Wednesday 18 December 2013

Whats on Your Workdesk? Wednesday #237

Good morning WOYWWers, now I've not been WOYWWing long but I'm presuming this will be the last one before Christmas, or am I totally wrong and there are those of you out there that are so dedicated you are posting on Christmas day?? Anyway this will be my last until the New Year ( I will be posting on New Years day, presuming its not too late a night the night before!)

So firstly I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and for those of you "across the pond" Happy Holidays.

Now for my desk this week, its in "full production" mode and in the process of more caught on crystal backgrounds, this is my desk last night, hence the empty glass of wine

This is the back of a caught in crystal as it is still drying

Here is the other desk, with my new stamp from last week and the start of my batch Christmas cards, with another background waiting to be used

I don't have any finished Christmas cards to show you as some of the recipients read this blog. But I do have a finished project for an order at work

and when you open it.......


Hope the recipient likes it.

Thanks for looking, off to Julias blog to look at the other desks.

Have a good holidays, see you all in the new year

Donna x

Monday 16 December 2013

Only 9 days to go....

That's right, only nine days till the big day, and am I ready...noooooooooooooo...not at all, I have an order for a exploding box that needs to be completed tonight, made the box and covered it but still got to do the "exploding bit" also haven't made any more Christmas cards except the ones left over from the various craft fairs, going to busy tonight.

You may ask if she is so busy why is she writing on her blog??? Well I'm sat in the kitchen waiting for my dinner, really having a gourmet meal tonight... cheese on toast! Not my normal Monday night meal but had a big meal at lunchtime, went out for work Christmas lunch, it was Ok (ish) but nice to get together with everyone outside work. Another reason I'm writing my blog when I should be crafting is I'm trying to not just limit myself to writing once a week on WOYWW.

Anyway on with the crafting, nothing very exciting but here are a couple of cards I made a few weeks ago using my Gelli plate and stencils

Gelli background made with a leaf stencil and bubble wrap

The distress ink background on this one has the image added using the stencil the good old way - by just inking through

The Gelli background on this one is just made using screwed up paper, reminds me of water ripples (must try it in blue and use my fish stamps)
That's all for today, must get on with my exploding box (I'll remember to take photos this time) and also need to do some "quick" Christmas cards, however, mine are never quick so it may be a late night!

Donna x

Wednesday 11 December 2013

Whats on Your Workesk? Wednesday #236

Well another year has passed, I know what you're thinking, she means a "week" not a "year", no I mean  year, its my birthday! I had a lovely weekend, shopping at a papercraft fair at the weekend followed by a lovely late lunch with my crafty group of friends and family, so of course, lots of handmade cards and crafty goodies. So this week its not WOYWW but WOYDTW (whats on your dinning table Wednesday), here are all my goodies, some are pressies and some are bought with money that hubby gave me for my birthday

I went a bit mad at the Sweet poppy stencil stand, can you tell???

Also I have another post - WOYMW (whats on your mantelpiece Wednesday), these are all the lovely cards I had from the weekend


Aren't they fab? As well as by birthday this week it is also my sisters, and she has a special birthday (with a "0" at the end), I did make her a lovely card but forgot to take a piccie (don't worry I'll get one soon), so instead you can see what I made with the sweet poppy stencils
Made with a "caught in crystal" background

Just a distress ink and twinkling H2O background (not much "twinkling" in the photo though!)
Anyway must go, already running late after opening my pressies this morning. Off to Julias blog to look around all the other desks.

Bye for now

Donna x

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Whats on Your Workdesk? Wednesday 235#

Good morning, its that time again, and if you're not sure what I'm talking about visit Julias blog to see what I'm talking about. Another busy week, the usual stuff, work, sleep, work, sleep....... and if I'm lucky a bit of crafting in-between, I even managed to get an extra blog post in (you can see it here).

Anyway, here is my desk for this week


Just a few "caught in crystal" backgrounds waiting to be made into cards. The big box is full of black card blanks, started buying them in bulk as it works out a bit cheaper. Problem is where to put it all. Don't tell hubby but I've started to store stuff under the bed! He'll never notice!

Here is a close up of the work in progress:

Trying to be a bit more controlled with the alcohol inks on the backgrounds. The far one is supposed to be a landscape. Here is the first attempt:

Not as good as I had hoped (plus the photo is a bit blurry), the second one turned out a bit better after putting white card behind it

Really pleased how it turned out.

Just before I go for a nosey around the other desks, a quick extra piccie of Jess, because she saw the camera and instantly sat to pose, plus the fact she's just cute!


Bye for now

Donna x

Monday 2 December 2013

Its beginning to look a lot like christmas............

I'm starting to feel a bit Christmassy now, I have received two Christmas cards today and everywhere I look there are now Christmas lights.......however, hubby won't let me put the tree up until after my birthday, yes I'm one of those unfortunate people that has a birthday close to the festive season (11th December if you're interested) it has its disadvantages.....joint birthday/Christmas presents, going out for a meal to celebrate my birthday and having crackers on the table, could be worst though I think I arrived earlier than expected... anyway enough wittering on, you don't want to listen to me, you want to see some cards.....

Sheena stamp, distress inks and acetate

More Sheena stamps with distress ink and H2O background

Caught in crystal background
 This one was done by making a heart mask and stamping all around with various snowflake stamps, took a while but I like the effect

All the following have been done using Imagination Crafts stencils:


Gelli plate background using the same stencil



That's all for now, hope you like them. Hubby off to play darts......you know what that means.....I can craft till late into the night without feeling guilty!

Thanks for looking

Donna x

Wednesday 27 November 2013

Whats on Your Workdesk? Wednesday #234

Good morning, its Wednesday again already. I had promised myself that I would post in-between WOYWW's but with everything else going on I didn't get chance. Anyway, today here is my desk

As you can see I've had a tidy up and a bit of a move around. I was going to buy a glass cutting mat until I remembered I had a very large glass chopping board, so I've started using that and its brill for cutting. Also on my desk is some funky foam - great as a cheap substitute for mounting foam, and I get through loads of that! Also in the background is my floor polish for creating backgrounds (caught in crystal technique copied from Sheena Douglass, a lot cheaper than using Glossy Accents) and right in the middle of my new cutting mat is my "prize" from Hels Sheridan from on Create and Craft, here is a close up


Lovely isn't it. I've got loads of cards to show you as I've been frantically making them for some recent local craft fairs, here are just a few of them

One of my caught in crystal backgrounds for a friends birthday

Stamping up stamp borrowed from little sis, stamped on acetate and coloured behind with a gold leafing pen

Distress ink and twinkling H2O background with Indigo Blu stamps


Background and "snow" are Sheena stamps, the deer is from Stamps Away

More Sheena stamps......

Caught in crystal background with Sheena snowflakes

Graphicus stamps with distress inks backgrounds



Hope you like them, and for a final photo - Jess with her cousin Storm who came to visit at the weekend

This was after they had worn each other out and just before their new "aunty" Molly arrived, haven't got a picture of her as she just didn't stop still the whole time she was here...

Thanks for looking, off to Julias blog to look at all the other desks. More cards to show again soon

Bye

Donna x
 
 
 


Wednesday 20 November 2013

Whats on Your Workdesk #233

Another week already, I was going to make sure I posted in-between WOYWWs but had a really busy weekend with a houseful of people and dogs, and doing it all again this weekend as well!

Bit of a weird picture of my desk today:




looks a bit strange, but the book has all my new backgrounds in it, and the Cuttlebug is weighing them all down to flatten  them, they look like this


Its the "caught in crystal" technique, they look at bit of a mess, but when trimmed down make gorgeous background for my cards. Here is one of the finished cards


The image is actually a stencil that I have used versamark and white embossing powder through.

Short post this week, hope you like it. Off to look at everyone else's desks over on Julias blog.

Have a good week

Donna x

Wednesday 13 November 2013

Whats on Your Workdesk? Wednesday? #232

Good morning, I can't believe its been another week already. I've had a busy week, a trip to the Hobbycraft show at the NEC at the weekend, setting up for the pop up shop that I'm selling cards at on Thursday, and in between making cards. Here is my desk for today:


This is an inky background in progress, they start off with some splodges (technical term!) of distress inks for a bit of background colour. I then add twinkling H2Os using an old bit of sponge (you can see it at the top of the photo), once dry the background looks like this:

Now I usually get around to making a card but unfortunately I haven't with this bit yet. On my other desk are a load more "bits" ready to me made into cards:

These have been made using my new stencils I bought from the NEC. I'll make them into complete cards ready for next time.

But just for those of you who like to see completed cards....

Stencil from Imagination Crafts

Gelli background

Oh, I forgot to say my card I made for last weeks WOYWW was shown on Create and Craft on Sunday on Hels Sheridans show! and I won the draw! not sure what I've won though, we'll see what arrives.

That's all for now. Off for a look around all the other desks on Julias blog.

Bye for now

Donna x



Monday 11 November 2013

Christmas is on its way....

.....so I've finally started my Christmas cards. I always struggle with Christmas cards, I'm not sure why though, but I do find them a challenge. Anyway I've managed to make a start which is always the most difficult thing, these are my efforts so far...



 
The three above were made with inky backgrounds and then stamping on acetate. The one below is made using gilding flakes




and this one is made with masking and inks and then a bit of stamping on acetate.



Hope you like them.

I had a lovely weekend with my sister and a whole day at the Hobbycraft show at the NEC on Saturday, spent lots of pennies (well pounds really!) haven't had time to play with all my goodies yet, but don't worry I will soon!

Bye for now

Donna x

Wednesday 6 November 2013

Whats on Your Workdesk? Wednesday #231

Good morning WOYWW's. Its been a busy week here at crafty towers. I'm frantically making cards for an upcoming craft fair, so many ideas, so little time... I use the term "frantically" a bit loosely as it takes a while for me to make just one card, and regular followers know that if I don't like what I've made it goes in the bin! After all... its only a bit of card...

Anyway, for this weeks desk you can see lots of coloured card ready for making my moms birthday card, all the coloured bits are made using distress inks and water. I like to do this so everything matches but has subtle gradients of colour.


The plastic box in the top right has all my backgrounds in ready to make into cards. After using my meltpot, acetate, embossing powders and stamps I produced this:



The black and white embossing is actually on two separate layers of acetate so it has a bit of a 3D look about it. Here is a close up of the flowers


Short and sweet this week as everything is so "frantic". I'm off to Julias blog now to check out all the other desks.

Have a great week, I will as I'm off to the Hobbycraft show at the NEC on Saturday with one of my crafty sisters.

Donna x