WOYWW (31st March 2010)

Well it's Wednesday again (can't believe it) and here is what my desk looks like this morning.  Think my husband has tried to be clever this morning and take a wide angled view so that you can see a little more this week.  Sorry about the light it was not too bright this morning, however, I have had a little tidy up this week, moving all my Stampotique stamps to their permanent home in the wall cupboards (which I shall show you next week) this room is wall to wall cupboards.

The tall cupboards to the left store all my 12 x 12 papers along with a few other bits and bobs.  I am very proud of these cupboards as my father in law made these for me when I first started to enthuse about my craft stash.

If you look carefully you can also see my tiny tiny tv that now works again, thank goodness, I do like to watch a good program whilst I am crafting.  Don't think my desk will look this tidy next week as I have some projects planned hopefully (that's if my new pup, Mitzi allows me some free time).

If you would like to see some more interesting Wednesday workdesk's pop over to the Stamping Ground blog for more nosing around here.

Thanks for stopping by, happy crafting, Tracy x

Sunday Stamper - BIRDS

Over on Hels Sheridan's blog it is Sunday Stamper challenge and the theme is BIRDS.

Many moons ago my friend Sue came home from one of her many trips abroad with this metal house type thingy me bob.  I have had this for a long time wondering what to do with it and when I saw the challenge for Sunday Stamper it came to me.

I applied gesso primer to the metal and wiped away any excess and then added a little Stewart Gill paint with a few drops of alcohol ink applied over the top.  I rubbed away any excess paint with a cloth.  I have stamped a few leaves here and there from an Autumn Leaves set of stamps (Fine & Dandy) using Stazon black ink.   I have added Maya Road birds and branches for embellishments along with a wooden heart.

Stampotique Easter Challenge

Over on the Stampotique Designers Challenge blog there is a new challenge, with the theme being Easter.  On my previous post I mentioned that after a good rummage through my craft room I found these small square canvases, so I thought I would use a second for this challenge.  With the challenge being Easter I thought I would kill two birds with one stone as the saying goes, and make this as an Easter card/canvas for my daughter Laura who loves to receive anything handmade.

Play Date Cafe Challenge

Well this is another first for me, the Play Date Cafe Challenge.  I was mooching around on Sarah's blog and was inspired to have a go. I used a Wendy Vecchi stamp, tissue paper and pva glue to make the flower.  I have coloured the flower with DI inks Tumbled Glass and Victorian Velvet (which I absolutely love).  It took me a while then to decide what to do with the flower, but after re-organising my room I found a cute square canvas which was ideal.  The canvas was simply painted with acrylic's and embellished with a heart and buttons.

I made several flowers with the pva glue so whilst I was on a roll I made a card too.  Again I used the DI inks on glossy card and spritzed with water.

New Arrival

Here is the new member of our family, her name is Mitzi.  Mitzi is a 7 week old pug puppy and we collect her on Monday 29th March.  We are looking forward to bringing her home just in time for Easter.  It is actually a present to myself, although my children Ryan and Laura see it a little differently.  I'm sure I will have lots of stories to tell you all once Mitzi arrives home.  She looks bigger than she actually is in this picture, she is probably the size of a guinea pig at the moment and she is adorable.  I will keep you updated on Mitzi's adventures once she arrives next week.

Spring Has Finally Sprung

It finally feels like Spring today.  I have spent much of the day in the garden enjoying the fresh air.  I have frog spawn and hundreds of frogs in the pond which always makes me feel like Spring has finally arrived.  After my session in the garden I felt it was time to start an Easter card for my nephew's.  I did not want to do the usual eggs etc., so decided that as Alice in Wonderland is very topical at the moment I would use the white rabbit image for a change.  I tore a page from an old Alice In Wonderland book, sponged with DI ink and added the simply stamped images.  To complete, I added scrabble letters (old ones that I found in my draw) and two small punched hearts.  A simple card to make but I am quite pleased with the result.  Hopefully my nephew's will feel the same. 

This is my first challenge for Stampotique. I have used Distress inks to colour the background and whilst the ink is still wet I have placed a patterned kitchen roll onto the ink. The pattern from the kitchen roll then appears as a subtle background. To complete, I have simply sponged through sequin waste and added some hand stitching

Future Plans

Once the shop has closed I will have more time to jazz up my blog site and find out exactly how to use everything.  I always said I would never have a blog but friends keep telling me its great fun, so here goes.  So if you just give me a month or so I will hopefully have a better looking page and samples to download.  I'm just going to need a little practice and with more time on my hands to do magazine articles and challenges my blog should become a little more interesting.  I will probably need your help with some of the "blog speak"!!!!!

Hello Crafters!

Hello Crafters, Looking forward to sharing some craft ideas, tips, techniques with you all. The Craft Addicts shop is closing down which leaves me more time to do some of the 'fun' stuff.