WOYWW 301

Wednesday again, nearly forgot by the time we arrived home, we had breakfast on the seafront and as we were heading for home we bumped into a couple we met last year, we should have gone back for another coffee as we haven't seen them since last October so the quick hello turned into an hours catch-up, anyway my desk this week.

Still enjoying playing with my Paperartsy stamps and paints, strange for me as I always say I'm not a stamper but they've got me hooked, can't wait until I can order more colours.
I've been trying to make an accordion flip card, I spotted a beautiful card in the Stamper Mag and seeing as I have the Sizzix die, never used, I thought I would give it a try, as you can see three tries later I still haven't quite cracked it but I had another read through the article while drinking my tea in bed, as you do, and noticed that they did it with layers, typical of me, rushing ahead without reading it thoroughly!

 Finally finished the cover of my Travel Journal, I'd already embossed it with the street map stencil on the brown cover and decided I wasn't too keen so I painted it all over with Chalk paints and a lovely shimmer paint over parts of it but never knowing when to stop I decided to put another colour on which looked awful so I repainted it all, tried dabbing over the top with picket fence distress paint, I think it's dried up a bit as I couldn't get it to come out so I squeezed it and had it all over my mat!! By this time I decided enough was enough so I just dabbed the picket fence over a few places, embossed the word Special at the top, made a label with "Family" on and used Glossy accents over the top, whilst rummaging through the drawers looking for something else I found a metal tag so I typed "Memories" to put inside, after that I decided to leave well alone before I had to start again!

The other piece is a play with the largest stamp, I stamped in black and embossed with Cosmic ultra thick embossing crystals before painting, now I just have to decide how to use it!!

Many thanks for all your lovely comments about Jennie's card, it still hasn't arrived in over two weeks so fingers crossed it arrives by Friday!

 Looking forward to seeing what you've all been up to over at Julia's Stamping Ground.

 Have a great weekend.

Jan x

WOYWW 300

Wow can't believe WOYWW has been going for so long, all thanks to Julia over at The Stamping Ground.

My desks this morning are showing quite a bit of activity, below are my new Paperartsy Chalk paints, they are brilliant, my parcel from the Craft Barn only took five days to arrive in Spain, a record I think, I couldn't wait to get home from shopping to rip open the box, unfortunately in my excitement to play I forgot to take a photo of all my new goodies

As you can see I've been having a great time playing with my new Paints and the Jofy flower stamps, you can see my first attempt isn't a masterpiece but I've really been enjoying myself, paint everywhere, all I can say is thank goodness for baby wipes.

I treated myself to an art journal, really just so I could play with my mixed media collection of gesso, texture pastes etc, ect, you know how it is, LOL I've had it a while, had a play, didn't make anything worthwhile so its been stuck in the drawer along with the Gelli plate I was so desperate to own!

At last Jennie's Birthday card is finished and winging its way to the states.

I must admit after spending two weeks in the making it was quite a relief to get it posted, funnily I was struggling with the last touches and then, ping, it all fell into place, anyway hopefully it will arrive on time for the big day.

The pink mesh on the front I've had for a zillion years so I was chuffed to find a use for it as long last, I made the little tag from shrink plastic, went a big curved but that was my last piece so couldn't try again. The inside photos can slide out to be changed of course the first frame I made was too small to slide the photo in!

I reprinted the flower paper and fussy cut extra flowers to make them stand out although it was quite thick when closed so cost a bomb to post, still she's worth it.

Hope you all have a good week, and that the weather is warming up where ever you are, the sun has just broke through the fog here, who would have thought fog in Spain.

WOYWW 297

Hola from Sunny/ cloudy Spain, this is the first day I've been up here since Sunday, Monday was too cold and yesterday we just managed our morning walk, drove home and it started raining, eventually I lit the fire and had a lazy afternoon, ha,ha, not much different from the norm.

Thought I'd share this photo of my coffee from
yesterday, heart shaped sugars, how cute, the waiter had a little smile when he heard my comments about them. Steve just tutted, not impressed.

Lovely cups too, very colourful.

My desk this week, well I've made a start on DIL's  handbag card but decided to use the pink papers instead of the dark red, prettier I think so as you can see its still in the early stages, the fushia pink card has a lovely sheen to it, it does't really show in the photo but I`m quite pleased as it matches really well and I've had it for years. 

My second travel page done, I decided not to do the second page of my train journey yet, still mulling it over.

 I think I mentioned before that Halloween is my birthday and that our eldest Grandson is convinced I`m a witch, I`m pretty sure Grandad has something to do with that!
 its always a busy day, Joey (scary Dragon), Charlie (puppy dog) had parades at school and of course Trick o Treating in the evening, fair wore me out as they live at the top of the cliffs and most houses had umpteen steps to the door, one man said we were the first visitors for two years, hardly surprising as they must have had thirty steps to climb, it was well worth going out just to see the houses and the boys were  pretty pleased with all the goodies they collected

The top Pic on the page is our DIL who dressed as a cat complete with long tail, they had to go to work in costume and had a competition between departments!

Nothing else too exciting happening here so until next week, have a great weekend and once again thanks for all your lovely comments.

WOYWW 296

So Where did the last week go to? My Dad always said it was a sign of getting old when you think time flies, how true that is! Anyway another Wednesday and a chance to snoop around every ones desks, thanks to Julia over at the Stamping Ground. 
 Hopefully you`ve been a little more creative than I have, although I did manage to finish my first travel journal page, never thought I would but here it is.

I had a huge amount of encouragement from Sharon, Foxy Stamping, thanks Sharon, and I have started on my second too, as you can see below, well I`ve printed some paper for the BG although I found some I liked much better when I was searching for the dark Red paper.

I'm attempting a card shaped as a handbag but inside it holds two photos so it can be used as a photo frame, this is a test one to see if I can make it work, if it does I will make it for our DIL and put photos of her boys in it, as we both call them, (our son and grandsons) I have been trying to find colours to match their bedroom as any cards with photos are kept in the bedrooms after the birthdays are over.

This is a photo from last week, we usually only have coffee here and have a few birds sit on the back of the chairs chirping at us for food, this week we had breakfast and one decided he could share it with us, they are so tame, he obviously enjoys croissant for breakfast.

Sunny and windy here today, we' ve been spoilt as it was 19c last weekend so now it feels chilly, I know, most of you would really love 14c!

Must dash now as I`ve promised to make Scones, they normally turn out like griddle cakes but I'm determined to get them right, one day, Steve still eats them and tells me they are lovely, what a kind husband he is.

Have a great weekend and keep safe if you are have all that horrible white stuff around. Thanks once again for all your kind comments last week.

Jan x

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WOYWW 295

Hello fellow Deskers on this warm and sunny Wednesday morning, this is how it looked today on our walk along the Paseo.

What a difference a week makes, last week snow on the mountains, not often it happens and it didn`t disappear completely until Monday. I know it`s not much compared to other places but that`s the closest we get to snow down here, and pretty thankful we are too.

Much happier crafting this week, even complained I was burning my legs at my desk near the door, you just can`t please some people!!

My desk this morning and sorry its at a jaunty angle, the sun was too bright as the desk is next to the patio doors so I had to stand in front of the door to take the photo.

 A few pieces I`ve been playing with at the back in pink, trying out my new EB folder on core-dinations, abandoned that idea as it wasn`t quite the effect I wanted.

 I made a card using triple stamping for a challenge over at Splitcoaststampers and just thought it might work with triple embossing, hence the white and purple pieces,  not sure about having the small top piece but I quite like it with just two layers, something to make into a card later, hopefully.

The other card is decoupage, I do love doing them, I`ve used a House Mouse image, and made a frame for it using the Fleur De Lis die, one of my favourites. The other papers are freebies from my craft mag, the gardening images I might use for my BIL`s card at a later date.

I`ve just finished this card for our youngest, can`t believe he`s nearly 41, seems only five mins since I was racking my brains to make his 40th card.

I`ve kept the colouring to a minimum as its not my strong point but I`ve just noticed the strings on the balloons have come adrift so it`s a good job I haven`t posted it yet. 

Must say bye for this week as I haven`t shown the other side of the room with the ironing that really needs doing so I`ll see you over at your desks later, take care and thanks once again for visiting my desk last week and your lovely comments.

Jan x

WOYWW 294

Thanks to everyone who popped over to Spain for a visit to my desk last week, it was so pleasing to know that I`m not the only one who has a Smash book and can`t get started with it but as you can see from the first photo I have actually made a start.

 Only a small start granted but I have glued my maps in place and you can see from the small pile of photos I managed to pick out a few, well quite a few really and probably too many as it wasn´t until I was browsing through the photos that I realised after taking a photo of the train leaving Chicago I didn`t manage to take another one until Denver, must have been the excitement of looking around the train and choosing the time for our evening meals, so it looks like page one will be quite bare. I`ve made a small folder and tied it in the middle of the two maps to keep the timetable and tickets in and printed a couple of photos of the Cabin.

The card at the front is for a challenge on Splitcoaststampers to try triple stamping, I wouldn`t say it totally worked but I used the Memento Ink Rhubarb Stalk I`ve had for ages and never used and the stamp has only been used once before, its a Sizzix stamp with a matching embossing folder.
I found a place napkin that`s been in the drawer for years, the colour is quite a good match with the ink so I used it for the layers, I just need to finish it with a sentiment and backing card.

 Oh and on the left you can just see the free papers from my craft magazine, there`s some lovely images, just need to think of someone who likes dancing!!!

Nothing too exciting going on here, I was trying to think of ideas for our youngest sons birthday card when I was up here last week, didn`t have a clue so decided to have a play with some of my new dies, a couple don`t actually cut very well but I do love the Romantic and Nobel Rectangle Dies.

You can see one of the mini snowflake rossettes too, Tim Holtz alterations, I could have done with another pair of hands trying to hold it together while sticking it to the backing part as it kept springing up in the middle so if anyone has an easy way please share it with me before my patience runs out!

The pile of white card on the right is a Sitting snowman card I started after seeing it on Splitcoaststampers, I discovered my circle dies aren`t big enough so its been sitting there for a couple of weeks waiting for me to set up my Cricut. 

 We`ve had a cold snap here and having no heating up in my craft room,( it`s on the solarium) I haven`t been spending much time in here so I think I`ll go off to do a bit of snooping around other desks before I get too cold.

Jan x

WOYWW 293

I`m doing well managing to join in the desk hop two weeks running, I cant say I`m doing quite so well on the crafting front! 

Well here`s my desk showing my new smash book, I´ve been wanting one for absolutely ages and was quite excited when it arrived, flipping through the pages thinking of all things I could put in to it, so why is it as soon as I open the pages does my mind go blank! 

 I`m using it as a travel journal to have a reminder of all our trips and for the family to see what we get up to over here, so thinking our train journey would inspire me I decided to make that the first layout, big mistake, I have so many photos I can`t choose between them so I`m already thinking this might have to be a double spread, I`ve watched so many You tube videos about this and it looks sooooo easy, you never know maybe next week I will have been inspired and have it finished, don`t hold your breath though!

Under the map sits my Big shot, I suddenly thought yesterday just after I had switched the computer off that maybe I could scan parts of the map to stick on the page already there,  showing the places we passed on our journey!

 I think I have to give that idea a little more thought really.

You might notice the small tins on the shelf behind, they were a spice set our Grandsons gave Grandad for Christmas, I think Grandad knew he wouldn`t be able hold on to them for too long as soon as he saw my eyes light up.

 Nothing in them yet but I`m sure they will be useful, one day.

Lovely and sunny here in Spain although a little cool first thing, well 9C!!!

Hope to see you over at your desks, maybe for some inspiration.

Thanks to everyone who popped over last week and your kind comments.

Jan x