifeboat House they have built for it.
I have never had such a hot sunny day on my birthday in the UK - just proving what an Indian Summer we have enjoyed !

So on my desk tonight are a couple of pages for Journal 52 - one is "My Favourite Foods" - I have been looking for a use of this scrapbook paper for ages !

And the other is "Texture" - this was just me playing about with the textures of the grunge board & the mulberry paper and it made me think of how our lives run through so many textures of experience ..

And also here are some goodies I bought at The Stamp Attic - well who could resist !

I love these stencils - JOFY showed us how to work with the flower stencils and well I can never resist a seedhead - hence the teasel stamp too !  

Lynda bought me the new JOFY stamps for my birthday - looking forward to playing with these !!
Lots here to enjoy !

Hope you enjoy crafty your week too !
Ali xx

 

WOYWW - Back To Reality !

So after an amazing relaxing week's holiday in Turkey -sun-bed, delicious food, warm swimming pool, delicious food, drinks, delicious food, Kindle & books, delicious food, pool, delicious food, walking in the gardens, delicious food, blue skies & warm sunshine, delicious food, amazing electric storms, delicious food - oh and did I mention the delicious food ! - here I am somewhat heavier but very chilled out !!

And after unpacking and 11 machine loads of washing and a mass watering to try to revive the dry garden I did actually squeeze in a bit of crafting !

I am up to "T" on Lynda & my ABC ATC Challenge - I decided to do the theme of "Time" and had a happy hour reacquainting myself with some old Paperartsy stamps !
Hidden behind are some other ATC's - they are hidden for today as I have just sent a couple things off to Bella in Cape Town today and I have popped one in !

Lynda & I are very excited as we are off to The Stamp Attic for a class with JOFY on Saturday - really looking forward to it - and it's my birthday treat as it's my birthday on Sunday !

A few months ago Much Beloved decided we couldn't live without a new broadband hub - and on the box it arrived in it said "Please recycle this box" - well who could refuse an instruction like that !

So here is a work in progress using some of my JOFY stamps to get me in the mood for Saturday !

Just one slight hiccup - I put my thumb out of it's socket in that well known extreme danger sport of moving sunbeds !

Had to be my right hand too !

So I am strapped up and wincing each time I have to grip something - I can't believe how much I use my thumb for all manner of things !

 I enjoyed a new book on holiday - Jill Berry's Map Art Lab - and even had a bit of fun designing a cartoon style map of our hotel !

Have a great week !
Ali x