Only A Rose I Give You (sung in my sweetest voice Lol!)

Good morning What’s on your Work Desk Wednesdayers.

I’m in denial that seven days have passed already and I need to get the camera out again but I guess it’s flown by because I’ve been busy packing and posting things I’ve sold on eBay and making a few cards that have already been posted to the lady who ordered them.
When I have weeks that like this I can’t help wondering how I ever used to find time to go out to work.



My table this morning reveals a couple more of the acquisitions from my recent spending spree:-
A bargain set of Marvy Le Plume pens from eBay for £4.99 and a lovely Papermania ‘Build a Rose’ stamp set which was £5.99 but £2 of that goes to Cancer Research UK.

As you can see, I was playing with the stamps last night. It comes with a large stamp of an open rose head that you can colour and use on it’s own or there are six separate components that you can stamp and layer as many times as you like to build the flower. Here’s a close up of my first effort.


There’s a little ‘project in waiting’ sitting on the back of the table too.
You know I said that I had sorted and labeled all my Distress Inks and then put all the Cut and Dry foam into little bags to stop cross contamination of the colours, well after I had done that I couldn’t get them all back into the space between the inks in the drawer. Luckily thought I kept the round container that had my Kenco Coffee in and it’s perfect for storing them, so by the time you come back next week I hope to have done something spectacular with it…….or failing that it’ll just have a sheet of pretty paper wrapped around it!

Don’t think there’s much else that would interest you on there so I’ve had a little downwards swing this morning.


Am I the only one who has an enormous rubbish bin but still manages to scatter most of it on the floor?

Hiding to the side under the table is the Black canvas bag that is my fold-a-way lighting studio. It’s the best thing I’ve ever brought when it comes to taking photos of cards and stuff. Before I had it I could never get a decent picture without it being covered with shadows from something or the other.
Next to that is my can’t do without paper trimmer which really need a new blade but I keep forgetting to order one……..must do that now while I think about it!

Most of the other bits under there are just things I moved off the top shelf when I was making room for the spice racks, the jars of really large flowers that I never know what to so with, the overspill box of ribbons and oh yes, there’s yet another eBay bargain hiding under there.
I was looking for a new heat resistant craft sheet but for the Ranger ones they wanted around £16 for one that was 15 x 18 inches. I did a search on eBay for a Teflon baking sheet which is exactly the same thing and found one which is more than double the size for £8.99….result!

Well that’s it from me again for this week.

If you fancy joining in then Julia’s Blog
is the place to start. Leave a link there, get the coffee on and I’ll be round to two ticks to see what you have lurking on your work desk.

Have a good week
Sue

First Day of Spring

Well, I should say yesterday was!

It’s been beautiful here over that last few days and I’ve been able to spend time working in the garden, as well as doing a spot of Spring cleaning.

That’s the part of Spring I hate, the cleaning.
You get a little bit of sunshine and then all the grubby paintwork and cobwebs start to show their faces and no matter how hard you try you just can’t ignore them after that.

That’s reason I’ve been a bad blogger and not put up my dare card from the The Daring Cardmakers challenge last week.

This week it's Vanessa here to set the dare and I really love this time of year because the nights are rapidly getting shorter and the days longer. Spring is in the air, the birds are chirping and tweeting early in the mornings and I'm starting to think about mowing that lawn again!

Your challenge this week is:
Tweetie Pie

Please use a bird or birds on your card and that's it, any kind you like.

I have a few rubber stamps with birds on but for my card this week I decided to use my little used Sizzlets Owl die.

I’ve cut him out a few times and paper pieced him so that he stands out from the card.


A5 Card Blank – Craft Creations (Embossed Hammer)
Printed & Plain Paper – Basic Grey Archaic
Ink – Ranger Distress Ink (Vintage Photo)
Dies – Sizzlets (Owl) & Spellbinder Nestabilities (Labels 1)
Stickers – Basic Grey (Letters & Numbers)

Other Stash Stuff
Brads
Eyelets
Buttons
Fibres

What’s on your Work Desk Wednesday?

Just a big mess this week I’m afraid!


You can see the aftermath of a card making session last night but as usual I can’t show the cards yet.
No wonderful stamping techniques on them though, I was just literally playing with paper, but not just any old paper. They were the MME Wild Asparagus papers that Lythan brought me as a little get well gift when I had my eye op and they are one of my favorites at the moment. She also brought me these gorgeous ‘Say it in Studs’ Prima embellishments


and as you can see I’m finding it had to bring myself to use them.
I’d much rather sit and stroke and admire them because they are soooo lush!

You’ll notice that I have acquired another of the spice racks. I was lucky to get it as it goes because when I went back they only had two left.

Originally I was going to put my beads in this one but us I’ve already brought special storage boxes for the beads I decided to use this one for all my brads, eyelets and card candy and leave the beads where they were.

There’s not much else of interest on my desk other than the new Xcut border punch that I brought on Friday and the cd case that I store my Nestabilities in………that might just be sitting there awaiting so new arrivals, who knows!

Right in the centre of the table is a bundle of DMC embroidery threads that I’ve just sold on eBay and am about to post. It’s one of the 200 or so that were donated to the Kids Company stitching project that working on and I’m selling them to raise money to help with our postage costs to and from Switzerland and to buy the cushion fillers that we need……..we’ve used more than 300 so far!

If any of you lovely ladies are in need of any threads and would like to help support us I’d be grateful of your help.
There’s over 52 meters of thread in 29 colours (varying amounts of each colour) in each bundle and I’m selling them for 99p + p&p (payment will be via PayPal.)

I have several listed on eBay but if you are interested Email me and there’ll be no eBay charges and I can keep the p&p to a minimum.

Right that’s my cheeky sales pitch over and it’s on with the day.

I have about half a dozen extra wedding invitations to make that are being collected this evening and I was hoping to get out in the garden and do a bit while the sun is still shining, so wish me luck.

Don’t forget you can join in the nonsense that is What’s on you Work Desk Wednesday by visiting Julia’s Blog. See you there hopefully!

Sue
x

The Flowers that bloom in the Spring, Tra La…………….

Breath promise of Merry Sunshine......

and that’s just what the The Daring Cardmakers are hoping for as we embark on the dare this week.

Last week we were asked to make cards featuring Aquamarine, the March birthstone and this week Lynda would like to see cards that feature the flower of the month…..…The Daffodil.


Due to the lack of papers and embellishments featuring daffodils I resorted to cross stitch again and stitched this little Host of Golden Daffodils in a little pot.



When I came to put it onto a card I couldn’t really decide how I was going to do it.
My first thought was to use an aperture card but then I had the idea of making into something that resembled a little canvas and mounted it so that it stands out from the surface of the card.

The card itself I wanted to keep quite simple so I decided on mats of Navy Blue and Yellow and finished it off with the addition of some brads and ribbon.



Square Card Blank – Craft Creations (Embossed Hammer)
Ink – Ranger Distress Ink (Faded Jeans)
Paper Punch – Martha Stewart (Scallop 3 dot)
Cross Stitch Threads – Anchor (Various Colours)
Fabric – White 14count Aida

Other Stash Stuff
Plain Navy & Yellow Paper
Navy Brads
Ribbon

WOYWDW and more Reorganization

I’ve been at the hairdressers this morning having a quick bouffant so my photos for What’s on your Work Desk Wednesday were taken a little later than usual today. It doesn’t really matter though because what’s on my table has now has been there all night.


Sadly, the card I was making was a Sympathy card for the 89 year old mum of a lady who orders her cards from me and what makes it all the more sadder is that I had just made and sent her 90th birthday card but she didn’t make it to the big day.

I don’t know about you but I always find this type of card difficult to make but I fell back on an old favorite Penny Black stamp for the main image.

The evidence of my home make Water Stamped backing paper lay scattered all over the desk……Distress Inks, Pearl Pigments , Tim Holtz ‘A Compendium Of Curiosities’ ( for instructions) and a recently acquired set of Artemio stamps that are just gorgeous.


I loved doing this technique, especially with the Pearl Pigments misted across the top of it because it gives it such a lovely finish, so I’ll definitely be having another go at it some time soon.


Now I’ve moved my camera up a bit and you can see that the reorganization still continues.


I’ve now emptied all the spices from the little jars and refilled them with flowers and buttons. I still can’t quite believe what a good buy it was and I’m seriously thinking that I may go back and get another one to store my brads and beads in. Not only that, they look so pretty sitting on the shelf.

I have a few new Organza ribbons that you may have spotted, waiting to be wound onto bobbins and put in their rightful place in one of the five boxes of ribbons. I have to confess……..That’s just some of my ribbons, I have an overspill box that in its turn is spilling over, so I really do need to address that problem quite soon.
I guess the sensible thing would be to use some of it!

You can also see a glimpse of another of my Cross Stitch picture that I have on my wall.
I fell in love with this picture years ago and wanted to stitch it but it was all done in very dark colours. Don’t get me wrong, it looked beautiful but it wouldn’t have gone in any of my rooms, but I was determined to stitch it so I decided to have a go and changing the colours. It was worrying while I was working on it because I didn’t know how it was going to turn out but it didn’t look too bad in the end. I think the Blue frame worked really well too.

Well, I think that about all there is to see this week.
If you want to have a nosey at a few more work areas pop over to Julia’s Blog where you’ll find a list of everyone playing along in her comments.

Hope you all have a good day and I’ll be along soon for a good old nosy.


Sue
x

Didn't we have a lovely time...............

the day we went to Folkstone!

Afternoon folks!

Well, I have a few things to share with you today.

The first is the finished W.I.P that was on my desk for ‘What’s on your Work Desk Wednesday’ earlier in the week.
It’s a page for my Heritage Album and blog Family Footprints in the Sands of Time and it’s certainly been a long time coming because the last page I did for it was back in October last year. I'm probably averaging one LO a year, which really isn’t good but at least I eventually made myself sit down and have another go.


I came across this fantastic photo of my Nan and Granddad (Dad’s parents) and my Great Aunt Emily (Left as you look at the photo) which was taken by my dad when he meet them off the coach as it arrived back in London after a day trip to Folkstone, in Kent.



The Daisy D’s papers that I had were just crying out to be used on this LO and the whirligigs that are all over it evoke memories of my own childhood trips to the seaside.





12 x 12 Patterned Papers – K & Co Classic Designer Papers Pad
8 x 8 Patterned Paper – Daisy D’s Chasing Butterflies Pad
Inks –Ranger Distress Ink (Barn Door)
Dies – Sizzlits Alphabet (Nouveau)
Brads – Basic Grey
Glossy Accents – Ranger (Clear)


Other Stash Bits
Plain Red Card
Red Cord
i-top brad covered with Daisy D’s paper
Fine Black pen for hand journaling
Computer and Printer for word tiles

The next thing I have to show you was also mentioned on Wednesday.

You may have read that I won some Blog Candy from the amazingly talented Nicky; well it arrived this morning along the gorgeous card that she had shown on her blog.

Just look at all this gorgeousness!


.

I'v said to Nicki that if I can turn out anything that looks half as good as her card I’m going to be over the moon, so watch this space in the near future to see if I manage it. Mind you, it may be a little while because I need to get some more Kling-On or something for the back.

Thanks again Nicky, I still can’t believe that I won.

Lastly I have a little acquisition to show you that I acquired this morning.

I don’t know about you but whenever I’m out I keep an eye open for things that might make good storage in my craft room. Well, this morning while I was out I popped into the new Robert Dyas shop that has opened in our High Road. I love shops like that, lots of kitchen nick knacks and garden bits....a real treasure trove and as I was walking round I came across a stand full of these Antony Worrall Spice Racks.


They were marked down from £29.99 to £14.99 as the managers special offer......too good to miss if you ask me!

I can just see it sitting on the shelf in my room with all the little jars filled with flowers, buttons and lots of little colourful things but first I either have to do loads of cooking to use up the spices or find something to decant them into.......wish me luck!

DCM - March Birthstone - Aquamarine

Can you believe that we are already into the third month of this year?

The months are just flying by and the fact that we are ready for the first dare of the month it means that the The Daring Cardmakers are bringing us the third in their series of Birthstone challenges.

The birthday stone for March is traditionally the Aquamarine and I can remember going to the Natural History museum in London when I was at school and looking in amazement all the lovely sparkles that nature provides for us. Mind you, that was a lot of years ago now and most the stuff I learned back then has long left me.

The internet is great thought and a quick ‘Google’ brings up all sorts of interesting facts about the stone……things like

The word Aquamarine is derived from the Latin words "aqua marina" which means "sea water"

Because of its link to water the gemstone is often used as a charm by sailors for protection while at sea.

The largest ever stone was found during 1910 in Brazil. It weighed in at 243 pounds (that’s enormous) and was then cut into smaller stones which yielded over 200,000 carats.

It also says that the Aquamarine comes in a wide range of natural blue colours and shades from blue and blue-green, through to sea-green, so it gave me lots of scope when I came to make my card.


This time I got very messy with the old Acrylic paints and had a go at making a Grungepaper Rose.


There was a lot of ‘waiting’ time involved it making this.

Stamp the three flowers and cut them out.
Paint the backs pale Green and let it dry.
Turn it over, paint the fronts Aqua and let them dry.
Stamp the spots.
Cut, shape and stick the layers and wait for the glue to dry.

I got there in the end though.
I finished of the flower with some paper punched leaves and some crystals and beads dangly bits that I’ve threaded onto wire.

For down in the bottom corner of the card I made three paper roses which I’ve again arranged with paper punched leaved and wired beads.

Finally the whole thing was given a liberal coating of my newest favourite thing………Rock Candy Distress Stickles………soooooooo lush!



Square Card Blank – Craft Creations (Embossed Hammer)
Patterned Papers – Basic Grey (Wisteria)
Inks – Ranger Distress Ink (Weathered Wood) Adirondack (Denim)
Acrylic Paint – Ranger Adirondack Dabbers (Aqua & Juniper)
Rubber Stamps – The Artistic Stamper (Flowers & Spots)
Dies – Cuttlebug Nestabilities (Large Deckled Rectangle)
Embossing Plate – Fiskars
Paper Punch – Martha Stewart (Frond) Fiskars (Ribbon Slits Border punch)
Glitter Glue – Ranger Distress Stickles (Rock candy)

Stash Stuff
Plain Paper (Navy)
Ribbon
Beads
Wire
.

'What's on your Work Desk' Wednesday

Another busy start to the week for me.

Monday I had my three month check up at Moorfields and I came away with the good news that all has gone well and they’ve discharged me.

The not so good bit is that I was hoping that they would say if and when the cataract could be done but it not growing very fast and it could be years before they do anything about it. All I can do now is keep reminding myself that things could have been a lot worse, I could have lost my sight in that eye completely so I just need to be patient.

Yesterday I went to Lakeside shopping with my friend Susan.
She was looking for an outfit for her daughters wedding in August and I was looking for some new jeans but our shopping spree didn't turn out to be fruitful. She came back with nothing at all and I brought six pairs of knickers.
We did have a nice lunch out though!

Then, this morning I had to take my Dad for a blood test but then got so carried away with myself when I got back that I almost forgot it was ‘What’s on your Work Desk’ day. Still, better late than never and the photos are done now.

Just a quick word of warning to Angie though before I show them to you ………Angie, you need to be sitting down because what you’re about to see may make you feel faint.


I’m actually working on a page for my Footprints in the Sands of Time heritage album........ and how many months since I did the last one........I'm ashamed to say!
I was looking through the box of old photos again and I came across this one of Nan, Granddad and Granddad’s sister, Great Aunt Em. They were just arriving home after a day trip to Folkstone, in Kent.

I love this picture......just look at the shape of the old coach.


I’ve had a go at restoring the picture in Photoshop because it had some quite nasty creases in it but I didn’t really know what I was doing so it was more a case of hit this button and see what happens. I eventually came across the healing tool and managed to remove the marks but I just can’t seem to get the colour right, it looks very Green to me but it’s the best I can do.

So, what else is there to see?

Well you might have spyed some pegs up on top of my boxes.
Don’t worry, they in no way indicate that I’ve been doing washing, perish the thought. No, I was using them to make one of those Grunge board roses and they were the only thing I could find to hold it together while the glue dried. Check out the Daring Cardmakers on Friday morning after 10am to see the finished article.

There’s also evidence on my desk that the long awaited reorganization that I’ve been threatening for some time has begun.


My collection of Distress inks has grown rather since last weeks craft day on QVC, so I thought I would make a start on them by labeling all the containers on the sides and also sorting out some little reseal able bags for the Cut and Dry foam to keep them from getting too messy.

So that’s about it from me for this week. Don’t forget to pop over to Julia’s Blog and join in the fun, its great having a good old nosey around everyone’s desks.

Just one last thing before I go.

I want to say a huge Thank You to Minxy because I was lucky enough to win her birthday blog candy last week. The strange thing was, although I read her post last week and left a message it didn’t register that there was blog candy up for grabs, so imagine my surprise when I had a message to tell me to stop by again.
Now I can’t wait for the beautiful stamps to arrive…….so thanks again!

I really am going now so get the kettle on and I’ll be stopping by to see what you’re all up to this week.

Sue
x