WOYWW it's been a looooong time!

Hello everyone, I thought that I would give you an update on my newest crocheting project, and as it is Wednesday, I would link to Julia Dunnit's 'What's on your workdesk Wednesday' blog post. I used to visit and blog for this post fairly regularly, but as we all know, life gets in the way, and I have not had a chance to pop in for ages.

My craft desk is messy, as per usual, and don't even mention the rest of the room! I am recovering from an op at the moment, it is a long haul, and I just cannot lift some of the heavier boxes to have a proper tidy up. It is my intention this year to declutter the room, and get rid of things that have not been used for more than a year or two. I have this feeling that it would be unfair to leave a mess for the family to sort out after I have gone, lol! I have no intention of shuffling off just yet, but I would like to be able to get to the four corners of the room, so a good tidy up would be a sensible thing to do.

I generally work on our large dining table in our very light and airy extension. This room is perfect for crafting, as the space is much less cluttered than my craft room, and I have lovely views of the garden to inspire me as I work. At the moment, I cannot show you much of what is lurking on that table, as there are DT projects as yet to be revealed.

My current 'desk' is the sofa, where I have been crocheting most evenings, accompanied by one or the other of my two cats.

Having finished my Lily Pond blanket recently, I have moved onto a larger sunny log cabin blanket, designed by Lucy from attic24. The rainbow colours are really beautiful, and very cheery on these colder, often gloomy days. I am looking forward to putting the blanket together, as it has a very clever design of hot and cold colour sections, that create larger diamonds once the squares are all attached together. So far, I have only completed three larger squares around the smaller granny squares, but you may start to see the larger pattern starting to form:

I have crocheted all sixteen of the smaller granny squares in readiness to finish the big squares, and am sewing my ends in as I complete each square. There is an element of darning required due to the nature of the pattern design, otherwise the ends could be crocheted in as you go along.

I hope that you have enjoyed your visit to my makeshift desk today, and I will try to pop along to see as many of you as possible. Thanks for stopping by, xx

WOYWW it's been a long time!

Hi folks, I know it's been an absolute age since I took part in WOYWW, but I'm here again this week to try and catch up, visit some desks and have a nosey around.

I'm working in the extension today, not my craft room, as the light is so much better in here. My Husband grudgingly calls this 'Craft Room No. 2' as I spend so much time in here, and today, it's looking very tidy!

I held my card class last night, which is only a small affair, so there are lots of baskets along the wall, and a couple on the table. This enables me to carry my stash from my craft room out to the extension quickly and in sections for the class.

Last night we were working with Stampbord, and did a mosaic themed card. We are having a great term, covering lots of new techniques for them, and hopefully they are enjoying themselves. We used some stamps from Chocolate Baroque, creating a little mosaic strip using skinny masking tape. We then coloured three pieces of Stampbord, taped them together on the reverse temporarily, and stamped the image, before seperating them to put on the card. The background was made by applying Distress inks to a large block, and spritzing with water, before plonking it on the card, (technical term there!).

My pride and joy are my Polychromos pencils. I bought a set of 72 initially, because I didn't know how I would get on with them. Silly me! I love them to bits. Anyway, I have built my collection up to the full set now, but I had a lovely tin with the 72 in, and then a plastic box with the others just stuffed in anyhow. I searched on the internet, and found a lovely three drawer pencil box, with room to add extra pencils as I expand my collection.

I love it, and it is ripe to be altered too! The drawers all come out, so I can set them out on the table if I want to. I love the segments as well, so that the pencils are contained within smaller areas. I am a bit OCD about my colour groups, so this is just perfect for me.

Don't forget to hop over to Julia's Desk to see what everyone else is getting up to on this fine, sunny Wednesday, thanks for stopping by, xx

WOYWW 89

Hi folks, it's Wednesday again, where do the weeks go? This week has just flown by, and I still have so much to do!
As you can see, my desk is cluttered with bits and bobs, left over from various jobs that I've been doing this week. I've been taking part in an altered charm swap, with some bloggers in the States, so my jewellery tools are still out, with some leftover pieces of clutter. I love my Tronex snips, they cost the earth, but they cut stringing wire like nothing else, and I guard those like I guard my Dressmaking scissors. No-one gets near them!
I've been working on DT stuff, so I've got lots of trims, and ephemera to put away, and my Copics have had an airing, which doesn't happen all that often.

I've got some stamps from Art Journey to cut and mount on EZ mount, before I have a play with those, and my obligatory cup of tea!

Why not hop over to Julia's desk and see what the other folks have been up to this week?

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

WOYWW 88

Hi folks, I didn't make it to What's on your workdesk Wednesday last week. The week just flew by, but I'm trying to be more organised this week. I cut my finger on a cat food tin this morning, so I'm typing this with one finger. I'm sorry if I don't comment on many of your Blogs this week, but it's really sore!
I went To the Stamperama Show at Stevenage on Sunday, so I've got lots of goodies sitting on my desk this week. There are lots of bird themed pieces, as I have a bit of a thing for birds at the moment. I went and watched Hels Sheridan demo with beeswax, and bought a couple of lovely silicone moulds and some beeswax too, so I'm itching to have a play with that as soon as I get a chance. I found some gorgeous keys and locks, and some fab little bird embellishments. Several stamp sets that I wanted to buy, and other bits and pieces that I've already put away. It was a good day, and I took some of the girls from my card class with me. They really enjoyed themselves, as some of them hadn't been before. It's only an hour's drive from where we live, so it makes it a good day out.

I hope that you are all having a good week, happy Wednesday, and thanks for popping by, Judith xx

WOYWW 86

Hi folks, it's Wednesday again, and that means it's time for another look at what's going on around Blogland on everyone's desks, and crafting spaces. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then hop over to Julia's place to find out.

On my desk this week, as per usual, is the project for the Bah Humbug Blog challenge. The week just goes too quickly for me, and I am always trying to finish it on a Wednesday in time for the Thursday deadline. This week, the challenge is Crackers. I am making a card and matching cracker. I'm almost finished, but could do with some rubbish cracker jokes please. I like the design that I came up with for the cracker, and think that I will make my own for Christmas. I made some poinsettias with sticky backed canvas on Grungepaper, using a Nestability die, and sprayed them with Adirondack colour wash ala Tim Holtz, they are very pretty. I've made the cracker from Kraft paper, with a lovely scrolly stamp from Elusive Images, as the background stamp, and I'm going to use big red bows at each end.

I posted my Masterboard makes as promised in my previous post, using the Masterboard that was on my desk last week.

Yesterday, I finally put my two Printer's trays on the wall, which I am very happy about.

I have been waiting for ages to put these up. One is very soft and romantic in its theme, and the other is metallic and is very strong in its colour theme. I bought both from LB Crafts, the top one was made in a class with Linda Brown, and they both started life as dark brown trays.

I have shown you my filing cabinet drawers of wooden stamps in the past; I have five. I have decided that they are not earning their keep, and I am going to put most of them on Ebay to sell. I do have a few that I will keep, but a lot have not seen the light of day for a couple of years. I haven't sold items on Ebay before, so am looking for advice really. Would I be better putting them into group lots, with minimum prices? Should I sort them into categories, for example Penny Black, Hero Arts, or what do you think? Let me know your thoughts, or how you have sold your items in the past. Right, I'm off foer a nosey around other peoples' spaces now, happy Wednesday! Judith xx

WOYWW 85

Hi folks, it's Wednesday again, and time for a nosey around Blogland to see what's on everyone's desks. If you're wondering what I'm on about, then head over to Julia's place to check it out. I'm sorry that I didn't make it to many desks this week, but I was busy creating things, and had to keep my head down somewhat. Say no more. I've finished what I needed to make, and my time is a little bit easier this week. I've been working as an invigilator too. My Mother-in-law thinks I'm a vigilante, as she can't say invigilator. It's quite a mental picture, to imagine walking around the exam room with a lassoo and a cowboy hat, keeping the teenagers in order!

Anyway, onto what's on my desk this week. I've been working on a masterboard based on the project in this month's Craft Stamper by Linda Elbourne with my card class. We've made a piece of A3, so that hopefully we can make a couple of projects. The class made some lovely sheets last week, and this week, I'll get them to make some cards with them. I didn't have the exact set that Linda used, but liked them so much, that I ordered them, and they've arrived. So, I'm going to have a play with them, time permitting, and make another colour way up. I also got a set of the Hot Picks words, as I really like those. Once I've made my samples, I'll blog them, promise! 

Sorry for the quality of the second photo, but I took them last night, so that I could post nice and early this morning before I took off for the day. Also on my desk is a lovely book from Paperchase, covered in black felt, with an embroidered butterfly on the front. This is my ideas book. It is very tactile, and I love it. I have a bit of a felt thing going on at the moment, I bought a kit just before Christmas, and want to have a go at making felt from scratch. I'm even thinking of going on a course, because I really love the stuff! My Daughter thinks I'm mad, (I probably am). There are also two little chipboard trees beside my craft mat, I have a lovely project in mind for these, and want to get on with that this week. I also have my Bah Humbug card to make, hence the little pile of bits to the left.

Just by my computer is a set of Elusive Images stamps, 'Weekend in Venice', I am offering these to anyone who doesn't have them, and would like them. No strings attached. Just leave a comment on the relevant post, dated Friday 21st January, and I'll put you in the random generator thingy. You DO NOT need to be a follower, or jump through hoops.

I hope you're all having a great day, thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

WOYWW 84

It's been a little while since I posted, so I thought I'd get going again by saying Happy New Year to the WOYWWers out there. If you don't know what I'm talking about, head over to Julia's Blog to find out.

I had a big sort out in my craft room a week or so ago, and although I didn't tidy everything up, I'm not a complete saint! It's still looking quite organised.

I am in the process of making a Christmas card for my stock to send out in December. Yes, I'm being organised this year. I don't know how long it will last. I'm hoping to enter it into a blog challenge, but will have to get a wriggle on. I'm using a digi image, Nesties, and some lovely Crealie dies. These are fab from the Netherlands. They are so easy to use.

On the other side of my desk, which I don't normally show you, as it's so untidy, are a couple of unfinished projects that I'd like to tackle. One is a canvas with tags of different sizes displaying lots of different tecniques. It was a project from the Graphicus Retreat last year, and sadly, we didn't have time to complete it. It will take a long time, but I want to put some work in on that. The second project, is a book to hold tags and ATCs, covered in lovely papers. It has all sorts of little flaps and pockets inside, and is bound with the big Bind-it-all wires. I haven't been feeling all that well for a few days, so I'm allowing myself three quiet days to rest a bit, so I thought I'd do a bit of crafting, and just potter about a bit. Even the thought of all that crafting time is making me happy!

Whatever you are doing today, I hope that you have a good day. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx